Platinum End (Japanese: プラチナエンド, Hepburn: Purachina Endo) is a Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. It was serialized in Shueisha's Jump Square monthly magazine from November 2015 to January 2021, with its chapters collected in 14 tankōbon volumes. The series follows Mirai Kakehashi, a student who attempts suicide but is rescued by his guardian angel, Nasse, who not only has vowed to protect him, but bestows him special powers as he is also one of 13 candidates chosen by different angels to take the role of God, who is to retire in 999 days. Platinum End is licensed by Viz Media in North America. A 24-episode anime television series adaptation by Signal.MD aired from October 2021 to March 2022.
Plot
Mirai Kakehashi is a young orphaned high school student who lives with his abusive aunt and uncle after the death of his parents and brother. One day, Mirai decides he cannot take it anymore and attempts to commit suicide, but is saved by a Guardian Angel called Nasse, who also gives Mirai special powers. Upon learning from Nasse that his aunt and uncle were responsible for the deaths of his father and mother due to their jealousy and hatred toward to them, Mirai uses the powers that she bestowed to him in order to enact justice upon them. This is only the beginning of Mirai’s story, however, as Nasse soon after informs him that God will retire in 999 days and thirteen candidates to replace him were selected, one of which is Mirai. To make matters worse, not only is Mirai forced to take part in the contest to decide the next God, but some of the other candidates will do anything to win, including killing all of the other candidates as soon as possible. To combat these ruthless killers, Mirai forms an alliance with several candidates who share his goal: to win the contest without killing any other competitors.
Mirai was raised by his abusive uncle and aunt after his parents and younger brother were killed in a car crash. The abuse that he endured resulted in him trying to commit suicide by throwing himself from a tower block on the day of his middle school graduation, but he is saved by Nasse, who selects him as a God candidate. Using the Red Arrows, he discovers that his uncle and aunt murdered his family. He accidentally kills his aunt and then makes his uncle turn himself in. Upon learning of Metropoliman's plans, Mirai joins forces with Saki and Nanato to stop Metropoliman, not only to protect themselves, but to prevent Metropoliman from becoming God as well.
Nasse is Mirai's angel of the special-rank. Based on their rank, the special abilities bestowed by the angel may vary. In the case of Nasse, she grants Mirai with all three special abilities. These include Wings that enable the user to fly, a White Arrow that allows the user to instantly kill anyone it hits, and a Red arrow that allows the user to make whoever it hits fall in love with them for 33 days, though not if the target is already under the influence of another user's Red Arrow. Her main desire is to make Mirai happy. Despite having a cute face, she has the habit of making some cruel remarks.
Saki is a God candidate, who is also Mirai's classmate and love interest. Once she learns that he does not intend to kill her, Saki teams up with Mirai to deal with Metropoliman. She is Mirai's childhood friend, but Mirai was the target of bullying from his classmates after his parents' death, and Saki did nothing to stop them out of peer pressure. After having witnessed Mirai's suicide attempt in the beginning of the series, she guiltily tried to drown herself at sea, leading her to meet Revel and become a God candidate.
Revel is Saki's angel of the second-rank at first. He is rather calculating and manipulative, a trait that is considered by Nasse to be the reason why he was relegated to be second-rank angel, thus only capable of bestowing Saki with a Red Arrow. Once he decides to become more useful to Saki, Revel decides to study the knowledge of the Celestial Realm, but fails to be promoted. However, he sheds tears for the first time after reflecting on his powerlessness, which promotes him to first-rank and earns him the title of "Angel of Emotion" since no angel had shed tears for a human before. This allows him to bestow Wings onto Saki.
Kanade is a high school student who intends to become God's successor by any means necessary, including killing all other God candidates. He is the grandson of the principal of the prestigious Joso Academy and wishes to become God in order to bring his deceased younger sister Rea back to life. Using the alias "Metropoliman", he kills four other God candidates and claims their Wings and Red Arrows. He becomes even more dangerous upon realizing that several Arrows can be combined to increase their range, and that the obtained Wings and Red Arrows can be bestowed to ordinary humans to do his bidding.
Nanato is a God candidate working as the product planner for an apparel company. He suffers from terminalcancer. Using his Red Arrows, Nanato secures enough money from the rich for his pregnant wife Aya and his daughter Nanaka after he dies, and he tries to find more God candidates by hiring private detectives. He decides to team up with Mirai and Saki in order to prevent Kanade from becoming God, to the point of obtaining firearms from the JSDF in order to have a better chance to kill him. Mirai agrees on the grounds that Nanato continues his treatment.
Hajime is a God candidate who was born poor and ugly. He was always shunned by others until his mother committed suicide and Balta appears to become his angel. After managing to get cosmetic facial surgery, Hajime is still is unable to attract a girl himself due to his poor communication skills. He idolizes Kanade and offers to become his subordinate, and Kanade accepts on the condition that Hajime captures another God candidate. After discovering Nanato's identity, he abducts Aya and Nanaka at an amusement park's house of mirrors in order to draw Nanato to a trap. Although managing to capture both Nanato and Mirai in hopes of killing them, Hajime ends up struck by Saki's Red Arrow.
Susumu is a God candidate who is a grade school student. After Metropoliman's defeat at the amusement park, Susumu reveals the truth about the God candidates to the public while claiming to support Mirai to be God's successor.
Yuri is a God candidate who is first seen enjoying a massage on a tropical island while scrolling on social media. She is the first God candidate to be captured by the police, but she manages to escape.
Shuji is a God candidate who is a straightforward person. He greatly believes in the concept of euthanasia and that those who wish to commit suicide must have the strong desire to do so. When Ogaro selected him as her God candidate and bestowed him a Red Arrow, Shuji used them to assist his parents and grandfather in suicide by shooting them with the Red Arrow and telling them to carry out their desires afterward.
Gaku is a God candidate who is a professor emeritus at Tokyo University. He was one of the youngest people to win Nobel Prizes in Physics and in Literature.
Meyza is Kanade's angel of the special-rank, also known as the "Angel of Greed". It is said she went from unranked to special-rank for reasons unknown even to Baret.
Baret is Nanato's angel of the first-rank, also known as the "Angel of Knowledge". She once were of the special-rank, before being demoted for flaunting her knowledge too much, according to Revel.
Tonma is a God candidate who is a failed comedian. He uses his Red Arrows to make women have a polyamorous relationship with him. He is the first God candidate to be killed, being murdered by Kanade as "Metropoliman".
Shogo and Saburo are two God candidates who disguise themselves as different versions of Metropoliman when Kanade asks the God candidates to attend a gathering at a baseball stadium. They are friends who helped each other out after failing their college entrance exams. Before they attempt suicide by drug overdose, they are saved their angels Emaka and Egura. However, the gathering is a trap and both are killed by the real Metropoliman.
Chiyo Nakayama (中矢間 知代, Nakayama Chiyo)
Voiced by: Shiori Sugiura[16] (Japanese); Anne Yatco[17] (English)
Chiyo is a God candidate who is a young girl being bullied at school. She attends the gathering and asks Metropoliman for help. Kanade first strikes her with a Red Arrow. However, he then uses her as a hostage, saying he will kill her if no other God candidates reveal themselves. As none do, Kanade kills Chiyo.
Misurin is an amateur teen model who was arrested two years ago for the murder of three female middle school students. Kanade frees her from juvenile detention and lends her a Red Arrow and Wings from the God candidates that he previously eliminated in order to lay a trap for any other God candidates who might appear to stop her once she starts killing again.
Production
Following Death Note (2003–2006) and Bakuman (2008–2012), Platinum End is the third collaboration between author Tsugumi Ohba and illustrator Takeshi Obata. Koji Yoshida, the duo's editor for the entirety of Death Note, said he had told the two that he would like for the three of them to work together again.[20] According to him, Ohba had the vague idea for Platinum End towards the end of Bakuman; one of the ideas for the many manga featured in the story was about angels, and words such as "wings" and "arrows" were thrown around at the time.[20] After many discussions, Yoshida said things for the new series started to come together when they decided to incorporate geometric motifs. Because angels are essentially the opposite of shinigami, if Obata drew them in a traditional Gothic style, they would be too similar to Death Note.[20] As such, although it is set in the present day, Yoshida wanted to incorporate geometric or futuristic imagery in Platinum End. He also said that, if the theme of Death Note was "evil" or "death", the theme for the new series is "happiness".[20]
Unlike their previous works which were weekly serials, Platinum End is Ohba and Obata's first manga published with a monthly schedule. Yoshida said, with more than twice the amount of pages per chapter, the process is completely different in his opinion.[20] Whereas with Death Note he was thinking first and foremost about the lead-in to the next week's chapter, for Platinum End the editor said he can focus more on a single chapter's story. But at the same time, he acknowledged that the longer interval between chapters requires they make them more compelling for readers to want to see what happens next.[20]
Media
Manga
Written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, Platinum End was serialized in Shueisha's monthly shōnen manga magazine Jump Square from November 4, 2015, to January 4, 2021.[21][22][23] The series' 58 individual chapters were collected into fourteen tankōbon volumes, released from February 4, 2016, to February 4, 2021.[24][25]
On October 5, 2015, Viz Media announced that they had licensed Platinum End for an English release in North America.[26][21] In March 2016, Viz confirmed that they would start releasing print editions of Platinum End, with the first volume released in October 2016.[27] The manga is licensed by Kazé in France.[28]
On December 2, 2020, Pony Canyon registered the "Anime-PlatinumEnd.com" domain name,[55] and on December 19, 2020, at the Jump Festa '21 online event, it was announced that the series would receive an anime television series adaptation by Signal.MD. Hideya Takahashi directed the "first series", while Kazuchika Kise is directing the "second series",[56] with series composition by Shin'ichi Inozume, and character designs by Kōji Ōdate. Masahiro Tokuda is composing the series' music.[57] The series ran for 24 episodes,[56] and aired on TBS, BS11, and other channels from October 8, 2021, to March 25, 2022.[18][c]Band-Maid performed the opening theme "Sense", while Yuu Miyashita performed the first ending theme "Kōfuku-Ron" (Theory of Surrender).[59] Kuhaku Gokko performed the second ending theme "Last Straw".[60] Both Crunchyroll and Funimation streamed the series outside of Asia.[61][62]Medialink licensed the series in South and Southeast Asia.[63]Disney+ Hotstar started streaming the anime weekly in select Southeast Asian regions from January 5, 2022.[64] On October 28, 2021, Crunchyroll announced the series would receive an English dub, which premiered on November 18 of the same year.[5]
The series was released in Japan on DVD and Blu-ray across four volumes, each containing six episodes. The first volume was released on January 19, 2022; and each volume was released bi-monthly until July 20 of the same year.[65] In North America, Crunchyroll released the first 12 episodes of the series on Blu-Ray on January 10, 2023,[66] followed by a second Blu-ray release on June 6 of the same year,[67] that contained the second half of the series. Crunchyroll also released the series in 2 parts in the United Kingdom[68][67] and Australia.[69][70]
Reception
The first volume of Platinum End debuted at number two on Oricon's weekly list of the best-selling manga, with 105,213 copies sold.[71] In December 2020, the manga had 4.5 million copies in circulation.[72] When reviewing the opening chapter, Ian Wolf of Anime UK News compared Platinum End to Ohba and Obata's earlier series Death Note, saying: "the central character is a teenage boy fed up with life, who is guided by a supernatural force and given great power. Both leads seemingly find themselves on the path to becoming a deity. However, while Light Yagami uses his powers for diabolic ends, killing anyone he suspects of doing anything wrong while being observed by a shinigami, Mirai Kakehashi is guided by an apparently more benevolent force."[73] He also called the series an example of a death game.[74] Writing for The Fandom Post, Jarius Taylor gave Platinum End a B+ rating and compared it to Future Diary writing: "while I don't have too much doubt it'll be stronger overall, the overt edginess here isn't something I was quite expecting from Ohba. Still, it's a pretty interesting read from beginning to end, and there's a lot of potential in terms of both thriller aspects and the overall theme. Hopefully, it'll be able to differentiate itself from Future Diary more going forward, but for now the idea of Ohba and Obata taking a crack at their own version of it seems pretty good to me".[75]
Nick Creamer of Anime News Network also compared the manga to Death Note and described the series as a battle royale that mixes "rule-based thriller shenanigans and misanthropic theology". He praised Obata's art for combining "wondrously complex" background details and almost off-puttingly precise character designs "to arrive at something as cold as it is striking". Although he also praised Ohba for his pacing of action and twists and for constructing conflicts that truly make the characters seem smart and worth following, Creamer called his character and thematic writing "abysmal", as he found most of the characters to be either one-note villains or sycophants.[76]
^"Griffin Burns Official Homepage". Burns, Griffin. Archived from the original on February 14, 2022. Retrieved February 14, 2022. Griffin can be heard as the main villain Kanade/Metropoliman in Platinum End now on Crunchyroll! And catch him in person at Anime Impulse January 15 & 16 in Pomona, CA!
