Quote:
Originally Posted by TigerII
Haha, lol. How long does the story last? Months, year, end of war?
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The story starts and ends in Winter 1941/42. I'd say about several weeks, hardly more. Authors reserved a lot of space for themselves both for prequels and sequels, that's for sure. :-)
And yeah, there are some hints about katana though it's never explained directly. The sword is said to be "legendary against the demons" which actually makes sense because there's a wealth of Japanese and Chinese mythological weaponry that is good against demons, but surprisingly few in Russian mythology (really, I can remember only one particular sword in the entire Russian mythology and even it doesn't fit the image perfectly because it was never used against demons, mostly against dragons and beasts). So at least the question "why katana" has been partially explained. As for "where the heck katana from", well, authors said they are going to explain it in manga and in later series. My personal guess is that Nadya inherited the blade from her parents because she would be too young to get the weapon herself in any reasonable setup (by the beginning of the GPW in 1941 she's only 14 and still training, so there's no way she could participate in Khalkhin-Gol or anywhere else).
The most hilarious aspect of the movie, from my POV of course, are the live action cut-ins which look exactly like ones from History Channel or any other historical TV program. They can be roughly divided into the following categories:
1. Historians providing general background and veteran interviews. Veterans are played by actors and look about 20 years younger than they should be but their interviews are about 95% authentic (and of course carefully selected to fit with the story). So you get an anime scene where Nadya on a white horse is riding into the rear, passing a group of soldiers, and then you see a live action cut-in with a veteran who is recalling how "you know, it was foggy and we were dead tired, and then suddenly a girl on a white horse appeared from the fog like a ghost or something".
2. "Historians" who are telling you crazy shit about the supposed "history" of this occult battle with a perfectly straight poker face. If you didn't know they're pulling your leg you'd have a hard time differentiating these from the previous bunch.
3. Psychologists, narcologists and the like, who explain the effects of certain anime events (being shell-shocked, being stuffed with sedatives in hospital) on Nadya character. These provide the viewer with the option to disbelieve the entire supernatural plot. Of course once you disbelieve the supernatural plot there's no plot remaining at all, but then it's viewer's choice whether he's going for a scenario or for hardcore realism. ;-)