Short Synopsis: Wellkin’s first mission as the commander of Squad 7.
Episode Rating: 7,5/10 (Good)
Now this is more like it. Now that we’ve arrived at the real meat of the story, I’ve gotten a lot more interested in this series. The idiot siblings thankfully don’t play a major part in this show at all and Welkin’s strategies are actually quite interesting and creative. I’m also glad that Alicia got herself an interesting position as vice-chief of Squad 7: it’s going to allow her to grow as a character, and also prevent her from screwing up completely because Welkin will be there.
This episode also introduced some of the major side-characters of this series, most notably Largo Potter and Brigitte Stark. I liked how the two of them brought a bit of conflict into this episode, in which they weren’t that convinced by a commander who came fresh out of university. I also wonder where all of the hatred for the ‘darksen’ comes from. Is it mere nationalism (understandable in times of war, of course), or were the darksen people once notorious for something they did.
Still, this series is going to have to continue to bring in these interesting situations, because at this point it’s just oh so tempting to fill the rest of the show with random battles every episode until the final boss has to be faced in episode 25. Especially the character-development for the side-characters has the potential to just stop completely after this episode.
Still, this series is going to have to continue to bring in these interesting situations, because at this point it’s just oh so tempting to fill the rest of the show with random battles every episode until the final boss has to be faced in episode 25. Especially the character-development for the side-characters has the potential to just stop completely after this episode.
If they stick with the overall plot from the game, there will be plenty of character development remaining, even with the side and tertiary characters – Sega actually developed some backstory for all of them, along with character/personality quirks. They’ll also be touching on the whole Darcsen racial prejudice thing.
About the Darcsen, it’s actually more complicated than what would be usual in anime. On the one hand, it’s the second aspect you mentioned – they are made to carry the stigma of their ancestors. On the other hand, many Darcsen work in industrial sectors, dealing with smelly substances, and are thus discriminated against on the basis of body odor (perceived or not).
Didn’t they say the man Darcsen tried to take over and hoard all the resources, before he was defeated by Valkyria and her spear? I don’t know if that really happened or is just a legend, but it could explain where the hatred came from.
The Darcsen angle was an interesting development. Otherwise super-tank rules the day once again.
The show has minor differences compared to the game, while main points are the same. I´ve played the game through multiple times and this show is quite refreshing to watch, since i absolutely loved the game and still do. I´d like to say few things concerning this episode. /// SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOURE GOING TO PLAY THE GAME /// There are few things in the game that i would have liked to see in this episode. One thing is the part when they actually conquered the other end of the drawbridge and and lifted it while distracting the enemy by interfering their radio frequencys. The battle ended as some of the imperial troops and tanks that were on the drawbridge fell to the river. It was kinda epic in the game. /// SPOILERS END ///
At this point of the game i was also confused about the darcsen part. As i progressed through the game it cleared up for me though. I think its the same for anime. And as someone mentioned, theres still lots of character development left, though i dont believe the anime is as thorough as the game due to the length of the show.
Thanks Wulf for the games insight.
I’m glad that the show is working nicely for the people who played the game. For most of us who has not, I would say that Valkyria Chronicles is developing nicely with interesting characters and nice tanks and battles with strategic twists.
Of cos, the battles are not very realistic or practical (women fighting in skirts with thigh high??) but that’s ok.
I think it is difficult to translate some of the epic scale of the games into the anime but I hope they try for subsequent battles.
psgels, I dun know who you are referring to as ‘idiot siblings’ but I certainly hope you are not talking about Isara Gunther – Welkin’s sister. I find Isara one of the bravest character this season. Despite her young age, she is already a mechanical whiz but most of her, her courage in the face of unrelenting prejudice and sneer is admirable. I hope this will develop more as the story unfolds.
Nah, what I meant with the idiot siblings was the two little kids we saw in the first episode, who mistakenly saw Welkim as a spy.