REVIEW: ‘Platinum End,’ Episode 20 – “The Price of Honor”

Content Warning: Platinum End Episode 20 deals with themes of suicide and drug abuse. 

Platinum End is a dark fantasy anime produced by Signal.MD. With one of the God Candidates falling to hostile gunfire, the rest of the group quickly flee to take stock of the developing situation. While Mirai’s group struggles with how to proceed from here, Professor Yoneda takes some time to confide in one of his fellow candidates in Platinum End Episode 20.

The bulk of this week’s episode is focused on Professor Yoneda as he explains the events that led him to become a God Candidate how the success brought by his brilliance clashed with his need to isolate himself. These struggles lead Yoneda to several dark places, including the abuse of prescription drugs. This was when his angel Muni intervened, saving his life.

Like most of the backgrounds we have gotten about the various candidates throughout Platinum End, this one is both upsetting and wholly believable. Yoneda’s struggles, as well as the apparent complete disinterest from those who are demanding time and energy he doesn’t have to give, land with a convincing amount of force.

While the majority of Yoneda’s time in Platinum End Episode 20 is focused on the past, the story does begin to lay some groundwork for the future as well. In this regard, the story highlights an extremely clever element that I had completely overlooked. It is an almost non-revelation that I feel like I should’ve caught onto much earlier, but just never put the pieces together despite their presence right in front of my eyes. How these elements will come to alter the story going forward is unclear, but they seem to factor into Yoneda’s plans to a large degree.

While Yoneda plans his next move, Mirai’s group falls back to their hideout to attempt to figure out their next move. However, without much new information to go on, Mirai’s group doesn’t make much headway in this episode. Concerns, opinions, and counter thoughts are bounced around between the candidates and their angels, with little coming of it.

The visuals throughout this episode bring the emotional and mental turmoil of the various characters to the viewer skillfully. Yoneda’s tale does a great job of delivering the character’s background story to life in a way that feels respectful of the tale’s delicate subject matter.

Likewise, Mirai’s group turmoil is also handled well. Despite not much really getting accomplished on this side of the story, Platinum End Episode 20 manages to keep a degree of engagement going through these scenes largely thanks to how the show visually emphasizes the struggle the characters are experiencing in these moments.

When all is said and done, Platinum End Episode 20 delivers a solid episode. It explores the newest member of the cast, allowing viewers to better understand their motivations and mindset while also managing to start setting up the next phase of the story.

Platinum End Episode 20 is streaming on Funimation and Crunchyroll.