In my review of last week’s disappointing episode, which led Oigakkosan to drop the show in disgust, I mentioned that I myself would consider ceasing reviews as well if the show didn’t “improve significantly” this week. There’s just too much good stuff to watch this Fall to be wading in mediocrity.
Was this week’s episode an improvement? Yes it was…although that’s not hard when the last episode had a boob-size fight instigated by the heroine and Tigre sucking on a boob (though one not related to that fight). Was it a significant improvement? No. Too many of the same problems plaguing last week, plus a couple new ones, kept this out of the minimum “good” or even “fine” rating it needed for us to retain it.
Limalisha recovers so she can make pained faces and comment when Elen is being overly childish in her dealings with Ludmila, but she doesn’t call her out on it strongly enough. The comely war maiden who had maintained a quiet dignity in the first episode has devolved into an embarrassment whose petty antics have grown increasingly hard to watch.
It’s no wonder, then, that having been caught in the crossfire between the war maidens long enough, Tigre eventually chooses to strike out on his own in order to find the backdoor route to the Citadel of Tatra, a stronghold Elen aims to take from Ludmila. Yes, this is to stop Elen from charging in on her own, but…wait: Why doesn’t Elen just charge in on her own?
I appreciate that the war maidens aren’t invincible, and that they serve as generals for the armies of the lands they serve, but…they clearly possess the power to single-handedly take out entire armies. Wouldn’t it be a lot less of a waste of life and material if the maidens simply fought each other, as champions of their lands?
There’s a very strange transition from Ludmila accompanying Tigre and Elen to a market to sample wheat gruel, to a series of battles between the two maidens’ armies, all of it not exactly pretty to watch, not because it’s bloody, but because the animation is underwhelming and they’re battles I just don’t care about. The old-guy narration has officially gotten old, as well.
At any rate, Tigre implements his plan, but happens to hit the same fox with an arrow as Ludmila does while hunting. Because of the bearskin Lim gave him, Ludmila can’t see his face, but his impressive marksmanship impresses her enough to lovingly prepare him an elaborate cup of tea, confirm that she hates the Thernardiers, and ask him to join her, completely unaware he’s Tigre. This is the best part of the episode, but it’s also totally isolated from everything else. And I don’t buy that she’s not cold in that get-up.
Tigre follows her tracks (what kind of war maiden allows herself to be followed?) and finds the route he was searching for, then meets back up with Elen and her siege force. After failing to blast through the gates with Arifar on her own, Tigre again borrows her power for his bow and get the job done, setting up a showdown between Elen and Ludmila. But frankly, I’m not keen on seeing those two interact again. No good can come of it.
RABUJOI - An Anime Blog 
Honestly, too much of the LN content was skipped for the anime viewers to understand certain events. The LN does go in depth on the weakness of Artifal being that Ley Atmos is short ranged and that she can’t defend herself while charging it. It also explained that due to the historic rivalry between Olmutz and Lemeritz, that specific fort was built to counter the weaknesses of Artifal.
I don’t understand why the animators decided to skip so much content, but the result is a hot mess that definitely won’t stand up to the other series you guys are reviewing. Since you guys are dropping it anyways, might as well mention that the fight does turn out well and due to a string of events, Mira is on their side.
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You made an interesting point on the Vanadis and their war potential. It draws to mind a fantasy series I read called The Stormlight Archives.
In said novels there exists magic armor and blades that power people up and can cut through anything. People who used the powerful Shard Plate and Shard Blades were like armies unto themselves, kind of like the Vanadis and their Dragonic Weapons. However like the Vanadis, they were not invincible despite their power. With enough numbers even they could be taken down by normal physical attacks, so they instead served as powerful vanguard troops to bolster the army they fought with.
It’s the same with the Vanadis. Each Vanadis is worth like a thousand men, but that alone isn’t enough to settle everything. For example Ellen can take out arrows with her wind, and mow down hundreds of troops with Ley Adamos, but she can’t do both at the same time. If she were surrounded and without back up even a Vanadis would eventually run out of stamina or get worn out. If she tried to spam her trump card then a rain of arrows would skewer her. Thernadir and his tens of thousands and more worth of troops aren’t going to settled for some clean champion battle when they can triumph with sheer numbers. Also I believe each of the Vanadis are roughtly equal to eachother, so it comes down to their armies when a conflict arises. Ludmila probably wouldn’t risk everything on a 1 vs 1 bout if she thinks she has a better chance at beating Ellen and her army with her own etc.
Heh, I still do feel weird when I see the Vanadis in such skimpy clothes and surrounded by snow. But eh magic weapons son! Haha somehow the Dragonic Weapons have a climate control aura. Lim sure is taking advantage of it at least.
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