Valkyria Chronicles - Episode 26 (Completed)

So here we are at long last, as we come to the climax of Valkyria Chronicles... We've cried, we've cried some more as the series threatened to jump the shark over the past couple of episodes, but can Welkin save Alicia from Maximilian's kidnap attempt?

Regardless of that, Welkin has managed to mobilise all of squad seven as well as Faldio in his effort, and this gives us plenty of room for action throughout this episode; despite his comrades falling left and right, this is enough to allow Welkin to reach Alicia, which also brings the pair of them up against what can only be described as a "boss fight" (well, this is a video game adaptation after all) against Maximilian, who has for his efforts managed to harness the power of the Valkyrur into a man-made equivalent.


While this get-up appears to be enough to take on a weakened Alicia, as is so often the case such man-made "toys" simply don't last compared to the real thing, and thus a malfunction gives Alicia and Welkin sight of victory, which culminates in a rather predictable triumph which also allows the pair of them to seal their relationship - Even better, Faldio appears to die during the course of the episode, leaving Welkin bereft of a love rival anyhow. So, all's well that ends well and the war ends, in turn giving everybody the chance to live happily ever after.

In a way, Valkyria Chronicles is a tricky series to sum up, as it's reached both relatively intrepid heights as well as hugely disappointing lows. After a so-on start that itself had peaks and troughs, the surprising death of Isara really brought out the best of this series, leaving me in tears with some beautifully realised emotional content only to throw it away by moving towards Dragonball-esque power ups and shouting matches as we hit those all-important final episodes. This weak finish sadly leaves us with a rather negative viewpoint on the series as a whole which arguably never truly rose above mediocrity during the course of the show as a whole, but I still can't shake the memory of shedding genuine tears on at least a couple of occasions for Isara's loss. While this series did manage to make the most of that particular plot point, it sadly failed to extend such succinct emotions from the rest of its content; while this is unsurprising for a video game-based offering, it doesn't make for a classic series either - Valkyria Chronicles was enjoyable enough at times, but perhaps not for enough periods of time to make itself memorable.