I know the story of Seikai is about the rise of Lafiel and the relationship between her and Jinto, but should we actually think that the Empire of Ahb are the good guys, and they should win the war?
This is where you missed the point of the conflict portrayed in this series. There's no such thing as "good guy" or "bad guy", no matter how you look at it, both "sides" are not perfect in many ways, be it structure or moral, each has its own pros and cons, and, the most important thing about the war in SnS is to remind us that no matter what era, human will keep repeating the same misdeed and mistakes. (kinda like LoGH).
From my perspective, after rewatching the anime I came to the conclusion that the Ahb feudal structure is not only inferior to the other human nations, which are democratic, but also not something we should root for. So what you all think?
The Ahb is inferior how? Just because United Mankind is Democratic doesn't make it a better structure overall, AT LEAST, that's what has been depicted in the series (don't try to apply real-life logic into a work of fiction), from what Jinto's friend pointed out about how the people in their side constantly biting one another's ass to gain profit themselves, whereas the Ahb would just give no shit about it and put on a healthy straightforward rivalry instead of backstabbing each other.
Moreover, the Lobnas II act showed us that this so-called "Democratic" society isn't as nice as it sounds with the way the prisoners were treated as a whole and how they "managed" themselves specifically, and more frankly, this has been foreshadowed even way further back in the very beginning, how they propaganda stuff etc to put on a nice face, but in reality, the leaders are just a bunch of greedy, which is also what the Empress Ramaj da gawd saw right through at the very first meeting before declaring war, as she handed the Ls to all of the ambassadors for their petty excuses.
And lastly, while the Ahb seems like a pack of emotionless work slave, the end result is that it just works, they always produce the most efficient outcome, with little to no internal conflict etc, so, from the story's point of view, there's nothing really wrong with the way the Ahb worked, they went to war simply for clash of ideals, which has also been a major cause of countless conflicts in mankind's history.
If anything though, when you look at it again, despite having superior number and even better technology in every battle since Operation Phantom Flame, all United Mankind did was taking Ls, at least that's what the anime adapted, don't wanna dig up more into the novels but point is the Ahb did really well despite the initial "evil", and "flawed" portrayal they had in the premise. They kinda remind me of the Elf in LoTR and maybe Protoss from Starcraft (the latter is def odd but it happens).
And to address the final point, who we are rooting for is purely a matter of perspective, but frankly, the United Mankind has too little focus, and I don't even think there's a point in "picking side" in the first place, as the story is about Lafiel and Jinto's growth during a warring period, so yeah it's just that. But if I have to pick one, it'd definitely be Ahb since their society is much more interesting than the generic United Mankind (as for who's "right' or "wrong", I already explained above in the first paragraph so the deciding factor all boils down to which side is more compelling). |