Recommended
This show makes a brilliant antiwar effort with some common antiwar depictions and some completely new angles on war and while it does so, it doesn't disregard war completely as the last resort for change, so big it can't be gained in any other way. Some quick information before I get completely into this review: I have not read the manga (EDIT: I have read the manga now and wrote a comparing review on the manga!) or light novel (yet), so I will rate this from the anime only perspective, while that is the case, I will talk about more than the anime when talking about thescope behind the anime. I will show the difference by talking about the 'story' (meaning the story in general) or 'show' (when talking about the anime only, without taking the bigger scope into consideration).
I do this for two reasons, for one the anime does a good job, but the scope is limited by the restraints of the medium and there are points in the story when this can be seen, and two, the story feels like the introduction and ends at the start of the parent story. The second point is not as bad as it may seem, because the story that is told is quite important and without this story any follow up wouldn't make sense, and the story even makes sense with the ending point at the start of the bigger story, but it should be clear that this is only a slice of this epic.
Finally, I can talk about the show.
The show begins slow and rather generic, with 5 young soldier candidates going on the journey to become officers in the army, but things go wrong fast.
Before I go to far we have to talk about the world. The world is quite unique. It is a low fantasy steampunk world. Every person seems to have a partner, a small spirit that seems to be semi autonomous and connected to the owner and is gifted with one element. So much about the world for now, I will dedicate a larger section to the world later because there is a lot more to explore.
It has to be said that all these more or less generic sounding happenings, from the typical 5 teenager group to some later school episodes at the military academy, are never as generic as they sound. The characters act more mature than expected from these kinds of stories, the problems that get thrown at this group are not softball problems, actions have serious consequences and death, intrigue, incompetent superiors are always around the corner.
What I like the most about this story is the fact that nothing seems to get forgotten. In war are not just lost lives, battle tactics, fights and injuries, but also psychological, logistical and political consequences. Even smaller things are not handwaved but explained. When the group meets a character that gathers books, I questioned if that even made sense in this world, but shortly after it is explained that the printing press was invented and books, while not cheap, are at the point to be affordable.
The general story is about the aforementioned group of young adults, but as they gain influence they get subordinates and with that more and more responsibilities.
Torway is a shy pretty boy and the expert gunner of the group. His philosophy is to stay as far away from the enemy as possible to minimize the risk of injury or death, but he is no coward and if he has to he will put his life on the line for his friends.
Matthew is slightly overweight and a jack of all trades. He has a decent tactical mind, is a decent leader, a decent fighter, and he can hold his own in basically every field. His pride could be seen as a weakness, but he usually keeps it in check so it doesn't get in the way in important moments.
Haroma is the soft-hearted healer of the group. She is shy it seems rather generic, but she proves tougher than most when required. She is not a fighter, but her work as a field medic is invaluable.
Now we get to the main character duo.
Yatori and Ikta are friends since childhood and complement each other perfectly.
Yatori is the strict sword master that keeps Iktas lecherous personality in check. She is disciplined to the max, but she can end up in a blood rage if her hand is forced. In these moments she is less 'soldier' and more 'force of nature', and she is also the source of the best fight animation in the show.
Ikta on the other hand is a laid back womanizer and the brilliant tactician of the group. He is the one that can take Yatori out of her blood rage and is, through his role as a tactician, often the linchpin of the story. His laziness makes him one of the least athletic members of the group and his escapades with women can lead to some complications along the way. While he is no pushover, a soldier is still a soldier, he often bites up more than he can chew in fights and needs Yatori to bail him out of fights that are not of the mind variety.
The last of the important characters is princess Chamille.
The princess is something special, she is five years younger than the group and is still a child, but she is already playing the political power game to an astonishing degree. She knows what she wants and what she doesn't want, and she knows how to reach her targets.
She is a fascinating character that often looms in the distance due to her status, while she still stays connected to the group, and she is one of the few characters that can surprise Ikta.
This is the core cast, but there are quite some more interesting characters we get to know over the course of the show.
Before I go into more specifics about the story I need to go back to the world itself, because the world is quite fascinating. The low magitech setting at the brink of the industrial revolution is quite interesting in itself, especially when we see how the spirit magic is used to enhance the specialized weapons or equipment. What makes this world even more interesting is the political and religious situation and thankfully we get quite a bit of information about those parts. Unfortunately the anime doesn't present this information quite as clear as I would've hoped for, but the information is there, you just need to decipher it.
The religions seem to be different in substance, but all are connected to the spirits as their focal point. Unfortunately that is as much as I got out of watching, because the presentation is quite chaotic and you would need multiple watches or the manga/novel to understand it better.
When it comes to the political situation things get really interesting, because at that point we as viewers realize that we see this world through the lens of the bad guys. Not that our crew of people are bad, but they fight for the Empire. The Empire is not the worst country to live in, depending on whom you ask, but it doesn't allow for a lot of freedoms and is eroded by corruption.
The Republic on the other hand seems a lot more free and friendly, but isn't without fault either. They take in refugees from the Empire, but also force military action and reaction from the Empire while scheming through elite forces, destabilizing the Empire through civil unrest.
Those two nations are not the only nations, but they are the biggest players on the world stage.
There is no real black and white here, but the Empire seems to be the worse option and the Empire is the angle us viewers are presented with.
There are also war rules or something similar to human rights in this world that include treatment of the spirit partners in addition to the humans. We never learn the full rules, but it is quite interesting that something universal like this exists and is honored (for the most part) in this world.
I already talked about the story quite a bit, so I will keep this short.
As we follow our group of young adults through this world, the stakes get naturally raised with every obstacle overcome. The only worry of the group at the start is their own survival, later subordinates also have to be accounted for until armies are on the line. This raising of the stakes feels natural and fits in incredible well with the story, characters and world.
The only problem is the typical problem of source based anime that you can sometimes feel that stuff got cut out for anime restraint reasons. It is not as distracting as in other works, but it makes me kind of curious about the source material.
Some quick words about the artistic side of things before we wrap this up.
The artstyle is serviceable, but nowhere near the artwork we can see on the cover of the light novel. The fights on the other hand look good or sometimes even incredible and there is not much more we could ask for in a TV series.
The music is on point, but not exceptional. Opening and Ending are fun to listen to and better than most.
One thing deserves special mention and that is the handling of the blood-lust scenes. The voices get drowned out and the audio meshing is very effective in delivering the feel and tone of the character involved. It may just be a small thing, but it is exceptional work for such a detail.
Overall I was very surprised how well written the source material must be to allow for that much detail in world building and characters. Especially if you expect an average light novel anime you might as well be very surprised by the depth and intricacies you might find in this show.
While the show has some usual light novel to animation conversion losses, which keeps it from being even better, it is still very enjoyable to watch and nearly for everyone. Just don't expect a kid friendly banter fest like other mediocre light novel adaptions.
