Adapted from the PS3 game of the same name, two powerful factions, Autocratic East Europan Imperial Alliance and the Atlantic Federation, are engaging in war over the precious mineral Ragnite. The Imperial forces attacks the town of Bruhl in the neutral nation Gallia, where Welkin Gunther, son of late war hero General Belgen Gunther, is. With his sister Isara and Town Watch captain Alicia Melchiott, they managed to delay the Imperial forces, allowing for the escape of the townspeople. They then join the country’s militia forces as newly formed Squad 7, and begin their assault to overthrow the Imperial forces and end the war.
Valkyria Chronicles is a strategy game. Welkin is supposed to be a tactical genius who easily take advantage of the battlefield landscape to defeat the enemies with minimal losses. As such, having played the game, I was expecting the anime to have slightly more war tactics, at the very minimum to be like Tytania. However, it soon became apparent that the producers prefer to concentrate on the drama, such as character development and the relationship between Alicia and Welkin. It can still make for a great story, if not for the following.
Let’s talk about character development first. It can be either too rushed (how Alicia rejuvenated herself in within 10 secs during her fight in ep 24 when she was on the verge of giving up), or for most of the part, painfully slow. I understand that they need to give Welkin weak, indecisive moments so he can mature, but do they really have to drag it out for almost 3 quarters of the series? It’s like watching Luke from Tales of the Abyss all over again.
As for the plot execution, I feel that it can be improved upon. For example, in episode 18, I love how Rosie was singing a song for Isara at the end. However, the touching effect is diminished due to the depressed Welkin scenes and original ending credits after that. It would be more emotional if they end the series with the song instead, letting it play in place of the original ending credits, while providing flashbacks of Isara.
The aspect of Valkyria Chronicles that caused the greatest uproar is undeniably the spoilerific second opening animation, which reveals Alicia’s true identity and that she would end up with Welkin, despite all the love triangle moments with Faldio. It was hard to bear any hopes and cheer Faldio on with his love for Alicia, even though he is clearly several times the man Welkin is. This resulted in a lack of motivation to continue watching since we already know the answers to the plot twists they were going to throw at us.
On the positive side, I appreciate how the unique shading style from the game is retained in the anime. The animations can be rather beautiful as well. Faldio, Isara and Lamar turn out to be my favourite characters in the series, though I don’t like how it ended up. I also love how they cast Minagawa Junko for the role of Rosie, since I get to hear her sexy mature female voice (after all the Pandora Hearts), especially the 2 songs in episode 15 and 18.
In conclusion, Valkyria Chronicles turn out to be a slightly below average series for me. It would take a really, really, really bored day for me to rewatch it, apart for ep 15 which I have already been replaying frequently just for the song. I wish the anime would complete the background of how Cordelia became the queen though.
