(L) Sora no Woto

[Ice Block]

Originally Posted by orion

You're talking about anime. We've had FREEDOM which used similar devices spiders against humans. GUNDAM and Gasaraki used mecha against humans and other mecha.

The spiders are using the citiscape more efficiently as cover imo. Plus, it does give a good creep factor to the opposing side imo. The opposite side had to get rid of their "infestation".

Besides that cannon had to have ground support to keep the spiders at bay until it powers up to fire the killer shot. (Just like in EVA 1.0) We're being shown the "spider's" memory of the conflict so to speak imo.

The way I see it, the spider-tanks were the ones defending the city. From what? This: (click images to enlarge)

Which is, presumably, similar to the remains of the unit we saw in Ep01:

That thing looks pretty alien to me. (And, true to the legend, the wreck/remains doesn't have a "head".) Also, the spider-tanks were shooting at some tower at the horizon. It is unsure if the bird-like bio-mech was over there as well. Either way, things like that [tower] don't just pop out in your protected territory (much less if it was the humans' doing), so it either must have come from the sky, or through a dimensional rift, or something else entirely (e.g., nanolathed on the spot TA-style ).

[orion]

The thing is whatever is in the reflection doesn't have to be alien but could also be human in origin. If a human made it, then it's not outerworldly or "alien". The remains of the creature in ep 1 and that reflection could be a creature from this planet that was made into a bioweapon like in another anime movie released in R1.

Giving the destroyer an alien destroyer feel would take this away from its anti-war stance which usually implies human vs human conflict imo. It also would put this in a sci-fi category instead of the more reality based one its striving for imo.

In fact, since that creature was demonized in the folklore, I'm definitely wanting to see the other side of the conflict before coming to a conclusion. If the other side is full of alien descendants, then it's becomes a reality. The world was attacked and lost in a conflict with an alien culture which isn't very original imo.

Hopefully this title won't degenerate into a Spider vs Mech-King Ghidorah (Dragon) movie.

[felix]

There's also the "dragons have awakened and are coming to get us" theme. Or the "someone build the fk'ing village on top of Satan" theme.

[MaxMaximilianMaximus]

I agree with orion. We won't find the fossil(?) of an alien in the deep mountain anyway.

[scr]

Is it just me, or the tall structure that shoots exploding lazers(?) looks similar to is Nod Obelisk of Light?

Spoiler for pet theory time!:

There were two war:

* First War: Humans versus Aliens
The humans banded together (ala GDI) and fight the aliens with all they have. The alien invasion was repelled, but it was a phyrric victory (as in, dolphins become scary animals that eat people no more life at sea). This is the war that the zombie solder did not survive.

* Second War: Dog Eats Dog
With nothing remains on Earth, the coalition of nations fractured and they begun to fight each other over few resources still available. This is the war that Mugi Filicia survived.

This will explain why futuristic military tech (Takemikazuchi tanks) exists alongside WW2-era arms. The future techs were manufactured in the First War, the WW2 arms were manufactured with what few resources available in Second War. You can imagine all nations of Earth poured massive funding into researching weapons that can put humans on par with the aliens.

Also, this will explain why the world is cultural kitchen sink. When you have so many people working together, each with different background, amalgamation and synchretism will happen. (What's the copypaste for this again? German Soldiers Miko Nuns...)

Variations:
* The humans were defeated in the First War, and the aliens Seize'd resource-rich area all for themselves. Humankind was pushed into nearly-uninhabitable area. Hence, why the zombie soldier apologized to Filicia. It seems that very few people today even realize that there was a war against the aliens. All they know is that the world is always a Crapsack World.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by Ice Block

The way I see it, the spider-tanks were the ones defending the city. From what? This: (click images to enlarge)

Which is, presumably, similar to the remains of the unit we saw in Ep01:

That thing looks pretty alien to me. (And, true to the legend, the wreck/remains doesn't have a "head".) Also, the spider-tanks were shooting at some tower at the horizon. It is unsure if the bird-like bio-mech was over there as well. Either way, things like that [tower] don't just pop out in your protected territory (much less if it was the humans' doing), so it either must have come from the sky, or through a dimensional rift, or something else entirely (e.g., nanolathed on the spot TA-style ).

Or maybe they simply had to construct additional pylons

Or practise peace through power

[Syntron]

I dont buy the alien-theory. Sure, it makes it easy to explain the weird enemy (dragons with laserbeams) But judging from the screencaps, these creatures dont have arms AND wings, making them tetrapodes. So i think our enemy is a genetically modified bird, not a dragon.

But dragons are ofc way more awesome.

[ReddyRedWolf]

Originally Posted by scr

Is it just me, or the tall structure that shoots exploding lazers(?) looks similar to is Nod Obelisk of Light?

Spoiler for pet theory time!:

There were two war:

* First War: Humans versus Aliens
The humans banded together (ala GDI) and fight the aliens with all they have. The alien invasion was repelled, but it was a phyrric victory (as in, dolphins become scary animals that eat people no more life at sea). This is the war that the zombie solder did not survive.

* Second War: Dog Eats Dog
With nothing remains on Earth, the coalition of nations fractured and they begun to fight each other over few resources still available. This is the war that Mugi Filicia survived.

This will explain why futuristic military tech (Takemikazuchi tanks) exists alongside WW2-era arms. The future techs were manufactured in the First War, the WW2 arms were manufactured with what few resources available in Second War. You can imagine all nations of Earth poured massive funding into researching weapons that can put humans on par with the aliens.

Also, this will explain why the world is cultural kitchen sink. When you have so many people working together, each with different background, amalgamation and synchretism will happen. (What's the copypaste for this again? German Soldiers Miko Nuns...)

Variations:
* The humans were defeated in the First War, and the aliens Seize'd resource-rich area all for themselves. Humankind was pushed into nearly-uninhabitable area. Hence, why the zombie soldier apologized to Filicia. It seems that very few people today even realize that there was a war against the aliens. All they know is that the world is always a Crapsack World.

Another variation is that the world is in a period of a dark age. As in lost knowledge and tech. Kingdom states such as Heltvia (sp?) rise from the ashes of the old civilization.

We do not know how many centuries has passed since the Old Era.

One thing is for sure. One of the things that hurt in the decline is education. If we take Kanata's word that there are no schools as big as the former school now fortress.

Japanese Kanji now has few people able to read them. It's status is much like Latin is today.

[klare]

nice Filicia flash back, now we know more about the world, who is that blond soldier and how those tanks work (really not high-tech), surprisingly Filicia is a hard to handle person, a bit like Alicia in Aria

the show is smart in showing us a little bit in every eps, we get to speculate

btw after this eps, no one should say this is K-On! goes to war or anything like that, in the world of K-On!, there is no sadness and nobody dies

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by klare

in the world of K-On!, there is no sadness and nobody dies

There is sadness... The sad people (as in, the head) in the series

[Ghostfriendly]

Last two episodes really made this series for me. The different levels of Felicia's relationships with everyone in her squad, the way Rio and Felicia can have akward conversations while still being close friends. The little points like having to use bugles because they presumably can't make spare parts to repair the tank's radio, and the futuristic interaction of Shinto and Christian beliefs (before the apocalyptic event, the world might have been a Japanised urban jungle, as in William Gibson Cyberpunk). Acted out by such appealing characters (even the nun was really cute, though her plotline was pretty smaltzy), I'd put this a shade below Haibane Renmei.

In one line, it grows more interesting as it grows more outlandish, and as violence appears it grows more peaceful.

Originally Posted by orion

The thing is whatever is in the reflection doesn't have to be alien but could also be human in origin. If a human made it, then it's not outerworldly or "alien". The remains of the creature in ep 1 and that reflection could be a creature from this planet that was made into a bioweapon like in another anime movie released in R1.

Giving the destroyer an alien destroyer feel would take this away from its anti-war stance which usually implies human vs human conflict imo. It also would put this in a sci-fi category instead of the more reality based one its striving for imo.

I'd guess as well the destructive threat might be man made, but I'd say this is already sci-fi, just by showing the culture and experience after a future war, with or withut aliens.

Originally Posted by klare

nice Filicia flash back, now we know more about the world, who is that blond soldier and how those tanks work (really not high-tech), surprisingly Filicia is a hard to handle person, a bit like Alicia in Aria

the show is smart in showing us a little bit in every eps, we get to speculate

btw after this eps, no one should say this is K-On! goes to war or anything like that, in the world of K-On!, there is no sadness and nobody dies

Well said.

[Malkuth]

It took half the season for the stuff to realize that they are not doing the new K-On! Those crappy designs confused them too

Anyway, it's nice that Haibane Renmei's influence bleeds through this moe-centered show at an increasing rate

[Ghostfriendly]

The character designs can be a bit strange and unpared. They do have perfect moments like Kureha's hair going up as she was firing in ep 7, or Rio in her shirt at the ed of the same ep, but the background art is much stronger.

[donoghu]

Not only the background... Even the music is quite attracting. (It's well managed and the choices are great)

Even the Opening music still appeal to me, even after watching it 9 times. (I watched 2 episodes 2 times)

[NinjaYali]

Originally Posted by scr

Is it just me, or the tall structure that shoots exploding lazers(?) looks similar to is Nod Obelisk of Light?

Spoiler for pet theory time!:

There were two war:

* First War: Humans versus Aliens
The humans banded together (ala GDI) and fight the aliens with all they have. The alien invasion was repelled, but it was a phyrric victory (as in, dolphins become scary animals that eat people no more life at sea). This is the war that the zombie solder did not survive.

* Second War: Dog Eats Dog
With nothing remains on Earth, the coalition of nations fractured and they begun to fight each other over few resources still available. This is the war that Mugi Filicia survived.

This will explain why futuristic military tech (Takemikazuchi tanks) exists alongside WW2-era arms. The future techs were manufactured in the First War, the WW2 arms were manufactured with what few resources available in Second War. You can imagine all nations of Earth poured massive funding into researching weapons that can put humans on par with the aliens.

Also, this will explain why the world is cultural kitchen sink. When you have so many people working together, each with different background, amalgamation and synchretism will happen. (What's the copypaste for this again? German Soldiers Miko Nuns...)

Variations:
* The humans were defeated in the First War, and the aliens Seize'd resource-rich area all for themselves. Humankind was pushed into nearly-uninhabitable area. Hence, why the zombie soldier apologized to Filicia. It seems that very few people today even realize that there was a war against the aliens. All they know is that the world is always a Crapsack World.

So the spider tanks were shooting at some enemy which is supposedly alien? Behold the face of the true villain of Sora no Woto

Spoiler for Final boss:

And now despite all odds, the humans must join forces against a powerful new enemy. But don't worry we've got some new toys to play with.

But yeah enough of my comparisons of the spider tanks to Cybrans but I heard about this crazy theory that there were some sort of alien birds there which I suppose is the fire demons. Does anyone have any screenshots?

in the world of K-On!, there is no sadness and nobody dies

Speaking of K-on, I never really understood the point of excessively cute character designs as I always found them to get boring after a while. And neither did I get the whole moe phenomenon in trying to invoke brotherly feelings whatever that means (does it involve hitting your junior when she gets annoying?) But now, I'm a convert and admittedly this episode made me a believer in the power of moe through helplessness.

Forget this...


Or this


Or even this 'Moe Moe Kyun' crap which makes me want to point fun for lols and shiz because it's so ridiculous.


Post Traumatic Stress Disordah Filicia (Meganekko Mugi) is the only moe that works for me and actually makes me want to hug/protect her because it's actually more serious then say barnacles. Although you'd want to comfort any veteran who talks about his PTSD. Here it would seem A1 played the formula to perfection as I actually felt sorry for Filicia due to her experience and not just another slice of life situation (grope by others, playing on fears, clumsiness etc etc).


I'm still wondering if her fear of lightning is just there of if it was due to some traumatising war experience.

But in any case, we all love you Meganekko Mugi *hugs* and I hope you enjoy your new yuri harem. (that scene taken out of context could be completely taken the wrong way)

[NinjaYali]

Originally Posted by Midonin

Just been confirmed that besides the twelve episodes airing on TV, the DVD releases will have two additional episodes. Accounting for release dates, we won't get these episodes until June and September, respectively, but there will be a little more to the series than we're going to see.

I wonder if they'll make a season 2. Or better yet a crossover with KyoAni's K-on

Episode would be...
Kureha and Azusa complaining about their respective club/unit
Kanata and Yui teaching each other how to play their respective instruments and failing miserably.
Tsumugi wondering if Filicia is her long lost twin over a cup of tea and deciding to join the army when Filicia tells her about the events of episode 7 and the fact that they 'bathe together for fun.' She makes that decision in hospital of course
Ritsu and Mio trying to get along with Noel and Rio respectively who have completely clashing personalities to them.

But in any case, I'm just glad the show has decided that it finally wants to be a military show and not both a military and music show. Quite frankly I got sick of the lame military and music metaphors.

[Bonta Kun]

lol when Kana said that line I was like "OOHH!"
then Filicia replies in kind and I'm like "OOOHHH!"
then Kureha joins in and I'm like "OOOOOOHHHHHH!"
then Noel joins in and I'm "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH!"

.....then couple seconds laer I come crashing back down to earth cause the old grey cells finally start working again and I realize what it's all about.....haha well only part that caught me out was Kana's line that seemed to come out of nowhere but then with the rest it fell into place.

Well lady luck is on Filicia side thats for sure, she's thrown clear of tank and pretty much untouched when the chances of that happening considering it was hit where she was are just so small.

Any chance a big dragon was discovered underground by some little kid when he's visiting his mother at work?

[Solace]

Originally Posted by Bonta Kun

Any chance a big dragon was discovered underground by some little kid when he's visiting his mother at work?

On a serious note, fantastic episode. I'm happy they didn't pull punches with the flashbacks, they were much grittier than I expected and just as revealing as they were cryptic.

Originally Posted by NinjaYali

I'm still wondering if her fear of lightning is just there of if it was due to some traumatising war experience.

As someone who had the experience of being very close to a lightning bolt when it hit the ground (it doesn't quite work like that but it's easier to explain it that way), it's a terrifying experience. Lightning is an incredible amount of raw power. Thunder is the sound of the atmosphere tearing from the force. Combine the two and it's like watching something explode in front of you.

Loud noises still get to me because of that experience, I don't even like fireworks much anymore. I'd imagine that her fear, even if she had it before she fought in combat, was only worsened by being in combat.

[Bikerider]

I'm noticing that there are NO RADIOs. There are telephones on wires. That's about it.

[Vexx]

Aye.. its possible there are atmospheric effects that make radio useless. Try using AM radio in a thunderstorm - now imagine ionosphere or even Van Allen belt storms. Its possible radio would have been abandoned if early versions had failed to be reliable. Telephones with wires are also hard to intercept.

The series is both pleasant to watch and an interesting puzzle (assuming they aren't just totally winging it).