First Impression – Hitsugi no Chaika Avenging Battle

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Avenging Battle!

 Chaika. Battle! Avening! Relic Hunt is return. New Impressions! A first. Chaika! Happy to see. Skylion return!

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The Princess that Gathers the Remains

Chaika Avenging 01-01

Go Team White!

I have to say, I was ready for a complete recap. I know I was unkind to this show in the middle of it’s original run. But this opener didn’t feel like a filler episode, one that I was waiting three months for; leaving me in a lurch for a week with a unslakable thirst for the next one. With some dynamic pacing they made the element of “what we already know” blend in with the newer elements this cour is going to explore. The opening covered the past and the war, the recent past with the Floating Fortress incident, and paced that very well with Chaika fighting for the prize. Thank you for defeating my expectations Bones! GJ-bu!

Chaika Avenging 01-02

The pacing was the thing. By cutting from Chaika and company on their new battle ground to the Round Table of Feckless Bureaucrats, they managed to make what was basically re-exposition much more topical. We started with fleshing out a tale told only as history so far, how Gaz was defeated by the Eight Heroes, and how Gaz took the mechanizations necessary to bring about his own prophecy of eternal life. And as a special bonus, one more reference to a real world Soviet manufacturer in Izmach. We know he set up resources outside his empire, and we know it’s been done in secret. Some sort of misdirection? Whatever tangled web the Taboo Emperor wove in the past, it surely involved his daughter. But the question of fake and identity still haunt this show.

Chaika Avenging 01-03

Ze Back Scratcher!…uh…Ze Potato Peeler!….wait….Ze….Never Mind…..

And so we move on to our heroine. This was something I felt needed work in the original series. Girl, your incantations are to darn long (and way to leave dat syntax like an elephant in the room!). More often than not, she took herself out of the main fight, reducing her options to support, by having a long casting time. So it’s good to see her get back to basics and really focus on what magic is in this world. The basic analysis works, memories of the past, things that hold mental or emotional weight. That makes Gaz’s remains still the prime magic property so far. But the caster is also the thing; as our newest hero, Claudia Dodge is able to express. She has her Gundo arts down to precision, and shows that Chaika still has a long way to go. Let’s be fair, Chaika is a brave girl, and honorable to a fault, but she is still timid in the face of it all. That’s part of her charm, but she might have to face changing how she looks at the world sooner rather than later.

Chaika Avenging 01-05

She makes wine and kicks yer arse good

With Claudia we get several things at once in her character. In the previous series, we saw the heroes in all manner of situations. From a sheltered noble,a departed knight leaving behind a forlorn dragoon that turned partner in crime, a guy lost in the fog, and a band of ne’er do wells bent on world conquest. Claudia is the most well adjusted of the bunch. She is not only content with her vinting lifestyle, she’s succeeding on her own terms. We’ve seen what the sudden departure of war has done to the returning soldiers, and she is doing something about it. Also in exploring her character we come upon another hold out from the first series. She wasn’t actually there to witness the end of Gaz. Neither was Fredrica, as she not in the Throne Room either. Information runs scarce and spotty in this show.

Chaika Avenging 01-04

Shocking White

But oh, there is a new Chaika in town. This was one wrinkle that I loved about the show. Vivi could have been reduced to a quivering mess by her sudden and emotional transformation. But she remains strong. But, leave it to Guy to manipulate things. She has a new mission now, collect the remains, just like any other “chaika”. And here is where it hit me. Chaika is an idea. This idea may or may not be a person, but it’s a strong idea, a function. We know it’s a force set in motion before the first series began. How our characters react to this, Chaika White, Red, Blue and now Not Chaika!Vivi, will say a great deal about their own identity. I found it compelling that Vivi is fighting to remain herself. Will she or won’t she buy into this new program. Can she rely on her old team.  How will her coterie manage without Gillette leading them?

Chaika Avenging 01-L&L

Keep Watching!

And so with a great return to a great show, I’ll cover a few more things before I leave. We have the return of Vivi’s VA, Iori Nomizu on our new OP “Shikkoku wo Nuritsubuse” and the coffin princess team of Chika Anzi aka Chaika Travant, Saeko Zougou aka Chaika Bodhran, and Yui Makino aka Layla on the ED, Watashi wa Omae no Naka ni Iru. Nice to see the kept that intact from the last series. And it looks like all the usual suspects from direction, writing, and art were kept intact. It’s like they didn’t even need three months, as quality didn’t even drop. Kidding, they probably needed it, it’s the way of budgeting these days.

Wow, this was a nice ride and it promises much more action in the weeks and months to come. They kept all the things I loved about the original. The TRPG fantasy feel, the balance between achieving the mission and delivering character development, and the sense of mystery about a past that refuses to die. They brought it back, and it looks like they haven’t forgot what made it all work in the first place. I’m excited. How about you?

Chaika Avenging 01-06

Next Episode: The Return of a Favorite. Shocking Truth!

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All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion
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33 Responses to “First Impression – Hitsugi no Chaika Avenging Battle”

  1. Wanderer says:

    Vivi… Stay strong! Don’t let Guy destroy who you are!

    In other news, one thing I liked about this first episode is it managed to demonstrate in a single quick and easy scene something that the entire first season didn’t really explain: just what Tooru and Akari’s Iron Blood Transformation does. I mean, we could deduce that it was a form of super-soldier powerup, but they never really showed that off for us. But in this episode it was demonstrated very easily: they activated it and instatly began moving much faster, and displayed feats of significant strength. It was a great use of “show don’t tell,” and it was really all we ever really needed in the first season, but didn’t get.

  2. Di Gi Kazune says:

    The Chaika in that nightie reminds me of Hermione with that pose. Avakadava!

  3. Soliloquy says:

    Nice to see the anime come back. Adorable and innocent Chaika in full animated glory was exciting. Like you I appreciate the character like Claudia, very strong in spirit and highly skilled.

    The next episode will be even better now the red Chaika will be back, too. I hope this time, it’s just one shot episodes. I feel she’s just as important to the plot as the other Chaikas. It was nice to see the flashback when Gaz was still alive.

    • skylion says:

      The writers have been keeping us in the dark, more or less, about the past. I wonder if they will continue to reveal more to us than the characters will get to know?

      • Soliloquy says:

        I just realised I made one typo. What I meant to say Red chaika to have more screen time than the first season. Goshdangit! I’m sort of mixed about that it’s going to be 10 episodes. It’s great that it’s not going to have filler episodes on the other hand I will miss this anime when it ends.

  4. HannoX says:

    Man, it’s just like there was never a three month gap. It essentially picks up right where it left off.

    Good to see ViVi is fighting her transformation into another Chaika. And I’m happy that Chaika Red is returning. I hope she sticks around longer this cour. I want to see the different Chaikas interacting, either against or with each other. I think that’s where this series could be at its best rather than the quest of gathering Gaz’s remains.

    I liked Claudia and not just because she was a cool, has it together character. Most soldiers are able to return from war and after a period of adjustment resume normal lives. Of course, a large part of that is if they have something to give meaning to their lives. Claudia has that with her vineyard and winery and gave other ex-soldiers something productive to do by employing them and they all have the goal of producing the best wine they can.

  5. zztop says:

    LN readers say quite some content was simplified for the anime. From Season 1:

    Show ▼

    • skylion says:

      Show ▼

    • d-LaN says:

      Its pretty much a known fact among those who have LN knowledge that the first season skims through the first 6 volumes. Unfortunately I still haven’t picked the 6 LNs up due to me getting sidetracked by various other stuffs.

      Depending on my whims, I could provide some LN comparison posts for the 7th volume (which I think the anime is currently at) like what I did for STB/BB. But we shall see if I can win the battle with laziness 8D

      • BlackBriar says:

        Depending on my whims, I could provide some LN comparison posts for the 7th volume (which I think the anime is currently at) like what I did for STB/BB. But we shall see if I can win the battle with laziness 8D

        Both you and zztop were feeding the addiction. 😀

        • skylion says:

          Well for me it’s always, make a good story for the medium. I tend not to worry what volume what done when and at what time. It really does save me a ton of “they ruined it 4EVAH!” grief.

          I practiced well over a decade ago with the LOTR films. When they were announced being made in 98 it had been about five years since I had read the books. Didn’t pick them up a reread them until Return was out…

  6. BlackBriar says:

    Chaika’s back! Who knew I’d miss her fragmented speech pattern so much? And I wouldn’t dare leave out the badass saboteurs Toru and Akari. I wish I could see more now. A shame Avenging Battle only has a total of 10 episodes.

    Finally, Emperor Gaz has a face the audience can identify. It was off putting how he was the most talked about individual in the series yet no one knew what he looked like so as to give their opinion on him. Glad that’s been put to rest so the show can flow smoother.

    I’m pitying Vivi for her denial in the face of what Guy but the news of her amnesia and her already transformed state, it’s hard not to come to the conclusion that she may be another Chaika. One thing that’s been on my mind regarding the whole series. If all the Chaikas have one common goal, what happens to those who haven’t collected the remains and what of the one who manages to get the job done? We already know the Blue Chaika last season had her life uprooted because of the all-consuming task and it caused her to go down a darker road.

    • skylion says:

      I hope it’s ten episodes of quality.

      The show has always been about the road to self-discovery and identity to me, so the questions you ask…I hope they come to answers in this outing.

  7. Di Gi Kazune says:

    Hmmm… It seems Chaika has a new pimp. The name is Yen Press.

  8. thorgriim says:

    Well its good to have our choppy sentance Chaika back, How I missed her and this series. I have watched a lot of bones shows and this one is just another one to add to the pile. Like everyone else, I like that they put us right into the episode, while feeding us a bit of recap here and there.

    So in this episode felt like a training episode for our gang, mostly for Chaika anyways. I also felt like the episode in Ffullmetal Alchemist, with Ed and Alphonse training with Izumi. Much training Chaika needs indeed, Shorten your casts girl! your halfway there with the way you talk already! Other then that, Chaika sure can put away those grapes, and look she even wanted wine.. how cute.

    anyways Good to have this series back, It was quite an entertaining series with many mysteries, so hopefully we’ll get some more of that with this season! Grape on Chaika..Grape on!

  9. No! I dont want Chaika to have to change but I see your point. And I agree that everyone involved with Chaika The Coffin Princess Avenging Battle project knows what worked from Season 1.

    • skylion says:

      Welcome back Cassandra!Yep, they know what works. But I may take them to task for the third…which I am just starting right now!

  10. […] derp. One of my favorite shows of season’s past was Hitsugi no Chaika and it’s sequel Avenging Battle (with the caveat that the second one was Derp City, Derpania). It’s just a coincidence that I […]

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