Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Well, I just got done replaying Valkyria Chronicles on the PS3 and I’m still hungry for more. So let’s return to the trenches of war and take on the second of the Valkyria Chronicles anime.
Opening and Ending Theme
With the second half of the anime we get a new opening called “Kanashimi Rensa” by MARIA. Much like the first one opening the song is amazing. It captures the feelings and emotions of the war and sung well. This song however does feel a bit sadder and the tempo is more fast-paced with the addition of the rock music. Overall the song gives off this sense that things are getting more serious and the group has more to lose if they aren’t careful. The ending this time is “Hitotsu no Negai” by Hikari Inoue. The song is just beautiful. I like how it starts off nice and slow but then when Hikari starts to sing higher the song begins to pick-up the pace. I also like the instrumentals in the song as well. A good combination of orchestra music combined with drums. If I had to name my favorite opening and ending from the four songs, I would say I like first opening more than the second one and I like the second ending more than the first ending.
Episodes 15-17
In episode 15 the militia has become exhausted both mentally and physically from all the consent battles so their commander Varrot tells the leaders of each squad to throw a party and have a talent show where each squad sends someone on stage to perform. Welkin and the rest of Squad 7 want Rosie to sing but she refuses because she doesn’t want to sing in front of Isara (let it go Rosie). Isara tries to get her to sing where Rosie tells Isara of her past. Now in the game the reason for Rosie’s hate of Darscens come from the Imperial soldiers who were Darscen hunters and killed Rosie’s mother and her younger brother. In the anime is just her father and mother, the brother doesn’t exist. After hearing the story Isara still urges Rosie to sing for the group promising her that she won’t show up at the party. Rosie agrees to her terms but Welkin doesn’t like it (he’s gone big brother mode on us) and Isara calms him down telling him its okay (uh, no. No, it is not okay). When Alicia hears about this and upset that Welkin did nothing to change the situation she goes to Faldio who drags Isara to the talent show and Rosie decides to make an exception this one time (focus Welkin, this guy is stealing your girl! I know you’re friends and everything but you obviously want her and I know it pisses you off seeing them interact with each other deep down). The talent show goes off greatly restoring the morale of the troops and Faldio finally confesses his feelings to Alicia.
Love is in the air in episode 16. We see that things between Alicia and Welkin have gone south (like border of Texas south) and Largo takes it upon himself to give Welkin some fatherly advice (Largo: Use a condom). He tells Welkin about how he and his friend both had a crush on Varrot (whaaaaat~). That’s right, Largo has a crush on Varrot, apparently in the first war they both were on the same squad in militia and Largo and his friend both liked her. Largo was planning on confessing to her but he knew his friend had feelings for her too but he was determined to tell Varrot how he felt that is until their friend died in the war and Largo decided not to confess in honor of his friend. He tells Welkin not to follow his path (yes don’t go after the girl you love and spend all your nights working for the militia and develop an obsession with vegetables) and be true to his feelings. While that’s going on Ramal goes grocery shopping with Isara and the two deepen their relationship even more (their love is both young and cute). Alicia finally tells Welkin about Faldio confessing to her and Welkin doesn’t know what to feel or say about it (you just had this conversation with Largo. Tell her you love her! I know Faldio is your best friend but if my friend is standing between me and the girl I like I will tear through him like a lion eating a zebra). This of course angers Alicia and she walks away from him (you are fucking this up Welkin).
In episode 17 we get the Mulberry Beach battle another battle from the games and one of the more intense battles because you can’t rely on the Edelweiss for this mission that much, there are bunkers you have to have soldiers take out in order to advance in the stage, and there are a number of tanks that the Edelweiss can’t reach to destroy so you have to rely on the Lancers to do their job properly and take them out for you. When they arrive on the beach thay see that a canyon is completely covered with Imperial bunkers set to shoot down any approaching enemies. Luckily, Isara creates these smoke bombs which will create a huge cloud of smoke blinding the enemy and allowing the troops to sneak pass the bunkers and take them out from behind. The plan works with Rosie getting injured and having to stay behind with Isara while Welkin leads the troop on foot to capture their base and force them to retreat. Rosie doesn’t seem to mind staying with Isara as she’s finally able to stop seeing her as a Darscen and just see her as Isara (that’s nice). Just when the two are about to confirm their friendship with each other an Imperial soldier left behind fires at them and shoots Isara through the chest (//youtu.be/WWaLxFIVX1s).
Episodes 18-22
Episodes 18-19 is just the group mourning the loss of Isara and learning to deal with it. We see that Welkin closes himself off from emotions and pretty much turns himself into an emotionless robot determined to keep his mind on the work at hand instead of accepting the pain of losing his sister. Damon insults Isara and her heritage (the fat fuck) and a few members of the group decide to take revenge on him by digging a hole in the road where he’ll fall in and injure himself (not good enough we can do better). Alicia tries to get Welkin to stop them even admitting that she likes him but that seems to have no effect on him (dress up as a bug and tell him that). Faldio is able to convince the members of Squad 7 to not harm Damon and he confronts Welkin about being a pussy and not facing the loss of his sister and the feelings of Alicia by punching him in the face. Varrot sensing that the morale of Squad 7 is low gives them a mission which is to retake Bruhl from the Imperial army and Zaka becomes the new driver for Edelweiss. In the game he joins the squad but he drives his own tank while another character drives the Edelweiss. His tank is smaller than the Edelweiss and it’s not as strong or powerful as it is either but it can move farther than the Edelweiss. Squad 7 makes their way to Bruhl where they easily reclaim the town and once Welkin goes to his home with the help of Alicia he’s able to finally cry and accept Isara’s death.
I have to admit these two episodes are done amazingly well even somewhat better than the actual game. The game kinda drops the ball over Isara’s death, which is odd considering all the emotional scenes done up this point were done excellently. Oh don’t get me wrong, the game does set aside time to have a funeral scene for Isara where Rosie sings a beautiful song which is sung way better than the Japanese version (funeral scene here: //youtu.be/JmnzrGRxnE4?t=10s, that was beautiful. By the way that’s Hedy Burress doing the voice of Rosie and singing. The voice of Yuna from FF10 and FF10-2) but they don’t do a good job with the aftermath of Isara’s death they just pass over it and move on. It would have been nice to set aside one chapter where we see everyone mourning and feeling bad about Isara’s death. No combat or mission just everyone handling her death in their own way and moving on while pulling you the player into it. Now the one thing I will say the game did better than the anime was the death of Isara and her funeral because you never see it coming in the game. The anime botched it by showing the soldier fire at them but in the game you never see the soldier it’s unexpected and everyone is there to see it instead of just Rosie. Even when I played this stage the first time I was shocked and caught off guard by this. Now while the game did the better job with the death and funeral the anime did a better job with the aftermath of Isara’s death. Everyone is sad, Rosie feels guilty that she couldn’t save Isara, and Welkin is a wreck. He is both sad and angry, sad that he couldn’t protect his only family member and his little sister and angry at not only the soldier who shot her but at himself for not being able to cry over her death plus he has to deal with his feelings with Alicia on top of it all. He is at an all-time low in his life trapped in a whirlwind of emotions not knowing what to do until he finally reclaims his home and is able to let it all out (scenes here: //youtu.be/VL2Ph1ZaYE4).
In episode 20 things between Welkin and Alicia have settled down and Gallia has the upper hand in the war reclaiming their land and pushing back the Imperial forces to the point where Maximillian will be relieved of duty because Central finds his performance in this war unacceptable (//youtu.be/07So_lJQyqw). But Maximillian refuses to go out like a bitch and launches one big decisive attack which will determine the fate of the war (he’s going all in on a high stakes poker game with only two pairs and hoping the other side has 3 of a kind). The battle begins with Squad 7 covering the rear since Damon doesn’t want them stealing the glory (seriously how did this fat pig fuck become general) leaving Faldio and his squad to take on Maximillian and his super tank the Batomys. After figuring out that the tanks radiators pop up after it fires a shot Faldio tells his men to attack and destroy them leaving the Batomys defenseless but little do they know Maximillian has a wild card in his deck (scene here: //youtu.be/rhUavPK1e74, look at Faldio’s face at the end, that is the face of getting your ass owned). So yeah Selvaria completely owns Squad 1 killing off everyone (which had Czeary in it along with other players I didn’t use from the game so not a big lost in my opinion) and begins heading to Squad 7’s position next (well here comes the pain). Realizing that their back is against fall, Faldio (still traumatized after getting owned) shoots Alicia in the back (Faldio. . .the fuck) because he’s been researching the Valkyria in his spare time and has come to the conclusion that Alicia might be a Valkyria (and you chose to shoot her instead of telling her this why again? You just shot the person you’re in love with in the back, what if your whole theory was wrong and instead you actually killed her).
So in episode 21 Faldio has gone insane by shooting Alicia and severely wounding her (love really does hurt). He goes in the base camp, holds the princess at gunpoint (yeah apparently she went there to encourage the troops), steals the Valkyria weapons and gives them to the sleeping Alicia (who I forgot to mention is pretty stacked in this anime when compared to the game. I mean Selvaria is very stacked in the game as well as the anime so I’m fine with that but it’s obvious that the anime gave Alicia extra stack on purpose for the sake of fanservice). Alicia enters the battlefield in Valkyria mode (looking high as a kite I might add. No doubt she’s been dipping in Plutia’s stash) and faces Selvaria (unfortunately I couldn’t the anime clip for this scene but here’s how the fight went down in the game: //youtu.be/APzT5xxZ44U?t=50s, that’s pretty much what happened in the anime except for Selvaria fainting. And for those of you calling bullshit on how Alicia was able to beat Selvaria only after awakening to her powers shortly this will be explained in a side blog). After beating Selvaria, Alicia attacks Maximillian’s tank (he stayed in the tank that couldn’t move or attack anymore? He didn’t get out and retreat to a safe area? How dumb can these generals be) and destroys it but Selvaria saves Maximillian at the last minute (somehow, I don’t know, they never really show it) and the Imperial forces retreat.
In episode 22 smart people just do stupid things. We start the episode off by seeing the orphanage that Alicia grew up in was actually a government facility used to test children who had the potential to be a Valkyria and in that orphanage was also Selvaria. After that Damon wants Alicia to join the main army and use her to win the war ignoring her as a person, only thinking of her as a monster, and tricking her into believing that Welkin sold her off to the main army (//youtu.be/5BE_jw4e9uA). Of course Alicia doesn’t believe him and she runs off to her squad where she overhears them talking about how to face her after what happened, some want her to stay and see her as just Alicia while others are now scared of her (comrades my ass). Alicia hears there anxiety and runs off where instead of just going back to her squad like she did in the game where they didn’t care she was a Valkyria she runs off leaving them and joining the main army. *Drinks a glass of water and takes a deep breath* BETRAYL~! I can’t believe what I just saw! Why would she do that!? It’s obvious that she doesn’t want to join the main army and wants to stay with Welkin! She should know that the whole squad loves her and will accept her no matter what she is but instead she just runs away and not face them telling them how she feels! This completely goes against her character. Throughout the anime and the game Alicia says that Squad 7 is like her family. If that’s the case than why are you running away from them? Come on, you know they would never turn their back on you no matter what. Worse scene in the anime so far.
Episodes 23-26
Not much happens in episode 23. With the powers of Alicia at their disposal the Gallia army are able to push the Imperial back to their last stronghold. Squad 7 tries their best to see her and wind up getting into a fight with high ranking officers of the army where Welkin punches one of them for calling Alicia a monster (only when she’s in bed) and getting thrown in solitary confinement (kind of, it’s more like a tent in the base camp with two guards that can easily be escaped). Luckily Cordelia is there to protect Welkin from receiving any major punishment and gets off free. Alicia begs the Cordelia to make sure Squad 7 and Faldio can all go home safely and not be in the war anymore. Cordelia uses her powers to get Squad 7 to be her escort back to the palace while the Gallia army reaches the Imperials final stronghold and prepare to fight them with Selvaria at the front of the lines ready to take on Alicia (one fighting for the protection of her country and the people she cares about the other fighting for the love of someone who in all honesty thinks of her as a tool).
In episode 24 Alicia and Selvaria begin their fight where Selvaria takes the early advantage because she has someone to fight for (an asshole who only sees you as a tool to meet his goals) while Alicia has nothing (you disowned your friends, you disowned your family, and you disowned the person you love. You are nothing). But Alicia starts to remember Squad 7 and Welkin (obviously) which gives her the strength to fight back and transform into the legendary super Valkyria! Nah just kidding, she gets a major power boost and is able to take off a piece of Selvaria’s ribs (good Lord it’s like somebody tried to eat her but then got bored and stopped). But Selvaria refuses to die like a bitch and leaves us with a WTF boom (//youtu.be/_ATp4Uvh6uM?t=1m29s, yes! *Maniacal laugh* Burn you fat fuck burn~! Oh don’t get me wrong, Selvaria’s death is sad and all but at least she died taking that fat fuck Damon down with her. You have no idea how annoying, obnoxious, and a fucktard that guy has been throughout the game and the anime). Back on Welkin’s side of the story he decides that he’s going out to where Alicia is and the rest of Squad 7 wants to go with him because they’ve finally accepted that Alicia is still Alicia (took you long enough dumbasses) but before they can depart the palace gets attacked by Maximillian in his new super fortified ultimate tank the Marmota a massive tank that’s as big as a battleship. He barges into the palace to call for a ceasefire (you just drove a massive tank to the front door of Gallia’s palace and the main army has been destroyed you pretty much hold all the cards now and you’re calling for ceasefire? I. . .I have no idea why the Imperial soldiers are following this guy). He says he wants to marry Cordelia which if you can believe it is the whole reason why he started this war in the first place. He’s tired of the pointless struggle and fight for the thrown in his homeland and wants to rid himself of his title so that he can create his own kingdom and create the world he’s always wanted (you know Maximillian when I first saw you I thought you were this cool badass prince who everyone wanted to kill because you were a threat to them but now I see I was wrong. You’re just a lame ass pussy afraid to man up and take what you want, and without Selvaria and the others by your side you would have been nothing and dead long ago,//youtu.be/mVgXGw_XhRQ). But it turns out his plan to have the power of the Valkyria by his side is a bust because Cordelia isn’t a descendent of the Valkyria she’s actually a Darscen (and looks better with dark purple hair) so even if Maximillian marries her the people of Gallia won’t accept being ruled by a Darscen meaning all of his plans have failed. Pissed off by this information he goes to plan B and gets back in the Marmota where Karl tells him that Selvaria is dead and he doesn’t bat an eye at this information (//youtu.be/65Hbl9J3zlM). Karl begins to tell Maximillian off but he takes out a gun and kills Karl (Maximillian: Ain’t nobody got time for that boy get out of my way. Somebody throw this trash out).
In episode 25 we find out the truth about the Valkyrias. It turns out that they were the ones who caused the Darscen Calamity in the past and oppressed the Darscens while rewriting history so that it would seem that they were the good guys when really they were the bad guys all this time (history is always written by the victors even if those victors aren’t always good). Using the Marmota, Maximillian takes what’s known the holy Valkyrur spear a giant spear that was hidden in the castle and the weapon responsible for the Darscen Calamity. With this giant weapon at his disposal he plans to destroy Gallia and the Imperial Empire, become the Valkyrian Emperor, and you guessed it, take over the world (//youtu.be/X8u7px_GzWQ). But Jaeger doesn’t like this new way of thinking and stands up to Maximillian and Alicia shows up as well (//youtu.be/NJH2X0AIfQ4?t=10s, gotta love Jaeger smiling at the end showing he has no regrets for his actions). After Alicia faints she gets captured by the Imperial soldiers and Welkin and the gang along with Faldio fight their way to the Marmota to rescue her.
In the final episode everyone fights inside the Marmota and use themselves as bait while Welkin looks for Alicia and Faldio is able to redeem himself by sacrificing himself for Welkin (//youtu.be/mllfzCB48Ao). Welkin manages to reach the deck of the Marmota where he and Alicia take on Maximillian (//youtu.be/x55YX45Kk5Y, wow, that was easy. I wish the final battle in the game was this easy. Actually it is easy if you know what you’re doing but the anime makes it look like a cake walk. Also, that was some kiss). With the defeat of Maximillian the Imperial Empire calls for a ceasefire and the 7 month war comes to an end (7 months? Wow, it felt longer than that) and we see what happens to everyone after the war (//youtu.be/dlYYPPjROII). As for Welkin and Alicia they return to their hometown of Bruhl and this is what happens with them in the game (//youtu.be/IxBtFdpnrLc?t=9s, their daughter is so adorable. And why does she have no nose).
Final Thoughts
So how was this anime? Well surprisingly not only is it a good introduction to the series but it’s also a good alternative for those who haven’t played the game. The anime does a good job following the events of the game while also adding their own elements to stay different from the game even playing out some events and characters better than the game. As much as I make fun of Alicia and Welkin’s characters I have to give the anime credit they actually give them more personality than the game. While I prefer Welkin’s game character over the anime character his anime character does a good job at showing how odd Welkin can be and showing how other people view his oddness. He’s still a great tactical commander and the anime does a great job showing his emotional side and how he breaks down when Isara dies and when he can’t see Alicia. I like Alicia better in the anime than in the game. In the game she’s a good character but she just has this nice next door neighbor girl feel to her and nothing more. In the anime she’s more drawn out. She’s funnier, always worrying about Welkin, tries to stay professional in the battlefield but fails, and is weak against guys like Faldio and Welkin. The other characters are either the same as their game character or a little different but not too different where the characters won’t be recognized. Another thing that surprised me about this anime is that the emotional scenes are done way better a few times than the game. They really expand on these emotional scenes drawing you in and making you feel the sadness and burden of them. At times I often felt that the anime was trying too hard on these scenes. The anime also plays out events from the game differently and adds in other events that weren’t in the game. Some of these works while others don’t but for the most part they do work and are a nice addition. One of the additions I didn’t really get into was the love relationships going on between some of the characters, I wasn’t really into the romance going on between Ramal and Isara or Rosie and Zaka mostly because they really didn’t expand on them all that much or explore them they’re just there to be there nothing more. I will admit the love triangle between Welkin, Alicia, and Faldio was an interesting twist but I still think they should have just kept Faldio as the good friend and nothing more. I appreciate you guys trying to give his character more purpose in the anime but no thank you.
The animation is unique and nice to look at. It’s very similar to the game’s cel-shading only more on the anime side instead of on the hand drawn side. It’ll look a little weird at first for those of you not used to it but after a few episodes you’ll come to really appreciate it. Music is nice and triumphant taking original pieces from the game while also adding in their own music score so for those of you who liked the soundtrack from the game I think you won’t be disappointed in the music. Actions scenes are also nicely animated, when something explodes it really does look and sound like an explosion or when someone fires a gun it sounds like a gun. Finally, the lessons and subject matter portrayed in the anime are done excellently. Not once do you feel that anything they try to teach or show you is being forced on you it all fits in perfectly with the anime and game and makes you see the hardships, struggles, and pain of war something a lot of war games and a few other games fail to do today.
Final Score
Valkyria Chronicles scores a strong 7.5/10. If you liked the game and wanna see the story told from an alternate stand point check this anime out and for those of you who haven’t heard of series or played the games this anime is a good alternative and a great introduction to the series and game. If you wanna see a good war-based anime with a great story and characters check out the anime and if you own a PS3 and like playing war games or RPGs I highly recommend going out and playing the game, it really is one of the best games the PS3 has to offer. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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