Valkyria Chronicles - Episode 6

After the "serious business" of the last episode, it's another instalment of downtime for Squad 7 in episode six of Valkyria Chronicles - Well, it is for everyone except Alicia at least, who as always has rather a lot on her plate.

The cause of her consternation this time around is the arrival of Irene Ellet, a hot-shot female war journalist who has arrived to do a piece on Squad 7. Normally this would be no big deal, but Alicia is mortified at the thought of what an interview with Welkin would do for the Militia's reputation, so she sets out on a battle of wits with Irene to prevent her getting an interview with Welkin at all costs, while her worries about damaging information being leaked out elsewhere in the squad proves to be entirely unfounded as, quite frankly, they're a bunch of idiots.


Of course, cunning journalists like Ms. Ellet always get their interview no matter what, even if that means hiding out in the toilet. All's well that ends well however, as Welkin gives his interview without making too much of a fool of himself (I'm sure it goes without saying that he's smarter than Alicia thinks), and manages to secure a barbeque for both his own team and Squad 1, even side-stepping the fight that ensues.

I really wasn't expecting anything from this particular episode of Valkyria Chronicles given its filler-ific nature, but in all fairness it turned out to be greatly entertaining for the light fluff piece it was meant to be. There's always plenty of comic potential in both Alicia and Welkin, and with Alicia getting to show off her full facial emotional tour de force, the good animation quality also helped to drive this daft but enjoyable little episode on to its natural conclusion. In a way, Valkyria Chronicles almost serves itself better when it's treating its "downtime" with such a sense of fun compared to when it tries to do the same (slightly inappropriately you could say) to its episodes based in the middle of a war zone.