Seems Noel took one valuable lesson from Gulf War I, don’t sleep in your tank.
I am pleasantly surprised that three episodes in I have yet to find reason to shout WRONNNNNNGNGGGGG! at the screen for something woefully inconsistent with military life as I know it. So far it is is in line with instances of garrison life in an all volunteer force though things are different for the poor dumb bastards who get conscripted. Morning ceremonies seem consistent enough with a reveille and morning colors, cleaning is common enough though the practice has largely died out where bases contract out for civilian janitors who get pretty good pay state side though I hear that in the field the TCNs taking out the trash aren’t making bank despite their salaries usually being better than most other jobs in the area. I like how Felicia listed ammo as the first thing on her list of needs since ammunition usually gets first priority. Being low on ammo means they are probably expending it and that means range time. Other things I did like were the rifle PQS though Kanata has poor muzzle discipline as she was flagging Kureha, but at least Kureha and Noel weren’t flagging anyone and it wasn’t at a range. I could understand if the room was crowded but I can forgive Kanata since she isn’t squared away yet. I like how they had Noel teaching rifle and Felicia teaching tanks since it usually goes that way. It is also good to see that Rio has some basic first aid training, though she is no medic.
Setting-wise it seems that while the 1121st is a black sheep unit they certainly aren’t lacking in heavy equipment with a motorcycle and two Kubelwagen in their motor pool in addition to Takemicaduchi (I guess that’s the “proper” spelling at any rate from the UI screen). The place keeps getting stranger and stranger with the addition of German Heavy Equipment but with the driver placed in such a way that it is British. Also the fortune cookies have fortunes written in the Japanese style, but in French or some other romance language. Nevertheless even if it is rather odd it certainly seems to be a better blend of monoculture where the engineering is German though since there are Kar 98ks one has to wonder about the existence of M1 Garands and Gewher 43s. The church being back in the medical business is case for some concern as it implies a sort of dark age where science and medicine have gone back to alchemy and local remedies of dubious use. For now at least the local remedies are good enough though I doubt they have the ability to perform surgery or reset a broken bone. It’s not that bad as Rio was able to voice some skepticism about religion and seems to have come to blows with the local clergy over their gaggle of kids. Still malaria as the diagnosis seems to be a bit of a stretch though it could be just general ignorance that came with the loss of medical science.
Rio got more character development or at least more of her background was hinted at. Rio lost her mom early on and seems to have fallen out with her dad, also it seems that Rio and Kanata have the same personal hero in the form of the Blonde Herald (her name will come up eventually I think). For now Rio is conforming to how a senior NCO should behave in the people first mentality. Her panic over Kanata wasn’t too alien to me since my first day at boot camp had one guy undergo a panic attack which left the whole squad bay at a total loss of what to do while we waited for help to get there. Cursing the supply corps. is nothing new and is as old as standing armies are since there is always a shortage of something. Whether they intended to or not Rio showing concern for Kanata isn’t too alien these days since “walk it off” is no longer considered the solution and much more has been invested in mental health and training NCOs to look out for the mental well being of their subordinates. Even Rio creating a relationship based on trust and understanding is the ideal norm since the new school of though is to get away from just using your rank to get people to do what you want in the case of NCos, though officers are still free to just point to the collar device as far as I can tell. My admiration of Rio has certainly grown as she demonstrated that she remembered where she came from and that she too was once a lost little E-2 who didn’t know how to march. I wonder what trouble Rio cause with the local clergy but I do applaud her for sucking it up and asking for help, for now I agree with not calling in HQ since they were farther off and would have taken a while to get there anyway. Still I have reasonable suspicions that Rio didn’t call HQ because her dad might be top brass and she had personal issues with him. Certainly Felicia’s comments about Rio having poor manners indicates that her father was some one who had the time to bother with fuss and feathers. Judging from Rio’s example it seems that despite being lax when it comes to rules and regs they do train regularly despite having an inoperable tank. For that the 1121st is certainly earning brownie points from me since they haven’t skipped training and seem to take it seriously enough that Rio knows how to operate some functions of the Takemicaduchi.
Kanata seems to have the same reasons for enlisting as many guys I know including me, I was delighted that unlike that stupid Zeke blond boy from IGLOO (that ranted on about some nonsense about defending the Zeke Republic headed by a family of tyrants), Kanata told the truth when it came to her enlistment. In my experience enlistment isn’t always about patriotism and there is a degree of personal interest mixed in when it comes to the older folks. In the case of the younger kids, including me, it was more about getting out of the house after high school and seeing the real world. I can sympathize with the desire to gain or regain one’s self esteem, I lost mine after not getting into a big name college out of high school, at least in my case I found that and more. During hard times military enlistment seems like a better alternative to unemployment regardless of the accusations (most are gross exaggerations anyways) from the anti-war camp. Another point of interest seems that the age of an adult in this society has been drastically lowered as Kanata is an adult though she is roughly equivalent to an 18 year old in the US. She can still be viewed as a kid though she is for all intents and purposes an adult. Talk about taking one huge step back in time when the age of adulthood was pretty low during periods when women were marriageable once they were able to conceive, though mostly it was due to high infant mortality rates and the need to maintain a population in societies where disease was much deadlier than it is now. All in all it seems to be a keeper after garrison duty on a Monday, it’s relaxing though oddly it errs more toward the hard military fiction side of things.
Unlike me Kanata seems to have little trouble getting up at the crack of dawn.
I was pleasantly surprised that Rio bothered to get up around the same time, usually it’s “do as I say, not as I do” with higher ups.
Thank goodness it wasn’t cooking fail moe.
Good to see that ammo was on top in terms of priority.
I guess having them post the colors ensures that they are out side for colors…
Ah the old military pastime of field day, I guess they’re too poor to have contractors do it.
On the one hand I am glad they are doing weapons PQS, on the other hand Kanata is seriously flagging Kureha…
I hope that’s a diagram of the enemy tanks otherwise…it looks French or Italian…
Seems some one watched the Book of Eli.
…
ORLY?
Let’s see they got German military equipment, Japanese cultural habits, speak and write in French, this is some monoculture they have going…
Ah yeah the Kubelwagen, for a unit of Five they certainly aren’t lacking in heavy equipment.
It’s a pretty standard question.
At least she is honest, patriotism isn’t exactly the number one reason people enlist…
Usually the case though the odd lifer does come up in the crop of the “I had nothing better to do” crowd.
The Military Musical Monopoly…
Try a kiss it might just work…
Seems Rio lost her mom early in life.
Taken out of context this seems so yurilicious…
I see Rio read last month’s mishap report in full…
Report is as follows: So this E-3 Aviation Machinist’s Mate had to cross the Coronado Bridge back into San Diego on his motorcycle, and for some reason he was in a heckuva hurry, to the tune of more than 80 miles per hour.
I don’t know if you’ve had the pleasure of driving across this bridge. If you haven’t, I recommend it.
Outbound from San Diego, it offers a nifty escape from the city, arching over the blue water far below and curving down toward scenic Coranado and NAS North Island. I do not, repeat, do not recommend that you try to do it at 80 miles per hour, either on two wheels or four.
But wait, you ask, maybe traffic wasn’t too bad, a hilarious suggestion given that this was Southern California, and it was 4:15 in the afternoon. Not only that, but once, driving across the bridge, I entered the dense fog they call “the Marine Layer,” and let me tell you, the visibility went from excellent to 10 feet in about one second.
Back to our E-3, who was inbound to San Diego. Where the bridge curves left, he was in the right lane, his view blocked by a box truck. When he got a glance ahead, lo and behold there was a car in his lane, not going 80 miles per hour. He managed to slow down to 60 before rear-ending it.
He sailed off his motorcycle and slid to a stop.
Unspecified injuries to multiple body parts, which is believable. One week of Light Duty, which is less so.
Testimony to some good PPE, at least.
That is some diagnosis, either she is horribly wrong or all the medical specialists were wiped out and religion is back in the healing business…
We’ll just call her Doc.
Hey so she did stop crying….
From a distance it looks like such a beautiful place.
She sounds like me and every other kid that joined to get away from home for a while.
Well the UI sure is friendly though it has no idea that it’s crew is all female.
I am surprised they bothered to learn how to operate it given its condition, not that I am saying they shouldn’t.
At least they didn’t leave it out to rust.
I guess way back when everything was an MP3 player…
I guess they did have wireless, and then they lost it.
I’ll interpret this silence as an admission of yuri.
Hey a choker.
Seems the Blonde Herald was a local hero.
Loli Rio :3
…sounds about right.
I see that they went the same direction we have gone with the kinder gentler military. Not that it is a bad thing as “embrace the suck” is not a real cure all for everything.
Hey watch it there, don’t get malaria just to get nursed…if you do we’ll let Kanata be the corpsman.
33 Comments
I have the same feelings about weird pseudo-Swiss monoculture.. it would have been nice if they didn’t throw in all the asian/Japanese culture, and just stuck to a post-WWII Switzerland feel (this being an anime, I can see them having a hardon for futuristic tanks/mecha). I don’t mind typical equipment inconsistency/error, but they’re taking too long to drop proper hints as to what the heck is going on and this makes the setting feel very dichotomous. Since the setting is really all the anime has going for it so far (to me anyway) it makes it tough to keep watching without wondering whether I should pick up a slightly older series I have missed instead. Three eps in, though, and it’s still holding my interest.. that’s saying a lot in my case.
While the monoculture seems to be made up of a whole mess of things I still wonder how they plan to tie them all together. Three eps in I don’t think they need to start rushing things just yet though we shall see next week. Might as well stick around for the ride so long as it is fun.
“Why do you think Superior Officers (NCOs?) exist?”
“So their juniors can cause problems for them!”
I am so using this at my next board xD Watching this show as a member of the military is pretty funny, you notice certain things. Like in ep. 2, that isn’t how you clear a building! And the heavy rucks, yeah full battle-rattle get it! PT makes you sesky (moe?)!
As a former soldier (ranked First Sergeant) I can relate, this episode and episode 2 made me laugh like how Kureha pulls up seniority to boss Kanata and that thing on why CO exists.
I don’t know much about the combating stuff (handling weapon, tanks etc.) though I was a tech support guy XD
All in all the scenery is great, the music is pleasant (I love hearing Amazing Grace), it has a nice slice-of-life feel, my guess the serious stuff will happen on the last 2 episodes and the characters are likable.
Hey we might not be the tip of the spear but no spear is complete without the shaft!
It’s probably weirder in the Army since you guys take in older Privates, but at least the older guys usually come out less screwy than the under twenty camp.
Glad you are enjoying it as well, certainly having been in the military helps one appreciate it more.
As a pointless survey from a military otaku would you trust these girls with defending your country?
Try that routine and you’ll make spec-4 in no time…
I have yet to see Privates manage to clear a room on their own without incident, heck I’ve seen my share of DYNAMIC ENTRIES. There is always someone trying to do it with a drop kick or Hollywood style. Air Force guys sure like to be pack mules though let’s be honest those pretty Air Force people PT more often than some of your tankers…
Well were three episodes in and it looks like A-1 can do little wrong with this show. Another fantastic episode and I’m once again eagerly anticipating the next one. The setting continues to intrigue me and the the relative accuracy in portraying the military shows me that the studio cares enough about this show to put in the extra effort by doing their homework.
@ Topspin
I see where you’re coming from with the plot seeming to take on no clear direction at the moment. There does seem to be a sense of stagnation right now since were not really getting any solid hints as to where their going with the story. However, I’m willing to forgive this just because the episodes we’ve had so far have been very solid. I also don’t mind much since it looks like they’re planning to devote an episode to each character in order to flesh them out with Noel next in line judging from the preview for the next episode (which is on the official site). I’m sure once the character-centric episodes are over the plot will start moving more rapidly and we’ll be given a much clearer picture as to what’s really going on with this setting.
I think they did their homework, or at least they seem to be hitting all the right things through some happy accident of fate. Either way it is consistent enough.
Why can’t you sleep in the tank? What if it’s a cute tank?
Pic #11 is like a poor man’s Mexican standoff.
You don’t want to sleep in your tank if there are enemy aircraft stalking the skies.
Just wait until they get pistols…
Cute tank? *touch of Yui here*
Nothing can be as cute as the Type 99.
Tachikomas got the Type 99 beat.
As for your previous question I personally wouldn’t mind serving with them at least they took the great step of volunteering which is more than can be said about most people. Besides they actually train despite the lack of oversight which isn’t always the case in practice.
I am guessing the tank name is the reference to the same Shinto deity that’s transliterated
as Take-Mikazuchi in MegaTen games (and was Kanji’s persona in Persona 4).
http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=150
… which further complicates this series’ cultural mélange, of course, as it’s a very odd thing for a non-Japanese to name a tank.
Also, do bad fortunes in Japan tell people to study math and foreign languages?
It certainly is an odd name, perhaps they will tell us in time that or the designers were Persona 4 Fans…
Perhaps they like their bad fortunes to be scathing considering there aren’t many schools left…and there don’t seem to be high schools as we know them…
Interesting idea about her dad and the telephone. -JJbees
Time will tell…
I only just got around to watching 2 and 3 today, but it’s certainly holding my interest. I have a theory about the cultural mixing though. Almost all of the Japanese culture stuff tends to be the oldest, from The Great War or whatever calamity reduced things to what they are. The tank has a Japanese name and is very high tech. The school building was Japanese style with Japanese writing in the book, the flashbacks featured Japanese uniforms on the students. But today no one understands the ‘ancient’ language.
So my theory is that this place might have been Japan or had its culture, then a big calamity happened, most of the technology and history was lost, and so was the language and culture. For whatever reason a mix of various contemporary cultures replaced what was there before. This would explain why the tank, one of the last of its kind according to Rio, has a Japanese name and why the language was forgotten. It was also mentioned that there were a lot more people in the past (when talking about the ruined classroom), so perhaps a big population decline, natural or otherwise. Plenty of precedent in anime and JRPGs for lost contemporary or futuristic cultures being buried underneath the culture presented (Scrapped Princess, Xenogears, etc.)
Or they’re just picking and choosing whatever they think is cool and rolling it into one show, maybe I’m overthinking it.
The odd thing about Takemikazuchi is that it uses English in the UI they certainly could go anywhere with this heck they could be the shattered remnants of a colony on some planet that isn’t even Earth… In any case it will be fun to put it all together again. I think the coincidences are starting to pile up to the point it can no longer be just a coincidence.
The world of Sora wo Woto has a pretty interesting background. Post war setting of 20th century with hints of lost technology and local myth some what based on fact.
One you have walker battle tank and the other the remains of a dragon.
Yeah you get the feeling there is dark age of man when they lost everything and cultures mixed.
Then you have the locals legend of the fire maidens of the fortress who saved the town. Guess what the fortress is in fact a school. So a bunch of schoolgirls saved the town from total destruction? There is more to this legend than meets the eye.
I agree, the background is very interesting. We have a good idea of the technological peak the world had with the spider tank and can contrast that with the current situation where the city is without electricity and proper medical service. The big question that remains unanswered is the timeline for the events that shaped the world in this manner. How long since the technological peak? When did the fall begin and how long did it take to get to the WW2 tech level we can see now? The same with the school/fort and the legend of the fire maidens. How long ago was the school abandoned and when did the legend take place? Was it the same time?
I hope we can get some clues to these questions in the episodes to come.
What heights did they reach and how mighty was their fall…
There seems to be more than meets the eye, and certainly it isn’t just a moe show. I share your sentiment and hope it is much more than a moe show.
Most help thing for rookies, spoken in this episode by Rio: “Damn the supply corps!”
Don’t trust the supply corps…
Hey, not everyone in the supply corps are POGs you know…
Now that I’ve had the chance to watch the last three episodes, I wish these girls were in my section back in the day, Kanata is so moe it makes my teeth hurt.
When Rio started up the Takemikazuchi, the first thing I thought was “Wow they have MP3 players on mecha now?”
The trick with supply is to follow their regs, you make their life easy they’ll hook you up. Thump your chest and start making demands…and they’ll show you the meaning of government speed.
The 1121st have an advantage in that they are composed of winsome maidens, one of them is bound to have moe appeal to someone willing to expedite their requests at Supply… Unless the front desk is run by one of those nasty mean obasans which hate all that is youthful…
@Kherubium
Indeed it seems the Air Force is never in short supply of anything since they have plenty of winsome maidens who just need to smile and ask while the rest of us smelly dudes have to play nice .
This show seems quite tedious. It informs me of no strife of humanity itself, but only of a biased case that women may or may not fight as efficiently as a man would. If the question was given to me alone, I would state almost without hesitation, that this show of the Japanese culture was not a good demonstration of the impurities of human society, community, and social affairs. If ever to be illustrated in such a melancholy manner, the use of both genders would almost undoubtedly bring justice to both sides of the argument and therefore diminish the thought or stereotype that has be-fallen our society socially on both sides- male and female.
This is her sister- I have no clue what she just said! XO OMG she is such a nerd!!!!!!
That show reminded me too much of aquarion i mean with the space ships and the 3d stuff, still it was quite enjoyable. anyhow i wonder if its gona be aired in the US.
i would like to see an ace attorney anime, i think it would be interesting
it will be awsome if they stay on game’s story
I truly could not get into this one… I dont know it just didn’t feel right….