Kakumeiki Valvrave Episode 3: One-Man Army

“It seriously took them fifteen minutes to notice?”

Impression:
….
HOLY. SHIT.
SMOKES IS IT GOING TO BE THIS INTENSE EVERY WEEK? Not that I am complaining, I am LOVING IT. Man the action tonight, I think it was because I am so familiar with Gundam and Code Geass that my timing for covering my eyes were RIGHT ON TIME when L-Elf launched his counterattack Plan D7. I cannot believe how powerful L-Elf is. He is LITERALLY a One-Man Army, and that is what he is known for. He just wiped out and entire company of two-hundred men. That’s insane! If that isn’t crazy enough, he broke free just by using a shard of glass after he threw the screw from the chair to break the light bulb and attack the men attempting to interrogate him (and not a single fuck was given). Was it just me, but while his whole escape session was extremely badass it was also kind of scary to watch? It was terrifying seeing him in action. (Oh god I don’t even want to know what else that psychotic kid Q-vier can do- that kid scares the shit out of me!) Just wow. Basically you need to cover up his eyes, dangle him and maybe it MIGHT be a little bit safer when it comes down to handling him. Actually you know what- lets get straight to the point: He is definitely NOT human. Probably a paramilitary guy of some sort, hence part of the Special Forces. L-Elf also revealed to us and Haruto that he can see the future. He knew that he would break free, an “earthquake” would occur and a state of panic will occur at 3:15. The strangest, and most unexpected turn of events is that L-Elf is asking Haruto to make a contract with him. Now the first thing that most of us probably applied this to because a supernatural contract like Code Geass, not an actual one written on paper. The question now is what is this “Dorrisian Revolution” that L-Elf is talking about. It sounds awfully more like Britannia going out to take over the world, rather than “FREEDOM!!!!!”.
Haruto’s identity crisis is something that will definitely continue throughout this season. I don’t expect him to overcome it any time soon, I see it more of his key development for this stage. He knows that he is no longer human, and he called himself a Monster last week. Saki even described him as a Vampire when he was consumed by whatever flowing through his veins and tried to bite Kyuuma (using Bitchslap that was super-effective to snap him out of it). To make matters a bit more complicated, he has already obtained a title from the public and is known as “The Boy Who Fought the World” setting the expectations very high since the citizens of JIOR are showing him with gratitude and affection. I find it actually cool that the writers decided to make it match with L-Elf’s title of being the “One-Man Army”. Of course putting it into literal context it’s not the same, but on the surface it still applies to “One Man VS X”.
It was interesting to see Saki input on keeping it a secret from the adults about Haruto’s new abilities. While I do agree that he would most likely be used and treated as a lab-rat, it also showed us that she doesn’t trust adults. She also had thanked Aina for treating her as a normal person, which gives me the impression that she is most likely a heiress or her family is involved in the military or politics. The biggest twist of all (eh actually maybe it wouldn’t be so much of a twist if the majority of the fan base has this theory) would be that her family being connected to creating VALVRAVE in the first place- which could make things very interesting.
I also found that while Saki was quite discreet about her jealousy when she learned that Shouko and Haruto have been friends since childhood. However on Shouko’s side- while she never actually said it, you can sense that she is feeling distant from Haruto right now and probably knows that he is hiding something.
I was really scared for Shouko when she decided to run back into the school (I initially thought it was going to be a death trap) but once she found the tech-girl in her cave hacking her way into the ARUS military’s communications I knew it’d be okay. Honestly, it was probably one of the best decisions since god knows whether or not a stampeded will happen since the students who earlier that day thought they were safe and were just chilling are going to be completely thrown out of the loop.
So ARUS did force the Dorrsian Army out- at least on the school grounds as far as we’re concerned. They are attempting to evacuate the students probably because their once beloved homeland JIOR now belongs to the Dorrisian Military Federation. Well, with L-Elf blowing shit up and blocking their exit, they won’t be going anywhere.
I am glad that they are taking their sweet time explaining everything in pieces. Today they filled us in on what ARUS abbreviation represents: Altantic Ring United States and DORRSIA being Dorrisian Military Federation (I have to admit, I am really tempted to call them the Dorrsian Empire – I’m getting Code Geass feels)). I kind of wished they filled us in on the abbreviation for JIOR, but I am sure it will tell us sooner or later (or maybe it’s on the official website- not that I can read it unless it’s in English ahahaha/sobs).

The time period is Year 71 of the True Calendar, 70% of the human population is in space and the two powerhouses (as we already know) are ARUS (Altantic Ring United States)  and DORRSIA  followed by the growing neutral party lingering in the shadow, JIOR (originated – naturally- in the Pacific State, where Japan and all the others are). An quiet, third choice of a Nation for people to choose. I am still convinced (until proven otherwise) that what made JIOR blossom was their advanced technology and of course their secret “enchanted” mecha development.
You can really see the cultural influence of a neutral nation. The students had quickly calmed down and thought that they were all fine and dandy now that ARUS was there. I honestly can’t tell whether that’s a good thing or not- in my perspective, their nativity to the present circumstances isn’t very good. Because they have never experienced being targeted or dragged into wars before that they laugh it off and the next thing you know it’s not safe and panic ensues.
I have my eye on Senator Figaro. Politicians in these shows usually if not always have a propaganda, but I have to agree with his definition of “Losing a Battle”. He defines a true loss when the person fighting dies. There is always another opportunity fight if they are able to runaway/retreat. He had asked Haruto to join their team and says that JIOR is their alliance, but in all honesty- I am sure they want to get more information out of VALRAVE’s wild technology.
Now the preview is very interesting. I don’t know what’s going on, but VALVRAVE is going to be the ‘hostage’ which is a bit weird in a sense because you’d think that the school would be the hostage, and it might be. The strangest part of all is seeing L-Elf being surrounded by the students. Now we don’t know whether Haruto had bit him again (if it weren’t for Saki’s super-effective bitchslap, who knows what would have happened), he might- especially since his uhh…body is going haywire right now but it certainly doesn’t look like it- not with L-Elf’s smug look on his face.
Oh that’s right, I almost forgot. Last week people were very doubtful about whether L-Elf would be able to return to his home team, however this episode showed us (besides the OP which implied it) that L-Elf and A-Drei are very close, they probably have this brotherly bond. A-Drei isn’t completely convinced that L-Elf betrayed him, he is clinging to that thread of hope that there is a reason (and lucky for him, there is a LEGITIMATE REASON for his unintentional betrayal). L-Elf is an intelligent guy, being able to see the future and all- if it’s accurate and plays key events I am sure that if he knew that it would be absolutely hopeless to even try “redeeming” himself and proving his loyalty, he wouldn’t bother going through all this… well I can’t say trouble since he is just effortlessly tracked down Haruto. I wonder what happened to Thunder… uh Yamada. Knowing L-Elf he there’s a higher chance of him killing the guy, but I think he only knocked him out this time (punching him in the stomach or whatever- you know the classic way of getting someone to STFU or to push aside and not interrupt a fight in shounen series?).
MAN THIS SHOW GETS ME SO PUMPED UP! I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT WEEK!