Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta – 11-12
Team foreveralone
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I wrote my thoughts on episode 11 a looong time ago, but never got around to posting them. So here they are separately from episode 12 because I don’t want to rewrite anything to make this post flow better. Hooray laziness. I didn’t have much to say about episode 12 anyways, so things kind of worked out. |
Episode 11
Obviously, the Isla head officers in charge of this expedition are all participants in the “worst military command ever” competition. Why the hell wouldn’t they trust a student report if they’re going to force them to be a part of the battle? Also, wasn’t it a student plane/flare that originally saved all of their asses (and was subsequently shot down afterwards) when they couldn’t figure out where the enemy was because they’re all terrible at this whole military tactics thing? Though of course, the students flying so close to the main ship in order to observe it was also a really, really terrible idea on their part. Couldn’t they have done that from afar? And maybe not have dumped their weapon/ammo over the edge of the plane?
Rainbows make everything better.
Well, there was a scare with Benji (yay for short nicknames) and Noriaki, but what else is new. Hell, they even almost died twice, because Koiuta apparently enjoys screwing with people. The two definitely had their death flags raised this episode after the confession. …Or at least, Benji had his up and Noriaki had the misfortune of being in the same plane as the guy with the death flag. But anyways, it seemed rather likely that they would join the long list of side characters that died in this battle. Fortunately, they were injured, but relatively unharmed, minus an arm. How did Benji lose an arm while the rest of the plane is relatively fine? Who even knows. At least the scarf ended up than being more than just a marker in order to distinguish Benji’s plane/character from the other ones. Plus the one of the teachers saved them (since no one else was even going to bother looking for them apparently because again, “worst military command” competition), so everything worked out.
Apparently the pink eyeshadow was also attached to the wig. Somehow.
Kal powered up apparently. He’s never shown any sign that he was actually a really talented pilot before. In fact, the last time he flew a plane, he almost didn’t land properly. However, the rage of having even more side characters killed unlocked his hidden talent or something. Plus he wasn’t the only one with a ridiculously convenient power up. Claire finally regains her wind powers! Due to… true love… or something. Why did they even disappear in the first place? Who knows. Well, at least Kal has forgiven her, she’s come to terms with the guilt of ruining his life, and now they can be happy together provided that they don’t die tragically in the finale or anything.
Episode 12
But suddenly there’s absolutely no fighting, so maybe it’s okay that Isla was full of incompetent military staff. Maybe the Sky Clan killed off pretty much everyone side-character wise, but things seem weirdly peaceful after they made a deal about Claire. She was pretty okay with going over there considering how many of her friends they killed due to their stubbornness. Perhaps the true enemy here was culture differences. …Even though we know next to nothing about the Sky Clan in that regard. Perhaps due to Claire going over there and doing whatever she’s destined to do, everyone can get along now.
It seems like they’re focusing on the lesser issue actually, in regards to that. Rather than learning how Kal is doing without Claire, the big thing here seems to be that Claire is going to a completely foreign place as a diplomat (or something of the sort). Shouldn’t we have seem at least a little bit of how Claire is doing over there? Or what “over there” is actually like? It’s like the whole Sky Clan thing was ignored after they stopped attacking Isla. They never even explained why the Sky Clan was attacking in the first place other than something to do with territory or… something.
Admittedly, this scene with the petals was cool to watch.
And the whole adventure was because… well, hell if I know. I don’t know if it was because this series is terrible at explaining lore, or I just wasn’t paying attention, but I honestly have no idea why they flew Isla right into the end of the world. How the hell are they going to get home? Do they have enough food/fuel to last all the way back, or do they have some kind of pit stop regarding the Sky Clan or Levamme? But oh well, the characters accomplished what they set out to do (whatever it was), Kal and the remaining characters are proper pilots, and everything is okay now. Hopefully Claire is doing okay too, though apparently whatever it she’s doing is less important to the plot than watching a giant island disappear in a pink light. If only Claire had regained her powers a couple of episodes ago. Maybe all of those character deaths could have been avoided.
Well, that’s one way to render all of the previous character deaths meaningless. Everything was solved peacefully with seemingly minimal effort, and nothing that happened before seems to matter anymore. Of course, Kal and Claire’s relationship matters in the long run (and the same applies in regards to Igna and Ari), but everything else? I don’t even think it was mentioned once in episode 12. I suppose it’s been 6 months and everyone’s over their trauma by now for the most part. But at the same time, it seems like everything was resolved way too quickly and conveniently. Especially considering all of the time and angst the fighting took up. So on the bright side, the resolution between Kal and Claire was cute, Igna seems like he’s grown over his angst, and Ari apparently had a thing for Kal that she’s hopefully gotten over by this point in time. Now I guess the final thing to sort out if Kal and Claire’s reunion. Hopefully they won’t just breeze over it like they did with everything else.
At least we know that Ari is (probably) still around. Not that anyone is in any danger anymore.
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: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Kara, LN readers say quite a bit of important worldbuilding info was cut out from episode 12.
1)In the novels, Isla stops at the Kingdom of Levamme for supplies(the same kingdom from The Princess & The Pilot).Most of Isla’s inhabitants decide to settle there.
Princess Fana is mentioned in passing several times.
Kalel gets to have a face-to-face talk with Charles Karino, Princess’s MC & the pilot of the blue Seagull-crested fighter that saved the students several episodes ago.
2)When Claire is exchanged, the Sky Clan offers one of their Princes in return. This Prince character provides all the worldbuilding info in the story.
In short, the Pilot universe resembles a giant floating island like Isla,large enough to hold a dozen planet Earths and is 50-60k miles in diameter.It has 2 levels and the Holy Spring is in the middle.
The world’s atmosphere is contained within a circular sphere,& the End of the Sky is a dimensional shield that surrounds the island world’s perimeter.
3)Balesteros was flying Isla into the end of the world to investigate the truth of the St.Aldista creation myth. The myth said that all floating islands, part of the world’s geography, went to die at the End of the Sky to die, and the islands simply fly there. LN readers say St. Aldista’s history and culture is a common factor across all of Pilot’s universe.
4)LN author Inumura Koroku has written 2 more books,Nocturne of a Certain Pilot and Oath of a Certain Pilot. Nocturne is a sequel to Princess, Oath is a sequel to Love Song.
However, these sequels are mostly self-contained stories about other countries in the Pilot universe, and mostly feature all-new characters.(Characters from previous books make an appearance though.)
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
So basically anything intensely f-ing interesting got the shaft and we got the Puddies from MMPR as military commanders taking up story…
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
AHAHAHAHA oh wow, the anime only viewers truly were shafted.
1) I was wondering if that was Charles all those episodes ago. That’s good to know. …and do you have any idea what the two characters talked about? Because I’m really interested to know.
2) MORE good things to know. OTL
3) So it’s where flying islands go to die? That makes the whole scene make sense, I guess…
Why on earth did they cut all of this out? Honestly, this anime just went from being emotionally involving just to being stupid because they didn’t explain anything. I imagine that it would have been hard to include all of this, but hell, the things they did cut out seem reeeeeally important.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Not too sure what Charles spoke about though,my source didn’t say and couldn’t really recall.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Apparently the pink eyeshadow was also attached to the wig. Somehow.
If anything can possibly sum up this series, this is it. The most perfect of critiques.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
…And things were doing pretty well up until this point. OTL
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
For me, that treaty was like a slap to the face for those who risked their lives and died in the prior fights. It’s insulting and they had their wholes lives in front of them.
Because they’re pig headed simply of the fact they’re adults and to them, the students are just inexperienced kids but they sure swallowed their pride when their asses were getting rescued.
I guess since the series is practically over, they’re not wasting any time by leaving any space for Kal fully cope with the fact Claire is Nina Viento. Like when she was confessing her transgressions and how happy she was to be part of the school, he accepted it all as if there was never any bad blood.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Perhaps this whole thing sounded less idiotic written on paper than it was animated. Plus I imagine the things they cut out from the novels helped smooth things over. The fact that they apparently sent in a prince probably helped them think of the Sky Clan as less of a faceless enemy. Though of course, all of the people who haven’t read the novel were all screwed over.
Yeah, Kal got over that pretty fast, didn’t he. Oh well, true love and whatnot, right?
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
The trouble is determining exactly what material should be cut to make the story better. That’s what makes the difference. Like with Shiki. While the overall story was well adapted from the manga, certain parts that could have better explain Seishin’s character were cut and because of that, the anime only viewers don’t have a full grasp of what kind of person he is.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Yeah. Plus some things don’t transfer well from text to animation, I guess.