Valvrave The Liberator

I think I am really starting to think that I may be a closet mecha fan. From time to time I will find myself picking to watch a mecha series despite each time I deny that I am a fan of such genres. True, that I have not watched epic mecha series like Gundam or Macross but over the years I have watched mecha themed animes from Linebarrels Of Iron to Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and even Code Geass. Each time, I was okay with the mecha battle and action. Heck, I guess it’s better than watching yaoi or hentai. Now my journey of mecha animes has brought me to yet another mecha series. This time, Valvrave The Liberator or also known in its original Japanese name, Kakumeki Valvrave. So does this really mean I am a mecha fan? Well, I still think I am not but I figure I do not dislike the genre as much as I did before. Maybe watching a whole lot of range of animes has broadened my perspective? Yeah. In time, I’ll be excepting yaoi and hentai too.

I’m not really sure nor do I remember why I picked this one up despite there were a handful of other mecha series similarly at that time. Maybe it was the characters? Sure, there are nice looking characters and some pretty girls here. Maybe it was the comedy factor? Sure, every anime has that ice breaking comic relief scene. Even the grimmest one would. Maybe it was the action? Sure, who wouldn’t love to see big robots punching, slicing, hammering and shooting whatever they have in hand with another giant robot. Maybe it was the interesting plot? Let’s see… In the distant future, men have the capability of living in space. However mankind can be divided into 2 factions: The westernized-like ARUS (Atlantic Ring United States) and the German/Russian-like Dorssia Military Pact Federation. However there are those that remain neutral and they belong to JIOR (Japan and Islands of Oceania Republic). And so you’ve guessed it. When a country remains neutral, there is temptation to seize it as their own for whatever nefarious plans. When a particular peaceful module of JIOR gets attacked by Dorssia, so happens that this school district module has to stand up on its 2 feet and defend itself. Yup. A boy who reluctantly becomes a hero. He and his mecha pilot to save the day and bring new order and hope to the people of JIOR. And then there are those dark secrets and conspiracy unveiled along the way. Typical. Unoriginal. But heck, when you have mecha power backing you up, you can’t complain, right?

Episode 1
As narrated, men continued to expand colonizing the universe. With the completion of Dyson Sphere, space colonization has accelerated that 70% of human population have left Earth. A group of transfer students enter the JIOR Sphere. But they seem to be Dorssian military in disguise as they slaughter the welcoming crew. Didn’t expect this to happen, do they? It’s more peaceful down at Sakimori High School because we see Haruto Tokishima in an eating contest with Shouko Sashinami to decide which clubs get to use the grounds. Haruto lost. And the loser gets blamed. In class, Shouko is puzzled why Haruto kept looking and her and pesters him to tell. Because she’s cute when she’s quiet. That wasn’t sarcasm. I think Shouko didn’t really get the picture because she thinks that he thinks she is uglier if she talks! In general, don’t men view women that way? But the most baffling thing was how Shouko confronted Haruto and bugged him about this right in the middle of class! It’s like nobody cared or give a damn! Where the hell is the teacher?! Later Haruto once again talks to Shouko regarding that eating contest. He didn’t like such competitive stuffs and would rather share the place. One of those Dorssian boys, L-elf Karlstein heard it and it seems he has a grudge with the word ‘half’. He confronts Haruto and tells him off about sharing. Should you share a girl’s love in half? Then he pushes him down and lectures him about people coming to beat the crap out of him but won’t fight back. Although the incident is blown over without anything serious, Shouko is upset about it. But Haruto is okay and thanks her for worrying. Then it’s like suddenly he isn’t timid anymore because he wants to tell her something. Shouko is the one who flusters and needs time to prepare herself. I guess they took too long because something just crashed in. That’s because the Dorssian forces have invaded JIOR. The place soon turns into a battlefield and the citizens panicking and hiding for cover.

The Dorssian transfer students hack their way into a secret underground lab in the school and kill all the scientists. Before L-elf could take the Valvrave mecha, one of the scientists ejects the robot to the surface. Oh, how convenient. Just where Haruto and friends are. Shouko wanted to help somebody stuck in a car but the beam blew the place up. Haruto becomes devastated. No time for hide and seek. When reality hits him, he becomes enraged. He wants revenge. Conveniently he climbs into Valvrave and it’s like as though he knows how to pilot this thing and activates it. Or it could just be he is hitting the buttons randomly. But it won’t budge. The Dorssian forces try to force Haruto out. Just before he could give up, his thoughts are filled with L-elf’s words and Shouko. Then he sees the option on the screen to abandon his humanity. What the hell. Go for it! He gets injected in the neck and it’s like some sort of auto check-up is done on him. Valvrave is activated 100%. Now Haruto is like a natural piloting Valvrave as he crushes all the Dorssian forces. Too fast. Too bright. Too powerful. You’re all f*cked. Once it’s over, everybody is singing praises of it! The cyber space is filled with such comments. They can’t stop the commenting. Apparently somebody uploaded Valvrave kicking Dorssian ass onto the internet. Some in surprise, some with questions, some want to be his friend, some think he’s cute. But I guess Haruto is the only one who isn’t jumping with joy. Shouko… When he climbs out of Valvrave, he is approached by L-elf. He suddenly believes what he said earlier about competition. That’s the least of his problem because L-elf stabs his heart! Then shoots him several times! Just when he thought he had won, Haruto springs back to life and bites his neck like a vampire! Wait a minute. Vampire and mecha combo?

Episode 2
Haruto’s friends, Saki Rukino, Kyuuma Inuzuka and Aina Sakurai arrive on scene and are devastated to see blood all over him. The Dorssian students tell them to get away from Valvrave. They are surprised when L-elf points his gun at them and fires at A-drei, blinding his left eye. While Haruto’s friends escape to a nearby shelter, the rest of the Dorssian students, H-neun, X-eins and Q-vier fire back. L-elf runs into the shelter. The friends wonder why he is helping them. L-elf says he is Haruto and doesn’t know how he ended up in this body. Could it be the bite? They believe in him since Haruto has a bad losing streak in rock-scissors-paper. But Haruto wants to go back out and reclaim Valvrave and kill those Dorssian bastards. Revenge is still on his mind. Meanwhile Dorssia has taken over JIOR who have surrendered unconditionally. They will now be under Dorssia’s territory and the citizens are being deported. X-eins reports to his commander of their successful takeover and also L-elf’s betrayal. Haruto didn’t bat an eyelid in killing some low Dorssian army and the scientists examining Valvrave. All is fair in war. He is surprised to see his own body and all the wounds healed. As Dorssia begins to counter attack, Saki enters Valvrave with him. She wants to test out a theory. First she ties Haruto up and then has him bite his own body. Instantly, Haruto is back in his original body and L-elf awakens, surprised at the turn of events. Haruto starts up Valvrave but it looks like an amateur piloting this mecha. Somehow Haruto pilots out into space. More enemies show up. Is surrender an option? Now he pilots like a pro and slashes them all. I think it must be revenge. A-drei despite injured goes into battle mode. Revenge too?

A-drei fires all he’s got at Valvrave. It suddenly stops. L-elf has broken free of his bind and takes Saki as hostage. He is demanding answers from Haruto because A-drei just labelled him a traitor for shooting him. He doesn’t remember what happened and was sure he killed Haruto. Haruto then receives a call from Shouko. She’s still alive buried underground with teacher Takumi Kibukawa. You should hear the relief in his voice. He promises to get back alive and to meet her. Because he wants to continue that discussion. With renewed hope, Haruto is just as motivated but he can’t do anything much because he notices if the heat capacity reaches 100, it will overheat and Valvrave will stop functioning. But L-elf has noticed something in its numbers and other data so I don’t really understand about his explanation when that number reaches the weird 666. That, plus his newfound determination to live, Valvrave literally goes on fire. Well, it seems like it or it could be very bright lights. Then it does hara-kiri and unleashes a powerful blast that disables A-drei’s mighty mecha. Dorssia is utmost surprised with this super blast. They are forced to retreat when ARUS forces arrive. L-elf continues to demand Haruto for answers. He accuses this monster to behind everything that has happened. Haruto looks extremely shocked. When Haruto lands back in JIOR, L-elf is taken into custody. The discussion continues. I suppose he got cold feet in wanting to confess so he tells her all he wanted to say how lame her shirt was. Lame. Can you blame Shouko for getting real upset? Yeah. That shirt was limited edition too. Kyuuma wonders why Haruto did that. Because he has turned into a monster, he has no feelings. If so, why is he breaking down and crying so badly?

Episode 3
L-elf is under interrogation. When Haruto mentions L-elf’s name, the interrogators quickly point their gun at the Dorssian and tell him to up on his feet. L-elf hints a loud speaker, earthquake, panic, 3:14 and the answer will be behind him. The ARUS army arrives and JIOR residents welcome them. Like heroes, huh? But not as much applause when they see Haruto. He’s the real hero. The real star. Yeah. Even girls want to give him their mail address. Lucky bastard. Haruto then analyzes his blood in the lab. Seems normal. But something else is abnormal. The cut on his finger heals immediately. Do you think he should go see a doctor? Saki doesn’t want him to because he’ll be treated like a lab rat then. Suddenly Haruto’s blood starts acting up. He then turns into a vampire and tries to bite Inuzuka’s neck. After all that pushing and resisting, Saki’s slap is the only thing that snapped him out? So what just happened? Before they can think about it, Haruto is brought to meet Senator Figaro, a politician from ARUS. He shows him the website which his heroic deeds were uploaded by young hacker girl, Akira (using an alias named Rainbow). There are many comments wondering about Haruto’s whereabouts so he is advised to reply and let them know. The moment he does so, the web is flooded with all sorts of comments and praise. Even celebrities and top athletics are rooting for this guy. They love him. How does it feel to be a hero? But why isn’t Haruto smiling? Figaro says he is their only hope for JIOR. Haruto understands that as they want him to fight. On the contrary, Figaro wants him to run. What Haruto defeated is just a fraction of Dorssia. He views running away is not the same as losing. You die when you lose but as long as you survive, you win. Meanwhile those interrogators and guards must be slacking because they didn’t even notice L-elf unscrewing a screw on the chair he is sitting on. Then he tosses it up to break the only light in the room. Lights out. He takes the broken glass shreds and cut himself free, cuts all the useless people and slaughters the rest without mercy by ‘borrowing’ their machine gun. They never saw that coming. Now to initiate the next phase in plan.

A-drei and the rest return to Dorssia’s main fleet. They meet Commander Cain Dressel and are honoured to participate in the reconquest. A-drei is still reeling from L-elf’s betrayal but Cain understands this friendship thingy. Haruto helps the students evacuate. The loudspeaker in his hand just reminded him of L-elf’s words. At that time, warning has been sent to ARUS soldiers around the campus of an escaped Dorssian prisoner. 15 minutes later. Even L-elf feels disappointed. He doesn’t care how big ARUS army is or being seen. Because he pulls off this cool manoeuvre as he skydives down and the floors behind him go boom. He checks his own physical and mental capacities and deems them as what they should be. He deduces Haruto is the irregularity. Meanwhile Haruto is checking around if there are other students left behind in the building. Then this delinquent guy, Raizou “Thunder” Yamada confronts him and wants him to hand over Valvrave. He wants to avenge his friend and isn’t going to listen to Haruto’s crap or let him hog all the glory. Well, at least there is one guy who doesn’t view him a hero like the rest. Shouko thinks she saw somebody still in the building and goes to check it out. It leads her to Akira’s room and looks like she is still hacking unaware of Shouko’s presence. The big ship to evacuate the students hits a snag. Some smoke surprise attack causes it to be stuck. There’s your earthquake. When the students realize they won’t be getting out soon, panic starts to rear its ugly head. What’s next on the agenda? Oh, look at the time. It’s 3:14. And the last prophecy comes true. Haruto looks behind to see his answer: L-elf! After taking out Yamada, he wants Haruto to form a contract with him. They will bring revolution to Dorssia.

Episode 4
Those ARUS guys are in a meeting. Their plan is to defend the borders from Dorssia until they can get their hands on JIOR’s secret weapon, in which they will declare war with them. Everybody votes in approval. None objects. Akira starts throwing her stuffs for Shouko to get out. She starts shivering in fear and doesn’t want her to tell others about her existence. Haruto rejects L-elf’s offer since he is the enemy. He tells him his words are prophecies and knows that he must form a contract because he has got no other choice. He will help save this school and his girl. Haruto thought of using Valvrave but L-elf shoots it down. The contract is the only way. Haruto is bent on using his cursed power to protect others so L-elf replies he has to stain his hands to do so. In the event if Haruto decides to form the contract, do the peace sign to him. Haruto returns to Figaro and the rest of the ARUS troops inspecting Valvrave. Haruto tells them to get away from Valvrave since it is cursed. It goes unheeded. When one of them enters the cockpit, the programme views him as a mistake. He gets injected and his body blows up!!! The place is under attack by Dorssia. Figaro panics since he thought it wasn’t supposed to happen so soon. He wants to evacuate and couldn’t care less about the students. This upsets Haruto that he lied. Well, you know politicians. Haruto tries to bite one of the solider but realizes it only works when it is directly to the skin. Figaro has Haruto secured and shall be taken back along with Valvrave for research. Figaro lies to the student about the ‘earthquake’ as some maintenance work and assures their evacuation. Akira and Shouko heard his lies via intercepted transmission and know he is lying to the students. She calls Haruto but he is tied up to pick up. The soldier ends the call. When Inuzuka finds Shouko, she tells him they’re in big trouble.

Satomi Renbokouji, the student council president initiates an emergency meeting to hear Shouko out. However without proof, they can’t believe her and would rather believe ARUS. Shouko is in a bind because she cannot tell about Akira. She starts stripping herself in some twisted logic to show how pure she is. Okay, so they get the idea. We don’t get any Shouko fanservice. While the student council vice president Takahi Ninomya and other students distract the soldiers. Yuusuke Otamaya leads Shouko and Inuzuka inside some ventilation to where Haruto is held. The ventilation breaks and Shouko falls on the lone guard. This easy? Shouko realizes why Haruto didn’t pick up his handphone. Figaro is about to leave when Haruto tells them about ARUS’ lies. The students are worried. The hero can’t lie, right? Figaro then shows his true colours. He takes up a machine gun and fires at Yamada blocking the way! Just short of killing him. While the student panics, Haruto seizes Valvrave (after biting one of the guards). He regains order but the students’ joy is short-lived. Because L-elf announces every other module except this has been under Dorssia’s occupation. This means their families have been taken hostage. He does the peace sign, forcing Haruto to consider. While everybody is at a loss on what to do. Shouko comes up with a brilliant idea. She suggests to blackmail Dorssia back. Because if they harm their families, they will hand Valvrave to ARUS. She also forces Figaro and ARUS to work with them. Or else they’ll give Valvrave to Dorssia. Now either side cannot do anything will not act rashly. She shows the peace sign to Haruto. I’m sure he’ll gladly go with her on this one. Shouko has further plans. She wants this module to be declared independent and not rely on others. A bunch of kids running a ‘country’? Well, it sounds exciting so everybody votes for independence. Valvrave then goes up into space and surprises Dorssia by attacking the module. Actually, he is cutting and separating the module as part of their independence. L-elf starts laughing because he didn’t foresee this.

Episode 5
It’s been a week since the independence was declared. At least there is peace since ARUS and Dorssia aren’t making any rash moves. The kids are ruling the nation as their own. Yeah. No adult supervision. Like a dream come true to do anything they want’ eh? Especially Shouko who is having the most fun. Throwing items from the supermarket aisle and dancing in the sprinkler water. Probably fun time is over when they realize that somebody needs to maintain the electricity to power up the module. Yup. Blackout. Oddly, it starts snowing too. From what I understand, some electric over-current is causing the artificial atmosphere to malfunction and turning the season into winter. Since Otamaya is knowledgeable about machines, he is sent to fix it. But why is the button to restore everything in the most unreachable place? Ridiculous. Yamada has to let Otamaya hang on his hand while he tries to swing and push it. Better hurry because Yamada is bleeding. But he is willing to withstand the pain as he doesn’t want any more of his friends to die. I guess when things are not going your way, you blame others. The girls blame Shouko for pulling off that independent stint. Otherwise all this would never have happened. Starting to realize they can’t live on your own? Going to die? Saki tells them off that they too are partly to be blamed because they went along with it. The last we need now is a cat fight among themselves. Takahi is so bent on ‘disciplining’ Saki. They trade slaps. Everyone heaves big sigh of relieve when power comes back on. So now everything is okay? Haruto gets an idea from Shouko’s attempts to quell the situation via singing. He broadcasts to the other JIOR people to tell them that the kids are doing fine, a music video with Saki singing and everyone else dancing or doing silly stuffs that is worthy of being a YouTube video. I suppose the entire universe saw their broadcast. From ARUS to Dorssia but the people of JIOR are glad they are fine. Thanks to this stint, the Haruto donation fund initiated by Inuzuka soars from a paltry few thousands to 250 million and counting!!! Haruto and Saki go down deep underground and are surprised to see more Valvrave robots. Saki is impressed but Haruto doesn’t want anymore curses and monsters like him to be made. He hopes this can stay a secret between them. She agrees in exchange for them to be alone together. Is that a sign of confession? If that doesn’t convince you, Saki’s kiss will.

Episode 6
Actually Saki wants to be famous. That kiss? In harem sense, maybe. Ignoring Haruto’s advice, she then enters a Valvrave of her own and is willing to cast away her humanity to pilot it. She flies about and is thrilled with the newfound freedom. Haruto thought she shouldn’t have done that. What about the people she cares? Well, she doesn’t care. From her sob speech, she considers herself a loner with no family and friends. She wants to escape this horrible world. Like the nice guy Haruto is, he wants to do something for her (because she’s crying…). Saki hugs him. But it’s a ploy just to bite his neck. The only other adult in this independent module is Rion Nanami, a trainee teacher and she is forced to be made as JIOR’s representative. Takahi is looking for Saki but stumbles upon Haruto. To her surprise, Haruto starts flirting with her and even wanting to ‘seal her lips’. He puts a candy stick in her mouth instead. Little does she know, this is actually Saki fooling around in Haruto’s body. Having fun? L-elf has been observing them since and is surprised Saki is a compatible match for Valvrave. He concludes this entire school was part of the plan. Soon, rumours spread that Haruto and Saki are dating. There’s that ambiguous picture of them together. Fans of the idol aren’t happy. Plus, there’s this fake announcement that Haruto considers Saki her little sister. Hey, Haruto said he helped, right? That was what the kiss was for. Advance payment. Of course Shouko doesn’t believe all this crap. The girls almost tussle over him. Why is Saki so bent on becoming even more famous if she is already so popular? She’ll vanish unless she carves her existence into the world.

Dorssia makes a surprise attack. Don’t they care if JIOR gives Valvrave to ARUS? Well, not if they can snatch it first. Satomi tries to get Haruto but they are surprised to see another Valvrave and Saki piloting Carmilla (the name she gives for her Valvrave or else we’ll be wondering which Valvrave they’re referring to). Dorssia is caught by surprise as they didn’t know there is another Valvrave. Saki is having fun destroying the small fries. It’s like as if she’s a pro in controlling Carmilla. However play time is over when X-eins releases a flurry of missiles. As part of his analysis, Valvrave is a close range fighter so if they can keep the robot at a distance, their efficiency is reduced by half. Saki becomes scared and is paralyzed with fear. Not so fun anymore, huh? Haruto begins his assault but he too is limited to what he can do when kept at bay. Even the ARUS battleship is taken out in a flash. It was carrying Figaro. Goodbye senator. Shouko contacts Saki to tell her to calm down. Only she and Haruto can save them. Everybody in school is watching her so don’t screw up. Didn’t she say she wants to be famous? This was enough to get Saki going. She wants this clip to be broadcasted to the entire universe. With everyone cheering for her and the chat rooms filled with motivating messages, Saki goes on the offense with high speed agility. She will not let the world kill her. The world who wanted her dead (snippets of flashbacks regarding her untimely retirement from her idol career). She closes in on X-eins and destroys his ship (he escapes via pod). Dorssia orders a retreat. Once again, JIOR is saved. How does it feel to be the heroine? Cain is not fazed by this failure as he has another plan prepared. He leaves command of the fleet to his personal assistant, Kriemhild.

Episode 7
Haruto shows the rest the secret base filled with Valvraves. Satomi wants to put them under the property of the student council but Haruto disagrees. He can’t say about the humanity thing. Shouko knows he has his reasons and agrees to let the Valvraves be in Haruto’s care. Everyone votes for Haruto too. Welcome to democracy. More importantly, Kibukawa will need to have a look at the machines first before letting any other students in. Later Haruto confides in Inuzuka and Aina about losing one’s humanity when using Valvrave. Haruto may have saved many lives with this power but he feels like a monster. He doesn’t even know if he’s dead. Aina believes he is human and will always be their friend. Satomi is still reeling from that democratic vote when Takahi calls him. It’s like she’s luring him to kiss her but pulls out the last minute, feeling this is wrong. Can you understand women? Shouko, Saki and the rest of the girls are in a cooking class when L-elf barges in to give a manual to Shouko. He wants to turn this new JIOR into a military state to survive. She rejects. Since negotiations failed, with a click of the button, the place shuts down. L-elf announces he has taken over this place and everyone will surrender their lives for the glory of this nation. He has filled the place with bombs so be careful where you step. Yamada climbs up to the room and with Saki, they try to beat the crap out of him but were taken out instantly. Meanwhile Aina calls Haruto a holy spirit. Because he is like an immortal who can control others and pilot Valvrave. Only God can do that, right? Haruto likes that term as it’s much better than monster. L-elf summons Haruto and wants him to pilot Valvrave and form the core of the national defence force.

L-elf is going to remind Haruto about his naïve ideals again when they are suddenly attacked by A-drei. How did he get in? Anyway Haruto gets shot while L-elf escapes and then tricks A-drei with a blinding light. A-drei still cannot believe he betrayed them but L-elf doesn’t seem interested in correcting him. A-drei views L-elf as his right hand man however L-elf won’t be anybody’s right hand man and has already picked Haruto as that. A-drei is surprised Haruto is still alive. A-drei orders Q-vier to capture them but he blasts the entire place instead. Aina gets caught in it. L-elf opens the hatch and blows them out where Dorssia reinforcements are waiting. Saki gets into Carmilla to deal with the menace. However her movements are restricted via H-neun’s magnetic boomerangs. Scared all over again? L-elf sees Haruto’s leg pinned under the beam. Cutting it off would reduce his efficiency to pilot Valvrave and there is no time to lift it. He wants Haruto to bite him and take over his body although there is no guarantee L-elf’s body can pilot it. Even if he dies, it is a calculated risk he is willing to take. This is their only option with highest chance of success. He takes the bite. Before Saki is killed, here comes Valvrave and Haruto (in L-elf’s body). Thanks to L-elf’s predictions, Haruto is able to easily gun down important enemies, go head to head with H-neun (who loves melee combat) and destroy his magnetic boomerang gun to free Saki. The plan has failed so Dorssia retreats again. Inuzuka finds Haruto’s body and knows he has taken over somebody else. He calls Aina to help move the body away but to his horror, Aina’s corpse is floating about… Haruto notices a picture in his pocket. It is a picture of a girl, Liselotte. He couldn’t understand why he starts crying.

Episode 8
When L-elf was young and running away from the Dorssian army, he stumbled upon the princess of Dorssia, Liselotte. Desperate he took her hostage. When L-elf opens his eyes, he is tied up but he isn’t pushing the panic button yet. He tells everyone their country will fall in 6 hours. He is still waiting for Haruto to make a contract with him. Do it and he will save everyone. Meanwhile A-drei shows Cain pictures he got from the infiltration. There are several other Valvraves. Cain is impressed but also mentions he is stepping over his bounds for L-elf. This means this is A-drei’s last chance to bring him back and makes him in charge for the next mission. It’s gloom and pending doom for the JIOR students. Saki laments she is not strong enough. When word of Aina’s death gets around, everyone sinks into gloomsville. Inuzuka almost loses his cool, taking out on Haruto that he didn’t protect her despite he was there. Shouko sees Akira to free her (she was tied up prior to L-elf’s coup). Shouko breaks down. Satomi is surprised somebody else has found his little sister’s hideout. More importantly, she was with somebody else other than him. Inuzuka hounds Kibukawa to let him pilot a Valvrave while Yamada was just getting angry and wanting to fight to prevent more deaths. But don’t you think more fighting leads to more deaths? Oh, here come the Dorssian guys again. Haruto and Saki go into action but this is just a distraction as A-drei leads a small team through a backdoor into JIOR. This was how they got in the last time. They even hijack JIOR ships and fire warning shots, demanding them to surrender. Haruto and Saki are having it tough themselves. It’s those pesky boomerangs again but as X-eins calculated, they don’t need to do anything as the Valvraves will eventually run out of power and overheat.

Satomi becomes desperate and wants L-elf to make a plea to beg for his life and will use this as a bargaining chip. You think he’d stoop that low? Satomi even threatens to shoot him! And you thought Yamada was the one who is going to go berserk, eh? That’s when Haruto calls. He wants to make a contract with L-elf. As expected. However he wants L-elf to save everybody with no sacrifice. Deal. L-elf easily breaks out of his chains. It’s like as though he was just lying there pretending to be tied up. As he rushes through the battlefield, he tells Haruto and Saki to wait at certain coordinates and fire all they’ve got at a particular section. The cool seawater gushes out to freeze the boomerangs, cool down the machines and also make it impossible for A-drei’s team to stay in position. Their plan just fell in one swoop. L-elf also pilots a ship to buy time so Valvrave could power up and destroy all the Dorssian battleships in one strike. Like a whiplash. Too late to even think about retreating. Once again the day is saved. Everybody rejoices. Maybe except for Inuzuka. Because he was trying to rush to pilot a Valvrave but got shot in the shoulder by a couple of Dorssian guys. He had no choice but to stay hidden in the corner but L-elf zoomed past him killing those guys without even batting an eyelid. So yeah. Don’t you think it reinforces Inuzuka’s depression he couldn’t do anything? L-elf continues remembering his dream. Liselotte offers to give half her life so he could life. How can you split a life? To a woman, her hair is her life, right? She cuts a small portion and gives it to him. Cain is happily looking through the Valvrave photos and it seems he has that I-have-cast-away-my-humanity-to-pilot-Valvrave mark on his neck to.

Episode 9
There is an online memorial for Aina. It’s streaming with rest in peace comments. Haruto leaves all battle formation and tactics to L-elf because he has decided to trust him. His vampire instincts work up again but this time L-elf punches him out in the gut and notes how frequent it has become. The module is heading towards the moon where it is said to be a neutral place. In preparation for the next war, students undergo military training prepared by L-elf. They readily accept this as they have seen enough sacrifices. Yamada is caught for the fifth time trying to sneak into a Valvrave. Inuzuka thought this will be the key but L-elf could read his intention like a book. He tells him off about seeking vengeance via emotions. Because once a pilot is chosen for Valvrave, it cannot be swapped. What happens if a talentless guy like him becomes one? Avenging won’t bring back the dead. Wars are won by calm and effective machines. Inuzuka trains himself to speed assemble a rifle. Haruto and Shouko are worried about him since he is the hardest hit since Aina’s death. Were they dating? Dorssia returns with another attack. This time JIOR has setup several defensive barriers. Valvrave and Carmilla go into action and that’s when they instantly retreat. Of course it was just a decoy for a bigger fleet to surprise attack the module. What will they do? Valvraves have been completely cut off and not enough time to head back. At the same time, a blackout occurs. I guess the defensive barriers were sucking too much energy. I have a feeling L-elf has all this planned out because with no electricity, Yamada who is under arrest, escapes his cell.

Inuzuka sees Yamada trying to enter a Valvrave and tells him not to. However Yamada doesn’t give a crap about his whining because all he cares about is revenge. Screw everyone. Screw happiness. It made Inuzuka get sentimental about Aina. I’m sure Yamada isn’t interested about his so called ‘confession’ to her. He punches Yamada. He’s not going to fight for everyone but himself. And so Inuzuka willingly casts away his humanity to pilot the blue Valvrave and defend the module from a super cannon blast that could have well destroyed it. But can he handle this many Dorssian forces? Here comes Yamada to help out in his yellow Valvrave. He’s having a field day crushing Dorssians. Revenge never felt so good, eh? The fleet’s commodore orders the use of some main cannon that will even hit their allies. Desperate, isn’t he? L-elf contacts Inuzuka and tells him about the heavy siege artillery. The beam is fired and Inuzuka who was thinking about confessing to Aina if she was around suddenly sees visions of her. Is this her spirit trying to protect him? It gave Inuzuka the resolve to not only block but deflect the beam back and destroy the main ship. Cain orders their retreat. Operation failed yet again. Inuzuka and Yamada return like heroes. Everybody thinks they were so cool. Not exactly everybody. Haruto tries to beat up L-elf because he knows very well the first attack was just a diversion though L-elf claims they got into the machines themselves. Inuzuka is fine with it and wants to fight alongside Haruto. He also mentions he was ‘rejected’ by Aina. Because she doesn’t want him to ‘come to this other side’. Later L-elf confronts Kibukawa at the lab. He wants to know why all the teachers except Nanami were JIOR soldiers. Kibukawa adds that everyone else who worked in JIOR were soldiers because this entire module including the students were made for the Valvraves.

Episode 10
Kibukawa explains some rule that made JIOR unable to maintain a sizeable defence force and thus the creation of Valvraves that could eliminate an entire fleet. Also some explanation about Runes in which information particles are broken down into. In addition, Haruto’s Valvrave is the only unit that has this weird little interface programme and that hara-kiri sword move. Nanami announces that a representative is needed to represent JIOR once they reach the moon. She feels she is not the right person to do it and wants to hold an election to elect their very own Prime Minister. And so among the top running candidates include Satomi. Yeah. He’s looking every bit like a politician on campaign. Then there’s Yamada too. This badass dude is going for the top post? I suppose among the Valvrave quartet, somebody needs to be top to keep their secret a secret. Why not Haruto? No confidence in being a leader? And why the heck is Nanami participating too? I thought she didn’t want to be the representative? Just to show she can be trounced by somebody else? L-elf helps out to oversee the election. He’s a refugee so he can’t vote. Haruto and Takahi are alone in the elevator. She is wary of him when Haruto’s vampire instincts start to take over. Before he could rape her, Saki kicks his gut. They make excuse because Haruto is attracted by her beauty, etc. Haruto tells Saki about this problem getting more frequent and fears he will become some uncontrollable wild beast. If that happens, Saki will kill him. He agrees to that. Everyone wonders why Shouko hasn’t announced her candidacy. She feels she is not a good leader. But Otamaya’s gang would definitely support her since she rescued their stuffs several times. Then the rest misinterpret Shouko is announcing her candidacy but she keeps denying she is the woman suited for the job. Meanwhile Cain tells A-drei and co this is the last time they can attack JIOR. Once they reach the moon, it is a neutral place. Cain will also be heading into battle this time. Kriemhild catches H-neun looking for documents in a room.

Shouko is acting weird so her friend Marie Nobi wants Haruto to help her. At the shrine, he sees her watching a video that indicates her father the Prime Minister is missing and may be dead because the unconditional surrender was signed by the deputy. Haruto realizes she has been fighting a lonely war and knew it for a long time. He blames himself for not knowing. He wants to go bring him back. He’s not even his father so why? He can’t stand her in tears. Someone important to him is crying. If he doesn’t do something now, when will it be? Well… That sounded almost like a confession. It gave Shouko the motivation to run for Prime Minister. She makes it in time before the deadline. Thanks to Marie who has filled out the form on her behalf. Saki who saw the whole thing confronts Haruto about his ‘stupidity’. Love between them will never last because she is a human, he is a holy spirit. Suddenly his vampire instincts start up again. In the election hall, all the candidates give their final speech. Satomi sounds so like a politician. Shouko as the last one bursts into the scene and announces they should have a cultural festival when they get to the moon! Because the war delayed it and that they could even die tomorrow, all the more they should have it. Besides, this is the only time in their lives they get to be students. Then she starts naming all the interesting and exciting activities last year (and the specific person involved) and wants to experience them again this year. Dream big! Do something different! Oh yeah! Everyone is revved up and each one mentioning the dream they want to achieve too. Lastly, Shouko wants to confess to the person she loves once they reach the moon. And all those guys think they’re the one… Dream on. She wonders if Haruto would think she had done well. I don’t think he would because he is busy raping Saki!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY SH*T!!!!!!!!!! So is this really a curse? Once it’s over, Haruto probably doesn’t have any memories of the greatest sex ever. Oh, Shouko won the election.

Episode 11
In a military tribunal held in Dorssia, it seems JIOR’s ex-Prime Minister, Ryuuji Sashinami is being tried for misleading other nations by claiming neutrality and secretly developing weapons of mass destruction. Yamada has called his Valvrave Nobu Lightning (after his dead friend). Haruto feels guilty and calls Saki out to talk. She takes advantage of this. She won’t make him apologize and will be as long as she can with him. Even when Shouko calls his handphone, Saki hides it (he was busy making coffee for her – ironically he can handle a complex mecha robot but can’t operate a simple coffee machine). Shouko and the rest of her cabinet are in a group photo. They include Otamaya (Minister of Education and Science), Inuzuka (Finance), Satomi (Chief Cabinet Secretary), Takahi (Foreign Affairs), Marie (Internal Affairs) Nanami (Health and Welfare), Juuto Banshou (Transport) and Iori Kitagawa (Justice). Apparently Haruto and Saki are also part of it but they’re not here… Shouko gets a congratulatory note from Akira. She decides to speak with her real voice instead of typing it out. Spunky Shouko got carried away and hopes Akira could come see the outside world and make friends. However Akira remembers some trauma and screams crazily, smashing her keyboard. Satomi will go talk to her since she is his sister. But then… Dorssia attack! It is a much bigger fleet than before. As part of L-elf’s plan, he has the module run away. This is to break Dorssia’s formation and when they start chasing, they form a straight line. This is convenient for Haruto to power up his hara-kiri move and slash them in one strike. As Dorssia is hailing them, L-elf will accept their communications from the Prime Minister’s residence. Hey, you’ve got to look the part, right?

Shouko makes her first debut as Prime Minister as she gets in contact with Dorssia’s Rear Admiral Delius Wartenberg. Without wasting time, he shows Ryuuji in his hands. He has been found guilty and will be executed. Shouko reminds them about giving Valvraves to ARUS if they hurt their families. Delius is unfazed and wants Ryuuji’s execution prepared now. Shouko calls them a coward and Delius reminds her they are at war. Anything goes. Cowardice and justice means nothing before victory. They’ll do anything to obtain that. L-elf whispers they have located their position. It is in the middle, right in the path of Haruto’s hara-kiri blade. However if they don’t fire now, they’ll lose their only chance and everyone will die. Your decision, Prime Minister. Didn’t know her first decision would be so tough, eh? Delius makes a deal that if she hands over the Valvraves, he will transfer their friends and families. What about the other JIOR people? Don’t need to worry about them. They’re just strangers. Shouko still wants to save them. Ryuuji tries to talk to Shouko one last time. He tells her to move forward to the future. He gets beaten up by Delius’ men. Once Haruto has powered up, he unleashes hara-kiri blade and 74% of the enemy gets destroyed. Everyone rejoices except for Shouko in tears. Her dad died before her eyes. She feels she couldn’t do anything. Victory is only a brief reprieve. Because Cain’s little unit ambushes from below. I guess L-elf couldn’t predict everything. Then he sets up some drill that starts boring to the core above while the rest of his men begin the infiltration. Haruto wants to go back and fight (his Valvrave is unable to move after that awesome technique). When Saki tells him to go save Shouko, that guy suddenly returns into her cockpit. What gives? Do we have time for this? He wanted to say this after the battle. What is it? He wants to marry her! Gasp! Trying to take responsibility?

Episode 12
Saki of course rejects him with the reason that being an idol she cannot be tied to anyone, blah, blah, blah. They need to discuss this another time because the more time they waste, the more Dorssian forces will advance. As of now the drill is heading straight up to the school and releasing choking poisonous gas along the way. Haruto calls L-elf to meet up. Shouko doesn’t want L-elf to tell Haruto that he killed her father. Or else he will feel guilty over it and try to take responsibility possibly by marrying her. I’m guessing that is what will happen. Cain has captured Kibukawa and from his scars he knows what kind of soldier he is. He will interrogate him later and is going to attend a ‘graduation ceremony’. Satomi contacts Shouko to tell her to save Akira. He also reveals Akira was bullied as a kid, the reason she holes up there. Akira didn’t like her big mouth brother revealing everything and intercepts the communication, saying she likes it here, no baddies, there is clean justice and a world that only belongs to her. That proves she’s a bully victim, right? L-elf and Haruto plan some Trojan horse tactic but as they enter the chamber supposed to contain Valvrave, the students guarding it are dead and Cain is there. Like as though he has been waiting for them. Haruto is easily shot by Cain (but didn’t die). For once, there is somebody better than L-elf. Cain makes it looks like child’s play when he takes on struggling L-elf who can’t even find an opening. Eventually Haruto the wuss tries to hold back Cain because he believes L-elf can only stop this. I think Cain lets him go because A-drei is waiting for L-elf. Meanwhile the other Valvraves are in a tight spot. The Dorssian forces are trying to ‘iron’ them because when the machines overheat, they stop moving.

Akira doesn’t care about living or dying and she’ll do both alone. Shouko is upset she thought that way and lectures her about their friendship. Since when did they become friends? Ever since Shouko decided. She runs to reach Akira but hacker girl starts activating lots of obstacles along her path. Just when Akira’s heart softens, the drill zooms close to Shouko, knocking her out. Akira panics. Everything mechanical in that area has malfunctioned. The only way is to get out of her box and save her. Can she do it? It does bring back traumatic and horrific memories but her promise and friendship with Shouko is stronger. It took a lot of guts for Akira to burst out of her box and rush to Shouko. However a wall has collapsed and is blocking her path. Conveniently, another path opens and it leads her to a purple Valvrave. She doesn’t hesitate to resign herself as a human (she never viewed herself as one I suppose) and activates this Valvrave. Not only she manages to save Shouko, thanks to her hacking skills she is able to hack and stop the drill, make it go back down and control all the tiny Dorssian ships to take each other out. In that commotion, Haruto and L-elf free themselves and return to Valvrave. L-elf tells him to fire at defenceless Cain. He is a dangerous man so don’t go spouting crap about justice and all that. It’s for the greater future. Despite shooting Cain to death, amazingly he is able to dodge all that! Cain then activates himself to become a super human and flies to a room containing a Valvrave. He easily activates it and the little programme in this Valvrave and Haruto’s start resonating. They are surprised to see Cain’s Valvrave taking a form of a human. L-elf analyzes that since this unit was actually broken, only specially prepared students can pilot Valvraves and Cain was able to harness its light without any equipment proves that Cain is not human at all. What is he? He is Magius, a group of people controlling the world from the shadows.

Episode 13
The president of ARUS as well the Furher of Dorssia, Amadeus K. Dorssia are summoned before the Magius council. The Valvraves have brought the attention of the council and they didn’t like how Amadeus trespassed the domain of Magius and kept it secret from them. They reveal Cain has been a Magius for 10 years and will make Amadeus one. Yup. They bite his neck. Meanwhile Akira continues her fight outside by freeing the other Valvraves and hacking the Dorssian forces. Haruto also continues his fight with Cain but cannot overwhelm him. Cain then rips apart Haruto’s Valvrave and let their little programmes (Pino and Prue) to resonate. However the system overloads so Cain no choice has to pull back so as not to damage it further and retreat with the entire Dorssian forces. Two months down the road, JIOR has successfully planted itself on the moon. Haruto became a symbol of heroism against Dorssia while Saki’s song became the best seller that brings hope to others. But it’s not so rosy for Shouko and her cabinet members as she finds out how hard it is to negotiate with those ARUS blokes. In short, ARUS dominates. Inuzuka calls his Valvrave, Beast High. It is a name of an energy drink. They’re paying him to use that name. Money matters. Haruto agrees to subject himself to an experiment as the gaps between his fits are getting shorter. L-elf and Kibukawa conclude that it has something to do with the more he uses Valvrave. Saki is concerned about Haruto’s state. She is willing to let him rape do what he wants to her like last time since it eases his pain. Tempting, right? He won’t do it and runs away.

Satomi and some of the cabinet members are leaving to Earth in what L-elf calls as reconnaissance. It is to see if there are any countries against them and to display their willingness to use military force. Saki contacts L-elf that she lost Haruto. Suddenly all the Valvraves cannot start up. L-elf thinks they ran out of Runes. Thanks to the tracking device L-elf planted on Haruto, he manages to find him and explain the Valvraves have stopped functioning. Some brief explanation about Rune particles crap. Because Valvraves pack a lot of power and require extraordinary fuel which is no other than Runes, the source that is rich in them is humans. That’s why Haruto attacks people in his fit to ‘refuel’ Valvrave. He is not willing to do it and even thinks the idea of L-elf killing him is good. He won’t have to hurt anyone anymore. But when he thinks about his harem Saki and Shouko, he takes back what he said. Because if he dies, a new pilot will be chosen. He is going to shoulder the curse but will only attack L-elf. They will share this curse, hope and the entire deal 50-50. L-elf lets him bite his neck and all the Valvraves power up. Wow. You mean only Haruto can do this refuelling? Or is it L-elf is a person damn rich in Runes? Once the Valvraves and the module carrying Satomi and co leave the neutral zone, as expected Dorssian forces are waiting just to attack them. Part of the reconnaissance to Earth is to find the ones who created the Valvraves. Because Haruto wants to destroy them and end the curse. Cain shows Amadeus several ‘children’ of Valvrave.

Episode 14
Dorssia has been defeated again. Haruto and the rest try to get Akira who has shut herself inside her Valvrave. Satomi says it is useless to communicate with her. Anything they have to say goes through him first. Akira doesn’t like the sound of it and throws him away. When everyone else is sleeping, Akira tries to sneak out. She could have done better than covering her head with a cardboard box. But Marie discovers her. Marie considers Akira her friend not because Shouko told her to help keep an eye on her. The friend of her friend is also her friend. Geddit? Akira disconnects a call from Satomi. Marie wonders why she hates her brother so much. Because he never stood up for her but keeps talking about family. She only has bitter memories. Marie notes at least she has memories unlike her who doesn’t have any so she can’t even feel sad or anything. As the JIOR guys are preparing to take the port down to Earth, L-elf has Yamada and Inuzuka bite the necks of the officer to temporarily possess them so they can give the clearance to base and let JIOR go through. Satomi sees an incoming call and was too late to heed L-elf’s warning not to answer it. Turns out Dorssia was watching their frequency and since it matches, they launch an all-out attack. Satomi starts feeling guilty he is at fault while the Valvraves launch into action. However the Valvraves cannot stay in action long and must return to the shuttle since the re-entry will cause their machines to overheat unlike the Dorssian’s. They’re like sitting ducks now. Akira moves on her reflex to destroy that Dorssian pest but she overheats and is unable to move. Kibukawa has just finished creating a gadget called Familiar for Haruto to use. Not only it quickly cools his machine, it packs lots of power in a single punch. But Akira is still in danger from burning up and she has strayed too far from the shuttle. But L-elf is reluctant to leave the course and jeopardize the mission.

Flashback reveals Satomi was under immense pressure to do well in his entrance exam so he could fulfil his parents’ wish of becoming the top elite. Akira sympathized and wanted to do something. She hacked into the school’s system. Unfortunately she got caught and though she was very scared during interrogation, what scared her most was that Satomi despite saying he did not order her to do it, he doesn’t know why she is doing this. Akira’s heart sank. That was when her bullying began. To make things worse, Satomi ignored her pleas for help and pretended not to hear. Haruto steers towards Akira as he can’t abandon her. He uses Familiar on her but the system overloads and explodes in Haruto’s face! Akira hears her brother’s plea to go save her because if she dies, he will never make things right with her. She then starts hacking the ground control radio transmissions. The idea is to latch onto another shuttle during re-entry if they are to leave their course. Nobody can hear who is talking what in the cacophony except Satomi. He begs to L-elf to save Akira. Takahi supports him that if he doesn’t, he might lose 2 Valvraves and especially Haruto who is pivotal in his plan. They need Haruto, right? And so L-elf steers close enough for Akira (pulling Haruto) to get back into the shuttle. However it’s not a good landing. They crashed. Thankfully everyone is alright. Marie notices the wound on Haruto’s eye healed. L-elf notes they have strayed from their route and have landed in Dorssian territory.

Episode 15
When the Dorssian team arrive, no Valvraves or passengers. I guess it’s good they have landed in an area where there is no civilization and the canyons are able to hide those big robots. But transportation is their biggest problem. They need a ride to JIOR territory. L-elf suggests they use the enemy. How they’re going to do that. First, a reconnaissance team to spy. He wants Saki and Akira to follow him. Akira? Can this shut-in girl go out? Probably big brother sounded so whiny that she decides to do it. L-elf notes that her skill is important for this mission. Meanwhile back on the moon, fake Valvraves are made to deceive the enemy and buy time. I hope they don’t just make up of cardboards. Also, the ARUS guys learn that the JIOR party has crash landed. Due to some fake data, they pretend to take the bait and use the existence of Valvraves to pressure Dorssia. L-elf leads the girls through the narrow ways. He knows the place like the back of his hand because this is where he was made. They arrive at a canyon village. Saki sees a couple of kids. She tries to be friendly but the boy takes out his gun and shoots her! I guess he isn’t an idol fan. They then attack L-elf and even though he may seem like he is on the run, he is cool and have a plan. As he explains to us, this is no ordinary village. It is where kids are trained to become top agents. This was where he and the rest grew up. Eventually L-elf knocks out the kids. Saki is still alive because she is a holy spirit. L-elf hasn’t killed the kids because they will prove useful. He wants the girls to take over their bodies and lure the army to this hill where they will blow it up and bury them. In that confusion, Akira is to hijack a truck back to the rest. Back at the assembly, Saki (as the boy) reports she has sighted those JIOR people. The higher ups take the bait and will head there. But A-drei and Q-vier are also here to observe.

Meanwhile Marie enters Carmilla and tries to find out more information. She is surprised Pino is interacting with her. Even more surprising, it seems they have both met 5 years ago. Obviously Marie can’t remember since her memories only go as far as 2 years back. Haruto finds her and is surprised. Meanwhile L-elf’s plan begins as planned. Yamada and Inuzuka take out the flying base of Dorssia but unknown enemy fighter machines enter the fray. Yamada doesn’t care as long as he gets to kick some Dorssian butt. Unfortunately he doesn’t know the enemy’s strength. Their laser blasts away Nobu Lightning’s arm. When it is supposed to be Haruto’s cue, that guy is not around. That’s because he is confronting Marie. How come she gets to talk to the programme? Of course she too wants to know what Haruto is because she was damn sure his right eye was damaged and now it’s healed. Haruto probably would have started from the top explaining everything when Marie is suddenly shot in the forehead! OMG! L-elf saved us the trouble of a recap episode. Haha! Now stop the talking and get back to your position because the war has started. Anyway Haruto is upset he had to resort to violence just to prevent Haruto’s real identity from being leaked. Well, what do you know? Marie gets up. Could she also be…

Episode 16
Marie remembers she was a loner when she entered high school. Not because she didn’t want to. How can she get to know others if she didn’t even know herself. A-drei takes a look at the landscape and then orders a retreat. He knows this is part of L-elf’s plan and trying to bait them. Furthermore, this is like his home ground. Saki calls L-elf just to let him hear A-drei’s orders. L-elf is stunned that A-drei is part of this mission so he has to prematurely set off the bombs and take down at least half of the Dorssian forces. This means L-elf’s team is also caught in the ground collapse. Marie is somewhat saved thanks to Valvrave protecting her. In her haste, she gets inside it. L-elf tries to find out what Marie is but how can she when she doesn’t even have memories. Pino then answers it is because she used them. A-drei and Saki (still in the boy’s body) are separated from the rest of the force. A-drei does mouth to mouth CPR to revive the kid. He sees a familiar writing carved onto the rocks and starts laughing. It brings back memories. As part of his spy training then, he killed a friend. He was connected to the royalist, supporters of the old order. If this was found out, the entire team would have been held responsible for the crime. So A-drei killed him in secret to stay alive.

Pino explains to Marie that they met before Valvrave was developed. They were in a same place. Marie was a test pilot when Valvrave was in development phase. In order for Pino to operate, she ‘ate’ her memories. L-elf realizes that the riches human source for Runes comes from the memories. The more she ‘eats’ them, the more Marie loses her memories. Then suddenly, she can’t remember how she enrolled in this school or the entrance ceremony. Akira has hacked the system and relays information to her friends. Everyone is in dreaded situation. Yamada and Inuzuka are being attacked relentlessly by the Dorssian reinforcements. Satomi’s side has been captured by the Dorssian. Their only hope is Haruto and his Valvrave. So where the heck is he?! However Marie is reluctant to pilot Valvrave. Afraid she will lose more memories. Then she remembers Shouko’s words. They might not be able to get her past back but they can make more future memories. With that, Marie pilots Valvrave and begins her attack, using never seen before moves that astound everyone. Even more powerful than Haruto. Although her memories are eating away, she is confident she can make them again. L-elf picks up Haruto and says their plan is back on track. He tells him Marie is the original pilot of Valvrave. Once everyone hijacks a Dorssian transport and flies away, Marie has already forgotten everything. Who is Haruto? She is glad they are friends. Valvrave reaches 666 to enable the hara-kiri sword move. The most powerful slash ever destroys all the Dorssian forces in the vicinity. Marie is unconscious in the aftermath.

Episode 17
Marie is dead!!! L-elf, Haruto and Kibukawa ‘interrogate’ Pino. Although she does admit she ‘eats’ Runes in the form of memories, past and ultimately life force, she says she is not at fault as it is Valvrave who killed her. Isn’t that the same thing? She blames the humans who locked her in this programme and she became some sort of a Rune collector for Valvrave. Kibukawa knows she is telling the truth. Marie’s body showed abnormally low signs of red blood cells. Something that doesn’t happen to a person who is recently healthy. He also cautions Haruto since he too has shown such symptoms. He might end up like her if he continues to use Valvrave. Haruto wakes up from a nightmare that nobody remembers him. When the red alert is sounded, Haruto becomes clumsy in piloting Valvrave as Marie still haunts him. However it was just a test by L-elf to check to see if they’re ready. Or rather to see if Haruto is still of use. L-elf briefs the rest that the Dorssian royalists plan to support them as they want to take back control of their kingdom before the coup. However in exchange for the supplies, they have to take out an underwater submarine called Phantom. H-neun tells X-eins that A-drei has been found alive. This brings back memories 12 years ago when they were fighting to survive and almost died as terrorists but Cain saved them. X-eins then leaves to meet Cain at his Grunau villa. H-neun talks to Kriemhild about this and she says there are lots of rumours about Grunau like those who went there never return. She hopes he won’t do anything silly since plans are in motion. L-elf explains to Haruto about Phantom that it’s a ship that is unknown and doesn’t exist in Dorssian army records. As the royalists don’t have equipment to track it underwater, the reason they are needed. Phantom has an emblem that belongs neither to the royalist or military.

As Haruto and L-elf infiltrated the underwater base, H-neun also infiltrates Grunau. He is going to find out Cain’s true identity because he saw him doing un-human-like stuffs. However Cain is there. Like as though he knew he was coming. I guess he did. H-neun still remembers clearly what he said 12 years ago about never asking a friend to watch his back but be strong enough to watch his and his friend’s back. But today he said the opposite thing. Cain shoots and injures him. Bloodied H-neun runs away and stumbles into a room where Amadeus and the council are in some ceremony. A ceremony that requires a huge amount of Runes. To H-neun’s horror, X-eins will be the next ‘sacrifice’ (because the council wanted a young intellect). Meanwhile L-elf and Haruto find in a large room with humans in chambers. Runes are being harvested from them. L-elf is surprised that Runes weren’t a discovery from JIOR as Dorssia has been using it too but for what purpose? Haruto fires into a few chambers but it didn’t change anything. L-elf tells him he can run but the world won’t stop moving. Satomi’s group is being attacked by Dorssia. Inuzuka can’t hold them off much longer. L-elf contacts Satomi and wants him to pilot Valvrave, lying that Haruto is injured and playing mind games with him to save his sister. From what Pino told him, the entire school is able to pilot Valvrave (so it’s interchangeable now?) and by rotating the pilots, they don’t have to worry about running out of Runes. Haruto is upset that he knew this all along but L-elf says that Haruto is not fit for combat now. He can’t let a coward who can’t fight properly to pilot Valvrave. Haruto thinks he doesn’t understand how it feels like to have memories and life being sucked out from you. L-elf thinks he doesn’t understand how powerless he feels. He can’t even pilot Valvrave. And so Haruto goes back to pilot Valvrave because he can’t let anyone else bear the curse. Due to Marie’s hara-kiri slash that softens the bedrocks, Haruto shocks the ground to erupt the volcano and destroy the Dorssian army. He doesn’t care if L-elf is going to over-use him till he dies. He is confident of ending this war before his body collapses. How sure is he? X-eins finds Cain in the room but surprised to see him holding H-neun’s gun. Cain mentions the ceremony has to be restarted again from scratch but they have found a new food source: Those JIOR people on the moon…

Episode 18
L-elf once tried to escape with Liselotte and left a bloodied trail. However destiny was not meant to be. She herself is in some sort of punishment and as Cain puts it, it’s for betraying Magius. She asserts all she wanted was to be honest. The kids need to get back to the moon because if it gets destroyed, they won’t have a place to call home. L-elf has a plan as usual. They’re going to ride an old rocket in some museum display. He shows them a list of deported JIOR people in the town they are heading to and by rescuing them, they should get a general idea of what is going on. Haruto realizes his father’s name is on the list. Yeah. Somebody’s mother, uncle and grandpa too. Maybe their entire family. Kriemhild secretly sees Liselotte to get some approval letter. She is baffled when Liselotte mentions the name of Mikhail. X-eins and Q-vier are still shocked over the betrayal of H-neun who has been leaking military info. The kids enter Dorssiana, the old capital of Dorssia before the military’s rise to power 10 years ago. Akira hacks into the system and once everything is running, they meet Kriemhild and her men. She was L-elf’s ex-superior. She hands him the approval letter. But when she asks if there is a person called Mikhail among them, L-elf instantly knew where this is going. That was his previous name before he entered the Karlstein institute and adopted this identification code. He knows that the need to use this permission requires someone who is a successor to the throne. There are 63 of them but 56 are not in town. So from the remaining 7, the one who knows his old name could only be her. Yup, it’s Liselotte. He runs off. The rest are not sure to continue with L-elf’s plan. Why take the risk and carry it out if he’s not around? But Haruto suggests they should because everyone is fighting their own battle to protect what is important.

Haruto, Inuzuka and Kibukawa meet the deported JIOR scientists who are happy they are going to be rescued. Haruto wants to know if his father, Souichi is around. Here he is and he is happy to see his son. Not a single day goes by without thinking of him. That’s a frame of his gene… Freaky…  This explains his senile and mad scientist look. He reveals that he was part of the project to create Valvraves although he denies it being a weapon (the army ‘sponsored’ them with weapons) and it was supposed to be a new life form. He views at as the ultimate being of the universe. Does this mean they’re God? Souichi is happy Haruto and the rest are the chosen ones adjusted for the project. Every JIOR children born had their genes and Runes adjusted for Valvrave. They might not have given their consent but their parents did. So the children of this project are not only experiment subjects but also hostages. He wants Haruto to be proud as he is the ultimate being. However Haruto doesn’t view it as a blessing but a curse as too many has died. Since daddy is laughing like a mad scientist, Haruto punches him. He has then decided. No, actually he already did that a long time ago. He is more determined than ever to destroy Valvrave. Souichi panics and begs him not to destroy his dream and mankind’s future and progress. Sorry, dad. The big robots must go. Meanwhile L-elf has burst into the tower and leaving a trail of Dorssian blood in his wake. Not even the helicopters can get him. He enters the room Liselotte is being held captive. She is surprised that he is doing this. Because he wasn’t the same 3 years ago. Now he has created a path, a country where they can run to. He wants to take her away.

Episode 19
A-drei and Saki enter the transport that JIOR hijacked but find nobody. Saki snoops around and finds her Carmilla. She also finds her original body and bites it to return. However A-drei sees it and wants to question her. The scientists are evacuated but Souichi decides to stay put, disappointed at all the deserters. Cain knows how L-elf thinks so he has his Dorssian army attack the museum and blow up the runway. L-elf rescues Liselotte not because he wants to repay his debt of her saving his life. It’s because he also loves her! I could never have guessed. Okay, I somewhat had a hunch it was something like that. He kills all the Dorssian forces in his way but here is Q-vier. He is happy fighting L-elf in a knife battle. Till Haruto blows up the wall to rescue them. However L-elf wants him to take Liselotte as he is going to settle things with Cain. Pino is surprised to see Liselotte and wonders who she is. Liselotte admits she is not human and is the same like Pino. She is a Magius, a creature that has taken hold of a human body. Centuries ago, their race crash landed on Earth and lost contact with their own kind. As they need a body to survive, they possess living things. As for Haruto, he is more of something that takes after them. He remembers Souichi’s of trying to create a new life form. Over the long duration of their war against humans, they formed an organization the 101 Council where the most influential Magius and humans were chosen to keep their existence a secret from the public and secure nutrients (Runes) for their survival. Humans are the only things in this planet full of Runes. Thus Liselotte survives by consuming humans. Because she tried to reveal the truth and coexist with humans, she is punished with some curse placed on her. Her Runes are drained at regular intervals and is constantly on the brink of death.

Haruto returns to protect his friends at the museum from the attacking Dorssian army but is close to overheating. Liselotte thinks it is time to part as she only went with him or L-elf wouldn’t have gone further. She tells Haruto L-elf told her he loved her but she can’t reciprocate that because a Magius can never be with humans. Haruto objects to that (based on his experience I guess) and doesn’t want her to write it off like that. Praising L-elf for all the amazing qualities he has, he is sure L-elf wouldn’t want this and can make her happy. L-elf has been riding his back and avoiding all the attacks that come his way but not without taking some damage. He arrives at a control centre and calls Satomi about the change in plan. They will use the road as their runway. But there is a drawbridge that shortens their runway and they won’t make it for lift off. That’s why L-elf is there to lower the drawbridge. Once the rocket blasts off, Q-vier fires and damages the thrusters. At this rate they won’t make it to the atmosphere but if they abandon, Dorssia will attack them. L-elf didn’t count on Haruto to come back and rescue him. However Valvrave is on the verge of overheating and can’t help push the rocket. So Liselotte flies out and uses her curse to stop the damage. Remembering her younger days, as beings not of the body but the soul, she never understood this thing called love till she met L-elf. Thanks to him, she thinks she does now. She would love to return that love to him. Things start to take a toll on her. She starts losing her memories and when the rocket breaks through the atmosphere, she loses her life. L-elf is devastated to see this. Haven’t seen him showing so much emotion before… His efforts all in vain?

Episode 20
The Valvraves are trying to shoot Phantom down. No luck. Haruto has no choice but to charge and hit it with his sword. Although Valvrave overheats, it manages to save the day. And they manage to do it for once without L-elf’s plan. Yeah. L-elf is so sad sulking alone that he’s practically useless. Going by his own terms, that is. He’s still clinging on to his past as he scribbles on what was supposed to be the best method to save her and where he went wrong. The walls, the floor, the ceiling… It looks like he wrote some rocket scientist equation. Conclusion: There was no way he could have saved her despite all the simulations. Haruto and co return to a hero’s welcome. Shouko’s hug just shows how much she missed him. Everyone is being interviewed by a famous journalist, Barlet and it is being broadcasted throughout the rest of civilization. Back on Dorssia, an uprising against the military is taking place. Especially those loyal to the royalist are beginning to move. Thanks to the Valvraves who have shaken the people’s trust in the army. Also, Liselotte’s death may have made her a martyr in the eyes of the royalists. Cain isn’t about to push the panic button yet. For he has Saki held captive. While the people pay their respects to departed Marie, Haruto continues to put on a long face. I don’t think he caught L-elf’s symptoms. Even with Barlet asking him mean questions, he just says he doesn’t know. How can he care so much? So many problems at hand. Magius. The council. Phantom. Saving Saki. Dorssia. It never ends. So he gets some timely advice from Inuzuka. Just go on a date with Shouko to take his mind off. All these problems are the reason more why he should. Because they don’t know when they will die next. Although people can do amazing things when faced with deaths, just don’t leave regrets.

Shouko relays the good news to Haruto that ARUS and many other countries decide to vote and condemn Dorssia’s attack. Shouko has been pushing for this for a long time and was turned down many times. But she never gave up. Probably ARUS’ elections are coming up. If Dorssia ignores the condemning vote, sanctions on them will follow. That’s why she got the TV station and Barlet for this interview. Haruto realizes that everyone here was fighting too. Weren’t they? Shouko is glad he returned and believed in him. X-eins laments the death of H-neun and wonders who killed him. Fiddling around with his ring memento, something in it activates. The council thinks those kids have gone too far. They need to take them out from the stage. Shouko and the ARUS president meet in a high level conference. I guess the gym is the best place they could hold for now. Amadeus joins the discussion via video conference. But first he shows them Saki as his captive. Has everyone wondered why mere kids can stand their ground and even win against the military might of Dorssia? Behold and witness this! Cain stabs his sword through Saki’s heart! Everyone watches in horror as she screams and drops dead. However they soon see the unbelievable as her wound heals and she wakes up. Special effects? Too real for that. Amadeus says that before them is not even human. It is a monster!

Episode 21
There’s more footage. Barlet has boarded Phantom (JIOR took it under their custody) and broadcasts the heinous scene of people being sucked of their life force. And die. Thus Amadeus argues this is the reason why Dorssia has been fighting them, monsters that feed on humans. Shouko and the rest of the other JIOR students don’t know what is happening and are taken aback. Haruto stands up and explains that he was going to tell everyone about this after the conference. Well, that just worsens the situation. ARUS president orders Shouko’s arrest. Even among the JIOR students, they’re fighting and blaming each other about this monster thing. Are they monsters? They thought they were humans all along. And then all hell breaks loose. The army starts shooting and slaughtering every student!!! Oddly, if they are monsters that could resurrect, they shouldn’t be dead, right? Not that they care. As long as the monsters are purged. JIOR becomes a bloody massacre as the survivors panic and scram for evacuation. ARUS and Dorssia then form an alliance to wipe out JIOR and their armies will soon attack the moon. The chat sites are filled with death calls, wanting the heads of JIOR. Shouko and Iori’s capsule is the last to evacuate but the rail got damaged and needs time to recharge. They get a call from ARUS president. Haruto receives a distressing call from them when he starts to lose his memories. Upon entering the capsule, Iori and the rest point their gun at him. It’s a trap. ARUS president promised to let them go if they hand over the Valvrave pilots. Iori then shoots him in the heart. Shouko is distraught. Now she’s a killer. Trying to justify that he killed her scientist father on Phantom sounds like an excuse.

Oh wait. She isn’t a killer yet because Haruto revives. Shouko is shocked to see this. So is everyone. He is truly a monster. Is he the Haruto she knew? Shouko cannot express in words her shock and disappointment. He knew it all the time and never told her. She trusted him. She believed in him. Remember those old times? Oh no. He can’t remember. Something is missing. Haruto can only remain silent. Shouko calls him a liar. Shouko announces to all the Valvrave pilots to cease attack. She is going to hand over Haruto over to ARUS to save her people. Yamada isn’t particularly happy about her decision because it just defeats the purpose they have been fighting all the time. Once Haruto and L-elf are handed over, ARUS forces are ready to destroy Shouko’s capsule. Breaking the promise? Yeah well. That’s how we look at it. So how does it feel to be betrayed left and right? Before they are doomed, Inuzuka protects them. He corrects them all that they are not monsters but holy spirits. Otherwise, why are they protecting them? Inuzuka plans to save Haruto in his final attempt. Oh dear. He takes in a lot of damage and takes back the capsule Haruto and L-elf are in. However he takes in the biggest blast just to protect Shouko’s capsule. He wants to know about Haruto’s feelings for Shouko. Is there time for this? Probably he’s not going to make it so might as well. Haruto says he has always loved Shouko. Now and forever. Now Inuzuka can die happy. He does a kamikaze and takes out all the enemies with him.

Episode 22
Haruto and L-elf are somehow stranded on a crater. Haruto is still reeling from Inuzuka’s death and L-elf… He just couldn’t be bothered with living. Meanwhile Shouko will not allow Yamada or his ‘kind’ get close to them. So much about gratitude. As Prime Minister, her priority is her people. Yamada blows his top about everything but Kibukawa sides with her. Would he have done any better? A-drei learns from Saki that L-elf’s body was possessed when he shot his eye. It made him remember they the 2 of them wanted to start a revolution because the Dorssian military has become so much worse than ARUS in terms of greed and corruption. Haruto and L-elf eventually start fighting each other. Well, there’s pretty much nothing to do and the outlook looks grim. They start punching and accuse each other it’s their fault, this and that. L-elf reveals Haruto killed Shouko’s father. And true enough, that guy falls into guilty mode. L-elf wants him to give up on Shouko since their relationship can never be mended or go back to where it was. This riles Haruto up and he fights back. No match for L-elf, though. Shouko is devastated when more of her students succumb to their injuries. She steels her heart and decides to go pilot Valvrave. It’s not like Haruto is coming back, right? She is surprised to see the option to cast away her humanity. Pino wants her to quickly do it since she is ‘hungry’. Shouko is confused when Pino shows her clips how Haruto first piloted Valvrave to avenge Shouko. When she realizes that’s how she turned into a monster, it’s her turn to feel guilty and devastated.

Back to Haruto and L-elf. They’re still at each other. Blaming each other. It’s always your fault! Then Haruto also riles L-elf up by saying Liselotte was a Magius and was punished because she sided the humans and went against the council. L-elf cannot believe it all and beats him up. L-elf tries to think back Liselotte’s words and actions as they might hold a clue to make sense of it all. Then he realizes what Haruto said was true. Although Liselotte is no longer around, he can inherit her dream. Haruto sees L-elf in tears and is convinced he brings sadness to those around him. Then he meets his other self in his subconscious who paints a grim outlook of everything. However he reasons he cannot die yet because there are things he needs to do. Then it’s like Haruto suddenly cause a short burst of magic, sending L-elf flying a short distance. No gravity on the moon. He recognizes that light as the same thing Cain did and won’t be surprised if he is able to do the same thing as a Magius. They both agree to make a world where both men and holy spirits can live together. Using Haruto’s new power, they fire the flare to signal for help. Then they sit together like buddies while awaiting rescue. Part of Haruto’s plan is to unveil everything to the world because he got his hands burnt trying to keep it a secret. In order for everyone to live peacefully together, they must know about Magius and the council. Dorssia small fries pick up the flare and are about to exterminate the duo when suddenly Carmilla whizzes in to fight. Saki and Haruto are relieved to see each other. X-eins points his gun at A-drei. First L-elf, then H-neun and now him. What is going on? Did he betray them and release Saki? A-drei doesn’t call his act betrayal but his punishment.

Episode 23
Because of A-drei’s suspicious background, X-eins was ordered by Cain to investigate him so he knows about his revolution plan. He plays the H-neun’s ring which reveals that Cain killed him. He wants to avenge his friend. Haruto is onboard Carmilla and her return to protect her friends brings rejoice and relief. Back on Satomi’s side, Haruto tells his intention to unveil the world so that everyone can live peacefully. Can they trust him? Of course. Now he’s teeming with confidence. The plan has already started with L-elf infiltrating the enemy. First he poses as an injured soldier to get in. However A-drei can see through his move. Now that he has known he didn’t blind his eye, he harbours no ill will. However he is still considered the enemy of the state. Why didn’t he say his innocence? If he did, would he have believed? A-drei is appalled at the state of Dorssia now as it is being consumed by monsters. His mission is to eliminate Cain and all parties related to him. Since their interests are aligned, A-drei sanctions L-elf back to active duty. Saki talks to Haruto and wonders if his plan can work because he might be putting up a brave face then. She heard from Kibukawa about the Runes eating up their memories. Haruto is confident enough to say he’s got them all intact. Another bluff? I was hoping Saki was thinking if he still remembers that rape scene… Satomi is concerned about Akira so he had to tell her to eat him. His Runes. She kicks him out. If he only didn’t sound so perverted.

Haruto requests to see Shouko but the other students don’t want to let the monster near him. Shouko meets him but he is only restricted to the hangar since she cannot let him closer without ascertaining he is dangerous. Akira is visibly upset but Haruto regrets lying to her. He is going to show her the world. Then he learns from Pino that Shouko sat in his Valvrave and learnt everything. Not time to get emotional, buddy. While Amadeus and ARUS president are giving their damning speech on the monsters on JIOR, our heroes begin their move. The Valvraves fight through waves of Dorssian and ARUS mechas while trying to deliver Akira to the module so she can hack her way in. Haruto starts losing his childhood memories with Shouko but he soldiers on to fight. Akira begins her hacking but is attacked by Q-vier. Yamada goes to protect and buy her time and deals with the sadistic kid. In the end, they killed each other. Or more precisely, Yamada got tricked by him and gets one helluva big blast. Akira has completed her hacking and is devastated to see Yamada in his dying moments. The allied forces fire all they’ve got to overkill this dude. Another one bites the dust. Haruto is mad. Where the hell is L-elf?! Speaking of him, his team has infiltrated the stage Amadeus is giving his speech. Killing all the Dorssian soldiers in his way, he slices Amadeus’ neck. Thanks to Akira’s hacking, this scene of his wound heals and this is being broadcasted to everywhere. Now the chat rooms are filled with talk that this guys is like those monsters. I guess Akira’s hacking is so good that the council can’t even do anything about it. Hah. Living for so long and they can’t even best a kid who hacks? Big joke.

Episode 24
The galaxy is in uproar. Does this mean those Dorssia blokes are traitors too? ROAR! Chat rooms filled with flaming. Just when our heroes thought the tide turn in their favour, the broadcast shortly goes out before turning back on with a statement that the video was fake. Guess what? Everybody believes it! WTF?! In that case don’t you think that those JIOR students who resurrected should also be fake? Akira is attacked by Cain’s Valvrave and takes heavy damage. Haruto comes to her rescue as wells as X-eins charging in to avenge H-neun’s death. A-drei also wants a piece of the action but has to be content with Q-vier who is all out to eliminate traitors. Haruto is losing memories fast but he still believes he can go on. He gets knocked down into the module. X-eins takes this chance to fight Cain and ends up trying to take him out via self-sacrifice. All in vain. L-elf views Haruto is an amateur fighter and cannot best Cain. The only way is to hijack his body and pilot Valvrave. Of course. What else do they have to lose? As Saki pushes the module away, she thought to herself that she was happy when Haruto started losing his memories. Because it could mean she would stand on equal footing with Shouko. He knew he would always choose Shouko but she promised herself not to give up. She has time to think about this? Q-vier is ecstatic there is another Valvrave to fight so he abandons his just for that. A-drei tries to hold him back accidentally shoots and kills him when they struggle. Cain explains that the council isn’t an evil organization but one of justice. Furthermore, it is humans who attacked them first. Magius wanted to co-exist but humans feared them. For that reason, over the course of many years have made deals with leading figures of humanity. Magius will live in secret so as not to arouse fear in humans and in exchange they are allowed to prey upon a certain number of humans. This system has kept humanity safe from fear and chaos. In conclusion, the ones who threaten the world and peace are humans and Valvraves!

Haruto doesn’t give a damn about all that and objects when Cain mentions this is the best system without conflict as both sides live separately. Because they never tried to live together. Giving examples of his friends who despite lost everything and even their lives continued to fight and make the dream come true. This increases Valvrave’s power but also causes all his memories to be eaten up. Even the most recent ones. Meanwhile there is a revolution spreading across Dorssia with the royalist breaking out all over. Kriemhild is part of the royalist and acts on the royals order. Magius is having trouble too because lots of influential people are being arrested on being suspicions of being a Magius. Fake or not, they get apprehended. Seems this is part of ARUS president to try and take out Magius too. After all that fighting, Haruto finally stabs and destroys Cain with his sword. And that’s the end of it. In the aftermath, Pino and Prue are reunited. L-elf wakes up and to his horror, Haruto doesn’t remember a thing. Not even their contract or their recent fight on the crater. Haruto wonders if he knows who he is. L-elf does. His friend. Because all his Runes are eaten up, Haruto passes away but with a smile on his face. Chaos continued throughout the world and because the people have become so paranoid, it descended into a Magius hunt and not even the council is spared from the massacre. I guess this is what happens when everything is so wired up. You cannot hide anything! The JIOR people still got a place to call home. Satomi and Takahi got married. All this turned out to be a big story told by Saki and Akira to a mini L-elf kid? Satomi then breaks the alert that there are alien intruders at the memorial hall. Yes, aliens. But before them there is Shouko. She shows them the bust statues of all the heroes who died in founding this country. Those people dear to her. She wants to be friends with them. Yeah. After all that fighting, why don’t we just get along?

The Price Of Freedom
WTF?! What the hell is this rushed ending? I figure there is nothing else more to tell since the hero died. So you want to fast forward life as normal for the rest without the hero as Haruto joins the league of a handful of heroes who die in the last episode. Seriously, at the rate they’re killing off certain characters as the series goes by, I thought that everybody should have just died in the end. Serious. If that happened, that would have been more believable despite everything is already so gloomy and chaotic. Everybody should just die. Ah well, I guess it is to show that when there are survivors, their responsibility and duty is to continue living just to show that those who died are not in vain. Already with this kind of ending and then they had to end with another random piece of crap of other life forms trying to take Shouko’s life. Or so it seems. So they’ve discovered there are other aliens. Why are they all hostile towards us? Or is it that we are hostile towards them? How many alien life forms have humans met since? The aliens should have just nuked everybody and save the trouble about future and friendship. If you really want to be friends, just add them on Facebook intergalactic version.

So I still can’t believe everything was over. In just a few minutes ago, we were seeing Haruto battling the final boss and using up all his life just to end it. It also brings in a lot of questions. A lot. Like that L-elf look-a-like kid that Saki and Akira have been telling this entire anime to. There were a few episodes in the second half whereby it starts off with Saki telling this kid a short story. So it’s like some sort of scene that makes you expect that something is going to happen. But I wonder why they chose to design this kid looking so close to L-elf, like as though he is a love child between Haruto and L-elf. Oh sh*t! I really said that. Any random looking kid would just do but a mini L-elf? Feels suspicious. Call me a nitpick but when an anime ends something like this, I kinda remember and start to think back at all of the ‘bad’ stuffs and even trivial ones. That Pino and Prue thing I also don’t understand. Huh? What?

Oh, here’s another one. Remember how people got scared and went on a Magius hunt? Why didn’t they hunt down Shouko, Saki and Akira? Just because they look like pretty girls, doesn’t mean they aren’t dangerous, right? Of course we know they aren’t but people were so panicked that anything Magius must die. Heck, even all those hooded people in the council die just for convenience so this anime can come to a closure. It is even more mind boggling because Saki was the one used in the first demonstration. She was a famous idol, right? People should recognize her. Yet, she gets to live in the end. And I am speculating that this storytelling is done many years in the future since the founding of this new country looks pretty settled in. Besides, as holy spirits, they don’t age, right? So the only way for them to die is to use up all their Runes. How are they going to do that? What happened to the remaining Valvraves anyway? Akira’s Valvrave is pretty much damaged so I understand if they don’t want to fix it. But Carmilla is in fine working shape and hell if other countries are just going to leave it as it is. So where did it go? Even at least Haruto’s Valvrave was seen as some towering figure at Satomi and Takahi’s wedding. And Shouko dons Haruto’s red suit for nostalgia? If she can’t get that guy, wearing his clothes is good enough.

Many of the characters towards the end feel redundant. That’s why personally I felt that in a why it would have been better if everyone was killed off. Like for instance, Haruto’s dad. They left him alone back at the Dorssian capital and he slowly goes senile. That’s all you’ll ever get to hear from him. I wonder if he knows his son even died in battle. Should have made him died after that by making the building collapse all over him. Then there are Kibukawa and Nanami whose presence I felt is so that it won’t make this new JIOR a totally student country where everybody is just 15-17 years old. What do they seriously do in this anime? Don’t remember. It’s not like they leave a lasting impact. Should have made them died during the massacre of the JIOR students. Kriemhild was a closet royalist and her role was just to help start the revolution? Why now? Why take so long to start the revolution? Should have made her ship exploded after that call. L-elf and A-drei continue to live peacefully in the new country? Shouldn’t they have died in the battlefield along with their comrades? Shouko… A lot of loved ones have been killed. Shouldn’t the trauma of it all lead her to kill herself? Should have just died… Everyone should have just died! I mean, they killed off the hero, they killed off some cute girls, they killed off the hero’s pals and then conveniently massacre a good number of Sakimori students, so I thought while they’re at it they should just kill off everybody! Hahaha! Oops. Sorry. Got a little ahead of myself. There are probably more things that I didn’t understand but what are the chances of remembering things that I don’t comprehend? I don’t even need Runes to be eaten by others to have bad memory problems.

Despite that shortcoming, in terms of storyline and plot, I would say that this anime is quite interesting with the things are developing. So it’s thumbs up in this section as it keeps me intrigue to want to know what is going to happen next. Although there are many characters main and supporting, each have their role to play in the progression of the story no matter how big or small that role is. The best and personally my favourite character goes to L-elf because of his ‘predictions’. It makes him a super cool dude. The way he can foresee and plan various scenarios makes him a true and ultimate survivor. It is like as though he is someone who can see into the future or futures and he just picks the best route for the best outcome. He never falters and rarely shows emotions, sticking strong to his principles and beliefs, which I deem is the reason why he always stays 10 steps ahead of everybody and keeps them eating his dust. He expects the unexpected. He expects everything. Always prepared. So is it no wonder that he is my favourite character in my books? Even if his act may seen inhumane but what would you have done in his shoes? I would really love to become a guy like him of this calibre. Haruto the reluctant hero tries to solve everything himself and takes everything upon himself. The more he tries to hide or not get others involved, the more it does. A total opposite of L-elf, it is perhaps he has something to lose, the reason he thinks so and hesitates. So in the end when he just screws with everything and is going all or nothing, it is that point he truly shines. Not to say that he didn’t because he has always been the nice caring guy his friends know him to be. Now he has repositioned his priorities for what is best for everything, there is nothing to be afraid of. The rest of the characters some have their quirks and traits like Q-vier who is itching to just kill and Yamada who is always bursting with anger over everything. Satomi is painted like a worrywart especially when it comes to his sister and thus looks like a weakling. Akira has overcome her fear of other people so much that her trauma of being bullied seems like a distant memory. I suppose the Valvrave could be her ideal cure if she ever wants to forget those memories.

Romance and love triangle could have been another great factor for guys like me to look forward to. Sadly, there isn’t. Because that rape scene is the most memorable scene ever in this series, many had nicknamed this show as Valve-rape. May I add Libido Raper too? As in Liberator, geddit? Too bad for folks who want to watch that scene uncensored in the DVDs because I read it is still censored. The first half of the series was somewhat a little fun in this area. You can sense either Shouko or Saki wanting to be with this guy. There is a kiss scene. A date scene. Almost a cat fight scene. And a proposal scene. Wow. Even if this is supposed to be a mecha themed anime, I wouldn’t complain with such little distractions. And then when it comes to the second half, the romance died down because somebody had this great idea of splitting up the gang, one heading towards Earth and the other remained back on the moon. Heck, Haruto didn’t even have enough screen time with either Shouko or Saki. Damn it’s the curse of the harem and not the bite ;p. It’s like in the second half, everybody was everywhere and all over the place so it’s hard to get this romance thing going. Of course it was a surprised that it is revealed L-elf is doing all this because of the simple reason for the woman he loves. At least this shows he is still human. Just not your ordinary human. And then she had to die. He became useless. It felt like a big slap in the face because the once untouchable dude has turned into a useless extra character whose presence doesn’t matter. Thankfully he redeemed himself in the end and even called Haruto his friend. He never liked that guy till they shared the same goal to reveal the world. Initially I thought Takahi was going to be part of the tussle with Shouko and Saki for Haruto. Especially when Saki hijacked Haruto’s body and teased her about it. Unless it was just a push to get her with Satomi. Not that we see anything between developed between 2 dozen episodes till that final sudden wedding scene. Aina could have been part of the race too since it is hinted she does have a secret crush on Haruto. Too bad she died.

Action wise, I think there are lots of great action scenes. Some with blood and gore so if you can’t stomach a soldier’s neck getting slit or blood flying and scattering across anywhere, you’ll be much safer watching Barney and Friends or Sesame Street. The mecha fights are entertaining too but they don’t spam those robot battles and sometimes bring in some variety like hand to hand combat between humans. But still, the mecha duels are the biggest thing to expect. Especially with the Valvraves with their flashy light when they start getting aggressive. I figure enemies get stunned ‘admiring’ those beautiful lights, the reason why Valvraves get to slash their way through. But it’s odd that such big mechas is prone to overheating. Have they not found a solution to it? Like, make them carry a big pack of ice each time they go into battle? And isn’t space supposed to be cold, at least in your own shadow because you can actually freeze in it. Heck, we’ve seen so many Hollywood sci-fi movies that we even think it is normal to see explosions in space. There is no air in space, people! So you can’t hear or even make such noise. Nobody can hear you scream in space.

Since I’m not a mecha fan or even an expert, I can’t really say much about the mecha design and concept. I’m sure with so many mecha animes around, each one is trying to design their own unique mecha. For a casual viewer like me, the Valvraves look great, cool and majestic. However with their different colours, sometimes it feels like they are a mechanized version of Power Rangers. Really. You’ve got the red (which is like the leader colour in such tokusatsu or sentai shows), yellow, blue, green and purple. And then the bad guy’s one is white and black. To add more uniqueness to the Valvraves, each design have their own weapon like Carmilla’s round “air filter” buzz saws, Beast High’s shield, Nobu Thunder’s extra large arms which also serve as cannons and a little wand for Akira’s Valvrave. I suppose to paint a prettier picture of Valvrave, the enemy mechas somewhat look plain and ugly. Like for instance the giant battleships look like a Gorgon. The smaller and faster but weaker ones look like a rip-off from Star Wars’ TIE Fighter. Although later on they have humanoid mecha versions, they look so plain, boring and generic. Even the ARUS fighter jet feels like it was ripped-off from somewhere.

The art and drawing quality seems pretty good. With lots of pretty girls and handsome guys all the way, you can never go wrong. Even the Dorssian antagonists have this bishonen look and feel. Heh. How can good looking guys like L-elf and A-drei be the real bad guys even though they initially start out on the enemy camp and remain in one for most of the series. Some of the visuals of the setting and locations are quite good too. Since this anime was produced by Sunrise, it is no surprised that they have lots of experience in producing mecha themed shows such as Code Geass, Space Runaway Ideon, Overman King Gainer and Blue Comet SPT Layzner. Of course the biggest and most famous mecha under their belt is the Gundam series.

There are quite a number of popular seiyuus lending their voice to this anime. Oh, where do I start? Ryota Ohsaka plays the lead role as Haruto (adult Jun in Rozen Maiden Zuruckspulen) with Ryohei Kimura playing as L-elf (Kodaka in Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai). Then there are popular seiyuus-cum-singers like Haruka Tomatsu as Saki (Asuna in Sword Art Online), Yui Horie as Nanami (Hanekawa in Bakemonogatari), Aki Toyosaki as Liselotte (Yui in K-ON!) and Nana Mizuki as Kriemhild (Tsubasa in Senki Zesshou Symphogear). Yuuichi Nakamura as Yamada I thought he was the embodiment of all the angry character roles or those who are susceptible to get angry he voiced (think like Gray in Fairy Tail, Tomoya in Clannad, Minamoto in Zettai Karen Children) because for every time he opens his mouth, it’s like his words are filled with angst even if he is on friendly terms. Other recognizable seiyuus include Jun Fukuyama as A-drei (Lelouch in Code Geass), Daisuke Ono as Cain (Sebastian in Kuroshitsuji), Aoi Yuuki as Akira (Madoka in Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica), Yuuki Kaji as Q-vier (Alibaba in Magi), Mamoru Miyano as H-neun (Light/Kira in Death Note), Takehito Koyasu as Amadeus (Aokiji in One Piece) and Koji Fusa as Figaro (Ichimaru Gin in Bleach). The rest that I don’t ‘recognize’ include Asami Seto as Shouko (Chihaya in Chihayafuru), Daisuke Namikawa as Satomi (Waver in Fate/Zero), Yuuki Ono as Inuzuka (Zenkichi in Medaka Box), Minako Kotobuki as Takahi (Tsumugi in K-ON!), Hiroyuki Yoshino as Otamaya (Bossun in Sket Dance), Wataru Hatano as Kibukawa (Gajeel in Fairy Tail), Yoshimasa Hosoya as X-eins (Haruto in Kimi No Iru Machi), Misato Fukuen as Marie (Eve in Black Cat), Ai Kayano as Aina and Pino (Mayaka in Hyouka).

The opening themes are done by the duet of Nana Mizuki and T.M. Revolution. The rock and energetic pace befits the nature of the series and I think they’re quite fun to hear. Mainly because the duo seem to be taking turns singing their lines, like as though they are completing each other’s sentence. In a way, it seems quite addictive just to hear them sing that way. The first opening theme is Preserved Rose while the second opening theme is Kakumei Dualism. Although I feel that Preserved Rose sounds better than the latter. The first ending theme is Boku Janai by Angela. This song is also not bad but it reminds me of her style like she sang in the Shikabane Hime series. The second ending theme is Soba Ni Iru Yo by Elisa. I didn’t find this one appealing because it feels like an opera singer trying to hold in her high pitch voice till the end she realizes really one high pitch tone. Realism also by Elisa is the third ending piece but this time this one sounds dramatic orchestra song with choir voices accompanying the lead. She’s like trying a lower opera voice for this one. I thought the entire song just felt weird. The final ending theme is Akai Memories Wo Anata Ni by Momoko Kanade, a generic anime pop.

One thing I noticed about the people in general in this anime. They have short memory and herd mentality. They forget who their saviour was and are easy to condemn. Remember when Dorssia first attacked JIOR and all hope were lost? And then came Haruto piloting Valvrave to save the day. Everybody loves him. Yay. He’s the hero. We love you. And then when Magius come up with that conspiracy to paint them as monsters, everybody starts believing in this lie and starts condemning like as though they are the big devils. Short memory, huh? So much for gratitude, huh? Didn’t they ever think how can a high school boy pilot something so complicated? Easy to praise when things go their way, easy to criticize when things do not. So basically everybody here is also some sort of in denial because when the same trick on Amadeus is done and quickly brushed off as hoax, they quickly believe in it. Like as though they want to take the easy way out and are afraid to change from what they firmly believed in. Therefore everybody is equally as guilty as all of the characters in this series since they either do nothing about it or this. Everybody should just die! Whoops… There I go again. So what do we learn in the end? Never send kids to do an adult’s job like running the country. That’s definitely not child’s play stuff.

Overall, I won’t say that this anime is mediocre since I did find it enjoyable and entertaining. But! Disclaimer note: Not to a point where I have become a mecha fan. Call me a liar or a closet mecha fan but I still prefer harem romance comedies. So maybe it will be some time before in the future once again I will conveniently pick another mecha anime to watch. And maybe next time hopefully it won’t be as complicated as a reluctant kid who becomes a hero and saves the world in a giant robot. With a little help from his friends. Then you also have a secret organization ruling and controlling the world from the shadows that our hero must also rid off in order to attain true peace. And then he dies, everybody dies. More importantly, nobody gets the girl in the end. Haha! So when it comes to saving the world, let’s leave it to the professionals like superheroes, shall we? Because throwing away your humanity just to save the world isn’t worth all the trouble. You should live for humanity, not die for it. Food for thought: A human who has thrown away humanity to save humans, who is more human?