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「船上のクランクアップ」 (Senjou no Kuranku Appu)
“The Crank Up On Board”
While anime looks pretty great in 720p, it’s even better in 1080p. It’s particularly noticeable when I watch a series on my 40 or 52 inch LCD TVs where all the pixel sizes are much larger, as is the case with this special prologue episode of Senkou no Night Raid. Mmm, Yukina in 1080p…
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「せめて、希望のかけらを」 (Semete, Kibou no Kakeru wo)
“At The Very Least, A Fragment of Hope”
Picking up from Aoi’s first encounter with Kazura since his betrayal, I honestly had no idea how things would wrap up and was looking forward to being surprised every step of the way. Well, Anime no Chikara sure delivered in this finale by throwing out twist after twist after twist.
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「夜襲」 (Yashuu)
“Night Raid”
I’ve been wondering what the significance of the series’ title is all this time and it looks like I finally got my answer upon learning Isao’s true motive — the sight of an atomic bomb going off in the middle of the night.
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「闇の探索」 (Yami no Tansaku)
“Dark Investigation”
It was the first time in the series that I actually heard someone say that someone else’s actions directly influenced the course of history in a significant way, but that clearly wasn’t Aoi’s intention when he went after Shizune and prevented Puyi from meeting with her.
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「東は東」 (Higashi wa Higashi)
“East is East”
Just when I thought Anime no Chikara was ambitious for animating the Mukden Incident, it turns out that was just a precursor to their real goal — the untold fictional events leading up to the Second World War. While probably less controversial, the scale is by far and wide immensely incomparable, as Takachiho Isao suggests a war to end all wars may be necessary.
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「新しき京」 (Atarashiki Miyako)
“New Capital”
As much as I’ve enjoyed how Anime no Chikara has taken their fictional piece of work and overlaid it on top of actual history, things are getting more interesting now that the focus has shifted to the characters’ involvement in all of this.
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「凍土の国で」 (Toudo no Kuni de)
“On the Frozen Soil of a Country”
Following the Mukden Incident last episode, Japan uses the opportunity to seize the entire Manchuria region in the next six months.
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「事変」 (Jihen)
“Incident”
I can sort of see why this series isn’t actively fan-subbed, because unless you’re pretty fluent in Japanese, know your Asian history fairly well, and have an inquisitive attention span, it can get a bit difficult to follow at times. In my case, I was never formally taught Asian history in school, so I’m actually enjoying how much I’m learning about it from watching an anime.
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「預言」 (Yogen)
“Premonition”
So as I mentioned last time, airing on television this week is a recap in lieu of episode seven that will be streamed online. However, that didn’t stop them from slipping in some key story at the very end, namely how Japanese militarists bombed their own South Manchuria Railway and blamed it on the Chinese to provide a pretext for war.
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「乱階の夜」 (Rankai no Yoru)
“Night of the Approaching Disturbance”
After I brought up the controversy this series is edging upon back in episode two, it looks like Anime no Chikara dares to tread on that iffy time frame in history after all, as the story rapidly approaches its take on the Mukden Incident.