Now Haruto is proposing marriage in high school, oh god.
Recently I’ve been hearing criticisms that Valvrave is no longer funny because it’s too serious, what with last week’s rape and this week’s death of Shouko’s father. There seems to be this assumption that comedic things can’t be serious and vice-versa.
To which I respond: what?
Valvrave is funny precisely because it’s so earnest and serious. Valvrave could have taken a cynical approach. It could have made all the battles fought with pea shooters, turned the pilots into the three stooges, and replaced the school with a karuta society. It could have laughed at mecha anime with an attitude that says, “I’m above all this shit.” I’ll call this the John Stewart school of comedy.
Valvrave doesn’t take this path though. It keeps the setup serious, just as in the earlier shows it parodies. I’d claim that, despite how ridiculous and stupid they make everything, the writers behind Valvrave actually love mecha anime. More than laughing at mecha anime, they’re laughing at themselves for liking it. I’ll call this the Princess Bride school of comedy.
The Princess Bride school tells stories earnestly while being just as hard hitting as anything the John Stewart school can muster. The seriousness of the events that transpire and the height of the stakes are necessary because they exist in the original material. For example, the scene with Shouko’s father is taken straight out of Zeta Gundam, when Kamille’s parents are dumped in a glass box in space.
Further Thoughts
Once Haruto pulls an Ouma Shuu and becomes Hitler, this girl’s going to become Goebbels. I’m calling it. Oh god if she teams up with L-Elf…
Ahaha wow that’s terrible, so much worse than countries that wage endless war.
Oh crap, even worse! Bring me my fainting couch!
ERRRUUU-ERRRUUUUFFFUUU!!! What a great backhanded insult.
Ahahaha. Welcome to the world of ADULTS!
This whole scene was overflowing with so much sexual innuendo. The drill that pierces the heavens™ breaking through…
> 666 / 100
Definitely another brutal episode; I’ve always felt Valvrave has had some dark stuff happening though–it’s just theatrical and hyper-dramatic about it (which makes people call it stupid, despite it being the show’s intention to just go all-out with everything it does). I mean, we had a young boy giddily shooting innocents at point blank in episode one, and even a rather shocking execution of the main character (complete with multiple shots fired on his corpse). And who could forget Senator Figaro’s casual firing of an assault rifle into a crowd of students, for that matter.
But this episode just keeps hammering our protagonists in every way it can think of. As if things couldn’t get any worse–now Haruto has inadvertently killed Shoko’s father. And just seeing L-Elf pull out a gun, ready to fire on Shoko if she made a choice that went against his plan… Very unsettling.
I recall one of the biggest complaints against ep 10 being the assumption Valvrave wouldn’t bother addressing Saki’s side in the situation, so I’m glad the show was quick in this episode to deal with some of the repercussions. And Haruto proposing marriage at this point is both a crazy plot twist and something that fits his character all too well. It appears the Valvrave AI is quite pleased with this development, which adds to the idea there is a purpose and a plan in its actions up to this point.
Favorite moment was when everyone sees the enemy fleet and cries “We must break through the enemy lines… But how can we do it?!” And then a shot of L-Elf smiling to himself. :>
I have to disagree with the way this ep dealt with the aftermath of the previous episode. Usually when i call this show stupid, it’s usually in a positive manner because of how over-the-top and illogical it can be; but this was one of the only moments when watching this series that I thought to myself..”Ok…this show actually IS stupid”. The only thing i seemed to have enjoyed from this ep was seeing Shouko being put in a very compromising position and L-elf getting prepared to shoot Shouko had she not “followed his plan”.
Yeah, I liked how L-Elf didn’t seem to particularly care whether he ended up shooting her or not. Would have been funny if he’d shot her. I can only imagine what Haruto’s reaction to that would have been.
Haruto would probably be like “Yes..now she’ll never know what happened between me and Saki, IDOL WAIFU FOR THE WIN!!”
Haha that would be amusing.
Yep, I’d already forgotten about the executions in episode one and Senator Figaro pulling a gun on the crowd with his “Moses” line. No one should be surprised when Valvrave continues to go to ridiculous lengths for shock value.
Oh L-Elf… I loved how he wrote fifty pages of directions for that guy to follow just for this and got everything right until the end…
After a hitch in episode 10, I am FULLY back in the “Valvrave is awesome” camp, because I realised that to get offended by the dumb shit in this show would be to the succumb to the enemy. And no, I endeavour to be the better man! By watching Valvrave without sinful thoughts, I will reach Nirvana and become Buddha.
I think Akira’s hot. I’d so tap that. Her outburst this episode was incredibly moe. Loving the yuri slash with Shouko, too. This ep was very Gundam-y indeed. This is good stuff.
Welcome back to the light side!
Akira is really hot. Actually everyone in this show is, especially L-Elf. Probably wouldn’t actually tap that, but I’d be tempted to.
Even the OP is extremely Gundam-y. I watched the Gundam SEED OP yesterday and they are very very similar.
I disagree. This isn’t “Princess Bride school of comedy”. Princess Bride’s comedy worked because the story was full of lampshade hangings and self-conscious characters, something that Valvrave has not.
Since the beginning, I’ve been of the opinion that Valvrave is a serious show done bad instead of a comedy show done too good. Mainly because this is Sunrise we’re talking about and, lacking other clues, I believe firmly in Occam’s razor. The excessive camp and mecha cliches, fun as they may be (oh, yes, they are, this is my guilty pleasure), is just that: excessive camp and mecha cliches.
That said, I’m relieved my fears from the other day haven’t been proven right. Shouko has had her own plot while those two have had theirs. The writers have played it safe and chosen the “unconfortable silence” route to acknowledge the elephant in the living room.
Is there really any difference between a serious show done bad and a comedy done too good? I don’t think the creators intentions matter as much as how you view it.
I don’t care if the further episodes of Valvrave are considered “brutal.” In fact, I like all that serious stuff including where Dorssia murdered Shoko’s naïve thinking by threatening to end her daddy’s life. In truth, I’m glad that Valvrave is killing the naivety. Because everyone should realize that naivety is a sin and should be contained before that poison spreads. Whether they like it … or not. FYI draggle, It’s high time for everyone to face the fact that naivety is dead whether you want to accept it or not.
Haha yep, naivety seems to be on its way out in this show…