Man things had to have been bad if they resorted to ersatz-Volksstrum…
This post is extremely late but unlike the 1121st my E-6 and O-3 aren’t being good leaders this week and I am the one paying for it. Still Sora no Woto continues to make my day. I had plenty of trouble in botany class trying to raise a few samples I wonder how much effort they had to put into growing their own food, though I have seen enlisted so desperate to get out of the monotony of MREs and Mess Hall cooking during a de-mobilization that they went to town at the Commissary and PX to have BBQs in outside the squad bays. They don’t have the luxury of having a Commissary but MREs aren ‘t going to be appetizing for longer than 2-3 weeks tops. Noel seems to be something else, she is more learned than her peers and yet gets fascinated by pill bugs. I suspect that her upbringing was anything but normal and her surprise might mean that she’s never encountered pill bugs before or that this is a sign that insects are making a come back.
Meanwhile Rio seems to have hung up on her dad the Arch-Duke. The last letter that Rio was reading pretty much confirms that Rio is of royal descent unless the Arch-Duke Akira Arcadia is in the habit of writing inspiring letters to random people. I am really curious as to what the Arch-Duke is asking Rio to do for him to save the country.Iliya seems to be the very model of the ideal heir as she was a war hero in addition to being part of the royal family. Every one down to the lowliest private like Kureha seems to have held Iliya in high esteem with comments on how if she were still alive the peace talks wouldn’t be floundering. Rio seems to be unsure of what to do next I don;t think she is angsting about her dad but rather her own realization that she isn’t nearly as great as Iliya was and is unsure of how she can contribute to volk and fatherland. Rio has a fraught relationship with her dad but she doesn ‘t hate him enough to burn his letters as soon as she gets them so I doubt that her hatred is reaching a boiling point. Rio was a spare and now that Iliya is dead I wouldn ‘t be surprised if Rio is unsure if she can fill the same shoes as her sister did. I am curious as to how the war had played out but there wouldn’t have been a truce if the opposing force was striking deep into Helvetian territory, but what little we do know was that Vingt was a siege and it ended in a victory of Iliya . Whether or not it was a decisive military victory or merely a small one that was made big for propaganda purposes I cannot say though I would like to find out.
Given how it seems that Iliya was the only official heir the opposing side might be deliberately stalling the negotiations since the Arch-Duke is, as far as they know, without an heir. If I were them I’d be stalling too in the hopes that political turmoil would weaken the Helvetian position to get what I want. I have my doubts that the opposing force is pushing for war since if they thought that they had a reasonable chance of winning concessions through military force they would not have entered a truce with a weakened foe. Right now if the Arch-Duke dies there is no one who can claim the duchy without opposition and Rio being royalty is the only viable claimant. I suspect that the Arch-Duke isn’t looking to Rio to rally his armies and lead them to victory as Iliya did. He already has a famous war hero in the form of the real Miracle Claus who is probably still alive for that purpose. Having the Desert Wolf leading the charge is probably going to boost morale more powerfully than putting Rio in charge who is right now a hidden heir and can claim no military laurels of her own. Rather I think that the duke is looking to make Rio a full heir to avoid any worries about succession and/or is simply going to make Rio a princess to marry off as a part of a peace deal if the opposing force is also run by an aristocracy. Here I think that we can gauge the intent of the opposing force if Iliya’s death was anchored in specific point in the timeline. If Iliya died well before the truce then the enemy is convinced that they lack the military power to take what they want by force despite the death of one of Helvetia’s most celebrated commanders. If Iliya died after the truce was declared then things do look grim as Iliya’s death means a significant military loss as well as a political one if Iliya’s victory at Vingt led to a stalemate.
Kid Kaifun being annoying and in need of rescue is nothing new, but we did get final confirmation on long hel suspicions that Kureha was an orphan as evidenced by her lack of mail during mail call. It puts a little more context on Kureha’s hero worship of Miracle Claus and at least hinted at what was true about her mother and father. Kureha didn’t know much personally about her father and mother and had to rely on second hand information. As such it seems that Kureha’s dad was a tanker and did lead a breakout effort at Wardenbruk with limited armor and the help of a home guard formation. The use of a home guard does indicate that Helvetia had reached rock bottom when it came to manpower if they were resorting to drafting people formerly deemed too young or too old for military service and highlights how desperate the fighting became. It also gives some hint at whyKureha joined up after the end of the draft, not only did she have no where else to go as a orphan but she was trying to find a way to get closer to the parent she could barely remember by joining.
Claus the Courier was actually a surprise for me since I missed that shirtless Claus from ep 5 didn’t have the tattoo. As such I was fully expecting Claus to confess that he was either simply lucky, or that his mission was a dismal failure that was made to look like a victory. Thankfully the trick wasn’t as cliche since Kureha had Claus the Courier confused with Miracle Claus. I guess that renders much of the speculation that the Desert Wolf was assigned to the 1121st because they were secretly an important unit moot. Still Claus being a Major does make a little more sense now that Rio is much more than a talented Sergeant Major. If Claus the Courier is running personal dispatches from the Duke to the only heir he has left then his rank of Major is much more justified as Claus would need that kind of rank and pay if he was running secret documents and letters from the Duke to Rio. Since there is no encrypted wireless and a telephone line is like something magical to them then the Duke would need someone he could trust as a courier to reach Rio since the Duke can’t finish a single conversation with Rio these days. Also Claus the Courier would have to have enough rank to pass check points and prevent well intentioned sentries from seeing information they did not need to see. Good to see that Claus the Courier wasn ‘t some fake war hero who was actually a coward, and in any case I am not going to give him crap for being a courier since it is an important job and is much more critical given how there is no wireless and land lines are rare.
Good to see that Kureha accepted Claus the Courier. All in all it has me eagerly anticipating the next episode. I like how Sora no Woto rewards meticulous viewing and how subtly it hints at future revelations slowly but consistently. My only complaint this time was the MOEEEEEE ! moment that we had to endure when all the E-4s and below were wearing their nighties. It made me feel a little dirty, but within the context of the series they are adults and in truth I have met some rather shameless dudes who don’t bother with modest dress when living in a squad bay. Maybe it’s because in such an environment it’s all the same gender and people just don’t give a fuck, I know that guys would walk around immodestly leading to what I suppose would be considered man-service to a woman looking in. However here I am at a loss since I am not a girl and wouldn ‘t know how shameless women can be in a squad bay. It’s not off the mark in regards to male behavior but I am not sure it is consistent with female behavior in a military setting either. Still it is only a minor complaint, as there was much to like in terms of character development for Rio, Claus, and Kureha.
Was it a breakout or did Iliya relieve the siege?
Well Kureha at least you are not a sack of potatoes…
Well at least its not a locust or a swarm of locusts…
Noel likes bugs…
I will LISTEN TO HER SONG…
Looks like her dear old dad is the Reigning Arch-Duke…
Literally and figuratively for Rio…
If only the usual rations induced this kind of gushing…
I am jealous…You wouldn’t believe how a mess hall can make a mockery of ethnic cuisine.
Kanata finds Rio eating to be Moe…
AHHHH! The 50 ft. Noel is going to kill us all…
So sad to see that this is what has become of weapons designs these days…
If the Desert Fox had an epithet it would have been Raging Rommel.
I wasn’t staring at Claus’s chest back during the field trip to notice that something was amiss…
Indeed it is only a matter of time before Kureha tries to jump Rio.
And here I thought she was crying…
Noel wants to see Kanata take a fetal postion…
Well Rio your time is nearing I hope you will be done pouting soon…
I guess they needed a Major to deliver Top Secret material…
Hang up on your Duke will you Rio?
Well until Rio can actually finish a conversation with her dad it looks like Claus is going to be going back and forth for a while…
It was lights out Kureha…
Then lock them in a room until they can compromise…
Iliya is dead but I wonder at what point did she die.
A shame that Kanata did not know the name of her savior.
I wonder if Iliya is their ersatz Erich von Manstein and if she dealt her foes a backhand blow…
Guess who is second, also Kanata is so sentimental she is still keeping those caramels from the first ep.
That must make Iliya Smiling Albert then…
Damn that Kid Kaifun always causing trouble, they should seriously consider putting him down…
Wanna ride little lady?
…
I guess Iliya was laid low not by a bullet, but by a bad fall, but for what I wonder?
Final confirmation that Kureha is an orphan GET…Though in the case of Kid Kaifun one can dream…
Seems Major Claus only had a little more back bone than Major Giggles of the Feddie 44th Composite…
Yeah so miracle yourself out of this…
…
Kanata doesn’t seem to follow much of the news or propaganda…
Well at least Claus the Courier didn’t confirm or deny and Kureha was the one that was spreading it around…
Well I guess with out encrypted wireless they had to give the courier rank to pass checkpoints and be privy to the messages he carried…
You know if you scattered sand in front you probably could have done it faster…
Noel was most happy that Takemikazuchi was mobile…
Hurry up and HANG ON!
Hooray maybe she did learn a thing or too about the faults of fighting buttoned up…
I guess Kureha can be crafty with her diction, may that skill translate to her reports later in her career…
I bet this was about the most action he’s seen for a while…
I know he means well, but DAMN that is creepy…
28 Comments
With such a small group of closely knit people, having those three muck about in their underwear didn’t seem unnatural at all. It’s more a sign of how close they are together. If they had out that scene in earlierin the series I doubt Kureha and Kanata would have been quite so comfortable around each other in their tighty wightys (Noel probably doesn’t care either way).
My experience tells me that in the case of guys it’s less the result of closeness than not giving a crap after a while. Might be different for them and what you say is plausible but I haven’t seen it. That said they are girls so I really wouldn’t know.
When Noel saw the pill bug she had a Eureka moment for fixing Tank-kun. The grapiling hook indicates some of the functions such as climbing a buiulding in ep 7.
Not only is Rio a terrible cook but a picky eater. Guess she was the one who hollowed out the edges of the bread.
As for Rio not liking bratty kids it may have something to do with the circumstances of Iria’s death. Iria was always saving some kid after the battle.
If Micracle Claus looks like well Claus does that imply they are relatives? If so Claus better thank him as he got a potential young wife in Kureha because of him. If Rio is any indication Fortress Maidens don’t even bat an eyelash at the local guys.
I don’t think Noel figured out how to fix Takemikazuchi from the pill bug but certainly having a bunch of peons pull the tank into position was not unlike having lots of little feet to move it…
I hope Rio likes kids and only hates Kid Kaifun, but time will tell about how Iliya died. Rio being picky and unskilled only adds to the evidence that Ro was a hime and didn’t have to rough it. I think her Dear old dad was looking out for her otherwise she wouldn’t have been such a picky eater.
I doubt Claus the Courier and Miracle Claus are related, still Claus the Courier is competing with Rio in the Kureha sweepstakes… I am rooting for Rio.
Be proud Crusader. That man deserves a medal.
He can have a Purple Heart.
E-4s and below were wearing their nighties. …
I have spent some years in 12/ 6/ 3 person – flats with mixed gender /all guys (but me). I`ve seen some boxers & pants that should burn in the flames of hell together with their manufacturers … and they were dried in the hall or worn in the kitchen.
Really deep impressions are made by (ugly) guys dressed with a sole towel taking a stroll in the hall.
Women loose their composure just as well as men when they feel safe. Most of us just pretend to be more modest, if the surroundings aren`t fitting.
Fitting = no predator around –> no gender specific term ^^
I know the feeling, though it was good to hear how things are from your experiences. Even in the all male squad bays we had to dress more modestly before a female could walk through the barracks, suffice to say it took some people a while.
Never knew that it was the same for women as well though. Thanks for the input.
It`s just logical: women are human beings as well.
The “mystery” about their behavior is nearly solved, when you know the cultural background and some biological facts.
Stay save and don`t loose your appetite
.
They’re human beings yes but shamelessness is a function of social norms not biology. I didn’t know, but now I do.
I wonder if Noel is the one the princess died saving.
Maybe it might have been Kanata too.
Not a bad episode more of kureha yay!, i enjoyed how Noel was wanting to poke random things lol great stuff, wondering what happens next cant wait
It shed a little more light on Kureha as to why she was the way she is and it was pretty consistent with what they have been hinting at. I hope Noel will start poking Rio next.
“However here I am at a loss since I am not a girl and wouldn ‘t know how shameless women can be in a squad bay. It’s not off the mark in regards to male behavior but I am not sure it is consistent with female behavior in a military setting either.”
Well, back in the day (86), when I was returning from an overseas assignment I got assigned to an HQ/support unit under my secondary MOS, and that unit happened to be around 70% female. Us males had one half of the second floor of the barracks, and since I was an NCO I had my own room and many a weekend night my room had plenty of Kanata’s, Noel’s, and Kureha’s hanging out, and while none of them were any where’s as good looking as a anime girl (remember these are army girls not air force girls) they would often wear night clothing/PJs, nothing as revealing as the SnW girls wore, but definitely a college coed dorm feel. Alas, I only got to spend one year in that unit before I got shipped off to a light infantry unit in Korea, so goes life, but it was pleasurable while it lasted.
I knew that in a co-ed setting on a college campus that women can be as filthy as the menfolk, but as to immodesty of clothing I had nothing to go on. Sweats and PJs are a far cry form what Noel, Kureha, and Kanata were wearing. The current joke about Army, Navy, and Marine females having only one piece suits for swim class was that to give them two piece ones would strike terror into the hearts of the guys. Though I did know one reservist who brought a speedo to swim class…suffice to say the CO told him to take the day off and started a speedo ban.
If they are cute girls in the AF, I don’t see how a high school style sukumizu can possibly fail…
I think they get a choice in the AF, I don’t know never had to do swimming PT with them, just one of the myths about Air Force gals that run around outside the Air Force.
>> Was it a breakout or did Iliya relieve the siege?
this was before Kureha dad meets Kureha mom
at least 15 years ago
Iliya probably still children
Kureha is about 15 so depending on how old Iliya was once cannot say. Kureha only says she can’t remember her father it doesn’t mean that he died shortly before she was born per se.
Kureha is the youngest of the Fortress Maidens at 13 years of age. Kanata is 14 while Noel is 15.
You didn’t mention the finger sucking or the duck hat Noel was wearing during the gardening…
Military units in some countries (the PLA comes to mind) have vegetable fields for growing fresh food, although whether if this is for sale or their own use is unknown. This is probably a necessity if they don’t have regular food resupply, or if what they receive is poor enough that they need to supplement their fresh rations with their own produce. (Isn’t modern military logistics grand?)
The nightie scene was fanservice, pure and simple (Heck look at the wierd perspective which gave Kanata two extra sizes…
). Fortunately this ain’t harem, and there’s no token guy to walk in on them and have things thrown at him or called nasty things. Noel, I didn’t know you had such tastes in clingy delicates and a flair with chairs… O_o
As for the not-Miracle Wolf Claus, he seems to be a farmer at heart, but is probably more than a just mere courier, based on his rank (which is why I pegged him as an adjudant or a staff officer). While not a hero on the battlefield, at least he made up for it by acting as a father figure to our Private Major, and facing his own fears while stuck on the flooded river bank. Any misconception or mixup is probably on Kureha’s part alone (as is her ojicon), and she probably already knows that her Claus is not the OMAC she initially mistook him for.
The hull stand the Takemikazuchi sits on doesn’t have wheels, I wonder just how many people (the whole town?) it took to haul it to the embankment. I remember having had to push an M113A2 with a gang of 10 techs and that was BRUTAL…
Finger sucking was something else entirely… as for the duck thing I just wrote it off as Noel being Noel.
Yeah that is one way to supplement MREs with fresh fruit and veggies that MREs lack. I remember when the PLA was running their own businesses to keep afloat during the period that the PLA was expected to be as self sufficient as possible. Noel probably learned a thing or two from Rio. It was fanservice yes but if they were guys it would have been nightmarish-ly realistic. Some one mentioned that women can be as shameless as the guys given time. I know that even in A School there were immodestly dressed dude roaming the halls.
I think it was pretty clear that it was Kureha who caused most of the misunderstanding Claus the Courier neither confirmed or denied her story until the river bank floods. Clause is a staff officer but if her were and Adjutant I’d expect him to be glued some LTC’s or Full Bird Colonel’s ass. Just because he wasn’t a front line trooper doesn’t mean he’s a coward or useless in a fight. THe Japanese found that out when they attacked Kohima in 1944 where a bunch of comms guys dug in and gave them a bloody nose, the first one, but not the last one…
The trick with moving heavy stuff is to scatter sand in it’s path trust me I have had to move heavy stuff this way and it works superbly to get stuff off a truck. The sand act like little rollers. As for Takemikazuchi maybe it’s made of those magical composite materials though technically the M113 is considered one of the “lighter” tracked vehicles.
Yeah, immodestly dressed guys running about… I remember some guy from my platoon during Basic getting hell for running around in a thong (BRAIN BLEACH), didn’t help that there were female officer cadets (in Basic) bunked in the same floor, opposite building, think he was trying to get out and into some cushy office job…
When the brown stuff hits the fan, even the most POG-iest POG in a POG unit will have two choices, fight or die, some will find that they can hack it more than others…
I’ll let you know if the sand trick works if I have to push an IFV or a Leo2 in the future…
It won’t work on mud but will most certainly work on concrete or any hard and more or less even surface.
About Claus rank… you need to think WHY it was him that received that rank. He is not Desert Wolf, but still hero. While lifespan of tank crew in direct engagement in WW2 i would still prefer to be tanker than front-line courier – safer. And not that messy – burning alive is less painful than what you will experience from enemy scout team if you refuse to talk.
Methinks, Noel pulled Sanya tactics in this episode by falling asleep on Kanata.
I wanted to give Moel’s nighties designer a prize.