This was definitely the best episode of Allison to Lillia yet. I’m really surprised and impressed by it: I thought that the entire Allison-arc would revolve around the war and the search for the treasure, and yet both storylines get resolved in just one episode. It really makes me wonder what the rest of this series will be about.
I think it’s clear by now that the plot-twists in this series take a lot of liberty, as symbolized by Allison’s whimsical nature. In this episode, Benedict also changes sides really easily, and the war is over before you know it. There’s not even a scene where the important people see the treasure; it just ends and we can only guess the real reason behind it. But I think that that’s one of the charms of this series, and it manages to keep its combination between a light-hearted mood and serious themes this way. I’ve been a rather large advocate of realism lately, but this series shows that you can be good even without a huge focus at realism.
Also, that airplane-fight in the first half of the episode was very impressive. It’s been a while since I watched a fight in mid-air that didn’t involve mecha. The music also showed some of its best sides so far in this episode. Overall, if these four episodes gave away a small taste of what’s left to come in this series, then I’m in!
The odd logical leap will happen when you reduce a 300 page novel to four episodes, remove all the best bits, hire a terrible director, give it no budget, and generally treat the books like shit.
This series is like a pale shadow of the novels, and at this point, it is so far removed I can’t help but call it insultingly bad.
@Zerozaki: my gosh, the novels must be fantastic, because this series, while quite often simplistic, is great fun to watch. I’ve got the novels in the mail for me, and now I’m looking forward to them even more.
You have the novels? XD OMG!!!!! Share?
I’m also quite interested in the novels now — especially after watching the show (which I absolutely LOVE so far!) and researching the original works a bit more.
psgels: Apparently, this anime is going to cover a total of six light novels, the latter four of which are actually long enough that they’re sold in two volumes apiece (so it’s more like 10 light novels). The first half of the series is going to cover the “Allison” series of novels, and the second half is going to cover the “Lillia and Treize” series of novels (which are apparently set many years in the future, as at least one of the protagonists is evidently Allison and Wil’s son or daughter).
There’s also a third set of novels called “Meg and Seron,” the first of which was published in Japan just last month. They’re apparently starring two classmates of Lillia and Treize, rather than making another jump into the future.
Admittedly, for as much as I’m enjoying the anime, I am a bit wary of how well they’re going to be able to keep up with the source material if the novels continue to get longer and more complex. But still, I equate this to the Harry Potter movies – sure, they’re nowhere near as detailed as their original novels, but they’re still pretty damn entertaining, and always leave me hungering for more. (:
-Tom
I think the Allison novels are only four volumes (or three, if you count the last two volumes as one book split into two volumes). The Lillia and Trieze books are six volumes. It does mean they’re going to cram a good deal into only 26 episodes, if they’re going to do the series any justice at all.
I was a bit disappointed in this episode, in that the politics of the war has been pretty unconvincing to me. This series is best (a) when it is in the air, or (b) when it is focussed on the personal, like Allison and Wil’s visit to Walter’s widow.
But I’m still looking forward to more.
My mistake! You are correct: there are six volumes of Lillia and Treize, with three distinct stories that take up two volumes apiece. So it’s definitely a lot more material to work with…
-Tom