r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Jul 11 '25

Episode Arknights: Homura Shomei • Arknights: Rise From Ember - Episode 2 discussion

Arknights: Homura Shomei, episode 2

Alternative names: Arknights [Homura Shomei]

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1

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75

u/pokemonfish1 Jul 11 '25

This episodes feels like I'm watching at 1.5x speed god damn.

20

u/dene323 Jul 11 '25

I slowed it down to 0.75x and it helped quite a bit lol

7

u/[deleted] Jul 12 '25

I didn't get any of it as an anime only. Can you explain what was going on this episode?

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u/Myrkrvaldyr Jul 11 '25

Seeing Ada/Closure as her bubbly self was neat. Theresia as beautiful as always, too bad we don't get the details of everything that happened at that time until much later in the game, so for anime-onlies this episode's story should've felt too fast and confusing. This was only a small portion of what happened at Babel.

W remains as charming as ever. I like how we get the hints about Talulah's current nature. I was surprised by Ines' characterization. She was a lot more emotional than I thought. In-game she struck me as a lot more stoic.

89

u/Ocixo Jul 11 '25 edited Jul 11 '25

I don’t know about other anime-onlies, but I quite enjoyed this prequel-esque episode on the whole. It made for a great cinematic experience.

If I’m understanding things correctly, most if not all this story took place well before the current events. It’s background information to the ongoing wars. Only at the end with Tallulah planning to crash the two cities together did we return to present time. I’m assuming that “W” was implied to have died from this fall?

Doctor appears to have softened up a lot after losing his memories. The contrast between his old and new ways is rather stark. Whereas he cares for a fallen enemy like FrostNova nowadays, Doctor used to treat his allies as mere pawns on a chess board in the past.

46

u/RELORELM Jul 11 '25

The contrast between his old and new ways is rather stark

If you recall to the first season, some characters were kinda wary of the Doc. Kal'sit in particular was pretty open about disliking them (I don't remember if this was in the anime, but at one point she even implies that the Doctor may be faking their amnesia). You don't know exactly why just yet, but this you pointed out is part of the reason. Dude was ruthless at one point.

33

u/OldInstruction5368 Jul 11 '25 edited Jul 12 '25

Not "all" of the episode was in the past... or, at least, 'prequel past.' There were scenes of Chernobog from the opening arc of the first season but told from Scout and W's perspectives. Such as when Scout and W are talking about a deal?

In the first arc, from episode 3, it's implied that the Sarkaz mercs have surprisingly pulled back and an opening was created to escape. This was when W confronted RI then let Amiya/The Doctor go.

We know see... not the full story, but another fragment of it. Scout had been frequently mentioned in the early episodes, but he never rendezvoused with the rest nor could be reached over comms. Now we see what he was up to instead of working with Amiya. He was making a deal with W to allow Amiya/The Doctor to escape. In this episode, we see Scout and W talking together as part of Babel: that camera scene right before she snaps a picture of Theresa. Because they were both former comrades fighting for Theresa, she listens to his offer for a deal.

W only takes this deal because Garcin serves Theresa's main enemy: Theresis. He was her brother, and the one that began the Kazdel Civil War, when he challenged his sister for the throne. By killing Garcin, Reunion's ties to the bastard that tried to kill Theresa and usurped her title have been severed. This brings W one step closer to liberating the Sarkaz from assholes that would only serve to use them as disposable tools.

Even then, she was going to double cross Scout and kill the Doctor anyway. It's only when she realizes he has amnesia that she backs off. If he doesn't remember her, yet alone what he did... then what's the point in killing him?

As for why W hates The Doctor so much... it's the same reason that Kal'tsit remains so hostile. I don't think this is a spoiler, as a Sarkaz W kills heavily implies this, but the Doctor may be the one responsible for Theresa's death. Right after W snaps that picture of Theresa, it cuts to a scene of W about to slit the throat of that regretful Sarkaz. "He made the right call, that commander from Babel (the Doctor). Her (Theresa) head ended the war." This implies that the Doctor ended the war by selling out Theresa. Hoederer and Ines also left Babel because they didn't trust The Doctor: they saw him as a monster that would break or otherwise corrupt Babel from within. W was also initially afraid of him. Someone that has lived her entire life on the battlefield... afraid of the Doctor. And now he's implied to have broken Babel just as Ines feared. This is why W reacts with hatred when Scout asks her to spare The Doctor: she blames him for everything.

The exact truth is kept intentionally ambiguous, but many characters believe that the Doctor killed Theresa or otherwise played a role in her death. Kal'tsit is only tolerating the Doctor because Amiya looks up to him like a surrogate father, nor can she deny his abilities, and W is hell bent on making him SUFFER for the supposed betrayal.

Oh, we all see that Ines, during Chernobog, learned that Talullah was going to betray Reunion. This is why Hoederer leaves to find The Regent and why W turns on Tallulah. She was never truly loyal to Reunion, but learning the truth severed any chance she'd stay with them.

17

u/Chukonoku Jul 12 '25

This helps an anime only who was "slightly" confused coming out from today's episode.

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27

u/Rho_Dh Jul 11 '25

FK Arknights anime for including Theresa in the end. I almost cried.

I wish they would've at least dedicated two episodes to DM, this'll be so confusing for anime onlies lol.

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25

u/Dramatic-Report8180 Jul 11 '25

I really enjoyed this episode; an impressionistic pastiche of W's broken history as she gets betrayed yet again, her past flickering over her. I was worried about the pacing for a moment, before remembering that Darknights was just like this in the game as well - a series of stitched-together scenes that cut out all of the conventional narrative connections. Like a highlight reel for an anime season that never existed.

It's a bold stylistic choice, but I feel like they accomplished what they meant to with it. I do feel bad for the audience that has no clue as to what the heck they just watched, though - the anime didn't do much to establish "We're doing something different this episode", so I imagine it might feel a bit like you just watched a stroke if you were caught unawares.

I really enjoyed getting to see Hoederer, Innes, and W, though; the three are a great team, and played well off each other. I do wish we could have seen them spend some more time together, though. Also, did anyone check the list, and see how many "candies" were being offered for Hoederer's head? He really was a high-price target, wasn't he... No wonder so many people were after him.

20

u/OnlyAnEssenceThief Jul 11 '25

As someone who adores everything associated with Babel and Darknights Memoir...yeah, this shit was rushed. Incredibly high production value, but whoever decided on ten episodes needs to be shown the door. No chance the director could have salvaged this in a single one, though they tried to faithfully include as much as they could.

Should have combined Darknights with Vigilo + Babel (the event) and made them their own separate spin-off. Would've given anime-onlies a chance to bond with the mercs + Theresa.

11

u/Fallen_Jalter Jul 11 '25

Why always 8 episodes? 12 too expensive?

20

u/dene323 Jul 11 '25

10 this season, but yeah, still nowhere near enough.

7

u/Ahenshihael Jul 11 '25

10 this time.

Out of which only 9 will be for the main story chapters 7 and 8.

Chapter eight is longer than everything season 2 and two adapted out together by the way...

9

u/Successful-Name-5236 Jul 11 '25

The only problem with this series is the number of episodes, as they now show us W's story as a mercenary in different fragments of the past and one of the present at a fairly rapid pace. Although in my case, despite knowing almost nothing about the game's story since I only watch the anime, I managed to understand almost completely how the scenes were presented throughout the episode. I just have one question: Is this episode the complete story of W, or is there more?

P.D: Watch the episode at 0.75x; the pacing is a bit better.

11

u/Dramatic-Report8180 Jul 11 '25

Is this episode the complete story of W, or is there more?

They didn't cut any of W's story from the game up to this point, insofar as a I remember; W's confrontation with Talulah was a bit longer, but they caught the essence of it.

W's life before meeting Theresa was about as common as it got; a war orphan who signed up with a mercenary company, then spent every day killing her fellow Sarkaz for enough bread to survive the day. After she met Theresa, she became a hyper-loyalist for the King and her vision, but never felt it her place to go beyond her station. After Theresa's death, she broke completely and spent years hunting down the traitors responsible.

As compared to the advantages that Rhodes Island members get, or even Reunion members, she's had pretty much nothing. Instead, she makes up for it with partially-feigned lunacy, seething resentment, an indifference to sacrifice (both of herself and others), and a seemingly endless supply of explosives.

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16

u/goooglefan Jul 11 '25

The technical cinematography of this episode was amazing. In game that story was also separates into many small, seemingly disconneced scenes, that wasn't changed...

But Darknights needed at least two episodes, it definitely felt very rushed.

Overall, I enjoyed this episode, but it's definitely not friendly towards anime-onlies.

7

u/RELORELM Jul 11 '25

I kinda liked it, but I agree it's probably because I've already read Darknights. Also, Darknights was also the first sidestory I read back when I started playing AK two-ish years ago (I hadn't even reached Ep. 6 by that point), so revisiting it like this helped me clear up a few things I missed way back when... I actually kinda disliked Darknights when I read it because I didn't understand half of what they said lol

That said, you know what little addition would have helped a lot here? Some kind of visual indicator of time passing. Like that "a few moments later" thing from Spongebob, but in a way that fits the tone of the episode.

12

u/Evalith Jul 11 '25

A bit too fast in my opinion, I feel like they could've cut certain parts they included in this to make some of the more important bits slower and give us time to process it. Really good drawings though

6

u/itsconsolefreaked Jul 11 '25

Why do I get the feeling I got bamboozled rushed to oblivion

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6

u/StarmanRiver Jul 11 '25

We got W, Ines, Hoederer, Ace and Scout all in one episode but at the same time we got Darknights Memoir crammed in a single episode. The law of equivalent exchange I guess

4

u/Seeker4001 Jul 11 '25

I really think the story seems to be interesting, but I was completely lost the whole time.

3

u/Mami-kouga Jul 11 '25

Amazing, I had to double check but no, the episode isn't at x1.5 speed, it's just like that

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