First Impressions / Hitsugi no Chaika

「ウィザードの矜持」 (Uizaado no Kyouji)
“A Wizard’s Pride”

Team White Chaika face off against Claudia as Red Chaika reenters the game. As for Vivi-Chaika, she’s not giving up.

Strong Emotions Win the Battle

I prefer a magic system that is detailed and explained. That’s one problem I have with the Iron-Blood Transformation—they’ve never explained what the limits are on it, so I’m left wondering why Tooru and Akari aren’t using it all the time. From the use of memories and thoughts as magic fuel, to this episode learning that powerful emotions can fuel spells, we’re getting more background on how magic works. I feel like these fundamental building blocks are clues that will lead us to whatever Emperor Gaz had in mind, but I don’t think we have enough information to put it all together yet.

In terms of pure action, the fight against Claudia was a good one. Our heroes were on the ropes, especially when Claudia proved that she’s aware of saboteur’s usual tricks, but reacting with a good plan that utilized their advantage (numbers) was well done. I also had to smile when Frederica decided to help after all. That was the little extra help Team White Chaika needed to push them over the edge. Za Slugger!

Everyone Likes White Chaika

Claudia is undoubtedly the most balanced of the heroes we’ve seen so far, and I think her decision not to use the artifact was a smart one—building a system to produce her wine is more robust than depending on a macguffin, especially one so powerful. I found it odd that she basically sicked weapon-wielding thieves on her former comrades, but I liked how she only was willing to give up the remains to White Chaika because she liked her. I imagine if Red Chaika had gotten to her first, it wouldn’t have worked out so well. It’s no wonder though. Who wouldn’t like this Chaika? That blush, hnnnng! Too innocent to hate.

Red Chaika Returns

I was surprised the archer was one of the heroes, what with how fast he was beaten. Red Chaika’s uncertainty in the face of her own vague compulsion toward revenge (as opposed to White Chaika’s very specific desire to give her father a funeral) makes me think a heel-face turn (trope!) and a possible team up might be in the future. More than that though, I suspect that, whichever Chaika gets all the remains, Emperor Gaz’s goals will be realized. I get the feeling he’s not a man who leaves anything up to chance.

Vivi-Chaika’s Determination

In case you missed it, we have additional proof that Vivi really is a Chaika. See it? (No no, higher. Stop looking at her oppai, you perverts.) That’s the Chaika beheading scar that all the Chaikas share. It looks like Vivi really is a Chaika, on the outside if not in her mind.

Vivi’s transformation brings up an interesting situation—right now, the antagonists (Vivi and the rest of the Gillette Squad) have the more compelling story. Team White Chaika are most pushing forward the plot, and I’m glad we’re primarily following them because they’re doing the most interesting stuff, but even with White Chaika’s identity crisis, it’s Vivi’s transformation and the determination with which she’s leaving to finish Gillette’s quest that most captures my interest.

Looking Ahead – Two More Remains and Fortune Island

For those counting at home, there are two outstanding (unconfirmed) remains in non-Chaika hands. White Chaika has five (three from heroes during the first season + one from Blue Chaika, and one from a hero this season), Red Chaika has one (from the archer this episode), and Claudia gave White Chaika the name of three more heroes. Presumably one of those heroes had the remains that Blue Chaika had, so that means two more are outstanding. Only two more heroes (maybe three, if they swing by the one who already gave theirs up), and then it’s either a fight between the Chaikas or climax time.

For now it’s looking like we’re heading toward a showdown between White Chaika, Red Chaika, and Vivi-Chaika (or maybe just the latter two) on the island where Emperor Gaz’s fortune was hidden. But first, there’s another hero to contend with. Also, at least cook your food Frederica, geez. You animal.

Oh, and show picked up for coverage.

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – White Chaika wins the Claudia showdown b/c of Tooru love, while Red Chaika & Vivi-Chaika reenter the fray #chaika s2e2

Random thoughts:

    There are no materials left on the magic techniques used by a wizard the power of Emperor Gaz

  • Don’t give up the information before they promise not to kill you, you idiot wizard. Not that it probably would have worked this time.
  • More Chaikas? Are those Purple Chaikas? Uh oh. I can feel the doujinshi coming already.

Check out my blog about storytelling and the novel I’m writing at stiltsoutloud.com. The last four posts: From me to you, The glorious unburdening of less, Rape fiction, and Five movies on a plane. For book and short story updates, please sign up for my mailing list.

Full-length images: 07, 30.

 

Preview

46 Comments

      1. Natural breasts?

        I’d say from their silhouettes, the Chaika’s have B-cup breasts… and B-cups don’t SAG that much… from the picture alone, if we say Vivi’s about 5’2, the sag is almost 4 inches… which is NOT NATURAL. Seriously, even the shape isn’t natural as it’s more elliptical/oblongish judging from the perspective of 67 degrees. A B-cup sagging that much isn’t normal to a petite girl as Vivi (or any of the Chaikas for that matter).

        Don’t know what your point of reference is (perhaps you are a girl?) but I for one have seen my fair share to know when there’s something wrong about the proportions. The comment was made on the assumption that this is an ANIME, in which the term “natural” cannot be applied. The entire context of the show screams “unnatural” if we take perspectives into considerations (10 foot vertical jumps, dragoons, magic, flying fortresses…).

        So care to revise your statement, eh? Or do you want me to give you a 3D rendition of the spatial improbability of B-cup breasts sagging that much due to mere mass differential? Take note, kid.

        Ddadain
        Reply

      2. Can we not talk so much about her chest? I only took that cap because it’s the clearest one (and only one, to my knowledge) that shows her neck scar. Vivi deserves some respect ya’ll. She’s more than just oppai!

        P.S. The answer is always “it depends”. There’s a lot of variety among us silly humans, don’tcha know.

        Stilts
        Reply

      4. @Giorno Giovanna

        Marvelous video, though most of the featured breasts are more on the “perkier” and “neater” side.

        LOL, me thinks the pair on at 00:00:34 is about right for the build and size (judging from the silhouette of Vivi’s bod). In any case, my impetus is that it was an animation-miss since they didn’t correct for the angled perspective the picture was drawn from.

        Anyways, what’s important is that the plot has finally started to move towards revealing the origins of (the) Chaika(s) with the Emperor’s Treasure bit… What’s interesting would be what would Vivi-chaika’s role be this late in the game…

        And obviously it couldn’t come any sooner since rumor has it that this season of Chaika would only run for 10 episodes, and that we are heading to a conclusion at the end of this season… + an OVA. So, yeah, optimistic.

        Ddadain
        Reply

  3. Vivi’s transformation brings up an interesting situation—right now, the antagonists (Vivi and the rest of the Gillette Squad) have the more compelling story. Team White Chaika are most pushing forward the plot, and I’m glad we’re primarily following them because they’re doing the most interesting stuff, but even with White Chaika’s identity crisis, it’s Vivi’s transformation and the determination with which she’s leaving to finish Gillette’s quest that most captures my interest.

    Vivi has actually been one of my favorite characters since… around the middle of the first season, give or take, and I’ve been on edge ever since they cliffhangered her (that’s totally a valid verb!) at the end of the season. That, of course, means I may not be impartial. However, I agree that her story captures the emotions right now more than Chaika’s (for the record, Chaika is still our Chaika, Vivi will still be Vivi, all other Chaikas will be referred to with their color in addition to their name). Certainly there’s more immediacy to Vivi’s situation than to Chaika’s, as well as the tragedy from the apparent loss of her love.

    Oh, and show picked up for coverage.

    YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!

    Wanderer
    Reply

      1. So is she. It’s not supposed to be a comfortable thing, after all. It’s a disturbing change, on many levels. I hope, when all is said and done, the transformation can be reversed.

        Wanderer
        Reply

      3. Well of course. I don’t want her character development to go away! Psychologically the effect of this, of everything that’s happened to her from Gillette’s “death” forward, will be huge, and I doubt that will go away short of a memory alteration (which can apparently happen in this world, so… um…). But I hope the physical changes can be undone. I think she would be happier to be “herself” again, rather than physically a Chaika.

        Wanderer
        Reply

  4. Good man for picking this up Stilts, we don’t have to throw you to the dogs now 😉

    As for the Chaikas clones, or at least the true definition of clones, is up for debate. All of them seem to have differing reasons for collecting the remains, from a funeral to revenge to sheer desire for power. I cannot remember if Vivi had the scars before (should be pics floating around), but that should at least tell if all the Chaikas are body clones or not as IIRC it’s already been hinted that their memories are in fact likely not their original ones.

    Considering a wizard is involved personally I’m leaning towards the Chaikas being magical clones, or even spiritual “reincarnations” (a la summoning spells). Gaz’s fortune sounds awfully like it has something to do directly with the Chaikas, and could even be the magic necessary to “produce” the Chaikas. Heck maybe the reason for the collection of the remains is for a Chaika to stick them in the machinery to resurrect Gaz, and maybe the Chaikas were originally produced by that wizard for such purpose. Oh well, back to waiting for next week 😛

    Pancakes
    Reply

    1. I actually can’t find a picture of Vivi’s neck uncovered, other than that one. Nearly every woman in the Chaika world seems to dress so their necks are covered. Vivi’s green-haired partner could be another Chaika for all I can tell, neck-scar-wise.

      Stilts
      Reply

      1. Fashion in this world serves as a clear asset when hiding beheading scars.

        My personal belief is that Vivi didn’t have the scar before the end of season one: that it showed up along with all the rest of the Chaika-esque changes she went through. I don’t think there can be any question, after seeing her change, that some sort of magic is involved in transforming girls from one form into the form of Chaikas. No matter which one is their “true” form, if someone can use magic to make them look as different from Chaika as Vivi did before she changed, why not use it to hide the scar as well?

        Wanderer
        Reply

      2. Without the scars before transformation the indication is that the Chaikas are not clones and likely due strictly to magic usage. As Wanderer points out the likely answer in that case is some transformation spell that converts girls into Chaikas. Further evidence stems from Vivi (currently) keeping all her memories and not remembering anything the other Chaikas do, implying the memories are indeed fake, at least in the sense of being implanted into others.

        The key behind it all of course is Guy as he only appears after a Chaika does (if we can expand upon how Guy appeared before Vivi). Can’t support the idea, but I almost wonder if Guy might actually be the Emperor Gaz, just post-corporeal. At the least it would explain why Guy wants the remains collected (i.e. his attempt to convince Vivi her duty was to collect them).

        Pancakes
        Reply

      3. @ Pancakes

        I’ve been assuming Guy is a facet of Emperor Gaz for a while. Well, perhaps suspecting is a better word, he could easily be someone serving him or a magical construct, but I think it likely.

        Stilts
        Reply

  5. Show picked up! Great news! Very grateful!

    Also it’s interesting how Vivi still has thin eyebrows, a first compared to white, red, and blue Chaika. Guy did say she only half-transformed, but I’m guessing that was more about her unwillingness to gather the remains than anything else (and let’s not forget Guy was all over Gilette when he “died” so he has cards left to play against Vivi).

    Purple Bomber
    Reply

    1. Ahaha, well thanks!

      In the future, blogging picks aren’t reasonably solid until the third episode of every show airs. I went into this season thinking I might pick up Chaika (for instance), but I wanted to look around and see if anything else struck. Turns out Chaika still got the nod.

      Stilts
      Reply

  7. I’m rather glad this anime was picked up. While the first season did have issues that bugged the hell out of me this show managed to consistently keep me interested in how the plot was going to unfold. Even though novel readers are saying it’s hella rushed as an anime only viewer I can say that the anime is doing a fine job at hiding it.

    As for the episode…..sheez these guys just can’t win without Frederica can they? She barely even trying and she’s still the reason they won this time. She’s such a troll character in this series I swear.

    Claudia is easily the best out of all the heroes. The woman just emits waves of kindness with a hint of badassery. Would be great if she teams up with the group later.

    I’m kind of glad Chaika changed objectives though. For the longest time it’s been bugging me why no body in the white Chaika group has considered maybe gathering all the body parts would be a bad idea. Makes them seem sort of……….selfish i guess? I mean I don’t even think this is a case of the audience knowing to much. With that much magical power in one place everyone should know it’s going to lead to something more than a funeral…….yet no one seems to questioning what outcome could be. It’s worrying for the simple fact it’s made the group mindlessly driven in my opinion. I’d be fine if they still looked for the parts but them not questioning what’s going to happen doesn’t work for me. Chaika wanting to find her origins at least sets that issue to the side for now.

    leatherhead333
    Reply

    1. It astonished me that Chaika was able to change objectives. From the way it’s been presented, that’s an incredily powerful compulsion that every Chaika is under. Their justifications for it may be different, but for all of them their most important task is collecting the remains. Layla went insane trying to break free of it. For Chaika to be able to decide that something is more important to her than collecting the remains… it’s incredible.

      Wanderer
      Reply

    2. IMO it seems the compulsion comes from meeting the goal of collecting the remains. Rather than simply “collect remains”, the compulsion is to initiate whatever happens when all the remains are gathered in the correct location. Red Chaika after all now possesses remains and has been subtly pushed towards the island by Guy. White Chaika possesses the most remains and is also heading towards that same island, albeit for a different reason (similar to how their arguments differed for collecting the remains). Between them both Chaikas effectively have all the remains in existence, barring one or two. Might be that the next “stage” in the programming has kicked in and is now wanting them to bring the remains together.

      Pancakes
      Reply

  8. Mentioning balanced heroes,I hear Dominika’s story was more tragic in the novels.
    Show Spoiler ▼

    zztop
    Reply

  13. Yay, it’s picked up!

    Anyways, I liked that we got a genuinely kind hero this time. Can’t help but think it directly correlates to her never using the remains, because that never ended well for every other hero (except maybe the first one, but even he seemed paranoid). I also liked the fact that no tragedy happened because of her kindness either (these characters have a tendency to attract that), she can just live her life in peace from now on. Kind of a breather after the dark happenings during the Blue Chaika arc.

    Nice catch on Vivi too, missed the scar. As a new true Chaika, it makes me wonder what colour she represents. Formerly yellow Chaika? Or at least something relating to her personality. After all, white=pure, red=anger, blue=…ehm, something relating to being seductive, and then you’ve got the purple ones. Wonder what those are like.

    Also, isn’t that the swordsman hero in the preview with the purple Chaikas? Makes me wonder where he found them and what his relation to them is if that’s the case.

    Dvalinn
    Reply

    1. At first I was going to say Vivi was purple Chaika (because her outfit is mostly white and purple), but then the other purple Chaikas (I assume) showed up in the preview. Plus all Chaikas usually have their main color + black, so Vivi’s ensemble doesn’t fit.

      Since Vivi is only physically a Chaika, I don’t think she has a color. She’s just Vivi, or Vivi-Chaika. She’ll probably have to go full Chaika to acquire a color.

      Stilts
      Reply

  14. I honest to god just marathoned the entire first season last night and just caught up to season 2 today. It was FABULOUS; plus, Chaika is SO, SO cute, and I have a morbid fascination with dragoon/wee!Frederica. You know, aside from the whole Alien-esque scene- yikes. Thanks for picking it up, Stilts! Oh, but that probably means you won’t be blogging Madan no Ou to Vanadis, right? Too bad~

    Yey! Minor development between Chaika and Toru, but still development! Claudia was awesome; here’s hoping she’s not a one-scene wonder. I love her interactions with Chaika; I know -plausibly- that Akari is supposed to fill in the big-sister role for Chaika, but doting!Claudia with Chaika was just tons of adorableness heaped upon adorableness. More!

    Oh, Vivi. Oh, Red Chaika. Loving you too but conflicted on my own feelings. Also, eek to twin Black/Purple Chaikas! I don’t see this ending well. Plus, that island spells plain ol’ trouble- it’s probably where Layla stumbled upon that ‘you-are-just-a-tool’ revelation.

    Murasaki
    Reply

    1. Naw, no reason. I like Hitsugi no Chaika, but not as much as Kyoukaisen (and I think Chaika is appropriately popular, whereas Kyoukaisen is not save in certain circles), so there’s no reason to go back over the whole thing. Plus Zephy did an END post for season one, and unlike Kyoukaisen, which needed explanation so people people could get through the complexity and enjoy the meat of the story, Chaika is easy enough to grasp.

      Stilts
      Reply

      1. You are thinking it wrong. It’s:

        White Chaika
        Red Chaika
        Blue Chaika
        Purple Chaika

        Next we need a Black Chaika, Green Chaika, Yellow Chaika, Pink Chaika and other rainbow colours Chaika to complete the largest Sentai team in the history of television.

        Mincemaker
        Reply

  18. https://randomc.net/image/Hitsugi%20no%20Chaika/Hitsugi%20no%20Chaika%20Avenging%20Battle%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2034.jpg
    sad Chaika makes me sad 🙁

    https://randomc.net/image/Hitsugi%20no%20Chaika/Hitsugi%20no%20Chaika%20Avenging%20Battle%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2018.jpg
    blushing Chaika makes me feel like…

    https://randomc.net/image/Hitsugi%20no%20Chaika/Hitsugi%20no%20Chaika%20Avenging%20Battle%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2020.jpg
    need more happy Chaika!

    Impel Down Hippo
    Reply

  19. with only a few corpse parts remaining to be collected, 2 things are definitely approaching: clash between red and white Chaika’s, and discovery of the secret left behind by Emperor. It is much probable that the “emperor’s treasury” was the place where all the Chaikas were created, somehow…

    ewok40k
    Reply

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