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Summary:
In the militia, Welkin gets assigned command of his own squad, number 7, and his request for the Edelweiss and Isara to join him is approved. To her surprise, Alicia is placed under his command as a non-commissioned officer, and the two run into Faldio, one of Welkin’s university friends. Faldio questions why Welkin joined the militia since he hates fighting, so Welkin reveals that his experience at Bruhl made him want to end this war as soon as possible. Welkin and Alicia then meet the rest of Squad 7, and Welkin gives a speech about how everyone’s lives are more important than anything else. This is met by scorn from two veterans of the squad, Largo and Rosie, and the latter is especially hostile towards Isara because she’s a Darcsen. It comes to a head when Squad 7 is sent on a mission to the town of Vasel to regain control over a key bridge, and Rosie picks on Isara before the battle.
In order to deal with the lack of respect from Rosie and Largo, Welkin proposes a deal where he’ll resign if he can’t recapture the bridge in two days’ time. If he succeeds, then they’ll have to follow his orders. Unbeknownst to them, Welkin has a plan that stems from his knowledge of nature allowing him to predict that it will be foggy early the next morning. Under this cover, he splits his squad up and has them cross the river by boat while he and Isara drive the waterproofed Edelweiss underwater to the other side where the Imperial forces are. This amphibious attack catches the Imperials completely off-guard, and Squad 7 is easily able to rout the unprepared enemy. In just a short while, Welkin has recaptured the bridge and the other side of town for Gallia. In the aftermath, Largo and Rosie respect and are willing to follow Welkin, but Rosie still refuses to accept Isara.
Preview
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Although the fighting was pretty one-sided again and over rather quickly because the Edelweiss is just that powerful (I’m waiting for the upgrade that allows it to fly and shoot nukes), I still enjoyed the battle and the overall episode. It’s good to see that the male lead in a series like this has some leadership skills and isn’t an idiot or oblivious to what’s going on around him, unlike a certain someone. Alicia remains a very likable heroine as well, and she continues to react with some great facial expressions.
There was a slight drop in the animation quality this week, but that’s to be expected since we’re in the middle stretch of the series now. What I don’t understand is why the Imperials across the river would just let Welkin and Alicia lie there on the river bank like they were on a picnic without shooting at them. You’d think they’d post snipers or something to watch the other side. In fact, the Imperials in general have been pretty wimpy, and I’m glad that the true antagonists are going to show up next week. The preview also seems to suggest that there will be a lull in the action, but watching Alicia overreact should be pretty amusing.
Certain someone, you mean Kyon?
first.
Just joking.
It is pretty obvious that Alicia is developing feelings for Welkin, even though she denies it in a classic way. I’m looking forward to see her cute reactions in the next episode; she’s my absolute favourite!
While its now certain (probably was before this, but I am remaining unspoiled as to what changes exist between the game and the anime) the squad is pretty much set. Ah well, the OP had me ready for this eventuality. I rather like that Emile, Eddy, and Marina in the group (and I think that’s Karl. May have to boot the game and check). While it is excellent if they actually do develop the whole squad as they have with Susie so far, it just makes me miss favorates like Lynn, Oscar, Cathrine, and Wavy. Oh well. Good to see at least some of the common folks I liked getting screentime.
So is Alicia firmly in the tsundere came at this stage? Well, at least I can bear with it even though a lot of the people who’ve played the game doesn’t think she should be so heavy on the tsundere mode.
Also, Edelweis is way overpowered, but we already knew that 🙂
So it’s Mini-Tank wars all over again. 😀
I support anything that contributes to Alicia’s ‘Face of the Week’ aspect of the show…unless it involves showing whats on the bottom half of that first preview screen shot… o_O
Ba-doom-chah.
well, probably they can’t snipe them because the river is too wide, so the bullet can’t reach them?
And I think they do have a watchmen, but since all they see is a flirting couple, they just let it go.
Forgot to add, next week is reverse harem time.
Valkyria Chronicles, where Kasahara Iku meets Kusanagi Motoko.
Kerfirou: When they were just entering the river, Isara said that it was another 300 meters to the opposite shore. I don’t know a ton about guns, but I’m pretty sure most sniper rifles of the era have at least that range.
On the beginning of the episode, I think it’s a nice way to introduce how Alicia and Welkin ended up in the same squad. Also can explain how Show Spoiler ▼
ended up with Welkin in the game.
That being said, since I don’t know much on what they’re saying right now. The animosity Rosie and Largo have is fine, in fact, steps it up a notch from the game. I wished they actually did some time to fully introduce all the squad members. I wanna see how Marina sounds like. But I guess we’ll have to wait, eh folks?
Hmm..Varrot seems unchanged from the game, actually makes her look her age methinks. The glasses seem too big though. And I mean too big.
Show Spoiler ▼
I’m saddened though, that Marina isn’t given a sniper rifle. Although her expressionless look just makes it more worth it. =___= And yes, they replicated the crowning moment of awesome…well…one of the first. Edelweiss crossing the Vasel river. Also shows some vulnerability, since the tank really isn’t water tight. The fact it pwns a tank Show Spoiler ▼
makes it better.
In all, I guess it was ok. I wished they did the accordion bridge scene, where it dunks an entire enemy tank company into the drink. Wished Marina did some sniper action, but I guess I’ll have to settle with her being a footsoldier for now.
Militard note: The ability to ford rivers is somewhat common to tanks. I believed it started with WWII or Cold War German tanks, which uses a funnel system, basically stackable tubes fitted over the commander’s hatch, providing ventilation and a crew escape. The Edelweiss showed some aspect of the T-series soviet tanks, which used a snorkel system at the expense of the crew unable to escape in case their tank got stuck in the middle of the river.
Neverhteless, for a design feature that seems oddly…unneeded, it does show the Edelweiss’ limits, showing it isn’t fully air tight. The radiator and cannon covers does make it more believable…although I’m not entirely sure when explosive bolts were created. Anyways…
Also, went and played the game again, checked the Edelweiss profile.
The Edelweiss has a 40/88mm Cannon, which makes it a meter shorter than the 8.8cm gun used on the Tiger, but still an 88 nonetheless. (the 8.8 cm KwK 36 on the Tiger series was 56 calibres, according to wiki:
“A measurement of the length of a gun relative to its diameter.”)
Okay…long post…I know >< I’ll be quiet for now. DX
I like how this series is developing, and there’s no question that Alicia makes this series go.
I was wondering about that picnic too omni!
Sweeeeeeeet, Selvaria turns up in the next episode. I worship the ground she walks upon ^^
Alicia’s facial expressions add a ton of laugh to thirty tons of panzerstahl 😛
Good tank action. 😛
Love Alica’s facial expressions. 😛
Too bad about the discrimination through.
Anime based on game is a crap. This show is no exception. It´s a waste of time.
Looks like Maxilulu makes an appearance next episode! Btw you say this series is on its middle stretch…is it like 6 episodes long or something? O_o
@Meery
>Alicia’s ‘Face of the Week’
Hmm, that’s not a bad idea. Perhaps Omni should consider that as a kind of extra feature to these reviews?
>unless it involves showing whats on the bottom half of that first preview screen shot… o_O
LOL! 😀
On the view that the spotters couldnt see anything probably makes sense because it was a foggy day in the darkness. Even with spotters its probably hard to make out small single targets.
If you have nothing nice to say about the series in general (not counting stupid plot stuff and whatnot) and not really adding to the discussion. Don’t post. D<
US airborne storming bridge at Nijmegen 1944 anyone?
@ewok: Somewhat. I think Vasel was designed, game wise, to resemble Nijmagen. Although I still wished they did the drawbridge scene where an entire company was dumped in the drink. XD
@ Kerfirou and Omni: During ww2, most sniper rifles were affective at 100 – 200 meters. At 300 meters and up, you either miss your target, or wound them badly. The m14 (the present sniper rifle for the USA) is effective at 500 meters, and the English have a rifle that is lethal at a mile.
Regarding why Snipers don’t just pick off Alicia and Welkin is because of unwritten rules of combat and battle. If this was a guerilla war, then Welkin and Alicia are easy pickens and should know better, however in the conventional sense of military fighting (ie “Real Estate Gain”) you don’t snipe unless you’re fighting. There are usually momentary truces in between fighting, and those ceasefires needs to be respected.
And Bagarovski, go jump off the Vasel Bridge!
Or maybe, this is why the Imperials aren’t good at sniping.
http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/7003/22723197.jpg
IDBjosim: Yeah, besides, these are probably the dregs of the Imperial Army, more preoccupied in fortifying their positions than seeing two far off militia soldiers apparently flirting with each other.
And forgive my long post. I was writing it while I was watching a raw on sunday >.>;;
Jusuchin: Japanese audio track is in the Valkyria Chronicles game. You can select it at the game options (and you need to restart the game). You can hear Marina’s japanese voice there. If I’m not mistaken they’re using the same voice actors for the anime as was in the game.
go Welkin
Honestly, I don’t see why Omni describes Edelweiss as overpowered. The only thing I find silly was how it climbed a steep slope like a roller coaster.
Tanks aren’t like standard anime mecha, they’re metal boxes with big guns . Edelweiss performed like an advanced tank that took on basic light tanks. Which is kinda like how advanced tanks in WWII steamrolled any light tank. I mean a squad of standard Shermans couldn’t stand a chance to a Tiger in direct combat. Also Edelwiess had the element of surprise which meant the light tanks had little time to spot the enemy.
Overall the ambush of Squad 7 was believable to a certain extent. And that extent is when I realized that that Imperials didn’t put any blockades on the village. No sandbags or barbwire or crates on alleyways to hold of the possibility of invasion? If they took the town they would have at least make it look like they were actually DEFENDING the village.
@Misha: True. I mean, I beat it twice already and in the process of my third playthrough. SHould probably turn it on.
@Fragbet: Last I remember, the Abrams can climb inclines just as steep, and Isara gunned the engines so it makes a bit of sense how it was able to scale the walls, considering my friends and I consider it a Sports Car with armor and a gun. XD
As for the fortification, I was kind of expecting that, but I guess they were ready to make a push for the other side of the river or this is an advanced unit like the one that we saw in Bruhl.
Could also be that the combat elements were just along that one stretch of the riverbank, and fortifications would be embedded into the rubble-lined streets, ready to give the advancing Gallian Army hell, slowing them down while more reinforcements came in.
@Jusuchin: You do realize Abrams didn’t exist in WWII right? Abrams are powered by gas turbine engines for Christ’s sake!
Edelwiess is shown as a formidable tank equivalent to most WWII tank designs but I still find that slope climbing a little hard to swallow. Still my point is that it hasn’t shown itself to be any “overpowered” equivalent like gundams are to mecha shows.
@fragbert: I know what you mean. I guess I should word it a bit more carefully. But then, didn’t Isara say she upgraded the engine to a turbine-type in episode 2?
There is are a few simple reasons why there wasn’t any defenses on the imperial side.
1. A bridge is the only way for tanks to get across, so a bottleneck fight there.
2. If you cross the river the only way is by boat, easy picking for small arms fire. Even if they did attack in mass force, there would be no tank support.
A good comparison would be the Char B1s VS Panzer II battles during the battle for france during WWII in 1939-1940. The Panzer II was a light tank and vastly inferior to the french Char B1s and the heavier, better armed and much better armored Char B1s would win a 1 on 1 fight almost every time. The french even had more tanks than the germans. Unfortunately, the french military doctrine of using tanks as infantry support instead of using them purely for breakthroughs and taking territory doomed them. There’s many examples in WWII of heavy tanks obliterating lighter tanks, for example in 1944 the american sherman medium tanks vs the german tiger heavy tanks. The tigers could take on 10 to 1 odds against shermans since the shermans could only penetrate the rear armor of the tigers, while the tigers’s 88mm would slice through the sherman’s front armor like it wasn’t even there. This was irrelevant though since the americans could just send waves after waves of cheap shermans to kill the superior tigers.
In short, don’t be surprised if a heavy tank can just plow through a half dozen light tanks. Sides, the imperials have their own medium and heavy tanks, at least in the game.
@Jusuchin and Fragbet: You both have to remember that tanks were developed in WW1 to deal with the ever prevalent problem of trenches. A light tank gunning at approximately 45 mph can probably make a 15 degree incline at what looks to be 20-45 feet. Mass x Velocity = Force.
The Edelweiss is one tank, and its a prototype model super model. Don’t worry, its all do-able.
Also, you’d be surprised how advanced the inferior technology was World War 2 was.
@IDBjoshm
Both the German Tiger II and the American Sherman were able to climb 35 degree inclines. It was a near universal design requirement for tanks back then so that they could cross trenches and climb the hilly countryside of europe. American sherman had a 14.5 hp/ton, compared the to the modern M1A2 which has 21 hp/ton. Engines were less powerful back then but tanks were also much lighter.
to IDBjoshm:
In wwII era rifles where way too owerpovered. They were deadly up to 2 km. If you will check laboration of their ammunition and compare them with todays you will see great difference.
So the answer is yes… they could be easily sniped or killed by HMG fire!
https://randomc.net/image/Valkyria%20Chronicles/Valkyria%20Chronicles%20-%2003%20-%2013.jpg
ass chin
@Lord_Summoner: You’re going by what the weapon is capable of. Not the individual soldier, as well as the fact most of the time, engagement is not usually at the maximum range of the weapon, but near the middle. The Imperial side would most likely not have a need for snipers at this point (something implied with the fact Marina Wulfstan was armed with a Gallian Battle Rifle). Their main forces at this time seems to be scouts, shocktroopers, and most likely Lancers. Stuff you need to use in a quick, blitzkreig type warfare.
Snipers tend to be sent in deep, recon type, or in defensive positions. At the speed the Imperial advance is going, there wouldn’t be any need for snipers.
As for their range, yes, but do keep in mind, two militia soldiers wouldn’t really be of any justification for engagement, the actual patience and skill for rapid fire shots using a more accurate semi-auto rifle (over the less accurate automatic SMG/Auto Carbine used by ShockTs) is immense, and at this level, with both sides at a standstill, the priority will go on consolidation of forces and preparation of a counter attack.
pues esta bien el anime no me quejo, tambien me gustó el juego que me lo terminé en 45 horas, espero que sigan bloggeando la serie.
saludos
@ Lord_Summoner I never said they could not. The standard issues (Karbiner 98k for Germany and Springfield 1903 for the USA) were lethal at 200 yards. The rifles you are referring to (2km accuracy) were actually anti-tank rifles (Gewehr 98 and Panzerbüchse) with .50 calibur rounds that were made obsolete the moment tank designers figured out sloping armor.
As my brother in arms Jusuchin pointed out, you dont risk an engagement for two enemy soldiers flirting. Better to save rounds (and the secret of a .50 calibur sniper rifle) for battle.
Bah, you don’t give Luke from TotA enough credit. Most of you would be worse than Luke in his shoes.
Anti-tank rifles died out in the early stages of the second world war. There is just so much you can do to upsize the ammunition and weapons platform before it becomes unfeasible foe standard production and soldier practicality (For example, the Lahti L-39 20mm AT Cannon).
Its also because the high velocity rounds used by the rifle would often be defeated by the size and other mechanical problems of the weapon, or the fact Germany and other nations had finally started defeating these weapons with just plain thicker armor.
*sigh*
faldio
Why doesn’t Rosie have the Ruhm yet >_<
Yes Yes Jusuchin, you are an encyclopedia of military knowledge!
Looks like Susie has an invisible cloak and conveniently disappears during the heat of the battle. Looks like she took Welkin’s life-preservation speech seriously.
@TJ Urgh! Its gonna be like the video game all over again. The non-important characters are conveniently just in the background. AT LEAST they got some screen time.
I want Dallas! That yuri girl is … too cute, even though she is a man-hater.
@IDBjoshm: *points to the shelf behind me with the Jane’s Defense Publications*
Gotta love university libraries.
I didn’t say there was anything wrong with that jusie… *winks*
Has anyone noticed that badass-smart yet dense males and tsundere females are getting more common.
Examples: Yuji and Shana of Shakugan no Shana, Kyon and Haruhi Suzumiya, Rock and Revy of Black Lagoon, and now this.
@TJ Well, that could be because Susie isn’t one of the ‘main’ characters, and as IDBjoshm (and I) fear, that means she gets to go poof when plot points rear their heads.
Or it could truly be that Susie did take the speech to heart. I mean, yeah, she’s a decent character, but this is her first offensive operation. For a girl who uses the battle cry, “But I’m a pacifist!” half the time she opens fire (in the game at least) disappearing down a rabbit hole rather than attacking isn’t exactly out of character.
Nice episode, and a great way to introduce Squad 7.
Show Spoiler ▼
Next episode, I’m hoping the scene Show Spoiler ▼
takes place. That scene was hilarious.
@Runty. A friend and I are speculating that Welkin says something completely inappropriate to Alicia. And of course, good ole welkin, thinks its a good idea to say it.
In Tunisia in 1943, general Harmon’s M-4 tanks were used to clear important hill overlooking road to Tunis and Bizerta. (source: memoirs of gen.Omar Bradley).
In terms of tank design, Edelweiss is at least Panther/Tiger best values combo versus late 30s designs like early Pz IV, or M-3 Lee. It could easily achieve 20-1 kill ratio probably.
Tigers with ace crews fared even better and we know all of squad 7 are heroes 😛
@ ewok
don’t forget death from above… one stuka bomber and edelweiss (or any tank) is just piece of burning rubble
@Lord_Summoner
There would need to be effective bombers in play for that. There aren’t, in this setting, if I recall. Their air tech is greatly (extremely) limited.
… okay, I can’t get the dang spoiler tags to work Show Spoiler ▼
That work?
@Lord_Summoner: Their best aircraft appears late game, controlled by the need-for-speed mechanic, Leon. They’re treated more as novelties, still using the wood and cloth bodies. Their best use for them are racers for air races.
I actually like this anime more than the game.
Alica is very expressive in this than the game.
I probably would have enjoy this more if I didn’t play the game and had spoiled myself with the story.
@ Zero I completely agree. However, I probably would not have even bothered with the anime unless I played the game. So … give and take.
I’m liking the series so far. I loved the game!
I never played the game, but after seeing this, I want to.
Did anyone else notice that there was no opening this episode? (too lazy to look through the other comments)
LOL they remind me of Gundam characters Varrot= Katti Mannequin and Faldio= Lockon Stratos. And we have Lelouch as the bad prince.