First Impressions / Kakumeiki Valvrave

OP2.01 Sequence

OP2.01: 「革命デュアリズム」 (Kakumei Dualism) by T.M.Revolution×水樹奈々 (T.M.Revolution x Nana Mizuki)
Episode 14

ED3 Sequence

ED3: 「REALISM」 by ELISA
Episode 15

「大気圏の兄妹／カルルスタインへの帰還」 (Taikiken no Kyōdai / Karurusutain e no Kikan)
“Siblings of the Atmosphere” / “Return to Karlstein”

Quick Announcement:

You may or may not have heard this – Fall 2013 will mark the final season of my “blog-ployment”. I’ve recently taken up a directorship at a humanitarian aid foundation – between a full-time profession, having a life and now a second job, I don’t think I’ll be able to make time for anime-blogging at this juncture. I’ll stay on as a writer and complete my coverage of Kakumeiki Valvrave, but my manga coverage of both One Piece and Fairy Tail will unfortunately have to come to an end with immediate effect. I’ve had an absolute blast blogging both the mangas – I hold Oda sensei’s masterpiece in the highest esteem and Mashima sensei’s beautiful art (and fanservice) has proven to be more than a great joy. I apologize for the delay in putting up this anime post – the next one should go up in a timelier manner!

Episode 14 to 15:

Nothing has ever turned out as planned when it comes to Kakumeiki Valvrave – it seems like Okouchi sensei might have just thrown us a new curve ball and you could be certain this is not going to be the last of it! A simple recon expedition has quickly developed into something more than just that – the mission squadron did not even come close to arriving at their intended destination, and there’s certainly a case to be made that this is merely the beginning of their many predicaments. Haruto and his merry crew have found themselves stranded right at the heart of enemy territory, but that’s hardly all there is to the big-time revelations – as it turns out, not only is Nobi Marie (Fukuen Misato) in the know of Haruto’s vampiric immortality, she is almost surely a “Kamitsuki” herself as well. Color me surprise – Marie may very well take on a larger supporting role in the second season, and the various intricacies that surround her presence could prove to be more imperative than it appears at first glance. Interestingly enough, she seems to be on amicable terms with Pino (Kayano Ai), and those two share a rather fascinating relationship that dates back to more than five years ago! I’m sure Marie has many questions to ask and she is most likely just as confused as any of us – the amnesiac girl has seemingly survived a headshot that was right on target, and it’s not entirely clear if she was even cognizant of her apparent immortality. Pino was probably the one who made Marie an undead, and there appears to be a certain connection between her memory loss and that of Rune consumption. Marie’s entire being is riddled in enigmas,and it’s hard to make out whether she is a friend or a foe at this stage – an extravaganza of all-hell-breaks-loose seems almost inevitable, and you can be sure Marie will be right at the forefront of all the ensuing drama and commotion!

The next leg of this high-stake game is set to unfold on icy grounds, and L-elf’s past is bound to play a role of utmost importance in the incoming conflicts. For starters, the Prophet (“Eru-Erufu”) shares a rather elaborate history with both the Karlstein Institute and the Dorssian royal family. His love-hate relationship with A-drei (Fukuyama Jun) has been made conspicuous right from the get-go, and there’s also seemingly a unique bond between L-elf and the pink-haired Dorssian Princess (Toyosaki Aki) – a figure of significance who will, no doubt, receive a formal introduction very soon! The Dorssian political landscape is caught in somewhat of a disarray, and there’s a multifaceted conspiracy that is slowly but surely playing out over here. Colonel Cain is a nasty piece of work to say the least – evidently, H-neun and Kriemhild have good reasons to be apprehensive of their superior’s intention, and the two of them are almost certainly brewing a plot of their own behind the scenes! The jack-a-dandy bishie and his beautiful accomplice are quickly emerging as one of the most intriguing personas in the mix. Nobody knows for sure where their true allegiance lies and there’s a good chance that they might take L-elf’s side in this battle of wits – after all, “an enemy of my enemy is my friend” and this age-old political kernel certainly rings true in this very instance! Unfortunately for L-elf, his “prophetic” game plan has been thwarted yet again by the unexpected – Marie’s intervention and her mysterious identity are bound to throw a monkey wrench in the works, and you can be almost certain that this is not going to play out in a conciliatory manner. L-elf was quick to gun down Marie when she made herself out to be a liability – brutal and to the point, his cut-throat savagery is clearly at odds with Haruto’s pacifism. Their current partnership was built on a shaky ground from the outset – it is proving to be an unequivocally complex one and the growing contention that exists between these two is not going to come to an end any time soon!

The big-picture narratives unquestionably beg for intent contemplation – but the human side of the equation and the specifics that ensued are in no way any less compelling. As it turns out, there’s more to Akira’s tormented past than meets the eyes – her backstory, fraught with distrust and the menace of bullying, was surely quite an eye-opener! It’s hard to pin the blame on any one individual in this unfortunate turn of events – we have all made mistakes as reckless juveniles, and the same can be said for both Akira (Yuuki Aoi)  and Satomi (Namikawa Daisuke). No doubt, what Akira did was a clear contravention of the law – but for all her foolhardiness, Akira’s wrong-doings did come with genuine concern and the best of intentions. Her brother, a nervous wreck of an adolescent, was not equipped to cope with the immediate aftermath of Akira’s actions – Satomi is probably a victim himself, and his seeming indecision and the blind eye that he turned have caused him great remorse! Clearly, the Renbokouji siblings care for each other a whole lot and their heartfelt burying of the hatchet is for sure a welcome development. Akira’s severe misanthropy is hardly a false guise, but that doesn’t mean she can’t pull it together when the time calls for it. The redheaded “little witch” has steadily become more adept at human communication – her checklist of friends has now extended beyond that of Shouko, and I’m sure both Marie and Saki would be more than happy to take the fledgling under their wings. Saki, in particular, has displayed admirable tact and diplomacy in her interaction with Akira. She was especially kind and accommodating to the reticent young girl, and their budding camaraderie could determine the success of this ongoing infiltration – a mission of life-and-death which may very well turn the tide for the marooned JIORians!

Saki’s future-self has made yet another appearance in a brief flash-forward – as a matter of course, it shed light upon some of the inherent stakes at hand, but the tangible details have understandably remained somewhat scarce and abstruse! The bits and pieces of the puzzle are gradually coming together – Marie’s origin as the very first “Kamitsuki” has been vaguely hinted at this time around, and it appears that both Satomi and Akira have survived well into the distant future. Saki was once again in company with a mysterious young ouji – there’s definitely more to the L-elf lookalike than meets the eyes, and his very existence surely points to more curve balls looming ahead! Neither Haruto nor Shouko has made their beings known in the forthcoming time-skip, and the jury is definitely still out on the romantic subplot. Shouko has the deck stacked against her at the present – her physical presence is pretty much close to nil, and the growing distance between Haruto and his childhood sweetheart is becoming increasingly evident. Saki, on the other hand, has continued to make leaps and bounds of inroads into Haruto’s heart – it does seem like she has the upper hand at this stage, but that doesn’t mean the journey is going to be all smooth-sailing. Their trespass into Dorssian grounds occurred to me as somewhat of a surprise – Saki’s rendezvous with Colonel Cain may well be happening sooner than we thought, and the preview snippets certainly allude to a disconcerting wave of uproars! Haruto remained hopeful that there’s a way out for his “Kamitsuki” – but Marie’s accursed fate and the brief glimpse into Saki’s future probably tells a completely different story. All of the mysteries that have been presented thus far – whether it’s the Valvraves or their apparent immortality – are plagued with layers of subterfuge and duplicities. No doubt, Okouchi sensei has crafted quite an elaborate masterpiece – the answers to his questions are bound to get out sooner or later, and these revelations should prove to be just as interesting as the prevailing shroud of secrecies itself.

Random tidbits:

tl;dr: @SeishunRC – Kakumeiki #Valvrave – 14, 15: Blood splatters everywhere! Stranded right at the heart of enemy territory and more big-time revelations to come – nothing has ever turned out as planned when it comes to Kakumeiki Valvrave. #Anime
 
Full-length images – Episode 14: 01, 03, 05, 06, 08, 14, 19, 20, 23, OP02, OP04, OP05.

Full-length images – Episode 15: 01, 05, 07, 08, 11, 12, 14, 17, 20, 21, 31, ED01.

 

ED3.01 Sequence

ED3.01: 「REALISM」 by ELISA
Preview

61 Comments

  3. Congratulations Seishun! Ganbarou!

    With regards to the “future” scene, I can only speculate a few things:
    1. Renbokoji Satomi may become a “Kamitsuki” – hence his immortality. There’s also the possibility that he may already be one in the current timeline (like Marie).
    2. L-Elf and Shouko achieve peace and become king and queen of some country, where they start a line of descendants (e.g. the prince being one).
    3. Due to their growing friendship that may peak at some point down the track, Shouko (or her descendent) decides to have Akira be the godmother of that prince.
    4. Haruto dies (possibly in a stereotypical anime heroic fashion).

    Looking over it, the second idea is VERY far-fetched, but L-ElfXShouko shippers would rejoice, which leaves the HarutoXSaki ship to sail freely.
    I’m open to criticism, so I’d like to hear other people’s interpretations of the future scene.

    Stiltzkin
    Reply

  6. The future prince looks oddly like L-elf with Haruto’s eyes… and he’s only Saki’s godson ruling her out as mommy. HarutoXL-elf? You just know the writers are having waaay to much fun with this.

    Great couple of episodes, I really liked Akira’s backstory. The train’s left the station and we’re in for one helluva ride here!

    Hochmeister
    Reply

  7. Observation and some possible good guess:

    The prince is actually Haruto (permanently fixed in L-Elf’s body) and Shoko’s son… either that, or L-Elf and Shouko actually get together.

    I just can’t think of any other reason Akira would be willing to be a Godmother to anyone NOT related to Shouko.

    Someguy
    Reply

  8. Anyone eta on the episode 16 post? I’m excited to read the responses to that episode.

    I’ve enjoyed your blog coverage of this series, glad you’re staying around till it ends.

    schwegburt
    Reply

  9. After watching the Valvraves using that new weapon of theirs, I’m reminded of Code Geass’s Vincent knightmare with that ‘elbow’ weapon that also vaporised the cockpit of the enemy mecha…..

    Arthuria
    Reply

  10. I’m happy for the characterization of Akira and Satomi. Especially for Satomi, I think the best episodes on any series are those that take their annoying characters and redeem them in my eyes.

    Also, L-elf really needs to reign in that murder boner he gets every time he tries to fix a solution. He’s lucky Marie got better from a bullet on the head, the long-term consequences would be worse if the crew realized one of their own was suddenly killed out of nowhere.

    I really dig the Valvraves new weapon since it WEAPONIZES its overheating flaw. As they saying goes, When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” In this case, lemonades take the form of melting the face of your opponents. That’s awesome.

    fragb85
    Reply

  11. I have yet to see these episodes which I will catch up on shortly. But I nearly died of a heart attack when I clicked on RandomC, saw the excerpt post for Valvrave and saw Nobi Marie with a bullet in her head…

    Although she may, (or may not) survive, I can’t help but feel she’s raised her death flag…

    Goodwill Wright
    Reply

  12. Finally caught up in the series.

    That’s unusual for Sunrise: The side characters usually are easy to kill. Here Marie took a bullet in the head and lived. It’s not even surprising: you can tell she’ll comeback when she got shot because it casually happened, with no fanfare.

    Not that it didn’t happened before: that mentor-guy in Gundam Seed came back as an antagonist in Destiny. But at that time everyone thought he was perma-dead and the guy in Destiny was another clone. Turns out it was him.

    TheMoondoggie
    Reply

    1. lol, I saw that on yaraon the other day…

      It’s a bit too pricy for my budget to the least. That better come gold plated with diamonds all over the darn thing for that price. 😛

      Kuntzy
      Reply

  14. seriously, I don’t see why a bunch of middle school kids would bully let-alone even care if Akira tried to hack into the system…usually middle schoolers would applaud someone getting in trouble like that or avoid them, not make their lives a living hell (of course in anime bullying usually is overdone with literally no one bating an eye to help the victim). But I do see why she was bullied later on due to her mental regression from what happened on in her earlier years…though still….how it all started is sort of…
    Either ways, I’m loving the ending and now I gotta say I’m enjoying this season more than the first (not to say I didn’t like it), I guess its because of the character growth.

    SDFGS
    Reply

  17. Good luck to you, Seishun! It’s been a blast reading everything you’ve done and I wish you the best! Glad you’re gonna stick it out with Valvrave until the end though!

    Can’t say I was expecting all that happened. It was like for a moment I could see what was coming and then it broke the laws of physics to change directions and hit me in the face. … And yet I don’t mind. I enjoyed these episodes.

    Akira certainly likes her Metal Gear Solid. Sneaking around in a box, repeatedly getting annoying calls/messages from someone, getting groped and sneaking through rough terrain to get into a base. S+ sneaking mission candidate. All part of Eru-Erufu’s master plan.

    The new attachments so the Valraves are so darn neat. Valravns that attach as giant claw/fist things that melt enemies? Too cool. The new Dorssia mech look pretty darn awesome as well. I need a model or something of it.

    Zack
    Reply

  19. I don’t know whether it’s just me, but the ending song might be foreshadowing the direction of the show. Yuujou(friendship) and there’s an image of shouko. Yokubou(desire) and there’s an image of saki. Either Sunrise is really shipping haruto x saki or they’re just trolling…..

    Boo
    Reply

    1. This is exactly what I was thinking and makes me feel as if the writers just couldn’t come up with a better reason to fit Akira into the role of a bullied kid. Even being a redhead would’ve made more sense. Unless, I dunno, all the kids in her class were brainwashed by hardcore propaganda into believing that only freaks oppose the government.

      SingerOfW
      Reply

  21. MARIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

    This applies to episode 15, but those who watched the latest episode will know exactly what I’m talking about… Or screaming about.

    Good luck in the future, Seishun!

    Entrav
    Reply

  23. L-elf is the most hardcore audience surrogate I have ever seen. I got really irritated that Haruto was screwing up the mission to talk to Marie. So L-elf rectified the situation by shooting her in freaking head.

    livevoid
    Reply

    2. HAHAHAHAHA omg this. He was totally screwing up the plan and leaving those two to die in the battlefield. So the situation pretty much got worse because of him and thanks to that Marie needed to use up all of her runes and eventually her life to save the situation. Baka Haruto.

      Aleris
      Reply

  27. So, that Marie amnesia plot sure came right the hell out of nowhere, eh?

    Also, I’m finding the villain’s backstories and personal lives a lot more interesting than the heroes. I kinda dread the moment we return to the love triangle stuff, since, personally, that really dragged the plot down for me.

    And is anyone noticing they keep throwing Takahi around like ship tease hot potato? First it was Satomi, then Haruto, and now Raizou.

    Kinda disappointed we haven’t gotten that same Valvrave brand of crazy-stupid, but there’s still time.

    And congrats to Seishun! Your work shall not be forgotten!

    Da5id
    Reply

  29. You know i find it pretty stupid that the situation with Marie even happened in the first place. I mean Haruto’s just like “Ok screw the mission. It’s ok if my friends are being put in mortal danger because talking to Marie is more important!” I mean the whole thing felt incredibly forced. I’m actually glad L-Elf shot her (though he should have shot Haruto too for comedy sake). Sometimes characters in this show don’t know what common sense is……

    leatherhead333
    Reply

  33. I can’t tell who had it worse when it came to memories Marie or Index and Touma T-T. Touma was in the same situation as Marie, they both lost all of their memories, but Touma still had his personality somehow. I’m afraid it might not work out that way for Marie.

    I only caught on to Marie being a test pilot right before Pino said it lol. I knew Marie was going to kick some major ass, but the cost would be great :<.

    Time for Shouko and Akira to help make new memories with Marie!

    Dorssia Royalists Resistence trying to fight against Dorssia Skynet, can’t wait to me these guys.

    Magoiichi
    Reply

  34. Valrave really gives us alot of unexpected twist & unexpected characters development. I watch the recent episode it was for Marie & its not sure if she’s….. On the other hand seems like the guys might some aid in Dorssian I seeing some political movement & Im sure the pricess will take part of it maybe the opposition.

    As you said the puzzle piece are gathering but now we have to wait for the piece to match together before see the big picture!

    lune
    Reply

  38. Seeing that future snippet of Saki meeting with Cain…. I have this sneaking suspicion that it isn’t actually Saki in there considering how she swapped bodies with that boy. What if the kid wakes up in her body and decides he needs to go report into HQ or whatever? Justttt a thought and it wouldn’t be very surprising considering all the crazy twists and turns.

    Axel
    Reply

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