Hitsugi no Chaika: Avenging Battle – 08
A quiet time alone….
Let’s Chaika to the Max! Well, that was just a bit on the lackluster side, for proceedings that looked to be hotting up. Which is not to say that this episode lacked a great many cool moments, just that on the side of the actual combat, I feel it could have been a bit more intense…
The Bells of Contention
At the center of the web
But it isn’t all that bad, as this episode put payed to several promises they’ve made over the course of the previous two or three. The Hartgen faction has stacked the deck in their favor, and it really looks like it’s Chaika Hartgen (Cardcaptor Sakura herself!) herself that is the master player in this game. Since the day she arrived, she’s done nothing short of manipulating events to favor her agenda. Not only does she get the resources of a king to play with, but it looks like she has a natural way of surrounding herself with her others. I really like how they have framed her character in so many of the animation cuts, she will usually be at center with the camera moving around her. She’s observing the dominoes falling exactly as she planned.
But to what end? If it is all out war she’s after, then why this elaborate stage all along. The questions still remain as to why, but the how and when, those are becoming much more obvious as the preemptive strike discussed last episode, is well and fully coming into fruition. I’ve never been less than suspicious of the peace this continent boasts to having. They had warfare for hundreds of years, and you don’t break that mold with ease…
The Strands of the Web
Chaika Dalek <—-clicky thingy
Ok, this scene and these minions! Oh my goodness. The amount of mental filtering I had to apply within seconds is quite prodigious, as I had to, with Mind’s Eye ‘shopping, redress each character in black. This very very nearly broke it for me. Yeah, I know, they’ve had White, Red, Blue, Vivi, and Black…but there is such a thing as keeping the bird in the cooker for far to long. And yes, Vivi is a color now. Its my post, I’ll make up colors if I want to. But all in all this was actually not a badly layered scene, if not a bit to overdone. Before we got to find out why they had so many coffins stored away, an important detail, a pack of Skittles blows up all pointy bits out.
That Vivi has some powah!
I complain about the lack of tension the combat scenes bring, in so far as movement and action are concerned. But I’m not really being fair, as they are meant to have more emotional impact than sanguine martial savoir faire; though it does have that in the above image. This was a fight against your comrades, and set up all for the benefit and amusement of the Black Chaikas. Vivi had to save a comrade by literally disarming another. Bodhran quit rather than see David injured any more. and Trabant had to see all her friends fail in the final hour. I could almost hear Chaika Hartgen calmly and with great satisfaction state, “All to easy”
Extras
I kept it rather short and sweet this week, as the show feels like it is naturally going into it’s final act, this is one trajectory that didn’t need to much mulling over. We are still left to ponder the mysteries we’ve already had for some time, and we get a new batch of tension to go along with. Did Red really give up that easily, and does Vivi still have it in the tank.?But more important, will Toru let go of the mission he’s been on with Chaika to save her life and freedom? They did discuss their changing values in the quiet moment I posted at first. So, tell me how you feel this will end up…
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POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Frederica’s becoming the Kenny of this series. Honestly. All it’s lacking is a catchphrase.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…did you catch the caption I gave that pic?
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 154 comments
I’m just confused how those arrows went through her armor.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Well, they certainly weren’t normal. Toru and Akari’s mentor said the arrows were designed to seal a dragoon’s power. Plus I’m sure that armor is just Fredrica’s skin and her transformed appearance makes it look like armor to throw off curiosity.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 154 comments
I could be wrong but I thought he was talking about the magic circle and the arrows were just arrows. That explanation does not explain how she summons her sword since saying that is just a talon makes it seems like her form is an illusion, when it clearly it her changing forms. Again I could be wrong, but this would mean her armor is actual armor.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I don’t have an easy explanation for it either. But I will fall back on what I learned covering Black Bullet, if they ain’t gonna explain, I ain’t gonna cover for ’em.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Seriously, what rules haven’t been violated in this “tournament”? They’re just using any excuse to sidetrack the chosen fighters for Hartgen’s game.
Hartgen possessed by Gaz isn’t such a hard thing to buy into. I would make sense to why he would grin so ecstatically despite on the verge of crossing death’s door. If so, my theory in this would be that the Black Chaika was sent as a catalyst to further rouse his desire for war suppressed by peace. If not and the Black Chaika is calling all the shots, she hit the right spots to make him her ideal puppet.
That scene with the coffin hiding a surprise… Chaikas for every household!!!
Agreed on the fights. They were lacking and hastily paced to the point they felt anticlimactic and devoid of tension but given the short amount of time remaining before the episode’s end, I guess it couldn’t be helped. Two episodes remaining. How this story ends is anyone’s guess.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
I stick by the theory ‘By all your Chaikas combined, I am Emperor Gaz!’
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
You keep dreamin’…
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Whatever floats your boat, brah. 😉
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Chaika x Chaika x Chaika x Chaika x Chaika x (etc)= Gaz.
You’re gonna need a bigger boat for this ship….
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Then we’ll commandeer a Man o’ War. Because there’s an overabundance.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I want an aircraft carrier!
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
I will take a Super Star Destroyer.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
I agree that the fights were too quickly done. But I suppose since they only have 10 episodes to cover this particular story they had to get through all the fights in this episode quickly because there was a lot else that had to be covered now.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
That leaves to wonder if a total of 10 episodes was really the only choice or if there was enough material for two more but the studio decided to cut away some they felt was unnecessary.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Kadokawa, Chaika’s LN publisher, is handling the episode count.
Some think Avenging Battle only got 10 episodes because Chaika Season 1 Blurays sold poorly in Japan.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I hope this sort of practice, if true, doesn’t become commonplace. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
Three lefts, however….
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
PS. The publishers, studio or both may have been trying to cut costs and losses.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
How the series ends will determine if those were the right courses of action or not.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
This week on 5 and a half Chaikas:
Chaika, Chaika, and Chaika have been killing Chaika to make puppet zombie Chaika. Chaika(x3) make Chaika fight Gillette, and then Chaika must fight Chaika. Only Chaika gives up. Chaika has Chaika captured regardless. Fate uncertain for Chaika and Chaika, but most of all Chaika.
-Plot summary from reddit
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…and I followed along with it perfectly..
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Too much “Chaika” in one comment!! *brains burns out*
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I thought the amount of fighting was fine, but then I usually get turned off by excessive fighting (excessive being pretty much anything more than this).
I think it’s interesting the various ways they keep showing us for the Chaikas to gather the remains. Because that’s what Black is doing as well: having other people get them and bring them to you is just as valid a way to do it as going to get them yourself. What I haven’t figured out is why there are three of them.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 154 comments
That is did seem odd to me as well. Based on how the Chaikas are created they would have to be either triplets or three girls who knew each other and got turned at the same time. It could just be that an original black created the other two somehow and for some reason.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I don’t mind fighting to any excess, so long as they are able to blend the narrative elements in; this one had the emotional impacts on the heavy side, so the combat felt hollow. IOW Rushed.
Chaika Hartgen is the mistress of efficiency; perhaps Ilina and Alina are her “cloud” servers? Some sorta magic amplifier? Dunno. They still creep me out with that “Papa” bit…