Ranked #621

Valkyria Chronicles

I don't know what's so good about this anime, but I'm totally in love with it. At first I thought It'll be another (too) pathetic anime about fighting and bringing freedom to world. But it's not like that. Characters are well drown and I love all of them. I can't say much about the story yet, but for now it seems quite good. And what about enjoyment? Why 10? Well it's because it's not a comedy (don't know why, but I don't like anime comedies much) and yet it makes me smile really often. So, go and start watching it!
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(For the most part this is a review on the series as it relates to the game if you haven't played the game this review may not be too helpful, no spoilers)

Valkyria Chronicles has got to be one of the better animes I've ever seen, and one of the best adaptations of a Video Game to an Anime. Being only 3 episodes in I still feel compelled to write a review on how great I think this series is so far.

Story:

So far from what I've seen the story follows well with the game but what makes it even better is the extra. Great conversations between characters and additional scenes really help this anime rather than ruin the canon of the game. On the other hand I can see that if you disliked the game's story for reason's other than lack of content this anime's story may not appeal to you.

Art:

While typically I prefer a Bebop'esque type of animation style this one is really great. I believe the animation studio that produces this is A-1 Pictures Inc. and based on what I've seen so far they really need to get a lot more work. Other than the game Persona 4 this is the first I've seen of this company and the style really appeals to me. One drawback for some people may be that if you did not enjoy the etched look of the cut-scenes in the game they do use that style but it is not as 'intruding', personally I really like it myself but I have heard complaints.

Sound:

As far as music goes they use pretty much all the music from the game which if you enjoyed the music it works out well but I personally find myself attributing the music to what it's for in the game, 'oh its the enemies turn now' 'oh no someone died' etc. For voice I haven't read to much into it and I'm not very good at recognizing Japanese voice actors but I hope they used common sense and used the game's voice actors. I haven't played the game through with JPN voices yet and I hope if this does get dubbed in English that they use the voices from the game.

Character:

One of the first things that struck me in this show was in the opening cut-scene they had a bunch of characters from your roster in the game. Going into this Anime I expected the use of the main characters but they have included several minor characters that don't even have dialogue in the game complete with their personalities. Having not watched the whole thing yet I really hope they include all or most of the squad 7 characters atleast in cameos or something although I have doubts. Being a fan of Skies of Arcadia I hope they plan on including Vyse, Aika and Fina(Medic) in the Anime. Another thing I noticed in the closing cut-scene was Selvaria (one of the main antagonists) cooking which is not mentioned in the game except for her character bio which really shows the kind of depth these characters have.

Enjoyment:

So far I am really enjoying the series, it looks great and it feels right. I'll be disappointed if they don't have Arcadia cameos but I still will probably regard this as one of my favourite animes. If you enjoyed the game this is a must watch but if you haven't played the game but would like to see a good quality anime about war then you may also enjoy this.

-Llythe
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