An American Writer's Thoughts on Japanese Animation

Category: Seasonal Episodes

Seasonal Selection – Warlords of Sigrdrifa Episode 1

In the interest of highlighting more Original anime, this season we’re going to be taking a look at Warlords of Sigrdrifa. The pitch that was given before I decided to sit down with the first episode was… not much. Something about Valkyries being chosen to defend humanity against some new random monster threat. It looked and sounded kind of like a mash-up of Evangelion-esque action and maybe some vague magical girl elements with a military theme. In short, even if it wasn’t based on anything, the show didn’t seem like it would have any easy stand-out elements.

And, after watching the double-length first episode, I do think that remains the challenge set to Warlords of Sigrdrifa: it looks like it could be kind of fun as is, but I want it to show me something unique and worthwhile. Is it going to?

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Seasonal Selection – Deca-dence Episode 10

Last time, with the destruction of the Gadoll Factory, Natsume had quite the question and received a world-shattering answer. She actually ends up hyperventilating and even passing out, being initially unable to take the truth of her world. I don’t blame her. Kaburagi removes her from the crumbling factory while the lab workers there fail to get their avatars to safety, with one being stabbed by a dying Gadoll with just the right amount of focus so you know what’s coming. Meanwhile, the real bodies of the surviving bugs do their best to escape the prison.

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Seasonal Selection – Deca-dence Episode 7

The “Back mostly with Natsume” episode. Last time, Kaburagi started a new game, and now he finds the situation in Deca-dence. It turns out that the peace of maintenance has ended, and the current “story” sees a massive hole in the armor of Deca-dence, a breach from which the Gadoll must be kept. In the early action sequence, a group of Gadoll get through the breach where more are being fought and begin to slaughter Tankers before Kaburagi (struggling with his new avatar) and Natsume (with friends) take them out and move to reinforce the breach.

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Seasonal Selection – Deca-dence Episode 6

Previously, we saw Kaburagi zapped into unconsciousness, his fate unknown. This week we follow up with Kaburagi as he’s sent to robot Gulag. True, Kamina Shades Manager wanted to simply scrap him outright, but with the suggestion that someone (likely his friend in charge of the Deca-dence fortress itself) pulled strings in his favor, he’s sent off to a “bug correction” camp instead.

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Seasonal Selection – Deca-dence Episode 5

“The world needs bugs.”

This episode is mostly concerned with the resolve of the situation that the previous episode established, which takes about the right amount of time. As various teams deal with the small fry on the mountain, the sacrificial teams challenge the fog-spewing Gadoll alpha, which is supposed to be unbeatable. Natsume has to face it down for her life and the lives of her squad, but of something manages to kill it, the game’s storyline will be thrown into disarray.

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Seasonal Selection – Deca-dence Episode 4

Our episode starts in a way that’s to formula, much like the last episode, but also much like the last episode, effective. Natsume enters live combat for the first time, and despite not being the best of the best just yet, she manages to hold on and put on a good show, dispatching Gadoll in her search for Pipe. During the fight, she catches the attention of her hero, Kurenai, the strongest fighting Tanker, and makes a good impression.

Aside from Kurenai seeming to have a long-time crush on Kaburagi, she also provides Natsume an introduction to The Power, letting her join the fight on an official basis. Everything seems about on track: at this point, we should have a series of minor battles, possibly in montage form, allowing Natsume to rise in rank and esteem before socking her with the next major turn; possibly the System finding out she’s a bug (she’s fairly free with the term after Kaburagi dropped it), perhaps something else, right? Wrong.

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