Timotei & Amnestic review: Valkyria Chronicles

Before we begin I would just like to apologize. I meant to have this done last Friday but got too caught up. From now on I'll try and make these reviews as regular as possible.

From left to right:
Faldio Landzaat, Alicia Melchiott, Selvaria Bles, Welkin Gunther, Maximilian

I must say I was rather eager to watch Valkyria Chronicles. Hands down, it is my favorite video game, and is the one reason I will always preserve my Playstation 3 for my children. When I heard back in January that SEGA and A-1 Pictures were creating an anime series based off the video game, I admit I had mixed feelings. Sure I was glad about seeing my favorite characters rendered in an art style I have become so accustomed to, but I feared SEGA would turn it into another Sonic X. On 4Chan (particularly /v/ and /a/) fans assembled for weeks to discuss their expectations (civilly might I add). There was no doubt in our minds that the show wouldn't devoutly follow the game, but the one question we wondered about the most was how the producers would portray the major events. I waited 3 seemingly endless months and crossed off each day; the red circled date April 15, 2009 mocking me every time I looked at it. Finally the day came, and I turned to the AMV shit filled sewer known as YouTube. My mouth dry, my feet jittery, a strange sensation that felt as if my spine was about to jump out of back, I clicked upon one of the links and was immediately greeted by one of the most beautiful opening themes I had seen. I will admit I cried tears of joy. Unfortunately the first opening theme is replaced by another one which focuses less on catchiness and more on explosively awesome animation. Even still, I found myself singing it on my way to school.

Unlike some other shows like Dragonball Z or Big O, the story is rather smooth, progressive, and doesn't revisit older points very often. Even some of the less important filler episodes end with a moment that in some way advances the plot a little further and tells a nice side story in the process. This is a trait that you will find on certain series like Death Note and are a sign that the studio has hired writers who know what they are doing.

Despite my eagerness to review this series and all of my praises and criticisms, I found it quite hard to write and discovered myself rewriting the Overview on nine separate occasions. Because of this, I will leave the Overview to my Chief Editor, Amnestic.

Overview - By Amnestic

For those of you who have played the game before you need no introduction, but to those who don't will find it's a rather easy exposition to grasp.

A political map of Europa.
Ignore the fact this is a shitty scan

It is the year E.G. 1935 and the continent of Europe Europa has been divided between the Federation to the west and the Empire to the east. The Empire declares all-out war on the Federation in an attempt to procure more Ragnite, which has many different uses such as a fuel source, explosive, medicine, and even steel. The Empire's conquest brings them to the door of the neutral nation of Gallia, whose rich soil is laced with massive deposits of this desperately sought after ore. The Empire's Gallian assault led by Darth Vader Second Crown Prince Maximilian Gaius Von Reginrave takes its position along the eastern edge of Gallia waiting for the order to advance toward the capital, Randgriz. Good, so now that that is out of the way: Squad 7, MOVE OUT!

Our Hero, Welkin Gunther, is the son of a war hero from the First Europan War that we're never shown, but one has to assume it was set during the 1910s and was sparked by the assassination of someone with a name just as ridiculous as Maximilian's. A student of all things biology related, the first we see of Welkin is him sketching some fish in the rural village of Bruhl where he grew up. Valkyria Chronicle's leading lady and obvious love interest, Alicia Melchiott, initially suspects Welkin is a RED Imperial spy after her friend in the town watch told her that he was probably a spy. Despite the fact that he was supposed to have grown up in Bruhl, only one person knew who Welkin was and she decided not to mention it to the town watch who arrested him on the spot and hauled him off to a barn. Not content with being merely suspected as a spy, Welkin proceeds to do the logical move and breaks free from his fortress prison and runs away. Alicia gives chase, threatening to shoot him in the back like the honourable militia fighter that she is. Despite her threats, when she raises her rifle to shoot him she stutters and then chickens out at the last second, not even firing a warning shot.

Yo Largo, I'm really happy for you, I'mma let you finish but Bandai
had one of the best animes of all time.
One of the best animes of all time!

More running and the pair find themselves in a small wooded area, to be greeted by the sight of Imperial Stormtroopers Soldiers and tanks on the horizon. Alicia's belief that Welkin was an eevul spy are 'verified', even though the soldiers then start shooting at both of them. One would have thought that was proof that he wasn't a spy, but for poor Alicia's brain it seems like a concept too difficult to comprehend. Running seems to be a major theme of this episode, as we are treated to even more of it. This time the animators mix it up by adding in short clips of the Imperial troops failing to hit anything at all. Best shots in the galaxy indeed.

Welkin and Alicia make it safely to Welkin's family home and burst in, only to almost get cloven in 'twain by a dark haired girl wearing a shawl wielding a butcher's meat cleaver. This is, as we soon find out, Isara - Welkin's adopted sister and a Darcsen. What's a Darcsen you ask? No idea. If you were expecting a bunch of exposition explaining exactly who and what a Darcsen is you're plum out of luck. Valkyria Chronicles was one of the few shows which didn't have characters repeat endless reels of information as if everyone in the conversation needed to be reminded of all the series-specific jargon meant. For the most part it just means they wear shawls, have dark hair, lack last names, and everyone hates them until they get to know them at which point they suddenly don't care anymore. Supposedly they were responsible for a big bad event way-back-when called the Darcsen Calamity but anyone who actually bothered reading a book in this show knows that's complete rubbish. Thankfully it's still the 1930s, so barely anyone knows how to read. They're generally too busy blushing at each other and shooting guns at the guys wearing a different colour uniform. Alicia is initially hostile towards Isara since she dresses funny and has silly coloured hair, but warms to her in about five minutes after Isara saves her ass from an Imperial Soldier who failed to shoot three unarmed people through a window. From then on they get on like best friends and Alicia never irrationally hates a Darcsen ever again.

This is Edelweiss. 50% steel, 50% epic, 50% awesome. That's 150%!

It's at this point we're greeted by our first episode's ending which stars a small winged pig and chibi versions of all the characters we have yet to meet. The next episode starts with many a dramatic camera shot and sometimes sound effects to accompany them. Knowing that Imperial troops are closing on the house, Isara leads the small crew to the warehouse, containing a fully functional, fueled and armed battle tank called the Edelweiss or 'Noble White'. After boarding said battle tank they burst from the warehouse, speed down the road blasting through Imperials as they go on their way back to Bruhl to try and save everyone with their badass new toy which was named after a flower of all things. I guess all the cool names like Indomitable and Invincible were taken by battleships which do not seem to exist along with aircraft.

Returning to town, the group is met by the second-in-command of the Town Watch who insults Welkin, ignores Alicia and decides that Isara's mechanical expertise isn't worth listening to. Needless to say, this guy dies in a big fiery explosion after his tank stops working and even though he's a 'good' guy, it was still immensely satisfying to watch the man get his comeuppance at the hands of an explosive shell. The resulting heated battle between the Empire's soldiers and the pitifully equipped and poorly trained Militia guards is clearly a losing one, until Welkin and Isara hop in their super tank and almost single-handedly beat back the invading troops long enough for everyone else to evacuate. Heralded as all around awesome guys and heroes of Bruhl, they head off to the Gallia military headquarters to join the Militia proper and go kick some Imperial arse while pointedly not getting into relationships or admitting their feelings for one another until the last episode.

O...hai!

The series continues in much the same way from then on, with Welkin using his 'genius' military tactics to win over the respect of his Squad and the rest of the militia and the Edelweiss dominating battlefields despite it being only a single tank. Realism (or at least pseudo-anime-realism) is fairly consistent for much of the series. You meet a variety of characters such as Faldio, the pretty boy leader of Squad 1 and Welkin's gay lover friend from University, Commander Eleanor Varrot who looks oddly like Kati Mannequin from Gundam 00 and General Damon who everyone despises because he's a fat fucker who abuses everyone and is written to be as hated as humanly possible, even going so far as to stamp on a dead girl's memorial because it 'offends him' in front of said girl's squadmates. Thankfully, the story writers knew what the fans would want and have him killed off in Episode 24 in a huge, blue, nuclear explosion.

However, realism starts to disappear towards the last five-or-so episodes when Selvaria Bles, Lelouch's Maximilian's right hand lady reveals herself to be not only a Valkyria, but also able to decimate dozens of tanks in seconds using a magic spear and giant blue energy beams that look almost copy/pasted from Dragon Ball. Oh, she's also almost untouchable because she has a magic shield which can stop tank shells and bullets with a magic protection field. Yeah. After this, all concept of characterisation for the various characters in Squad 7 seemed to disappear in favour of focusing on Welkin, Alicia and Watanuki Maximilian along with magic spears, giant land dreadnoughts named Marmota (almost as silly as Edelweiss) and blue energy laser beams.

The series concludes predictably. Everyone goes home and lives happily ever after, except for

Selvaria Bles. Because every anime series
needs its own Rushuna.

Dialogue - By Suiseiseki IRL

The dialogue is rather well written, though it has a tendency to be redundant at times. Sure you have your occasional statements by Captain Obvious but these moments are rare and often don't spoil the rest of the series. Like most modern anime, a sizable chunk of dialogue takes place in the minds of the person that particular episode is focusing on. However, they don't add the faded echo, which can confuse dumber viewers.

Sound

The sound in Valkyria Chronicles is very well done. The music and effects as clear as a stripper's high heels. It was also quite refreshing to hear the sounds and music I had grown so used to in the game. Often times a song would begin to play and I would have the same hands-in-the-air cheering reaction that when I first heard it.

Another thing that I liked about this series was that SEGA decided to use the same voice actors from the game (most likely out of fear for being hung by their entrails and paraded through the streets of Yokohama), so it was quite nice to hear Marina Inoue and Susuma Chiba voicing the characters that I had grown to love.

I also hear that there is an English dub in the works, and I sure hope to hear Colleen O'Shaughnessey and Dave Wittenberg once more.

From CANVAS Engine to pencil drawing.

Art

What I like most about the art was that A-1 Pictures tried to capture the unique appearance of the CANVAS Engine from the game. Just take a brief moment to look at the characters or any other object and you'll notice what look like pencil marks. Much attention has been paid to detail; character movement is very well animated and fluid, as are effects like explosions and the occasion blue beam fired from a Valkyian Lance. Some "light" 3D effects can be seen mainly in instances where vehicles such as tanks or trucks are moving, though unlike Family Guy the movement speed is normal and blends into the drawn portions of the slides quite well.
|D|E|S|U|

Character Development

Character Development is a major factor in Valkyria Chronicles, and the fact I am giving it its own section is a testament to that. Every character in the series changes in one way or another and often times unexpectedly. Alicia starts out as your typical female heroine archetype but evolves into someone with feelings; Welkin begins as your cotton soft pretty boy but begins to grow a pair as the series continues; Rosie enters the series as a staunch Darcsen hater but comes to see them more as people; and Isara starts out as your dime-a-dozen virtuous peacemaker and later becomes *spoiler* worm food. This virus known as Personus evolutionus is also spread to even some of the supporting characters as you see them developing bonds with each other and changing the ways they act as well. One of my favorite examples is Alicia's friend Susie Evans, who is afraid to fight and constantly fainting, but at the end has worked up the courage to pick up a rifle and bust a few caps in Imperial asses.

*Purhi*

Final Comments

I had quite a fun time watching Valkyria Chronicles. It was nice to see my favorite characters in their own anime series, and to see some of the minor characters I had become attached to play a bigger part. For what the producers were given to work with they stayed true to the original plot and added a few side stories to let the viewer get to know the characters a little better. The art and sound are excellent and it was a total blast to hear some of may favorite in-game songs being played to the dishing out of a ration of whoop ass.

If you are a person who has played the games prior to the watching the series then you might be disappointed that a few of the more memorable parts such as the "bridge scene", Isara's dream, or Rosie singing "A Love Passed On" are sadly absent. The one thing I myself found most surprising was Faldio's role in the show where he plays Alicia's stronger love interest until the last quarter of the series, as opposed to someone who sits on the sidelines while Squad 7 does all the work. At first I was frustrated by this, but then it came to mind that this was in fact a way for SEGA to level the field for players and non players. Despite this rewriting of the Valkyria Chronicles universe I was still satisfied in the end and thought the producers had handled it pretty well even with the slight fraying of the proverbial rope towards the end. There is one thing I am pissed off about however:

Where is Jane Turner? How could you forget Jane Turner you bastards? She's one of the more famous secondary characters in the game!

Valkyria Chronicles earns my Silver Seal of Approval. I guess SEGA isn't full of idiots after all.

FINAL SCORE: 8/10

*seal under construction*

^{Review by: Timotei - Amnestic
Editing by: Amnestic - NeutralDrow
Inquisition by: Kuchinawa212 - KValentine}

Line ASK Productions 2009