Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta – 2-3
“I know we just sent your mother off to die, but you’re my son now.”
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I don’t think I’ll ever really like the OP to this anime, but the ED is slowly growing on me. …The more I watch this too, the more the animation seems less than spectacular (at least, regarding the characters; the backgrounds and planes are nice to look at). The story is coming along nicely though~. |
Well, the world developing is interesting. Apparently there are explanations as to why there are floating islands, and the world has it’s own legends and mythical places. It’s questionable as to why the characters need to learn how to handle themselves in dogfights during this adventure to the end of the world, but that seems to be a political issue that the adult characters are sidestepping for now. They’ll probably go into that later, but the information they’ve given so far has been rater interesting.
It’s nice to see the character relationships slowly developing too. You can actually see why the characters all staying at the dorm are becoming friends, while adding in introductions and how they all know each other. This feels much more natural than Claire and Kal’s relationship, and better than the plot suddenly dropping all of these characters and going “everyone is friends now; it happened offscreen or something”. With everyone getting along from introductions, it’s just so much easier to accept that they get along later. These side characters are probably never going to be as important as the 4 main ones, but it’s nice that they all have some kind of backstory and personality (even if most of them are stereotypical). The group being friends continued on into episode 3 with Claire as an addition, and that worked really well.
Though maybe it’s not fair to compare the dorm relationship to Kal and Claire’s since it’s obviously supposed to be some grand love at first sight thing. Going into episode 3, she seems to have an awful lot of faith in him too. Kal made a lot of mistakes, but Claire stuck by him despite his failures and doesn’t seem to think less of him because of them. …Though it would have been nice if she had told Fausto to stop being such an ass or had defended Kal instead of just standing there. She’s probably the highest ranked out of all of them, so maybe Fausto would have listened to what she had to say. Though she also seems rather passive and nobody questions the fact that nobility outranks everyone else, so that’s probably why. Maybe she’s a bit sheltered too. On the other hand, Claire seems to have an understanding about some things that regular rich kids probably wouldn’t have. It seems weird that she knows how to fly planes and how to effectively shoot guns while flying planes. Maybe that’s just what rich families are taught in this world though, since Fausto and others are there too.
Kal actually has a pretty valid reason for hating Nina Viento. Yes, overthrowing royalty don’t usually happen without reason and Kal’s mother seemed to have some kind of idea that something bad was happening from the flashbacks shown. From how they were shown though, Kal’s parents were nice enough people and his mother didn’t want him to blame anyone. Nina and that ossan with her clearly looked like the villains in the flashback. However, maybe this depiction is heavily influenced by the fact that the flashback was shown through Kal’s perspective and the truth is that his parents were actually terrible rulers/people. There certainly seemed to be a lot of hate directed towards them that had no explanation offered as to what started it. Even if that’s true though, the flashback was still effective in the sense that this was the truth that Kal knows. From a small child’s perspective, his parents were wrongly killed for no reason and the obvious person to hate would be the one who killed them. At least he didn’t become an all around awful person thanks to a rather lax system regarding prisoner deaths and adoption. Having Ariel’s father take him in was probably for the best.
The flashback probably explains Ignacio’s hate for Kal too. While Kal’s parents were being overthrown for whatever reason, Ignacio was obviously not very well off and probably blamed all of his suffering on Kal’s family. His issue with Kal now is probably just a carryover from his terrible childhood and on top of that, he’s just not very social to begin with (probably also to do with said terrible childhood), which is why he doesn’t bother interacting with the rest of the dorm. …The way Ignacio and Ariel became partners was rather disappointing, since it was mostly just because Kal partnered with Claire instead of his sister. Maybe future interactions will make up for that. …Plus now that I think about it, I can’t think of how else they would have plausibly become partners.
Well, the story seems to be getting better as it goes on and we learn more about the characters and setting. The circumstances around Kal’s parents dying and his desire for revenge is interesting, even if Claire and Kal’s relationship isn’t. Really, the flashbacks in this anime seem to be more interesting than present day. The relationship between the dorm members is nice, but Fausto having issues with Kal is pretty cliche. Ignacio’s hate for Kal is pretty cliche too, but at least he has the explanation of his (presumably) awful childhood where Fausto just doesn’t seem to like Kal because Kal got in the way of what he wanted once. Oh well, maybe they’ll expand on that. Things certainly got better in this anime once they expanded on Kal’s background, so hopefully this continues to get better as the episodes go on. It’s not groundbreaking at all, but at least it hasn’t been boring so far.
More flashbacks ahead
About Karakuri
University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
While the animation leaves much to be desired, the story is progressing well and beginning to build anticipation. Kal’s had it rough but is lucky someone was there to take him in when no one else would, even if means that person getting in trouble for it. I applaud him for not letting his much justified anger poison his personality to the point he becomes unlikable and pushes everyone away unlike Ignacio who needs to be taken down a few pegs.
As for Claire, I’m not really angry at her for not being responsive. Given how she was raised, especially with that “guardian” who was against her attending the school, she’s most likely lived her like that of a doll in her family, having being told what to do all the time and everything decided for her while being unable to have any say in it. It’s a habit that needs breaking so hopefully with her interactions with Kal, she’ll find the resolve to stand up for herself.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Oh, yeah, I guess Kal and Ignacio are supposed to be character foils all around. I didn’t even notice the similarities there. But yeah, yay for Claire being there, I guess.
Er, I’m not really angry at Claire either. …And thanks to what I assume was a large novel spoiler (first StB and now this, I never learn), I can see why she wouldn’t do anything even more now.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
Pure speculation
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I feel that Karl’s behavior is totally different from his intent and history. For someone who had his parents murdered primarily due to Nina’s involvement and is plotting to get revenge against Nina, he’s too happy-go-lucky and all around cheerful. Seems too unrealistic. Every now and then they toss in a scene of him brooding so we don’t forget he’s still looking for revenge. >.<
I'm hoping the interactions between Claire and Karl get better, because the whole thing seems forced, as Karakuri mentioned. From the initial meet to the later pairing, none of it generates any real feeling. If you told me Karl developed a bromance with Fausto I'd find that more believable.
I am curious though as to what they're being trained for… Scouts? Reserve fighters? The planes they have don't have any weaponry that I can see, and using a rifle in the air to fight another plane in an open cockpit isn't very efficient in a dogfight. Maybe if they were attacking a blimp, then I could understand…
My initial take on Ignacio was that he was a loyalist to the old empire and was disappointed in what Karl was doing, but from the flashback it doesn't seem to be the case. Hmmm…
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Want an answer to the speculation?
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I have no idea about specific circumstances though.
Hmm, yeah. Kal has his good and bad moments. We know that he was cheerful before his childhood was ruined and then he became really angst ridden, but we have no idea about how he became cheerful again. I think -maybe- the flashbacks of his childhood will fix that weird gap.
As a side note, I really do hope that Fausto and Kal develop a bromance. It would just be really satisfying to see the two getting along after Fausto being so obvious about hating Kal.
….That’s another good question. I think the first episode showed the planes being equipped with guns? I don’t know.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
Spoiler (maybe)?
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End spoiler.
Pew pew. I hit your plane with a rock. You’re out! Please stop trying to shoot me and get off the field, plzkthx.