Oh if only Euria treated its heroes this way…
While there was much more talking in this episode I am willing to tolerate the slower pace since they seem to be laying down some ground work for future conflicts. It turns out that Fan Hulic’s victory was unexpected as Euria had put Fan Hulic in command to be the face of their defeat. While Tytania and Euria has not worked out a deal prior to it seems that the current regime on Euria had only assented to battle as a means to save face. They were not going to win, but at the same time surrendering without having fired a shot would have been politically unthinkable. Even amongst the four dukes it seems that competition between them is about to heat up big time now that it seems that Ariabart slipped up, right now it seems of the four that Juslan seems to be the favored candidate, mostly because he doesn’t fall on any given extreme.
Elan will do for you what it did for the French and the Japanese, I hope you enjoy parading your men as mountains of corpses, Brownie.
So Fan Hulic victorious does not get a heroes welcome as the draftee admiral from the Merchant Marine was meant to be the public face of a Eurian defeat. They cut him a check but he flees into exile, seems the bubble gum genius has as many problems holding stable employment as he has with womenfolk. While he lacks employment now there are probably other interests groups that would be keen on employing him in order to bring down Tytania. Conversely now that he is famous he will also be hunted down by Tytania who are willing to give him a job, and it is quite clear that they intend to make Fan Hulic an offer he can’t refuse. While right now only Ariabart has problems with trying to hire Fan Hulic the rest of the Tytania clan are willing to bring another talented commander into their fleet. Pride matters little when the chance to enhance Tytanian military power presents itself. I have to say it’s a more sound policy militarily and politically, given how it would send a message to every ambitious commander that Tytania is willing to offer quarter and employment to the talented without holding a grudge. Militarily it makes those good commanders more willing to surrender at the first sign of trouble and it saves military resources that would have otherwise been spent annihilating such talent.
But I want to see…
Ajman seems to view this Fan Hulic issue as a way to test the four dukes to see which of them has their head on straight. While their after action was largely correct in dissecting what Ariabart did right, Idris and Zalisch both drew the incorrect (IMHO) conclusion as to why Ariabart lost. Zalisch harps on the mysterious unknown quantity that is spirit saying that Ariabart should have essentially punched his way through the Eurians, while Idris preaches that it was Ariabart’s arrogance that lost him the battle. I think that it was mostly due to surprise and a massive intelligence failure than anything else, the lack of spirit probably staved off an earlier defeat while arrogance seems to have only aggravated the problem once Ariabart ignored the first suspicious sign of the ponderous movements of the Eurian Fleet. That said it seems that the Tytanian fleet was not completely lost since the last remnant of Fan Hulic’s was only 600 ships while Tytania out numbered him heavily from the start. Unless the subs or wonky it seems that while 600 ships was a significant loss it was not the whole fleet that Ariabart took with him, but that one blow by the Whigerd Canons was sufficient to force a Tytanian withdrawal. In light of that having lost tactical control it was better to disengage rather than stick around while trying to reform what was left.
Defeat is the best tonic against complacency.
Right now it seems that Zalisch is more prone to relying solely on military power to rule whereas Idris operates under the assumption that subtler methods like media manipulation and secret police can be relied upon as the primary means of Tytanian control. While bother have merit the happier middle ground that Juslan seems to occupy is favored by Ajman. Ariabart right now, seems to crumble under pressure and defeat and thus seems to have blundered badly in the race to succeed Ajman. I am not sure exactly what to make of Juslan, right now he seems observant but he is also cognizant of the fact that he does not have all the answers, and his admission that he probably could not have done better against Fan Hulic seems to confirm this. Ajman might be publicly allowing the four dukes to handle it but I don’t think he is going to stop keeping tabs on Fan Hulic, given how coffee is the working drink of this series Ajman is going to be spending much more time to resolve the Fan Hulic threat. Juslan prophecies that he will be called upon to lead Tytania, but at the same time it will have signaled a significant shift given how it seems that Juslan believes in little niceties like giving quarter. I don’t think that we can write off Ariabart off just yet since even in defeat as long has he can draw the correct conclusions from that defeat then he will be better off for it.
Looks like the hero of Eurai will have to take what he can get…
One of the more annoying things this time was shoe polish girl whose presence was an annoyance from beginning to end. Judging by the preview it seems that women might have more of a role to play seeing how Juslan has Francia and hopefully Fan Hulic will meet a lady friend instead of some fabulous dude. Guess Lydia will have more company after all on the female bench. In light of the Eurian capitulation I don’t think that there will be any bastions of good government for us to see, not even Tytania is doing anything wholly terrible given how the current policy is based on carrot and stick, and they seem less prone to go to war if a favorable arrangement can be worked out. Certainly right now Euia seems to be run by political hacks, while the Empire is run by an incompetent aristocracy. Tytania is an amoral regime to be sure but even with the purges it was not all that different from Euria sacrificing its fighting men to save face, on the contrary it seems a bit more honest.
Hello are you by chance his Adjutant?
Other than you curling your hair…no.
16 Comments
I was impressed with this episode, and I think Juslan is shaping up to be something of a heroic villain. He’s definitely got his head straight in terms of grace, intelligence, and humility, and frankly, despite that little talk with the girl at the end, I didn’t feel any ominous overtones.
I WAS disappointed with the lack of characterization on Hulic’s part though. Womanizing easy guy– anybody with three neurons and a skull could figure that out from the first episode.
But yeah, happy to see that Tytania’s not the obnoxiously candy-evil every other goddamn anime puts up. They’re real people with human goals– and like any human organization, morality only goes as far as it serves your purposes. Well. Except for the green douchebag.
“And this is how Admiral Fan Hulic became the most heroic bum in the universe…” lol
This episode had a totally different feel from the first. I guess because this was more focused on background information and character development where the first episode was more of the intrigue and action that puts everything into motion.
But yeah, Juslan seems like the better candidate right now, while Idris is the annoying one, Ariabart is feeling weak after his loss and Zalisch is more of a brawn than brains kind of guy. Juslan seems to be the only one who thought about the larger picture and not solely about the lost battle. I think that’s what really separated him from the others (are they all cousins?) But as Juslan says near the end of the ep, he won’t really help Tytania unless it’s in desperation, so until then, there aren’t any good choices.
Damn , green is a douche.I would like to see HIS face after he get’s his ass handed to him on a silver plater by Fan.
I said it before and I’ll say it again: Tytania is one of the best shows that has come out this season.
Ironic that Fan’s victory would get him fired by Euria’s Mayor and basically exiled from the planet. WAY TO TREAT YOUR HERO AND SAVIOR. Ungrateful bastards. I hope they get bombed by Duke Blondie.
In regards to the women issue, they’ve already touched on Fan’s history with women and in the ending theme you can see that there’s one woman that keeps popping up next to (or behind) Fan during the sequence. So it looks like there’s definitely going to be some female presence in Tytania to rein in Fan’s rampant womanizing cavalier nature.
For some reason, every time I think of Fan Hulic, Erroll Flynn pops into my head. May be because they both have weird sounding names or both have that playboy character about them.
Either way, Tytania is succeeding where most shows this season are failing by having interesting characters, crisp dialogue, a strong overarching plot and decent animation.
Easily my second favorite show behind Gundam 00.
Blocks… of … text… so… heavy!
hmm seems like a more chess like show, i’m going to wait till there’s more eps out since the pacing is still in intro/build foundation mode.
I think that the dialogue in this show is relevant and unpretentious. Shows like Gundam 00 and Ghost in the Shell: SAC had lots of ultimately irrelevant techno babble while Tytania does not.
It’s refreshing to finally watch a show that doesn’t assume its audience are stupid, ADHD, action-crazed 12-year old boys.
highly enjoyable second episode. i’m looking forward to this now every week. i forsee less actual development for most of these characters in lieu of revelations. not everything will be as it seems – the douches may turn out to be the lesser evils, etc. but right now my eye is on juslan.
Good too see Tytania getting some love. It’s funny that the few blogs that blog it, REALLY get into it. Like paragraphs of picking every little thing apart. It’s great.
And for anybody who’s enjoying Tytania right now, I just have to reccommend Legend of the Galactic Heroes – by the same writer of the original novels just like Tytania, and directed by the same director. It’s a classic and one of the best space operas ever made, I’m sure you’ll all love it.
@skoll
Morality is a political luxury in this universe, it seems at least that keeps things from being too clear cut. Not sure what Idris’ deal is but hopefully he will have his mettle tested as well.
Fan Hulic could use some more work, both in character and in series, but there is still time to give the bloke some depth.
@TwilightShiva
Soon Fan will be turning tricks at a turnpike…Maybe Francia can be head of Tytania…the shadow queen if you will.
@Zentari
Hopefully Greenie’s turn will come, but it might be later rather than sooner.
@Halcyon
With anime you can never be too sure it is really a woman…be a real shame if Fan’s luck with women dropped even lower.
Women problems aside I hope they flesh out this Fan Hulic most heroic of the jobless a bit more.
@Square
It seems that the show is trying to encourage us to think a couple moves ahead at least.
@lubczyk
Let’s hope it stays a bit high minded in the dialogue, other wise it might go down as LOGH for dummies…
@ghostlightning
I hope that they will reveal how long this show will run other wise if it gets nipped then we will only have a shadow of a series.
@RogerOskaner
It’s a series that is a bit harder to blog because of the heavy dialogue, but for LOGH fans this is something to be hopeful for.
@Crusader
I’d like to see Fan Hulic become the Han Solo of the series.
@Crusader
Morality is ALWAYS a political luxury, let’s not be naive. Why is that the most stable nations are the most ‘moral’?
Know what I would like to see? Fan Hulic, the mercenary admiral. Heck, Fan Hulic the pirate doesn’t sound too shabby either does it?
BTW, Crusader, which subs are you watching? The romanizations and some translations in your blog seem a bit different than the one I’m watching
“Bubblegum genius” is… genius! What better way to put it! Hey Crus, do you think there’s a burning persona beneath all that happy-go-lucky exterior? A persona that would be ready to take a stand for or against the Tytanian empire? One ready to die for a cause? I’m curious what his reaction will be when the dukes try to recruit him. The seed of dissent has been planted by the little shoe shine girl, though. Were it not for that little remark about Earth, I wonder if he could have been won over by the allure of Tytania’s offer?
Hmm!
Grapevine talk seems to be right. Same with promo materials. Jouslain looks to be the protagonist, or at least a protagonist. Fan Hulic needs a bit more screentime, but apparently info on him from fans of the novel is slim. On the other hand, there’s lots of info on Tytania’s Four Dukes of Uraniborg, with Jouslain at the top of the list.
I think Fan might actually be a secondary character.
Curious, though. Jouslain is shown to be the most level-headed, observant, and compassionate of the Four Dukes. (He insulted Aryabhata in front of the other Dukes, but when he didn’t have to put up a facade in front of him, he was kinder to the poor Bluey. Or was that the front? Hmm.) Note that Tytania is not viewed in a very sympathetic light, as is quite obvious, but the central characters seem to be presented as the Dukes of Tytania. The compassionate one, who skoll interpreted as a “heroic villain,” is also the only one who says of the Tytania clan/family/House that it does not serve a good purpose, it merely serves itself. And he had what could have been interpreted as a villainous aside with Francia, implying that Tytania will need him one day.
But I wonder.
What if this scene is a veiled foreshadowing of a potential betrayal of Tytania? They’re not good guys, they’re merely the major power in the universe. But flashbacks of the family history show some rather unsympathetic bits (the picture of a mother and child right before their execution at the hands of Tytania’s military) and the presented protagonist-figures–both the heroic bum Fan Hulic and the more enigmatic Jouslain–are more defined by a opposition to Tytania. In one case overt (and nearly accidental), the other in his beliefs.
(The current head of Tytania already suspects that Jouslain might not make the best choice as a successor, in spite of being the most qualified, and I suspect loyalty is the cause of his concern.)
I think Fan Hulic might be a red herring. But hey, you never know. Maybe Tytania really are the good guys, or at least a lesser evil. Though describing things in terms of “good and evil” when morality is less of a concern than simple enlightened self-interest is probably not the best way to describe people in this show.
…
This is the first time I’ve actually sat down to think about a show in a long time.
@skoll
Well I always thought the Swedes were some awfully nice blokes.
@Plastik
Fan needs a beard and an eye-patch.
I use DEER for this one, usually I just go with whatever DDL is available first.
@Dorian Cornelius Jasper
Jouslain seems to be level headed but I think it’s a bit too early to try and discern what he puts up as a facade and what is real. Becoming a duke in Tytania is no small thing and I am sure that he had to have been politically astute to get where he is. Right now I think he can go either way in terms of personality, Ariabart seems the least capable of putting up a false face, or his defeat just shook him up that badly.
I am behind on this anime, but completed this episode recently and posted plenty of pictures as usual. It seems that Jouslain is the best candidate to be the next leader, but I wonder what reservations Ajman has against him.