Alright, episode 5! A bit on the tamer side but stock full of grand ideas.
It seems like Julian Minci has fit into Yang’s life quite perfectly, taking care of all the housework and making sure Yang isn’t oversleeping and such. The episode reveals that he’s an orphan sent to Yang by Cazerne, and I’m not sure how legal it is to just send orphaned children for your buddies to raise, but it seems to be working out alright for Yang. His design looked extremely childish when they were originally released, but I’m glad to see that he’s voiced well and seems mature. Would’ve broken a brick if his voice as like Asta’s from Black Clover or something.
The speech by Job Trunicht sets the initial footstone for a
sue that’ll likely be very important in the rest of the adaptation. Yang refuses to respect Trunicht’s encouragement of patriotism and war because politicians like Trunicht are sending men to die, yet refusing to do the same. To Yang, it’s hypocrisy. It’s as outrageous to Jessica as well, who speaks out against the assembly. Super ballsy of her to criticize the “patriotic” chairman in the midst of a memorial service, but Jean died at Astarte, she must be extremely angry.
The atmosphere of the assembly itself was quite scary, with the majority of the crowd mindlessly supporting Trunicht’s speech. The only dissenter is Yang himself, and he gets scolded by a nearby soldier. This connects to the Patriotic Knights, who act as a politically extreme group of activists that use violence against non patriotic citizens. I definitely didn’t expect a huge truck to come rushing at them on the highway, and it baffled me how such a truck could get away with that. Their “assault” on Yang’s home later was also quite chilling because it seems like something that could happen today. However, I don’t think tossing a hand grenade into someone’s home is the go to method of choice.
The use of the sprinklers to scare the Patriotic Knights away was amusing, but I was wondering why people armed with hand grenades would back away after being exposed to water. The head honcho got his helmet knocked off, and his identity was revealed, but he could’ve sent his henchmen in at the very least.
But the big surprise of the episode comes from the end during Yang’s conversation with Sydney Sithole. He’s being given the 13th fleet! Even if it’s just half the strength of a traditional fleet, it’s fair because they have Yang Wenli commanding them. I’m looking forward to the introduction of Isserlohn Fortress with great excitement as well! The episode showed a single shot of the famed stronghold, but we’ll likely get a boatload of action revolving all around it in the next. However, Yang should be wary of Sithole’s political ambitions, along with the possible actions of the Patriotic Knights.
This is perhaps Legend of the Galactic Heroes at its core, looming space battles on the horizon, powered from underneath by political maneuvers, and we get to see it all through the perspective of the little guy. Very excited for the coming episodes!
To provide a little context. The car chase was anime original but the house invasion was in the novel. Essentially Trunicht wants to scare Yang a bit to keep him in line and shut up, but wouldn’t go as far as killing him because of his high profile, and the fact his talent has always been watched and shielded by senior military generals like Sydney Sithole (he wouldn’t have been promoted to as high as he is at age of 29 even with El Facil taken into account). The fact cops didn’t show up in this affluent neighborhood (reserved for mid to senior level military staff) is already telling about political cover up, but it makes sense for the thugs not to linger too long. Trunicht still has competition within his party as well as opposition politicians to worry about, so he needs to mind his image.
Trunicht and Sithole don’t see eye to eye, but they reached a tacit agreement to appoint Yang to conquer the fortress – for Sithole it’s a matter of whether he can get a second term, for Trunicht, if Yang succeed, he also gets to claim credits as the Defense Secretary, if Yang losses, he has one fewer inconvenience to deal with, so he is ok with just giving Yang a warning shot.
The grenade was not military grade weapon, probably some kind of shock wave designed for damaging properties.
Thanks for the context. It’s been way too long since I’ve watched the original OVAs, and I’ve forgotten a large portion of the series. I was fairly confident the car scene wasn’t in the original, but my memory’s been so fuzzy, I’ve had a hard time determining what was, and what wasn’t in the OVAs, aside from major events.
Yeah, you’re probably right that the grenade wasn’t military grade. Since the military tech of the show should be advanced enough to have grenades that blow entire houses up, rather than just a portion of a room.
you can feel fascism and hypocrisy
In previous episode when Cazerne ask Yang to either get married or adapts a child from this program, he was giving Yang career advice to advance in the military. Since Yang isn’t getting married anytime soon, he got Julian as a ward.