And after a week of break for reason of recap episode, we’re back! And we’re back with what might be simultaneously the best episode in the show so far and the most concerning episode of the show so far for its quality outlook.
As far as quality… Episode 1 is kind
of a hard act to follow. Not in an objective sense, but in terms of
being clearly the creators trying to put their best foot forward and
investing extra time and effort into their hour-long introduction.
Of half-hour episodes this gives us some acceptable action and some
legitimate character moments as we deal with the Pillar over Tateyama
base and the ancient magic warriors in Valhalla.
More of the time, though, is dedicated
to Sonoka attempting to overcome the depressive spot she’s found
herself in. And as emotional stuff goes, it’s actually pretty
decent, on or above par for what you want to see out of a basic
action show. She’s scared, and why shouldn’t she be? People she’s
cared about keep dying, and she could be next. And I credit the show
that her fear is not portrayed as quite so rational as that. She
wants to fly, because she knows doing so could help save her friends,
but the first time she approaches the plane we see it through her
eyes, her breathing heavy, her vision blurred. Someone on the staff
has actual knowledge or did actual research on what a legitimate
panic attack looks like, and how what you want to do isn’t
necessarily what you can do.
Though, I don’t want to praise it too
soon: Sonoka, reaching her lowest moment as the doctors attending the
pregnant woman she was with at the end of last episode consider how
to do a delivery even knowing they’re prime Pillar targets, opens the
omamori from Amatsuka and finds a note inside, telling her to stop
being a baby. After a mercifully extended sequence where she breaks
down laughing and remembers her time with Amatsuka and how her “big
sister” lifted her up with the same (admittedly harsh) words, she
gets her groove back and is willing and able to fly. It’s quick, but
I suppose it needed to be. In fact, she flies far better than
anything we’ve seen before, flagrantly crossing the boundary between
“unreasonable air show stunts” and “straight-up magic”.
Still, she makes darn good use of said
straight up magic, darting around as what looks like a blazing
phoenix or whirlwind rather than a plane now and again, out-shooting
and out-flying the Pillars at every turn. It’s actually kind of a
shame we didn’t get the mix of fancy flying we see here in the rest
of the show, at least out of Named like Claudia, because the battle
choreography is actually pretty decent when it’s able to just do its
own thing free of the constraints of even artistic physics. Not
great, but good. The Pillar also has a gimmick that’s nicely
explored, the kind of thing I was hoping to see more of with monsters
of the week in the middle (in this case using its clockwork gears to
reverse its own time whenever it’s killed), but that’s neither
exactly here nor there.
So, what about the other side? The
battle in Valhalla is more harsh. Again, we have the insecurities of
one of our Valkyries to consider, this time being Azu getting lost in
thought as the team flees from the indestructible warrior (warriors,
later) bearing down on them. Compared to Sonoka’s problems, Azu’s
aren’t really dwelled on, but they’re still there, and getting a good
pep talk at a good moment helps her keep going, while the whole thing
calls back to some of the conversations with Odin earlier. This is
the side with the lower running time, so it doesn’t have as many
beats as Sono and Miko do, but we do at least get a decent sequence
where the team tries to rescue a wounded soldier and ultimately are
unable to, the man eventually insisting on being left behind to blow
himself up and hopefully delay pursuit, an event that seems to hit
both Azu and Claudia hard.
That side, though, gives us our big
reveal and expectation going forward, as well as our best mysteries.
Recognizing the murals as being of Odin and Thor (as the giant they
fought in the Pillar), the team comes to the realization that
Ragnarok, also depicted, must have already happened contrary to what
Odin said, meaning that he’s been lying to humanity the whole time.
At the very end, we cut to Odin who appears in the mural room in
Valhalla, declaring that he won’t accept what happened as Ragnarok,
determined to fight on. On the mystery side, the wooden ancient
warriors seem to have some… odd reactions to Claudia. She’s able
to fight them fairly effectively with a sword, and at least twice
they seem to try to talk with her, though we can’t understand what
they say. Further, at the moment of escape, rather than striking for
her, they attempt to grab her and drag her back in, and it doesn’t
seem to be strength or ferocity that really fights them off.
So, going forward, we have three
episodes, an assumption, and a ton of questions.
The assumption is that Odin is going to
be our villain for the final act. They’ve moved him into this
trickster/deceiver role, and he does provide a more convincing “win
condition” than the mysterious Pillars whose origin and motives we
still know not. Which is, in a sense, the first question: so, Odin
survived “Ragnarok” at the end of the age of myths, refused to
accept it, and is now wrapped up in this conflict between humanity
and the Pillars, with a somewhat unknown role beyond his status as
the one empowering humans to fight back. So… what are the Pillars,
really? Are they pawns of Odin, seeing him playing both sides as
master of the game? Are they some threat actually targeted on him
and he’s using humanity as a shield to get glorious battle rather
than dying like a chump? Did he cause them to attack, or is he just
using something that was already going to happen? If the Pillars
aren’t Odin’s direct creations (which would seem rather odd), then
what are they and where do they come from?
Further, it’s unclear how dishonest
Odin has really been. Certainly, he’s lied by omission, but
depending on our other answers, about the Pillars for instance, he
could be anywhere from a dangerous manipulator to a well-meaning
death-seeker… depending on whether or not his empowering of humans
was countering a threat he created and controlled, a threat that was
because of him in a passive sense, or a threat that was always going
to exist.
On the mystery score, the Ancient
Soldiers seem to try to talk to Claudia, and possibly not even want
to kill her the way they do others. This starts when she calls on
her Valkyrie power to charge up her sword and fend them off, and
continues until, after she kicks away the last into the sealing rift
to Valhalla, there’s a good deal of focus on how it just stares at
her making its speech-like noises. Clearly, there’s more to her than
meets the eye – probably more than other Valkyries as well, given
Azu’s presence and the previous indications of her being Odin’s
favorite.
This, though, is a lot of speculation
without a lot of evidence. Especially because, with Odin missing
(presumed dead, though that’s obviously not the case) after the Mt.
Fuji battle, it’s unclear exactly what mortals can really do with
this information, other than confront him the next time he shows his
face.
And a confrontation might even be what
he wants. He gave Claudia the keys to reach Valhalla and learn the
Truth himself, so is he playing to die by her hand? Live through her
somehow? He seems to still want a true, final Ragnarok, but how does
he intend to achieve it?
We’ll see going forward with the show.