Summary:

Isara reveals that the tank is the prototype Edelweiss developed by her real father – who was a Darcsen – and her foster father. Using this, Isara, Alicia, and Welkin break out of the barn and through the enemy line, and they’re able to reunite with the Town Watch in Bruhl. After introducing Welkin and Isara as the children of General Gunther, Alicia tells the others in the Town Watch how they need to hold out against the Imperial Army until the regular Gallia military arrives. One of the leaders of the Town Watch isn’t happy about this, but he has some confidence because they have two old tanks in storage that they can use. He doesn’t want Isara and Welkin’s help either because he sees them as inexperienced cowards after Welkin asks about the timing of their eventual retreat. The Imperial Army soon attacks with their troops plus six tanks, and the Town Watch struggles to hold them off. The same leader of the Town Watch ignores Isara’s warnings and uses one of the old tanks to take out one of the enemy tanks, however his own tank then gives out, and he’s killed.

Fortunately, news arrives that the Gallia regular army is coming, so Welkin revisits the topic of retreating the Town Watch. They decide to use the Edelweiss to buy time, so Isara, Alicia, and Welkin attack the enemy forces, and the enemy tank shells bounce off the Edelweiss’s armor. The Gallia regular army then arrives, forcing the Imperial Army to retreat. In the aftermath, the Gallia forces decide to abandon Bruhl after all, and Alicia thinks about how she was working in a bakery not long ago. Welkin reflects on the cycle of life and how living things aren’t immune from fighting, but he feels that there’s a way to live and prosper together. Alicia ultimately decides to join the militia so that she can help end the fighting and return to Bruhl. Much to her surprise, she bumps into Welkin at the militia base, and he’s in uniform as well.

Preview

And just when I was thinking that there was a shortage of overpowered weapons now that Gundam 00 is over, Valkyria Chronicles shows off the strength of the Edelweiss. I’m sure it has vulnerabilities that will eventually be revealed, but the battle this episode sure made it seem invincible. They should have just used that to blow through the enemy forces in the first place. Don’t get me wrong though – there was some nice tank vs tank action in here. It’s just that the battles won’t be fun if they continue to be this one-sided (and I doubt they will be, especially once the villains appear).

In any case, I enjoyed this episode for the most part. The scene after the battle with everyone overlooking the town had a really nice atmosphere and music to it, and Welkin and Alicia’s speeches made for some good character development (Welkin’s biology background in particular shows through). I was also happy to see that leader of the Town Watch get killed because he was getting really annoying. And things theoretically should get even more interesting now that Welkin and company have joined the militia since several of the characters shown in the OP look to be appearing next week, including Rosie and Largo. I’m still waiting for LelouchMaximilian to make an appearance…

58 Comments

  1. If I were animating the tank fight, I’d probably would have animated it such that the Edelweiss shot at the enemy tank’s ragnite-powered engine (weak spot of all tanks in the game). That way one wouldn’t jump to conclusions about the Edelweiss being overpowered.

    Anime Junkie
  2. The Edelweiss is basically an amalgamation of the German Tiger I in terms of superb firepower, mechanics, and sighting (if you go that route), Russian T-34 in terms of how easily Isara fixes it only with spanners and simple tools, as well as the sloped armor design that eventually gets copied or implemented at least with the Show Spoiler ▼

    Besides, it seems to have features not evident in the game,like a fire on the go capability the older Gallian and Imperial tanks have.

    And Omni. Play the game. Nao.

    Yeah…gonna stop here…military-ness taking over.

    The Edelweiss holds no. 3 spot for the things I like about the game. No. 1 being Marina and No. 2 being Selvaria >.>;;

    Jusuchin (Military Otaku)
  3. Oh yeah, add in the M4 Sherman’s exceptional speed and the T-64’s autoloader (that amazingly never sucks in the game) and you can see why it’s a prototype weapon not used by the Gallian Army…who are a bunch of pricks and adopting a post-WWI US isolationist policy where tanks were treated no more than novelty items. While NATO..er..Federation and the Empire go ahead with like tanks…

    I’m gonna shut up now. ^.^;;

    Jusuchin (Military Otaku)
  4. Jusuchin – but they got excellent panzerfausts… erm lances, whatever…
    Federation + Empire even got red and blue map colors 😛
    Edelweiss is basically a T-72 in WW2 environment IMHO.

    ewok
  5. Laminated armor, full 360º turret and the Sherman’s speed makes the Edelweiss deadly for any imperial light tanks. Gallia didn’t took it to mass production because the goverment thought that it was too expensive, even if it’s based in an older EW1 model (Isara rulz for keeping it up to date). The issue with the tank engagements will be better once the empire sent the medium and large tanks (and Lelouch… I mean, Maximilian’s dreadnoughts)

    SeedStriker
  6. haha one week and i finally finished the game! getting a cold gives you a lot of free time =/

    alas, we’ll be getting no spinzaku from faldio though. now if only yukana was playing selvaria we’d have some interesting parallels, but i just checked and found out her actress played milly. sega really threw together a rather eclectic bunch of voice talent.

    RickyMack
  7. @Jusuchin (Military Otaku)….hehehehe this is getting you EXCITED!! huh bro?? dat’s coool. yep they’s something romantic about tanks..man what was that anime that came out a while ago with the artificial brain in the tank with the girl dat split stuff, that was pretty good.

    BROOKLYN otaku
  8. @Jusuchin
    Just adding a little bit, and my opinion.

    Edelweiss: firepower of the german 88s, armor of a Panther, speed and maneuverability of an M4 Sherman, maintainability of a T-34.

    Imperial Tanks: M3 Lee with the ability of a revolving turret.

    No wonder its so overpowering.

    Just have to wonder if the armor of Edelweiss is as thick on all sides, or it is like normal tank design, i.e. thickest on the front weakest on the back. If its the same all around, then just wow.

    winters1942
  9. The Tank wasnt overpowered in the game…they’re starting to change too much unnecessary stuff. Make new stuff up, leave old things out
    *sigh*
    I’d probbaly be loving it if i didnt play the game (which i thought to be close to perfet), but since i have i hate every single change…

    andreas
  10. I guess i`m a military otaku also, as so many others here. Edelweiss uses late WW2 technology, or even newer, while Imperial Tanks are from 1930-35. 45mm guns, angular under 50mm thick armor and less than 250 Hp for 20 Tons is no match against 90-120mm gun with advanced shells, more than 600Hp for 40 Tons, sloped armor 150mm+ plus in front and turret and at least 70mm everywhere which Edeweiss has. I didn`t know ppl think M4 Sherman was speedy, they mention T-34 and that was speedy, having a Christie tracks and wheel/suspension system. Always funny to see characters act very japanese way in pseudo-historical European enviroment, specially girls!

  11. what bugs me is the tank movement animation looks like the tanks are cadillacs driving on paved roads. They could have made it more realistic while maintaining the speed superiority of the edelweiss.

    marinelzen
  12. I’ve just a question. Why are you using the port 8000 to display some of your screens despite the fact that not specifying it works as well.

    PS: I’m sorry for my very bad English.

    Stafftrust
  13. Love those facial expressions and that attitude.

    Can’t wait until I get this game for the PS3. I’ve heard the game has an option for Japanese voice overs and English subtitles. Very excited.

    asdf
  14. @delicatessen

    Its actually very appropriate. Edelwiess is a flower that grows in cold high altitude mountains. Anyone who has an Edelweiss flower is marked as a “true soldier” since its difficult to scale a mountaind tofind one. Heck some infantry groups in WWII used the Edelweiss as a symbol and even as medals.

    fragbet
  15. Overall I felt this ep followed the game but with some new stuff (the battered Town Watch tanks, etc). Yeah, I thought the Edelwiess’ movements were a bit fast but I guess thats the only way to take on 6 Light Tanks. I always thought the Edelwiess reminded me of Germany’s Tiger II, though I’m more an aircraft than a tank buff so it could be closer to one of those Ruskie tanks being mentioned.

    The only thing that has suprised me so far is how Welkin is more of an “air-head” in that he is both calm and seemingly (but probably not really) clueless, whilst Alicia seems to get shocked easily and gets a bit too emotional and starts shouting. Don’t remember them being that much in the game (though it took me over 50 hrs to finish so can’t remember the beginning too much).

    p.s. For all owners of game, though I’m sure you know by know, DLC available on 16th. Looking forward to those new missions.

    FX102
  16. @Jusuchin We should hang out, I love your knowledge about tanks and stuff. And how you’re well aware that the federation is essentially NATO. Point of order though, the Empire is more the Holy Roman Empire, except with guns and tanks instead of swords and spears. ^__^

    My complaint … wish the Edelweiss was THAT powerful in the game, and could one hit Medium Tanks thats easily. -______-

    IDBjoshm
  17. Wow, why the hell couldn’t eldewies be that fast in the game. Well the point of showing that was to display how it was possible in the game to roll with one tank which could take several hits.

    Btw I’m laughing so hard at welkins

    Sora no Kaze
  18. If anything, it definitely couldn’t turn THAT fast in the game, and it takes 3-4 shots (unless upgraded, then its 1-2) to take out one of those early Imperial Tanks in the game. Only way to 1 shot in the game was a direct hit to their Ragnite engines. LOL.

    But man, if I could turn the tank that fast in the game, some missions would have been so much easier…

    Silverwolf X
  19. Tut cant blame the guy for how much we all deep dpwm (or FUMING AT THE SURFACE LIKE MYSELF)
    miss geass! with a show that awesome we are all bound to see traces of it in even the most random places…… ANYWAY my comment

    Is anyone else watching this thinking? Suzie=Dead @ 30% series marker!!!

    and YES i deeply miss Code Geass incase you were wondering

    WingZerozxt
  20. It has to be made with rather light armor or a darn strong engine, which was hinted at with Isara saying she kept up with advancements. Did the round actually hit a flat section of the tank, like say, the bow? No. It deflected off the sloped armor.

    That being said, the fact it is as speedy as the M4 and T-34 (M4 is speedy in comparison to Tiger Is), has advanced cannons, is a maintenance crew’s wet dream, and basically has a heart of a sports car (plus a perfect autoloader and targeting systems) makes it farfetched even for the time.

    Jusuchin (Military Otaku)
  21. One thing I don’t like, and several others pointed it out, is that it one shots Mediums. =__= Not only that, but in the side plating. The Gallian Town Watchman shot the imperial from behind in the weakest part of the turret assembly. The Edelweiss shot at the thickest part of the side armor =__= Also most have gyro stabilizers if it can fire on the run.

    Show Spoiler ▼

    The only time I did that is with Marina + Top Tier Royal Sniper Rifle + Ult. Accuracy from the other side of Fouzen skirmish map.

    I never advanced Edelweiss unless I needed to. Shamrock did most of the dirty work, often with an engineer and Shocktrooper behind it as cover.

    Jusuchin (Military Otaku)
  22. //The Edelweiss is basically an amalgamation of the German Tiger I in terms of superb firepower, mechanics, and sighting (if you go that route), Russian T-34…//

    //Edelweiss is basically a T-72 in WW2 environment IMHO.//

    //Edelweiss: firepower of the german 88s, armor of a Panther, speed and maneuverability of an M4 Sherman, maintainability of a T-34.//

    You guys probably ought to relax and not try to find similarities between the Edelweiss and whatever else is out there because it’s performance (in this episode at least) is fantastic even by modern standards, due to the fact that it apparently is able to allow 2 people with just basic training to do what is normally a 4 person job (running the tank) and accurately fire 2 rounds on 2 different targets in three seconds, which no modern tank is able to do. Relax, it’s just a show.

    mikemil828
  23. mikemil828, its standard for all anime vehicles to be used by civilians with no before training… From EVA to Edelweiss… and Russians reduced the crew to 3 persons using autoloader – hence one in Edelweiss probably. In a pinch 2 crew can man it with driver and gunner. And not forget “time compression effect”, so 3 seconds can be half minute of realtime 😛
    And yeah its just a show, but show with tanks!!!! Mil Otaku will love it all over the world 😛

    ewok
  24. Lemma aks everyone this. Why does Welkin need to say “Run away?” Can’t he say, “fall back?” Its the same thing, whereas one means you’re trying to be tactical as opposed to an all our retreat.

    IDBjoshm

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