Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dear Friend

a fitting end of the era in more ways than one, because this movie has inherited everything good and mid about the entire series. i guess that means this entire series is very consistent then. the supernatural events and the emotional depth in the writing of solving these mysteries are the best aspects of this movie, just like previous entries in this series. on the other hand, sakuta and mai's relationship is almost like an afterthought, just like previous entries in this series. this movie cements sakuta as one of the best written main characters in anime history, which unfortunately serves as an unintentional contrast of howlacking mai's character writing is. this movie provides a satisfying end to "puberty syndrome". but it gives the main couple a "they are still together after everything, like the audience would've predicted 10 years ago" sort of bland send-off. i really want to give this movie a higher score than 8/10. the supernatural mystery aspect definitely deserves it. but every entry in this entire series still has a "romance" tag on it, including this movie. so i really can't ignore how neglected the romance aspect is.