Senjou no Valkyria Gallian Chronicles

Title:Senjou no Valkyria Gallian Chronicles
Valkyria Chronicles
戦場のヴァルキュリア -Gallian Chronicles-
Overall:Unevaluated
Keywords: , , , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - A1 Pictures
Set in an alternate timeline of Europe in 1930s, the country of Gallia has come under attack by East European Imperial Alliance who value the country's abundance of ragnite ore—which can be refined into a powerful fuel. Welkin Gunther, son of Gallian war hero General Belgen Gunther, leads a team of soldiers in a desperate bid reclaim their war-torn neutral nation from enemy control.

An anime adaptation of the Japanese tactical role-playing game developed by Sega exclusively for the PlayStation 3. See wikipedia entry ↗Valkyrie_of_the_Battlefield for more information.

Animation by A1 Pictures and Sega Enterprises.

A new TV series set to aire in April '09.
26 TV Episodes.
Episode Details 
00, 999A
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Unevaluated Stretch [series:2036#628]
(One episode watched):

Girl 1: "Hey, Alicia, we won't get shot, will we?
Alicia: "We just have to shoot before we're shot. It'll be all right"

These lines summarize the painfully simplistic and naive attitude of the characters of Valkyria Chronicles, and the show as a whole. This series is based on a video game, and indeed it's as if what we're getting here is the premise from a game, which normally doesn't need to make much sense since it's the action that a person would be playing for anyhow. But a TV series can't rest on shoot-em-up action alone, and making little attempt to flesh out the story was a major mistake. It even seems out of touch with reality; people are strangely unemotional as they are forced to abandon their homes and flee from invaders; the characters think that the tiny "town watch" can stop the approaching army; and they laugh and joke while their lives are in danger--like idiots, not like cool, confident fighters. Background music seems overplayed, as if trying to force feed us appropriate emotions, and the characters seem likewise over acted. Character designs and background artwork are actually pretty good. But this seemed a half-hearted attempt at anime which didn't hold my attention and I feel is definitely not worth the time it would take to watch it, much less the cost of buying or renting. There were detailed notes at the end of my fansub about the calendar, "ragnite", etc, but it's hard to see why anybody would care.

Last updated Monday, April 13 2009. Created Monday, April 13 2009.
Unevaluated chibi [series:2036#2380]
Setting a series in a Europe seems to be the rage this season. Defending themselves and their town against the encroaching East European Army, Welkin and Alicia take shelter in the Gunther home, where Wekin's father, the hero of the last great war, has kept an old tank, and his sister, who tinkers with machines, has kept it running. Character designs and animation are very good, and I like the way depth is added to even the minor characters. It's too early to tell for sure, but I have a good feeling about this series so far.

Episode 5: Hmmm... This is not looking so good. Aisha and half the team are sneaking through the woods to launch a flank attack on the invading forces to relieve the rest of the team who are in a pitched head-on battle -- and she stops to discuss her feelings? And then the enemy army retreats with a dozen tanks because a handful of infantry are giving them some rifle fire? This is starting to get pretty silly.

Last updated Friday, May 08 2009. Created Tuesday, April 07 2009.
Unevaluated Jan-Chan [series:2036#967]
(A short summary of the first episode)

The cute girl who is a village militia leader stumbles across the cute boy and mistakes him for being spy. At gunpoint, she takes him into custody so they can spend some screen time together and get to know one another.

Then the Imperial ‘Baddies’ begin to invade the village, so the cute girl and cute guy have to flee to his house to meet his uber-cute little sister. Little sis happens to have a case of grenades and is a dead-shot with a rifle, so the imperial (storm) troopers are chased off.

But the bad-guys also have big ugly tanks, which can’t be stopped with grenades and guns. But have no worries, the two ‘just happen to have’ a fully operational and equipped main battle tank sitting in their garage……



Sorry... while the animation is fair and the characters cute, this title is just too canned and predictable to hold my attention or garner any praise. It obviously has been created to help market the computer game (and it shows....)

Last updated Monday, April 06 2009. Created Monday, April 06 2009.

Other Sites
NameURL
Japanese Series Web Site http://www.valkyria-anime.com/

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