10.24
I, in my position as a snooty stuck-up asshole critic, have a firm conviction that (with a few exceptions, I’m looking at you Master of Martial Hearts) every awful anime has at least one certifiably good episode, because eventually the writers have to cut the crap and just make a show. So far Valvrave had not yet demonstrated such a characteristic… until this week…. wow.
Oh hey he's immortal now...
We begin episode 15 with another time skip to the mysterious future year of GC 211 where Mystery Kid (aka Mayberu-Erufu) and his mother (aka oh hey its Saki) are having a chat on a golf course about the Holy Ones and the infamous curse of the Valvrave. Also present is, surprise!, Satomi Renbokoji, who as far as we know hasn’t grown fangs in the present day. We also learn that Akira is apparently little Eru-Erufu’s godmother, awwww isn’t that sweet? *gag*.
There's a man with a plan
Meanwhile, back in… how many years earlier I kinda forgot, our fearless band of dimwits have been tracked by the Dorssian military and are hiding in a series of caves. Happily L-Elf knows exactly where they are from his days in the Dorssian Military and has already hatched another brilliant foolproof plan which (this being Valvrave) will go horribly wrong again. In it, two Valvravers will sneak in undercover and infiltrate Dorssia’s military garrison sabotaging their weapons. For this important task, he has selected…. wait for it… Saki and Akira.
….
Ok, I can understand why you’d use Akira since nobody knows what she looks like, but seriously Saki is all over ads for an energy drink. What are you thinking L-elf?!? It doesn’t matter though since the two are space vampires and will use their hijack ability anyway. This is actually a brand new and incredibly disorienting experience for Akira who probably hasn’t noticed her canines had grown a couple inches in the past few months and makes for one of the best moment of the episode.
Recoil schmecoil
Also around are a pair of genetically modified CyberNewtype kids from the Flanaga-er… Karlstein Agency. If that name sounds familiar, its because that’s where L-Elf, R-Drei, Q-Vier and the rest where trained to be super soldiers for the Dorssian cause. Two nameless twelve year olds get knocked out by L-Elf (but not before one puts a bullet through Saki’s shoulder) and the operation continues as planned but not before R-Drei puts the squeeze on the hijacked pair.
And thus Eren Jaeger was born...
MEANWHILE… we have the growing issue of Marie. I haven’t written about Marie that much because there really wasn’t much to say. All she did last season, and indeed the start of this one, was magically appear to deliver punchlines to jokes. Last week though the writers finally decided to do something with her character by suddenly and without warning saying she has no memory of things that happened up until two years ago. Then they gave her suspicion about Haruto, after witnessing his miraculous recovery from a head wound suffered in the reentry battle. This week the mystery continues to deepen as it turns out that Pino the VVV-Tan not only recognizes her from at least five years prior, but is also incredibly chatty with her.
Me fail english? That's umpossible!
Naturally Marie wants answers as to what the hell is going on and grills Haruto over it. However it comes at a rather inopportune time as L-Elf has begun his strike of the Dorssia Garrison and Thunder and Kyuma are the only ones around to fight due to the delay. How do you solve a problem like Marie-ah?
Why shooting her point blank in the forehead of course! Ah… L-Elf, you continue to be my waifu this season. Naturally, Haruto is angry and whiny over the whole thing but quickly shuts up when, to noone’s surprise, Marie gets right back up even with a giant hole in the middle of her skull. Uh oh….
This week’s Valvrave was all about exploring the growing mystery that is the power of the Cursed Ones/Holy Spirits. In the first plot you have Akira who having spent all her time in her other closet is forced to learn about the Valvrave curse the hard way (to say the least, her reaction is the exact opposite of Saki’s in episode 6). In the other one, its the revelation that Marie not only has a deep connection to the VVV project, she is also possibly a holy spirit as well. On top of this you have some decent action featuring the frequently underused Kyuma and Thunder, who have their own familiars now, and the biggie…
Head's up!
This is possibly the first episode of Valvrave since… I can’t even remember anymore… where nobody acted like an utter idiot at any time during the course of events. Even Shoko’s little cameo in the first act has her doing some productive in building a fake Valvrave to fool Dorssia. I won’t hold my breath and say this is a positive trend considering how many times this show has kicked me in the balls since day one but its nice to have it happen just ONCE.
7/10 (Valvrave Slope Overloaded)