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「ナンジョウ・レイカ」 (Nanjou Reika)
“Nanjou Reika”
While it was easy to tell what emotional response the writers were going for in this flashback episode, I unfortunately can’t say that it worked that well on me. Even with the addition time from skipping the opening and ending sequences, I just couldn’t really get a sense of how profound Samonji’s relationship with Reika was. There were definitely glimpses of it, which started off with Samonji’s uneasiness around Reika, escalated to him threatening a superior officer, and finally ended with him holding Reika’s body in his arms, but something was just missing in all of that. What should’ve come off as tragic came off as inevitable instead. And what should’ve come off as a death of a lover came off as a death of a high school crush.
Despite the statements that came from both Samonji and Reika that were effectively marriage proposals in the anime world, their screen time together was so brief that it was difficult to tell if there was even any actual romantic chemistry between them. In fact, I got more of a sense of that from the brief sunflower field flashback in episode eight than I did here. As such, I’m left with the memory that Reika willingly put herself on a path of self-destruction—something that Samonji himself identified early on—and crashed and burned at the end. No surprises there. I can’t even fault Samonji for any of it, since his job was just to guard Reika and the test facility. Suzushiro and Quasimodo on the other hand were just witnesses to it all, being members of Samonji’s squad. In other words, this flashback played out as a girl with fleeting idealistic dreams that could never be truly realized and she wound up dying in pursuit of them. Cue death flag scene.
Regardless of whether I felt the tragedy behind Reika’s death, the takeaway for the overall story is definitely that her death had a life-changing impact on Samonji. It affects how he perceives the world, how he tries to command a squad where no one dies, and how he lives with constant regret for not putting a stop to the experiment that claimed Reika’s life. For Tokimune, the end result from this revelation is the second of two possible outcomes that I had in mind—he makes amends with Samonji and pushes on to win the war. The question now is whether Samonji feels “responsible” for Tokimune given what happened to Reika. The experimental Trial Krieger relied on the use of brain waves to remotely control other units, which isn’t too dissimilar from Argevollen’s neuro-link system. If Tokimune and Argevollen went out of control, would Samonji stake his life to at least save the younger brother of the girl that he didn’t? The scene at the end where he looks up at Argevollen suggests that he won’t stand around idly twice, so I’m sort of leaning that way. Plus with Cayenne still around and scheming like he did back then, odds are that Samonji will face additional hardships in the future. On the plus side, it looks like they’ll be getting some new Trial Krigers next episode.
Note: I’ll be away next week so my coverage of Argevollen will likely slip to the following Monday at the earliest. If needed, I may just double-post episodes 13 and 14.
Full-length images: 05.
Preview
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https://randomc.net/image/Shirogane%20no%20Ishi%20Argevollen/Shirogane%20no%20Ishi%20Argevollen%20-%2012%20-%20Large%20Preview%2001.jpg
Eat my Balls of Steel!!!!
Sorry, but it flashed inside my Mind, when i saw this Picture…
You are not alone…
It’s gonna penetrate those Trail Kriegers with its gatling do- gun!
Reminds me of that Keloid short.
http://skul4aface.blogspot.com/2013/10/k-e-l-o-i-d-ii.html
It reminds me of From Dusk Till Dawn’s Sex Machine lol
im guessing the new one are the mass production versions of the argevollen.
i mean they look similair in movement and there are more then 1 of them.
also im suprised the system tokimune sister was doing wasnt the predeccsor for argevollen but for a remote control type.
I dont kinda understand the Base of this Remote Control Mecha. Why they need to build a Prototype, when they could remote Control the other Mechas like Drones today, from far and save place?
An Mobile Remote Control HQ? Why not build it in this larger Support Trucks?
Well, perhaps i should not ask this Questions. Just enjoy the Show
i think they tried to create a mobile army that could operate on the field without a chance of the enemy using any kind of signal interferder with only 1 soldier operating an entire platoon.
To save cost of manpower and maintenance operating the remote-controlled squadron into one person.
Save cost of food and water supplies.
The only thing i bothered why didnt they install a emergency shutdown for the AI control in case of emergency in the Field Training Exercise.
I stil dont get it she still able to controlled the unmanned drones and destroy herself despite rampage on her brain. My guess the labrat coat made something inject her body that went out controlled. Probably sabotage to halt the project.
Because this is anime. The easy to apply approach using soldiers to control individual drone mechs would obviously be used and developed first, and having a single soldier controlling multiple mechs would come much later.
“I’ll be away next week so my coverage of Argevollen will likely slip to the following Monday at the earliest.”
Don’t worry about it, Divine. There’s no episode next week.
“On the plus side, it looks like they’ll be getting some new Trial Krigers next episode.”
That pretty much sums up my thoughts on this episode. My predictions about Reika dying while piloting an experimental mecha during a test experiment gone awry turned out to be correct. TBH, I’m not sure if that’s good (“proper foreshadowing” by the show) or bad (too predictable). The experimental mecha wasn’t quite the Argevollen early prototype I expected, but I think it’s pretty clear that Argevollen’s OS was derived from that mecha’s OS. 1/2 credit for me on that and +1 for the show for not being entirely predictable.
For the most part, pretty much what Divine wrote. I didn’t buy into the Samonji-Reika romance at all. As usual with this series, there was more than one dubious scene or plot line or whatever. For example, while someone as stoic as Samonji (wow, that guy hasn’t changed a bit in that regard) is still harboring some emotion years later over Reika’s death, yet Tokimune, who is far more emotional than Samonji, is able to come to terms with his sister’s death so quickly and (apparently) completely. T-that was fast. Too fast and too complete IMO.
*sigh* OK, fine, I’ll adopt Argevollen SOP viewing and just “go with it”, but I really do wish I didn’t have to do so as often and/or to such an extent. Episode 12 had room for improvement, but at least it did give me some sense of progression in the story even if it was just to fill in the background. We’re at the halfway point for the show. I hope the “set-up” part is over and things start moving forward at a quicker pace.
Having the incident retold in detail from a third party AS WELL AS having a few days to think by yourself (in solitary confinement) must’ve helped Tokimune. MAYBE…
Samonji, OTOH, looks to be not able to get over the regret of not stopping her and not able to save her; which in turn may have been the reason why he (apparently) provoked Tokimune to get court-martial-ed out of the military.
@info600: Fair enough I suppose about Tokimune having a few days to think over things, but the anime’s presentation about that matter was too abrupt IMO. Consider the build up. My understanding is that the reason he joined the army was to find out about his sister’s death. He’s so consumed by it that we have a moment in EP 08 where he’s finally able to put it aside sufficiently to properly focus on fighting battles (EP 08: “I’m going to do what I can for a while.”). As for solitary confinement, that could make things worse rather than better. Tokimune seemed to benefit considerably from some of his conversations with Jamie (e.g. EP 07/08 for the above quote).
The bottom line for me is that the anime makes his sister’s death out to be a big, big deal for Tokimune, and his on-screen resolution of the whole thing comes down to crying/wailing -> cut scene -> OK, moving on / “Reporting for duty sir!” That’s just jarring IMO, especially considering Tokimune’s character.
Episode showing the past? I’m dropping this show.