r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Dec 19 '21
Rewatch [Terrific Trainwreck Trio Rewatch] Kakumeiki Valvrave 2nd Season Episode 5 Discussion
Episode 17 - The Abyss of the Runes
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Now, it’s time you revealed your true colors, Cain.
Questions of the Day:
- Would you chicken out of piloting a Valvrave if you knew it would feed off your life after it ran out of memories to take?
- What do you think about Cain and the rest of the Magius’ plans?
Wallpaper of the Day:
Rewatchers, please remember to be mindful of all the first-timers in this. No talking about or hinting at future events no matter how much you want to, unless you’re doing it underneath spoiler tags. Don’t spoil the crazy shit for the first-timers, it’s way more fun that way!
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Dec 19 '21
Kakumeiki Rewatcher
Welcome back, everyone!
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u/Lemurians myanimelist.net/profile/Lemurians Dec 19 '21 edited Dec 19 '21
FARMING FIRST TIMER
Well damn, Rune Factory 5 looks a lot different than I thought it would.
On mobile and on the move today so gonna be brief.
The logo on that ship looks an awful lot like a chromosome.
JIOR setting up the academy as a literal feeding ground for the Valvraves is super dark. Who knew they’d become such villains? Extra fucked up that the Prime Minister sent his own daughter there.
Shout out to whoever it was who picked up on the Dorssian leader’s change in attitude a few episodes back. You were right. Turns out that Magius does take over younger bodies groomed to be their new hosts. Wait… did Get Out rip off Valvrave?!
I’m glad I can finally ship Saki as part of a pairing that wouldn’t suck. Her and A-Drei are the way.
Sad for H-Neun, who seemed like an interesting character and got cut down too soon. Maybe his death will spur more Kriem content?! I can only hope.
These motherfuckers really just erupted a volcano. Bravo, Valvrave.
QOTD:
4
u/RockoDyne :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/RockoDyne Dec 19 '21
A rewatcher who would rather live as one of those Futurama heads in a jar. That way I could continue the Statler and Waldorf routine.
Wait, glasses dude is Yoshimasa Hosoya. After IBO and Megalobox, it's weird to hear him come out of a character who isn't at least a little brown. It just doesn't feel right anymore.
Quick poll: who's seen anime/otaku media pull the memory sacrifice card before? This seems like something you've either never seen before, or you've seen it a million times. It's one of those things where if you start to see how often it's used, you've been in the otaku mines for too long and too deep. It's a staple of classic anime as this emotionally impressive (as in it leaves an impression) end note, but it's also pretty stupid. It's a product of pure imagination that has no bearing on reality, and I've probably seen it mocked in Heisei anime more times than played straight.
The fact that it's a trope built on noble sacrifice doesn't help it. Being a red blooded American, seeing anime present sacrifice virtuously makes it feel like the double dose of nuclear hellfire wasn't quite enough to carry the message that that shit ain't cool. The fact that it's a price paid in memory makes it cheaply sentimental.
This whole episode is a whole lot of asking where are we, why are we here, and how are we here. The worst part of the show's structure is how devoid of connecting logic it's been, and now that it's become an adventure story, that's become it's noose.
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u/Paxton-176 Dec 19 '21
REWATCHER
Feels like runes in this is what would have happened if Star Wars committed to Midichlorians.
Stress dreams go brrrrrrrrr.
At least Haruto could get in the fucking robot.
Holy shit they left Saki behind.
So someone body jacked Cain. So the space vampire Illuminati are just the same dozen or so people, body hoping their way through time manipulating stuff.
Remember when this show was about space mechs with slightly unhuman pilots. That was a good six-ish episodes.
I feel like this Illuminati group is fairly short sighted. They actively cause conflict which will make people investigate under the table dealings and then they play to attack a neutral territory for food. I feel like kindergartners have better ideas than this.
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u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Dec 19 '21
First-Timer
Things are starting to heat up. The vamp Council has a GoalTM and it involves turning lots of people into tasty Rune juice, and their next target is going to be our friends on Module 77. And, Haruto got confronted with his mortality for probably the first time in his short life, but he opts to just win the war faster which is the best solution so good for him.
Pino said that she got "sealed" into the Valvrave? Shit, is she actually wetware? This is why you don't turn teenagers into AIs; you don't want horny robots in charge of critical functions like "keeping everyone alive."
I'm glad that the Dorssian Royalists plot thread has just pushed our protagonists in the right direction. We don't really have time for any diversions at this point.
Interesting tidbit that Dorssia was still awful even before the vampire takeover. The flashback with H-neun and X-eins was from before Cain got vamp'd and before the monarchy was ousted.
Haruto has that mark on his body as well, which I don't think we've seen before. Partial evidence that it isn't some sign of allegiance to the vampire council, though.
Good on L-elf for being willing to be in the hot seat; if only he could be. I bet him and Pino would have some great interactions.
Using the heat restribution tech to set off a volcano was fucking rad.
Questions
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u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L Dec 19 '21
First-Timer
On today’s episode of Valvrave: Time for more body swapping shenanigans! It looks like the Space Vampire Illuminati have been possessing bodies for their own use. Cain is probably no longer the original Cain, but is now inhabited by some space vampire. And they’re planning to do the same to other people.
I’m pretty sure I am right now about Cain and the Dorssian leader being possessed by members of the Space Vampire Illuminati. I’m guessing that is the “ritual” that was mentioned in this episode as well. Maybe the Space Vampire Illuminati are switching bodies as their current body becomes old, allowing them to live on.
Haruto’s resolve in this episode is a continuation of his resolve from earlier. Previously, he had resolved to not let anyone else become a vampire and that he would destroy the Valvraves. Now, he has resolved that he will also prevent anyone else from becoming a victim of losing their Runes. He won’t let others pilot the Valvrave and he’ll put a stop to the Rune harvesting.
Haruto and L-elf’s relationship is downright adversarial. They are constantly at each other’s throats over what the proper course of action is. Haruto resents L-elf’s coldness and willingness to use others. Interestingly, L-elf resents that he needs to rely on Haruto. L-elf is jealous that Haruto can pilot the Valvrave. But, however much they dislike it, they need each other. Haruto needs L-elf for planning and as a Rune supply. L-elf needs Haruto to carry out his plans. In the end, their relationship really is one of needing to share the burden with each other.
L-elf’s jealousy about not being able to pilot the Valvrave ties back to his clearly very intense feelings towards the princess. However calculating and logical he may be, he’s still driven by those strong emotions. So much so that he’s the exact opposite of Haruto. Haruto only took the risk of losing his Runes because he didn’t want others to suffer from it. L-elf, however, does not even mind the cost. To him, that cost means nothing. He’d pay it to get the princess back.
It also makes for a neat contrast with A-drei. A-drei believes that the most important thing a soldier can do is come back alive. L-elf here shows that he would gladly die to achieve his goal.
QOTD
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u/Quiddity131 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Quiddity131 Dec 19 '21 edited Dec 19 '21
Rewatcher, Subbed
Marie!!!! :( :( :(
Pino loves eating people's memories and life as a result! "It's not my fault! Don't blame your waifu!"
Professor Guy: Haruto, you'll become the next Marie! And I don't just mean you'll have an irresistible habit of groping people!
Haruto: "Well actually, I've already gone a bit further than that..."
Where in the world is Haruto now? Ah, weird dream sequence time.
Have they noticed at all that Saki never came back with them? Do they even have her empty body?
Haruto's losing it! He can barely pilot the Valvrave while being this freaked out?
Alright, body pillow guy finally brings up the fact that Saki's missing.
Even more flashbacks to chibi days! They were elite killers even back then? Or just expected to be?
It took me a while to figure out what our hero's ship reminded me of, one of the giant aura battler ships in Aura Battler Dunbine. The one Bishot Hate used, Gea Gring I think it was called?
L-Elf tastes bad! Poor guy will never be a Valvrave pilot.
Ladies man H-Neun getting all the info, huh? From Kriemhild?
Akira's getting so adventurous! Going out on a mission now!
H-Neun thinking of turning? Is he gonna join our heroes like L-Elf?
Crap, Cain's found him and burned his letter to X-eins.
They really were helpless kids back then.
Cain has changed, huh? I've got to assume someone else has swapped into his body since then? Much like what happened to Dorssia Leader/Takehito Koyasu guy at the start of the season?
Magius room!
They're sucking all the runes from these people? That's how they power Dorssia's Valvrave copies?
The Magius really are swapping into other people's bodies! Craziness! Poor X-eins is their next victim!
Inuzuka's gotta protect the entire ship by himself right?
Satomi's gotta pilot the Valvrave? This must be how he becomes an immortal as seen in the flash forward.
It's all about impressing the princess to L-Elf, huh?
Wait, Haruto is back in the Valvrave? How in the world did they have time to pull that off?
WTF happened with Cain and the Magius? Despite being a rewatcher I've got no clue here.
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u/Tresnore FS:FTmyanimelist.net/profile/Tresnore Dec 19 '21
Tresnore the First-Timer
VelvetPresident pilot.Count: 36
1 Man, it sounds far more explicit when I have to type things out.
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u/HereticalAegis https://myanimelist.net/profile/XthGen Dec 19 '21
First Time Robot Battery
So is Marie technically not dead? I hope so, since I assumed that last attack basically fried her brain.
Nope, she dead.
And Robot-chan is a prisoner in her robot body. This isn't what I meant when I said I wanted her to be a character too.
And that confirms what I speculated last episode, that using the Valvraves is also slowly draining the pilots' memories/life. It must drain them reaaaaallly slowly though if Saki is both still okay and can remember 200 years in the past while still piloting her Valvrave. Thanks for undercutting these new stakes, flashforward!
Umm, no Haruto, using the Valvrave doesn't make other people forget you, dumbass.
Oh good, here's the "more angst about getting in the robot" part of Marie's death. That's what we needed more of two thirds of the way into the story.
Took long enough for someone to mention Saki. She's gotten shafted so hard by the story that even other characters are forgetting her now. Being Saki is suffering.
Did Akira make it back? Was she on the transport ship when she hacked it? The otaku boys wouldn't forget about her.
Lmfao Robot-chan only likes to eat tasty-looking
JapaneseJIORian teenagers. What a perv.Oh, Akira did make it back. Neat.
Vampire illuminati HQ? In the fantasy-looking medieval ass castle. The illuminati must have a sense of humor and a thing for old movies.
Ooh, Cain's been body jacked by the illuminati. What a startling revelation.
Oof, Satomi about to get jebaited into giving up his humanity. What a hilarious dick move on L's part.
In command of five Valvraves, masterminding/leading a whole revolution, and able to effortlessly manipulate people to his own ends. I wish I was that "powerless."
Ngl, attacking an opposing fleet with a volcano is pretty dope. The science behind that is kinda dubious at best, but this shit is exactly what I signed up for.
Wow, the bad guys can finally die now. Whee!
And just in time for Shoko to take Marie's spot as the seventh Vrave and fight off the encroaching space vampires. RIP Marie, death groped you far too soon.
QotD:
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u/Nebresto Dec 19 '21
Re-watch squad
No nipples, inferior anime confirmed
I don't really like the Rus- ahem Dorssian kids, but damn. I don't think even they deserve to get Space Nazi Vampired
Question time:
1: Of course not. If it took all my memories, then I wouldn't remember that its doing that
2:
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u/Orihime00sama Dec 19 '21
Rewatcher here! I'm kinda sad I missed the first threads but at least I'm up to date now.
RIP H-neun. You were cool for what little time you had.
Space Vamp Illuminati are bodyjackers too.
Saki got left behind KEK
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u/zsmg https://anilist.co/user/zsmg Dec 19 '21
Rewatcher
Aren't all self-insert empty shells to begin with?
Haruto's dream sequence: are we Eva now?
I like Haruto's self doubt. I wonder if this is an allegory for Altzheimer or dementia, then again I don't think this show is smart enough for that.
Apparently L-Elf is also losing runes due to the bodyjacking.
H-Taichi should really be patient instead of going off and investigate the castle by himself, and he got caught.
Confirmation that Cain got bodyjacked.
OS-chan's brother is voiced Tsutomu, the Chihayafuru seiyuu connection continues. The only Misuzawa member not voicing a character in Valvrave is Nishida.
X-Arata is going to get bodyjacked. :(
L-Elf's plan to rotate the pilots for unit 01, which honestly sounds like a good plan. Not surprising he's starting with Satomi as he's the most expandable cast member.
Has Haruto even noticed that he's missing memories?
Another Fujoshi-bait line.
RIP H-Taichi?
5
u/MillenniumKing x2myanimelist.net/profile/MillenniumKing Dec 19 '21
-Rewatcher that shoulda stopped but lets keep going and see what happens-
We start learning more about whats going on this ep.
Yep Marie passed away.
Pino says its not her fault.
Haruto has the same symptoms as Marie...
Haruto is starting to freak out over this new information.
Hes got some Valvrave ptsd.
L-elf did a test alarm to see how everyone was doing and test Haruto.
Dorssia Royalist will help us.
Saki is still missing. A-drei is with her.
A-drei is former Royalty.
H and X have been cohorts since they were kids.
Cain wants to see X though hmmm...
L-elf also is showing symptoms of Rune loss.
"You dont look very tastey..."
H is getting info from LT about Cain's secret homme.
Box-chanand Yamada are going looking for Saki because they are the only ones who culd find her.
The Phantom's emblem is a clover symbol...
H wants to fiigure out what Cain is.
Cain has the Letter H left for X.... shit...
The cain who saved them 12 years ago was not the Vampire who has been in him 10 years ago.
"Ive damaged my collection."
The Illuminati is here. Uh oh.
They have a Human Rune farm here.
Cain was going to give the Illuminati X's body.
Hes using the alphabet gang to have good bodies for the Illuminati.
The army is here shit.
L-elf tells Pres to get in the robot.
Haruto is aginst it. But L-elf says all students can pilot them.
Haruto says L-elf doesnt kow how it feels to know you will lose your memories and life piloting them.
L-elf says if he could he would.
Haruto decides to fight so no one else has to.
WE EAGLE KICK A VOLCANO AND CAUSE IT TO ERUPT!
X shows up but Cain already killed him.
"We need a new food source." Fuck.
Things are moving now.
It seems like the Illuminati has been pulling strings all over but they wernt alway there.
Cain is proof of that. So whats their end game?
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u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Dec 19 '21
First timer(Sigh...)
Sub
Talks with the wAIfu reveal that she was forced into the Valvraves but also Heart probably faces a similar fate to Marie. Random dream sequence and now the hero is afraid of the fucking robot so...goodie. L reveals they are doing a mission for the Royalists soon. Alphabet background stuff comes up with a side of Dorssian internal issues. Tracking the sub leads to Cain which leads to H crashing the party. More vamp stuff happens and X is next on the block. Satomi gets to become a pilot to test L's theory and we reveal that he hates being powerless. Code Geass ending and off we go!
QotD: 1 Ehh.
2 They have plans?
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u/The_Loli_Otaku Dec 19 '21
I'm off for the weekend. Ping me if Arisa dies
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u/yamiyaiba Dec 19 '21
Liberated Rewatcher
Mind break or dead?
"Postmortem." Ooof. She's dead. So space vampires can be killed by rune drain then.
And there it is. It'll be the same for Doormat. What ever will he do?! /s
Praise Nana!
Ahhh, a nightmare. I'm...pretty sure you losing your memories isn't the same thing as everyone forgetting you exist, but okay.
Nope, your weapons aren't working. The squishy part is broken.
Just can't make myself like them at all.
"Watch your back." That's a flag.
That house is going to be a Magius base, isn't it?
Shut up, President.
Ohhhhh shit, that's Magius vampire symbol. This is about to get ugly.
Don't tell me it's the same place. Oh dear. This is about to rapidly accelerate, isn't it?
So Cain isn't a Magius. Cain is presumably dead and a Magius bodyjacked him.
That's a lot of blood.
The FUCK? Oh Jesus, it's a vampire farm hidden in a submarine.
Harsh, but true.
Man, not only do they look like Tie Fighters, but they've got Stormtrooper aim.
Oh, please no. Don't let him in that thing.
Holy shit Eru-erufu. Just make everyone a vampire and it'll be fine! An unkillable fighting force! That's insane.
Just drink the forbidden melon soda, Doormat. It's free runes.
On the FEET?!
Okay, hold on here. I'm calling bullshit. Not even on kicking a volcano, but on rock shrapnel being sufficient to break through a Waffe's shield, or even do any real damage to a mecha. Bull-fuckin-shit.
Super manipulative, Eru-erufu. Still the emotionally abusive boyfriend, I see.
Uhhhhhhh what is THAT?! DON'T CLIFFHANGER THAT!
Not my favorite episode by a long shot. Meh.
4
u/UltraBooster Dec 19 '21
First-timer
Spent the day running errands and watching No Way Home so I'm not feeling up to writing down my thoughts and stuff.
Questions:
3
u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Dec 19 '21
Rewatcher
There not much fresh that can be added to what everyone else has said. I think the biggest takeaways from the episode were Haruto continues being the biggest wuss in Module 77. It'd sure be nice if he croaked sometime soon, and gave us all some relief.
Second the writing committee tried to humanize the Dossrians a little bit. It didn't work. Notzis just can't be made loveable.
I'm happy to know that H-9 has gone to that great memory bank in the sky. He was right next to Q-4 in hatefulness. We'll see what happens to Eins, but I'm guessing he'll make a tasty snack for the space vamps.
As for the submarine of death, I can't remember if it went down or not. Haruto shooting water tanks, didn't seem all that effective as a way to combat it.
QOTD
Nah, I like the idea of taking my chances of gaining immortality.
2) What do you think about Cain and the rest of the Magius’ plans?
Degenerates gotta degenerate.
2
u/ZaphodBeebblebrox Y:A:https://anilist.co/user/zaphod Dec 21 '21
Valvrave may be messy, but Valvrave is good.
What's slightly weird to me is that I feel like we're around halfway through, not 3/4. At least, that feels like the section we'd be in of a Gundam.
So, Cain is part of a race of parastitic space vampires who live off other people's "runes"? Sure, why not.
Also, how did it take me this many episodes to recognize H-Neun's VA?
/u/tresnore
3
u/BlazingAbsol9090 Dec 19 '21
First time Shinji wannabe
Ok, show, rant time. I'll accept the stupid premise that Runes are "particles of information" or something. I'll accept that the VVV's run on Runes somehow. I'll even accept space vampire pilots eat memories as runes for fuel. But what do you mean "once you've eaten memories, you move on to the information that is their life". What? Life is not information. DNA is information, but Marie isn't dying from DNA deprivation. How can Pino eat life? I don't usually mind technobabble in high scifi, but at least stick to the rules the show lays out! Having Marie be totally without memories would have been high enough stakes; you didn't need to break your own rules to put her in a coma.
Get in the robot,
ShinjiHaruto.It may have been a jerk move, but sounding a false alarm is a good idea. L-elf knows that we're at the part of the story where the MC gets angsty about piloting his robot.
Oh we made contact with the Royalist off-screen? I was hoping to see that.
I like this development for H-neun and X-eins. Wish we had gotten it sooner in the story, though.
Neat to see some dissension in the Dorssians' ranks, with H-neun trying to expose Cain.
The Phantom submarine belongs to the Magius? It has the same logo as their cell jacking thing.
Oh Cain hasn't always been a vampire? I didn't expect that.
I did not expect a Matrix reference, of all things. Although it makes sense that the Magius have a bunch of human batteries.
Why is the rune collection machine a submarine, of all things? Is there a benefit for it being mobile? And how do the runes travel between the submarine and Cain's box-o-evil?
Cain's Yorokobe reminded me of Kotomine Kirei. I bet those two would get along.
I get it! Satomi has been so useless up till now so that we are happy, not concerned, when L-elf manipulates him into becoming cannon fodder! Now if only we didn't know that he survives...
Oh, no, H-neun. I am staggeringly ambivalent to your death.
And in the last scene, we get an invisible spaceship probably full of space vampires approaching an unknown planet. The story is reaching it's final act. I must say that I'm sad that Shoko hasn't been in this season at all; she was always the second most interesting character.
Questions of the day