Well it looks like we have a post war situation here…
So while Sora no Woto has earned the ire of many as being K-On, other than the character design it seems different enough. Besides unlike your average scum sucking self serving self righteous Jihad-kun type protagonist Kanata has one thing that makes her so much more likable. No it’s not her hair which is rather stylish despite not being within regs, but because she is one of the rare select few that volunteer for military service in an age where Singaporean males have to be dragged to the barracks for national service. In any case as a show about Soldaten I see that it already has some potential though in my case it serves nicely as a study of what a more whimsical garrison post would be like. Say what you will about Kanata, but she might well be the heir of Noe given that hair cut, and besides she’s probably more physically fit than the lot of you and no doubt kids these days don’t travel in boxcars and sleep on hard wood. Despite the lack of small arms Kanata is part of the poor infantry and that alone makes her worthy, plus she’s not bitching and moaning with every other step she takes. While not much was mentioned about the principle cast they did manage to do a good job of giving the setting some character. It may be a pastiche of things but at least they have drinking in public which in itself is pretty damn awesome. I like how they mentioned the local customs and myths it’s nice to see the town have a bit of culture, even if some of the customs seem rather quaint, though it basically is a wet t-shirt festival if you think about it…
I am curious as to the war that took place before the events of the series since the idea of children being soldiers either indicates different cultural attitudes, lack of man power, or desperation. Given how there is a cessation of hostilities I think it is likely to be a lack of man power and given the end of the draft perhaps the Army was willing to take just about anyone. While the setting is rather laid back I like how they hinted that there were still problems like a shortage of civilian goods as the caremel showed. Given how the last total war ended back in 1945 I was pleasantly surprised that they brought in shortage as a problem with the onset of peace, even the town of Sieze itself seemed to echo the damaged paradise feel of the show. Life is certainly more peaceful but the town’s old charm also belies the fact that even with shiny modern heavy weapons the people are happy but enjoy a rather rugged standard of living. Were things all nice and rosy the bridge would have probably been restored to it’s original construction instead of that half steel half stone one they got going. The rather lax rank structure isn’t too surprising seeing as how isolated units away from the eyes of senior officers tend to relax most of the restrictions and regulations, hell I have seen plenty of units that don’t vigorously enforce meeting times and grooming standards. While Kanata’s reasons for enlisting are pretty straight forward I wonder what the deal is with the rest of the squad. Rio must have been in for a while in order to make Sergeant Major, either that or the mass exodus at the end of the end of the draft left the promotion lists wide open. Still in a smaller army I’d expect ranking up to be harder since those who stay might have to accept lower ranks unless they make the mistake of over staffing their smaller army with more senior officers and senior enlisted than privates. So Kanata wants to be bugler but is pretty bad at playing reveille, certainly Rio has her work cut out for her since I doubt Kanata’s retreat is going to be much better. I know it wasn’t supposed to be viewed this way but when Rio grabbed Kanata in an embrace I could not help but go FUCK YEAH YURI! I doubt many people are going to give this show much of a chance but I quite like the idea of having a Military Slice of Life show, it’s first one I have heard of and for now it doesn’t seem to be combat oriented. If nothing else it was a rather relaxing watch which is just the thing I need since I am in high stress mode for the duration.
She looks more like Ritsu me thinks…
Don’t believe everything you hear…
Fuck Yeah looting!
Well for me they only come in certain MREs…not all of them good.
Wow look at that there is at least one studio that knows that civilian goods get real scarce in a total war.
Thank you for your service, you are more courageous than most of the male population, those damn tossers.
You’re new name will be Snowball…
Looks like they still got C-Rations…makes one appreciate that FRH.
Ain’t no maids to serve you here boy.
Rio is the winner.
Wait you have a German M35 Helmet, read and write in French, but got a Japanese name?
Needs an MG34.
Kanata forgot where her military right was…
Poor Kanata did not get a TONO to claim allowances, like meals and incidentals oh and lodging.
Well it sounds pretty boring, but that does have it’s benefits…
I wonder if her first song will be first call…
Here’s some advice Private you’re not nit Paris anymore…
Here they drink beer and IN PUBLIC!
Might it be that Kanata is Yuri-sensitive…?
I like how they build up events with seemingly pointless background animation.
I think i have seen that haughty girl some where before, but where…
Well she looks suspicious enough…
I see that Mugi made Hauptmann…
Must be a veteran of the 504th Maintenence Company.
…
I will interpret this as and admission of yuri…
Thus she better bring coffee amirite?
Well maybe we will have a little mecha this year…
The Lady of the Ladle.
Whatever it was it I hope it was advanced.
Looks like Kanata was also part of a Mountain Division…
Join the Marines Army, slay the monster…
That’s some Navy SEAL shit right there, swimming with a full pack.
You’re Military Right…
Join the Army see the world, meet interesting people…and if need be kill them.
Well it is a token of yuri love…
Well it looks like reconstruction was done on the cheap…
Hey that’s Chirico’s rank.
This is the Army Mrs. Jones,
No private rooms or telephones,
You had your breakfast in bed before,
But you wont have it there any more.
This is the Army Mrs. Green,
We like the barracks nice and clean,
you had a housemaid to clean your floor,
but she wont help you out any more.
Do what the buglers command,
They’re in the army and not in a band.
This is the Army Mrs. Brown,
You and your baby went to town.
He had you worried but this is war,
and he wont worry you any more…
16 Comments
Don’t forget the landmines and the unexploded ordnance lying around in the countryside, we still find stuff left from 60+ years ago, courtesy of Mitsubishis and Nakajimas…
The rank structure being populated with the younger folk could be due to most of the senior folks (i.e. anyone over the age of 30) being demobbed for reconstruction/political leadership or worse still, killed off or stuck in POW camps like Paulus’ Sixth Army…
But heck, what do I know? I’m just a reserve sham shield bearing Singapore male…
Wait you guys still have UXOs in your little city state despite being SUGOI rich comparative to your neighbors? Or is it that no one wants to join EOD?
I suspected demobilization though if they still got guys in POW camps then that bodes ill for the truce they got going for 6 months. Given how there wasn’t a shortage of young people in town I think it was just the end of the draft and those that stayed wither wanted to or had no where else to go, If there was a whole generation lost then I would have expected a greater gender imbalance as was the case in WWI when there was a whole generation of women that died alone.
So you’re part of the E-4 Mafia eh? Good thing I am a sailor we keep our specialties and get non-commission officer status.
Sometimes the UXOs get covered up by mud or rubble, then left there for a few decades before we find them while building new subway lines or laying cable. London has a similar problem AFAIK.
Funny how I only started shamming when I joined the ranks of the reservists and got into one of those maintenance companies with no sense of direction…
The technology level looks a bit wierd, kind of like a mix of dieselpunk mecha in 1900s Europe with 1930s consumer goods (Glico caramels?) I’m wondering whether if they have elite troops with Fallout 3 style power armor…
Will keep watching this, Kanata is cute even though I prefer her original character design…
@Kherubim
As so it’s well hidden UXOs but hey that means practical training for your EOD!
The 504 apparently got lost because not everyone knew where to go because not everyone had a security clearance combined with the fact that the and CO and XO got killed in the opening salvo caused confusion. Of the part that couldn’t make a mad run for it, the most senior person was a mechanic (E-5) who had no good M-16s that all jammed because no one had cleaned them properly in the 54 hours that they had been going non-stop. There was one good M-16 but that was with a private who he didn’t see who dived into the back of a dump truck. Mind you he’s facing an armored platoon so he did the right thing all things considered. Given how they fared I hope you read your op orders and keep your weapon clean…
One can only hope that there is a Liberty Prime in this series…
It would be a mistake for people to write this off just because the character designs look a lot like K-ON. The culture of the town, postwar situation, military aspect, and possibility of a larger plot are all giving it a unique feel. The hints at what happened in the war (as well as the hints of mecha) ought to be really interesting to find out and I imagine the show will reveal its mysteries slowly, which will be fun to piece together into a larger picture of what happened.
The advancement to sergeant major within a small, no longer in conflict army might be similar to the current Japanese Self Defense Forces. They maintain a lot more NCOs than one would think necessary so that in case of emergency they’ll have NCOs that can help absorb all the new enlistees and/or draftees. It also helps up their pay in a country where the armed forces aren’t the most attractive career to people. Which of course is just more fuel to the fire for paranoid Chinese (and to a lesser extent Korean) nationalists who think Japan is going to somehow do the timewarp back to the 1930′s any day now, heh.
If nothing else there is a reasonable chance of mecha… If it is a puzzle then it will be much more enjoyable, but for now it is oddly relaxing.
Perhaps it is as you say like the JSDF in that way though the model I am more accustomed to was the Reichswehr where even at 50% NCOs they were more like officer candidates since Versailles limited the number of officers but not NCOs. In that sense it was more of a change of name to get around a treaty. Not sure if the JSDF model is the same as the one Seeckt envisioned but perhaps Rio was slated to get more leadership training. At any rate the idea that a high number of NCOs is present in anticipation for a mass mobilization is most likely, though in the case of the Reichswehr they knew it was going to happen. I don’t consider it a good idea to promote people just to bump up pay, perhaps the culture is different in the JSDF but if pay is the problem they can make up for it with full room and board and other benefits. Considering how Seize ain’t Azadistan I think they would have to go beyond full room and board and bump up pay.
All in all it is an interesting post war scenario with some promising avenues that it could take.
lol, nice post on the 1st episode. I agree that it has been compared to much to K–on, yes, some of the characters are similar in looks and personality, but the background story, and the way the plot is developing is very different.
Unless they start doing more club room activities I think the superficial similarities will fade in time. Still it is sad to see the back draft from the K-On haet to be affecting perceptions of this show considering they are not even from the same studio. Admittedly though there was a major character design overhaul.
Nice post was looking forward to seeing how you liked this episode Crusader, so far i like Rio and Kanata nice to see them interacting with each other. Saw the tank i thought the same thing looks very mecha like -nod-
May this won’t be the winter of despair after all if things go well with this show. Not sure how much yuri there will be, but at least there is a mechanical weapon on that fortress.
I thought you of all people would be all over this one for making military service seem like super happy fun time. *crosses arms*
Now if I were to be super serial about this one I would say that you can’t really call Kanata’s volunteering for military service in a series as apparently laid back as this one a sign of virtue since I doubt she’s going to be dodging RPG’s and roadside ambushes so much as wacky situations with the rest of the gang. Also I could say that her not bitching and moaning would be a result of the lack of their being anything to complain about (again super laid back idealistic anime world setting), but who is keeping score on these thing right?
However not being so serious I have to say that the whole “ZOMG IT’S K-ON MK II RUN FOR THE HILLS” reaction people have going on is a bit much considering the obvious things people pointed out like this show having nothing to do with the show beyond some aesthetic appearances in some scenes and the fact that it appears to be a moeblob show. Then again it’s the internet so I’m not exactly expecting tempered reactions to anything at all. Just gotta go with the flow and enjoy the show. Currently I’m playing the watch the show to see if it takes itself into the relm of solid character development and backstory or just plays the moeblob card for great profit game. By episode two I think I’ll know where I’m going to place my chips and whether I want to keep going with this show or just continue to wait for Unicorn.
Honestly though I can’t even imagine how things would go in the extremely unlikely scenario of this series landing these girls in an actual combat situation. And that’s not just because I think I recall hearing that the girls are actually in the marching band section of the military either…..
You know if you joined you’d probably appreciate the fact that military life has its moments, oh it can be very monotonous but there are fun times as well. Ever present danger doesn’t always kill the fun, within certain parameters of course. For instance the first time you fire a fully automatic weapon or a grenade launcher, it can be a most magical moment. I am not going to crucify them since there is a cessation of hostilities, at six months that’s pretty good if both sides have ceased mandatory conscription all the better. The truce implies that neither side has won a clear cut victory since one side has demobilized it is reasonable to assume that the other side has also, unless every one is incredibly thick there would still be conscription if the truce was an uneasy one.
Even if Kanata’s MOS is not 11B neither is mine but given how there is no front line any more your MOS doesn’t mean that you will be out of the fight. Hell one’s MOS has no bearing on their ability to shoot straight I ain’t in the Army and I shoot better than some cops and Privates by virtue of not having the bad habits that the range instructors pound people on. Ever since the 504th got rolled up in Iraq the Army finally decided to emulate the Marines and train every one in infantry skills, every one who goes to CENTCOM is required to have some infantry training. Given how the war ended in armistice it is likely that they had to go through some form of weapons training and basic training in order to prevent the army from becoming a holding place for lazy bums at a time when infrastructure is shattered and normalcy hasn’t returned. After a long war training infantry would still be the priority given how they are arguably the most valuable arm as everything else supports them. As teh guy from Crystal Tokyo put it Artillery is the King of Battle, the Infantry the Queen of Battle, and the Armor is the arm of decision. Since she knows how to march and cook her own rations with the meager equipment they gave her I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that they can fire, clean, and clear their standard service rifle.
Get mobilized long enough and then you start dreaming of simple quite garrison duty or hell even peace time. For me it’s a fairy tale of how garrison duty could be. If you were stuck in CENTCOM with no alcohol you too would dream of Germany and beer, unless you don’t drink.
You have a cushy civilian life and yet you find time to complain just the same so it’s not that hard to find something that annoys you. You’d be amazed at what soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen can bitch and moan about, admittedly some of it can be really stupid, the Air Force being late is one (They are always late, which is why you always bring a book or something to keep you busy), pilots not wanting to take off in foul weather with all weather aircraft is another (Pilots can be cautious too…). As for Army NCOs they bitch about Privates who do that stupid “this is my safety” routine from Blackhawk Down. Even in garrison there can be SNAFUs so it’s not always a cake walk. Had Kanata been a typical private, she would have moaned about getting dirty, climbing down a cliff, and probably gotten into a fight with the locals over the festival right before she reported. Oh and the train ride and sleeping in a cattle car, oh yeah that would have garnered plenty of moans. Let me tell you sleeping on a hard surface is no fun especially if you have to do it because an officer had a NICE IDEA.
Assuming that the machine there with the tube is a weapon it’s as good as a Chekov’s Gun IMHO so here’s hoping they use it. Lastly it doesn’t have to go to the extreme to be interesting, this ain’t VOTOMS, Rio is not Chirico, that mecha isn’t a scopedog, and Seize isn’t Uoodoo, but that doesn’t make the post war situation here any less interesting.
I consider signing up to be a virtue simply because you give up a lot of personal freedom when you enlist, Your right to refuse is restricted, your pay is generally less than stellar, your chow can vary wildly, and your living conditions can be incredibly spartan. Here’s a dirty little secret the people who get the most crap on military vessels and have the highest risk of suicide are the cooks, not the poor infantry, not the fat tankers, the bloody cook on a ship. Even if it is peace time there will be sacrifices of one sort or another. It has yet to be confirmed that they are simply a band and not an under strength-ed composite as evidenced by that mecha, having bugle and a trumpet could be a result of not having wireless radio for communications (right now we have no idea what tech level they have). In the controlled confusion of battle it’s hard to hear voice commands hence why before radio we used flags, drums, and bugles to relay things. Kanata might be more than a musician if there is no wireless radio then she is part of Signals which makes her very important for indirect fire and command and control.
They might not have the sexiest job in the military but you have to appreciate the fact that there are many parts to a lean mean military machine and that just because Gundam tends to simplify things doesn’t mean that other shows can’t reflect the complex reality of it. Let’s be honest here the sexiest job you can have in the military to to be that hot shot fighter pilot, but I think you focus too much on that being representative of military life given that mecha protagonists are generally pilots. It’s no secret that the USAF seems to deploy in the lap of luxury relative to every one else.
Many armies tend to go to rot amid post-war parsimony and rapid discharge of veterans. Woe be to those who fight the initial delaying action — Task Force Smith in Korea is probably the most infamous American example. Given that this show is about a bugler in such an army, I keep thinking of Kipling’s “Drums of the Fore and Aft.” Having a child rally a regiment would be a way to fit some action into this show, but a moeblob or two rolled into an unmarked frontier grave would be a major downer.
Hmmm…well I can tell that you’ve chosen to take the positive spin on this one pretty early on, but I think it could easily go either way into simple moe otaku pandering or more hopefully a new take on some old standbys with the whole marching band slant and some light hearted antics along the way. Basically I’m giving it 50/50. Well we shall see if Sora No Woto reflects the complex reality of being enlisted in the military (even marching bands must be disciplined while on duty) any more or less than Gundam (which seems to be your favourite go to example for doing military all wrong if my observations hold true) in due time I can guarantee that much. Should be interesting.
Anyway if you plan on entertaining two seperate sets of possibilites like I will be for my trial run on this show then you may want to consider the chance that Kanata’s lack of bitching/moaning may just be because she’s been set up to have a certain type of character appeal in a laid back moe driven series as opposed to her growing that way out of having an equal and distinctly laid back personality and character growth via personal experience. Of course that might very well prove not to be the case as I said and it does turn out to be the latter, but in my experience it helps to have multiple theories on character dynamics and where they might lead going into 2nd episodes and beyond where you can then sort them out and get to the heart of the premise all the quicker. Simply put we don’t know enough about Kanata and what truly makes her tick yet other than some brief observations and theory.
Well any way I goes I’m hoping if nothing else this show at least provides some good marching songs because I really love my marching songs. Any idea when the next episode is due out?
@august
Indeed most post-war armies tend to get stripped down and left under funded, hopefully in the event of a surprise attack Task Force Felicia will have enough weaponry to make a bigger impression than Task Force Smith. At least they got a well kept mecha in motorpool. Still if the mecha is not only shiny and is well maintained then it might mean that they didn’t fall that far from wartime standards.
While a moe-blob getting tossed into a shallow grave with nothing but the rifle as a marker would be a downer it probably would hammer home how serious the business of war is in contrast to how there are instances of good guys suffering zero casualties for their mains. Wherever they go it will might be interesting, but for now the field seems wide open.
@Kaioshin
Seeing as I have to deal with E-4s and below bitching all the time I’d cut Kanata slack for not bitching regardless of the reason. I only picked Gundam as example because that is your primary interest and it does glorify the pilot the most over every other MOS. They get somethings right but like most forms of popular entertainment they focus primarily on the pilot. Ground Pounder culture is quite different from pilot culture. All Pilots are officers by virtue of that alone means they will have different standards of conduct.
Again you have never been so you probably couldn’t imagine how lax grooming standards and discipline can be even in a garrison environment. Suffice to say not everyone sports a high and tight. There isn’t the need to shine boots anymore in the USAF, Army, or the Marines. There are more important things to worry about than a gig-line.
From my understanding there are two distinct parts to the K-on fandom. Those who watch it because they think the characters are cute and hence wanting to make Mio their wife. And others who watch it for the humour and/or ‘yuri subtext.’
Although as a fan of K-On I must say the similarities in design are remarkable although in comparison to K-On it seems to be heading for more over arching plot then a simple slice of life one. Although the setting like One Piece seems like a mish mash. They use yen and have Japanese style festivals in a town supposed to be based off Switzerland and they speak Japanese yet write in French?