So I saw it last night after work (New Zealand time), and honestly, I will start with personal experience

The audience

• Some were a bit chatty but luckily, they got shushed and there weren't many people there. Tbh, it was a bit late, so I hit the lottery with that one
• I noticed most of them were really young, and many of them came cosplaying.
• I expected much worse, but it was mostly civil. Thank you young buggers for respecting the sanctity of Gooseworx's gospel

The viewing

• I will get this out of my chest... I may have lived under a rock, but I was a bit bamboozled when I realised it was Episode 8 + Episode 9, I thought it would only be episode 9 with a proper movie length. Like if I knew that earlier, I would have still came to support Gooseworx, but having 3rd of the viewing time for something I already have seen several times just baited me in a not so good way.
• I liked the heads up about special QR code at the end, ended up getting Digital Days shirt 😃
• Overall, good timing after a long week and a frustrating and exhausting day at work

Episode 9

Okay, so... I will focus on each character in terms of their character development and how they added to the plot in episode 9.

Pomni

Honestly, it’s standard character growth. On her own, I wouldn’t say she’s made any major breakthrough as far as main characters go in this kind of media.

She was good — even great — but I understand why people struggle to see her as the main character. She gives off more of a “part of the crew” vibe in terms of personality.

But the one thing I will give her is that she encouraged everyone (even Jax) to step out of their comfort zone and be true to themselves.

In a way, I appreciate Gooseworx’s unorthodox approach to writing her, because the “main character who saves everyone singlehandedly” trope is not only overused, but it also risks making the show feel like “another plain series with the same rehashed tropes.”

Ragatha

I’ll admit, I hoped to see more screen time for her overall — not just in episode 9 — but by that point it would’ve been too late anyway.

However, I like how she understood her self‑worth after that pep‑talk with Pomni, and how that moment led to such a heartfelt hug. It was a pivotal point where Ragatha finally recognized her own sense of worth and realized she didn’t have to “force kindness,” but could actually do kind deeds from a genuine place. That moment, in my opinion, made up for her limited screen time.

Kinger

Honestly, he has the best character development in the show. Ironically, it felt the most natural. He went from being “just the crazy one” to the one who had the answers all along, and in a way, he was the one who started to lead everyone rather than Pomni. Which makes sense — he was one of the people who built the circus and Caine, after all.

Gangle

Her writing was… not the best, if I’m being honest. There are moments in episode 9 involving her that I thought were brilliant. Like when Jax abstracted — she didn’t cry and felt bad about it. For a split second, I thought she verbally tormented Jax into abstraction.

But later, when we look at Jax’s flashbacks and memories, we learn that it was him who gave her the name “Gangle” to mock her emotions. Everyone else looked at him in disbelief except our favourite ringmaster, Caine, who loved that name.

From the way I understood it, she resented him so much she couldn’t even feel empathy for him. When they finally contained him, she actually cried.

Was she hit by the reality she would never talk to Jax again? Did she feel robbed of an opportunity to get closure or revenge for all the abuse he inflicted on her? Did she blame herself for somehow not being “a better friend”?

Honestly, even though it annoys me that I cannot answer this, I like the nuance it leaves, because in the real world, if someone who tormented me for years suddenly vanished, I genuinely wouldn’t know how I feel.

Enter Zooble coming to her room and asking her “Having complicated feelings?” and comforting her with no judgment. But I still felt Gangle could have had more justice for her character development.

Zooble

Zooble is personally my favourite character, but I was disappointed with how little time they had, and I can’t recall any real character‑development moment for them in the finale. In fact, they felt more like a background character than anything — even compared to Gangle. At least Gangle had unspoken moments of depth in how she reacted to Jax’s abstraction, how it tied back to her first encounter with him, and the history between them. But Zooble got to clap cheeks with Gangle, so that’s a fuck yeah moment.

Caine

Caine’s redemption arc was extremely rushed. It didn’t even make sense that he had a massive crash‑out and then suddenly seemed calm.

It wasn’t even implied that he had any “off‑screen time” to reflect. However, the actions within his redemption — showing them their real identities, and the twist about them being brain‑scans rather than actual humans — are both reassuring and terrifying.

Reassuring because their human counterparts actually okay, but scary because… all that time… Pomni, Ragatha, Jax, Gangle, Zooble, and Kinger are basically just as much of an AI as Caine is.

Caine and the crew actually worked together to curate the circus into something they all build together as a home was a sweet ending. But still — I’m kinda salty about Caine’s abrupt redemption. That one I cannot justify.

Jax

Honestly, I was a bit miffed at his sudden abstraction, but that’s exactly what you’re supposed to feel. It mirrors how the suicide of someone close feels — abrupt, with no warning, and it just suddenly happens. Everyone reacted differently. Then it was genius when Pomni used the information from Kinger to keep Jax in the darkness and tried to calm him down. When she got into his psyche, everything from that point until his containment was peak. Absolute cinema.

We got real insight into Jax’s background — the way he deals with things internally and externally. His relationship with Ribbit and Kaufmo, how he went from a scared new member of the circus, to having friends, to becoming an avoidant “jerk.” What’s interesting is that the “obnoxious jerk” we know from the start wasn’t fully who he was. He was avoidant, sure, but he was at least somewhat genuine until he opened up to Ribbit. They nearly had a heartfelt moment (I honestly hoped they’d kiss), and then he bottled up even harder. He started avoiding Ribbit, saw her abstract, hated it, and then started avoiding Kaufmo.

When he saw Kaufmo abstract, that scene shook me. When Jax cartoonishly ran away to grab his bowling ball from his room, you could tell he was mortified. Externally he ignored it, thanked Kaufmo for the bowling ball, and ran away like it didn’t matter. But when he was alone, we finally saw how he really reacted — he had a breakdown. Exactly how anyone would react after losing the only close person they had. (I do wish we saw how he reacted when he refused to attend Kaufmo’s funeral and went to his room.)

Then, when Pomni finally talked to him, it was the second and last time we ever see Jax open up to anyone. I wish the rest of the cast could have had real closure with him, but again, he was in such an emotionally complex place that he couldn’t bring himself to open up until it was too late — another metaphor for how suicide feels. Abrupt and lacking closure.

Overall rating

When I walked out of the theatre, I gave it 7/10 instantly, but later as I sat down with these thoughts... I bump it up to 8/10. It is very decent, there are bits that could have been better, mainly Zooble and Caine's character development. But, all the characters piece together so well. I loved it.

Thank you Gooseworx for making this masterpiece, and despite good portion of the fans have been pieces of work. In a way, we should be proud to be able to support Gooseworx to make this possible, everyone who stayed respectful, watched her work, and those who could see it in the theatres (or will see it in theatres)
It has been fun, and I am excited to get that shirt in the mail!

I apologise for grammatical errors and drawn out rants... it is 12:30+ AM, and I really wanna voice my takes and have a discourse about it.