Short posts this weekend, as it’s a travel one for me – I’m back in my old San Francisco stomping grounds for a couple of days. We start out with Shoukoku no Altair, which remains one of the great disconnects of 2017 anime as far as I’m concerned. It’s developed into an excellent series, consistently well-written and expertly crafted, yet when it’s not being totally ignored (even around here) it’s generally having scorn heaped upon it. Opinions are by definition subjective, but there sure are a lot of people missing the boat on this show.
The runup to war on the European Rumeranian continent continues to heat up, with Balt-Rhein running roughshod over the small city-states of southern Italy even as Team Mahmut tries to gather allies farther north. General Pino (Koyama Rikiya) – reluctant conqueror though he may be – is spreading the news far and wide: Balt-Rhein is going to restore the ancient Phoenike Empire to its former glory (and territory). The irony that they’ve just sacked and burned Phoenike as part of their conquest is pretty much impossible to miss.
This is a very interesting and historically relevant turn of events – Louis is cleverly turning this into a culture war. Whatever the current state of affairs in Rumerania might be (Turkiye as a major trading partner) old prejudices run strong. The Turks are invaders, foreign devils – they worship the wrong God and dress the wrong way. It makes perfect sense that Balt-Rhein would use this to their advantage, just as it makes sense for them to distract the tripartite alliance with their naval blockade while they invade over land.
The key to the city-states of Italy is the Republic of Fiore – obviously Florence – which holds great sway over its neighbors. None have large (or in some cases, any) armies, instead relying on mercenaries to defend them and artisans to provide them intelligence (all of this is 100% historically accurate). The key to Fiore is its leader, Caterina de Rossi (Noto Mamiko). Caterina happens to be an old flame of Suleyman Bey (there’s a hilarious moment where pure-pure boy Mahmut catches her playing footsie with him under the table), and I’m guessing not his only one – but she’s a political realist to be certain, and that will clearly take precedence over her personal feelings.
Turkiye has a pretty good argument – whatever historical hatreds may exist, if Fiore doesn’t team up with them it’s simply going to get rolled over by Balt-Rhein. But Caterina knows that if she allies with “heathens” she’ll either be deposed or assassinated, so she chooses a third path – join the 34 Cuore city-states under her sway into a third force, not allied to either superpower about to go to war. I’m not sure how that’s going to work exactly, as mercenaries only get you so far – but it certainly spices up the political and military soup in Shoukoku no Altair nicely, and I suspect we’ve not seen the last of Caterina by a long stretch.
Lark
November 4, 2017 at 12:37 amThis episode was sort of a callback in a couple of ways.
How to leave Mahmut at a loss for words: Have a clever, beautiful woman invade his personal space. It reminds me of the time when he caught Shara sleeping on his bed. That was way back in episode 1- it’s nice to see that, for all the growing up he had to in the first cour, some things haven’t changed.
Also, I just realised Suleyman named his eagle after Caterina. He did mention in his introductory episode that he had been working as as eagle trainer in Fiore when the the Turghril massacre occurred, so he was probably working for one of Caterina’s acquaintances (or the lady herself).
I think that the reception to Altair is gradually warming, if only because those who disliked the adaptation haven’t really stuck around after the first cour (its MAL score has been slowly increasing ever since the Civil War arc ended, which is a small comfort). I’m kind of glad I resisted diving into the manga after the the first half of the series.
And, gah- this show is reigniting my desire to visit Italy sometime.
Guardian Enzo
November 4, 2017 at 7:33 amYes, you know in all seriousness I think it would be really helpful for Mahmut if he hooked up. He’s 17 and presumably, subject to the same physical imperatives as most boys his age. When you’re subject to that it can impact your judgement. I think he’d be less vulnerable to this sort of manipulation if he weren’t quite so innocent (and frustrated). He has an achilles’ penis, you might say,
You certainly wouldn’t regret visiting Italy. It’s an amazing country for the traveler.
MFF
November 4, 2017 at 1:03 amThe series took a while for me to get into, but I’ve been enjoying it bar one or two episodes that were just ‘OK’.
The preview seems to show Mahmut with the mercenaries, so maybe he is hired as a mercenary? I guess its one way to get around allying themselves with Torkiye.
I’m a little unsure if I should just say Florence and Turkey. Phonetically they pretty much say Florence anyway.
Guardian Enzo
November 4, 2017 at 7:34 amYeah, I noticed that too – they pretty much say “Florence”.
Couch Tomato
November 6, 2017 at 4:02 amInterestingly enough, the Japanese words for Florence and Turkey are Firentse and Toruko, respectively, so I guess the English localization standard would be to flip things around and sub the fictional places of Furorensu and Torukie (sp?) as Firenze and Türkiye.
justfun
November 4, 2017 at 2:46 amI really don’t get the low scores the show also has on AniDB. Sure, its story is fast paced and does not really focus on the characters. And although it is nice to look at, sometimes – as in battle scenes – the animation budget could have been higher. But at the same time the show surpasses every other show about politics of the last years or even decades. It’s certainly way better as Arslan, and in regards to its political plot even as LoGH.
Could it have been the not-so-good first three episodes that turned people off?
I am me
November 4, 2017 at 6:35 amHonestly, I got bored of it but feel it would be more enjoyable personally as a marathon, so hoping to zoom through it after the first season ends
Ouki’s Majestic Lips
November 4, 2017 at 10:27 pmShoukoku no Altair, Made in Abyss, Tsuki ga Kirei…
I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many high quality shows be given such small levels of attention before. I don’t mean to sound like an elitist, but this trend is kinda concerning in the bigger scheme of things. Less attention and less discussion may lead to less disc sales and less exposure, which may be deemed by a production committee as a financial failure.
If these kinds of shows are considered financial failures or risks, then they’re less likely to be made, specially if there are safer, if less artistically ambitious alternatives. It would truly be a shame if such a predicament would come to pass, for there are plenty of worthwhile and smartly-written stories left to be told in anime format.
Guardian Enzo
November 4, 2017 at 11:04 pmActually Made in Abyss and Tsuki ga Kirei both did quite respectably on disc (so far, in MiA’s case). And in contrast to Shoukoku both score very well on review aggregator sites (though those are worth what you pay for them, and they’re free).
No question, good shows tend to make far less money than safe, formulaic and generic ones. But at least in the case of TgK and MiA we can say they probably did well enough not to discourage someone from attempting something similar.
Ouki’s Majestic Lips
November 6, 2017 at 6:58 pmThat’s a sigh of relief. I’ve never been so glad to be so wrong