(L) Soukou no Strain (Strain: Strategic Armored Infantry)

[neverlife]

A though: what about the human MIMICs, as used by the other reasoners are they also a "full" brain and are they aware? (alive) It is previus stated that they shuld be "considered twins" Nice people !!Maimed, blind, the only contact with the outside the link with the "real twin" a real good life!!

[Valcion]

^I think in the 1st episode they explained that human mimics where created with the pilots' brain cells when they're into in the womb. So its not really living...maybe @.@

Apparently only brain cells at that stage can be used since the mimic can't be replaced if broken, so the pilots should treat their mimics as their twins.

[Sinestra]

Originally Posted by Valcion

^I think in the 1st episode they explained that human mimics where created with the pilots' brain cells when they're into in the womb. So its not really living...maybe @.@

Apparently only brain cells at that stage can be used since the mimic can't be replaced if broken, so the pilots should treat their mimics as their twins.

Thats pretty much right Valcion Which why pilots are so distraught if their mimics are destroyed, it means they can never be a Strain pilot again. Since the process in creating the Mimics can only be done while still in the womb


Just wanted to say its great to see over a thousand post in the Strain thread

[neverlife]

Yes this is a good show, allthough there are some realy creepy things going on, and I for one am not so sure who the " good" guys are. union in the beginning looked as the all over good guys but now....

[Guido]

Originally Posted by neverlife

Yes this is a good show, allthough there are some realy creepy things going on, and I for one am not so sure who the " good" guys are. union in the beginning looked as the all over good guys but now....

Well, after learning from Sara how the MIMIC technology was developed, and if they survive the last battle in episode 12, Glaiven and the other high officials from the Libertad may want to consider requesting their resign from military services.

Or requesting a warrant for arrest and trial against the higher-up authorities for holding the truth from them.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Guido

Well, after learning from Sara how the MIMIC technology was developed, and if they survive the last battle in episode 12, Glaiven and the other high officials from the Libertad may want to consider requesting their resign from military services.

Or requesting a warrant for arrest and trial against the higher-up authorities for holding the truth from them.

Or they could consider defecting as the union higher ups could order thier arrest and excution for treason once they realize the libertad found out the truth.

[Seska]

For the Union "bad guys"...

Where there is Light, there is also Darkness.

Mfg,
Seska

[Kaoru Chujo]

I would like to know: who are the Union and who are the Deague, how long have they been fighting, and why are they fighting? I don't think any of those questions have been addressed at all in this show. Maybe they haven't mattered up to now, since the show is really about a small group of protagonists, but now perhaps they begin to matter.

[Guido]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

I would like to know: who are the Union and who are the Deague, how long have they been fighting, and why are they fighting? I don't think any of those questions have been addressed at all in this show. Maybe they haven't mattered up to now, since the show is really about a small group of protagonists, but now perhaps they begin to matter.

The show at the start borrowed elements from the book A Little Princess but oriented to a sci-fi, drama story.

The show deals about Sara Werec's tribulations and sense of self-isolation as she struggles to confront her brother, Ralph Werec, on the opposite of the battlefield.

Spoiler:

For no apparent reason (that's why you must watch this anime from start to end, if you're interested), Ralph killed Sara's friends and fellow Reasoners during a raid to Grabella Academy. His motivation was to find and save a little girl confined inside a capsule hidden beneath the chambers of the academy.

The show never addresses with depth what were the causes that provoked the split movement of the human race into Deague and Union and nor it focuses on the overall context of the war.

The war between Union and Deague has been waged for countless centuries and no exact origin has been referenced as to when it started.

The only thing I know is that the Union and Deague are in a race attempt to develop the most advanced technologies to decimate the other.

The war is just there to remind viewers about the dark spectrum of human nature. Humans fight their fellow neighbors to the end for any number of reasons: survival, fear, hatred, coveting of their possessions, etc.

It doesn't matter at the end, because the storyline is addressed mainly upon Sara, Emily, and Ralph.

It's like if you watch Saikano, and also ask who caused the war, why are they fighting, for how long has the war been waged. But Saikano's true theme is about the budding, love story of a couple who is caught amidst the calamities of a world war crisis that has swept the planet, and to make matters freakier, the town where the story takes place is isolated from the rest of the world, and worse the girlfriend was made into th ultimate war weapon to deal with the invaders.

[Seska]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

how long have they been fighting, and why are they fighting?

This two questions has its answer in Episode 1. They are fighting over 10 or was it 100? Years now, and they forgotten the reason why.

(The Scene in the School, after the Pactrice run)

Mfg,
Seska

[Charles]

Just watched 12.

Spoiler:

Oh my, the way Emily jumped to Sara was pretty corny. But overall, it was an awesome episode even though I was expecting (wanted) a happy ending. The bullet shot & explosion was awesome, and I'm glad that they didn't forget about Sara's picture.

Seeing Sara's pose in her Strain at the end was the start of the dance: The Last Waltz.

[Guido]

Spoiler for Episode 12:

Ralph crashes the Deague ship onto the Libertad. The cruises did not explode right away, but remember that the self-destruct sequence of the Deague ship is still on and counting down.

Melchisidec, Carmichael, and bitch Medlock suit on space suits, and they go to infiltrate the Deague ship to stop the self-destruct mechanism.

All out horde of TUMORS overwhelming Gambee and Reasoners. Some of the little pesters manage to infiltrate the ship.

Human Emily returns to Sara's side. Seems that Ralph has been totally consumed by rage.

It's now girl Emily's turn to sit at the cockpit inside the RAMDASS Strain with Sara.

Cliffhanger: RAMDASS type Strain versus Gloire type Strain. End of episode.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Spoiler for ep12:

Corny? Maybe. But I loved it. Love and action. Elegant Strain movements. Grand Melchisidec and Dufarge staying aboard the Deague ship to pilot it away from the Libertad before it blew.

The animation of Emily's face in anguish could have been done better. She also did seem to switch allegiance rather quickly -- though it was understandable, since she now had direct access to a more equable human mind. And the amazing ability of the Strain pilots to destroy Tumors seems a bit much.

Nonaka Ai's longest speech yet. She describes herself as a "voice therapist." And she does have such beautiful tones.

As for next week, I don't want to see Ralph destroyed. I want to see him healed. But I think he will be destroyed, leaving Sara and the Emilies to wander the seashore on some planet or other, as in the ED animation. And I do want to see the Emilies' home planet. I thought Sara departed with just doll Emily in her copilot seat, but in the preview I see girl Emily sitting in her lap in the Strain.

[Deathkillz]

oh my O.o ep12 ~

Spoiler:

well all the above pretty much summerised what i have to say ~

i think its a shame that some gory bits were missed out on screen...like how Medlock gets ripped appart by her own TUMORS ~ but the sound alone is enough to make my skin crawl >.<

the battle was cool...a whole swarm of TUMORS that screams out WTF glad non of the strain pilots have died...yet

and just to say...its mean but i found that the random guy that got blasted with fire as the safety gate shut down was pretty funny XD

[Guppy]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

Spoiler for ep12:

Corny? Maybe. But I loved it. Love and action. Elegant Strain movements. Grand Melchisidec and Dufarge staying aboard the Deague ship to pilot it away from the Libertad before it blew.

Spoiler for ep. 12:

I'm with you on this one. It's a non-stop string of cliches, but I don't care. I'm seriously looking forward to the final episode - looks like they blew quite a bit of the show's budget on it...

Spoiler for ep12:

The animation of Emily's face in anguish could have been done better. She also did seem to switch allegiance rather quickly -- though it was understandable, since she now had direct access to a more equable human mind.

Spoiler for ep. 12:

Yeah. I did find myself wondering whether Emily had seriously opposed Ralph's course of action from the beginning - it just seemed like she didn't care that much until she met Sara and started to warm up to her. Considering that, Ralph's psychotic anger becomes almost understandable - he's gone this far for her, and now Emily's dumping him for greener pastures?

Spoiler for ep12:

As for next week, I don't want to see Ralph destroyed. I want to see him healed. But I think he will be destroyed, leaving Sara and the Emilies to wander the seashore on some planet or other, as in the ED animation.

Spoiler for ep. 13 speculation:

The trouble is, what would Ralph do then? He's not welcome in either Union or Deague space now, so he'd probably have to end up on Emily's homeworld. But Emily doesn't want to go back now - she'd rather stay with Sara. More importantly, it doesn't look like the Emilies can wave their hands and fix whatever it was they broke in Ralph's head... so it's sadly clear that Sara can't risk him racking up an even bigger body count while she and Emily try to restore him the long way.

Spoiler for ep12:

And I do want to see the Emilies' home planet. I thought Sara departed with just doll Emily in her copilot seat, but in the preview I see girl Emily sitting in her lap in the Strain.

Spoiler for ep. 12:

I'm positive Sara specifically left girl-Emily behind. We see her asking Becky and Dickon to look after her, and Emily lets go of Sara's hand after Sara promises to return.

I would almost think that girl-Emily in the previews was meant to be a spiritual metaphor for doll-Emily, except that in one of the clips she's clinging tightly to Sara as RAM-DASS boosts hard after Ralph's Gloire - not very spiritlike behaviour, that. I wonder if she uses her powers to gate into Sara's cockpit mid-battle somehow?

[Guido]

This episode is how writers put loads of effort and steam to build a proper climax with a bang.

The action was superb and top notch, and I just could not believe that everything went fast on a blink of an eye, however, I do feel both full and happy on how the twelfth episode unfold.

The use of the soundtrack became an essential ingredient to heighten those very stressful and poignant scenes where you could claim that a loss was inminent or a give away. The two most powerful scenes with the suspense tracks involved Sara and Ralph's confrontations:

Spoiler:

First, inside the docking bay of the Libertad.

The last one piloting their respective Strains while staring at each other for the chaos to ensue. By the way, an excellent choice of music score to set up the mood for a cliffhanger on that last closing shot; the two siblings about to duke it out one-on-one in the deep space.

I was able to actually understand several of the conversations despite the language barrier.

And these episode reminded me dearly of the glory of Vandread.

Spoiler:

The attack of the Tumors, infiltrating the Libertad and killing the crew pays tribute to a similar raid in Vandread first stage, episode 11 where the Earth's harvesters infiltrated a flagship inside and killed their crew for their skins.

The Tumors themselves pose a design similar to the cube-units from the Earth's Harvesters of Vandread.

I am just glad that they took their time and creating the perfect timing to animate, set up the environment, and construct the climax for the last battle to ONLY involve Ralph's suicide campaign against the Libertad, leaving out and aside the full war context between the Union and Deague. After all, the story inclined always on Sara heading towards Ralph as her final destination.

I say that Omniscient is right that no death toll happened, at least not to the main cast of characters, but several members of the crew (the fodder characters) either became mincemeat by the Tumors or on a bad timing were caught on during the explosions or falling debris.

Spoiler:

1. My third favorite moment came when Melchisidec and Dyufarge lead the Deague ship away from the Libertad and calmly informed the bridge that were expecting not to return, but at least to sacrifice themselves for the sakes of the lives those figthing.
Those two guys were just sitting calmly, as if it seemed where reminiscing old days, while waiting for the countdown to reach zero and kept their cool and good humor.
Dyufarge has been a mostly and overlooked character by me throughout the story, since he has always been shown at the bridge by Glaiven's side giving orders and talk. However, how he behaved in this episode to selflessly sacrifice his life along with Melchisidec, as his duty to protect his comrades in the Libertad, and taking easy his seemingly last moments made me to earn sympathy for him.

I did really not want for both of them to die, but thankfully Lotti's Strain breached through the hull of the Deague ship, and I think she was mad to them because wanted not witness any more deaths of precious comrades.

Since prior to the explosion of the ship, a Strain was shown flying away from the shuttle, then I am relieved to know that Lottie managed to rescue the two guys alive.

2. In regards to Emily's corny jump I think that scene would have worked out smoothly, if Ralph had shot Sara while Emily jumped at her to shield her, but having Dickon stepped between the girls and Ralph at the last moment to take the fatal shot, thus performing a last, heroic deed. Trust me, had the writers had chosen that scenario that whole scene would had been powerful and sympathetic.

Unfortunately, instead we have Ralph holding off the trigger during the lapse that Emily jumped right into Sara's arms, and Dickon did not move any muscle but laying rested, in spite of his injury.

3. I do not feel anything for Medlock. Throughout most of the anime, the bitch was portrayed more in getting off with Ralph, than taking any serious action (except when she escaped the ship along with Emily wearing nothing but a towel). Her death rang no bells on me, in fact, she lost any vestiges of sympathy from me when whined and went hysterical not wanting to die.
In comparison to Barlow's death, hers was the goriest, though it was not explicitly shown but the sound effects spook my imagination.

Can we assume that Ralph's is totally lost in the dark side? or there's any hope of redemption?

Spoiler:

From the previous confrontation inside the Libertad, Emily rejected Ralph and wished to stay there at Sara's side because she wants the deaths to stop.

Ralph verbally lashes out on her that she should hate and despise all of humans for what they did to her and her kind.

Sara counters to Ralph, that she also knows the truth as well about what both Emily's had been through and empathizes with the pain of both, however, she replies that what Ralph is doing is wrong.

Watching that Emily has strayed from him, Ralph vents all his hatred on Sara and makes her the focus of his grudge; not going to forgive her for having separated Emily from him.

I could hope for the best possible scenario that Ralph would regain his sanity and return to be the loving and gentle brother he was at the very start of episode one just before he dies. Prior to his death, he would stretch his arm and Sara hers on a last attempt by the siblings to reach and reunite with each other, and as just they barely touch hands, Ralph dies.

However, this is too a blissful and happy resolution for the demise of Ralph.

If you have paid attention for the whole anime, Sara lost the pendant that Ralph gave her as a depart present in episode two.

Ralph forgot the drawing that Sara gave to him as a depart memento when the ordeal ensued in episode eleven. During the Deague's ship last moments, the camera closed a shot on the drawing as the ship exploded, meaning that Sara's present to Ralph became lost as well.

The loss of those two items given as farewell presents to each sibling from the other to me signifies that Ralph's and Sara's last farewell will be quick and cut off.

They would not be able to reunite again and made peace with each other.

Sara will kill Ralph right on the spot with few or no reservations, and Ralph will die in grudge unable to be redeemed and to apologize to Sara.

That's the most factual life scenario that may follow, but I can keep my fingers crossed for Ralph to redeem himself, and both apologize and say his last farewell to Sara before his death.

[Shinji103]

Spoiler for Episode 12 :

Looks like I was right about a low body count for this episode. Heck, I half didn't believe it myself, but hey...

Spoiler for Episode 13:

At this point, I don't see any big body count next episode either, unless something totally random pops out at us. I doubt Lotti will just rush in and try to steal in on Sara and Ralph's fight (or at least I hope she won't ), if she does, she may end up dead. But aside from that, the only real candidates for possible dead-ness next episode are Sara and Ralph.

[Varisha]

Man, those tumors are cool！

Spoiler for episode 12:

Absolutely loved their infiltration of the Libertad. It was just sick, lol. And although I sort of sympathized with Medlock before, I can't help but feel she got what she deserved at the end, ripped apart by her own tumors for her own incompetence.

However, I can't help but feel that Ralph reeeaaally got the short end of the stick here. I mean, the loli-aliens were the ones that stripped away both his sanity and his health, and then Emily abandons him like that. You have to wonder why, if she didn't approve of what he was doing, she didn't mention something like that before? It's not like she can't talk. And presumable she doesn't mind what he did to save her from that facility in the first episode...

I hope the next episode's battle is glorious, whatever happens!

[Deathkillz]

Originally Posted by Shinji103

Spoiler for Episode 13:

At this point, I don't see any big body count next episode either, unless something totally random pops out at us. I doubt Lotti will just rush in and try to steal in on Sara and Ralph's fight (or at least I hope she won't ), if she does, she may end up dead. But aside from that, the only real candidates for possible dead-ness next episode are Sara and Ralph.

Spoiler:

actually i can see miss princess rushing in and give sara a handicap trying to save her ass ~ then by a twist of fate emily releases her powers and blow ralph to kingdom come

[Guido]

Originally Posted by Deathkillz

Spoiler:

actually i can see miss princess rushing in and give sara a handicap trying to save her ass ~ then by a twist of fate emily releases her powers and blow ralph to kingdom come

Spoiler:

But if she opens the Warp Star Gate, wouldn't she get sucked with Sara as well and both ending up in another space and time vortex?

Of course, we must not forget that there are two Emily- girl Emily and doll Emily.

Assuming that only with the brain still doll Emily is as well capable to initiate the Warp Star too, then the powers of the two Emily either could cancel each other out or rip apart the macrocosmos.