「Sanction」

This adaptation may have skipped the background story for Ingrid, but there was no way it was going to skip the one for Satellizer showing why she can’t stand being touched and how that bestowed her the nickname, Untouchable Queen. It’s already been foreshadowed that she’s been both physically and sexually abused in the anime — something that wasn’t even done in the manga — so the flashback this time around served to reaffirm those suspicions by showing how her younger half-brother Louis (Sanada Asami) was the culprit, and how Satellizer endured it so she and her sickly mother Noel (Amano Yuri) could live at the el Bridgette mansion.

With Itou Miki voicing the household’s legitimate wife Olivia, I got instant Umineko vibes due to her role as Eva, which was rather appropriate given how spiteful she was towards Noel and Satellizer. The eldest daughter Violet (Kayano Ai) was their one gleam of hope in that wretched lifestyle, so it was pretty heartbreaking to learn that she didn’t catch her abusive brother in the act until well into Satellizer’s teenage years. Traumatizing would be an understatement, seeing as Satellizer was victimized from the age of nine to what looks like thirteen-fourteen. It goes without saying that I’m sympathetic towards her, but I honestly can’t say the same about her mother who neglected Satellizer’s concerns while struggling to cope with her own illness, only to realize her mistake on her deathbed. I can see how her dying words motivated Satellizer to become strong and never be subjugated; I just don’t feel sorry for Noel for being an unloving mother when she needed her the most. I definitely had mixed feelings about that scene for Satellizer’s sake.

As for the episode as a whole, it’s pretty impressive how it managed to cover seven chapters of material, and didn’t seem to skip all that much since a lot of pages were dedicated to the two concurrent fights between Satellizer/Arnett and Rana/Creo. Everything just happened a lot faster animated, since we had the inclusion of Creo’s Tempest Turn, Arnett’s Double Accel, and even Satellizer’s throat getting mercilessly slit, before the tables were turned with Satellizer unconscious and fighting from sheer willpower alone, unleashing a Triple Accel, and Rana following up with her Holy Gate variation of the Tempest Turn with four images. This was easily three episodes worth of material compressed into one, if not four-five, so the pacing felt rather feverish in comparison to typical shounen series milking these type of fights for all they’re worth. Had the lengthier explanations of the abilities not been thrown out along with excessive camera panning, this episode could have been easily stretched out. Incidentally, it was on the verge of feeling heavily rushed, had I not been subconsciously happy about seeing the fight wrapped up in a single showing.

There was still enough time for Chiffon and Ticy to show why they’re ranked one and three respectively, with the student council president wowing everyone with her Illusion Turn that’s akin to a certain Fourth Hokage’s Hiraishin technique. What’s more, Chiffon finally put a stop to Elizabeth’s attempts to subdue Satellizer, leading to an intermediary phase in the series as a whole. I really wasn’t expecting this adaptation to get to this point at just over the halfway mark, so in hindsight it seems like the quick pace was well thought out. I actually haven’t read too much further than what’s been shown either, since this sort of marks the end of the first arc and was a good stopping point. The next episode should be about Kazuya’s “date” with Satellizer though, after which the story will likely be shifting towards the Nova threat side of things. It sure is starting to look like the producers are pushing for a meaningful finish to this twelve episode adaptation, and they may just be able to pull it off at this rate.

 

Preview

55 Comments

    1. Though yes in a sense, I think most people would prefer female sadists such as Ekaterina. For a large number of reasons, a male sadist, such as Louis, looks disgusting no matter how you look at it.

      code fanboy
      1. At this pacing, we might actually see Quad Accel. It looks like they use a full ep on the “date” which seems to have additional “anime only” parts tacked in to fill it out which I won’t mind. Leaves 4 eps left. The ep after the date should be focusing on East Genetics for set up/background/flashback into the next big story/plot movement. And that leaves last 3 eps to get to the Quad Accel fight. Should be doable. Still, it is a shame they are rushing this series and leaving out stuff or condensing it left and right.

        I hope the ratings are good and the blu-ray sales are awesome so they do a second season with a little better pacing. But they will have blown through like 2/3 of the released manga with just the 1st season.

        kira-kun
      1. Chiffon’s shadow in the ending is pretty telling for anyone who had missed her true self before this episode. She only had to step in once when it was getting out of hand and things turned out pretty well in the end.

        znail
      1. Or Xellos of Slayers…
        Chiffon is friggin no1 of the academy!
        She definitely knows how to talk softly and carry a big stick…
        Other than that great flashback to shed light on Satella’s fear of touch and stubborn individualism and independence.
        That brat Louis deserves meeting Touma and his fist if you know what I mean.
        Ah, and if you insist on mentioning it, boobs everywhere!

        ewok40k
  1. This series just get better and better… It was very nicely “cramped”, I would say
    Didn’t quite feel as rushed as I thought it might
    How I wish this is a 30 episodes series… they would have ample time to let us indulge in these exciting fights!

    Chiffon
  2. Hehe, the third years finally get what’s coming to them! To think they’re trying to keep order in school, that is just a bunch of lies. They just can’t stand being toppled by first and second year students. Too bad Satella and Rana didn’t put those third year through the wall. I’m so glad that the story is finally turning towards the Nova threat. That’s the real enemy!

    Telvanah
    1. Rana is considered as a Second Year with no prior training as a Pandora. In her first actual fight, she has managed after seeing Tempest Turn once produce more copies than Cleo. That’s why it’s impressive to see Rana pull of a 4 man clone in her first shot.

      Shadiic
    1. So far the adaptation seems to do wonders
      Show Spoiler ▼

      acolyte
    2. Ok, since the spoiler tag doesn’t seem to be working when I preview my comment, I’ll try to ask my question in a non-spoiler way.

      Regarding the guy you mentioned, I know what his position is from wiki, but can you tell me how big of a pain-in-the-ass he’s going to be in the future? I would very much like some spoiler details on the eventual confrontation and outcome between those two characters in your spoiler tag. Thanks.

      WorldWizard
      1. A condensed summary doesn’t do it justice. Read from around chapters 40 to 50 for the arc for the guy. You’ll get a lot of rage and faceplaming though 🙂

        Seriously the anime is useful as an introduction to the manhwa. The manhwa itself is very good at eliciting emotions from the reader (namely rage 🙂 ). The newest arc on the e-pandoras is very good as well.

        Zaku Fan
  3. Want to kick Louis’ butt a thousand times over. How the heck does an eight year old boy already torment someone to that degree? Anyways I agree about how it was better to see the fight conclude in one episode rather than being stretched out. Hopefully Chiffon and her handy side-kick will appear more often. Unfortunately, I doubt that we’ll ever see Chiffon fight as she’s too strong with only the Rank 1 from other Genetics can keep up with her.

    Zangkin
      1. Yeah, the anime has more nudity. But probably to make up for the fact they aren’t putting in all the body part ripping and blood gushing goodness. Thank goodness for volt textures…they can cover up to keep it from being too overboard.

        @Bossun

        Yes, the creators are a pair of Koreans but they published this in Japan so it is a manga technically. But in Korean, manwha means “comics” just like manga is “comics” in Japanese. The terms are denoted like that to show the artists nationality and style but it’s all the same general meaning.

        kira-kun
  4. Totally agree the pacing was quick, but in terms of anime fights it’s a refreshing change of pace. I’m hoping for a strong ending like you, but there seems to be so much set up I would love to see a second season as well to have things develop a bit more. One thing this show has going for it is it’s aggressive pacing since the character designs just seem a bit ugly and plot hasn’t had much time to breathe. I could do without the excessive “oh no my uniform and bra has been ripped exactly so to show my boobs” fanservice as well.

    PockyG
  5. I always love the fanservicey anime, tho I know a lot of the people here seem to object to them. And this has one hell of a compelling story and more intense action than Seikon no Qwaser (even tho there’s been no ‘real’ fatalities so far). I do wish it would go two seasons, but at the pace it’s going it does seem like there’ll be just one more arc of battling the Nova with conveniently-shredded uniforms and possibly stopping the invasion (temporarily at least).

    Chiffon kicks ass! She’s got Gin’s creepy fox-eyes. I wonder what color her eyes are and if she ever opens them to show it.

    Guardian
  6. I also miss how they didn’t do the somewhat “blank” eyes for characters in this battle. Really gave off the impression that it was about to get crazy.

    Oh well, I got to see my Annette/Arnett in action! XD

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    1. If it’s possible in the real world, then it’s even more possible in an anime. Never heard of 8 year-olds having sex? The times we live in are really frightening. It makes me not want to have children

      prejsu
  7. This show is awesome so far but I could have done without the bouncing boobs. I don’t really mind seeing boobs and what not because in those kind of fights you would get your clothes torn up but the slow motion view of the bouncing boobs was too much. I mean I’m sitting there watching a serious battle, that’s supposed to be part of a serious episode, and out of nowhere a zoomed in slow motion view of bouncing boobs. I laughed so hard, it took me a while before I got back into the seriousness of the episode.

    Justa_Dream
    1. It’s probably been a year since I read this part of the manga, but I don’t remember there being this much fanservice. It feels like whichever studio is in charge of Freezing is overusing the whole clothes conveniently being slashed bit, and it’s taking away from everything else.

      Now as I said, it’s been awhile since I read this part so for all I know it may have been the same in the manga.

      UnknownSoldier
      1. Yes, that is why the wife doesn’t like the mistress much and calls her a whore.
        Show Spoiler ▼

        znail
      2. Actually… Show Spoiler ▼

        Karmafan

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