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?
So, the setup is what you’d expect
between the pitch and just the general idea of the genre it’s working
in: a new scary enemy shows up, and conventional weapons prove
ineffective, necessitating the use of the magically-empowered and
implausibly cool weapons that we’ll want to be focusing on for the
majority of the show. It’s a basic excuse that’s been used to
justify everything from giant mechas to incarnating warships as cute
girls. I want to get frustrated at the laziness but really I can’t,
it’s just a basic buy-in to the shows that use it, there’s no point
attempting to reject it, you knew it was going to be there before you
started.
And as far as selling that goes, they do open with a scene of the modern 2020 military busting out everything on one of these Pillars, all the way to a bloody nuke. World leadership is despairing at the failure of their attempts to fight back when literal Deus ex Machina arrives in the form of Odin, the Norse god you’d probably expect (though, while briefly displaying an extremely traditional appearance, he seems to prefer manifesting as a blue-haired little boy) to be the one offering Valkyries as the solution to humanity’s problems. That’s exactly what he does, as humanity’s champions will now be young women gifted with magic that allows them to fight back against the Pillars. Odin seems quite amused by the whole situation as he promises that Ragnarok is coming.
Cut to five years later as we follow an
elite Valkyrie, Claudia (one of the “named” who also bears a
traditional Norse Valkyrie name as well as her human name), as she
joins an air wing in battle against a Pillar, riding her magic
biplane alongside the futuristic fighter jets.
And credit where it’s due, the enemy
designs are interesting and varied and the fighting dynamic and…
engaging enough, at least. Time will tell if they blew their budget
and creativity on episode one (as often happens) or manage to sustain
this level of quality. Some moments are a little silly, like the
biplane sprouting big feathery wings as it shoots off a magic missile
to end the enemy, but by in large it works quite well. In this
engagement, Claudia becomes the sole survivor. As she calls,
despairing, for anyone else to come in, we’re let in on the idea that
this has happened to her a lot, which is soon confirmed to be,
essentially, every time. She’s known in public as the Valkyrie of
Salvation for her victories, but sees herself instead as The Grim
Reaper, because anyone who flies with her dies.
She’s also being transferred from
Europe to Japan, as Japan’s Named has recently died in battle, and
Europe has three. It’s not an arrangement she’s happy with, but she
agrees to it, even as she’s clearly grappling with some psychological
issues around that Grim Reaper title. On the way, a minor Pillar
being attacks, and Claudia prepares to fight it. However, a trio of
pilots arrive to join the combat. Since the Pillar has appeared over
sea, it’s apparently doomed to run out of energy and die, so the
dogfight that follows is a game of avoiding and evading until it does
expire. Claudia thanks her juniors, who seemed to be a trio of
eccentrics, and reminisces that she didn’t ask what wing they were a
part of. Naturally, it turns out to be the one she’s just been
assigned to.
Tateyama base, in general, seems to be
not exactly up to Claudia’s expectations. She meets the extremely
lax commander before being given the grand tour by Miyako, the
energetic ditz of the three local valkyries. It seems like a nice
place, which is probably what bothers Claudia, who sees the peaceful
rather than guarded behavior as unnatural, even worrying. All the
same, everyone’s nice enough including what I presume are future bit
characters like the engineering squad. Ultimately she gets a good
conversation with the other two Valkyries, Azu (the spitfire) and
Sonoka (the fairly proper one) about more or less who they are and
how they do things at Tateyama before another Pillar appears to
attack. Claudia and the others fly, which sets Claudia on edge given
her history as the Grim Reaper. Though she didn’t have all that much
time to get to know her new friends, she doesn’t want them to die,
and is wracked with nerves about the engagement.
At first it seems like the Pillars are
the same as the one fought in transit, but the Valkyries quickly
realize that something is wrong: these are restoring themselves,
indicating that they have a connection to land (apparently able to be
maintained by a higher-rank Pillar) that’s been hidden and means they
can’t just be stalled out. The team quickly comes up with a plan to
force the submarine pillar to surface and eliminate it (and also
addresses Claudia’s nerves on the way, by proving she has the care
and support of everyone around her rather than those people being
afraid of her reputation), and we get another intricate fight scene
with a unique and visually impressive foe to carry more of the
episode. The Pillar (which looks like a gold filigree whale filled
with inexplicably contained bright blue water) is exposed, but
confirming the kill proves tough, requiring some daring flying from
everyone so that we learn how they fight as well as how they talk:
Miyako as the heavy weapon specialist, Azu more with precision and
technique, and Sonoka of all people as a daredevil – though Miyako
also gets some daredevil credit for how she finishes the enemy off,
leaping from her plane to slash its exposed core with a sword.
That works and the enemy (as we’ve seen
for major pillars) turns into a giant tree that drifts softly to the
surface… but in the haze that follows, before the air clears,
Claudia feels alone again, calling out on the radio for anyone to
respond, dreading the idea that everyone around her may have died yet
again. As you might expect, though, our new trio is fine, and when
her words get through they’re more amused by Claudia’s concern than
anything. Even Miyako’s plan seems to have been caught rather
pleasantly by the boughs of the defeated Pillar’s tree. Thus, the
path towards Claudia’s emotional healing as she makes friends that
won’t die on her begins and the episode ends.
So, my initial thoughts on the opening
episode… Well, for one I’m glad it’s double length. They jam a lot
of action into the show, with no less than four air battles (the
prologue, Claudia’s last battle in Europe, the waiting game, and the
boss Pillar) that all need to be big and impressive, but the show
also wants to establish its characters in the first episode so you’ll
be invested, rather than simply cutting after the in-transit battle
when we haven’t really met anyone but Claudia.
Speaking of those characters, right
now, it seems like they’ve gone with the strategy where everyone
(except for the lead who can get a deeper study) is… quirky. They
all have one note, or a note and a counterpoint, and play them well.
Miyako is ditzy and genki, Azu is prickly and proud, Claudia is quiet
and observant, the commander is ultra-casual, the old engineer is a
cantankerous machine-lover. It’s very basic, but not strictly bad.
This sort of strategy makes for loud, engaging characters who are at
least fun to watch even if they don’t ultimately sprout depth (which
is perhaps slightly less expected now, but far from impossible), and
while it’s not great if the other Valkyries stay at the ‘just quirks’
level, it’s certainly better than them never sprouting characters of
any kind. At least right now I can say that I remember these
characters, I can connect with their basic traits, and I would care
at least a little if something bad happened to them. For action
characters who are going to be risking their lives in visually
stunning battles (as we can hope they stay visually stunning), that’s
enough to get us started.
For the show overall, it kind of looks and feels like Yuki Yuna is a Hero was shifted in genre to be a military show rather than a Magical Girl show. The colors, character design, and even the sense of a desperate defense against an encroaching alien nemesis (the element that might also be taken to be reminiscent of Evangelion) are all sort of familiar, and the lax and casual Tateyama Base has some vibes in common with the bright everyday life of Yuki Yuna.
I think, with what we know after
episode 1, the biggest X factor in the show is Odin. We don’t know
what he wants or what he’s planning, much as we don’t know the true
nature of the Pillars. Because we’re playing defense this show feels
like it needs a twist, whether a small one like the intrigue elements
of Evangelion provided or a big one like the reveal of the nature of
the world in Yuki Yuna, either way works, but it’ll be a bit of a
gutterball if we just spend 12 or so episodes fighting off incoming.
And Odin and his cryptic comments about Ragnarok are the revealed
place that seems most likely to provide such a twist. Much like you
know from early on (if not the very start) that Gendo Ikari is up to
no good, you kind of get the sense that Odin isn’t telling humanity
the full story. He’s far too entertained by the whole situation.
In the end, I’d call it a good first
episode. It doesn’t promise a really great show (though that’s still
possible) but it does promise a show that should be at least
entertaining. We’ll see next week just how the show evolves now that
Claudia is stable in her new home.