Valkyria Chronicles – 26 (END)

Summary:

Inside the Marmota, the members of Squad 7 insist on distracting the enemy while Welkin goes to save Alicia. They thus split up, and Welkin soon finds himself alone in a corridor facing multiple enemy guards. Fortunately, Faldio shows up to help him, and together, they’re able to move forward. Alicia meanwhile gets brought in front of Maximilian, and he claims to have saved her. In trying to get her to join him, he promises her whatever she wants, but Alicia isn’t about to follow him after what happened with Selvaria. Maximilian feels that it was Alicia who killed Selvaria though, and when Alicia explains how she just wants to be herself, he cites that normal humans are worthless. Alicia turns this statement against him by stating that he’s afraid that his own self is worthless, and that earns her a slap. Since Alicia calls him pitiful, Maximilian decides to show her something.

While Welkin and Faldio are fighting their way through the ship, Faldio gets shot and injured, and because more Imperials are coming, Faldio has Welkin go on ahead. Pulling out a grenade, Faldio then rushes towards the guards, and Welkin hears an explosion behind him. He keeps going though and makes it to the top of the ship where Maximilian and Alicia are waiting. Maximilian has armed himself with an artificial Valkyria system that replicates the abilities of a normal Valkyria lance and shield, and to compare with Alicia’s power, he starts firing at her. Without her lance and shield, Alicia can only dive out of the way, and Welkin tries to protect her by distracting Maximilian. Welkin gets thrown back by a blast though, and Alicia’s Valkyria powers activate when she sees him get hurt.

While she’s helping him, Welkin tells her that everyone is here to save her and that they’ll go back together to Bruhl. After Maximilian interrupts the chat with another blast of his weapon, Alicia heads out to try to fight him, but he catches her off guard, and Welkin has to tackle her out of the way of the subsequent shot. Right as Maximilian is ready to finish them off though, his weapon malfunctions, and Alicia uses the opportunity to charge at him with a pipe. Maximilian is able to throw her back with his shield, but he then gets attacked by Welkin. Although he’s able to handle Welkin, the time it takes Maximilian to get ready to fire at Welkin gives Alicia enough time to grab onto his leg and activate her Valkyria power. This overloads Maximilian’s weapons and causes him great pain, and he subsequently falls into an elevator shaft.

The ensuing explosion separates Alicia and Welkin with a wall of flames, but more importantly Alicia realizes that her body is now undergoing the same process that Selvaria’s did when she sacrificed herself. She wants Welkin to save himself, but Welkin dives across the flames and hugs her instead. He declares that he’ll always be by her side, and he shows her the red scarf she had left behind, reminding her of who she is. That’s the Alicia that he likes, and he proceeds to kiss her. The kiss dispels the reaction happening in her, and afterward, Welkin puts the scarf back on her head. The two then make their way off the exploding Marmota and rejoin their waiting Squad. In the aftermath, the war ends, and the public finds out about Cordelia’s Darcsen identity. Most members of Squad 7 return home, but Largo stays with Varrot. And as promised, Alicia and Welkin go back to Bruhl to continue their lives together.

Epilogue

All things considered, I thought this was a decent final episode. They had clearly been setting up for Maximilian as the final boss, and so it was good to see that they at least followed through with that by having him actually have powerful weapons and not just go down like a pansy. That also setup nicely for Alicia and Welkin’s reunion and kiss. Actually, that scene between them wasn’t nearly as emotional as I would have liked and felt a little on the short side. Of course it’s worth noting that I’m still influenced by how great this week’s episode of Bakemonogatari was, so my viewpoint on what is emotionally powerful is a bit skewed.

What made me alternately laugh and rage was who they chose to kill and who they chose to keep alive. The circumstances of Faldio’s death was a bit surprising given how much focus they had put on him to make him a better protagonist than Welkin. The immediate actions that led to it made it seem heroic, but in the grand scheme of things, dying to random Imperial grunts felt rather pointless. Also, by that point, he wasn’t a threat to Alicia and Welkin’s relationship anymore, so killing him off wasn’t going to change anything. The thing that really got me going “WTF” though was this shot in the epilogue which appears to show Jaeger somehow alive and well. That’s the kind of thing that drives me crazy because they let it happen with no explanation after implying that he had been killed off.

Final Thoughts:

Looking back, my thoughts on this final episode reflect how I feel about the series as a whole. There were some decent plot twists, but they didn’t develop the relationship side of things as well as they could have, and for almost the entire time, Welkin couldn’t compare with Faldio. The production quality was good enough when it needed to be, however I’m still not happy that they spoiled the whole Alicia as a Valkyria thing with the second OP. In the end, Valkyria Chronicles will go down for me as a decent series that had its share of flaws and never really got great. Maybe it’s time for me to finally go play the game now…

80 Comments

  1. goo

    wow i was actaully first O_O

  2. Dynzad

    Do you think I should watch this series to completion? I stopped around 5 or 6 and at the moment don’t think its worth it (based on the “Final Thoughts” and opinions about some other episodes).

  3. Horus

    Alicia and Welkin in a field watching the sunset.Where’s the ominous wagon and silent gunshot?

  4. TheAntagonist07

    Buy and play the game. Trust me. You will see how much better the games storyline is better than the animes. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the anime. However, the game is superior. Then again, I played the game before the anime so my opinion might be biased.

  5. Koeix

    wise decision Omni u should play the game and tell us what u think

  6. umm

    thank gawd its over, i just watched the last ep and im happy i droped the series halfway

  7. sotandem

    I personally liked Valkyria’s ending as compared to Bakemonogatari. But that’s mainly because I watched 4 episodes in a row, which is a rather good atmosphere build-up for the final ending. I also think that kisses in animes these days are rare, so it’s definitely one of the shows I will dearly remember. Having said that, it’s kind of sad to see this show come to an end. It is one of the more decent 2 seasons long anime.

  8. UBW

    Yes Omni, go play the game and disregard what happened in the anime.

  9. Djidane

    Why Maximilian didn’t rape Alicia?

  10. Kensei

    Valkyria Chronicles was the first PS3 game that I played~The game is 100x better than the anime IMO =w=

  11. kagebutsu

    Well I would definitely say that the games ending was better. I won’t spoil it for anyone but I’m sure you could find out if you wanted to.

  12. Chen^2

    Ugh. Glad it’s finally done. The only good thing about this anime was the character design, so many cliches and stupidity. Should have dropped the series a long time ago.

  13. Neverdone

    well no surprise that the game had such a better ending. when are they going to stop making game to anime series?

  14. Gar

    Wow, the game’s ending is much much better than the anime’s IMO.

  15. shirosaki

    maximum 7 suffering atm…

  16. Chimasternmay

    Thank god for the crying kiss, or else, u know what lol… anyway great end, after the stupid turmoil in the middle. its endings like his that make me forget the bad endings of other endings i saw recently, thanks for that.and like many people said during the series to get the game instead, i did about 3 weeks ago, finished it before this last 2 episode, and yup that was much more of a smooth joy ride.DtB2 time..

  17. Megas

    Mush, pure mush – but atleast they didn’t rush it, surprisingly. As for Faldio, I thought he was dead like 3 episodes ago so whatever. He shows up out of nowhere just to save Welkin then he dies trying to save the twit, good show. But srsly, who can actually go back & watch the first half of this series. Hell, the series didn’t even go anywhere until Isara died…& it had to drag its feet for 2 episodes just for the idiots to move on from that.I’m still wondering why they just couldn’t copy the game. It would have been way better than this silly shit. I never delete anything – but this is just asking for it – I still won’t give in to the temptation though. *So damn tempting* 😛

  18. Liitha

    I don’t know why, but I’m so disappointed of this final chapter ._. It seemed so rushed u_u

  19. kahzeelol

    Strange how the game has a different ending than the show judging from the screencaps.

  20. Sonicbug

    I’m so confused as to why the anime decided to throw out the decently thought out plot progression of the game and go with… this shit. Not to mention killing off random members of squad 7 in the process. UGH. Stupid adaptation.

  21. drgnwing0

    Probably would have been better for Faldio to die how actually dies in the game, screwing Maximilian over in the end. Just like old times with Suzaku screwing Lelouch over.

  22. IDB

    Glad I dropped the anime in the middle.

  23. Luke

    Unlike those bawling game-nerds I definitely LIKE this series! I don’t give a damn about the fact that it stems from a game (I will NOT play it so don’t bother). has good character designs and Alicia has been my favorite from the start. Surely there were a few things that could have been done better, but as a whole I thouroughly enjoyed it!

  24. Acerbus

    Wow, the anime did something right…I never did like Faldio’s death in the game. Though Anime!Faldio makes me groan his end here definitely made more sense than the game.And yes, go play the game. If you can’t then watch it on youtube, people have the full story uploaded here.

  25. TJ

    Such a cheesy and cliched final showdown. Oh well at least this series was good for an unintentional laugh or two, which more than can be said for numerous other series.

  26. RickyMack

    @ Lukewell you’re missing out, welkin and alicia’s daughter is a cutie pie! no pedo bear. seeing her and alicia’s bakery stand definitely made it feel like a more complete ending.

  27. RickyMack

    oh yeah they most obviously named her isara =*)

  28. Prime Synergy

    Yeah…I definitely prefer the game’s ending(…and story as a whole) a lot more. Why they didn’t choose to go with that? I don’t know. I’m also not sure why Faldio played such a big role in in this series…he’s not cool. And lastly I felt, in the game, the whole relationship was handled A LOT better and it actually made me care.And yes Omni, I demand (respectfully beg) that you go play the game now lol.

  29. Mike

    “Unlike those bawling game-nerds I definitely LIKE this series! I dont give a damn about the fact that it stems from a game (I will NOT play it so dont bother). has good character designs and Alicia has been my favorite from the start. Surely there were a few things that could have been done better, but as a whole I thouroughly enjoyed it!”-says the bawling anime-nerd. See how pointless that comment is? Just because someone both played the game and watched the anime prefers the story in the game doesn’t make them into “bawling game-nerd”. You on the other hand…-the fact that the anime stems from a game is irrelevant, it’s the comparison of the stories between the two versions that people have opinions on.-glad you enjoyed it, and ultimately that’s all that matters. At the same time, it also doesn’t invalidate some of the criticism against the changes in the anime adaptation, and personally, a “lot” of things could have been done better, IMO.

  30. Satoida

    I didn’t mind the ending actually. I thought quite a lot of this series wasn’t well done (Welkin going into a funk for ages was just plain annoying), but the ending redeemed it. Plus, I had to laugh at all the ‘hug and roll’ shots.I haven’t played the game, but I really want to.

  31. lol, theres a sunset…wheres the anonymous wagon and death? lol, like some other shows….. CC, PH

  32. i’ve never heard of this game….lol….and probably never gonna play it….

  33. The Faldio death was the most typical way to get rid of the loser in a “love triangle.” It can be done well (as in a certain WWII movie starring Jude Law) or it can be done like lazy rubbish like in this cartoon. I saw it coming as soon as Faldio appeared, so a couple of episodes in. Frankly I’m surprised it took until the last episode for them to throw it in, considering how content-free the previous handful really were.

  34. Well, would compare it a bit to Tales of the Abyss – ergo the game is better than the anime.

  35. Eri

    They just have to kill Faldio!!!Ugh…I waited for nothing…Better catch up on my Bakemonogatari DLs then.Thanks for the Valkyria reviews, Omni!

  36. Dulicious

    I have to say that the way Faldio died didn’t bother me at all – it happens in actual war. High rankers my be highly ranked, but this does not make them immune to bullets, even if a moron is pulling the trigger.So IMO this actually adds a bit of grit and realism to the series, no matter how silly it may seem.I actually preferred the way the Mango and Animu handled several of the scenes compared to the game versions, and vise versa. Ideally if it were up to me I’d have used a combination of both!

  37. LockeOne

    Having played the game and watched the anime, the game has more content, but the anime does a LOT of the scenes that it covers MUCH better. More like the anime tried to correct some of the things in the game that would be really stupid or make no sense:(WARNING: huge game and anime spoilers)Are you sure? *HUGE* game AND anime spoilers:1. Prologue part of the game, Alicia has Welkin as a captive. They run into Isara and Alicia lets Welkin go on Isara’s say-so. Even if she did live in General Gunther’s residence, that doesn’t necessarily make her trustworthy enough to let a prisoner go…2. Barbious Runes where Welkin, Faladio and Alicia run into Maximillian and Selvaria. The game has Maximilian suggesting fight outside to preserve the ruins (yeah, let’s fight fair, all villians do that, right?), as opposed to the anime where (what a real villian would do) he drops the ruins on them after saying he’s leaving in peace… (makes more sense, no?)3. Woodland Snare where Welkin and Alicia run into the dying enemy soldier and bury him. The game has them getting caught by the guys looking for him, but they let them go after a speech “just” because they honored their dead (not interested in prisoners? intelligence? capturing an enemy commander? Ummm, hello???). The anime gets around this by having them leave before they arrive.4. Liberation of Fouzen was an all-out attack in the game where you had to get to a point where Zaka planted explosives to take out the train. In the anime, it was a stealth mission at night with minimal hardware and Gregor threatening to kill all of the slaves unless squad 7 revealed themselves (which ultimately happens by cannon instead of burning barracks).5. Marberry Shore where Isara gets killed off. In the game, she gets killed because the enemy comes through the front games uncontested, run in, then run out (uhhh, wtf happened to the guards at the entrance? No lookout?) In the anime, she gets killed on the battlefield by a half-dead guy when she gets out of the tank and tries to help treat Rosie.6. Fight for Bruhl rolls out differently because anime-Welkin is in a slump while game-Welkin seems to be sad but not to the point where it distracts him (anime makes more sense here… his sister, ie: his ONLY remaining “family” just died and he’s just that indifferent about it?).7. Naggiar rolls out differently. In the game, squad 7 is the only squad and has to capture the enemy base, after which Faladio uses a sniper to shoot Alicia. He then gives her the lance and sword which he stole from the archives/museum (would such a thing be so readily available? And the way he obtained that sniper was done stupid enough to be traced). In the anime, squad 1 gets wiped out except Faladio, who pulls a handgun on Alicia when she comes to see him. The lance and shield are taken from Cordelia when Faladio takes her hostage.8. Alicia feels isolated from everyone when they find she’s a Valkyrian. It becomes a real issue in the anime, but doesn’t really happen in the game (this response would be more expected).9. Ghirlandaio where Selvaria has her last stand. In the game, Selvaria gets captured but asks Damon if squad 7 safely left the citadel before blowing it up (uhh, why would she leave the biggest thorn in Maximilian’s side alive???). The anime has Alicia fighting her there with the regular army, and the regular army gets completely destroyed when she sets off the flame of the Valkyria.10. Faladio sacrificing himself to take down Maximilian in the game mades no sense (a bit too eager to die when the situation seems fine). The anime version has him in a more desperate situation (which makes more sense, but sucks to be him…)Anyway, the game has a LOT more content which was enjoyable. The voice actors are mostly the same. It’s a good game and a good anime, though I prefer the anime for those annoying loose ends.

  38. Choko

    Woot Jaeger is alive!! However the game’s ending is much better imo.

  39. Layla-san

    the game’s ending is WAY better. honestly, im quite disappointed because i was really expecting the same ending with the bakery and the cute little girl (you know what i mean).sigh. i wish there was an extra episode or a special that shows that ending, then i will be satisfied.

  40. Megas

    Just watch the last cutscene from the game & you’ll see why the anime fucked up – I think RickyMack pointed that out.But I also think that the game’s ending (mostly about Faldio & Max) was bullshit. The anime’s ending was much more concret, but they still left out too much – & damn them to hell for leaving out little Isara.

  41. VC

    Game ending is so much better. The game is so much better.

  42. Anna

    Poor Faldio… He deserved a better exit.

  43. Anon

    Fuck this shit, where is the child of Alicia and welkin who they named Isara??

  44. AgrippA

    Go play the game, the series is good but the game is near flawless.

  45. At least it’s over now…but the only way to enjoy this series is to have no idea the game and even then, it’s only an OK series, not a good one!!!

  46. Zero

    Fail. I will now sulk in a corner, mourning another anime that killed a good game. Boy, am I glad they never tried to make any other movies about FF7.

  47. WingZerozxt

    ah max arms are gruesome

  48. Nellie

    LockedOne, I agree with some of the things you listed and not so much on others. There were a lot of moral lessons being thrown around in the game. Realism was not something I felt Valkyria Chronicles had going for it and I was fine with that.1. Did you expect him to whip out an I.D.? Isara was his sister and Alicia knew she was from Gunther’s house. Also, the family that passed by that talked to Welkin also knew him. I try to consider what time period this is taking place.2. Maximilian seemed to consider the ruins sacred and didn’t want their(Alicia and co.) filth to touch them.3. Some lessons being thrown around here. Honor in war? Strangely enough it exists in real life too, though highly unlikely.4. I can understand them making changes here. Of course I did like playing this one through.5. Yeah, no complaints from me.6. I agree. Welkin didn’t seem to be as moved as I’d thought he would be and I chalked it up to him internalizing his pain. He continued to act like that until Alicia got shot and that’s when you saw him shaken.7. Squad 7 is the only one we saw, not the only ones there. Yeah, it was pretty easy to trace it to him. Maybe he wanted to get caught? I still prefer the game when it comes to Faldio’s decision to shoot Alicia. It drove home another moral lesson. Kind of wish they hadn’t brought Cordelia to Naggiar, since it raises other questions.8. It happened in the game, enough for her to sacrifice herself against the Marmota, but Welkin diffused that.9. Alas poor villain trope. Selvaria saves her men by having Squad 7 take them away from Ghirlandaio. The whole redemption thing, connecting with Alicia, saving her men and still sacrificing herself for the one she loves.10. Faldio’s redemption. Faldio didn’t believe there was a place in the world for people like him and Maximilian. People who sought power, at the expense of everything else, to win or fight wars.I do agree that the anime did some things better than the game, like when Alicia is transferred to the regular army.

  49. SeedStriker

    While the game has a better ending (and afermath for all principal characters), the series itself made the right choice of not making a blatant copy-pasta of all the game events, and so, the ending here was right. Jaeger being still alive shouldn’t be a surprise, he’s way too GAR to be killed in such pathetic ways. Faldio sacrificing himself was logic at that point, because he knew that his wound was fatal.Omni, play the game and just compare key events, that should be enough.

  50. 50yen

    I have also played the game and finished this show and I think there are good points for both the game and anime, I think the anime did better with the overall drama aspect tho but that’s just me. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that in the game certain things just seem to move too quick, I think it’s because they dont want ppl to complain that the cutscenes are too long. I think the anime altho not perfect either focused better on the drama and the relationships overall. Talking to a lot of ppl I get the feeling ppl who played the game came in with an expectation of what to see which is why so many ppl are dissapointed.

  51. 50yen

    @SeedStriker, Yeah I def agree that the Game had a stronger Payoff, one of the Great things about the game.

  52. chad001

    The game was better, and didn’t have so much deus ex machina.

  53. Akiyama

    Gonna agree with the other people here in saying the game’s ending was much more satisfying than this. The whole ‘holding hands and staring off into the distance’ is so.. eh. That and this was all foreshadowed in the first opening. Just seems really lazy. D:

  54. Pfft

    Good, now go play the game and laugh at your time spent watching this.

  55. meh~~~ anime adaptation is just good. it still won’t beat the game version.overall, can’t wait for the VC2! only for the PSP, though.. sucks… XD

  56. realgundam

    Now that you guys finished watching it, go out and buy the game to play. It is a truly epic game that gone way under the radar.BTW if you do play the game, there is a sense at the end of the game that they didn’t mention in the anime about Alicia and Welkin. Not going to spoil it for you, but Welkin’s sister’s name came up 🙂

  57. Starshade

    Actually I advise you not to play the game. It’ll make you hate the animation even more.Well I’m neither disappointed nor satisfied. This is kind of ‘just another animation.’ Hopefully it’s remade some day to be a better adaptation of the game (in the sense, both being truer to the game and having a better storyline).p.s.) Might be a spoiler, but they didn’t show (the name of) Welkin’s and Alicia’s child (daughter)?

  58. Siege

    A decent ending to a series adapted from a game. There were times that I liked watching this series and times I didn’t, mostly because of when Welkin was in his emo state. After watching a few animes adapted from games I tend to not keep my expectations high because most of the time they either feel rushed or leave you hanging, but overall I enjoyed the series. And also Faldio dies, kinda unnecessary at this point don’t u think?

  59. Philweasel

    I’m not sure how the game will hold up after the anime actually, as it’s very sober and restrained. I mean Alicia and Faldio are almost entirely different people (and both ever so slightly dull) and the romances hardly have anywhere near the amount of attention they do in the anime.It’s going to be quite the culture shock.

  60. kaho

    AY SE BESANNNNNNNNNNN ALICIA Y WELKIN WIIHoy vi el capitulo 25 , tengo que esperar por el 26 con subtitulos en espaol ^_^Me encanto este anime, realmente es genial !

  61. Alec

    I somehow regret watching this anime… I prefer the game

  62. mickey

    awww…so sad i was so hoping that they would show welkin and alicia’s daughter she was sooo cute!and faldio’s death seemed quite unnecessary at this point of time.felt like e animation really wanted him to die someway or another.personally,i still prefer the game to the anime but one of the things i liked about the anime was RamaXIsara(not a bad match!=D)although they didn’t confess to each other='[

  63. Avenger

    What, no little Isara? Lame.Game Ending > Anime Ending

  64. axel

    selveria, whyyyy??!! what a waste of anime series

  65. Pfft

    Anime series? scuz me?

  66. Vandsy

    The game’s ending was still so much better ^_^. But that doesn’t make the anime bad, just somewhat lacking in some minor areas

  67. cecil

    What happened to Faldio? He was with Welkin and when Welkin cames back with Alicia where is Faldio? and no Faldio ending? Did he die?

  68. ewok

    Jaeger, you magnificent bastard! you survived and didnt ever bother to exlain how?

  69. Luke

    I took a few minutes to try and watch the game ending, but I find the graphics to be no match for the anime version. But then again, I don’t like computer animation as a main feature; it is too artificial and lacks the atmosphere that is present in the anime. And worst of all: it was with english dub, an instant interest killer…

  70. RL

    I just find it really humorous that Welkin did not even grieve for his fallen BEST friend even AFTER the war was over. Both Anime and Game. If YOU lost your best friend in war, wouldn’t you grieve/pay respects to them even AFTER the war ends? =_= It was like he died and therefore he died and nobody cared and everyone lived happily ever after, etc. I dunno. I just found that a tad strange and rather funny.

  71. WingZerozxt

    Thats how suzaku should have died in Geass… took em a few years ohwell

  72. aizenchocolate

    lol, I didn’t even notice Jaeger’s appearance until you mentioned it!!!! HAHAHAWell anyways, I thought it was a pretty good anime with very nice art. The last episode could’ve been a bit more exciting and convincing though….like what everyone else thinksYea I bet the game is a s*** load better =)

  73. lol

    the game ending was alot better, it had better closure than this shit. welkin and alicia got married in the game and had a child named isara. oh and varrot married largo. but yeah if you aren’t satisfied with this ending you should either play the game or youtube the game ending.

  74. Sentinel

    The biggest problem with this anime is that is focuses WAY too much on character development while neglecting the story. Like someone mentioned earlier, things don’t really get moving until after Isara dies. They tried too hard to expand upon the many character foundations in the game, eg: exploring new facets of Welkin’s personality not particularly prominent in the game.In short I think they lost focus in the beginning, and when the time came to get back to the story, it was too late to create a satisfying, solid storyline – the “fresh, new” non-game story also made this harder to do since they are essentially replacing the old foundation (Although certainly it had the potential to be far better than the game if done correctly.)And the ending seemed rushed. Like many people here have said, it lacks closure. The game does a much better job at this, with Alicia and Welkin achieving their dreams of being a baker and teacher respectively, in a rebuilt Bruhl, with their adorable daughter as a kind of “onward to the future” symbol. Frankly, I’m surprised the anime didn’t go with this ending considering how much focus they put into the baker thing, and better days after the war.Overall, it felt like something which allowed me to get to know the characters from the game better, especially the minor ones, but didn’t really contribute anything new and significant to the story. I think it would’ve been much better if they had developed the characters USING the main story (As not to lose focus, and still get good character development), rather than through the many “escapade” episodes they has, like the one with Karl and Selvaria.

  75. Alec

    this anime is a blasphemy!!!! love can conquer everything huh? play the game, and ul see that this anime is nothing compared to the game’s plot, and everyhing else

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