Valvrave the Liberator - General Anime Discussion

[shmaster]

*looks at the sketches.
Hoshino's art style changed yet again.

[articuzwolf]

Originally Posted by solidvanz

this uniform is far better than what we got in the anime

[ReddyRedWolf]

MJP protagonist characters Team Rabbit are more bearable because despite their circumstances they cope. Haruto is just called a monster by L-Elf ,whose is an enemy by the way and much more a monster in human form, can't cope with his change and gives his love the cold shoulder.

Team Rabbits has it more depressing stripped off their previous lives and memories and treated as disposable tools by the higher ups. All their quirks are just to fill the vacuum of their identity. Yet they endure despite being dubbed Team Fail Five.

Izuru can't let a single civilian or teammate die as it went against his hero ideal. Haruto did it for revenge, then it turns out he has no reason for revenge. He has no reason to be a pilot other than a deal with the devil.

[Haak]

Imo, I prefer the GKMP because there's more sentimentality involved in their struggles. The story puts a special down to earth focus on the fact that they're still just kids struggling to come to terms with their situations and it makes them more endearing. There's more of a genuine coming of age approach to the GKMP which isn't as apparently if at all in Valvrave. Valvrave seems to be more concerned with keeping up it's "what a twist!" and "Rule of Cool" moments. Despite both shows clearly coming from the same background, they're still extremely different. Which one you prefer largely depends on your tastes and interests. The narrative focus and other factors can also come into play too. GKMP is consistent in that it's chosen five characters from the start and stuck to them faithfully. Valvrave throws a whole load of characters each of which feels paper thin because of the quantity over quality approach but has given a reasonable focus on the main character, who unfortunately they ended up screwing up quite a bit, what with his outlandish new found power and his questionable cognitive abilities. Of course it has given a certain amount of focus on L-Elf which they'd done a decent job of throwing him into a complicated situation, if only they didn't have him ejaculating missiles out of nowhere every now and then.

[Folenfant]

Originally Posted by Haak

Imo, I prefer the GKMP because there's more sentimentality involved in their struggles. The story puts a special down to earth focus on the fact that they're still just kids struggling to come to terms with their situations and it makes them more endearing. There's more of a genuine coming of age approach to the GKMP which isn't as apparently if at all in Valvrave. Valvrave seems to be more concerned with keeping up it's "what a twist!" and "Rule of Cool" moments. Despite both shows clearly coming from the same background, they're still extremely different. Which one you prefer largely depends on your tastes and interests. The narrative focus and other factors can also come into play too. GKMP is consistent in that it's chosen five characters from the start and stuck to them faithfully. Valvrave throws a whole load of characters each of which feels paper thin because of the quantity over quality approach but has given a reasonable focus on the main character, who unfortunately they ended up screwing up quite a bit, what with his outlandish new found power and his questionable cognitive abilities. Of course it has given a certain amount of focus on L-Elf which they'd done a decent job of throwing him into a complicated situation, if only they didn't have him ejaculating missiles out of nowhere every now and then.

I think it also just wants to keep things on the go so that the excitement level keeps up. It's a thriller like that Btooom! show that aired a while back or this current seasons Attack on Titan. Admittedly this pace seems to throw a lot of people off and they tend to prefer things either slow down to a level they can keep up with and/or make the character development points more obvious. Not everyone can handle it as plot points tend to sometimes get a casual in the flow mention and then play out and it can sometimes leave people confused as to what's going on if they haven't been paying attention.

The show hasn't had a huge amount of obvious character development, but it has followed a deliberate arc that I can see in 3 episodes to date. Here's a summary for anybody that finds themselves a little lost in the midst of events:

1: JIOR is an isolated colony on the Dyson sphere which surrounds a star (I say a star because I read that it's an artificial star near Earth's orbit which the 2nd episode seems to confirm by showing a very much visible Earth as the Valvrave exits the colony) and apparently has resources stretched thin for the colonists. Dorssia a military nation apparently based on the old Prussian state (infamous for being a military state with a population where soldiers were the elite) leads an attack on the JIOR colony with it's crack squad of commandos led by L-Elf going in ahead to search for the target Valvrave which they seem to have advance knowledge of and hijack it. Meanwhile Haruto Tokishima and his friend Shoko run afoul of L-Elf and co. and both find that their ideals clash. Haruto seems to firmly believe in avoiding unnecessary conflict (or what he sees as unnecessary) while L-Elf believes life is a zero sum-game and one takes what they need to survive (the whole would you split an egg in half line) seemingly indicating that he comes from a harsh background, possibly a child soldier.

As L-Elf and co. manage to locate the Valvrave they call in their back up team of Waffe's to provid a suitable distraction and begin the attack which catches Haruto and co. and seemingly kills Shoko. Also during this time one of the scientists manages to send Valvrave to the surface so it doesn't fall into the hands of the invaders. Haruto seeing this and swearing revenge for Shoko gets inside and thinking back to what Shoko said about how he should assert himself more if he wants to succeed finally agrees to the mysterious terms of service the Valvrave proposes which leads it to prick him with something and apparently allows him to become able to pilot the unit which he uses to overwhelm the invading Waffe's with it's speed and the advantages it's humanoid form confers.

After this a student at the academy Akira Renboukouji uploads video of Valvrave's resistance and Haruto's presence inside the machine is made aware to the rest of the world and Haruto becomes a reluctant celebrity for his resistance. Afterwords he departs from the Valvrave only to seemingly be ambushed and killed by L-Elf and to rise from the dead and transfer into his body via a bite.

2:

As Dorssia continues the steps of it's occupating of JIOR by preparing to ship colonists off colony the rest of Haruto's student friends catch up to him as do L-Elf' who are about to secure the Valvrave when Haruto in L-Elf's body suddenly starts shooting at them and a stray bullet catches A-Drei in the eye enraging him at L-Elf's apparent betrayal. In the scrum the students manage to escape into a nearby underground access and Haruto explains to them what happened and how he's suddenly found himself in L-Elf's body. Saki one of the students who is apparently a famous idol on break seems tense and unsure and Haruto decides that he needs to continue to try and seek vengeance for Shouko and heads for the surface where he retakes the Valvrave from the scientists and wonders how he did all this and what is up with the body he is in to be capable of such a feat. At this time he also notes that his nearby body has healed entirely from seemingly fatal wounds and is shocked, but decides to take his body along with him into the Valvrave. Saki and another student Kyuuma who is an apparent motorcycle buff hijack a helicopter and Saki dives out of it and into the Valvrave where she insists she has to go with Haruto. She also insists that she be allowed to tie Haruto's body up and for him to do what he did to get into the body in the first place and sure enough the process is reversed and Haruto finds himself back in his own body in time to take the Valvrave and attack the invading fleet.

Valvrave proves ineffective against the massive carrier and it taking off causes it to fall into the colonies anti-gravity water docking station where it makes it's way outside and confronts a group of Waffes. Meanwhile the Dorssian commander Kain has been informed of L-Elf's betrayal and allows A-Drei and Q-Vier to take their heavy mobile weapons platform Ideal out to try to recapture the Valvrave and the suspected traitor. At first the Ideal clearly overwhelms the Valvrave but A-Drei is reluctant to deal the final blow, instead continuing to demand answers from L-Elf who he thinks is piloting the Valvave. Haruto points out to Saki that when the numbers on the Valvrave hit 100 the unit overheats and L-Elf who has woken up and despite initial surprise quickly deduces the situation and that he's been marked as a traitor yet is intrigued he can't remember anything and that Haruto of all people got the best of him.

Following his advice Haruto beats a retreat back in closer to the colony where he suddenly receives a phone call from Shoko who had dived into a nearby car which was buried in the rubble and tipped over from the explosion. Eager to get back to Shoko and finish their conversation from before the attack he notices that the Valvrave's heat meter has suddenly expanded to 666 and suddenly when it reaches the limit the unit starts glowing as the reactor appears to hit critical mass. Seemingly acting on it's own the Valvrave drives it's sword into it's core which appears to transfer the energy to it which it then discharges onto one of the Ideals severely damaging it and rendering it unable to fight. With a relief fleet from the JIOR allied ARUS entering the area the Dorssians decide to retreat for now and Saki hugs Haruto, appearing to be interested in him, but is rejected. Back inside the colony Haruto reunites with Shoko and his other friends, but finds events suddenly catching up to him and feels that because of all that's happened and his apparently developing abnormal abilities he doesn't have the right to confess to her at this stage.

3:

The current raid notice is lifted in light of ARUS arrival and the students emerge from their shelters, hiding spots and captivity to clean up and try to get back to their lives while many express hope that the worst is over. Shoko expresses doubt over Haruto's recent choices and his apparent mockery of her in front of everyone and Saki begins to wonder at just what their actual relationship is. L-Elf is captured and detained by ARUS for momentary interrogation but cryptically inform Haruto of something as he goes citing what seem to be specific events to look out for and saying the answer to his riddle is "Behind you". Haruto, Saki, Kyuuma and Aina meanwhile are being examined and Haruto's hopes of finding out what is happening are dashed when he fins out his blood and vital signs appear a while after healing from the blood test he suddenly attempts to bite Kyuuma just like he did to L-Elf in a seeming berserker fit before Saki slaps him out of it literally. She also warns Haruto not to just willingly agree with ARUS plans for him saying that they'll just make him a lab rat and adults never play fair indicating that she harbors some ill feelings towards authority figures.

Haruto carries out his meeting with the ARUS representative on the colony Senator Figaro who informs him that the situation is still grim with Dorssia simply needing to call it's main fleet from the sphere over in order to retake JIOR. He informs Haruto that the current ARUS fleet is not enough to stand up to Dorssia's main attack force and asks that Haruto use his new found celebrity status to rally public opinion around the Earth Sphere in JIOR/ARUS favor insisting that they are allies and that it'll help them to get the backing they need to protect JIOR from Dorssian aggression. However he insists that they retreat for now as they simply do not have the military power to fend off the second Dorssian wave of attack. Meanwhile L-Elf escapes using various methods of trickery (and honestly what looks like a lot of dumb luck) and manages to Macguyver up a bunch of traps and counter measures in order to fend off the ARUS foot and mecha contingent. The ARUS fleet decides to rush the evacuation L-Elf has indeed managed to make his way jus him he releases a smoke screen which catches the ship off guard causing it to crash into the dock and slow ARUS down (still not 100% sure how this works aside from ARUS ship pilot panicking). The evacuation effort is seemingly in jeopardy.

Meanwhile around the same time frame the students have been getting evacuated from the school yet again to be transferred off colony by ARUS ships in advance of the assumed Dorssian second wave and the student council president Takahi and vice president Satomi stay behind in order to assure that everyone is following protocol. Satomi expresses frustration that his sister Akira hasn't been accounted for yet and meanwhile Haruto is giving a propaganda speech to the student body having agreed to be a part of Figaro's plans for him in order to avoid appearing at odds with ARUS interets. Shoko says it's just like him to do that but doesn't seem to mind apparently hoping that the Haruto she knows is showing himself again. Following the speech Haruto decides to play out his part more and go search for any stragglers that might have been left behind. Inside he meets the apparent school tough guy Thunder who attacks Haruto in a fit of jealousy insisting that he hand over the Valvrave. At this time L-Elf finally fulfills his prophecy from the beginning of the episode appearing behind him and proposing that he and Haruto team up to bring revolution to Dorssia.

And that brings us about up date. Of course the show does all of the above with a wink and a nod as well as some comedic bits in-between where I'm sure YMMV. There are also a lot of mysteries about certain characters and plot points to date which I'll sort out by character and event:

Haruto: What exactly did the Valvrave do to him? How does he heal so quickly and how did he suddenly become able to pilot after he agreed to the contract. Where does his desire for playing it pacifist end and his will to protect his friends and JIOR begin exactly?

L-Elf: What is his background that made him into the Rambo like super soldier he is now? Who is this Liselotte he mentioned (is it the girl staring at the Dorssian flag in the ending) and why is he so detail oriented and obsessed with the idea of the zero sum game? What does he mean by liberating Dorssia?

Saki: Why does she hate authority figures and prefer to spend her time isolated from others? What did she mean when she said to Shoko's friend Aina that she's the only one there that treated her like a normal person? How does she appear to know so much about what is going on with Haruto? Was she in a similar situation?

ARUS: What are their real motives in helping JIOR? Do they just want their hands on the seemingly vastly advanced Valvrave or just to curry favor for helping JIOR and to keep public opinion on their side and against Dorssia for their military aggression?

Dorssia: What are their motives for wanting to take over JIOR? Is it just the Valvrave or do they also want new territory? Why does L-Elf feel that the current Dorssia needs to be liberated from it's government or military or otherwise?

Valvrave: Why is it so much more advanced than any other unit present at JIOR and who actually built it? What's the meaning of the 3 legged crow? What's the deal with the sexy OS mascot? What is the facility and why is Haruto's life apparently forfeit to it? What's the meaning of 666 and how exactly does it reveal the truth of the world?

So yeah I think a lot more has gone on and built up than some people give the show credit for it's just that because of the nature of the current story arc in being a back and forth between ARUS/JIOR and Dorssia being so fast paced and a singular ongoing conflict with some lulls it can get a little confusing and the events seem densely packed, but I don't see any signs of them being mismanaged. There's also a lot of build up of mysteries which will almost certainly be fodder for future episodes where things continue to expand beyond the current JIOR occupation conflict.

[kuromitsu]

Originally Posted by ReddyRedWolf

Izuru can't let a single civilian or teammate die as it went against his hero ideal. Haruto did it for revenge, then it turns out he has no reason for revenge. He has no reason to be a pilot other than a deal with the devil.

This, in itself, makes Valvrave more fun and interesting to me...

[LostSome]

Originally Posted by kuromitsu

This, in itself, makes Valvrave more fun and interesting to me...

And let`s not forget that another devil is looking to make a contract with Haruto.

Originally Posted by articuzwolf

this uniform is far better than what we got in the anime

Yeah, I like those better.

[bigdeath]

Originally Posted by MeisterBabylon

Both MJP and Valv are choked with elements of "I have seen this before!", but I still cannot explain why I enjoy MJP so much more than Valv.

Even OPs and EDs as they go, MJP's songs haunt you even though they are attached to a comedic series. Whereas TM/Nana's little work, while they sounded GREAT and NERDGASMING, once the novelty wore off... It became kinda meh. Especially when I realized the OP was actually all TM rev with Nana being the backup singer (I feel Mizuki's usual style of song was absent in Preserved Rose.)

Valv is still on the watch list for me because it still has merits and is a reasonable mecha series, but just not the "watch as soon as it comes out" list. This should give me enough episodes to watch should I decide to start skipping scenes because the "I have seen this before" feeling gets too strong.

Exact opposite reaction to me. After watching just 3 episodes I've dropped MJP. Don't care for its sense of humor or its characters (they annoy me, especially that red headed klutz Tamaki Irie). The fail five fail so much I dropped the show. LOL

On the other hand, Valvrave is a must watch ASAP. But I'm picky with my anime. Not to mention a big Code Geass fanboy so Valvrave's pacing is definitely to my liking.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by bigdeath

Exact opposite reaction to me. After watching just 3 episodes I've dropped MJP. Don't care for its sense of humor or its characters (they annoy me, especially that red headed klutz Tamaki Irie). The fail five fail so much I dropped the show. LOL

On the other hand, Valvrave is a must watch ASAP. But I'm picky with my anime. Not to mention a big Code Geass fanboy so Valvrave's pacing is definitely to my liking.

Well, the bolded words explain it clearly why you adore Valvrave so much and dropped Majestic Prince after the 3rd episode.

[zalem]

Originally Posted by bigdeath

Exact opposite reaction to me. After watching just 3 episodes I've dropped MJP. Don't care for its sense of humor or its characters (they annoy me, especially that red headed klutz Tamaki Irie). The fail five fail so much I dropped the show. LOL

On the other hand, Valvrave is a must watch ASAP. But I'm picky with my anime. Not to mention a big Code Geass fanboy so Valvrave's pacing is definitely to my liking.

I'm a huge CG fan, but to be honest I am enjoying Attack on Titan way more than both of these shows. MJP lost my interest after the first episode (I think I'll go and give it another shot though) and Valvrave is kind of missing something and feels generic at times. I don't particularly like Haruto. If it wasn't for L-Elf being thrown in there complicating things I would probably have dropped it. However, it's still really early and both these series will hopefully get better in time.

[Nvis]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

Well, the bolded words explain it clearly why you adore Valvrave so much and dropped Majestic Prince after the 3rd episode.

Only thing stopping me from dropping MJP is Kei. Her character intrigues me and I like her very unusual mecha.

[bigdeath]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

Well, the bolded words explain it clearly why you adore Valvrave so much and dropped Majestic Prince after the 3rd episode.

Its true. And I heard the same complaints about Code Geass while it was airing. Didn't effect my love for that show and it won't effect my view of Valvrave. I only hope it lives up to its potential.

I might watch the 4th episode of Majestic Prince but I doubt it will change my mind.

Speaking of Kei, shes the only one I like in that show. Not enough to keep watching though.

Besides, its not like I'm going on the Majestic Prince theard and posting why I dislike the show and will be dropping it.

[Folenfant]

Originally Posted by bigdeath

Its true. And I heard the same complaints about Code Geass while it was airing. Didn't effect my love for that show and it won't effect my view of Valvrave. I only hope it lives up to its potential.

I might watch the 4th episode of Majestic Prince but I doubt it will change my mind.

Speaking of Kei, shes the only one I like in that show. Not enough to keep watching though.

I think the thing was Kei is she stands out from that group by being the only one you never see acting like an idiot at any given point. The rest kind of feel like the type of characters you'd expect from a rom com yet Kei feels like she belongs as a soldier.

As for the uniforms am I the only one that likes the fancy bowties.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by bigdeath

I might watch the 4th episode of Majestic Prince but I doubt it will change my mind.

Oh, don’t worry. I’m not asking you to like MJP at all. Everybody has different taste. If you already said that MJP isn’t your thing, don’t torture yourself further with it. You can stick with Valverave while I enjoy both shows .

Originally Posted by Folenfant

I think the thing was Kei is she stands out from that group by being the only one you never see acting like an idiot at any given point. The rest kind of feel like the type of characters you'd expect from a rom com yet Kei feels like she belongs as a soldier.

They didn't get the name "Fail Five" for nothing, you know. And Kei is the cynical one out of the five which some people might find it compelling compared to the other four.

That said, let's drop this off-topic discussion before a mod warns us, shall we?

[bigdeath]

I did watch the episode and I still don't care for it. lol Ah well, I'm picky.

Back on topic: I wonder if the side characters will become more invovled in whatever revolution L-elf is plotting or if they will remain side characters.

[p-kun]

Back on topic, I would like to express my appreciation for the BGM in Valvrave . This season has a lot of great OSTs but Valvrave's still stands out.

[articuzwolf]

Valvrave BD and DVD is doing well considering it was just registered around last week

Originally Posted by p-kun

Back on topic, I would like to express my appreciation for the BGM in Valvrave . This season has a lot of great OSTs but Valvrave's still stands out.

which one in particular? nothing stuck on me in particular atm but maybe I just missed it

[MeggieMay]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

Oh, don’t worry. I’m not asking you to like MJP at all. Everybody has different taste. If you already said that MJP isn’t your thing, don’t torture yourself further with it. You can stick with Valverave while I enjoy both shows .

I find this to be a healthy outlook! We, the viewers, are very lucky this season to have three Mecha shows after a short drought of not having any. Of the three, Valverave and MJP are the most similar, IMO, and thus are the easiest to compare/contrast to each other (Gargantia is the third Mech but is doing something very different than Valerave and MJP are at this point) . Of course it's a double edge sword with compare/contrast in that some viewers feel it means one show must be better than the other but I don't feel that has to be the case. Viewers can watch either show or both and that doesn't mean one is better than the other. They're simply telling different stories for different audiences.

At this point I'm enjoying Valverave more than MJP but I don't think Valverave has really hit its stride yet. Since I wasn't a huge fan of Code Geass I don't think Valv's connection to that show is the what is the problem here. For me MJP is struggling to find itself and just want it wants to be, more than Valv is at this point. For me Valverave has a strong connection to the Gundam multiverse type of stories, where MJP has a stronger Super Robot/Super Sentai Sentai element in it than Gundamverse (MJP also keeps reminding me of Martian Successor Nadesco, if it wasn't a comedy, for some reason ). I'm hoping as both shows progress that the differences between them will become clearer and that will help both shows grow their own audiences.

As for watching MJP 4, I do want to say that there is a large info dump at the start of that episode and it is what helped me stick with the show another week. At this point I'm watching MJP week to week and may still drop it but if I do I also may come back and watch it later when it has more episodes because the show feels to me, at this point, like that might be part of it's problems. In other words it's a show more suited to watching several episodes at a time verse Valverave which is currently working well as something I can watch once a week and follow it reasonable well.

[creb]

lol

As I posted after last week's episode, I knew L-elf was going to be a "good guy", but I didn't think it was going to occur this early.

At least this gives us the chance to see him possibly shift from good guy to bad guy and back again (or a few times) prior to the climax.

[Hooves]

I think after seeing the Valvrave in action. L-elf decided to team up to start a revolution.