Ikebukuro West Gate Park – 03 – Chasing Views

Like myself, Majima Makoto is the age where he missed out on the big YouTube content creation boom, and marvels how people can make so much money off of doing what is essentially stupid shit. We’re both tourists in this world, but here’s the thing about this episode: I don’t feel I learned much more than I already knew about the industry. Instead it felt like we were getting second-hand and not entirely reliable information about How This Stuff Works.

Am I jealous of a guy like 140★ Ryuusei making money off silly videos of eating onions and falling down stairs? A little, sure! But I also happen to find him extremely unlikable and both his and the Gorilla rivals’ antics are deeply, profoundly lame. I’m not going to discuss in depth something I know little about, and it is true that people have become millionaires for doing stuff just as stupid. But that doesn’t mean it’s fun for me to watch them do it.

Makoto loses some points with me this week because he seems to be really into this, at least insofar as he respects Ryuusei’s enthusiasm and hard work. That’s fine, I guess…but again, it’s just not any fun to watch? The fact Ryuusei and the Gorillas were working together was pretty obvious based on the shifty looks of his assistants. Ryuusei involving Takashi and the G-Boys after not involving them for five years doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, either. This was a miss for me, plain and simple.

Warlords of Sigrdrifa – 01 (First Impressions) – Meet the 909th Valkyrie Wing

For it’s opening sortie we get a double-helping of Senyoku no Sigrdrifa. Strange phenomena called Pillars threaten Earth, but an entity calling himself Odin bestows upon humanity a weapon with which to fight them: Valkyries, battle maidens who pilot vintage aircraft called Hero Wings.

Claudia Bruford, callsign Schwertliete, is the ace of the European Valkyrie wing, but she’s often the sole survivor of her missions, leading to her unofficial title Grim Reaper When Japan’s ace is KIA, she is transferred away from Europe, and believes it’s due to that title.

En route to her new assignment, her transport aircraft is attacked by a ocean-bound Pillar, but before she can sortie three other Valkyries enter the battlefield, identifying themselves as Anonym, Red, and Pink. They’re an extremely animated bunch, whom Claudia likens to a “circus”.

They also seem a bit uncoordinated, so Claudia launches and joins the battle. In addition to showing what an S-Class Valkyrie is made of, and it’s more than enough to keep up with the others, the quartet manage to stall the Pillar until it runs out of energy and breaks up.

Claudia returns to base, which she learns is Tateyama, a rearguard base which is also where her three fellow Valkyries are stationed. She is given a tour by Red, AKA Muguruma Miyako, and also meets Watarai Sonoka (PI=ink) and Komagome Azuzu (Anonym).

Claudia or “Clau-chan” as “Miko” nicknames her, is taken aback by how laid back the base is, even under alert. But she meets the very abled mechanic crew and enjoys curry with Miko and Sono while the unathletic Azu tries to play soccer with the kids. We also learn Azu likes Miko.

Their fun on the ground is cut short by reports of more Pillars in the vicinity, and the four Valkyries sortie with Claudia in charge. A handful of Pillars soon turn into dozens, and upon “fishing” out the Pillar’s core, a giant whale-like leviathan takes flight.

Prior to launching, Azu clears the air about Claudia’s reputation as a omen of death for all who fly with her, but both her fellow valkyries, support pilots, and mechanics consider her good luck, no matter what happened in the past. A huge aerial battle between colorful vintage airplanes and Art Nouveau-style CGI enemies ensues, with the brilliant azure sky providing a glorious backdrop.

When the Pillar’s core is finally exposed, everyone is out of ordinance, so Miko jumps out of her cockpit and slashes the core with a katana, thus destroying the Pillar, something that always triggers the creation of a giant floating tree. Claudia fears she’s the sole survivor once again, but when the fog clears it reveals Azu, Sono and Miko all soft-landed in the tree’s foliage.

The girls return home triumphant, and Claudia is officially welcomed to Tateyama air base by her comrades. While she initially thought she was being swept under a rug, now she finds herself somewhere she feels she truly belongs, and with something like a loving family supporting her.

The 48 minutes of Sigrdrifa is a lot to digest, but goes down easy thanks to a simple linear narrative that’s well-paced. There’s a generous use of Norse mythological names and terms likely in order to add a sense of prestige, though I’m not quite sold on whether they’re necessary; any made-up names would have worked.

What truly drew me in for the near-hour was competent production values, a soaring sense of scale to the battles, the quirkiness of cute girls in old-fashioned planes being the salvation of mankind, and the bright and colorful characters we meet, who each have distinct qualities and possess  solid chemistry and lived-in relationships. Let’s see where this goes.