Summary:

Many years ago, Alicia was a child in an institution where she was experimented on and sometimes went unfed. Selvaria, however, had been with her and had shared her bread. Alicia recalls all this in a dream, and she wakes up thinking about what she did in the previous battle. Welkin meanwhile isn’t being allowed to see her, so he instead goes to talk to Faldio who is currently being held prisoner for his actions. Faldio admits that he shot Alicia to awaken her Valkyria powers, and he’s glad that he wasn’t mistaken with his theory. He reminds Welkin that this is the reason they’re alive now, and since Welkin is still angry, Faldio questions what Welkin thinks he should have done. Welkin has no answer for this, and he doesn’t say anything either when Faldio asks him to support Alicia in whatever happens from this point on.

Sometime later, Damon visits Alicia to inform her that she’s being transferred to the regular military and is being promoted four ranks to captain. Alicia is initially against this, but Damon and his men try to convince her that people see her differently now and that she doesn’t belong in the militia anymore. Damon even claims that Welkin agreed to this, but Alicia doesn’t believe him and runs away. She returns to Squad 7, only to overhear them talking about her and acting unsure of how to deal with her given her Valkyria blood. Before Welkin can address these concerns, Alicia reveals herself and the fact that she’s being transferred. Unable to come up with anything else to say, she thanks them for everything up to now and then runs off again. Welkin goes after her and tries to convince her that people are just confused right now, but Alicia is already convinced that she doesn’t belong anymore. Welkin responds by pointing out that she’s their friend and that they’ve overcome so much together, and he also reminds her of how she helped him when Isara died. He therefore wants to help her this time, but Alicia takes off her red scarf and tells him that the Alicia he knows no longer exists. Instead, she feels that she’s a monster, and she bids him a tearful farewell.

Preview

This was a decent, but fairly predictable episode in terms of Damon deciding to use Alicia and Alicia’s subsequent emotional break with Welkin and Squad 7. I’m not saying that that’s a bad thing because it’s really just the natural course of events given how they’ve set everything up. In fact, during the Faldio and Welkin scene, I found myself even agreeing with the course of action he took, and I’m surprised Cordelia didn’t pardon him or anything. I also couldn’t get annoyed at Damon because, if I were in his shoes, I’d probably have done the same thing (though I guess he could still be less of a jerk about it). Regardless, I’m sure that Alicia and Welkin will reconcile sometime right before or during the upcoming final battle, and the red scarf that Alicia left behind will likely play some role in it.

The most interesting things about this episode were actually related to the Imperial side. First, the fact that Alicia and Selvaria did indeed share a past together seems to foreshadow some sort of resolution between the two of them outside of just fighting. I’m sure they still will fight, but maybe Alicia will decide to spare Selvaria or something. The other interesting thing was the shot of Maximilian’s new apparent landship which I guess will be the main obstacle aside from Selvaria in the final battle. I bet Alicia could still take it down with ease though if it ever came to that. All in all, I’m excited to see what the finale will bring, but there’s still a few more set-up episodes to get to that point, and next week looks to focus on Alicia’s departure.

39 Comments

  1. Alicia looks really strange without her scarf. XD

    In any case, I have been pleasantly surprised with this whole Alicia and Selvaria backstory! I didn’t really think I’d see new material at this point, so it’s nice to see something that wasn’t in the game.

    As a random side note, you think being a Valkyria would get you up higher than captain rank… then again, maybe making a special “super human weapon” rank just for her would’ve been a bit much. 😛

    aether
  2. Fifty bucks and I’m frickin serious that Alicia will become immortal,live in the present becomes drifter and hoarder as the next Solid Snake of Anime or Master Chief. It would be awesome to see her go crazy and blowing crap up.

    Highman
  3. Not sure how I actually feel about this episode. It’s all quite logical but given how few episodes are left it’s a bit of a tangent. There’s an awful lot of conceptual material they can explore but it won’t permit for a satisfying conclusion.

    I was under the impression the valkria powers can only surface under certain life/death situaions or protecting a love one. I wonder if that’s no longer the case. I assume the next arc will lead to Welkin and Alicia meeting in battle. Welkin confronted with death and Alicia acknowledging her feelings.

    If I could also give one opinion on the show. For me, the writers seemed to lack focus on what type of story they wanted to tell. The result seemed like half hearted efforts to tell a military story with a poorly developed love triangle. The story could really have been told so much better as either a drama/romance or a military show.

    Irie
  4. Heh, what are you suppose to do when she’s like that. Complete denial, bah, its more like she’s given up. I would be a jerk about it too. A bigger one than Welkin, but a jerk nevertheless. This show is running itself into the ground. Sure there’s some sort of romance (per-se) but the characters are so out of touch with that notion that its a moot point. However, its always like that in a military anime. The character interactions is what drives this show, but those interactions are basically on hold so they better fix it soon b4 this show gets stuck in the mud. Hopefully it won’t go all mushy as hell in the end. If it does, then it will be just as expected.

    Megas
  5. As soon as Welkin and Alicia get on good terms again the directors reset it all over again. They should have focus more on the war and more action and put the romance as a side plot. That way the plot could advance at a efficient pace without the main characters being out of sync with each other.

    ssj4jw
  6. Wow, now they’re just making stuff up – and by that i don’t mean adding it but changing it. The whole Alicia’s – Selvaria’s past thing totaly destroys the point of the story 0.o

    andreas
  7. Damon will get his dues, directors be damned. Sylvaria will assure that. Regardless of how much they want to add, the writers can’t take out the second-greatest explosion of the game.

    Can they?

    Zero
  8. If there’s one thing I am disappointed with is how the Sevens turned their back on Alicia so easily… I mean, where are these strong bonds of brotherhood/sisterhood building themselves during war time? Again, I can only blame the writer (Michiko Yokote) for being an utter ignorant about the reality of war.

    What about Welkin? WTF? I was expecting him to stop being a wimp, beat the shit out of Faldio in a burst of rage, and almost strangling Faldio before a few soldiers come to the rescue. Also, why did no one in the squad not do EVERYTHING to keep Alicia on? By that, I meant to blackmail the general on something or to threaten him in the middle of the night (unseen and unknown to anybody) as long as it keeps Alicia as a fully pledged member of Squad 7.

    KiraYamatoFan
  9. For the Faldio and Welkin scene, I don’t think I’d know what to say either, just like Welkin. I found myself with mixed emotions there.

    As for when Damon decided on his own to make Alicia a regular by force, I felt that I wanted to personally make him beg for death, and I’m a pacifist for crying out loud! At that part I was like “C’mon Cordelia or Welkin, get in there and say something, then kick his ass!”

    magnumslinger
  10. We hope Damon will get his just desserts. D: Knowing this anime, it probably won’t. Everything I’ve heard about it is bad. Welkin and Alicia get on good terms again, then Alicia gets shot, wakes up, mumbles Welkin in her ‘sleep’, proceeds to kick ass, and then has to leave and make things messy with Welkin again? /sigh. I’m beginning to wonder if this is a love story at all or if it’s just ..well.. crap. Ah well. I’m too far in to get out now, so might as well wait.

    Akiyama
  11. I expected some deviation from the game but not on this level with the brand-new backstory; kinda just an excuse to see more young Selvaria & Alicia. With only 2-4 episodes left I guess, there’s not too much time to cover the rest. If I recall the three main parts left are:

    Show Spoiler ▼

    FX102
  12. In the game the Welkin/ Faldio scene was a lot more MANLY. In fact, Welkin was just more manly in general. I agree that Faldio’s actions are a grey issue, and I don’t disagree with what Faldio did, but Welkin’s reaction is so…. weak. Sounds bad, but I think he loved Alicia a lot more in the game. I guess I can see the anime scene making sense, but the way the game presented the scene was a lot more dramatic. Mmm… manly rage. And, c’mon! Was I the only one who really looked forward to Varrot say ‘fisticuffs” in the anime?? XD

    On a side note, Selvaria is so adorable as a kid. 😀

    Mecari
  13. ya me parecia que era una teoria de faldio y la concreto matando a alicia !!!
    se puso genial el capitulo 21, tengo que esperar a que traduzcan a español el 22 :O, pero lei el resumen que dejaron aca.

    espero que alicia se quede con welkin (L)

    Kaho
  14. I never played the original game, so I’m not influenced by how they were originally characterized. Does that come into play when people say that the character interaction has gone to the dogs, or that the characters are out of sync with each other? Personally, I like how they’re focusing more on the damage war does to a person rather than on the war action itself.

    masamune111
  15. @KiraYamatoFan:
    Yeah, I can’t believe that Welkin didn’t do anything to stop her. He should have just stopped and hugged her and all would have been all right. But nooo. 🙁
    I wouldn’t be surprised if we had to wait at least two more eps. until Alicia rejoins Welkin’s troup. Damn it, too much unnedeeded drama. *sighs*

    Ppl here say that the story is now competely different from the game? That actually doesn’t sound that bad, since it gives me a reason to play it. How much is it actual story and how much is it fighting? I am not really into SRPGs. Any way to skip the battles? 😉

    bobara

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