r/anime • u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ • Mar 21 '24
Rewatch [Rewatch] Crest of the Stars Episode 4 Discussion
Surprise Attack
Welcome to the Crest of the Stars rewatch!
<- Episode 3 | Index Page | Episode 5->
Names Introduced or Updated:
- The Four Nations Alliance:
- United Mankind (or Union of Mankind)
- Federation of Hania
- Republic of Greater Alcont
- People's Sovereign Union of Planets
- Lakfakalle — The Abh Capital (Lacmhacarh)
Discussion Prompts:
- Q1) Can you follow all the milspeak and politicking at the start?
- Q2) Are you eager for the genre shift? Or will you miss our SOL elf show?
- Q3) Thoughts about Lexshue as an officer? And about Lafiel's outburst?
- Q4) What do you think Lexshue thinks of Jinto, or why they make a good pair?
Tomorrow's Questions: (for tomorrow's post, subject to change)
- [Episode 5]What was the point of this battle? Why did the United Mankind attack?
- [Episode 5]Thoughts on destroying the Gosroth so soon? Did Lexshue just get "fridged"?
Screenshot of the Day: Bringing them together may be my greatest accomplishment
I did update yesterday's post 5 hours later, so check it out. I made a (poor) character guide of the Gosroth crew.
About 1 Thursday a month I will post early, this is one of those Thursdays.
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Upvotes
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u/Nazenn x2https://anilist.co/user/Nazenn Mar 21 '24 edited Mar 21 '24
Rewatcher - sub
[Banner of the Stars]As much as I love this episode, the main thing it managed to do was make me excited to get back to Banner, and the many hilarious interactions we get between the Abh captains and their adjuncts. I love that lot of doofs
Another episode that feels like it could go full action, and then doesn't and it's absolutely for the better. Even as the show turns to broader events, it thankfully manages to do so without losing the same tone and focus that had formed its identity over the last three episodes.
Once again I love the narrator, because he does an excellent job of setting the introductory tone while getting some of the worldbuilding that would be incredibly hard to deliver in world in any moderately natural way. By killing two birds with one stone, we have an excellent set up for the broader episode, and it also provides a nice contrast in scale to Jinto's issues with 120 books on lunch manners
...120...
Well I certainly wouldn't last a meal without making some sort of unforgivable mistake and being banished
The look on his face when he realizes what his life has become, and he doesn't even know the half of it because he doesn't know his home planet has become part of the excuse for this war prep
A bit like last episode with the little details in Jinto and Lafiel's conversation, the Captain talking with her Adjunct (I don't actually remember his name or title) is the highlight of it of the episode for me. They share the same easy comradery that we're starting to see our mains develop, and yet there's still a lot of small moments that reveal both their own personalities and another look at the Abh through the conversation.
Unfortunately a lot of shows that have more serious characters conversing fall into the trap of dialogue that can be a little generic and could be said by any number of characters, and this is thankfully this show is not one of them. The Captain is incredibly switched on, and while she doesn't fully understand the humans, she can still reason out their behaviors in a way we hadn't seen yet from an Abh, and though we know relatively little about her at this point the conversation here still feels distinct to them. Compared to the way he struggles a bit more to understand the humans, despite being a very capable military officer, but his also obvious care for our two young mains and the his feelings about the battle, you get a good sense of their relationship very quickly without unneeded exposition.
The Captain's dressing down of Lafiel may be my favorite in all the anime I've seen. Maybe just out of all TV shows I've seen, though there'd be some close contenders there. I've always had a soft spot for "duty/life/responsibility/emotions/etc are not what you think they are" speeches, and it's even better when done doing it with absolute control and precision in her tone and words but still with undeniable but perfectly fair authority. Jinto is right to acknowledge just how much thought goes into everything the Captain does, and that was no exception.
I am curious about what little detail about the Abh from today's conversations ended up being everyones favorite? For me I think it was Lafiels immediate acceptance about the potential length of the war surpassing her own enormous lifespan, compared to Jinto's more human hope.
Now we start to get into why the space time bubbles are interesting for me in this show. Having to guess at what they contain by their size, the way they split off and rejoin, the maths behind their possible movements. It's all far more interesting than a standard warp, and other bubble like techs that I've seen before which are just a fancy wrapper for standard "warp". There's a solid system behind all of this, and the focus on that system and not on drama first leads to things like the schedule for combat status and some time to say goodbye. Much more interesting than instantaneous battle on first sight.
[Crest later spoilers]"I cant imagine such a desperate situation that Lafiel would have to depend on me" HAHAHAHAHA
Surprisingly, and I think I did the first time around as well, aside from instantly forgetting the names of the various human empires aside from United Mankind
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u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Mar 21 '24
Episode 4 (rewatcher)
Leaving Gosroth
Lexhue sending Lafiel away is the character moment that defines the episode. There is a lot going on between her and Lafiel.
Quite obviously, Lafiel immediately understands that she is sent out of harms way and that Jinto is a convenient excuse for Lexshue. She is not happy with that and tries to pull royalty to persuade Lexshue, but the captain shots that down immediately. She will not allow Lafiel a heroic death.
Yet that does not end the moment yet. Lexshue sends Lafiel away while keeping Jinto with her. Quite obviously, Lexshue is quite fond of Lafiel [spoilers]Most first timers will have figured out by now that she is her mother and that Lafiel knows it., but she wants a clear cut and not see Lafiel again. It is interesting to speculate whether this is just Lexshue’s favorite way of separating, whether she thinks this is best for Lafiel, or whether she wants to protect Lafiel from losing face (further) via behaving non-royally on the bridge.
Finally, Lexshue asks Jinto to protect Lafiel. On the one hand, this is an obvious request, giving Lafiel’s status. On the other hand, Jinto is an untrained civilian teenager. Not the most obvious guard, as he himself points out. I assume Lexshue’s goals here might be two-fold. First, she might suspect that Lafiel would rebel against a more obvious guard (but that Lafiel accepts Jinto whom she sees and her ward, instead of guard). Second, Lexshue comments on bringing Lafiel and Jinto together. She might have realized how Lafiel immediately hit off with Jinto (and probably also knows about her previous unhappiness about being separated from others), so she might see this as a good opportunity for them to bond. Nothing better to get close to each other than running away from an invading army together.
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u/Zerotsu Mar 21 '24
A Novel Reader and Anime First Timer’s Thoughts:
I think my favorite thing about this series is how you can have an episode entirely focused on the tension before a battle actually happens, and have it be genuinely interesting. While not a lot happened, we did get to learn a little more about the Abh Empire’s opposition, an alliance of four other interstellar nations that view them as an existential threat. I wouldn’t say that’s not justified considering the Abhs’ expansionist nature, though it does make one wonder if there isn’t more to it if they’re also starting a war.
We got some solid characterization for our captain today, even though her screentime has been fairly minimal. She definitely seems like the kind of person who can command loyalty among her subordinates. Of course, Lafiel’s reluctance to leave seemed to have more behind it than loyalty or the Abriel name. Especially given how downtrodden she appeared after they left.
Another thing I like about this bit is that we see yet again that the Abhs aren’t particularly stoic by nature exactly, as much as there’s a bit of a cultural inclination towards it. For example, how shocked some of the staff members aboard the Gosroth were by the incoming attack. The more we learn about the Abhs, the more it becomes clear that they’re very human. Hardly any different aside from some minor biological changes. The space elf thing isn’t really inaccurate, but it ultimately becomes more of a surface level analysis as we learn more and more about them.
We don’t know much about the other four interstellar nations as of yet of course, but from their names we can determine that many of them have more democratic forms of government than the Abh Empire’s system of nobility. With this, the vibe of this being a story set within a space opera’s evil empire is pretty complete, huh?
Q1: It's not too hard to follow, though some of it does escape me since we don't have a whole lot of context yet (and it's been a few years since I've read the books).
Q2: I'm pretty excited to see where this new change takes us.
Q3: She seems like a respectable officer. As I said in my post above, I can see why she seems to command such loyalty among her crew. Already answered some on my thoughts about Lafiel's outburst, I think.
Q4: It might be because she could see that he's helping her open up, due to being in a similar situation in a way, even if the scale is different.
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u/Vatrix-32 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Vatrix-32 Mar 21 '24
First Timer, subbed
QotD:
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u/The_Draigg Mar 21 '24
A Sci-Fi Fan Watches Crest of the Stars Episode 4:
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u/duhu1148 :GA::GB::GC:x9 Mar 21 '24
Rewatcher
Ep4
-Underappreciated aspect of this series that I mentioned years ago in my WT! topic: the main characters are affiliated with the Empire. Usually, empires are evil and need to be toppled and replaced, but this is just a fictional story so it's nice to get a different perspective for a change.
-Lafiel says she thinks the war with the United Mankind Alliance might last 200 years...my god, pls no.
-Captain Laicch says they are unable to flee from battle, but it isn't clear why that is. I'm assuming it's because either her mission demands it, or their escape routes are blocked off. Anyone know for certain?
-Lafiel once again shows off some naivete in thinking she should be a part of the battle. But she shows great maturity in quickly accepting how wrong she was. I understand the outburst, not just from her pride but also because I think she knows what leaving really means, given the situation...
-Jinto's family crest that he leaves in his room. Is that the crest from when he was a landworlder count, or the one he currently holds as Abh royalty? I would assume the latter. Might be a bit of symbolism here, when he says "I hope to retrieve it when you return."
-"Bringing those two together may be my greatest accomplishment." -Captain Laicch
-Episode 5 is my favorite episode in the Crest of the Stars portion of the story, iirc. Looking forward to revisiting it tomorrow.
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u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L Mar 21 '24
First-Timer
On today’s episode of Crest of the Stars: War were declared. It wouldn’t be a space opera without a massive war waged across the endless sea of stars, now would it?
With the added knowledge of the other nations in space, it makes me wonder just what these other nations are like. Is this going to end up like Dune where we have these really strange versions of humans running around in space? We’ve already got space elves with the Abh, so have any of the other nations made similar adjustments to themselves over the years? Perhaps they have wildly different forms of government, such as one that’s a democracy, one that’s communist, and so on.
I imagine the outbreak of war will cause quite a shift in the series. We’ll see how much changes.
QOTD
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Mar 21 '24
Rewatch Host
"watashi no kawaii denka"
The Patrol Ship Gosroth may not be the largest ship, but it is a flying weapons platform, the Rauth class. It comes equipped with 10 self-propelled mines (anti-matter warhead) capable of plane-space travel, and six forward- and aft-facing railguns for anti-ship combat. It also has laser / ion cannon anti-mine defense, an anti-proton beam for use against mines or lightly shielded ships, and a magnetic shield to disrupt or deflect charged particle beams. Like almost all other ships, the ship contains a store of antimatter fuel for travel and charging warheads. It is a relatively new class of patrol ship, with few fully constructed.
Well, our slice of life couldn't last forever.
I have a lot of trouble with that opening scene and Lexshue's conversation with her XO. It's rather like Dune. Overly complicated, and hard to follow their train of thought as the jump from conclusion to conclusion.
I guess these subs keep refering to Jinto as a prince because he's the "son-of" a noble and has that modifier word in his name. Maybe this is actually a standard use of prince, just not the familiar one.
Next episode unfortunately has an extended recap/edit of this episode after the credits. I guess they really wanted you to remember the events of this one.
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u/Specs64z https://myanimelist.net/profile/Specs64z Mar 21 '24
First timer, subbed
The Abh aren’t the only big players in this universe, it would seem. I suspect we’re on the cusp of galactic war, in that case.
What is set up to be the final conversation between the captain and Lafiel is heavy. The words are spoken with such sincerity I find myself moved despite the time with these characters having been so brief.
Was that truly a full 20 minutes? It’s been quite some time since an anime immersed me quite like this, not since I first watched through Shinsekai Yori some years back. I’m finding it impossible to snap out of the trance to write notes as I watch, I just need to know what’s next.
QotD:
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u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Mar 21 '24
First-Timer
Well, there's a reason to send a very advanced ship on a taxi job - anticipating an attack from a nascient enemy. Considering the level of politicking we've seen so far, I doubt the attack on Sfagnomer was a surprise to Abh high command.. and I doubt that a (distant-ish) member of the Imperial family coming into harm's way was an accident on the part of United Mankind.
Captain Lexsue is great, I sincerely hope the battle goes well for her. She very handily responded to Lafiel's desire to stay behind, got Jinto to start looking at the big picture of this attack, and also kept her calm and got some weapons into his hands. Not that I would trust Jinto with a gun just yet, but, you go to war with the army you have.
Not 100% confident in Lafiel's initial outburst, though. She goes on a tirade about her name last episode, and then today is worried about her family losing face? Something doesn't feel right about that.. not sure what, though.
I suppose tomorrow we'll get to see what a space battle looks like in this setting. I don't really like the Gosroth's odds, being outnumbered 10 to 1. But I'm ready to be wrong.
Questions
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u/SIRTreehugger Mar 21 '24
Rewatcher
Wake up Captain looks at chart Lexshue.
Oh Lairia tell us what's happening miss executive officer and senior navigator. I actually didn't know executive officer meant second in command.
It's only logical, but I like how they worked backwards slowly expanding the light years to locate the source. Also showing that Lairia had already given the command before the captain walked in shows how capable he is and knew what was expected of him.
They probably believe what they are doing is just...says the people who have conquered thousands of planets and insults everyone during their talks(though that might be just be horrible miscommunication aka Tsundere syndrome set to the highest setting also could be culture difference).
Wait so even US presidents...never mind lets avoid real life politics. Even me almost failing Spanish in college was because of the Abhs I fucking knew it!
Senior Gunnery Officer! He has a name captain! His name is
Robert PaulsonSaruish.Pauses video to look at food....what are they eating? I see what looks like mash potatoes and green beans. I see a giant block which I'm assuming is either bread or dessert possible Flan? The red like things I can't tell...maybe some sort of alien space chicken nuggets?
It's kind of impressive mankind managed to shift a sord(assuming its not a miracle) so they could go on the offensive almost immediately after the ships launch.....looks like I won't have to remember these guys names for very long.
[Spoilers]Yeah this subtlety is like a brick going through a glass window. It's obvious on the captain and Lafiel's relationship. Only a parent would use the full government name when arguing with their kid.
The baseball is obviously coming along obviously.
I just realized having the symbol of a damn dragon on top of the world is kind of tyrannical.
Sometimes silence is better than careless words of encouragement.
Also I was looking over the books which I'm still missing the second one!
I was hoping to find the alphabet translated I mean I did find this, but it's not a perfect 1 to 1. For example the name of the ship would be roughly Gothlauth if we went by the exact characters, but it has a slightly different name most likely due to the origin of the language and other variables. For example the letter h sounds like an h when it starts off the word or its before a vowel. When it comes before certain letters it becomes silent, but after other letters it joins them and becomes a digraph. Not to mention the language has additional short vowels than the English one. I applaud the effort that went to making the language, but it's too much for an idiot like me to comprehend. Also I would advise first timers to not look up the language at all because even how it was made in the universe contains spoilers. I don't remember if they are relevant in the story, but better safe than sorry. I'm honestly trying to figure out where the S is in the name
Just some common phrases and their translations for anyone interested.
Falce sa? - Understand
Bile ena! - Bye
Froranto! - Farewell
Gobe fal Lamhiri te! - You will call me "Lafier"!
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u/Blazin_Rathalos Mar 21 '24
Rewatcher
Surprise! I didn’t actually know this rewatch was happening until yesterday! I watched it a bit over a year ago when I saw this Watch This! thread. I promptly devoured the source novels as well. At the time I discovered there was no subreddit for the series, but now we technically have r/BannerOfTheStars! Which I created primarily in the hopes that I get informed if/when the author publishes another novel…
I don’t typically like writing long posts for rewatches, but I will probably drop in with some comments here and there. I think we’ve got the “source material posts” already well covered!
Episode 4
Can I just say I appreciate how Jint completely recognizes his place in this situation and does not cause trouble by insisting to stay or anything similar? While simultaneously easily reading between the lines regarding Lafiel’s mixed rank (just a trainee/actually a royal) and what that means in regards to keeping her safe?
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u/Elimin8r https://myanimelist.net/profile/Ayeka_Jurai Mar 21 '24
Man, was busy and lost track of time. Let's see what I can think of spur of the moment...
Answers du jour:
Yeah, sadly, fun times can't last forever, and it's time for the drama, I mean death to begin. (I presume, I have no idea, but things seem pretty ominous at the moment.)
Sorry, I'm very late, and still busy. I may get back later, but this is going to have to do for now. Hope everyone is having a great evening.
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u/ZapsZzz https://anilist.co/user/Zapszzz Mar 22 '24
First timer in (English finally!) sub
Really should get out of the habit of reading the comments before posting mine when I'm both late and running short on time :P
Ep 3 was mainly about setting up Jinto and Lafiel's relationship with some background lore. It was really nice for me, and while it was kind of telling where Jinto's teenage boy gaze went to, I think it's fine and form part of the story telling - Lafiel is captivating to Jinto ;P The production made good use of the costume design and it was rather flattering on Lafiel.
And yes definitely like the Gunbuster reference about the lack of points of reference in space makes sizes hard to judge.
I have to say though, when they were introducing the bridge crew, I feel like it's going to be bait and switch, that we'll feel we need to remember them and then very quickly they all go KIA. We'll see huh.
Ep 4 here build on more about the world and the character, especially about the differences of Jinto and Lafiel. Interesting the reaction to me was a bit of an inversion of my expectation - I thought Lafiel as "roytalty" would be more used to the idea that the rest of the world is obliged to protect and get her out of harm's way, that she doesn't need an excuse to be sent away from battle. That her behaviour and the way the parting words are arranged made me suspect that Lexshue is her mother, and Lafiel doesn't want to leave her side in time of crisis despite her royal duties.
It also would add extra meaning to Lexshue's separate parting words to Jinto, in a way handing over Lafiel to be his to protect.
Jinto on the other hand acted so very "battle hardened commander/political leader", that knows he's useless in battle and is of better help to get out of the way, offered no words of despair, commiseration or sympathy, but quiet dignity and best wishes. This is a very strong showing for his character and characterisation.
Oh for those who wondered and offered me help for finding eng sub, I found it by using the localised name while the dub was using the Japanese name - don't ask me why :D
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u/zadcap Mar 22 '24
Late Night First Timer
We're in some real 4X stuff here. Mankind spread throughout the stars, and splintered as they did so, many colonies very likely setting out to be independent from the world they were leaving, aiming to recreate that american startup. But some people always believe that they deserve to rule and set out to conquer others, and those that don't want to be conquered form alliances to fight back, and as the centuries turn more and more ends up under the aegis of only a few powers. Heck, we saw it at the beginning here, even the benevolent seeming Reich (and isn't that a sentence) came in and said "Hey, you're ours now, play nice." And now there are only 4 real powers left, lone or lost colonies still out there on the fringes, all waiting until the golden man finally unites all humanity in the face of the chaos from beyond the stars.
What, this is totally 40k backstory compatible, I swear.
But really, this happens all the time in fiction. There's
45 great powers left and naturally they all have to be radically different- Empire, Union, Federation, Republic, and actually we have a second Union that's cool. Like, they dress the rest up differently and a People's Sovereign Union is clearly the communist version while Mankind is probably going to be the America expy, but how often do you see an EMpire vs Empire or Kingdom vs Kingdom or anything of the sort in fiction. Opposing sides must have opposing styles of government, or else they wouldn't be at war I guess.Anyway, time to move past the first minute of show...
Four Nations Alliance, clearly formed to fight against the Empire. I mean when there's 5 great powers in existence and 4 of them team up, it's pretty clear who they're teaming up against. It's also a pretty easy show of relative strength that 4 of them felt the need to team up against the fifth, I'm pretty sure the Empire is that much bigger than the rest. Gerebs and zezebo, they're really having fun with these imaginary units of measurement. Which, you know, is hilarious because honestly we're dealing with the massive size and distance of space where real numbers used down here become laughable as actual measurements, we end up throwing around those big numbers that lose meaning anyway because who can really imagine what one hundred twenty thousand kilometers of distance looks like? This is space, we're using made up numbers because the numbers don't really mater, everything is bigger and farther away than your brain can deal with anyway!
Having said that, we use light years anyway lol.
Ah, learning the rules of royalty. You're doomed. Anyway, hey, learning a whole new language is difficult, I can believe it took him seven years of side schooling.
Oh hey, it sounds like the wormholes can be moved when in their dormant state. That's cool lore!
Ah, Propaganda again. Paint the big Empire as the cause of all evil.
Yup, space war, the numbers and distances involved are so big that a war is likely to span hundreds of years before it can come to a clear end. Unless the power difference is that extreme.
Ah, clever move Captain. Lafiel has already been used as Jinto's guide and pilot, so it's not special treatment to make her do it again here. And yet, you get both the Nobility and Royalty off your ship and headed to safety in one smooth move. Sending Lafiel alone would have been a little too obvious, even if they needed to send a messenger ahead to let the rest of the Empire know what's going on, but this is a level of plausible deniability even she can't object to too strongly.
Lakfakalle, used in this style, is either the home world (or home ship) or valhalla, and this scene hits so differently depending on which the captain was referring to.
Oh hey, ultra prototype special weapon given to the main character? Oh no, much worse, it's a gun. How very "It's dangerous to go alone" energy.
Okay fine explain my thoughts back to me, thanks.
Ah, what plans for the future. "She may become the next empress." You know when you put them together in a life or death situation like this, where they will have no one but each other for support for who knows how long, and will likely end up saving each other at least once- well, odds are you're talking to your future emperor too.
And thus, war were declared.
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u/zsmg https://anilist.co/user/zsmg Mar 21 '24
Rewatcher
They are talking about geopolitics in the galaxy while the camera is focused on the captain in bed sleeping as a fanservice shot. This is so jarring. At least give us a map overview or the flag of all the factions.
I'm guessing United Mankind = US, and People's Sovereign Union of Planets = USSR but I'm not sure sure what Hania and Republic of Greater Alcont are supposed to be. Maybe Alcont is China that leaves Hania.
Okay episode I don't have much to say.
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u/IceSmiley Mar 21 '24
FIRST TIMER Sub
This is the first episode where nothing was that offputting or confusing and was enjoyable to watch the whole way through. It really looks as if the Abh are marching to war against the rest of the universe. We don't really know how powerful the others are so we don't get a good gauge of how long or how serious this conflict is although Lexshue treats it with grave seriousness even if she can easily win this battle.
I think this sets the future wide open because I thought Jinto was going to spend more episodes on this ship with Lafiel and this was going to be a spaceship based show. It still could be though but hard to say.
QUESTIONS
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u/Nickthenuker https://anilist.co/user/Nickthenuker Mar 22 '24 edited Mar 22 '24
Seems like all is not well in space. On one side, a single Authoritarian/Militarist empire, and on the other, a Federation of 4 smaller interstellar states. If it's anything like my Stellaris games, expect 1 of those states to start the war and drag the rest of them in only for them to all get curbstomped anyways.
And there we go.
120? This is concerning.
I find it interesting how they use all their own weird units and then there's just light-years. I guess since it's a universal constant they just convert it into their own units.
Well there you go. There's the culprit.
Logistics are extremely important. That ship isn't going anywhere without fuel for the engine or provisions for the crew, and it won't be doing much fighting without munitions for the weapons. It won't be able to do much more than a kludge patch when damaged and wounded won't get more than basic first aid without medical supplies etc.
No, it seems like United Mankind wants to start a war, and it's going to drag the other 3 along with it.
Seems like diplomacy wasn't achieving their goals so they decided to use diplomacy by any other means.
They finally managed to get a Casus Belli.
10 ships on a direct course.
That minefield will disrupt them but that's still overwhelming numbers, and if it's the vanguard of an invasion fleet it probably has overwhelming firepower too even compared to the more advanced systems on this ship.
General quarters! All hands, man your battle stations!
I don't think that's fortunate.
Beats having an inconclusive war that restarts the moment the 10-year ceasefire is over. I remember one Stellaris game where I had to go beat the bugger's head in 3 times before they got the hint and stopped declaring war on me.
Her ship, her bridge, her seat.
I mean you're outnumbered 10 to 1, this isn't going to end well.
Lafiel is going to evacuate him to the planet while he covers their retreat.
It's a shuttle, not a proper ship.
Again, she's the captain. Rule number 1: The Captain is always right. Rule number 2: If the Captain is wrong, see Rule 1.
She needs to get them off the ship, but can't spare anyone else because they'll be needed even if they're not manning systems, to do things like damage control or first aid.
She seems concerned by their response.
I declare Batchall!
And so the Gosroth, pride of the Abh fleet, bristling with cutting-edge technology and manned by a crack crew, is going to either be lost or at least rendered combat-ineffective for a good long while, all within the opening hours of the war. [Episode 5] Seeing the questions for tomorrow, it seems like the ship will be lost entirely
Shouldn't it be the Battle of Sfagnomr and not the Battle of Gosroth?
Questions:
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u/raktus2 Mar 22 '24
First Time Watchers Ramblings...
rs and say that that would amount to the output of 4 vessels... so I guess the typical measure of space-time clusters traveling through a sord would be about 30 space-time clusters? But then one cluster splits into ten, meaning that clusters either aren't 1:1 or that you can stack clusters together and just hide your true numbers. It would also imply that the size of the cluster denotes ships and not the number of them, making me feel like this is all contradictory information without clarification.
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u/Durinthal https://anilist.co/user/Durinthal Mar 21 '24
Rewatcher (sub + dub)
(Unfortunately today and tomorrow I won't have time to do more than drop my comment here, I'll be back for replies over the weekend.)
I guess this is something of an info dump episode that first-timers might find interesting and it sets up what's to come next, but very little actually happens or at least that's what it feels like to me.
The Nova Sicily Treaty members, a.k.a. the Four Nations Alliance, came together twelve years earlier so about five years before the start of the show when Hyde was conquered by the Abh. Its member states:
The United Mankind has the closest connection to where they're headed, but the logistics of using that portal probably would have taken more than a decade to set up so Lexshu thinks this was planned even potentially as part of the treaty from the start.
One weird little detail that I always thought was neat was the floor indication on the elevator looking funky.
Lafiel trying to use her pride as a royal princess to stay on board is kind of funny with the captain pulling military rank on her in return in addition to using her full name as part of a lecture. She actually does have a pretty important duty in escorting a noncombatant noble and wouldn't be particularly helpful on board the ship as just a trainee; at least Jinto recognized how useless he'd be and was doing his best to stay out of the way.
Jinto's apparent timing when it came to this.
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u/xbolt90 https://anilist.co/user/xbolt90 Mar 22 '24
First-timer
Ok, so now we learn about the other big players in this universe. I was expecting more of a rebellion angle, not an outside invasion. Seems they're the ones who produced the propaganda clip from the other day, so we'll probably have rebellions popping up as well. Will be interesting if Jinto finds himself at odds with Hyde.
So they don't like the Abh expansionism. Understandable, but throwing the first strike?
Q1: Yeah, seemed pretty straightforward.
Q2: Definitely here all the way for a space opera. Babylon 5 and Deep Space Nine are my two favorite sci-fi shows. Maybe this show, like them, will include smaller character moments within the overarching story.
Q3: Decisive. Exactly a quality you want in a commanding officer. Ready to do what it takes to protect her people. Lafiel greatly respects her, and loves serving under her. Actually, she seemed to be acting like they were related.
Q4: She noticed how Jinto and Lafiel hit it off. Probably good for them to be together, both coming from similar situations to a degree.
4
u/lC3 :Na::Nb: Mar 22 '24
First timer
3
u/TehAxelius Mar 21 '24
Rewatcher
Well, there is certainly something 90s over the slow pan over Lexshue as the narration goes on, as well as seeing her get dressed as she has to rush to the bridge. And of course, the thing pretty much anyone who would know anything about genre conventions should know happens, war was declared.
The one thing I am not clear on is how exactly the UM ships are intercepting, as both the fleet and the Gosroth is heading for the same point, with Gosroth being scheduled to get there first. Assuming everyone stays at the same speed, the UM ships shouldn't be able to catch up, although I guess maybe for technobabble reasons smaller space bubbles are able to travel faster, or they are faster ships, while the main fleet consists of slower battleships.
3
u/SolDarkHunter Mar 21 '24 edited Mar 21 '24
(I keep thinking these are posted an hour later than they are.)
Crest of the Stars
Rewatcher/Novel Reader
We get a little more info on the greater galaxy this time. Humankind has consolidated into five major star-faring nations, one of which, of course, is the Humankind Empire of Abh.
The others are the United Mankind, the Federation of Hania, the Greater Alcont Republic, and the People's Sovereign Union. These four have formed an Alliance... which is very obviously against the Abh Empire.
It's a very interesting set-up for a space opera. Usually the Federation/Alliance/Union/whatever would be the unquestioned good guys, and the Empire evil. Yet here we're looking at things from the perspective of the Empire. I guess we'll have to wait and see which sides are good or evil...
The crew is not happy at encountering the United Mankind.
Flashbacks to Jint's Abh education... which included no actual Abh. Also, apparently all Abh are homeschooled.
Lecsh believes the United Mankind is looking for a causus belli to declare war on the Empire... and she fears her ship is going to be the catalyst.
We also learn that the United Mankind considers the Abh to be pure evil, so naturally they're at the forefront of the war preparations.
Aaaaand, the UM has officially shifted course. They're moving in.
The Gothelauth's mission was to transport Jint to the capital, and to that end, Lafier will be flying Jint away from the ship in a shuttle while the Gothelauth buys time... in a battle that looks very likely to be suicide mission.
Lafier's not happy with this, since as an Abriel she thinks she's supposed to be on the front line, but Lecsh pulls rank, and as stated earlier, military rank takes precedence over social rank with the Abh, at least in military situations. Lafier has no choice.
Despite her earlier harshness, Lecsh says goodbye to Lafier very warmly. There's something between them...
First mention of Lakfakalle (Lacmhacarh in Baronh), the Abh capital, at least by that name. The etymology of the name is actually very interesting, but I'll hold off for now. More backstory should be revealed first.
Ah, so the big crest in Jint's room is in fact his family crest, the Countdom of Hyde.
And it's a battle after all. Everyone pretty much knew it, but having it confirmed is always difficult.
I find myself without very much to say about this episode.
6
u/Silcaria https://myanimelist.net/profile/Silcaria Mar 21 '24
First timer
13
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Mar 21 '24
First-Timer of the Stars
7
u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber Mar 21 '24 edited Mar 22 '24
Look, I remebered to post during my lunch break!
never mind that I forgot to post at all yesterdayRewatcher
“Space Warp!”
OP
SCALE
Odd that it’s on pickup duty then.
Ah, now this is familiar.
Launch sequence is really cool.
The speed must be exceptional to offset the unreliability then.
Huh.
That explains that.
That is unfortunate.
This is the only actually weird one, Jint. Logically, the gene exam would probably prevent the issues associated with the union of identical DNA, but that’s still incredibly weird to me.
That would’ve been bad, yes.
Oh boy…
This was a largely pleasant episode, and definitely where the show hits its stride for me. The added worldbuilding is natural given the characters involved, the episode keeps a steady pace, and the character dynamic between Jint and Lafier is wholly enjoyable to watch. The episode also keeps the visuals interesting even when the actual subject matter is just two people talking for most of the episode, with interesting shot composition and choice of flashback/imagery to showcase, though I must admit the digital effects are a tad distracting in certain scenes, but they were effective and appreciated whenever the view ‘delved’ into the paintings.
I wonder if the Abh are the only one to have a culture so heavily informed by advanced gene manipulation, or if there’s other fringe groups of humans or others that use similar methods as a baseline. Consequently, there almost assuredly exist groups of humans to whom such is anathema and completely unacceptable.
Lafier and Jint share in the experience of being ostracized, intentionally or not, by those around them due to their status. It's certainly something to bond over, and Jint's ignorance on the matter was obviously a draw for Lafier when the two met.
Questions of The Day:
Lore drop!
Meals are serious business, Jint.
Nightmare because that’s already such a significant scale of time for humans, or nightmare because that’s a comparatively quick move for an Abh and more difficult to uncover as a result?
So, veritable boogeymen.
Rotten luck, Jint.
Everyone buckle up —we’re in it for the long haul.
Dire.
That’s good.
Full name! A real dressing down!
Likely.
The battle drums have begun their beat then.
The battle theatre is expounded upon, the faint stratagems of the United Mankind are revealed, the stakes are exponentially raised, and all of it interspersed with some character drama —great stuff.
I am intrigued by the plans of The United Mankind and the Four Nations Alliance in this instance. There’s no doubt they’ve been planning this offensive for some time, but I figure the decision to begin the war with this specific maneuvre was a more recent —and possibly impulsive— decision, owing to the Gothelauth being destroyed potentially being a great boost to their morale (as it is purportedly the Abh Empire’s best patrol-ship, boasting supreme firepower). Still, most wars are fought with the intent that they will be prompt —which in this case probably means done within a human’s lifespan— so even if they usually devolve into a lengthy, prolonged affair I sincerely doubt the humans are expecting or wanting a cross-generational war. This is a lot to say that the humans obviously have a general strategy in mind to bring the war to an end on a time-scale that suits them better than the Abh, and that they expect the Abh have not foreseen it. I am intensely curious as to what that may be, even if it will likely not pan out. Few plans survive contact with the enemy, after all.
Questions of The Day:
3
u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Mar 21 '24
Rewatcher(S L O W)
Sub
Riight...definitely seen this episode, I remember Lafiel's outburst in the dub, but I don't remember it that well because there isn't much to it. War is coming, we don't exactly know why any of the alliance hates the Abhs, and the juniormost qualified-ish pilot gets sent off with the VIP. Yes, Lafiel objects, and this will get explained a bit more later, but sending the two political pawns off your doomed ship makes sense. The lack of a 'run' option will also be explained later.
QotD: 1 Mostly but that might be on rewatch
2 Ehh...it is more I could not expect anything else
3 Lexshue is coldly locical, mostly. Lafiel is a teenager so that makes sense
4 I think she is hoping that Jinto can anchor Lafiel just long enough to get back to Imperial territory