The Stone Bust

The problem with Valvrave is that it was exactly like Guilty Crown, it was this long, drawn-out, and complicated affair with poor characterization, a worn-out and reused plot from a variety of other space shows, and a penchant for being completely asinine at every TWIST and turn.

The problem with Valvrave is that compared to Guilty Crown, it actually succeeded at being good occasionally. This would be before it went to shit the next episode. So I guess that makes it more like Code Geass and less like Guilty Crown.

Only Haruto is a Shoe.

SEED SPACE VAMPIRE GEASS 00 TRAILBLAZER was simply an awful affair. The first half of the show was semi-decent, because it at least built up around Module 77 and it’s Valvrave force, scoring some easy victories for a Space Vampire Army run by kids and a jumbo-breasted school teacher. But the second season just completely fell apart when they tried to put the kids on the run, dying left and right from attacks and explosions, revealing the MYSTERY MEN and their oh-so-pure motives.

But worst of all, it ended with no real resolution, no real closure of plot holes, and no real reason to ever animate more.

My major complaint is the Magius. They’re the wisps. The spooks. The witches. The ghosts and goblins. They’re also apparently Jesus. Here we have this big struggle between Module 77 and the rest of the world, which is really the struggle of some space vampires who pilot robots that convert their memories into power, and it’s undermined by a bunch of shadowy figures in robes bitching about being persecuted through the ages. I mean, you’re feeding on people, and you expect them to continue to roll around in it forever? The symbolism they chose to run with in this show is actually a little morally reprehensible. It’s like they’re implying that shoving a bunch of people into a stove is a better method of heating a village than building something that doesn’t use people to achieve the same purpose. But this is one plot hole left open at the end. If Saki and the others survived, how are they living? Are they feeding off of something? Clearly the Valvraves were built to break the chain and fight back, but if they effectively won the fight, how can they continue? The twenty-fucking-fourth episode seems to be a lousy time for Cain and Co. to be all like “So hey, these guys, they’re great, but y’all be lynch’n them over the years!”. Seems like a plot detail that might’ve been revealed back in the first season?

Then we have Shouko. Useless fucking Shouko. Her entire role in this show was to be the Prime Minster of Module 77, and she pretty much was just a pretty face that played zero role in either serving, saving, or running her goddamn country. Remember Gundam Wing’s Relena Peacecraft? That’s our intrepid Shouko, always there to show her crying face, but never to really do a goddamn thing for anything, including Haruto at the end. I mean, almost all of his memories centered around her, and we never see what she actually thought of him. Only in the end, she cries a little, then puts on his suit and probably masturbates with her tears next to his statue. I mean, the dude sacrificed himself for her and everyone else, and she stands there while he gets shot. Which, by the way, was the worst anti-hero Celestial Being moment in the show. It didn’t even serve a purpose in the plot.

How about Saki? She got in the middle of Haruto and Shouko and proceeded to get vampiraped in the process, and she doesn’t even get to have his kid in the end? Personally, I think that would have been a fantastic touch to the flash-forwards in the show, if she ended up having his kid after he dies and effectively creating a second-generation vampire. This isn’t me condoning rape, of course, but it was pretty clear Saki was all over Haruto throughout the show, right up to the end where she wishes he loses his memories of Shouko so she can be on even footing with her. The flashforwards always featured her, but did nothing to really explain anything other than show us that she lives while better characters in the show die, like THUNDER.

Finally, L-Elf. Actually, L-Elf was the best character of the show, because he wasn’t a whiny bitch most of the time, and kept what little plot present going through both seasons. L-Elf did become a useless ball of emo after his princess died, but, could it be, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT? He was the only character in this show that got an explainable past, a reason to be fighting for anything in the present, and a reason to exist in the future. Becoming useless proved everyone else is a stupid ball of shit who could not function without his plans. He was the Heero Yuy of the show really, but he knew how to channel his Milliardo Peacecraft when he needed to, so that really just made him Zechs Marquise in the end.

The TLDR here, is that Valvrave had a complete weak package supported by other mecha show tropes that held it together long enough to make it watchable, but not very likable in any real context. The characters were sloppy, the plot thin and barely traversable, and the ending worse. About the only thing I liked was the mobile suit and ship tech, very real-robot for everyone but the Valvraves, before things quickly turned super-robot, which put this firmly in league with Gundam 00 and Code Geass.

It’s the best of Code Geass meets the worst of Guilty Crown, and that is why I am pro-choice.

Title: Kakumeiki Valvrave
Sub Group I Watched: gg
Episodes: 24
Rating (1-10): 7

That’s the final review of the season. In the lull (lel) leading to the next season, expect some possible bonus reviews on some other shows I didn’t watch that I might marathon this weekend. Because I am cool like that.