「奇襲」 (Kishuu)
“Ambush”

When it comes to a series that hasn’t done anything to particularly stand out, it was nice to see Argevollen do something different this episode, even if it was just Jamie trying to avoid one of the many pitfalls that anime heroines tend to get sucked into. I’ll be quick to admit that I got more than a little chuckle out of Jamie trying to get away from Tokimune before he could talk about his deceased sister, because I was hoping she’d do just that and completely sidestep the predictable subplot where she feels sorry for him and wants to help him uncover the truth. As cynical as that may sound, I simply didn’t care to hear about what was motivating Tokimune. He hasn’t really been depicted as a relatable character who’s deserving of my pity (or Jamie’s), so I actually found myself talking to the television and telling her to run away from him before it’s too late. Her murmuring echoed my own as Tokimune just unilaterally decided to talk about his past, and that really didn’t change even after I did hear him out. Tokimune’s thickheadedness where he asked Jamie if she’s fallen in love with him pretty much reaffirmed that sentiment too. While I’m not sure whether she’s actually fallen for him, the fact that she didn’t explode like your typical tsundere at the thought of it was a welcome turn of events. A flat-out “no” and some frustration in private over Tokimune’s bluntness is fairly atypical in anime as far as I’m concerned, so for that reason alone, Argevollen actually elevated itself in my eyes–and in the most unintentional way.

At this point, I’ll probably take whatever random enjoyment I can get out of this series each week; however, it was nice to see Ingelmia’s growing interest in Argevollen come from the newly introduced Erich Zarl. It’s a fairly straightforward development, but it provides me with something concrete to look forward to amidst all the small skirmishes that haven’t felt very significant in the grand scheme of things. Aside from placing our main cast of characters in danger, these battles don’t seem to be building up towards anything in terms of the main storyline (which is sorely overdue in terms of making some headway I might add). This latest one is no different either, even though we see Samonji on the front lines and in a bit of pinch since things didn’t go according to plan. The only thing that puts a bit of an unknown spin on this latest skirmish is the small chat between Arandas’ superiors after Samonji was ordered to join the battalion in the Arida mountains and hold off the rapidly advancing enemy forces. More specifically, I find it hard to believe that all these high-ranking officers would have little interest in an advanced prototype Trail Krieger like Argevollen, so I suspect that they’re using Samonji’s squad as guinea pigs to test out its potential. That doesn’t seem all that far-fetched, given that Jamie’s boss, Sugoro Youzou, was awfully suspicious last episode, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the other units were ordered not to fire their flares so that they could see what Argevollen can do against overwhelming odds.

That of course is what I’d like to believe if the preview didn’t show Argevollen down and out and Jamie rushing onto the battlefield to presumably repair or restart it for Tokimune. On that note, part of me hopes that she hasn’t started to pity Tokimune already, but the other part of me gets the feeling that she has. If I were in Jamie’s shoes, the cynic in me would definitely be giving this look rather than that look when given the option to try and save Tokimune. To each their own I guess…

 

Preview

36 Comments

      1. Still falls under the mecha genre. Only you get a competent mc in a standard machine compared to one who blindly relies on the overpowerness of his’ without using his own intelligence.

        Izzard
      2. Honestly I might choose this over Aldnoah, though it depends on what I’m in the mood for and I’m enjoying them in their own ways right now. It doesn’t have Aldnoah’s budget or the big hype behind it but I appreciate how comparatively down to Earth and focused it has been and how again comparatively plausible it’s cast has been in it’s own universe. I totally get why most people would prefer Aldnoah though, but to me neither are really all time great mecha anime, just a marked improvement over what we’ve had lately.

        Anyway Aldnoah…..it’s flashier, has more popular people involved which is a huge draw for many and is just kind of more accessible to the average viewer while Argevollen feels more aimed at the traditional mecha fanbase. Also worth noting is that I don’t have the same utter hatred for the MC Tokimune as so many people seem to have and seem really fixated on. Really I wonder what it is people are finding so reprehensible about him still at this point cause right now it just kind of looks like people are taking an idea of hatred for the MC and just running with it as far as it’ll go when in the show he’s had his not so great moments early on (though he does get results in the end) but has been steadily improving in character since last episode and his talk with the colonel.

        Roger
      3. I’m going to attribute the hatred to the fact that many (western) anime fans like to revolve their train of thought more around “logic,” rather than “heart”, and Tokimune’s the complete opposite of what their preferred train of thought is.

        paulrenzo
    1. This mecha just doesn’t seem to stand out from the few episodes I’ve watched. Still keeping up with the blog hoping that it will blossom into something really good. Well it happens rarely after 3 episodes, but I’ve seen shows like “Darker Than Black” and “Claymore” seriously turn epic as late as episode 6. Still hoping this show finds its’ way. Haven’t really enjoyed a good mecha since “Verdous Planet” and “Majestic Princes”

      Rick Anime
  1. It might be just me, but I actually started to hate Tokimune a bit less this episode. Sure, he is still the thickheaded idiot who can’t read the situation as shown by how he just confessed to Jamie on his reason for joining the military at the cemetery scene and his nonchalant question to Jamie if she loves him right in front of the whole squad, his voice blaring loud and clear from the Argevollen loudspeakers. Still, although that confession was brought up a little awkwardly, I can understand and emphatise a bit on why he acts the way he does. He’s still an idiot, but now he’s a more believable one imo.

    I also found Jamie’s reaction where she first tried to control from exploding with embarrassment before giving a quiet ‘no’ to be a very refreshing change from the norm. I even found myself muttering with her ‘she doesn’t want to hear it, you dolt’ in the cemetery scene. And did anyone else chuckle a bit when it turned out the whole rant she made to her superior Sugoro on why Tokimune was not an appropriate pilot for Argevollen was made to the answering machine? Too bad he was listening in on her even though she had cancelled the recording. The episode hasn’t completely redeemed her character for me but my regard for her has definitely increased from the previous episodes.

    Furthermore, did anyone else catch on to the significance that Tokimune’s sister died in suspicious circumstances 8 years ago? I seem to recollect Izumi remarking to Samonji about something that happened 8 years ago when they met at the cemetery last episode. Looks like my hunch was right on the money. Samonji almost definitely has some connection to Tokimune’s sister and both Izumi and Suzushiro appear to know about it.

    Finally, I feel that the mission given to the 8th Independent Unit(IU)to be very suspicious. From the time the higher ups first ordered Samonji to move back to the front lines and join the 3rd Battalion Knights, to the details of the mission to be carried out and Argevollen’s role in it, right until that cliffhanger ending where the other squads “couldn’t” fire their flares that lead to only the 8th IU being targeted by Ingelmia’s artillery. This is just guesswork on my part, but I think this has something to do with the agreement between the military higher ups and Kivernas Manufacturing on what they want from Argevollen, or the people who resent Samonji and the so called ‘favoritism’ he gets from Izumi. Or maybe I’m just reading into things too much much here. Anyway, we’ll probably find that out sooner or later.

    P.S. – Not much Silfy screentime this episode. Hopefully the next episode which looks to be more action packed will change that for the better.

  2. Oh god the military tactics this episode. We are going to attack soft cover across ~800 meters of open ground. How are we going to get our forces across said ground? Flares of course! Lets just tell the enemy exactly how many units are there and where to shoot. It’s like Argevollen hasn’t heard of smoke rounds or suppressive artillery fire before, you know, the two things invented to deal with crossing an open killing field. The head, it hurts.

    Otherwise a tolerable episode, Argevollen still seems to be in the ground laying stage so there’s not much to really say. At least Jamie is not your standard anime girl and Tokimune is not a fumbling pile of idiocy around females. Still waiting though to see just where Argevollen is going with this.

    Pancakes
    1. And its scenarios like that is exactly why i scratch my head when i hear some people say that this series is grounded in plausibility and real life tactics with characters that act thoroughly…mmhmm. This series is still enjoyable to me because for every one thing it does wrong, there’s at the most one thing it does right so there’s a sort of balance with this series. Plus there are a few interesting things littered throughout this series so im down to continue watching it (im down to watch anything that gets a jolt of enjoyment out of me). i kinda wish the animation was better though.

      sonicsenryaku
  3. If not thing else, Argevollen is consistent. In this case, that’s mostly a bad thing IMO. I’d like to be more positive on the show (really), but it is what it is.

    – Stupid Generals are Still Stupid

    So after another brilliant “go defeat the enemy” order, one “tea sipping general” comments: “…it’s [Argevollen] a fantasy. In a real war like the own we’ve got now, it’s of no use whatsoever”. LOLWAT!? “No use whatsoever!?” Do these guys ever read an AAR (after action report)? How many enemy mechs did Argevollen take out with an unskilled noob pilot? Imagine if a top-notch pilot crewed the thing, or you had an Argevollen equipped battalion? Careful now, you might actually accomplish something beyond retreat. >_> I take it back, it’s not tea they’re drinking but Kool-Aid… heavily spiked with Everclear. Admittedly, this isn’t a critical part to the story, but things like this make it harder for me to buy what the anime is selling, and come across as overly generic and cliché.

    – Tactical Idiocy and Bad Math

    I was glad to see some sort of tactics discussed. Usually, that makes things more interesting than simply “go defeat them”. However, Samonji’s tactics and the information provided raise a number of troubling questions. First, some simple math. 55kmph = 916.7m per minute > 800m. So no, it would not take you “more than a minute” to cross 800m of open ground and reach the forest on the other side at a “top-speed of 55kmph”. That would require a top speed of less than 48kmph. Second, the enemy’s 203mm guns fire at a rate of “about 1rpm”. Assuming the guns are manually aimed, I’m skeptical that each 203mm gun could fire more than one shot at IU8’s mechs before said mechs reach the safety of the forest. Furthermore, I don’t see this as a high percentage first shot regardless of how good the observers’ night vision may be. Keep in mind, the situation requires plunging fire at a fast moving target since the enemy guns’ firing lanes are blocked by trees (how it looks to me and again assuming manual aiming/no computerized targeting). In short, I didn’t accept the premise that all of IU8’s mechs would be “shot full of holes” before reaching the other side.

    Regardless of the above, the most puzzling thing of all for me was Samonji’s “flare plan.” WTF doesn’t cover it. You’re conducting a surprise night attack, and your plan is to fire multiple flares to reveal your own troops to the enemy so that they will be easier to spot and target!? LMAO! Are you serious!? First, you’re not “forcing” the enemy to do a damn thing. They can still choose to concentrate fire. All you did was make it easier for them to aim. Second, if the observers’ night vision is as good as you think, they would spot IU8’s mechs anyway = no reason to do this in the first place! Worse, if you’re wrong about the observers’ night vision, a mech or two (let alone infantry) may go unnoticed and reach the forest on the other side without taking any fire. Instead, who needs good night vision when a single flare alone illuminated the entire freaking open area just fine? “Good job” Samonji, you practically guaranteed exposure of all your troops AND alerted the enemy to your so called surprise attack all without inflicting any damage or casualties whatsoever.

    Here’s a tip. Want to “distract” those guns? Try a coordinated pre-attack artillery barrage (including any tanks). Air bursts and/or tree burst shots are highly effective against infantry – including exposed field artillery crews. You might even get lucky and take out one or more of those 203mm guns. You only need to buy one minute for your mechs to cross. Consider dividing IU8’s mechs into two groups, one on each side, for a pincer attack. Perhaps a simple flanking attack. There are a bunch of options, all of which IMO, are a hell of a lot better than Samonji’s plan. Samonji needs to take a lesson from Ingelmia’s commander on how conduct a surprise night attack. After all, Samonji and Arandas’ forces were taken by surprise. Sorry, but IMO Samonji’s so called “tactics” here are ridiculously bad. HELPING the enemy is NOT going to protect your troops let alone accomplish your assigned mission. Bleh.

    – Oblivious Idiocy Pays Off for Once

    There was one bright spot in the episode for me. For once, Tokimune’s idiocy pays off. Have to admit I LOL’d quite a bit at him asking Jamie if she was in love with him over the PA system followed by the still shots of everyone’s stunned faces. I also liked Jaime’s quiet “no” rather than her shouting at him in denial. Lorenz’s follow up of “I think I just fell in love with you a little” with Tokimune taking his comment at face value was also quite humorous. I’ll take oblivious and stupid, but funny Tokimune over oblivious, shouting and annoying Tokimune.

    – Same ‘ol Argevollen

    Like the past four episodes, it wasn’t all bad. In addition to the comedy mentioned above, the story progressed a bit, a little character background divulged, and I agree with Divine that Jamie had a few funny moments early on. Still, overall it’s pretty much the same ‘ol Argevollen for me. Perhaps progress is being made, but like the story progression it’s done at a snail’s pace. There is still a surprising lack of action for a “mechs at war” premise, and WTF moments crop up too frequently. The show needs to pick up the pace. Now. Do SOMETHING so that every episode since EP 01 doesn’t feel like 10 minutes of material padded into 21 minutes.

    1. So after another brilliant “go defeat the enemy” order, one “tea sipping general” comments: “…it’s [Argevollen] a fantasy. In a real war like the own we’ve got now, it’s of no use whatsoever”. LOLWAT!? “No use whatsoever!?” Do these guys ever read an AAR (after action report)? How many enemy mechs did Argevollen take out with an unskilled noob pilot? Imagine if a top-notch pilot crewed the thing, or you had an Argevollen equipped battalion? Careful now, you might actually accomplish something beyond retreat. >_> I take it back, it’s not tea they’re drinking but Kool-Aid… heavily spiked with Everclear. Admittedly, this isn’t a critical part to the story, but things like this make it harder for me to buy what the anime is selling, and come across as overly generic and cliché.

      It’s actually a rather sound conclusion for them to make based on what they knew. Sure, Argevollen is superior to the average mecha, but it’s almost certainly much more costly in time and resources to build and their industry is not geared up to mass produce them. Think of the German Wunderwaffe in WW2; weapons such as the Tiger 2, V2, and Me-262 were individually capable and ahead of their time, but overall they were a waste of resources as they diverted production and development time from simpler, more practical weapons and snarled up their supply chains with a bunch of difficult to maintain white elephants. A Panther or Tiger could take out 5 Shermans or T-34’s, but that’s not terribly helpful when your enemy has 10 times as many and half your machines break down before they even reach the battlefield. Similar things happen today, just look at the F-35. Tell any general worth his stars that you’ve got a wonder weapon that will solve all his problems and he darn well should be skeptical.

      Hochmeister
      1. I disagree. The German weapons you mentioned were examples of Hitler’s insane flights of fancy. The V2 had little strategic utility and absolutely no tactical utility. The ME 262 was not as effective as it could have been had Hitler not interfered and required it to be turned into a fighter bomber. If he had used it as it was intended (assuming a mix of other fighters to protect it’s airfields) it would have devastated the American bombers. The delays made it too little too late. The Tiger II was also too little to late. A monster when fuel was in short supply and with mechanical problems. Hitler was the one who kept pushing wonder weapons not his generals.

        The problem with the F-35 is that it was designed not as “State of the Art” but “Beyond the State of the Art” and all things to all users. Which is typical of our modern weapon procurement. They commit to building a series based on prototypes that are either incomplete or are so fragile they keep breaking. Then they try to fix it while in production. I’m not seeing that here.

        A more appropriate analogy to Argenvollen would be to Gen McNair’s interference in the development and fielding of the Pershing. How many tanker’s lives were lost because of his insistence on Tank Destroyers and towed antitank guns? Overwhelming numbers are great as long as you’re not the one who’s being used for target practice by an enemy that has a weapon you can’t defeat. The generals in this case are acting more like McNair.

      2. @Hochmeister: I disagree. Though not part of the “Wunderwaffe in WWII”, the King Tiger (Tiger II) tank was superior to the Tiger I. Germany just took development a bit too far in terms of armor thickness and correspondingly weight. Keep weight close to that of the Tiger I (around 55 tonnes (metric)), and it’s definitely a winner IMO. As for the Panther, many consider it to be the best tank of WWII and it gave the Allies a lot of trouble.

        ”A Panther or Tiger could take out 5 Shermans or T-34′s, but that’s not terribly helpful when your enemy has 10 times as many and half your machines break down before they even reach the battlefield.”

        Attempting to spam Panzer IVs (a design already at its limits and becoming obsolete by late WWII) isn’t going to cut it when you can’t come close to matching your opponents in terms of production anyway. So you produce two or maybe three Panzer IVs for every Panther and Tiger. That’s still a far cry from your example of 10 times as many tanks by the Allies. It’s not terribly helpful either if those Panzer IVs only take out one or two enemy tanks compared to 5 tanks for a Panther or Tiger I/II. This still leaves the very important question of WHO are you going to get to man all those spammed Panzer IVs? Late in the war, Germany was suffering from serious manpower shortages for infantry, armor AND airforce. As it was, the introduction of the Panther and Tiger tanks (both models) caused a lot of concern for the Allies. So much so that in March 1944, the US started development of its own heavy tank (T29, T30, and T34).

        As for the V2, perhaps, but the Me262!? Are you serious? The Me262 was clearly the best jet aircraft at the time, and quite arguably the best fighter of WWII. RL history shows that jet aircraft were a game changer in terms of air combat and establishing all important air superiority. Yes, Me262s were shot down, but a lot of those (perhaps most) were during landing and takeoff rather than dogfights. Late introduction meant that German pilots had little time to learn how to fly a revolutionary aircraft. That’s if you could find qualified pilots. By the time it was introduced, the available pool of Luftwaffe pilots was watered down considerably as skilled veteran pilots were becoming a rare commodity. See above about serious German manpower shortages by late in WWII. As it was, the Me262 still caused the Allies a great deal of consternation and it was made a high priority target (both aircraft and manufacturing).

        The Me262’s problem wasn’t that it was some “fantasy tech wunderweapon”, but as Bear pointed out, it was delayed about a YEAR because Hitler insisted that it be made into a bomber initially. Too little too late. That year made a huge difference which is something I have read repeatedly in WWII books. Introduce the Me262 a year earlier and the battle for ETO air superiority takes a marked turn for the worse for the Allies. Same goes for the Allied strategic bombing campaign and all that implies.

        Did Germany squander resources on “wunder weapons” during WWII? Absolutely, but IMO not with the Me262 (especially) or the Tiger II tanks. I’d list things like the Maus tank and 800mm Schwerer Gustav railway gun instead. Germany also had too many projects. For example Wiki has 36 listings under “World War II jet aircraft of Germany”. Valuable resources were scattered far and wide on repetitive projects. In WWII, Germany could NOT win a war of attrition which is essentially what you suggest. In fact, they lost one, particularly on the Eastern Front.

        Obviously there is such a thing as pushing technology too far, but is that really the case with Argevollen? For a prototype, it seems to work fairly well (next EP spoiler notwithstanding) despite an unskilled rookie like Tokimune as the pilot. Ingelmia doesn’t seem to have an answer for it. If Argevollen is a “meaningless fantasy” as you and Arandas’ generals suggest, then let’s take it out of the equation. Easy to do since Arandas isn’t producing any others. So how do things look? Not so good from my perspective. All Arandas does is retreat. We saw Schlein and his scouts easily handle Arandas’ “standard” mechs. Has Arandas won a SINGLE battle yet that didn’t involve Argevollen? Arandas needs a game changer, and what else is there that qualifies but Argevollen? I’m not suggesting that Arandas spam them to the exclusion of all other types of mechs. Just 10 or so Argevollens (even at “cost” of 20 or 25 “standard” mechs) in the hands of elite pilots would make a huge difference. Granted JMO, but if Arandas’ generals can’t see that, they are “not worth their stars”.

      3. The thing is, the Panthers and Tigers didn’t work through their teething problems until ’44/’45, long after the outcome of the war was a foregone conclusion. A few hundred Panzer 4’s with a long 75 would have been far more useful at Kursk for example than the dribble of malfunctioning Panthers and Tigers they got. And even ignoring the questionable design decisions, the German jet program was hobbled by engines which habitually caught on fire due to their shortage of high temperature alloys, further denuding their small pool of pilots. As for the Sherman vs. the Pershing, the better decision would have been to upgrade the Sherman’s main gun rather than outright replace the design with a new one which would have to be debugged at the end of a transatlantic supply chain.

        This is not to say that potentially revolutionary weapons should be outright ignored, but rather that in the short term it can be better to have more equipment that works rather than try to shoot for a game-changing wonderweapon. From other Mecha shows we expect Argevollen to save the day and turn the tide of the war by itself. The generals represent the “real world” point of view that while nifty, a new robot won’t be enough to win the war. It’s basically a subversion of the super robot concept. Or maybe I’m just reading too much into it, we’ll see.

        Hochmeister
  4. About Jamie running away from the MC when he started talking in the cemetery, I find it a bit frustrating. It’s atypical, yes, and its good, but a certain part shoved me off. In the first place, she followed the MC to the graveyard. She didn’t even try to hide herself. She stayed for a while to eavesdrop. And when the MC spotted him, she shied away and even made an excuse. She turned around, and walked away. That’s good and all. Understandable.

    However, I was taken aback when she whispered to herself that she didn’t ask anything. It’s like dude, you followed this guy, eavesdropped, and now you’re irritated when the guy told you more? She could have turned around in the first place when he talked. Though I do admit that she said that she didn’t hear anything and appeared to be surprised when the MC talked to her. But still, she said that she didn’t mean to listen.

    Then when she heard something interesting she turned around to listen once more. Then after that, she dismissed the conversation and walked away again. And since the MC is you know, a thickheaded idiot, he kept talking. Once more, she was irritated. That part did make me scratch my head for a while. I could have accepted it better if she really did just stumble upon him or if she walked away immediately. Anyway, that might be just me.

    Another one is when she tried to leave a message. I’m not sure if I am completely correct on this one, but I know her boss and the last episode have already established that both of them are irreplaceable when it comes to handling Argevollen. If that was the case, why did she even bother to call and ask if the MC can be replaced by another pilot?

    Thankfully, all of those vexing things were alleviated by the captain (I’m sorry if I fail to remember the names of all the people in this anime cause its hanging by a thread for me). She got burned a bit when the guy said that she should have been dead. I don’t know if I just don’t like how the girl acted or how she was portrayed. It’s a studio original anyway, so I’ll know after a few more episodes.

    One good point in this episode, which some find it as the episode’s saving grace, was when the MC asked something stupid to Jamie. For once, he became a funny idiot instead of the irritating idiot.

    RandomAnon
    1. I can see how that could be frustrating to viewers, but the cynic in me couldn’t get over how she was torn between doing 1.) what anyone would do when faced with a can of worms they know they shouldn’t open and 2.) doing what a proper caring individual should do. I guess that’s why I so amused at that scene. It was almost like she was trying to break a trope.

  5. To me, what’s happening with this show feels more like a bait and switch with us going in for mecha, but we ended up getting a army / love story instead after the first 3 episodes…apparently anyway.

    Here to hope that I’m completely wrong.

    ps. it’s still watchable, but I can’t list this thing under the mecha category for the time being (thus not comparable with Aldnoah Zero)

    info600
  6. After running out of things to watch, I decided to give Argevollen another chance…. While the comedy was indeed a welcome addition to a boring-as-hell anime (Tokimune… no one gives a rats ass about your past! Not to mention that no one loves Tokimune! HAHAHA), the flares strategy made me facepalm.

    Note: A human eye takes about 30 minutes to adjust to darkness upon entering a low light environment (trust me, I study this crap) so I would have been convinced if that was the reason for the flare strategy….

    But using it to make it easier for them to get shot at?! Seriously?! Dude! Ive seen tons of anime make bullcrap strategies, but this one is stupid as hell!

    All in all, my impression of Argevollen hasnt changed since episode 3. Aside from the addition of a fairly competent comedy writer, the series is still a Flop in the making.

    Ginobi47
    1. I wasn’t a fan of the flare strategy either, but I think Samonji was hoping to do was draw the fire of the three long-range cannons that have a one-minute reload time. That one minute should give their Trail Krieger’s almost enough time to cross the open plain, assuming that the second volley from the three cannons aren’t all concentrated on them. That’s the way I interpreted the strategy anyway.

      1. Well, if i would be on the Arty. I would first see what happen, then i would shoot or aim into the spot where they touch the Wood. This Flares was suicide from the beginning

        Testing the reload speed? What if they build faster automatic reload Weapons?

        Germanguy
  7. Yeah, it made a Military Sin right at beginning. Disobey. Sure you should not obey blind any orders. But you should not force your luck 2 times.They are Soldiers. They know they can die on the Battlefield. But what if the Base would overrun, because our Hotshot leaved his post? There would have died more then these ones, he was trying to save.

    I think, the Captain feel guilty, for the loss of his Sister (my Guts tell me), so he oversee the Brothers fails. Until some of his disobey someone will die

    Germanguy
  8. And i bet they are faster in coming through, because…

    You dont need to clear the rubbish from this Pass. You just make a road over the rubbish, a mobile bridge if you want to have an example

    Germanguy
    1. first a Human track(road where you use hovercraft segments. After flat out the Way, they should begin to fill and cement the Human track more for the Heavy Vehicles. I think thats faster as use Bulldozers

      Germanguy
  9. Sorry guys, I’m out. In 5 episodes nothing has happened to make me care about the show.
    I’ll keep up with the summaries here to see if anything worthwhile happens but as it stands now watching this is like watching beige paint dry while eating celery and listening to white noise. With a dose of facepalm thrown it.

    celebrinen
  10. celebrinen
  11. Things are finally starting to heat up in one of the better episodes this show’s had so far. Jamie earned a lot of respect for calling out the idiot kid on acting like an idiot kid, and the misunderstanding he had thanks to the maintenance team was pretty hilarious. While I don’t particularily like the MC, I don’t hate him either because he feels like a real, egocentric teenager. He’s convinced of his immortality, on a righteous crusade, and thinks that the world revolves around him. He’s essentially a shounen protagonist in a real world setting, and hopefully the show will actually reconcile the two, preferably by making him grow up some.

    The glimpse we got of the overall strategic situation was interesting too, felt a lot like the tail end of Barbarossa with the capitol being closed in on. It’s nice how the main unit is treated like a small part in the overall strategic stiuation; makes the setting feel more realistic than if the super robot is expected to singlehandedly win the war. The plains situation was a clear WW1 no man’s land reference. Didn’t mind the flares either; the enemy would have seen a massive attack coming across the plains anyway, and by lighting up the area they make it safer to advance into unsecured terrain. Benefits the attacker more than the defender in this case.

    Hochmeister
  12. This is the kind military i like that most of the viewer and other mecha series failed to recognize how important to gain control the enemy territory and their resources without an army of soldiers, replacements, supplies rather than defeating the enemy in the battlefield and return to the base without any gain accomplishment to control the terrain.

    Still the writer have lack of military knowledge of strategy they should hire a military officer.

    Why would they deploy illumination round to reveal the enemy? To waste there ammunitions? Looks like the mission should be abandon.

    Its bad to deploy Argovollen in the frontline with the loud noise of there footsteps that would alert the enemy.

    An entire recon team should infiltrate to the enemy position and overun without giving them a chance to react in second and contact there main unit to determine how strong the enemy and location of the cannons and give a flanking position for advancing the slow mechs and Argovollen at full speed to penetrate the main unit toward the big guns.

    Hoping they continue more tactics discussion on each episode.

    Private
    1. You don’t even NEED to hire a Military officer.

      Just a common, SENSIBLE man with a little military knowledge will do.

      Dear God, the incompetent general is even incompetent at being incompetence.

      Kerfirou
  13. I’m getting used to Tokimune somehow though. He’s a shounen manga hero in the vein of a Naruto, rather than a traditional mecha pilot. At least that’s how I feel about him right now.

    Still, I find myself rooting for the other side. Ingelmia’s got more competent and, at this point, interesting characters on its side. Also, I forget, what was the point of this war again? I can’t even really remember…

    StrenX

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