We had a thread back when it was airing. Got lost in one of the purges.
The show itself was basically nothing but wasted potential. All kinds of intriguing backstory and symbolism, tossed aside in favor of moe. Not certain if I'd watch a sequel.
It was better than I thought it would be, but I wasn't expecting much to begin with. It was also a lot deeper than I thought it would be, although it still had a pretty large helping of Slice of Life.
I was kind of disappointed in the ending, though. I'm okay with Rio just solving everything by accepting her role as queen, but I thought it was way too lucky to have her be able to return to her lieutenant position with no problems at all. It kind of ruined the whole conflict Rio had about sacrificing the things she enjoyed in life, since she could return in the end anyway.
Tumblr here.
^^I'm not sure I agree with you there. Yeah, there was a lot of moe for the sake of moe, but I'm also glad they didn't have Filicia sit Kanata down and explain to her the entire backstory in a ten-minute infodump - which would have been very easy to justify had they chosen to do so, given Kanata's Country Mouse backstory. I didn't get the feeling the backstory was so much tossed aside as taken as a given by the characters - which is fine with me. As You Know is one of my biggest pet peeves, and I only found myself intrigued by what little information they gave us.
^Ah yes, that was a little contrived. Not the fact that Kanata stopped the war with Amazing Grace; I'm all for The Power of Rock. But one blogger had an idea that I do like better: Kanata's song fails to stop the armies until Rio joins in from her tank with a new trumpet, followed by a... whatever you call that in-series-to-meta music change, when the fully orchestrated version from the Takemikazuchi starts playing. I agree with you on the third-in-line to the throne of Helvetia getting to go back to a little border fort in the literal middle of nowhere; though, given that the onlyclosest country past No Man's Land is Rome, and the Emperor is married to Rio...
edited 18th Dec '10 8:27:13 AM by RedSavant
It's been fun.
I didn't say I wanted an infodump. I wanted use of the backstory. It was the most interesting part of the show, but nothing ever happened with it.
Use of the backstory is the reason why we have French-speaking girls with Japanese names wearing German uniforms in a Spanish city in the spiritual descendant of Switzerland that's actually based in Kansai. More information about the Angel Fossil and the legend of the Fire Maidens would've been nice, yes, but that wasn't the story the show was trying to tell.
It's been fun.
奇跡の魔女
Necro.
I found this show to be rather amazing. I'd have to disagree about this show being all moe, but I have to agree that the show would've benefited more if there was more backstory. This show would've been so much better if it was longer and gave itself time to develop the setting and the characters.
MAL || vndb || Blog
つ ◕_◕ ༽つ HELIX
Around half of the show was slice of life with only subtle hints about the ending. Eh.
Nyanpasu~
This
reminds me. Everyone assumes Noel wants to be a lovely wife (and apparently that is the correct interpretation of her wish) but really, she just wished for a lovely wife.
2nd necro.
This is one of my favorite series. I enjoyed the pleasant and/or dramatic musical effects, the places of setting/landscape, gratuitous French and the fact that the map literally says "Nomansland" 
.
I can see the sentiment regarding wasted potential, but it was only about dozen episodes long and I felt that it went at a right pace for that length. If we wanted to explore more fully on the subtle hints, on the backstory or on what goes on outside the girls in Seize, then it would have required a length of 24-26 episodes, and honestly that might not have been a bad thing. It's apparent that this was more about post-war daily life and sort of nostalgia for the past, rather than the warring past itself that shaped the setting. And we did get a sampling of more serious and darker elements like the flashback where an injured Filicia Heidemann sees her whole squadron wiped out in front of her, in a very real tank-based battle, and hints of the soldiers acting like actual soldiers more near the end. We also got mock versions of such moments.
I still don't get the blatant use of K-Onish characters. Not that I didn't like the team of five; they worked pretty well as distinct personalities.
edited 21st Dec '13 10:05:15 PM by Trivialis
AKA Kaymarx
That show did have one of the more wonderful renditions of Amazing Freaking Grace that I've ever heard, the bit with the Roman soldier was very well done, and the scene at the barn with the mobsters was mind-blowingly fantastic.
Should've checked the list.
I was annoyed by the Mildly Military aspects. Seriously, they didn't have long hikes with heavy packs in basic training?
I watched this a few months ago and was actually quite impressed. I'd been expecting it to just fill in between more prominent shows, but it turned out to be one of the best I've seen in some time.
Couldn't help but notice that we didn't have a thread for this show already - a crying shame. So, what did everyone think of SnoW? It's certainly got a lot of potential for continuation: mentions of a bunch of other countries, Rio's aeronautics plans... heck, even finding out
whowhat humanity's last great war was against would make a great story.Also (and the main reason I made this thread, though certainly not the only one): does anyone know where I can find a version of the Helvetia uniform for sale? I really want to cosplay Klaus for Anime Boston this year, and I don't want to have to make it myself - largely because I can't.
It's been fun.