“Then… just let me join you until I die!”
Impression
That was tense. I think we all knew that something had to happen for Takami to be replaced with Hikari – because initially, it was supposed to be Takami who joined the 502nd and Hikari was going to go to Suomus. Hikari isn’t supposed to be on the front lines, and that is a perfectly logical decision to make. It’s just like how Takami was more than correct in not letting Hikari join her in fighting the Neuroi that appeared this episode. Not only is she a war veteran who knows exactly how hard it is to go up against so many Neuroi – the person wanting to fight with her is her inexperienced sister who hasn’t even graduated from school. That sister has hidden talents, maybe, but as of now it’s indisputable that her combat ability currently ranges from little to none. But alas, Hikari is the protagonist and so Takami had to leave the spotlight somehow. In retrospect, my prediction about her losing her Witch powers and passing the mantle to Hikari would never have worked out for the purposes of this anime, because that’s just too long-term a prospect – Takami isn’t that old.
I am quite a fan of the route they’ve taken instead, though. By showing us what Takami can do in battle (Absolute Eye sounds like something from Kuroko) what this episode has achieved is to set the bar extremely high for Hikari. It’s like saying ‘this is the sort of person the 502nd wanted to join them’. And so this is what Hikari will have to aspire to much sooner and much more urgently than she ever would have thought – she has to fill shoes much bigger than hers on the front lines, and I think that’s a great story setup. The dynamic she’s built with the 502nd so far builds a foundation for some interesting development as well. Kanno seems to hate her guts, seemingly not so much because of Hikari as a person but for the sole reason that she’s not Takami. I’m actually hoping they eventually become best friends. Somehow.
I have to admit that I still overlap Yoshika and Hikari, which might be why I’m so surprised that everything hasn’t gone right for Hikari so far. It’s not a bad thing – I love surprises, and Hikari is also very cute. But it’s reinforced something I mentioned last week, which is that Hikari can’t pull miracles out of her panties like Yoshika did, because Hikari is not Yoshika. It’s still taking me some time to separate the two in my mind (not least of all because of their visual similarity) but I’m slowly getting there. When the Neuroi attacked, and Hikari decided to head out in her yellow Striker Unit to help Takami, I thought she’d save the day just like Yoshika did at the start of Strike Witches. And yet, Hikari’s Striker Unit was destroyed instantly. Even when she went out to intercept the Neuroi on her own, she didn’t suddenly get good at piloting the Chidori – she’s inexperienced and has no skills, and it shows. That was basically the main question for me in the second half of the episode – would Hikari save the day, or would she need to be saved? And it was the latter. As Kanno said, she was going to die. She managed to survive for a long time, but that’s it.
So what I think, and what I want is for this to be a story about improving through hard work, and also maybe making friends with cute girls. I’m looking forward to seeing Hikari grow with the 502nd – complete with fluid aerial choreography, intricate magic shields and panties everywhere.
I admit, I was hoping for Takami and Hikari to both make it into the 502nd. I wanted to see how things played out with a pair as close as the two of them in the same squad. But instead they’ve pretty much set this up so that she can’t return to duty until near the end of the season, at least. Takami can’t return to duty before Hikari has earned her own place in the 502nd, and given her starting point that is going to take basically the entire season. And that means I won’t get to see the two of them together. That makes me a sad Wanderer. 🙁
And Hikari remains Hikari. She doesn’t get the protagonist bonus to suddenly become skilled at flying when she was bottom of the class before. She doesn’t suddenly get huge amounts of magic when she was weak before. No, she’s at the bottom, and if she wants to move up from there she’s going to have to WORK for it. On the other hand, she’s not afraid to do just that. She’s determined as heck. She’s pushed herself to where she is so far by sheer stubborness, and nothing is going to make her back down: not her own lack of qualifications, not the risk of dying in battle, and not a belligerent little bulldog who’s upset that she isn’t her sister.
She’s a very different girl from our previous protagonist, and I like it.
As nice as it would be to have both Takami and Hikari in the 502nd, it might have stunted Hikari’s growth too much. The 502nd wanted Takami, and the two of them would always end up being viewed as ‘Takami and her sister’ instead of ‘Takami and Hikari’. Pushing Hikari out of her comfort zone would make the latter a more achievable goal especially within the time constraints of the anime.
It’ll be interesting to see how far she gets, as well as exactly how she gets that far. I don’t want her to develop some sort of hax quasi-Miyafuji ability, but surely there has to be something that sets her apart eventually other than her work ethic.
Brave Witches (and my first true World Witches experience) is off to a surprisingly satisfying and solid start I must say!
Really love how Hikari’s voice has a sense of enthusiasm and pride, yet self-control and humility. I don’t usually get that much from a voice, even from great voice actors, but hers just struck a chord with me. They’ve had time to iron out problems with presentation and such, so I’m hearing veteran fans say they’re taking a less “fanservicey” approach.
I almost always start my mornings with an episode of anime and had waited until 2 episodes of Brave Witches had deployed before engaging, but I found myself very satisfied with the first, enough to hold myself from blazing through the second so I could enjoy it at the best time. Even the OP and ED are a great time even though I’m not used to songs quite like them. I think I’m biased towards loving the ED for the focus on Hikari, she’s awesome.
In fact, I’m thinking she’ll be worthy of the song Hero by Brian the Sun, just like Midoriya! Can’t wait to see how her first figure turns out. I’m so happy it’s even in the works! Speaking of which, I never did know what the rune circles were for in the figures, but it was a real treat to learn all of a sudden that they serve as spell-shields.
As for her new “rival”, I think the author’s carefulness shows even with her. She might be antagonistic, but she avoided the pitfall of blaming Hikari for her sister’s current state and I hope that says as much about the character as I think it does. It’s just one of many mysteries this show has satisfyingly given me to think about it.
I love it! And it’s a real treat to watch alongside Izetta and Battlefield 1’s story 😀
I think there is a less fanservicey approach in the sense that it doesn’t seem to be as large a focus as it was in Strike Witches. They seem to want to depict an interesting story that doesn’t fall back on cliches and so maybe one of the aspects that accompanies that is a reduction in lewd things. Or maybe I’ve just gotten more used to it, or am no longer surprised by every girl in the series walking around in panties. It’s become as normal for them as it is for us, maybe?
I’m doing what you’re doing with Shuumatsu no Izetta – just stockpiling episodes and planning to burn through them at a future date. I prefer the OP however – I really like it, and that’s especially notable this season as it’s full of excellent OPs (Takkyuu Musume and Yuri on Ice being examples).
Kanno is cute! I’m not sure why, but I think her brashness and disapproval is adorable.