Summary:

Alicia faces off against Selvaria at Ghirlandaio by herself, and it soon becomes clear that Selvaria is fighting with much more intensity. This leaves Alicia questioning what she’s fighting for since she feels like she doesn’t have any place to return to or any friends left. As she’s trying to figure out what Selvaria is fighting for, Alicia suddenly recognizes her from their past together, so she decides to ask Selvaria about it. Alicia believes that Selvaria should have been alone too since she was an orphan, and while this was true in the beginning, Selvaria had been saved by Maximilian. Because of this, Selvaria fights now for Maximilian’s sake. Welkin meanwhile has returned to militia headquarters after escorting Cordelia safely back to the capital. He spends a lot of time staring at old photos and thinking about Alicia and Faldio, and he ultimately decides to go out on his own to see Alicia. Squad 7 is waiting for him at the front door though, and they’re determined to go with him because they feel that Alicia is their friend.

Around this same time, Cordelia is surprised to find out that Maximilian is coming to enter into a cease-fire agreement. Maximilian has some conditions however, and the main one is that Cordelia become his wife. Cordelia realizes that Maximilian wants control of the throne, but what he really wants is the Valkyria lineage because he believes that’s the key to obtaining everything. Cordelia, however, dashes his hopes by revealing that she’s not descended from the Valkyrur; she’s actually a Darcsen. Back at Ghirlandaio, Alicia continues to get beat up, but right as she’s losing the will to fight, she remembers Welkin and her friends and realizes that they are the reason she can’t lose here. This revitalizes her, and upon seeing this, Selvaria decides to settle this battle in the next clash. The two charge at each other, and when the dust clears, Selvaria is the one who falls. Alicia doesn’t finish her off though because she knows that Selvaria has someone important to her as well. Selvaria, however, decides to sacrifice herself in a massive explosion that takes out everyone in the area, including Damon and his forces.

Maximilian meanwhile decides that he has no use for Cordelia and summons his dreadnought Marmota to crash into the castle. Once he’s back onboard, Karl brings him the news of Selvaria, but Maximilian remains unmoved and only comments on how he had more uses for her. This angers Karl, but when he tries to speak up about how Selvaria fought for Maximilian’s sake, Maximilian just shoots him to make an example of him.

Preview

Well, I was awed at how many plot twists and major events there were this week. It was almost certain that Selvaria would die, but I didn’t expect Cordelia to turn out to be a Darcsen, and it never crossed my mind that a fairly likable side character like Karl would get killed off like that. The suddenness of Karl’s apparent death made me go “wtf” more than the other things that happened this episode, and it looks like they really want us to hate Maximilian now. It’s a little disappointing that he turned out to be so power-hungry and crazy after being fairly rational all series (reminds me of a certain other Fukuyama Jun-voiced prince), but I guess the series has to have a true villain. Speaking of which, I was very happy to see Damon finally getting vaporized. He deserved a worse end, but good riddance regardless.

As much as I enjoyed the plot twists and all the action though, I did have some complaints about the execution. The pacing felt really rushed at certain points, such as when Alicia was figuring out her reason to fight. She went from lifeless to rejuvenated in 10 seconds, and the battle was over a minute later after a very DBZ-esque power-up sequence. I also didn’t like the way they jumped around in the story. In particular, they should have shown the Welkin stuff earlier and saved the Cordelia Darcsen reveal for one continuous segment instead of breaking it apart (the first time I watched the episode, I was too caught up on the Darcsen thing to pay any attention to Welkin).

Looking ahead to the final two episodes, it’ll be interesting to see if Welkin and Squad 7 can take down Maximilian’s landship on their own or if they need Alicia to swoop in and save the day. Hopefully it’ll be the former.

45 Comments

  1. FFFF Selvaria dies and that Max-ass does not give a F. This makes me rage on so many levels.

    Also I got spoiled beforehand, but did not imagine that Cordelia would reveal it at this point. Nice move, Cordelia. And all heil, Damon finally dies!

  2. LOL? You didn’t like how some of the battle sequence is DBZ like, OMNI?????
    It has been like this since Selvaria first revealed her power. I think I stopped watching the series since then……

    Nightshifter
  3. Hooray, Damon dies. Bring in the champagne.

    Well that aside, this episode.. had some seriously ridiculous artworks during Alicia vs Selvaria fight. Like this.
    https://randomc.net/image/Valkyria%20Chronicles/Valkyria%20Chronicles%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2011.jpg

    Actually, Karl isn’t a strictly anime-only because he (or someone with a very similar position anyway. I forgot the name) does appear in a downloadable content for the game. But he’s killed during the Fouzen mission if I know right. So the anime merely delayed his death. Ah well. But seriously, I seriously say this anime is going to dogs. I’d been defending it, but after knowing the game’s storyline and the gameplay, seriously. Of course, it had many delighting good points as well (like episode 10) but oh man.

    Starshade
  4. Boo! That wasn’t even half as good as it was in the Game. Not only does Damon get nuked, but Alicia actually relates to Sylvaria.

    Forced much?

    Bah, I’m done with this. The last two eps are a serious rehash of nearly every war anime ever made.

    Zero
  5. Bah, shit anime is shit. But I did a toast to Damon finally biting it. I couldn’t help thinking about all those silly-ass self-destructions in anime history – even so, this one was about as lame as it gets. I wish I could drop it now, but I never dropped a series so late into it & I won’t start now. I’m basically watching only to see who’ll die next 😛

    Megas
  6. wait, so how do hey manage to explain away the hair thing during the kidnapping issue and such? a special wig???

    And yeah, they seriously cheapened Selvarias death here. In the game, she was ordered to do the move. That’s far more powerful for her character than her throwing her life away. The game also had her do it in a captured castle where only the regular army was stationed, so the militia was relatively unscathed. And it was also Damons ridiculous arrogance which allowed it to happen. No such luck here…

  7. “the battle was over a minute later after a very DBZ-esque power-up sequence.”

    Haha, I was laughing at it so much. Cept the DBZ power-ups are closer to the development of Alicia and Welkin… taking forever… =\

    Satoida
  8. @ gundamjuhutykai

    inorite?? Selvaria’s deathscene in the anime can’t even compare to the one in the game. Her character seriously suffered.

    Where’s the grand sense of loyalty to maximillion? Where’s the shock when she recives the order to kill herself from the man she loves? Where’s the bit of kindness she shows at the very end towards squad 7? I loved the realization I got from the game as they shackle her and her last request is for Squad 7 to be allowed to leave- and just as squad 7 are out of distance she breaks her shackles and blows the army to smithereens. The death she received in the anime was so much less glorious and epic. Oh Selvaria, you will be missed… ;~;

    Mecari
  9. Seems to me like we’ll get a rush ending for this anime series. I seem to enjoy the game when it comes to storytelling, but the anime seems to explore some content we don’t get in the game (not much but it’s there). Selvaria’s death feels cheap and doesn’t have the impact and impression from the game. The anime will be ending soon anyway and fansub groups don’t seem to be devoted to Senjou no Valkyria. It’s really hard for game turned anime to be successful.

  10. Finally, that walking hunk of blubber and cholesterol is roasted to perfection. XD

    Damon was beginning to piss me off big time.

    Setting that aside, there are some interesting revelations here in this episode. Maybe I didn’t catch it a few episodes back but Cordelia a Darcsen? Pretty unexpected for somebody who wields Valkyrur weapons of mass kaboom. And one more thing…

    https://randomc.net/image/Valkyria%20Chronicles/Valkyria%20Chronicles%20-%2024%20-%2023.jpg

    Is THAT her real hair?! XDXD

    razgriz
  11. Poor Selvaria. Her death scene was sadder in the game, but it’s still sad nevertheless. Karl and Jaegar were the only ones who cared about her death. And Maxmillian is a jerk for not caring, even though she loved him. And he could have married Selvaria if he wanted Valkyrur children. What an idiot. And Maximillian is looking crazy in those preview screenshots.

    julygirl17
  12. Okayy… this anime have started going downhill as it gets close to the end.

    Everything felt incredible rushed as if the creators suddenly realized that they may have wasted a couple of earlier episodes and now have to cram loads of things in the last couple of episodes including this one, thereby ending up with something that kinda feels like one of those “X movie in 30sec” (except the Selvaria/Alicia fight which was a bit too long and kinda boring).

    Worst of all? Selvarias death, it was pathetic compared to the game, almost painful to watch. The entire episode would probably have been better if they had simply copied the cutscenes from the game.

    Right now Im even certain that Im looking forward to the next episode, sure Il probably watch it just to be able to finish the series but seeing how they completely ruined Selvarias end (had so been looking forward to it) Im almost scared to see what they will do with everything else that’s left of the story.

    P.S. But I have to say, Maximilian shooting Karl, didn’t see that one coming, and while it felt unlike Maximilian to do something like that I actually enjoyed the scene (nothing against Karl).

    Andune
  13. after reading all this I guess I’m glad I didn’t play the game. So I’m happy with this episode, but I have to admit I do wonder how epic it would be if they stayed closer to the game after reading the comments. O well,too little too late,on to the happy end.

    Anonymous
  14. Wow, Cordelia changed her eyebrow colour by taking off her wig. Thats pretty impressive. 0_o

    Maximillians sudden insanity was lul wut as well. He’s always been cold, yes, but this takes the silly biscuit. Oh well, at least his Xanatos Gambit failed. Sort of.

    Also, I know its a mobile fortress and all that, but what the hell were the Gallian defences doing to just it roll right up to the capital? If it was so easy, he should have just done that at the start of the war.

  15. This series is alright, I’ve been keeping tabs on it all year.

    But the real anime of the year in my mind without a doubt is Requiem for the Phantom. I can’t believe you didn’t cover that series, is it because it’s too dark?

    jho
  16. Selvaria’s death was more meaningful in the game also because Maximillian specifically asked her to do it, knowing she would die, and she did it anyway because of her devotion to him. In the anime, it seemed like a random, spur of the moment decision.

    I really wanted to like this anime adaptation but it really fell off the rails some time ago – somewhere around episode 12-14.

  17. I was actually pleased with this episode. That is because in the game, Alicia gets no consequences to being a Valkyria and everyone goes along with it as nothing. In the game such a precious valkyrian lance was in a museum. hehe. Also the reason I like this episode is because in the game instead of battling full valkyrian style, the women abandon their lances for guns. Heck that time when Alicia turns into Valkyria is the only time she fights as one in the game.

    Falmung

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