Episode Rating: A
Episode 10 is aptly named “A Way to Survive,” as that statement perfectly encapsulates the goal here: both the military and apparently now even the politicians are looking for a way for the Empire to come out of this war intact. Key figures in the military have long recognized that the war isn’t winnable in the way that the populace (and, by extension, politicians) want, and based on the fact that new Foreign Affairs diplomat, Counselor Konrad, is asking for a blunt assessment of the war situation from Rerugen and Tanya, it seems that there’s been enough upheaval in the ministries to open their eyes to the truth of the situation, too. This presents an opportunity, if the Empire has the guts and wherewithal to weather possible public criticism and humiliation and accept it.
But in their efforts to find a way to make a reasonable peace proposal, the Empire personnel have overlooked one very big factor, and it’s one that Tanya in particular should have caught since she raised it herself a couple of years earlier in the story: the matter of perception. Tanya based her argument that the Empire could eventually get involved in a world war on the premise that the Empire looks strong, and that strength worries other nations enough that they would band together to limit the Empire. That ultimately proved true, but neither Tanya nor, apparently, anyone else in the Empire considered that this fear could ultimately apply to the peace process as well. The very act of presenting a strong front in order to force reasonable terms from their enemies is, ironically, counter-productive because the Allied forces aren’t about to accept the continuing existence of an Empire which proves that it can dominate the continent.
The Empire is also a victim of its own short-sightedness here. Its leadership was so certain that their war effort was justified – after all, they were invaded first and all of the other countries technically took the initiative against them – that they never stopped to consider that the other countries might see things the same way they did: that such great cost had been put into the war effort that they had to get something out of it. Yes, their “Even though we crossed the border first, you took the first shot” justification for claiming that the Empire is the aggressor here is shaky at best (any neutral reading of the border incursion back in s1 episode 2 would classify that as an act of hostile intent), but that really doesn’t matter. Those other countries are beholden to their populaces, too, and they’ve sold this war on the Empire being the enemy aggressors who want to rule the world. They can’t settle for anything less than reparations (which would serve the dual purpose of limiting the Empire) for the same reasons that the Empire believed that it had to insist on them. Both the Empire and Rerugen in particular are utterly unprepared for this, and so Rerugen gets caught more flat-footed than he ever has before when Calandro reacts with shock that the Empire isn’t considering that or territorial concessions.
The scene where Calandro’s shaking in surprise is animated and Rerugen’s eyes are shown darting back and forth when Calandro brings this up is a great bit of visual adaptation. In fact, while there’s nothing particularly flashy about the visuals in this episode, this may be some of the finest work of the second season in terms of using visuals and foreboding music to portray the grim tension of the situation. Even Tanya merely brewing coffer carries ominous weight, especially when the nutcracker innocuously shows up everywhere.
Is there another series this season which is doing even close to this good a job at looking at the Big Picture and how all the various smaller components play into it? If so, I must not be watching it. This is powerfully compelling stuff, and I’m eager to see what stopping point the series will find to end with.
English Dub Update: Apparently the English dub being released for the OVA episode last week was a precursor to the dub for season 2 beginning this week. Nearly all voice actors for returning characters are back, with one exception: Mark Stoddard is no longer voicing Zettour. He has been replaced in the role by long-time veteran Jason Douglas. Mr. Douglas is a fine actor who’s done great work in other series (he was great as Heiter in Frieren, for instance), but based on the one line he has in the first episode, I am concerned about how well his voice fits the role, and it certainly seems like he’ll take a different vocal approach than Stoddard did. We’ll have a better idea on the fit in upcoming episodes, where Zettour has a much bigger role.
USA Anime 