We start with Sheffield making her way
through a fairly eerie ruined city, still pursued by the Sakura
forces from last time. I’ll be honest, It’s not totally easy to say
a lot about the episode because the show is, by in large, staying the
course. We get some decent humanity talk, met a double hand full of
new characters (This Episode: Fusou, Yamashiro, Atago, Suffolk,
Repulse…) that fans of the game will love to see but the
uninitiated might have some difficulty following, and then a decent
action sequence. But talking about this stuff is just what I’m here
for, so that’s what I’ll do.
First, to highlight something done well
in this show so far, the environments. The foggy city ruins are
different than the Sakura or Azur Lane bases we’d spent a good deal
of time in up to this point and I do appreciate its theme. It lends
itself to the melancholy discussions about the results of the Siren
invasion and the limited visibility to compartmentalizing the combat.
It might be a little less perfect for Akashi’s scardey cat comedy
but I’ll take what I can get.
The big high note for this episode was
its handling of the starter trio that had, up until this point, been
a fairly weak plot thread. However, this episode handles their
stakes fairly well. First, we actually get Ayanami’s point of view.
She confesses to Atago (Smothering Sakura Siscon Ship number… what,
three now? But I guess the affectionate types don’t have a Commander
to pursue) that she’s conflicted because, while she wants to fight
for all her friends in the Sakura Empire, she’s recognized that their
rivals in the Azur Lane are individuals with friends and bonds of
their own., making it difficult to be certain she should strike them
down. Some of the ships on the Azur Lane side express similar
sentiments, being displeased with the idea of fighting other humans,
rather than sirens.
We get the other side of the matter
when Ayanami comes into conflict with Laffey and Javelin in the
ruins. Javelin hesitates in the face of Ayanami’s attack, but Laffey
does one better: she openly refuses to fight. While it was initially
hard to understand the Starters and why or how they felt some sort of
strong tie over the seconds of interaction between Spy Ayanami and
the squad in episode 1, and that’s still a weak start, I think it’s
handled better here because there’s been an explicit or implicit
appeal to a basic trait of humanity: It’s hard to kill someone you
see as a person. It doesn’t have to be a lot in that case, just
enough for basic empathy to start to kick in. True, the shipgirls
are also weapons but they’re “meant” to be pointed at the sirens,
so it’s no less notable than human-versus-human fighting.
Ultimately, Ayanami pulls her blows
against Laffey and gets offered an olive branch of friendship from
both Laffey and Javelin. That’s the end of the episode, actually –
we don’t get to see whether or not she takes it until next week. If
I had to guess, I’d go with ‘not exactly’. I don’t think Ayanami’s
ready to be disloyal. It’s part of a disconnect in the Sakura forces
we see elsewhere. Akashi is sure she’ll be killed for what she saw
(and she might not be wrong. Observer certainly wanted to end her)
but the Sakura ships we see this episode are more interested in
rescuing their “kidnapped” friend.
In the meantime, there’s the big ship plot to consider. As I think I have may have said, the fighting this episode is really on point, and to me kind of makes up for the more dopey Takao fight at the end of the last episode. Some of it is played for laughs, of course, particularly how the crane carriers breeze by Suffolk the way most players do when she appears in a big build, but the action and interaction are on point. There’s a solid mix of girl-on-foot and big ships with big guns along with a strategic twist: Shoukaku and Zuikaku go hunting for Enterprise in the fog, only to find Hornet: Enterprise has already slipped through the Sakura lines to engage in the ruins, scaring off Prinz Eugen and the Ironblood and (presumably, though there was no denouement to the battle) extracting Sheffield, Edinburgh, and Akashi with the Black Box. It’s the first battle that’s been really on par with, say, something out of Arpeggio of Blue Steel in terms of complexity of action and visual storytelling rather than just motion and emotion.
The talk side of Enterprise and Belfast
was, to an extent, on repeat. Not totally, and the commentary was
needed, but they still have the basic debate going, where Belfast
considers the girls as people (even, arguably, as the humans we never
see), while Enterprise is focused on their role as weapons. That’s
fine, but the material was stronger with Ayanami this time. She said
something new about her character and her world, while Enty is still
working through some issues. I do like that they aren’t solved
overnight, but I just don’t think they’re all too critical to talk
about from an analytic point of view at this juncture.
So, since this is running a little
short, and since we’re deep enough in by now, some thoughts on the
structure of the show as a whole.
First, the episodes follow a pretty
regular pattern; after quickly resolving anything left hanging (hence
why I’m fairly sure the Azur Lane forces will be well away with the
prize), the first half of the episode has all the talking,
discussions of what it means to be human, why we fight, and possibly
the nature of friendship. The second half will have the action
payoff, with plenty of shooting, leaping, and so on. Maybe some good
verbal exchanges across sides (like the Ayanami/Laffey material in
this episode) but mostly it’s the action. As such, even when the
episode cuts happen to be ambiguous or unresolved, we do overall
compartmentalize them as one discussion period and one battle.
Second, the show as a whole is so far
paced… pretty well. We’re five episodes in and it’s taken its time
to establish the major players and the stakes for the endgame. All
the same, we know we’re only one token (a nurtured Black Box in
Sakura hands) away from a major game changer that could serve as a
climax. There’s a comfortable amount of time for necessary reveals
as well as the growth arcs of our major characters, like the
Starters’ cross-faction friendship, Enterprise learning to be human,
and whatever is going on with Akagi’s world-burning love. Even
though there’s been a lot of fighting, it hasn’t detracted or
distracted from the plot and character.
On the other hand, I do suspect this
show isn’t going to be particularly kind to the uninitiated. It
seems like every ship in the game is going to show up at this rate,
and that if not most than at least a lot of them are going to get
minor speaking roles rather than just walk-ons. As a fan, I love
that, but I feel like I need to fetch someone who doesn’t know the
game and sit them down in front of the show and ask whether or not
they can keep up with all the bit characters. Even the cast that
does relevant things is currently pretty big consisting of Akagi,
Kaga, Enterprise, Unicorn, Ayanami, Laffey, Javelin, Z23, Prinz
Eugen, Cleveland, Akashi, Observer, Zuikaku, Shoukaku, Belfast,
Sheffield… and that’s being conservative. Luckily, Azur Lane’s
character designs are loud and colorful, making it easy to tell
individuals apart and even have a good chance at remembering faction
at a glance, but I still know viewers who have trouble with such
expansive numbers. I guess if you narrow your focus and say the
Starters matter as a group, then Enterprise and Belfast, then the
Foxes and Observer… no, you still don’t get it down too far. But,
sadly, I’m not totally qualified to actually say whether or not its a
problem. And even if it is, I wouldn’t have it the other way around.
To be honest, this is the point where
I’m hyped. Yeah, I don’t get hyped before a show comes out, because
I’ve met too many disappointments, I get hyped when I’m a little ways
in and things are looking up, giving me a solid confidence that the
show will overcome the hurdles it needs to in order to reach a
satisfying conclusion; when I feel like I have a sense for what it’s
doing and with what kind of skill. And, having reached that point
with Azur Lane, I’m looking forward to what more it might have to
offer. Is it perfect? No. But it is looking up.
Enterprise “Owari da” Count: 1
(Still)
Game Lore: https://harperanimereviews.com/how-much-lore-does-it-take-to-justify-cute-ship-girls-a-prelude-to-azur-lane/
Previous Episode: https://harperanimereviews.com/seasonal-selection-azur-lane-episode-4/