I guess it’s getting close to pot-committed time here…
- Jamie who?
- Seriously, I’ve seen a ton of bitching about Jamie not saying anything this week. Well, first of all this was an episode mostly about the “enemy” (though not really), Ingelmia. And guess what, Jamie isn’t the main character – Tokimune and Samonji are. From the OP onwards, Argevollen never pretended anything else.
- Let the record show that the real enemy here is and always has been the defense contractors, with Kivernas at the head of the list. The military honchos cut their deals with them, and the combat troops on both sides are just ordinance as far as they’re concerned. So, pretty much modern military history.
- Who exactly was Kivernas planning to have pilot the Argevollen? Samonji?
- It’s not completely original, but I like the ease with which Argevollen is able to flip the narrative on its head and make the Arandas side – even Samonji’s unit – seem like the bad guys. They’re not of course, but there’s no question the sympathy here was for the Ingelmia forces, especially Maj. Daniels.
- The larger point here is that once the corporations get their war launched, all the soldiers can do is fight. Daniels himself bragged about planting the Ingelmian flag on Arandian soil – how can you blame the opposition for trying to stop that from happening?
- It seems that even with the “Demon of Arandas” rampaging, complacency is a major problem for Ingelmia. Clearly with the war broadly heading in their direction and a major offensive about to launch, they weren’t expecting a pre-emptive attack on their “secret” forward base.
- Ingelmia is interesting. It seems to ideologically operate around an almost Communist ideology, yet its citizens are clearly far more affluent than Arandas’.
- Holmes and Gaap (Ingelmian mid-level officers) are clearly planning something contrary to their brass’ intentions. Possible hints of a peace outreach?
- No fluff, no sugarcoating, no painting either side as good guys, pretty decent animation and relatively realistic military strategy. Argevollen isn’t flashy, but it’s got a lot of substance.
Roger
August 30, 2014 at 11:19 amIngelmia is interesting. It seems to ideologically operate around an almost Communist ideology, yet its citizens are clearly far more affluent than Arandas'.
Eh? I actually saw it as a a bit of an American-esque jab, Especially with that "We will give them FREEDOM!" talk by their President/Prime Minister.
Let the record show that the real enemy here is and always has been the defense contractors, with Kivernas at the head of the list. The military honchos cut their deals with them, and the combat troops on both sides are just ordinance as far as they're concerned. So, pretty much modern military history.
This one I definitely loved. Not a lot of mecha anime woulr really go and touch this particular topic. Hopefully,it stays this way and not have Kivernas turn into some evil megacorporation out to rule the world. That would be so cliched.
eriously, I've seen a ton of bitching about Jamie not saying anything this week. Well, first of all this was an episode mostly about the "enemy" (though not really), Ingelmia. And guess what, Jamie isn't the main character – Tokimune and Samonji are. From the OP onwards, Argevollen never pretended anything else.
I still am crossing my fingers that Jamie actually becomes a much larger character and not just the bumbling engineer/obligatory love interest.
Jay Psi
August 30, 2014 at 1:33 pmI always wanted to see Universal Century (Gundam) series expand on the contractor angle with Anaheim's dealings with Zeon/Federation/splinter groups on both sides, but when SNRI up-ended them those plot lines were gone in favour of, well, let's not go there.
Roger
August 30, 2014 at 2:08 pmIf I remember correctly, they actually did that with the side materials. In particular, you can take a look at the photobooks where they tackled the Z Project (zeta gundam's (the mobile suit) development history).
sonicsenryaku
August 31, 2014 at 12:00 amJamie not saying a word this week is not a deal breaker to me personally (and i havent seen the complaints so i cant say for sure, but i read Divine's post on RC and the impression i got from his write up is that it was awkward that Jamie was given screen time yet not a single peep came out of her which begs the question, why have her in the episode at all?) but nevertheless she IS a main character even if the larger plot encompasses tokumine and samonji and she has been presented as such since the beginning of the series so it would be awkward to the story-telling if she was suddenly shafted (it would sort of remind me of what has happened to the character index in the To aru series; it's obvious that the story is about Touma but index is still pegged as a a main character and as a result, should be treated as such, not thrown in the background).
Nine eps in and this series still hasnt delivered what a series like this should which is the brutality and impact of war and what characters like the ones we are watching would be going through. It hasnt given the characters any interesting arcs to go along either; Tokumine and Samonji arent interesting enough in my opinion to carry this story and as a result, it doesnt really engage me nor does the writing in this series. The animation, which is also a device that should be used to enhance the story-telling, is also lacking. Even so, there are plenty of interesting ideas this series does have which do engage me even if the overall package doesnt and im hoping within the remaining 15 eps, those ideas coalesce into something special.
maverickmann84
September 1, 2014 at 1:03 amI love the comparison to Index here! Jamie has been, for me, very similar to Index in that I think the less I see her on screen the more I enjoy the show. I think the problem in Index's case is that the show's name (LN name really) was just chosen poorly. It should've been called A Certain Imagine Breaker or something else entirely bc it's clear she isn't supposed to be more important than most of the other females who come along. That's why I don't think Jamie is being underutilized at all here. While she is undeniably towards the top of the list of important characters, she still falls into tier 2 and maybe even the bottom of tier 2. I have found Jamie to be the worst part of this show, and mostly bc she could be used in a much different way. I wont get into all of the details of that bc most of it is obvious, but I don't think she is someone who HAS to be in anything. Outside of being a potential love interest she isn't needed to show any side of war other than bridging her company and the military unit.
I agree that there should have been a bit more of the impact and brutality of wat shown at this point, but I think it's just been a lot of building things up. There truly are a lot of different sides and individuals to cover and give information on and it'll be awhile before they can adequately cover it all. I think the ball has started rolling, but still needs some time to find it's momentum. I always thought that the end of the first cour is when things will all finally start coming together and the action will start to pick up. There's no legitimate proof I can give to say that it will happen that way, but it does seem as if things are progressing at that rate. If not then I think the show will be a major dud, but if it finds its stride then I think it could turn out to be a great second cour/great show overall.
admin
September 1, 2014 at 2:26 amIndex was the only character that made any of that author's stuff watchable for me. Different strokes…
maverickmann84
September 1, 2014 at 9:33 pmHaha yeah I don't think there was one female character that was really good. The more they focus on Touma the more I like it. I don't mind the "giant harem" he has (though it's not so blatant as other shows) bc they all pop up so rarely that I don't have to put up with them. I don't hate Index per se, but that biting thing is super annoying. I'll never like that whole "oblivious guy gets beat up and just accepts it even though he really didn't do anything". Imagine an anime where a guy does that to a girl? It's the female equivalent of a man beating a girl bc she made his dinner wrong. Outside of that stuff I like Touma a lot more than most shounen MC, but the female cast does push the boundry of acceptable amount of pathetic females (despite generally being the strongest power users).
sonicsenryaku
September 5, 2014 at 5:29 am@enzo…im right with ya there…Index did the same for me….problem is that she gets casted to the side unfortunately