Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta – 07-09
We interrupt your regularly scheduled teen romance for death.
 |
Well this show certainly changed gears fast and seems to have no intention of going back. The war part seems to be just as interesting as the awkward teen romance/depressing backstories though, so that’s good. |
And no one ate dinner that night.
Did anyone not see this coming? Well, Mitty is dead and it was sad for a bit afterwards, but really, after the hand holding the last episode, this was probably expected. …And of course he couldn’t have just parachuted off the plane because… er, do injuries hinder parachuting? I imagine they do and hopefully Mitty wouldn’t have been saved had he just jumped from the plane. Poor Chiharu. At least the team accomplished something though, since the main force might have been devastated had they not known where the enemy was. …And then in the next episode they kill even more side characters off. Who knows when Fausto and Kal learned to work so well with one another, but I guess this is a case of fighting for a common cause bringing people together. His death was mildly depressing, as was Wolf’s. Ari looked like she came close to death, but she also had the plot protection of being in the same plane as the main character, so her arm injury was slightly less worrying than it could have been if she had been paired with someone else. But hey, Koiuta did well in making the minor side character’s losses mean something despite how little some of them were developed. The friendship and camaraderie was well developed at least and the characters all being extremely depressed in these latest episodes is only to be expected.
Then to make matters even more interesting, Koiuta added even more angst into the story with Claire finally revealing that she was Nina Viento. After a love confession between her and Kal, of course. So now they both have things to brood over! Yay! Her self loathing here was actually really nicely done, and it’s more believable in a way that she would come out with the truth after the emotional struggle of losing friends (and maybe blaming herself because she didn’t do anything sooner; not that it would have made much of a difference) than just telling Kal the truth out of the blue. This also pushes Kal neatly out of the way (in theory), since he’s the one who would be most opposed to Claire dropping out of school. …This particular sequence of events is probably for the best anyways. It’s probably better for Kal to deal with him loving his arch enemy, his PTSD, and the loss of his friends altogether instead of him getting over all of the death and then learning about Claire and having to deal with that. Now he can get all of his angst over at once (in theory).
It’s probably important to note that Ignacio is Claire’s body guard. …Which doesn’t really explain why he’s in the same dorm as Kal since he should probably be in Claire’s dorm watching over her (even when they assigned the dorms even before Claire met Kal, Ignacio was there), but maybe he’s there to make sure Kal doesn’t try anything. Not that he will anymore. Ari didn’t really react too much to Nina being Claire, and she figured it out really quickly, but I guess this just points out how close they’ve become off screen. Kal and Ari also had some nice sibling moments in the past couple episodes. In any case, between this and the whole war in general, Ari’s optimistic personality is a welcome character trait here. She was maybe a bit much at the beginning of the series, but her attitude is what the characters need right now. Likewise, maybe having Ignacio shove Kal into the lake is what Kal needs at the moment.
…I wish I could say more about the action scenes, but I honestly have no idea about them. Are firing shotguns(?) and forming circular formations really effective aerial battle strategies? Considering how the Sky Clan seemed to have some sort of automatic guns, no wonder so many characters died. Er, that, and the fact that this was their first time in actual combat. In any case, the shaky camera wasn’t as jarring as it was in the first episode. Maybe I’m just used to it at this point, since they used it even for the characters who were standing on the ground.
The Sky Clan is obviously not as primitive as Isla first thought, and that probably screwed the characters over in the fight. Likewise, the Sky Clan is far from being harmless as well. I’m not entirely sure about the last name, but Fana (Juana, whatever) was the name of the princess in Toaru Hikuushi e no Tsuioku, so that’s not just a coincidence. Likewise, Levamme was the name of the kingdom that the movie took place in. …So it’s looking less likely that the Sky Clan is just misunderstood, since Fana seemed pretty levelheaded and accepting of people who were different in her last appearance. After all, she accepted Charles, and he was hated by everyone else due to his lineage. …Long story short, as far as Tsuioku showed, Fana’s judgement can be trusted. If she’s willing to join the characters in Koiuta in their fight, then they’re probably not doing anything too wrong. Though it’s still questionable as to why the Sky Clan is attacking.
Things got dramatic, but like I said above, they developed the characters juuuust enough to make most of the deaths matter. It would have been nice if we had seen maybe a bit more of them, but at least there’s the sense of loss here because the anime has long since established that all of them are close friends. This shift from heartfelt interactions to life or death plane battles isn’t as jarring as I thought it would be. Part of that is all of the unease that they put into episode 6, but a lot of that is also due to having watched Tsuioku beforehand. That movie balanced the character interaction really neatly with the action scenes, so I was kind of expecting Kal and the others to be fighting for their lives eventually. Why else would the anime put the characters into a flight school and spend time on a training montage?
There should be an interesting reveal about Ignacio the next episode. …Or in some episode coming up.
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: Metanorn Lover with 154 comments
I do have to agree that the students were pretty much screwed in this fight. The technological advantage of having automatic guns definitely made them a force to be reckoned with. In all seriousness though the horrible defensive tactics used by the students should have gotten them killed in the first couple seconds. If you instructor tells you that the best defensive formation is to hover stationary in a circle you should tell him he is retarded. As far as I’m aware the best way to stay alive in aerial combat is to keep moving as much and as fast as possible to avoid getting hit. In my mind I was very annoyed at them for thinking that was a good idea.
The reason Mitty did not jump from the plane was because he wanted to try to draw the enemies away. They would definitely notice if the plane was just abandoned. He hoped to continue flying and deceive them into thinking both people were still on board.
Besides a few gripes they were good episodes.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Huh. I figured as much about the battle tactics. The Mitty thing makes more sense too now. Er, hopefully they learn new battle tactics, or else the next fight will be equally depressing. The emotions of the episodes were all really good though.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
The episodes were bittersweet. Sweet that Kal and Claire were getter closer but bitter that it had to end due to painful revelations about each other. Not to mention a bunch of teenagers were forced to give up their lives protecting their home. They may have won the battle but the price was way too high. I knew some were eventually going to die but not to the point it would be this gruesome to watch. It was almost like watching Shingeki no Kyojin again with Eren’s friends dying all around.
I’m surprised Kal was able to tell Claire was Nina Viento by a simple facial expression instead of having her say it herself or wearing her costume. His confusion is understandable. No one would take well to idea of loving someone who you hold responsible for the death and ridicule of your parents.
As for Ignacio kidnapping Kal, I’m sure it’s to give him a reality check accepting what’s in front of him instead of locking himself away and sulking. A sort of motivation so he can be ready for another eventual fight and to settle with whatever demons he has with Claire/Nina. Plus, he’s probably going to say the Wind Revolution wasn’t her idea to make her less of a monster in his eyes.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Kal and Claire would have to come to an understanding eventually. Ahaha yeah, they kind of starting knocking off characters like Shingeki no Kyojin. Though this was considerably less well animated. Perhaps the military training they received was on the same level though.
Well, why else would she know that Kal was Carl? Though that blank look she gives as Nina is pretty distinct.
Ignacio is probably going to finally let Kal know exactly why he hates the old royal family. It will involve a plot twist that seems kind of obvious in retrospect, considering how the rest of the coincidences in this anime have worked out.