Posted by  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
「おかえりなさい」 (Okaerinasai)
“Welcome Back”
Well if last week can be considered 86’s march through the valley of darkness I think this one commences the rise towards the apex. Of calamity. For all the stillness of action and reminiscing on times had and potential times to come (death flags stir in the background) there was quite a bit of foreshadowing regarding where matters head from here. A wicked monster this way comes, and it won’t be easily defeated.
Given the relative calm this week the only real noticeable tidbit was Frederica revealing just what happened in her past, which I’m pretty sure everyone more or less guessed by now. Besides triply confirming her royal status and position as veritable figurehead to the true power in her advisors and acting regency, she also verified that Ernst was – as expected – less than scrupulous in his own origins. The guy was one of the Federacy’s initial rebels, one out to put a stop to what the Empire had begun and one whose position likely entitled him to leading the post-civil war government. Of course it doesn’t explain why he would let Frederica live, but then again it doesn’t take much to guess why. Frederica at the time was little more than a child with no say over the actions of her forebearers and no ability to correct their mistakes. Ernst likely believed she should not suffer the sins of the father, albeit in a somewhat selfish way. Keeping her alive is his way of showing how the Federacy will be better than the Empire, and how one can redeem for the mistakes of the past. After all, the Federacy may be morally better than the Empire, but as Raiden notes everyone has their share of skeletons in the closet.
Speaking of Spearhead, rest assured it won’t be long before their days of relative peace come to an end. Not much of a spoiler for example to know Giad’s predictions on the now confirmed upcoming Legion attack are a gross underestimate, or that their ability to hold back the tide will be harshly tested in the days to come. Even the likes of Grethe, for all she may be on the right track regarding the composition and use of her forces, still hasn’t grasped this aspect: what’s coming isn’t a conventional battle of manoeuvre where you can hit at your leisure, it’s a tidal wave whose force must be broken through smart and well-planned defense. Survive its impact and you’ll be free to engage on your own terms, fail and you won’t have to worry because you’ll be dead. It’s just a matter of when this realization finally hits all involved.
Considering Giad has started piecing the puzzle together alongside getting into contact with other countries though, something tells me we won’t have to wait long to get the answer to that question.
Preview
 |
Even the show itself has missed Lena apparently. Shin and Raiden can’t stop thinking about her. But that just made her temporary screen time in the end that much better, because now I think we will see more of her, especially since the storm is getting very close and the Legion are gunning for her land. And both she and Shin agree her nation isn’t equipped to respond to what’s coming. Her presence in the story will be important again, and I’m thankful.
Let’s just say that, after seeing firsthand how much stronger Legion is (the deployment on the Republic border was mostly a ruse to harvest brain patterns while preserving their forces for the Federacy and the other two real superpowers), they are assuming that she is dead and the Republic has been overrun. Kinda ironic considering that Lena believes that they are dead.
I wonder if this season will end with a light at the end of the tunnel for either/both of them.
She was always a key component, the good in the bad if you will and part of what makes Shin and Spearhead so compelling. How she responds to the inevitable will be fun to watch because there’s a great deal of schadenfreude to be had watching the Republic’s commanders deal with what’s coming and Lena predicting it all.
Sorry, I cant hold it back any longer: Frederica is an awful character. I cant take any scene with her seriously and I hate every scene in which she appears. This „I am a little kid who walks around with her teddybear“ bites the „I have all the philosophical answers to life“. This week we have the „Oh I am guilty of so much with my … years “ How old is she again? Her voice only adds to that. Its unbearable. I couldnt listen to her background-story, its just too ridiculous. But the worst thing is: She gets more screentime than ANY other character in the show right now T_T I thought this week it may be over, but NO! I really dont know if I stand another episode with her.
While i can understand antipathy for a character or a voice, i have to say that with the literal barrage of stripper loli in most anime i shouldn’t probably watch anything, especially what’s arguably the most popular anime of the season…
That said i found Frederica a nuanced and unexpectedly interesting character. I reiterate that seeing her talking on how all the people she knew died was disturbing and it’s understandable why she feels responsible for that. They were protecting her until their last breath and saying that she wasn’t her fault is not going to cut. Most people have emotional scars caused by something bad that happened because of us even when there was intent or malice involved, yet they feel guilty anyway for what happened.
Quite frankly i found her a child character done right in this setting and works very well with Shin. Now, you can answer with some iteration of “lol children character-can’t stand-unrealistic”, but it’s not much an argument if you thing about it.
Hmm, I thought about it, and I still believe it is a very good argument. What is unrealistic is her character itself: on one hand it appears the author wanted a kawaii imouto to appeal (?) to the readers, on the other hand he also needed a character here to whom Shin could talk to about life. It doesnt fit. Add to that the fact that she is simply annoying while absorbing all of the screentime. I am commenting here, thats my opinion, if you dont find her annoying thats fine. Btw, I watch next to no anime for several seasons, and in the shows I do watch, these stereotypes dont appear 😛
Color me skeptic about that. Most anime have kids as main characters and it’s very rare to see anyone over 20. Even more grounded things like Legend of Galactic Heroes have main characters as commodores commanding fleets at 18 years. Isekais are full of children characters that are in reality 300 years olds dragons and so on. I guess it depends on you suspension of disbelief, but if you want to watch only anime with cool 30 years old guys without any kind of trope…well, you can do that, but your catalogue can be counted on a single hand. You are also artificially limiting yourself with arbitrary rules about what can be considered serious or not. If you find her annoying it’s okay, but it’s weird to consider her out of place in a genre totally full of crazy shits.
I dont really know what you‘re talking about. I talk about these philosophical imouto-types while you talk about 18 year old starship-commanders. No isekai I watched had this character apart from SAO, and that show I watched years ago and the character in question was stupid. I am watching these shows you can count on a single hand, you can discard your scepticism. But then again, I dont care at all about convincing you.
Its also fine if you like her, but you should really just admit that her character is unrealistic, I know this, my job is to deal with kids in this age. I am not artificially limiting myself, that is called „taste“ and „good character writing“. Sorry, but your arguments are kinda…disappointing. Thats why I end this discussion here.
Thank you so much for addressing this issue. I feel the same way. I thought having less Lena screen time was a blessing because I couldn’t warm up to her, but when you have an annoying tropey loli screeching at you 24/7 it makes Lena a tad more bearable.
Also, there are about four other characters that need more focus to me than Federica and Shin is frankly monotonous. Personally, I would like to have more Theo screen time as I feel he seems to be the most nuanced character of the lot.
I get where you’re coming from. I think part of the issue is her being used as comedic relief half the time, if her personality was say quiet and reserved it would be different because that fits with her ability and that mature mindset. The cutesy voice and childish antics interfere with that so we’re sort of left with a strange caricature of a mature woman stuck in a kid’s body. Personally I don’t mind Frederica as I see her more as figurative decoration over a key character, but I can see why a lot would dislike her given how she acts and is shown.
Call Frederica as a decoration or comical all you want, when the foot soldier of the federation can’t see pass the remaining spearhead squad as anything but monsters. I will continue to appreciate Frederica’s screen time regardless if she is being used as a comic relief or words of wisdom as someone who is also collateral damage.
The episode seems to be a prelude to a disaster. It has all the red flags all over over it. I still cannot fathom the reason why The Republic would refuse diplomatic relations with other nations. Nevertheless, there may be some deeper history to this world than what is being shown to us. I can only imagine the desperate situation over the other 2 countries who have managed to reestablish some form of contact with the Federacy. This is turning out to be more apocalyptic than I imagined it would be. For all we know, this world is hurtling towards an apocalypse of its own doing. It is quite unsettling really, how this world seems to be accepting and at the same time not-accepting that the end is near. I may have misread or misinterpreted the world building here though, but I am certainly looking forward to the coming episodes, with lena or without her.
The Republic is not refusing diplomatic relations with other nations. They are still in the Legion jamming field and they cannot communicate with anyone. The only reason the Federacy was able to open channels with the United Kingdom and the Alliance of Wald is because they were able to reconquer enough land to be close to their borders.
Thanks for the information. I thought that they were just too arrogant to reply.
Oooh, I don’t know if this counts as a spoiler, or perhaps I missed this important information during the course of the first season, but yes, thank you for that clarification, although I wonder how the Federacy was able to break through any jamming with the other 2 nations. There must be something about how this war is fought that should already be clear to the nation’s leaders, I mean with a force that is indiscriminate in attacking everything not with them, it would only makes sense to band together to defeat a force that could end the world in any moment
Eintagsfliege clouds are isolating whole countries with their jamming which also impedes radar and makes the use of aircrafts suicidal. The Federacy didn’t exactly break the jamming effects, they are just so close that in theory even secondary land routes can be used, but with some degree of risk. Anyway the Federacy is getting along relatively well with the other two superpowers considering that they were at war with their predecessor state, meaning that they are effectively banding together against Legion.
One of the things I like most about this series is how well it handles the foreboding moments. You know what’s coming, the characters know what’s coming (at least the main cast), but no one overreacts or engages in melodrama. It’s just silent determination to face down the inevitable and come through it alive and stronger than before.
Yeah, the United Kingdom and The Alliance of Wald are extremely important for the future of the series. At this point a lot of pieces of the puzzle regarding the Revolution are available and, with the disparity of forces between the loyalist (despite the support of Legion) and the insurrection, it’s apparent even in the anime that it was a military coup. The bit about the friendly fire problems with Legion is important: the military actually used that as a justification to retreat behind the front lines, allowing them to crush any opposition at the right time. It’s from background material, but Ernst was actually a general himself.
Anyway i am impressed by Frederica’s narration. She is drawing while Shin is just preparing coffee and this casual setup shows how much death they saw despite being so young. It’s even worse if you factor that she saw with her ability the death of everyone she knew at the time.
Oof… If giad has so much trouble, San magnolia is doomed. And I want at least Lena and anette to survive…
> Given the relative calm this week the only real noticeable tidbit was Frederica revealing just
> what happened in her past, which I’m pretty sure everyone more or less guessed by now.
> Besides triply confirming her royal status and position as veritable figurehead to the true
> power in her advisors and acting regency, she also verified that Ernst was – as expected – less
> than scrupulous in his own origins. The guy was one of the Federacy’s initial rebels, one out to
> put a stop to what the Empire had begun and one whose position likely entitled him to
> leading the post-civil war government. Of course it doesn’t explain why he would let Frederica
> live, but then again it doesn’t take much to guess why. Frederica at the time was little more
> than a child with no say over the actions of her forebearers and no ability to correct their
> mistakes. Ernst likely believed she should not suffer the sins of the father, albeit in a somewhat
> selfish way. Keeping her alive is his way of showing how the Federacy will be better than the
> Empire, and how one can redeem for the mistakes of the past. After all, the Federacy may be
> morally better than the Empire, but as Raiden notes everyone has their share of skeletons in
> the closet.
I am often surprised how complex Frederica’s mind is, to be able to rationalize, empathize, and comprehend what’s going on. Frederica can act responsibly when there is a death within the ranks as well as show respect to the 86 team when they too are children.
When Ernst chose to let Frederica live without carrying the punishment of her royal status is really generous of him. I wonder if we in reality had similar circumstances like that of 86, would our Ernst be kind towards a girl who’s family created a disaster or be more like North Korea and have children carry the punishment of their families mistake(s)?
> Speaking of Spearhead, rest assured it won’t be long before their days of relative peace come
> to an end. Not much of a spoiler for example to know Giad’s predictions on the now confirmed
> upcoming Legion attack are a gross underestimate, or that their ability to hold back the tide
> will be harshly tested in the days to come.<
Expecting the next super AI forces to be x number or x times the amount is a doom flag. Man can’t compete against super AI or see what it is planning…very well.
There is an hope spot however. While Legion is formidable in the current state, the point is that it’s still lead by Shepherds which were once men. It’s not really an AI in usual sci-fi trope, but more an army of ghosts, hence they are prone to human error or indulgent in their own obsession to the point of self destruction. Shin’s brother leading so much Legion units to destruction just to take his brother with him is an example.
So you’re saying (give me a bit of rope here.) Legion aren’t all artificially made in terms of consciousness, but borrow (stealing) the mind of the human host. So the Human mind no longer operates out of a bio organic body and instead operates out of a drone…
Original Legion operated using the so called Mariana “AI” which was quite limited but still able to execute orders and react better than other alternatives. It was however incapable of planning and strategy, so it was constantly supervised by the Imperial scientists and trusted personnel. When it became clear that the civil war was lost, the loyalists became suicidal and it’s speculated that some of them turned themselves in the first Sheperds to direct the unthinking Legion drones. They were however unable to bypass the time limit failsafe and used the same technology to gradually replace the Mariana AI with harvested brain patterns. The concept itself is a human nervous system grafted on liquid nanomachines, a technology that shouldn’t even exist. This means that Legion drones are limited by the quality of the harvested pattern and the Sheperd by the intelligence, the flaws and personality quirks of their original selves. It can be said that Fido is the only true advanced AI in the series.
…( ─_─. ) ہ
Frederica’s complexity isn’t that surprising IMO, she’s a former ruling Empress after all and has been at the forefront of Giad’s political developments since her birth. The girl was brought up in an environment where the expectations on her shoulders were significant and any inability to rise to the challenge would’ve seen her killed.
I like the discussion about the fighting vehicles. Looks like they’re trying to find the sweet spot between protection (Federation’s) and mobility (Republic’s). Surprised they just used slightly thicker aluminium. The designer’s lack of understanding for the Juggernaut ‘s design purpose was rather inevitable. Quite interested in seeing what the upgrades are.
Nice to see Lena again, but she didn’t say a single word. Wished they gave some hints on what happened in her country. Would be fun figuring out what Legion is up to.
Shin used the “Alluminium Coffin” expression more as symbolic than as a matter of fact. Reiginleifs actually have a composite armor which, at this stage, nullify anything that’s not the Lowe main cannon. The problem is that in the Federacy’s western front the latter is very prevalent and Dinosaurias are also faced often, so we are back to square one even with the added protection.
As Lambdalith mentions the armour would be composite, no military vehicle outside of aircraft would use aluminum as it has next to no stopping power. It’s quite interesting seeing an argument made for mobility over protection though, it heavily mirrors early MBT design where shoot and scoot became the universal dogma. Of course we know how that went over time so it’s anyone’s guess how long Grethe’s arguments will remain under consideration.
MBT design went zigzag, from early designs that emphasised frontal armor like t-54 or centurion, to leopard 1 and amx 30 following theory that missile will always punch thru, to the armor revival with chobham and era. All depends on how much available tech allows. Giad’s genius tech made armor of her new mech modular, so she can upgrade it as soon as better materials are available.