These latest episodes of Schwarzesmarken have started to show the shine I once saw in the MuvLuv Alternative visual novel. Characters remain underdeveloped but the show has benefited from having the characters defined by the situation and thus we can ignore that fact that they are very thin personality. The BETA battles are excellently animated too and really show off how much of a difference it makes between fighting laser class and heavy laser class. The Static sprites of the visual novel made it difficult to convey the level of threat each BETA strain posed. You were told of course, but when it came to combat all BETA were the same. Combat is fast and tense, I just wish I felt more for the characters to let it put me on the edge of my seat. Though Theodor just went up a notch in my book and for one simple reason. Dear readers I have seen so many anime that try to make you think the that the main character is about to get laid. So much so that I practically assume that no matter how good the situation looks, something will prevent it. So when I heard that Theodor genuinely slept with Lise I had to do a doubletake. I thought that maybe it wasn’t what it sounded like but they made it abundantly clear, Theodor had sex with her. Well Theodor you are now above over 95% of harem protagonists just by being able to do the deed. Even if you choose to do it with the worst person possible.
Well Lise is a Stasi spy, just as I figured. Her allegiance looks to be with the Russian faction of the Stasi and the move looks to have caught Theodor off guard. Theodor wasn’t a complete idiot and held on to the possibility of his sister being a spy and it seems he slept with her to keep her under his thumb. Logically speaking that’s a decent move as it does look like Lise truly loves Theodor but Theodor simply isn’t good at manipulation. He’s too oblivious to others feelings and far too straightforward to be able to effectively keep her under his control. One of the biggest issues are that it’s clear to anyone that he holds feelings for Irisdina and very nearly confessed to her at the end of the episode. I am guess this was the main motivation for Lises choice of hostage at the end of the episode. Theodor made it abundantly clear to Lise just how much Irisdina meant to him when she asked him to run away with her. Though thinking of that, she likely suggested this to prevent him from seeing her do the dirty work of killing his teammates. The second is that Theodor greatly underestimates his step-sister. Truly who knows what kind of dirty work Lise had to do while within the stasi. She is not the same little girl you knew back when you were kids.
Things are looking bleak, the BETA are performing Zerg rush tactics, the Stasi have instigated a Coup d’etat and now they have captured the Schwarzesmarken team. From my speculation I would say that the move to capture the team and the Coup d’etat are the two factions working separately. The Coup seems like Axemanns work and the capture of the team looks like Beatrix’s work. Based on this I would say the Russian faction is planning to use the team as bargaining chips to get the upper hand over the Berlin faction. I doubt the Stasi is unified in this Coup d’etat as while it has a high chance of success when in the middle of a BETA attack, once you have managed to overthrow command, then the Stasi will have to be the one to deal with the BETA attack. Considering they spent most of their time overthrowing isn’t of defending against the attack, it’s doubtful things would end well. As with many a war, it’s always the idiotic commander who happens to mess things up for everyone. There’s may be giant robots and Aliens about but in the end, war never changes.
