My first anime review here on OtakuCosplay PH! Here we go!
I'll admit, animes that have the element of "war" in it's plot isn't usually my taste in viewing. So it's quite rare that I find myself actually enjoying one, which is why I want to bring up the anime based off a hit PS3 game entitled, "Valkyria Chronicles," to the spotlight.
Valkyria Chronicles basically follows the story of Welkin Gunther and Alicia Melchiott. Welkin is the 22 year old son of a decorated war hero turned lieutenant of the Gallian Militia's Squad 7 with a rather interesting obsession over flora and fauna. Alicia, on the other hand, is a 19 year old girl who eventually joins Welkin in the Gallian Militia as Squad 7's Sergeant and second-in-command who dreams of becoming a successful baker. The story progresses as it follows the two heroes fight for Gallia to end the strife in the Second Europan War against the Empire alongside their fellow soldiers.
Due to the scarcity of Valkyria Chronicles anime videos on YouTube,
this was the best I can dig up to preview to you guys.
I just so happened to purchase the anime DVD of Valkyria Chronicles after having recently completed the game's sequel on the PSP platform. Since there were a few elements of the the sequel that involved a bit of the first, I decided to watch the anime adaptation instead of since I didn't have a PS3 to play the actual game on console anyways. At first the mood was a bit light, but the story suddenly started to build up solidly and eventually I couldn't find myself to take a break and eventually finished the whole series in one whole day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner breaks included, as well as the restroom breaks in between mind you). It's a fantastic mix of action, conflict, drama, comedy, and romance rolled into one heck of a great anime series boosting a total of 26 solid episodes of pure epic proportion.
Of course, Welkin and Alicia presence isn't the only commendable plot, the presence of other characters such as the supporting characters, not only them but the antagonists as well contribute to the storyline as a whole which makes the whole thing explosive.
Valkyria Chronicles also has story elements which parallel to that of situations that can be found in the real world. Such elements range from the major picture that is "war" itself to deeper elements such as "racism" found in the ideology of seeing superiority in the "Valkyrur" and the prejudice of the rest of mankind against the "Darcsen" race. I'd have loved to go in-depth on my analysis of the series, but then again I'd be spoiling a bit too much eh?
Like most animes, Valkyria Chronicles has it's fair share of comedic moments,
most especially during the first few episodes of the series.
Overall, I'd rate Valkyria Chornicles to be 4.8 out a perfect 5.0, with that remaining 0.2 that keeps it from perfection due to a tad bit of deviation from what actually happens in the original Valkyria Chronicles game on PS3. However, it still makes up for capturing the story's rich plot and key factors with a few added information not seen in the game which actually adds more drama to the story such as a bit more of a look into one of the antagonist's past, etc. Personally I'd recommend watching the anime first before playing the game on PS3, that way you'd appreciate the anime a bit more than someone who might have played it first on PS3 before watching the anime.
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