Valkyria Chronicles - Episode 5

After a bit of an "all talk, no trousers" episode last time around, episode five of Valkyria Chronicles gets back around to the real meat of the series, brining us a hefty slice of action and fighting.

As was decided at the end of the last instalment, it's squad seven's turn to have a crack at attacking the Empire's supply location, with back-up provided by Faldio's squad one. To start with, the whole thing seems more like a picnic than the beginning of a serious military mission as the squad take their sweet time in dealing with a potential "spy" - Thankfully for them, said spy turns out to be a winged pig, which in turn gives Welkin a great idea for a flanking attack strategy on the compound.


So, while Welkin, Isara and most of the rest of squad seven lead a full-frontal attack on the compound, so Alicia, Faldio and squad one try to flank them from the West, although to be honest Faldio seems more interested in flirting with Alicia than anything else. Still, if nothing else we learn an important lesson here - That a girl can be motivated to fight simply by dropping an acorn down the back of her top... You learn something new every day by watching anime.

Said motivation turns Alicia into entirely too much of a crazed banshee (you have to wonder if she isn't a tad schizophrenic), as she launches herself into battle, saved only by the inaccuracy of possibly the world's worst pair of snipers and her ability to heal quickly (healing bullet wounds in a couple of minutes flat is a pretty handy genetic trait to have), and eventually allowing the Militia to overrun the enemy and capture the compound as planned. Hurrah for our heroes (and heroines, of course)!

The more of Valkyria Chronicles I watch, the more I realise how utterly ridiculous much of it is in its portrayal of warfare, going even beyond the realms of video game realism into an entirely different dimension of insanity. But, despite being laughable in the way it handles conflict, you can't deny that it's undoubtedly fun to watch, and really rather compelling in its entirely cartoony way once the bullets start flying. Add in to that a bunch of rather likeable characters (even if they too are frequently ridiculous in their thoughts, conversations and actions), and you have yourself a daft but entertaining series. I would wager that this is the kind of series that Allison to Lillia wanted to be - The difference is that Valkyria Chronicles actually achieves its aim rather than becoming nothing more than a figure of fun.