V4sh give us the Valkyria Chronicles episodes 9,10 & 11 reviews:

Since Ayako’s translator decided to screw everyone over and stop translating Valkyria chronicles they haven’t released an episode in 3 weeks. I was holding out for a release, but it seems unlikely now, so I went ahead and watched the releases by a group called “gleam” I hadn’t heard of them before, but they seem to be doing quite a number of shows with a reasonable fan base too. All in all they have a smaller file size then Ayako (at the expense of slight video quality, not noticeable unless you are watching on a big full HD monitor), but I don’t like the typesetting as much, but I can’t complain as they are releasing at least.

Well anyway  on with the review. In episode 9 we get to have a look at the Imperial side of the war for a change. Some aides from central office are assigned to Selvaria and the other two generals in order to keep an eye on them, and Maximilian is ordered back to central office for some reason that’s not really explained, but it has something to do with the slow progress he is making with the invasion of Gallia. Selvaria wants to go with him but is ordered not to, and her aide also gets in her way and prevents her from going after him. An ill conceived assassination attempt later and the aide admits that he has been sent to stop Selvaria helping Maximilian, and that his life is in danger. So back at central office cue the generic assassins who come to try and kill Maximillian, the defences hold out for a while but eventually the assassins get to him. Then Selvaria, the aide, and Jaeger show up after taking a shortcut that somehow cut half a day off their travel time, Selvaria activates her GOD MODE hax and pwns all the assassins and gets to Maximilian, who it turns out didn’t need any help at all because he had his own hax turned on. All in all a pretty good episode as it gives a different perspective on the whole thing, and give some insight into the turmoil within the empire.

On to the next episode. Its at this phase in the series when the plot of the anime starts diverting from the plot of the game a little. Remember that god sized tank that destroyed those ruins a few episodes ago? Well guess what, in episode 9 squad 7 don’t fight it like they’re meant too. Instead we get some crap about  Welkin and Alicia getting cut off from the rest of the squad by a random snowstorm (it should be long range mortars damn it!) and taking refuge in a shack, they talk, character development happens and some random Imperial infantryman dies. This is actually rather well done, as they manage to make a whole episode out of a 3 minute skit sequence in game.

Thus we get onto the final episode in this review hat trick. Yet another Welkin and Alicia centred episode I’m afraid. This time Welkin and Faldio are getting a medal from the princess of Gallia for the capturing of the Vasel bridge waaay back in like episode 4, despite the fact that Faldio wasn’t actually even in there… weird how these things work. But anyway Selvaria and Jaeger turn up in “cunning disguises” . So cunning in fact that Alicia recognizes them straight away, but when she tells other people they’re just like, meh what they gonna do? We get a little scene with with Alicia and Faldio, who gives her a blue rock that is obviously key to the plot in some way. Then a few minutes later and bang kidnap happens and Alicia and the princess are taken away. Why Alicia you ask? Well she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and instead of doing the logical thing and killing her the kidnappers decide to take her along too. This will no doubt prove to be a fatal mistake as she DROPPED THE BLUE ROCK! So Faldio will know something has happened and use his pimp powers to rescue them both, but that’s all in next episode, so we’ll wait and see until then.

Hmm this season reminds me somewhat of Pumpkin Scissors (oh god that was bad…). Both promised tank action but then after like 3 tank-centric episodes failed to deliver any tanks whatsoever . Hope that this series doesn’t end up that way. Also I cant actually decide what this series is for, its either a supplement to the game, OR an alternate retelling of the story. But if it was a supplement then it would stick to the plot of the game slightly more (mortars replaced with snowstorm wtf). And if it were a retelling of the story there should be more battles. Seeing as it doesn’t fit into either of these categories, I’m having a hard time figuring out what the purpose of this series actually is.

Gleam Valkyria Chronicles Episode 9:
http://www.nyaatorrents.org/?page=download&tid=69536

Gleam Valkyria Chronicles Episode 10:
http://www.nyaatorrents.org/?page=download&tid=69705

Gleam Valkyria Chronicles Episode 11:
http://www.nyaatorrents.org/?page=download&tid=70471

Our official Valkyria Chronicles Revier V4sh says:

So it turns out that the army suck, and squad 7 are deployed to do what the army couldn’t. Take an imperial supply base. This time they get some backup from Faldio and squad 1. Whilst formulating a battle plan there is a rustling in some nearby bushes, could it be a spy? No. no its not. Turns out that it’s a winged pig (WTF, yep even this war based anime needs a kawaii mascot…) which Alicia decides to keep it because she likes bacon. This gives Welkin an idea for the up coming battle, and also the opportunity to tease Alicia with some goat droppings. So the moment of the assault comes and Welkin’s battle plan is put into action. Will it succeed? Watch Valkyria Chronicles and find out!

Download Links:

[Ayako] Valkyria Chronicles Episode 5

As now a weekly custom V4sh gives us the Valkyria Chronicles Episode 4 review.

Valkyria Chronicles Episode 4
Awww Squad 7 doesn’t fight anyone today. After being being commended for the capture of the bridge in Vasel town, Welkin is told by his superior that his squad is not needed in the next battle as they are only Militia, not the Army. There are some rather amusing scenes with Faldio the resident pimp of the malitia, and as always Alicia is so cute.
The opening theme song has started to grow on me, and I like it a little more then I did previously. Once again, animation quality and music score are beautiful.

Download Links (english subbed torrents)

[Ayako] Valkyria Chronicles Episode 4

[twrev-Doremi] Valkyria Chronicles 04 SDTV avi
[twrev-Doremi] Valkyria Chronicles 04 HDTV

V4sh Reviews: Valkyria Chronicles Episode 3

After each joining the Militia of their own volition Welkin and Alicia are once again thrown together as the top two officers in squad 7. Upon meeting their new squadies it becomes apparent that some of the older members aren’t happy with Welkin becoming the squads new commander, and Rosie in particular shows a strong dislike to Isara, due to her Darcsen blood. Awww poor Isara… Its ok you have a tank, Rosie doesn’t.
No sooner then introductions are made squad 7 are thrown into their first mission, to recapture a key bridge in Vasel town. What a convenient opportunity for Welkin to win over some of his more dubious subordinates with his tactics and some tank hax.

Not much can be said about the animation and soundtrack quality that I haven’t  already said. Its nice to see that the casual racism, and discrimination against the Darcsen people displayed in the game is still present in the anime, that it hasn’t been toned down for a younger audience.

Just a quick note about the ayako release, it seems that VLC has some issues with the chaptering they use, so I recommended you use Media Player Classic that comes with CCCP.

Also a reminder that the OP and ED have to be in the same folder as each weeks episode otherwise they will not play.

Valkyria Chronicles Episode 3 Torrents:

[Ayako]

Only Ayako release out right now.
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Review by V4sh (you can contact him HERE):

Valkyria Chronicles Episode 1.

- Generic Soldier 1 commands you to watch this-

Based on the best selling PS3 turn-based strategy come first person shooter game of the same name, Valkyria Chronicles takes place on the continent of Europa – a fictional version of Europe in 1935, and the Atlantic Federation is at war with the Eastern European Imperial Allicance.

Episode 1 kicks off with the evacuation of  Bruhl, a small town in the neutral country of Gallia (which bares some stark similarities to Belgium), as it comes under attack from the overwhelming military might of the Eastern European Imperial Alliance. The invasion is fueled by the Imperial Alliances need for ragnite, a powerful ore with many uses abundant in Gallia. As civilians are evacuated to the safety of the Atlantic Federation the town watch stay behind to provide a rear guard and give them chance to escape. It is here that Alicia Melchiott of the town watch meets Welkin Gunther in a case of mistaken identity. Welkin must find his sister and escape Bruhl before the Imperial forces take the town.

This 26 episode series is produced by Aniplex’s A-1 Pictures, who last year produced Tetsuwan Birdy: Decode, Kannagi and Kuroshitsuji, so the budget is sufficiently large enough to accommodate some rather stunning CG work, some very nice backdrops and great character design. A grainy texture has been applied to the colour scheme this entire series which replicates very well the art style of the original game, and gives the whole thing a wonderful “rustic” feel. The soundtrack, composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto who has worked extensively on the soundtrack of the Final Fantasy series, is well suited and provides a richness to the scenes as a good soundtrack should. The only downside of the audio for me was the opening theme song “Asu e no Kizuna” performed by HIMEKA. Although the song was well suited to this anime and matched the pace well, I just didn’t find it that exciting. The ending theme is “Ano Kaze ni Notte” performed by pe’zmoku the animation is rather cute and reminiscent of the ending sequence of Kuroshitsuji. Storyline wise it sticks very closely to the game so far, so ensures the approval of fans of the game and its captivating enough to keep those new to the franchise interested also. Voice actors Marina Inoue (Alicia) and Susumu Chiba (Welkin) return to the roles they played in the original game adding a nice nostalgic feel to the whole thing, and the voices fit the characters very nicely.

The best subs are provided by Ayako subs, they have added an extra 30 seconds to the end of the anime with some useful bits of information about aspects that have been glossed over in the anime, such as what ragnite is. This is very useful for those who have no experience of the game. Ayako are using the high definition MBS raw at 720p for their releases, this provides richer colours then the TBS raws used by some other fan sub groups.

In my opinion in the first round of episodes this season Valkyria Chronicles has beaten Full Metal Alchemist to snatch the well deserved number 1 position. 10/10

Valkyria Chronicles Episode 2

As episode 2 kicks off we join back up with Alicia, Welkin and Isara who are pinned down in Isara’s house by Imperial ordinance. Just as foot soldiers are closing in around them the trio burst out in the Edelweiss, a prototype tank created by Isara’s father, and go to the aid of the town watch who are trying hopelessly to hold off the advance of the Imperial war machine. As the battle draws to a close the crippled town watch meet up with troops from the Atlantic Federation for a nice scene on a hilltop overlooking the now ruined town of Bruhl.

Another great episode. Visuals and audio match up the high standards set by the first episode, showing that unlike certain series I could mention all the money has not been poured into making the first episode look great to draw in viewers at the expense of the rest of the season.

This time Ayako have made the wise decision to chapter their release into 3 parts, the opening, the anime and the ending. This is for two reasons, the first being that it decreases release time, as the OP/ED only need to be timed and typeset once. The second is that it saves space on your hard drive as now each episode will pull the same OP/ED from your computer every time, providing they‘re all in the same folder. This saves like 40Mb per episode so over the course of the 26 episode series will save you respectable 1Gb of space (if you are archiving them). It also gives you the option of not watching the OP/ED every time. The only complaint I have is that these releases weren’t batched together into one folder and had to be downloaded individually. Rather petty I know but it wouldn’t have taken much effort to do so.

Once again for me this weeks episode has beaten FMA for first place. 9.5/10

Fansub Groups doing Valkyria Chronicles(english):
www.ayako-fansubs.eu
http://www.doremi-fansubs.com/
Seibar(sorry seems their web page is broken)

Valkyria Chronicles episode 1 & 2:
[Ayako]
Valkyria Chronicles 01v2 [h264]

Valkyria Chronicles 02 [h264]

[twrev-Doremi]
Valkyria Chronicles 01 SDTV AVI
Valkyria Chronicles 01 HDTV

Valkyria Chronicles 02 SDTV AVI
Valkyria Chronicles 02 HDTV

[Seibar]
Valkyria Chronicles – 02
(could only find 2nd episode)

Other Stuff:
[Ayako] Valkyria Chronicles OP

[Ayako] Valkyria Chronicles ED

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