Valkyria Chronicles Anime

Over the weekend I was able to watch the first four episodes of the Valkyria Chronicles anime. I actually haven’t played through the game completely yet, and have more or less gotten beyond in the anime where I have reached in the game. The anime version seems to be a pretty faithful, by-the-numbers translation of the game story, although with some additional characters (mostly red shirts or townspeople). The character design is pretty close to the game, although eyes are certainly bigger and the overall look less angular than in the game. The anime nicely retains the ‘watercolor’ style of look, which is pretty neat.

So far the story is what you’d expect- an anime version of war. Which means you’ve got girls fighting alongside guys in the frontlines, and soldiers (mainly the good guys) usually fighting without any combat headgear to prevent any headshots- not practical in real world conditions, I guess, but I really doubt we’ll be seeing any anime babe getting brained in this series. There’s also your requisite sexual tension between Welkin Gunther and Alicia Melchiott (more and detailed her) and Faldio, Welkin’s college friend. Also figuring distinctly is a definite bit of racism, with Welkin’s foster-sister Isara taking the brunt of some irrational hatred from trooper Rosie Stark.

So far it’s an entertaining show- with some nice explosions making up for relatively bloodless gun battles. I’m a bit iffy at Welkin’s portrayal as somewhat of an airhead prodigy, something of a cross between Irresponsible Captain Tylor and Sakura Taisen’s Ogami. You’d think that a squad leader would be a bit more forceful, but then it’s still just the fourth episode. We’ll see where this one goes as the war trudges on. It’s a good show anyway, and may just get me playing again… maybe.