Valkyria Chronicles was based on a tactical rope-playing game published by SEGA best known for the Sonic franchise and was exclusively released for the Playstation 3. Because of the success of the game, it was adapted into a manga, anime and a sequel of the said game. The anime is set in Europa, their own version of Europe in which the fight for the resource known as Ragnite is at rage and the neutral nation of Gallia, which is abundant of Ragnite was attacked by the Empire because of its resources, thus, forcing Gallia to be engaged in war.
The anime starts with introducing to us the legend of the Valkyria who saved the country form the greedy Darcsens who took all the food from the people. Fast forward to the present, Alicia Melchiott, a watch girl of the town of Bruhl mistaken Welkin Gunther, the son of the war hero, Belgen Gunther as an Imperial spy. As Alicia and Welkin walked for Alicia to take Welkin into custody when suddenly, they were attacked by Imperial soldiers causing them to evacuate to Welkin’s house and meeting up with Welkin’s step-sister, Isara who came from a Darcsen decent.
The trio, aboard their father’s tank, Edelweiss, they attacked the Imperial soldiers and later meeting up in the town proper in which they meet up with the militia and used the tank so that the rest of the citizens could escape. Later on, after the safety of the citizens is secured, Bruhl was captured. Alicia, with her friend Suzie decided to enlist in the Gallian Militia in which, in Alicia’s surprise, the calm and sorta carefree Welkin joined the Militia.
Because of Welkin’s experience during the siege in Bruhl, he was assigned by his superior, Captain Eleanor Varrot, as the squad leader of Squad 7 with Alicia as her supporting officer. At first, the members of Squad 7 have no confidence with Welkin due to the fact that he is a university student and the fact that he didn’t have a lot of experience on the battlefield. But after their first mission, the team had confidence on Welkin as their leader.
As the series progressed, we met Welkin’s classmate from the university, Faldio who is an Archeology student and is interested in some runes in Gallia which later lead to the awakening of one of our character’s hidden powers (Why is the shows title Valkyria Chronicles if there are no female warriors fighting? I think that’s the clue to those who are wondering who is this character). Also, we are introduced to the Empire and the leader of the invasion in Gallia and that is Prince Maximilian Gaius Von Reginrave and his loyal subordinate, Selvaria Bles, who is a decendant of the legendary Valkyria who drove away the Darcsens.
On to the review, since it’s a game based on a video game, I decided to check the gameplay videos and demos of the original PS3 game and so far, I was amazed that the anime is close from its game counterpart.
For the plot, the anime in own opinion is best divided into two parts, the Rise of Squad 7 and the Rise of the Valkyria. On the first part, it is concentrated on the Squad 7 and its members. It is where we see the members of the team at first, didn’t trust their leader, Welkin due to the fact that he lacked experience in battle. But as the series progress, the members of the team trusted Welkin. This part is more about the battles of Squad 7 and their achievements in battle under the leadership of Welkin. The second part is about Maximilian’s last option, to use Selveria’s ability as a Valkyria to defeat Gallia. Nuff said. Because of I say more, it would ruin the thrill of watching the show. Seriously, why is the show called Valkyria Chronicles if it doesn’t concern female warriors fighting? Get my point.
One of the important subplots in this anime is the love triangle between Welkin, Alicia and Faldio. Without this certain subplot, Valkyria Chronicles would lack juice. Another important subplot is the Darcsen discrimination. Because of this, when they learned that Isara is a Darcsen, some members of Squad 7 didn’t trust her because of the legend that if there is a Darcsen, that said Darcsen would bring misfortune.
On to the technical stuff, the artwork, based on the PS3 game videos that I saw, the characters are well translated into their anime counterpart. In terms of animation, there are some instances that the battle scenes lack explosion which is disappointing considering the fact that this is an anime with a military theme involved in it.
For the voice acting, since I haven’t played the game, I checked the videos and lo and behold, the original VA’s of the game also did the voice acting for the anime, a big bonus to those who played the game! Also, while watching one of the cutscenes involving Selveria, boy, her performance in the anime and in the game are in the same level.
For the finale, my wish of seeing more explosives and tanks came true. This is one of the finales that if I would describe it as, “Please, don’t die! Your love interest is still alive!”
Overall, Valkyria Chronicles is really a great show, and so far, one of two anime shows based on a video game that I like, the other one was Ragnarok the Animation. This show is best recommended to those who have watched Fullmetal Alchemist but want more military action, to those who played the game and to those people who can’t play the game because he/she doesn’t have enough money to buy a PS3 (or those people who suck in video games).
