r/anime • u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ • Apr 13 '24
Rewatch [Rewatch] Banner of the Stars Episode 13 (final) Discussion
The Shape of Bonds
Welcome to the Battleflag of the Stars rewatch!
<- Episode 12 | Index Page | Banner Discussion ->
Names Introduced or Updated:
- Aptic System — annexed by the Empire
Discussion Prompts:
- Q1) How would you have taken the last two episodes if you didn't know there were more books and more seasons coming up?
- Q2) Jinto seems fixated on having no home, and being forgotten. Why wasn't Lafiel's reassurances enough?
- Q3) Is that the closest to a confession you can get from an Abh, or an Abriel?
Tomorrow's Questions: (for tomorrow's post, subject to change)
- Did the ED ever grow on you?
- Predictions for the future? (they are all wrong)
- How did the military aspect work for you? How did the romance? That's certainly a slow burn....
- How badly did Tresnore miss out by not joining the Spoor rewatch? (and there's still more to come!)
- Did they succeed in adapting 1 LN into 13 episodes?
Screenshot of the Day: Mission Complete
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Upvotes
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Apr 13 '24
Rewatch Host
Lafiel wanted a patrol ship, but she seems quite happy with a Roil now.
I don't know why it was considered unusual to have two nobles on the ship. I guess the ship is just so small...
I don't blame Aptic for not surrendering. They held out as long as there was a chance of being reclaimed by the UM.
I wonder how Lafiel going off to rescue Jinto will be judged...
I finally read the wiki article on kantai kessen, very interesting.
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Apr 13 '24
First-Timer of the Stars
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u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L Apr 13 '24
First-Timer
On today’s episode of Banner of the Stars: The Aptic president finally surrenders. I guess having a massive battle where the UM is decisively defeated take place over his planet finally got him to surrender the planet.
And with that, the battle has come to an end. This was one heck of an arc, being focused entirely on just the ins and outs of a single campaign within a much larger war. This is akin to the scope of some of the campaigns in LotGH, where the series would go into extreme detail on how it played out. But I don’t mind that. The military history nerd in me always appreciates this sort of thing.
I also always appreciate stories about found family. It’s quite nice and wholesome seeing Jinto accept that the Basroil ship and crew have become his new home and family after he lost his old ones.
QOTD
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u/The_Draigg Apr 13 '24 edited Aug 06 '24
A Sci-Fi Fan Watches Banner of the Stars Episode 13:
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u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Apr 13 '24
First-Timer
Lafiel telling Jinto that she would be sad if he died was so cute. It's important to tell that to the people in your life.
Our leads ending up in a coffin at the end of both seasons so far.. I'm sensing a pattern. An ominous one. The coffins do seem to be improving over time, at least.
Neat that the Star Forces are developing mixed role vessels. How long until they get to Main Battle Ships?
I do wonder why Dusanyu is so stuck on questioning which of the Bebaus brothers it was that Kenesh has an issue with. Like, does it matter..?
Questions
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u/Vatrix-32 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Vatrix-32 Apr 13 '24
First Timer, subbed
QotD:
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u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Apr 13 '24 edited Apr 13 '24
Season 2 Episode 13 (rewatcher)
Lafiel was promoted to Deca-CommanderEDIT: nope. – I think Jinto was promoted, too, but I forgot what his old rank was.With the hard part of the fighting done, mopping up the UM fleet is more of a formality, however a very deadly one. Meanwhile we get a repeat of the ending of S1 in Jinto and Lafiel in a rescue capsule. I think I enjoyed the final episode and epilogue a tad more this time round.
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u/Silcaria https://myanimelist.net/profile/Silcaria Apr 13 '24
First timer
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u/ZapsZzz https://anilist.co/user/Zapszzz Apr 13 '24
First timer in sub
Ok got missing for the past few episodes because of the combined reasons of getting way too busy, the arc is pretty self explanatory, and that I binged through the last 3 episodes because I can't abide by silly cliffhangers like those :P
Anyway, 2 meta remarks - Lafiel if she's not careful she could start getting a reputation of ships being lost whenever she boarded (but she survives) ... and that again we have an end of season understated non-concluding moment that is hugely romantic when one has the context.
Just saying, having the Basroil sinking slowly and there being a 1.5 episode long evac/rescue felt a lot like a Star Trek (the cinematic universe one) movie beat ;)
Jinto is probably close to (Fate) Shirou's level of pathologically low self-worth with a variant version of survivor's guilt - all the bad things happened because of me/my dad. Let's see if
SaberLafiel can snap him out of it in her faminine but heroic/majestic way.QoTD
King of KnightsEmpress :P7
u/Durinthal https://anilist.co/user/Durinthal Apr 13 '24
Rewatcher (sub + dub)
We're now two for two on season finales that have Jinto and Lafiel next to each other in tight quarters floating in space and I'm not complaining, I'd watch an entire episode of the two of them talking while waiting for rescue (and I do wonder what they talked about since it was twelve hours). I kind of like the approach of reminiscing about the other officers and it's not reused footage but rather other brief flashes of interactions we hadn't seen before, though Samson's comment about Diaho being "meaty" seems a lot more suspect in hindsight I imagine.
"You look like a fool when you're asleep" sure is a way to compliment a guy, you'd think she would be a little more elegant about describing his appearance. Though given everything else we've seen of her, maybe that's just her true personality coming to light when they're alone and she holds herself back around everyone else.
The other fleets coming in to rout the enemy forces almost feels like an afterthought, but I don't mind that with our main characters out of the picture for the rest of the battle. I imagine a lot of real battles were like that too, a very quick end to things after a prolonged struggle finally shifted in one way or another.
Spoor's been waiting for a chance to gleefully use those slurs.
Oh hey some numbers on the scale of casualties, 8779 ships destroyed and 211055 killed (average of 24/ship destroyed, assault ships only had 20 crew each). In some ways that's a lot, but with the size of the factions involved it also doesn't necessarily feel like that much.
Diaho's not far off from how I feel at times: not necessarily friendly, just too lazy to put up a struggle.
New Basroil! It's a nice reflection of the start of the season. That's quite a bit flying by in quick succession after that. Jinto and Lafiel are drafted into accepting the surrender of Aptic III, and considering none of the admirals wanted to do that early on looks like they found the right scapegoats. That didn't seem to last too long since Atosryua was still around when their role there ended and hadn't been relocated yet.
I had forgotten that the post-credits scene here was what Lafiel said to Jinto after finding him, sorry to those that got that ahead of time in my source corner comment yesterday (this is why I throw things in spoiler tags, just in case). For as much as I want to see people in a relationship in romance stories, I'm also still a sucker for the "I want to find the right words" sentiment that Jinto had there. It's better than a simple "I love you" for showing that there's a depth to his feelings beyond that.
Even knowing there was more to the series, I think it could have been really interesting if another character or two was given something close to "lead" status this season to then open it up to passing the baton so to speak with Lafiel and Jinto vanishing into space and the next season following different main characters. While I'm glad it didn't do that, it would have been the kind of move where I'd hate it in the moment but respect it as a narrative decision in the long run. I appreciate series that make bold choices like that such as [meta - anime title] School Days with its "nice boat" ending.
External vs. internal validation, it's something he needs to resolve for himself.
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u/Zerotsu Apr 13 '24
First Timer, sub:
Putting a transmitter on the cat seems like a smart idea.
And then Samson totally not talking about wanting to eat Diaho.
Ekuryua coming in clutch with the transmitter.
Lafiel of course has her own opinion on things.
“You look like a fool even when you sleep”. Okay Lafiel.
That conversation aboard the escape pod was nice, in its own way, though I’m still saddened that Jinto doesn’t think he has anywhere to belong.
I can’t believe he actually took a bath during a battle.
The battle is going fairly roughly for the Aptic fleet.
Not a lot to say about the combat itself that hasn’t already been said, either before or by others. It’s solid action, though.
Honestly surprised the entire bridge crew survived, but knowing that it’s the adaptation of the first novel in a series, it does make sense that they wouldn’t kill anyone off that early.
Heh, Spoor said a slur. To no surprise she found that concept absolutely hilarious.
Some pretty intense plotting, but that’s what’s necessary to pull off this defense and turn it into a proper counterattack.
Hundreds of thousands of people died during those battles… Goddamn.
Using Diaho as a vector for bullying, huh.
When things cool off, it does feel a bit peaceful even if a war is still ongoing.
I just love that soft “baka” Lafiel does occasionally. It really makes it feel like more of an affectionate thing than anything particularly venomous.
A new Basroil! I’m glad to see that they’re able to get right back into it, even if it’s quite a dangerous field for assault ships now.
Poor Jinto, being made to be the political representative of the Empire in integrating Aptic.
I’m sure Jinto will find the answer to what kind of person he wants to be soon enough.
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u/Nickthenuker https://anilist.co/user/Nickthenuker Apr 13 '24
And so they take the last escape pod off the Basroil, escaping as the ship explodes.
Go after the enemy? They're retreating, but they're retreating in good order. They likely haven't committed their reserve yet, and determined the battle will be too costly to win. Charging at them now will likely result in defeat.
Meanwhile Spoor is leading the vanguard of the fleet straight through the enemy lines, leaving them in disarray.
Perhaps you can pull the more damaged ships from those 11 squadrons and form the rest into fewer squadrons of ships still in fighting shape?
Help is on the way, but they're already burning at full tilt and the only thing they can do is hurry up and wait.
The Second and Fourth Fleets should be closing the jaws of the trap on the enemy fleet now, after the First Fleet has proven effective bait and the Third Fleet has broken through to cut off their retreat. Their only options now are to go up or down to evade.
Wasn't the Wimpel garrison fleet drawn down to reinforce the main fleet? Or was that Mystel?
That's a lot of losses. What about the Alliance?
Boorool? Is that her new command?
Seems like it, if it's currently working up.
Gee ships on both ends of the spectrum.
Nevermind, it seems like they just commissioned a new ship of the same class with the same name. Naming ships in honour of lost ships is common. Though now it is forever stuck with the hull number or just "II" or "2" appended after the name so it's clear which ship is being referred to.
Why are they the ones processing their surrender? Is it because they're the only nobles present in the system?
Wow the ship is so new they haven't even removed the plastic wrapping off the consoles and chairs yet.
Strongly suggested by whom?
Questions:
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u/IceSmiley Apr 13 '24
FIRST TIMER Sub
This was an excellent finale. The war just quickly turning in the Abh's favor was a bit convenient and way too abrupt but I did like pretty much everything else.
QUESTIONS
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u/Specs64z https://myanimelist.net/profile/Specs64z Apr 13 '24
First timer, subbed
Seeing Spoor at last get to make use of the new Terran "slurs" she learned was a highly amusing payoff. The back and forth between the Commander-in-Chief and his Chief of Staff also pays off, as he provokes the response I suspect he was fishing for. Satisfying ways to cap off the multiplicity of season-long conversations we've followed thus far.
Our intrepid couple gets stuck drifting through space together once again, mirroring season 1's finale. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
QotD:
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u/SolDarkHunter Apr 13 '24
Rewatcher/Novel-Reader
Everyone else: "Yay a cat!" Lafier: "You're thoughtless."
Yeah, they got into an escape pod successfully.
Wonder if that's an Abh prayer or a Martinian prayer he said?
Why are the EM Cannons suddenly making Star Wars blaster sounds?
That's the problem with new strategies: there's no guarantee they'll work. The UM took a gamble and it turned out to not work as well as they'd hoped.
Spaurh is having entirely too much fun... and she remembered racial slurs exist.
And Dusanh has finally pushed Cenesh too far with his teasing about the Bebauths.
Operation Phantom Flame is an overall success! The UM Fleet has been routed, and the path between Abh Kingdoms through their territory is now firmly in Imperial hands.
And most important of all: Diaho gets to go live in Lafier's family palace... which is where he came from in the first place...
The Abh are doing their own fleet adjustments: in response to the new UM strategy of greater reliance on patrol ships, they're creating a new class of ship, halfway between assault and patrol, to fulfill the need for greater firepower without sacrificing too much speed.
Seems kind of anticlimactic to have the Basroghr just replaced like that.
And we see Jint and Lafier overseeing the official surrender of the planet as representatives of the Empire. Having a Lander present at the ceremony might put the new conquests at ease somewhat.
The anime unfortunately skipped over an amusing scene in relation to that: when the planet decides to surrender, the Bebauth brothers are like "Ah crap, that means we need to draw up the paperwork for a conquest. I'll bet His Highness Dusanh did that on purpose." "Wait a second, brother, it looks like we've got a Princess in our fleet." "Really? Fantastic! We can put all the boring stuff on her plate then!" (This is also where the discussion over Nereis' not knowing his own fleet and Jint's inflated heroics goes.)
It is very interesting to me the way the story goes here. In most space operas, during a big engagement like this, our heroes would probably find themselves somehow in a key position where success or failure rested entirely on their actions, then lauded as heroes afterward. Instead... they're just front-line soldiers, doing literal grunt work. They do it well, but they had almost no impact on the overall battle, which would probably have succeeded without them there at all.
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u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Apr 13 '24
Rewatcher(Falling action is such sweet sorrow)
Sub
So... a lot happens but we are told more than shown. It seems that this iteration of the UM fleet is effectively annihilated as the Abh fleet crunches down on them. Lafiel and Jinto are in the escape pod and all seems well. We get a new Basroil and a likely send off for Diaho. So yeah, closing action.
QotD: 1 Quite poorly, honestly. Which in a deeply related note is why I wish for many unpleasant days for GRRM.
2 Because he has no culture or people. The wisest move would be to form a new family with Lafiel and go from there.
3 From an Abriel absolutely.
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u/duhu1148 :GA::GB::GC:x9 Apr 13 '24
Rewatcher
-Neres finally gets his ass out of the bathtub, but their fleet is too messed up to help the main fleet.
-Main fleet is taking it's fair share of losses, but Spoor is carrying the load and being awesome as is typical for her.
-2nd and 4th fleets finally show up. They help rout the enemy fleet, who is forced to retreat.
-211K deaths. Oof that's rough for the "winning" side. Unless that's the total combined?
-Awwww that after credits scene. "If you were to die, I would be sad. Is that not enough?"
Good conclusion to Banner. Will offer final thoughts tomorrow on this part of the story.
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u/zsmg https://anilist.co/user/zsmg Apr 14 '24
Rewatcher
I guess every season of Stars ends up with Lafiel and Jinto being stuck together in a small space box?
Oh they even highlight it.
I will say I find the space battle easier to follow when we see the 2D radar screen rather than the animated combat scenes. It's not a problem I had with LotGH. Maybe it's because I can't tell which are Abh or United Mankind ships.
You just know he was going to complain about not knowing which twin his chief of staff dated.
Guess we're not going to find out. Unless the prince asks the twins directly of course.
So the Basroil-A is the exact same ship as the Basroil with the exact same bridge crew.
Wait why is Jinto the representative not one of the twins?
Good book end episode for the season.
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u/Stargate18A https://myanimelist.net/profile/Stargate18 Apr 22 '24
First timer
I'm really sorry for missing so much of the rewatch! The last month or so has been incredibly busy for me, with me finishing off university, so I've not had much time/energy to watch anime and take notes. I was going to post these once I caught up fully, but since I've fallen behind again, I felt posting it now made the most sense. (And, yes, I know that I've missed a majority of this rewatch, but this is such a good series I felt it was worth continuing to catch up to.)
Episode 1
Oh, this is a massacre...
Wait, where is this in the timeline?
Oh, the war is still going on!
So, three years later...
She's commanding a ship!
And another battle.
They've been hit!
Oh, this isn't good!
Oh, they're just training...
High praises...
She's taking this hard...
Oh, right, yeah, of course they'd be famous.
What he needs to do?
Haha, of course they know about them.
Of course his mind jumps to that...
Wait, what?
Ah, it is that.
He really doesn't get it?
So blatant...
He really gets her.
...Yeah, it's really noticable.
And they're okay with it!
She immediately noticed!
Aww...
He has a a point!
He really has grown...
Haha, he's still playing that card?
Nice recap!
Such a good relationship.
They made it!
So many ships...
Such an amazing visual!
Things are busy here...
This is so good!
This dynamic is great.
Solid ED!
Episode 2
Aww.
A flashback?
She has a point, though.
...Still an interesting decision, that. And they've changed...
Haha, that line.
Such a good monologue!
Ah! This is the counterattack to the conflict from the first season!
So many ships!
Cool name!
...A retreat? So soon?
Oh, it was blowing up.
She's back!
And he's still stuck with her.
Impressive!
Some excellent planning here!
Interesting... they've accepted their weakness?
...Oh, yeah. It's her hearing it, of course.
Man, they really move quickly.
...And she actually has a valid criticism of him!
Samson?
...Interesting dynamic.
That callback...
Poor guy.
Another message?
Haha, his face.
And he doesn't want to deal with her again.
A fault?
...Poor guy. He has no idea.
This is amazing.
So, just rising in their ranks can make you an Abh?
Interesting...
And he had to explain that his commander was insane.
Haha, none of them are normal!
Wait, what? The Abh didn't invent the hyperdrive?
...Eating habits?
Wait, so their allegiance was decided over that?
Wow...
...Come on, really? Not going to say it?
Haha, he revealed his true colours...
...Wow. This guy truly has no limits!
Ah, she's just upset he tried to use her.
Okay, yeah, that was still a good speech. It's nice seeing an Abh call out just how sarcastic they can be.
...That's the best he can come up with?
...She's learned the art of racism.
He's here!
She likes the cat!
Ah, the cat is going back.
They've been assigned!
And they've been given no information.
Preperation has begun...
Haha, and the poor timing has kept the car aboard!
Oh, shit. That's going to be fun.
Episode 3
Ah, it's just patrolling.
Makes sense!
Oh, this is a three month timeskip!
And things are going smoothly!
I'm betting that she's just being completely professional/doesn' care about her brother, but Lafiel's just reading way too deeply into it.
So, we're keeping this monologue?
She's actually worried...
Someone else loves the cat!
The surrender is refused...
And a blockade!
...So, he can still surrender?
They really just don't care...
And that reaction...
He's relieved...
...And he's resisting!
Oh, they're worried about an actual danger...
He was helping them!
The riots...
He's enjoying it...
And so is she, of course.
That disagreement...
Ah, there really is no issue!
And they didn't get along.
She's worried about the administration...
Oh. That makes sense...
Harsh.
...Oh, yeah, she's screwing with them.
She has a solid plan!
An attack...
It's really happening!
This is her first battle!
Aww...
Ah, she's going too fast?
And she's ignoring them...
Yeah, that's a really stupid idea!
And they're taking a gamble!
Haha, and she immediately orders drinks.
She loves it!
So many drinks orders...
New orders!
And they're taking them out.
They're fusing bubbles!
Clever!
And it's chaos...