Hitsugi no Chaika: Avenging Battle – 04
Taaaaail ON!
Welcome back to the Relic Hunt. This leg of the journey takes us to The Writhing Island, and damn if that isn’t a busy place; can you imagine getting a cab from there once the clubs let out? You’re fighting of monsters left and right….
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Shocking Truth!
The most knowledgeable near to death kraken you’ll ever meet…
First off, I want to give BONES the credit where credit is due in the script writing. This was a fairly stock plot, that has been used so many times. Party is split, both get to place after separation with dangerous cliffhangy circumstances, one get’s capture, the other wanders around, other group get’s captured, still more wandering around, an escape, a recapture. But they did it their own way and with a their own blend of background revelation, good characters, and pacing it just so. Not warmed over in the least bit. Just a lifted recipe done right.
Sometimes you just let the picture speak
So with that in mind, we got a huge deal going down as we get closer and closer to this world’s secrets. We’ve had talks back and forth the first season, and it looks like a few of us were correct in some regards. Chaika is an idea, the individuals part of an operating system with one mission: gather the remains of Emperor Gaz. We have become accustomed to this. But Layla laid the groundwork for it for quite some time. If you are a Chaika, you are not what you are made to think you are. The memories, the mission, all of it are implanted. Quite disturbing on a great many levels. On one is it a terrific human rights violation, two, the method itself, and three, taking advantage of the disadvantaged. And since he set the turning of this wheel, we can see why Gaz was known as the Taboo Emperor.
Team Vivi
Old Guy, “So yeah, right after I saw the flying fortresses, I rode away on a pink elephant” Vivi ::facepalm::
Well, we got a ton of plot revelation, so I guess that excuses them for a scandalous short amount of Vivi this episode. But her part of the story isn’t without it’s own set of questions and intrigue. So, roughly eighty or so years ago, they had flying fortresses, what is supposed to be a very recent invention of magictek. So Gaz probably had them at his disposal, and the Allied Nations reverse engineered them, and kept them a closely guarded secret. But what is this team smelling? At one moment it feels like history is suppressed or being re-written. If Gaz can place cat’s paws on distant islands, then having moles in the government isn’t a stretch. It’s a great trick to die, but still live on. Regular folk get a statue or maybe even a post office named after them.
Destiny
So, I have to pay the roaming charges after all?
Wow, they really like to sell us on destiny don’t they? So what is going down. We have massive experimentation on Fayla, the magical creatures of this world. As the Great Wise Kraken explains, what we call magic,a process that needs human tools to realize, is a natural part of their lives. It’s about as amazing to them as a chameleon changing color, or a cheetah running really fast. Which is to say, not that special, as it’s just what they do. But by our perspective, it’s pretty boss. So..going out on a limb here. What if Gaz want to come back as a Fayla himself, with all the power he developed in his previous life, cut loose of it’s limitations. His very thoughts become reality. And this fella like to think big and nasty. No wonder the Great Wise Kraken wasn’t looking forward to destiny being fulfilled. Layla may have been a piece of work, but she at least separated herself from this plan.
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So what does all this mean for the fate of the Chaika’s. Layla showed them that there is independence, but her’s came with an incredible disdain for the world she was born into, and the fate she was supposed to fulfill. She went into despair and came out strongly vengeful. Something which she seemed not to have any problems with at all. But, Chaika Trabant knows this. Does she know it well enough? Can she break her programming and find her own path in the world? Can Bodhran? Or, indeed, any of the others? Vivi might even be a wild card, as she is searching for answers in other places. And, did Gaz have a daughter or not? There is at least the rumor that she was beheaded, and Izmach certianly sees that still mysterious neck scar both Red and White are confirmed to share as proof of something. So many pieces to this…
…a dragoon LOLi is fine, too…
Ah goodness, I love this show. They’ve taken some old fantasy ideas and very much made them their own, all the while bringing new ideas in. I’m anxious to see exactly how these mechanization’s play out in future episodes, and very much want to see Gaz, however he comes back into play, receive a glorious comeuppance for his awful deads. It can start with Izmach getting on the bad end of a demi-human rebellion, cause that looks like it’s brewing. So, thanks for joining me, can’t wait to see what you think of it all…
Preview
Yessssssssss
Bodhran still bringing that backstory…
Great…so neither one of us gets to confess to Touru…
Free LOLi. Must. Heterochromia TwinTail. Get.
About skylion
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
POWUH: 400-499 with 462 comments
Check out the collar.
“The Chaikas discover the private “Emperor Gaz in the bath” photo collection.”
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
RE: Check out the collar. You know, I was just far to disturbed by the scene to take that collar in. F-ing hell, I don’t want my imagination to work on that….
And you’re in the running for lowest and best caption as of right now.
POWUH: 400-499 with 462 comments
To tell the truth I had to go back and look to catch the collar myself. That moment… even though it essentially confirmed one of the theories I had about the Chaikas, it was not a comfortable scene to watch. Thinking about all those girls… Hell, we’ve seen Vivi. How many innocent, good people like her have had their lives stolen for the sake of this plan?
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
..and all of that ties into the theme of individuality that I feel the series is working very well.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
So my theory on the last post about all Chaikas being manipulated girls with a makeover was spot-on. With her spirit broken, it’ll be interesting to see Chaika goes from here. Will she abandon Gaz’s remains and make a life of her own or will she continue and use the remains for whatever purpose she sees fits? The latter would be perfect revenge after finding out you’ve been royally screwed over. She, however, hasn’t accumulated any malice to become depraved like Layla did.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I must defend Chaika. She is wavering, but she isn’t broken quite yet.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
‘Excellent says Emperor Gaz. It is all going as I have foreseen! The last of the Jedi shall turn!’
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Quite a strategist if he planned this far ahead.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Well, he is a fantasy villain.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
True.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
But if no Chaikas are real, then who DID the heroes kill and behead in Gaz’s palace back then?
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…ah, that is the question. Decoy?
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Yeah, I’d go with decoys.