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「きみの名は」 (Kimi no Na Wa)
“Your Name”
All I could do was hide my feelings and sit there as Nina Viento. Each time they called out a name I knew, a scream almost burst forth from my broken heart. I don’t have the right to fly with everyone. I won’t. Ever again.
If there was ever a quote that summarized the feelings of an episode perfectly, it’s that one. Coming off the events of last episode, it’s time for our cast to deal with the brutal aftermath and the many changes it brings with it. Because as with any unfortunate event, it’s not enough just having to deal with one thing. On top of the physical loss bought about from the previous fight, there’s the revelation that Claire’s Nina Viento to deal with, the fact that Isla’s all but forced to seek help from the Holy Levamme Empire now (despite not knowing if they can trust them), and Ariel’s going to quit being a pilot as well. Suffice to say, there’s a lot of things thrown about this week, and they’re all key developments that will shape the remaining episodes.
For one, the fact that both Claire and Ariel will no longer fly—this double knockout caught me somewhat by surprise—means that Ignacio and Kal-el will likely end up being permanently paired together from now on. The preview already hints at this, and the fact this will happen means that we’re also finally likely to get the answers we’ve been seeking regarding Ignacio and his involvement in all of this too. Arguably one of the better plot threads so far, it’s been intriguing to watch his “love/hate” relationship with Kal-el, and I’m interested in seeing exactly why he’s been acting the way he is and the role that their interactions will play before it’s all said and done.
Interaction-wise though, this was just one of the many important exchanges we get this week, some of which are listed below (along with some comments) for brevity:
A medal is the only way the military can give its thanks. But the medal expresses the gratitude of everyone on Isla. including the torpedo squads. Thank you. The flare was perfect. Your partner was a wonderful pilot.
All things considered, this was one episode that focused exclusively on character development, and it was an episode that was necessary and needed to be done well. Thankfully, it was done quite well considering the developments so far, and the Claire x Kal-el bit we got was exactly the emotional moment I wanted to see. Generally, the key cast members are starting to gather the resolve they need to press on, and they’re settling into the roles they need to play to successfully guide Isla out of this predicament. With Claire Nina Viento leading the people, Ignacio and Kal-el taking the lead with the new recruits, Ariel helping them as a mechanic in the background, it looks like it can only be full speed ahead from this point forward (or well, after next episode), and there just isn’t anything to say really. I’m just eager to see just how things’ll work out from here.
Preview
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So I am not watching this series because I was afraid that the drama might be too heavy for me. Still I am very curious about it. Should I watch this series?
I’d have to say it depends a lot on how you approach the series in general. The way I’ve seen it, the drama isn’t particularly heavy (there is some yes), so I wouldn’t worry about it in this respect. There are some that dislike how the aerial combat is depicted though, so depending on your feelings regarding accurate depictions and the like, that may end up being a bigger determining factor in your enjoyment.
Overall, it’s one of the better shows this season in my opinion regardless. Not quite a masterpiece, not necessarily spectacular, but generally solid overall.
If the combat is good enough then it is good for me already. I am just concerned about heavy drama (character deaths, tragedies, etc.) I can only take at most 2 anime with those contents per season. Anyway gonna check this out. Thanks for the reply. 🙂
I wonder why people downvote somebody’s personal preferences…
I am watching it because I watched Recollections of a Certain Pilot aka The Pilot and the Princess.
And yes there’s that aerial action as well
can any body tell me how did areil realized that nina vintao was clarie. Did i miss any episode
Well she saw “Nina” for the very first time up close and pretty much realised it from looking into her face… she seems a lot sharper than her classmates in that regard.
Surely because of Kal-el x Claire relationship Ariel cared for Claire much more and watched her more closely than any other girls, for whom Claire was just another one in the group.
This a great episode, especially that kiss scene, but there’s something that’s been bugging me. How is it that the elite Sky Clan’s fighters armed with 4 machines have a hard time taking out cadets armed with bolt action rifles and flying stationary in trainer planes?
The fighters didn’t exactly have much trouble taking out the trainees last episode though. The trouble they’ve had are with the main force, which have superior weaponry and maneuverability.
The fighters didn’t exactly have much trouble taking out the trainees last episode though.
Actually, given the massive disparity in equipment (4x MG/auto-cannons vs. 1 bolt-action rifle, or for Wolf one Type 92 MG/Lewis gun) AND the fact that the Isla training planes were stationary, the Sky Clan fighters practically set new records for StormTrooper Marksmanship (trope).
Remove the plot armor, and it should have been 13-0 or maybe 13-1 (I’ll give Wolf a kill before he’s shot down) in maybe three passes by the Sky Clan fighters. Two passes if they actually coordinate the attack with more than just 2-3 fighters at a time. The Sky Clan fighters are diving on stationary/hovering planes with open cockpits while firing at a rate of approximately 2000- 2400 rounds per minute = 33-40 rounds per second (assuming MG/auto-cannons firing at WWII rates). You don’t even need to down Isla’s trainer planes – just take out the unprotected pilot/gunner. As for the trainees, a bolt-action rifle shooting down a WWII vintage aircraft in one shot is simply ludicrous.
The Sky Clan fighters eventually did shoot down almost all of the Isla trainees’ planes, but they had a unrealistically hard time doing so and lost far, far too many planes in the process.
Forgot to mention something in my above reply – the “13-0/13-1” tallies are based upon ewok40k’s breakdown of the combat scene posted in last episode’s (EP 08) comments. There were 13 Isla trainer planes in the initial “air wagon circle”.
I’ll just say this regarding this element:
If there’s one thing I feel like has been hammered to death recently, it’s the dislike of the aerial combat elements in this series.
Is there suspension of disbelief? Yes.
Does it necessarily exceed that of other aerial combat series? No.
The point is you’re not going to expect completely realistic scenarios, especially in an animated fantasy story, and I don’t see the need or reason to continuously repeat the same argument on a weekly basis, especially when we’re at an episode where there wasn’t even aerial combat to begin with, and since others have also pointed out decent explanations to the contrary in some respects.
I get that you don’t like it, and it’s fine. But at this point, all you’re doing is beating down a dead horse by picking at the same elements over and over, and ignoring everything else the series seems to offer while you’re at it. Are we seriously picking at the tallies now because they’re a few off? Or the fact that they weren’t “beaten as handily” as you thought they would be? Just “beaten”?
Come on. It’s just semantics and nit-picking. What about the rest of the show? Are you telling me there’s nothing else to talk about on a daily basis?
Oh well, it is still better than Pearl friggin Harbor by Hollywood. Both as war story and romance.
Daikama has definitely point though. I would add, that the “defensive circle” was completely defenceless from lower hemisphere, so attacks in climb (easy to do just after the the dive using accumulated speed) would be perfect way to dismantle it without losses.
I like at least passing semblance of reality in my anime, just enough to make “suspense of disbelief” easier.
This is a sentiment I still have a hard time understanding, that “passing semblance of reality” is very much subjective, the standard for the general audience is very different than for airplane/WW1/2 enthusiasts.
If I was like you, I’d never be able to enjoy any action/war movie/TV/anime, because almost none of them ever gets actual combat right, with a large majority that can’t even hold their weapons correctly.
It’s kinda like the the stars in the night skies in Titanic, which was the wrong one given the location and season, but I’m pretty sure the vast majority of moviegoers didn’t know, and didn’t care.
@Zephry: For the record, rather than beating any “dead horse”, my initial reply to Taiyo’s question (posted below – I forgot to click “reply” so it’s not directly underneath his comment”) was “go see the discussion last episode.”
– Come on. It’s just semantics and nit-picking. What about the rest of the show? Are you telling me there’s nothing else to talk about on a daily basis?
No, it’s not semantics, and while in your opinion it might be “nit-picking”, IMO it is not. Frankly, IMO it was a bad scene, and given the positive response to both Bear’s and celebrinen’s comments for last episode (EP 08), evidently a number of other viewers hold a similar view. There certainly might be more unrealistic examples of vintage aerial combat, but in all honestly, I have trouble thinking of any. BTW, the tally was for illustrative purposes. Would writing: “IMO had the battle been realistically portrayed, then all the trainee’s would have been shot down with the Sky Clan at best losing one aircraft” be better?
If you wanted to move away from the subject, the why not reply with something like: “Yes, some people found that unrealistic. Perhaps that scene could have been done better, but there’s a lot of other positive aspects to the show.”? I have nothing to add to that statement. Instead you defended the scene in writing “The fighters didn’t exactly have much trouble taking out the trainees last episode though.” That, I disagree with, and I fail to understand why I am not permitted to express my opinion in response to yours.
Furthermore, why are you extrapolating my comments into a wholesale damnation of the show? I NEVER said/wrote there was nothing else to talk about. I NEVER said/wrote that the show has no redeeming values. If I thought that, I would have dropped it long before now. Yes, I’ve commented more about the WWII stuff because I have a strong interest in the subject. For me, “talking shop” with other RC readers during the Girls und Panzer reviews was almost as fun as watching the show itself (which I enjoyed tremendously).
I agree that the show has some positive qualities which should not be overlooked. Still, IMO that doesn’t mean any flaws should be unduly diluted or “swept under the rug” altogether. At any rate, I have no plans or desire to continue the debate. So if you wish to “agree to disagree”, that’s fine with me.
@Taiyo: …but there’s something that’s been bugging me. How is it that the elite Sky Clan’s fighters armed with 4 machines have a hard time taking out cadets armed with bolt action rifles and flying stationary in trainer planes?
See comments for last episode (EP 08).
@Zephyr For one, the fact that both Claire and Ariel will no longer fly—this double knockout caught me somewhat by surprise…
Claire “permanently grounded” didn’t surprise me at all. If something happens to her, then who’s going to play the role of Nina Viento”? They can’t afford to lose Nina for morale reasons alone as this episode clearly showed.
OTOH, Ariel no longer flying did surprise me. She seemed to do OK firing her bolt-action rifle with one arm. :/ So maybe no longer a pilot, but I would think she’d still be able to be a gunner. I can only surmise that the author needed a way to paired up Kal and Ignacio.
Well, the point of me mentioning that is that it’s surprising that both of them being grounded.
As for Claire, yes, if something happens to her no one can play the role of Nina Viento. But up until this point this was not her choice. The significance here is that at the end, she willing chose to discard both her piloting role and her name, rather than doing so on the whim of others.
As for the latter, there are times where it can be said an author definitely did something for the sake of getting something a certain way, and unlike the many times it was done in say, Mahou Sensou, I did not feel the same here… and I don’t quite like how you seemed to link things this way. We can agree to disagree here, but I just hope you’re not letting your obvious dislike of the author due to the aerial combat get in the way of other aspects of the show that are unrelated.
Uh, just because one was still able to fire their weapon while wounded in combat hardly means they’ll be fine or that they can continue to serve in a combat role later, nevermind with a wound as serious as hers is, the recovery alone would take months.
Putting injured troops who can barely function in combat does nothing but create extra liabilities and add to the body counts.
This seems rather contradictory to your previous statement. You defended lack of realism because it’s anime and here your stating that someone’s preference is wrong because it’s not realistic.
@Zephyr:
Regarding Claire, I think the logical thing is to prohibit her from engaging in aerial combat given the repercussions if something did happen to her. Even if she’s “just” injured, then they’d have to hide that from the public or her “secret” might be revealed. Clearly Nina holds powerful sway over the Isla’s general public. Even so, I’m not sure what the response would be if they discovered she was “only Claire.”
One point of clarification: I have nothing against the author – no “hidden agenda”. I disagree with some of the decisions he/she has made concerning the story as previously noted, but that’s it. In fact, I think the core of the story (world/overall situation) is quite interesting. TBH, I do not know who the author is or what (if any) other series he (or she) has written. My comment is SOLELY based upon the fact that the Kal/Ignacio pairing plot line seemed to me a bit forced/cliche’. We start off with “bad/blood”/rivalry between the two, and now they get paired up.
My guess (and it is admittedly just that), is that one will save the other during the next bout of fighting thus becoming comrades in arms/friends/etc. (though with this series I probably shouldn’t assume both will survive). Like I said, I was completely surprised at Ariel dropping out, so right or wrong, I ended up putting the two together and hence my comment. Same thing you mention regarding Mahou Sensou’s plot lines (which I agree has more of that than this show does). Frankly, it’s not a big issue for me, just something that crossed my mind while watching.
———————————-
@Mike: Very true and fully aware of that. Clearly it is undesirable for injured troops to return to combat before they are well again, or perhaps even ever depending upon the severity of their injuries. However there is historical precedent for just that during extreme times/situations which I thought was the case with Isla. That was my point though perhaps I didn’t state it well. Also, I may be mistaken in thinking Isla’s situation is as dire as I suspect.
And that my friends, is how the dynamic duo was born.
I really love these episodes that develop the characters and move the plot forward – it’s what this anime excels at. More realistically depicted aerial combat would be definitely be a plus but IMHO,it still wouldn’t be the real meat of the series.
I might’ve mentioned this before but what I like most about this anime is how the romance aspect blends in so well with the main plot and doesn’t derive from it. I haven’t been much of a fan of the slice of life aspect of the show unless it focused on Claire & Kal-El since their moments contributed to them getting closer,which in turn contributes to the making the main plot more interesting. When it came to the others though,it was kind of meh,filler material mostly although I suppose they were necessary to make us care for them more and to make the more dramatic side of the series have more impact when it arrived. Still,they could’ve given less time to that as they have plenty to do here. I’m sure I wouldn’t have any issue with the side characters if this was a 2-cour series and they’d have more time to flesh them out but oh well,I’m not gonna make a case out of that. Now the focus should be entirely on the main plot involving our two main characters and side ones who are essential to it so I’m very much looking forward to the remaining episodes.
As long as the show focuses on it’s strong points and strives to execute them well,I believe it’ll continue to be one of the better shows of the season.
Without those slice of life moments, the classmates could have been just passers-by for us. Now we know they have lived their lives and that makes their survival and death actually matter to us.
So we got a kiss, confession, and then Ignacio proceeding to beat the crap out of his emo phase as well as all the girls thinking it’s going full Bromance.
Hell this episodes got it all man!
I had Ignacio pegged wrong. He’s such a bro!
So… Ignacibro.
Mmmm… Ignacios are usually called Nacho in spanish, so it wouldbe Bronacho.
Ignacio: beating sense into Kal-el, one fist at a time.
the beatings will continue until morale improves
I’m betting his fists give out first
This is what I’m talking about- character development! This anime throws a lot of bombs this time around.
Kal, I can’t really blame you. You did nothing wrong.
Ignacio, for some reason you have my respect for reasons I know not why!
Ariel, I’m sorry you couldn’t fly. Losing a dream kinda hurts…
Claire, I don’t know what to say. You are a gentle person but shit happens.
I gave Ignacio a standing ovation for what he did
And I was joking about that he would show up randomly and give Ka-el a beating… I think I started laughing hysterically when he really showed up.
Let me conclude this episode, Hug –> Kiss —> Confess –> Break up. Then the summary of the last episode will be Hug –> Kiss —> Confess –> Make up. Cliche but its not that I hate this (>//<) after Claire x Kal-el canon, give me Ari x Igna also!
how did areil realized that nina vintao was clarie
I felt like it was a mixture of the fact that she knew Kal-el was dealing with something emotional (and only a few things could trigger that, mainly Nina and Claire) and the act of finally getting to actually see Nina Viento up close and personal.
Seems like a lot of what people have seen of Nina have been from a distance and a lot of the others don’t seem to have ever even seen her before, so they didn’t make the jump as easily.
I think Kal-el is the only one who had seen Nina up close and that was 10 years earlier in her priestess outfit.
I liked most of the episode, but I don’t like Kal having to get his ass beat just to stop him from feeling what he is feeling.
Kal is either not going to fight back or tries to without any satisfying results meaning he will still lose to Ignacio. The OP pretty much confirms that Ignacio wins against Kal regardless.
I’ll be playing a certain sci-fi rpg and let a council of assholes die to make myself feel better about the next episode.
No matter how good Claire´s intentions are at the end it will bite her back, the speech was nice and all but at the end she´s just convincing the population for a little while, the more the war last the worse it will be for the civilians. These are people that endure a bloody revolution and lots of pooverty and misery before that, they sign for this kind of suffering when they join the expedition.
I just love it when an emo hero gets the stuffing kicked out of him