Kakumeiki Valvrave 15-16
I think L-elf is getting turned on by all the bloodshed.
Sorry for being super late with these Valvrave posts mostly because my real life stuffs has gotten the better of me, but I did enjoy the short break from blogging! So what is going on with these two episodes? I would say you might as well call it a Marie arc? Anyway let us get right into things!
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The rise and fall of Marie Nobi
Marie is the better pilot Haruto! You should take some notes bro.
Take care Marie! I hope we have not seen the last of you.
When we were first introduced to this oddball character we hardly knew anything about her besides being generally quiet but quick to throw in a funny one liner here and there; however with the second half of Valvrave we have learned so much about her even though to be quite honest I really hate the generic amnesia plot for her character because damn that is so overused in anime! That and on the recent MetaVerse podcast I mentioned that Sunrise has a long history with taking a great side characters and completely wrecking them later on. That said episode sixteen finally revealed the truth that Marie was the original test pilot for the red Valvrave but what was powering the machine back then? Apparently Pino “ate” her memories as fuel which explains why Marie suffered from amnesia as a side effect. I kind of wonder will the same thing will happen to Haruto eventually or nope? Right now I am going to say no because it appears the tech was improved after Marie? That and the side effect he gained makes him turn into a crazed space vampire! So yeah that reveal for her character was great but the saddest part will be thinking about Marie as a space vegetable forever because she is not dead just stuck in a terrible coma until Haruto and the others find the “cure” for their immortal bodies or is there even a way to reverse it in the first place? I mean we continue to get those future scenes with each passing episode, but I still think those moments are just a possible futures that are not set in stone because who knows maybe Haruto will do something to fix everyone? I think that would be a hilarious way for Sunrise to troll everyone into thinking that those future scenes are not the true ending of Valvrave but instead they were created to trick us! I really hope that happens.
Extra Valvrave fun
Marie-“I think Haruto is trying to tell me something, but I have no idea.”
Akira-“Such the drama queen I swear.” Saki-“NOOOO!!”
Even as a little boy she gets all the bishies.
Marie-“fukou daaaaaaaa!!”
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Preview
L-elf- “I call dibs on the captains chair!” Haruto-“Aweee no fair!”
About Foshizzel
Is huge anime fan from Florida! who loves to watch anime and also enjoys drawing and collecting pictures, my favorite genre of anime has to be Mecha, there is just something awesome about giant robots beating the crap out of each other! Other than that type of show, I love a good comedy or action series :D
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I really didn’t have a problem with Marie’s demise. Like I said in the other thread, she was at best a minor character, got a moment in the spotlight, burned bright, hot, and fast, and had a righteous ending.
I find the idea of consuming runes = memories to be far more problematic. It’s completely antithetical to the concept of memes, the spread and mutation of ideas and thought through cultural transmission. I could go with an idea that memetics has power, but the idea that literally erasing someone’s brain has power is just dumb on any second look.
I do wish that Pino had had the ability to stop Marie, just shut down unit 1 and save her, but that didn’t happen. All she did was some weak warnings, pretty disappointing.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
I do think the idea of runes needs to be a bit more pinned down, but I’m guessing it will be when we get a better explanation from Cain or one of the older more experience Magius council.
Right now, L-11, Haruto, Takumi-sensei and the others are all guessing and don’t really have all the pieces. And because Pino has been reset, she can’t talk or explain well because she can’t think of the correct words. They’ve only been able to pin down that runes are the smallest unit of information. However, this information can be in many different forms, from electronic to biological, from dreams, to memories, to DNA. They’ve given “runes” such a broad definition that they really need to pin it down a bit more. Hopefully when they do, it will make more sense.
Also, don’t let Pino’s cute voice fool you. This is the same girl AI that caused Episode 10 to happen, so I’m a little wary of her. Also, I don’t think she has much control of the machine when the pilot’s in control. If she did, she would have taken over from Haruto in the season premier and flew over to meet her brother.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
I think all these events simply illuminate 2 of the series’s biggest questions:
1)What ARE the Valvraves?
2)How many more proverbial skeletons lie within the cupboards of the old JIOR government?
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
@Highway: Yeah I didn’t have a problem with Marie’s final moments because I don’t really count it as “death” I mean sure acoma is not that great either, but who knows maybe there is a way to bring her back and yeah agreed eating memories for power is dumb! Damn it Pino why so evil…
@Irensharda: Yeah we should not trust Pino! That damn AI is quite evil.
@zztop: Those are the same questions I think about with every passing episode.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Ah, I got here late. The only way to even validate a second look is by saying memetics has a chance to ignore the laws of reality. Runes seem to be shaping up to become the “this can happen” particle. So long as they stay consistent, then it could work.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Since these were two especially good episodes, I will post my comments on each seperately.
So, for Episode 15:
Oh my gosh….
WHAT IS WITH VALVRAVE!!!! Every time I watch this show I get more and more blow away and by the end I’m gasping for breath at all the adrenaline this show pulls out of me. This episode was awesome, so many twists and turns, but first, I’ve got to calm down and handle things one at a time.
Okay…first, the flash forwards scene. How the crap is Satomi immortal too? Is EVERYONE going to become freaking Magius by the end of this? Man, if Satomi gets to be a Magius, they’d better turn L-elf into one or else!
Also we have the young prince who looks like a mix between L-11 and Haruto. Saki also talks about the first of them who was a female and became one at 11? I was thinking she was talking about Pino at first, but then Pino looks older than 11. Then as the episode played out, I began to think that they may be talking about Marie. Marie and Pino met 5 years ago, I’m guessing Marie is 16 the same as Haruto, so Marie would have been 11 at the time. Also, Marie does look physically young for her age. She’s mature, but her body looks young. She might have gotten turned into an immortal then, but her mind aged and that’s why she’s so mature.
Then we go back to the present and we see that the team has crash landed and they have consequently landed where Karlstein Institute is located. We begin to see how and where L-elf was made and how he actually had a close relationship with his teammates when they were young. We see that L-11 plans on stealing a ship for transportation, and he stages his plan in pieces. The plan goes well even with hiccups along the way. Akira tries to conquer her phobia and goes out with Saki to infiltrate the army. Unfortunately they don’t seem to grasp that the Dorssian Hitler Youth Brigade will drop you before you even have time to scream. We see Saki’s immortality in action for the first time when she get’s shot point blank. That was a shock to me when I saw it, even if I was expecting something bad to happen. Akira offering the hankie and then later trying out body-jacking got a few laughs from me.
However, everything goes downhill when Haruto wasn’t on his post because he’s being confronted by Marie. Actually, I’m not so surprised at her forwardness in trying to get answers from him. She is very protective of Shoko, and she is really suspicious of this boy that she knows her friend is interested in. Also, she might get some answers from the AI in his Valvrave that somehow knows her. So yeah, I can tell why she was being harsh with him. However, that gunshot to the head…..wow. I really didn’t see it coming. I kept telling people that L-11 is no cuddly bear, he will end you if he feels you are in the way of his goals. We might be seeing some insight, but yeah, still as deadly as ever.
However, I knew she was going to get up. The idea that Marie’s memories are gone because Pino took them away as runes would make sense, but now Pino doesn’t really remember everything because she was reset. I’m guessing that that gunshot might have brought them back? But if not, we have totally changed the dynamic here, with Marie now revealed as one of the Magius.
With the team under fire, the Dorssian soldiers coming after them, and Marie back from the dead, we’re going to be in for a wild ride. Also we’ve found out that Satomi and of course Akira are alive in the wayyy future, so I’m guessing that Magius may be the norm now, or at least a major ethnicity way into the future. Humanity seems to be becoming obsolete.
I give this episode a 9.7/10. The awesomeness has come at us full force.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
15 was crazy!
I know right? What the hell are these giant robots? For the longest time I thought we were going to learn that they are alive just like the Evas of Evangelion or would that be completely insane? I think the answer is a giant YES!
Yeah I think so because Saki’s comment of “we used to think of it as a curse, but not anymore” Made me think that MAYBE she learned to live with it? As for mini L-elf I have no idea how or who he was born from, but I have a feeling L-elf got with Shoko because it explains why Akira is the godmother! I mean Shoko and Akira are kind of close…
LOL that is a interesting group name…yeah L-elfs plan got kind of screwed with Akira and her brother pulling their stunt.
Yep I knew SOMEONE had to discover his secret eventually but I had no idea that Marie would be the one to figure things out! Which lead to her being shot in the head and I wonder did L-elf know she would get right back up again? I wouldn’t be shocked if he knew all along…
AWESOMENESS ALL THE WAY!
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
No, the prophetic L-elf didn’t know this time around. That was why in 16 he asked if she had been in one of the Valvraves and then later if she knew her own body. He didn’t know she was an immortal.
And it makes sense too, since L-elf wouldn’t have to protect the secret of the immortals from a person who was an immortal herself. He would have also known that bullets don’t work and wouldn’t have bothered shooting her.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
True if he knew about her immortal body that would make him way to special imo! I loved the surprise look on Haruto though when Marie stands back up just like a zombie.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
For Episode 16:
Wow, that was awesome, and yet….so tragic…
This was an intense episode…everything was just going wrong. Haruto’s become even more useless, but Marie saved the show, but it cost her everything. However, Marie has shown us the immortals’ weakness. Runes are both their greatest strength and greatest weakness, with them, they can do wonders, but take them all away, and they die.
This episode centered on Marie and her past, and we see that she was the first test pilot of the Valvrave program. Their treatment of an 11 year old girl makes me sick, and I’m beginning to wonder if there were ANY good guys in this war. JIOR is just as bad as the rest of them, maybe worse since they were hiding their true nature under a disguise of neutrality. How dare you criticize Dorssia, JIOR, when you treat your own youth the same way? Hypocrites….
Anyway, Marie and Pino became friends, however, something was wrong with Marie where she has no limiter and so overuses her runes, causing a greater output of power, but also causes her to lose to much at too fast a rate. So, after losing all the memories of her past life, she only had the last two years left.
Back to the battle, because of Haruto’s idiocy, Kyuma and Raizou are getting pummeled by the superior Kirschbaums. Akira on one side and the rest of the students on the other are waiting for the signal from L-11, but everything goes wrong when A-drei realizes L-elf’s presence and plan. Having to speed up his plan, L-elf blows up the bombs prematurely which takes out half the forces. however it separates everyone thanks to the ground caving in and L-elf is with Marie and the Valvrave, Haruto is on his own, A-drei and K-zwolf (Saki) are stuck together, and the students are found out by the army. Everything is going downhill and everything will soon be lost.
That is until Marie decides that the lives of her friends is worth the sacrifice of her memories, and pilots VVV1 like Haruto only wishes he could! As she fights the Dorssian forces saving Kyuma and Raizou, L-elf and Haruto rescue the other students and take the transport. They get a message of assistance from the Dorssian Royalists that are willing to help them.
However, none of that is really important as we watch Marie’s last stand in all its tragic glory. Marie destroys memory after memory as she continues the fight. But she doesn’t let that stop her as she declares that she can just make new ones. However, Pino warns her that she is going to far, and in the end we see that with one last glorious slash of the harakiri blade which decimates their enemies and turns night into day, Marie dies, as she loses even her brain’s autonomic memory of how to breath and maintain a heartbeat.
This episode has changed the game so much and has also raised some questions. We finally get an actual scene with Lieselotte, however she seems much more coy, intelligent and powerful than the I thought she would be. Even Cain seems to be walking on egg shells around her. Is Lieselotte a Magius? This brief scene seems to suggest so.
Marie is the young 11 year-old first kamitsuki that future Saki was talking about, and we can now see why they hold her in such esteem. Speaking of Saki though, it seems that she will be sticking with the Dorssians in her K-12 body for a while. There seems to be something they may try to start between her and A-drei? She seems to be seeing the Dorssian side of things for the first time.
However, in all that fighting and rubble what happened to Akira and Saki’s bodies that currently hold the kids’ consciousness? At least Saki obviously gets hers back eventually, but does Akira? L-elf definitely wasn’t carrying the bodies around with him or anything, and I doubt they had time to get them on the new transport after they blew everything up, so where are they?
Well, maybe they will answer this all in time. As to why the memory thing has only affected Marie so far, that’s another question they will have to go into. My only guess is that instead of Marie feeding off others and supplying runes that way, like Haruto does, they didn’t know she had to feed and so she used her own body’s runes which even while she has a healing factor as an immortal, she doesn’t have an infinite supply of. So, when they ran out, so did she.
Man was this was a magnificent episode, chocked full of suspense, action, tension, character development and tragedy.
Sayonara, Marie Wildfire. You died with honor and I salute you.
This was a 9.5/10.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yeah 16 was tragic indeed!
Yep! I wonder if L-ELF will tell Haruto what happened to Marie? I would guess NOPE because he still has a use for the Valvaves! That and I have a feeling the tech changed after Marie was the test pilot…
This was the best moment of the episode for me! Seeing Marie kick so much ass?! Now will the others discover it was Marie and not Haruto? I wonder how shocking that would be to the others and even Shoko? Funny how Haruto is screwing up shoko’s life I mean she lost her father, love life and now Marie? WAY TO GO HARUTO.
Agreed T____T
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
On the brighter side, Kakumei Dualism is now #2 in Japan’s top 100 billboard this week! 🙂
http://www.billboard.com/charts/japan-hot-100
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Whoaaaa awesome! That is very impressive xD
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Some observations:
1) Back in season 1, there was a scene where Kibukawa tells L-11 that the Sakimori students had been ‘specially prepared’ to pilot Valvraves.
In context of latest developments, I think perhaps this ‘limiter’ was one of the preparations.
2) In the flashback, notice how L-11’s the ONLY one who shot the Dorssian royalist friend without hesitation, while all the others are squirming around uncomfortably. Meaning he’d already established his ruthlessness very early on without, I think, TOO much army conditioning.
3) I wonder if it’s relevant that Liselotte’s purple portable solarium has a Magius symbol on it. Either that, or the Magius are the world’s best solarium-makers, and Liselotte’s upgrading her image from ‘Fair Princess’ to ‘Jungle Princess’.
http://i.imgur.com/JUZWbwR.png
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
1) Yeah I remember that conversation! I wonder if that means there are more pilots to discover they have connections to the Valvraves? I mean they are building another one back at the school >.>
2) Yep! L-ELF is a cold blooded killer when he has to be.
3) I have no idea why she needs to be that tanned!? Like seriously why? LOL
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
2) I wonder if you noticed the differences in the flashback scenes between L-elf and A-drei? There are some interesting discrepancies that are either a major continuity production error, or they are a subtle clue that something is not quite right about this story of the dead royalist teammate friend…
Take a look.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Ahahaha wow that is crazy!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
The double post was suitable for what happened during these two episodes. Judging from the time skip at the start of episode 15 with Satomi being alive and well 200 years in the future, I’ll take a guess that at least the majority of the students survived and became Magius which Haruto’s prior plan to become human went up in flames a long time ago.
Marie’s end is nothing short of a tragedy. I figured when she found about Haruto, she’d either end dead or possibly become a Magius and I almost got both possibilities. What caught me off guard was her being Haruto’s predecessor as a Valvrave pilot and she made him look like a hopeless novice. Like I said in the Metaverse post, there’s no express how annoyed I was with the way Marie was dealt with especially when she was becoming more significant and I was beginning to like her. After the reveal of what her species is, it would have been impossible to kill her but we got sucker punched when Sunrise chose to make her brain dead.
My theories on the difference between Marie and Haruto are: Since was the first test subject, the process was still experimental and had yet to be perfected. Also, there’s an age possibility and if their bodies were mature enough to handle it. Marie was 11 with her change while Haruto had his at 16. Plus, there’s whether or not the bodies were compatible. Even though Module 77 was created as a testing ground for the Valvraves and the students genetically modified, neither is exactly the same as the other, hence Marie with her memory loss and Haruto with his feral outbursts.
L-Elf might end up ceasing to be human as well if he reunites with that princess Lieselotte. The scene with her talking to Cain gave us some insight. That machine she went into after speaking had a pink version of that symbol that appeared in the Dorssian leader Amadeus’ bloodstream when he was bitten and turned into a Magius. Which means Lieselotte is most likely one as well and probably became one right after she and L-Elf separated or maybe she was one even before then.
There was something that didn’t make complete sense to me. The future version of Saki said Marie was the first to become a Magius at 11 years old and in the present, she’s 16 which is 5 years later but that Magius council said Cain has been one of them for ten years. It’s hard to make sense of that.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yeppers it kind of worked out well to talk about both episodes at once because they were all about Marie! Yeah the whole time skip thing makes me think that it might be a possible future that is not set in stone.
Marie > Haruto for pilot status! She was such a badass even though it cost her all her memories T___T
Right I could see that as a possible theory why Marie had her memories eaten by Pino and now Haruto has to give his Valvrave blood or “energy” everytime he bites L-ELF? Yeah age probably has a huge factor as well.
I still think that future is only a possible one at least I hope so!