valkyria rips off minami-ke character, mai hime scene
Categories: episodic review
Tagged: valkyria chronicles
11 Comments »
What I expected from Valkyria Chronicles was a half-way decent strategy anime (a less ridiculous Code Geass) crossed with Yakitate Japan (with insects instead of bread) with a touch of biology, botany, and bosoms (Selvaria’s, of course). What I got was… a lightweight slice-of-life and quite poorly drawn bosoms. No, seriously, Selvaria’s breasts look like a cheap boob job that a (not-so-prime) stripper would get.
Anyway, the show still sucks me in weekly… if only for tidbits like Alicia and Welkin trapped together in a snow storm. I enjoyed it. Let’s see…
When Alicia offered to share the blanket, I loved Welkin’s deer-in-the-headlights face. Alicia could have been totally nakkid, and he couldn’t have done a better job. Bravo. It’s almost on par with Mako-cakes the first time he saw Haruka in her bra.
(I did like how Welkin kept trying to change the subject to insects or animals… I was hoping he’d slip up and offer, “Hey, why don’t I talk about the mating habits of white tail rabbits?”)
This show is about 2x better to watch on a HDTV than on a computer monitor. It really demands a more vibrant range than what most crappy monitors can do. On the flip side, even an awesome HDTV can’t save Basara. I gave it a few more episodes… and levels of bromance got dangerously high. I needed some K-On! to wash it out.
The mystery of Alicia’s scarf… solved! I commented on how wearing a red scarf is probably the dumbest thing one could do on a battlefield, and Welkin finally confronts Alicia on this. And he let’s her explanation of how it reminds me that she’s a baker go… mmm… isn’t being a less tempting target to a sniper more important? (And why doesn’t anyone from Gallia wear helmets?)
More importantly… Alicia is an almost dead ringer for Kana. Between the double ponytails and Marina Inoue’s distinct voice, the only thing different is that Alicia is straight and narrow whereas Kana is delightfully mischievous. I’m almost convinced with a few tweaks this series could have been great… starting with Kana replacing Alicia and Mako-cakes replacing Fadio.
I’m trying to classify Welkin’s look after he sees Alicia sans scarf…
A. “I’m going to be broken. Help!”
B. “A woman is undressing in front me me. Help!”
C. “She’s kinda cute… and she only has two legs! Help!”
D. “Help!”
And that face was eventually surpassed by the face he made when Alicia made a move on him. Though it pains me that it’s 2009… and the last time a fairly normal female character tried to seduce a male character in front of a fireplace… was Mai Hime! Mia Frackin’ Hime! Mai gets emotional after a battle and seeks comfort in Reito’s arms… in front of a cheesy fireplace. I even made fun of it as, “I can’t believe Reito passed up a Mai buffet.” Though, to be fair, if Alicia had antannae or six more legs, she’d be a lot more appealing to Welkin.
I couldn’t get that show out of my mind after I watched this scene, especially happy memories of Shizuru and Natsuki. Which wasn’t a bad thing, since it was more interesting than the boring imperial runaway subplot. (Much like how Hermione just dominated the recent Hayate episode.)
(Has there been a more epic girl x girl couple in anime since Shizuru and Natsuki? I say no. I can’t believe I spent ten minutes thinking about this too.)
11 Responses to “valkyria rips off minami-ke character, mai hime scene”
Leave a Reply
Two word… well done Jason, well done. Oops it more likely three words then
Wow, they skipped about 3 good chapters of the game if they went this far. Furthermore, there’s a lot of story retcons.
Interesting change of events. Hopefully the story will be kept intact.
For my part, I hope that the current pace of deviations from the game’s story continues.
Don’t mistake me, the game’s story is not bad, but it does not translate well when:
-Some situations translate very well to a game mission, but to put them in the story would be mind-bogglingly dull. Best example for that would be that after meeting Lel… Maximilian in the desert, you get to fight against him in his tank in a fight that is really impressive to play (at least the first time), but incredibly dull to tell.
-The game has a lot of characters (30 at least in Squad 7), but there is a general lack of depth:
Most soldiers in the Squad 7 do not even appear in any cutscene, giving the unsettling feeling that there are only 4 or 5 soldiers in the whole squad. (The rationale being that as these “goons” can die at any point in the story – if you let them – you cannot depend on them for a cutscene)
Even then, most characters do not get much characterization; for example, Varrot has her whole backstory explained in one very short secondary chapter; and, even though the three Empire generals are quite likable, they only get hints of a background – and Maximilian tells his life’s story 20 minutes before the game’s ending, after having been a heartless jerk all the time before that.
-The game’s ending is very unsatisfying; the enemy army is beaten (hope that’s not too much of a spoiler) but Gallia lies in ruins, its army practically reduced to Squad 7, while having still two very powerful and avid neighbours… And yet, somehow, Gallia stays independant.
DLC alleviates some of these concerns (which, in my opinion, means that they were concious of these).
And it seems that the series does not want to fall in these pitfalls.
I dunno whether they would top Shizuru and Natsuki, but there were several fairly epic pairs in Simoun…
I’m more of a sucker for short hair like Kanako, but if I were to ever date a woman with long hair, I’d get her to do the twin-pony tail thing. Of course, I also want to name my first daughter Kana and my first son Kamina . . . that’ll be a special woman indeed if she goes along with all of that.
valkyria’s animation is surprisingly good in my terms (:
Admittedly, I was kind of disappointed when Welkin didn’t take advantage Alicia’s advancements. Though, I’m not surprised, he doesn’t seem like the type that’s had much experience with women… at least not romantically. Not to mention, he has his position to worry about.
Plus anyways, it’s not even half way through the series. If they are going to end up together, I’m pretty sure they’ll stretch it out as much as possible. If not, Welkin will always have his insects. =P
The changes in the anime are welcome, but it does feel wierd that they skipped the more important parts of Chapter 6 and 7, which offer a lot of the background story. Not only just the tank, mind you, but it also needs to talk about the desert ruins, and their connection to the story. Besides, where’s Selveria’s “PWN a Tank Shell” part?
@torinostu351
You can’t do that! I already have that name slated for my first daughter!
I showed up for the promise of good military tactics (didn’t get it) but stayed for…uh…I’m not really sure. Probably Alicia-Kana, but I keep wanting her to break loose and start breaking everyone. Jumping Welkin is a good start…
What, not even one “OH GEASS, NO!” image shot?
A. “I’m going to be broken. Help!â€
B. “A woman is undressing in front me me. Help!â€
C. “She’s kinda cute… and she only has two legs! Help!â€
D. “Help!â€
——
Okay, I rolled. lol