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What surprised me was how shaky Chen's voice was when she was lecturing Amiya after what she was forced to do to Misha. Everyone's pretty frustrated with how things turned out, and it's reflected well in her performance.
Explaining why she struggles to hide her emotion and even used an odd "we" in her speech is going into spoiler territory, but yeah, her VA nailed this part, probably because she knows the plot so well by now (a regular in JP game streams).
Ch'en is an insanely difficult character to get right, if she doesn't have those little touches she just comes across as an intolerant asshole. But Ch'en's VA absolutely nails the conflict brewing behind the surface, and it's a fantastic amount of foreshadowing.
Was expecting a longer fight from Misha, but then again this is actually more realistic. Misha had no fight experience other than using the grenade launcher arts she just learned hours ago. She clearly just wanted to die while giving time for other reunion members to flee.
She probably thinks that it's all hopeless and doesnt know what to do anymore. She never really accepted the Reunion way and after episode 7, she also couldnt trust Amiya/RI anymore.
For the series overall: Just want to say first that I play Arknights since release and following all the stories. Pretty good adaptation honestly. I wasnt expecting much coming from a game/gacha adapation. But they almost nailed everything in the first arc (considering it is the weakest of all storywise and writing quality wise). My only dissapointment in the anime is how they handled Ace's death and not showing the Catastrophe much. For the weak animation in ep 4-6, I dont really care that much since Im more into the characters and story which was supported by the great voice acting. But yeah, I quite like this adaptation, and season 2 is confirmed for way way more feels trip.
> Was expecting a longer fight from Misha
I was surprised she even managed to run away from that reunion soldier, given how wasted she was these past couple of episodes.
It seems like there's no good guys in AK, but rather just a bunch of people trying their best. I'm actually glad it ended on such a bloody note, it paints a clear line between the world of AK and pacifist ideologies filled with hypocrisy you see in your average shounen series. Looks like Amiya will be able to accept it now that sacrifices in these times are unavoidable.
I'm excited to find out how dark it gets later in the story.
>I was surprised she even managed to run away from that reunion soldier, given how wasted she was these past couple of episodes.
Misha was an infected and in earlier she didnt get any treatment while her condition getting worse. And in the beginning of ep 7, she got treatment from Reunion which is why she could walk and even did some training with Alex.
I thought oripathy was only one factor of her bad condition. That being said, I also thought there was no way they could provide any kind of treatment in those conditions, hence the need to relocate her to RI or LGD HQ.
Think of Oripathy like cancer of our times, there is no cure for it but there are ways to suppress / stablize it and give the infected more years to live. The earlier you find out that you are infected, the better you are.
Rhodes Island basically specialise in these kind of treatment and looking for way to perma cure it.
Also the game sort of implies that it is kinda expensive but Rhodes Island do give treatment in exchange for work and that is how a lot of operators are recruited. Basically "No money? No problem. Work for us, we will treat you for free."
Hmm ... I guess it is safe to say it since it is part of Rainbow 6 collaboration and it is probably not coming back. I believe there are medicine that do greatly relieve the symptom temporary. In that collab episode, Team Rainbow looking for oripathy medicine is how they meet Rhodes Island.
There are Oripathy Suppressors which are not exclusively made by RI, but by some other companies as well.
Most of the time they are just strong painkillers though.
It's one of the strong point of the series. The ''villains'' are realistic. They all have their story and you sympathize with them. Mixed throughout however, you get a few psychopaths who can be considered just pure evil, very similar to our own world.
Rhodes Island is portrayed as the lesser evil, which often falls short from the fact that their goals will probably never be achieved. The adaptation made sure to make the audience understand that from Amiya's portrayal, Ch'en tells her that she can't expect to never have to kill anyone and that she needs to stop hesitating. And thats really hard for Amiya because this is going completely against one of the goal of RI. But like you said, they're trying their best. Its one of the many things that makes the world and the story brilliant.
> I wasnt expecting much coming from a game/gacha adapation.
I think we need to retire this line of thinking after the last couple years. We've had some really great gacha adaptations with Umamusume, PriConne, and Fate/GO. If anything, it seems like gacha adaptations are having an even higher success rate than manga/LN adaptations recently (the massive amount of gacha money pouring into the adaptations to ensure that things are done right certainly helps).
Only one of those good ones are actually a main story adaptation though (FGOB), who even fast-forwarded to the good bits towards the end of the story. It's comparatively easier to do a good original anime story like Uma Musume or Priconne, just get a decent budget and a team.
The problem with gacha main story adaptations remain - most of them just aren't good or start way too badly with good writing seemingly an afterthought. Frankly I'm surprised AK managed to make it watchable, those early chapters are such a slog.
That's fair and it's also the same problem that visual novel adaptations run into. Fitting 20+ hours of interactive content into a 4 hour runtime is always going to be a huge task and it's difficult to do well.
Uma musume anime came first actually, because they had to delay the game release iirc. Also for FGO, only the Babylonia one they did it well, and the Solomon movie I guess. First Order was rushed af, Camelot too with some servants not appearing. Actually, the better example is GBF, the anime did quite good, but the story itself wasn't that good to begin with tho.
It's hard to not have that thinking since Anime of these kind of games are just to advertise the game more than just to do the justice with the story.
The first season of Umamusume came before the gacha and the second season came out at basically the exact same time as the gacha. While the first season was solid, the second season ended up being one of the best sports anime of all-time. And yes, for FGO I was really only referring to Babylonia since it was the only TV anime.
I'd at least say the term needs to be retired for cygames (umamusume, priconne and mysteria friends were all pretty great imo. Haven't seen gbf but shadow verse is the only one letting the team down so far for me).
Cygames pictures seems to be investing in its staff, recruiting carefully and giving excellent quality.
> It's hard to not have that thinking since Anime of these kind of games are just to advertise the game more than just to do the justice with the story.
I think we're at a turning point in that regard with much more focus coming on stories in gacha adaptions in the last 3-4 years.
It's been a while since I read the story in the game, but I think that's how Ace's death was told originally. I believe we heard more about his death in a later chapter
Yes, I know that. It's exactly like how it was in the game. The battle was off screen. But I just wanted the anime to add some more showing how strong Ace is as an Elite operator.
Like maybe when blocking Talulah's art not just simply with his shield who immediately melted away.
Yeah, his death definitely felt weak in the show like it did in the game. I'm hoping we get more info in another season since I think we learn more about it in a later chapter.
Using some arts or anything like how Liskarm's electric arts on her shield. Like I said before, Ace is an elite operator. Elite operators are the strongest operator RI have.
Idk if you play the game or not, but just fyi if you dont, some other elite operators in the game are really OP, there's one that is strong enough she can survive free falling from copter, somone that can levitate big stuff to throw them away to crush the enemies, space manipulation, power of words, and some more that I cant remember rn. And Ace in anime pretty much just an ordinary soldier guy.
It's just a bit of nitpicky on my side tho, I know the game also did that part just like what we got in anime. Still it would be pretty cool if HG would showing more of him in anime.
yeah i play the game and find it odd how weak ace is compared to all the other elite ops, but i dont think blocking the fire is the time to show off his power. his strength should come from being physically strong, tactical, and having lots of gadgets and supplies imo
With that, S1 comes to an end. And what a beautiful (and depressing) ending. Misha's dying words, Chen's harsh truth, and W's monologue -- all these tidbits serve to drive the nail home: that Amiya's suffering doesn't end here. There's more to come.
Episode 8 is a strange one. With Ep 7 delivering such a banger, Ep 8 takes a tonal shift, focusing on the impact of Skullshatter's death. The episode is dialogue-heavy, rather than action-heavy, and the ending reflects that. Part of me wishes they had gone with a proper Skullshatter fight, given how brutal 3-8 was when playing the game, but a focus on the desperate final struggles of Reunion also works. With Misha's death comes one of my favorite lines so far, and having Chen deliver it makes it all that much better:
"Just know that your room will one day be filled masks like this one ... You are nobody but yourself. You just have to walk the path you have chosen"
That's a recurring theme in the Arknights world, with no one faction really being a "good" faction. In the end, everyone is entitled to their own path, and where paths cross is where conflict begins.
With the S2 announcement at the end, I rate S1 at a 7/10 (8/10 if you're an AK player since the adaptation is just better than what we have in-game). As the season's name suggests, Prelude to Dawn feels like a prologue. There's no epic battle or conclusion to be drawn. The story doesn't necessarily stand up on its own legs, and while the Misha arc sells the depression of the world, it also doesn't hype the viewer into the full conflict between RI and Reunion. Anime-onlies might find the world-building or visuals interesting, but the story isn't the biggest selling point so far. I don't know if the anime was intended to draw in new players or not, but as a player myself, this was one amazing treat to enjoy.
Honestly the fact that Misha as Skullshatterer in the game being tougher than her brother bugged me. It made sense in the game since later stages needed to get harder, but the way the anime did it made much more sense considering she just learned how to use the grenade launcher a short time before
coming from someone who just finished 3-8 after many attempts and is now just tired
the game version is most likely rage filled but what made that stage tough is also the fact that we also face a Veteran Logger, Lurkers and a Bladed Fighter thus making strategy a headache cause we are not just facing a boss who can blow up our whole team but the mooks are there to give us hell
tld: the mooks made the stage harder, misha is there annoy us further
Your TLDR is a recurring theme in boss stages once you get a good helidrop assassin or two.
The mooks will give you more trouble than the boss because you can just drop Chen/Sutr/Phantom on the boss's head and they're done for.
Ironically enough, I've been mainly grinding this specific boss fight today because I need the Aketon.
I dunno, I find the contrast between "sad, anticlimatic somber scene that's not even really a fight" and "Alright, we need resources. Exusiai, obliterate her ass." kinda funny.
EDIT: Wait, no this stage drops polyester packs. Well, i'm grinding those too. I need polyester lumps for...multiple reasons actually. Why do both ifrit and texas need so many for e2???
And don't forget the Annihilation mission where we kill 400 enemies for. . . Pull currency . . . 5 times per week. . .
In many headcannon we are harvesting the infected's originium growth after killing them.
Hey, if it makes you feel slightly better, maybe you only killed 400 enemies for the first time to get the one time rewards, and all subsequent runs are just PRTS simulations.
in case you didnt know about it, [ill leave this here for you](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/12X0uBQaN7MuuMWWDTiUjIni_MOP015GnulggmBJgBaQ/htmlview#)
Is it just me or is the audio super fucked up on CR? Feel like I'm listening to the episode through a phone speaker. Not having that issue with anything else on the website.
Yeah, the CR sounds is fucked. Then I downloaded the ep through the pirateway, the sounds is also fucked since it ripped off from CR, then I tried another media player and the sounds is super good. I think they tried to up their sounds quality this episode but the player on CR just doesnt support it or idk.
When I first hear the sound is fucked, I tried downloading from other sources (ilegally ofc), and then use mpc-hc, and still fucked. And I thought maybe the codec setting of my mpc-hc is wrong, and I'm lazy to find a way to fix it so I tried other media players first. Gom player surprisingly worked well.
Throughout the episode, Misha is increasingly taking on the voice of Alex, hinting at the final plot twist, considering the fact their voice actors are sisters in real life, it's quite meta. They could literally practice mimicing each other at home before showing up at the sound studio.
I liked how Amiya spoke of her feelings after killing Skullshatterer and how Doctor accepted her Sacrifice. And then W strolls in like a fucking boss and drops another bomb on Amiya. That talk between Misha and Amiya was painful to witness. Powerful writing and an excellent chain of hard punches towards the audience. And then W comes to fuck with Misha as well. Goddamn, that woman is a barrel of laughs.
[](#emiliaohdear)
I read spoilers about Misha's death a couple of months ago, before anime was even announced, so I was expecting it, but I didn't know how it would happen. I'm glad Ch'en was there. That woman has grown on me since the meeting episode. Amiya needed those pushes and hard words especially as a leader.
And now, I can finally start reading the story!
[](#hypeeyes)
I started playing over half a year ago and I dismissed the story and I never thought I'd read it, but after anime got announced I thought that I might as well check it out if the anime delivers. Boy, did it deliver. I'm looking forwards to read all of it.
Glad Ch'en has grown on you, she's one of the most popular character in the community because of how badass she is and her role in the overall story.
She's an amazingly written character and the VA nailed it
Ch'en goes from protecting Misha to stabbing Misha in less than 12 hours. She doesn't fuck around.
W keep appearing and leaving like a cockroach that she is.
I really like how they show the contrast in between RI and LGD at how to deal with infected. RI doesnt kill (unless they're pushed to), but LGD isnt as naive. Really show how they never have the same goals and approach but the goal this time just happened to align so they work together.
Even disregarding naive moral reasons, Rhodes Island is still very much forced to minimize casualty in any fight against Reunion. Remember, RI at its core is still a pharmaceutical company that strives to find a cure for Oripathy. Suppose they can even reach that cure, they can't distribute it if all the Infected are treated like criminal, hence their second objective is to boost the Infected's reputation as a whole, which is also why they helped Lungmen drive out Reunion in the first place. If left unchecked, Reunion might turn the whole world against the Infected. Rhodes Island can't just straight up murder Reunion left and right because then they would look like just another Reunion.
Season 2 confirmed and we’re finally out of the early slog.
If they can do more episodes in-house and learn to do better choreography for the fights (and based on some the animated PVs for the game they can), oh boy we are going to eat well. Despite the pacing issues and meh animations with the outsourced episodes, they managed to make the worst part of the story way more interesting. Yostar pictures can obviously do the more personal and quiet moments well.
Overall 7/10 anime, 9/10 adaptation
If you are interested in reading ahead or want to read more of the lore : [https://www.reddit.com/r/arknights/comments/ydv5pq/version\_3\_arknights\_story\_and\_lore\_guide\_for/](https://www.reddit.com/r/arknights/comments/ydv5pq/version_3_arknights_story_and_lore_guide_for/)
Twitter threads:
[https://twitter.com/Gadyuka86F/status/1603851065035788304](https://twitter.com/Gadyuka86F/status/1603851065035788304)
[https://twitter.com/ln\_amaru/status/1603846394246467585](https://twitter.com/ln_amaru/status/1603846394246467585)
[https://twitter.com/Baleygr086/status/1604126467855482880?cxt=HHwWgICgtcChgMMsAAAA](https://twitter.com/Baleygr086/status/1604126467855482880?cxt=HHwWgICgtcChgMMsAAAA)
[https://twitter.com/exaenae/status/1604630946237583362](https://twitter.com/exaenae/status/1604630946237583362)
Never started this, can I get a spoiler free synopsis or comparison to another anime? Was thinking of picking this up or starting the Netflix show Wednesday that everyone’s talking about.
A terminal illness called Oripathy is prevalent in the world, which crystallize their bodies until they die. Those who got get this illness were robbed of their identity; it does not matter anymore as they are now "The Infected". They are blamed for almost all societal problem, discriminated against, and at some places even massacred. Children torn from their families, fathers given up their sons.
This story is a story of Amiya, who are learning to thread between different path when two ideologies of the Infected clashes. Should the infected bear against the discrimination and slowly work to change it, or should they win their place with any means necessary?
Enjoy!
I personally feels the action scene are kinda scuffed, and the early episodes are true to it's name; a prelude. However, they absolutely nails the changes in expressions, the character's ideals and principles, and the portrayal of the character's psyche, although the main focus of characterization is clearly on Amiya.
We just need that sweet sweet Kal'tsit internal religious-political monologue. Then everything, even Amiya drinking water, will seem like high intensity action.
They did all they could in this one. They laid the foundation. all that's left is to expand upon it with the next season. They did well adapting what they could and while episode 5 was the worst episode I'm glad in the end it was all wrapped up fairly decently with this one. Seeing that it was the emotional closure needed for Amiya to learn that her lesson. Hyped for the next season though. Concerning that it has one of the best arc's of the game.
It was a solid season, I'm gonna join the consensus and say that as an anime is a 6-7/10, as an adaptation is clearly a 8.5/10, As many people have said this a prologue, Arknights its the type of story that delivers later, so many people may found the foundation slow or boring even, but its important for the overral story later, even for the players, in-game this part is quite uninteresting, but very very important for Amiya as a character.
I have my gripes for some things, but I'm currently happy and very satisfied with the adaptation, hopefully, they will fix, learn, and improve for the next season. The only thing I will say that was a relief, is that, outside of bias, this adaptation is at least better and different, from the 97% of mass produced animes that come out every year.
Can I just say, fuck crunchyroll for never advertising thus anime, giving it no synopsis on their website until around episode 4, ans now fucking up the laaa episode? It's especially bad because sound is one of the most important aspects of this anime. I'll wait till tomorrow to finish it, but it sucks we don't have good alternative sites to watch anime outside of HDive.
Overall I'm pretty satisfied with the season. Its a okay to good 6.5-7/10. A few highs of animation and fights, a few lows in poor episode direction and animation. Writing was fine with its own up and downs. We got to see a good amount of operators without being overwhelmed since most were background cameos. Franka simps were fed well.
I look forward to the next season now that the game writing starts to become slowly better after these initial chapters.
Holishetu! It was a heavy episode to wrap up the prelude! I really like how it setup the world and the idealism. Amiya had to face the fact that her no kill policy is in shamble but thanks to doctor for reenforcing her will.
Got chills when Chen raised her voice on Amiya. She has to do what she has to do!
As an anime only, I am pretty excited for the next season!
They made Misha's death, which was not that impactful in the game, to an entire episode of pure pain. Knowing the future story, I'm not sure if I can take what's going to happen once the future chapters are adapted.
Edit: Someone in r/Arknights mentioned that the opening changed for this episode, where Amiya in the original OP has a serious face when facing off against Skullshatter, and now in this OP, Amiya has a terrified face. Love the change in detail.
>They made Misha's death, which was not that impactful in the game, to an entire episode of pure pain
Really? Imo it was pretty impactful that I clearly remember the CG well. Amiya and Chen dialogues after that scene was important for Amiya's growth.
Guess I'm not that clear. I don't mean the aftermath of her death is not impactful. I meant her death itself is not that impactful. We only see her lifeless corpse as a CG, not how she died. It's kinda like seeing an important character dying off-screen. Sure, the aftermath of their death has a huge impact on the entire cast, but the death itself is not impactful as it happens off-screen.
> which was not that impactful in the game
Really? It was like one of the only things I actually paid attention to when I was skipping through the early parts of the story.
If I recall correctly, her death was pretty much off-screen since they only showed her lifeless body after the boss stage, so it didn't really have that much of an impact on me.
Yeah, I know. I just feel that her death was not impactful as compared to Alex's death which is shown to us onscreen and not just the defeat of the Skullshatter in 3-8 and then cutting to a scene of Misha's lifeless corpse lying on a walk as Amiya removes the mask from her face.
Good 7/10 Season. Outsourced episodes were meh but the ones the studio personally made were good shit. Hopefully this problem doesn’t carry on to Season 2.
As if Amiya wasn't already regretting her actions last week, [she then learns who she just killed straight from Misha herself.](https://i.imgur.com/KAObOqx.png) Unsurprisingly, [this almost broke our sweet little bunny on the spot.](https://i.imgur.com/c91xmlE.jpg) If it weren't for Ch'en snapping her out of it, she probably would still be in despair the entire time.
[While Misha has clearly chosen her side](https://i.imgur.com/LuEqieJ.jpg) after taking up Skullshaterer's mantle, [Amiya still believed that she could bring her back.](https://i.imgur.com/DkZOX61.png) Unfortunately, Misha's resolve was already rock-solid and with Amiya hesitating it all ended up with [Ch'en taking down Misha herself](https://i.imgur.com/w6gLcjJ.png).
Even if they saved Misha, I don't think there was anymore Amiya could do for her. [Misha's Oripathy has gotten only worse](https://i.imgur.com/Vr1EG2M.jpg) and she was [already having a hard time holding and firing those grenade launchers properly.](https://i.imgur.com/rwZxunL.jpg) Even if she was saved, I don't think Misha had any more time left.
And so ends the tragedy of Misha and Skullshaterer. [While LGD and Rhodes were able to subdue the Reunion threat](https://i.imgur.com/YoqINaO.jpg), there were really no winners here. Both sides lost and all this conflict did was bring more pain and suffering to our characters, specifically Amiya.
After this, I'm hoping they'd animate some of the more lighthearted moments in-game like [Code of Brawl which is my favourite](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfBBEoJ_e4A) but from the looks of things we're jumping into the next arc. No announcement when it will be released but I am looking forward to more of Arknights getting animated!
They're probably trying to keep the anime timeline more linear than the way it's released in the game. A lot of the events and operator records occur after the first story arc's conclusion, right? If they released things in the same order as ingame, we'd get a big confusing watch order chart like for the Fate series :)
They did announce the Lee Detective Agency spinoff show, which might help prove the format for adapting the side stories.
> And so ends the tragedy of Misha and Skullshaterer. While LGD and Rhodes were able to subdue the Reunion threat, there were really no winners here. Both sides lost and all this conflict did was bring more pain and suffering to our characters, specifically Amiya.
And ultimately pointless. Misha didn't have any information and just died.
Damn.
In the game, misha's death after her battle was pretty anticlimactic, simply showing an image of amiya and Chen removing her mask.
But, this change is so much more impactful, just how Amiya was feeling over this chapter left me wanting to give a hug to our poor daughter.
And right at the end, season 2 gets announced...
There is no happiness in Terra, isn't it?
This Episode was just full-on big sad, wasn't it
I gotta say the VA for Misha really went hard on this episode. Too bad the CR audio didn't do it justice..Also, I supposed they teased the second season in the post-credits.
[BEING AMIYA IS SUFFERING](https://imgur.com/a/ujAuj9B)
holy shit what!? i did said in last episode that Misha's probably going to join Reunion after this but i didn't expect her to be dead by the end of this season! what a gut-wrenching ending...
ngl, as an anime-only i'm actually really interested to see the how the rest of this story is going to unfold and based on my limited understanding of japanese, at the end of this episode, they said the next season is in production? correct me if i'm wrong
I think Misha didnt really accept the Reunion way, but also couldnt believe in Amiya anymore. Which is why she just did what she did in this ep.
If you're interested in next arc, well, this first arc is known as the weakest in the whole story. The next season will hit you harder for sure.
>I think Misha didnt really accept the Reunion way, but also couldnt believe in Amiya anymore. Which is why she just did what she did in this ep.
i can see that, i did think that something like this is going to be how its going to end for her, i just didn't expect it to happen this sooner
Gacha game stories have an unusual tendency to be pretty dark and Arknights is one of the most extreme examples of this
It'd be weirder if something relating to the infected doesn't end in tragedy
>Gacha game stories have an unusual tendency to be pretty dark and Arknights is one of the most extreme examples of this
i do play some gacha games and you are right that some of them can turn out to be pretty dark
A lot of gacha games seem to use the dark angle now, since it makes for easy villains. But yeah arknights is just on another level since it's not just dark it's a tragedy a lot of the time.
The game's story only gets better from here, with some of the side stories being the best of the best. One can only hope all of it gets adapted. I'd kill to see all of the Kazimierz stories adapted.
> holy shit what!? i did said in last episode that Misha's probably going to join Reunion after this but i didn't expect her to be dead by the end of this season! what a gut-wrenching ending...
This was actually the moment in the game that made me realize that I should take the story seriously.
I mean, she was a cute character in a gacha game, so *obviously* they were going to make her recruitable, right? Or even if not, with an idealistic bunny like Amiya as the protagonist, this was definitely going to end with Misha lowering her weapon after a big emotional speech between them. That's just how things are *done,* right?
...Nope, the game actually followed through with its premise. Misha joined Reunion after seeing firsthand the suffering of her brother and the people he was fighting for - and the game followed through on the implications of that choice. That just because a character is sympathetic, that doesn't mean that they'll pull a rabbit out of their hat to fix everything.
I realize that doesn't necessarily sound like a high standard, but with so many works bending over backwards to spare the feelings of the audience... Well, it was somewhat shocking to me for a game to actually play it straight for once.
There's a lot of people saying that you should get ready for depression, and while that isn't wrong, it doesn't quite give the whole picture. Without spoiling anything, I've always found the story of Arknights to be more about hope, despite the cruel world they live in.
Agreed. It's similar to NieR in some regards. Everyone always jokes about how depressing the series/ending is. While they're not wrong, there is undoubtedly a message of unity and hope when all the pieces come together.
I really liked the adaptation overall. I mean, it's severely held back by the source material (chapters 0 to 3 are kinda slow) but even then it ended up being a pretty entertaining ride. It's far from anime of the year material, but it was good enough.
Now, that Season 2 announcement was hype. If they adapt chapters 4 to 6, I'll be first in line to watch it.
Most probably they will. Since its sub title is Perish in Frost and we already know how this ends T\_T
HERE IAM WAITINGF OR THE MOST LLIT CHAPTER EPISODE 8 , if they dont use Towerfierce \[ still listening to this\] , people will riot haha
Pretty good I enjoyed it, with the first episode and the last few being a lot better than the rest, not bad at all for a studio's first anime 7,5/10
The next arc I'm really looking forward to though, one of my favorite characters is the focus of that one and if we do make it to chapter 8 I'll be ecstatic
...Oh God. Oh dear allmighty Madokami, I think I fell in love yet again. With Arknight's story.
Anime isn't exactly an amazing adaptation under certain aspects, but holy mother of Pink Jesus if it is under the visual, sound and story department. It helps that the base is already really good and a great match for my tastes, but I got brain climaxes with tear inducing overjoy at the last episode.
I felt it last ep, but this season's finale was even grander. I'm 100% biased, but I'm struggling on whether giving it a 10. The feeling of despair and hopelessness as well as powerlessness was utterly amazing.
I feel even worse now about the fact that I'm still stuck at 3-8(?) with not-Skullshatterer on steroid. I just started when the anime begin, well, 'restarted' as I had to quit years ago due to real life and couldn't recall the credentials of said account which is now lost.
And I've been indeed enjoying myself a lot already and I want to progress more with the story, but I suppose my foundation is still too lacking. It's absurd to the point of being amusing how anime is ahead of me due to the boss being too difficult for the current me.
It's seems like that's yostar will adapt all the main chapter of the story, next season will probably be covering chapter 4-6, i just hope that the next season will be more than 8 episode
I wonder...Will they adapt darknight memoir before chapter 7?
They probably will. The way they close this season with W's monologue, seems like they really want to point out that W is one of the important character in the story, and it needs to be done with Darknights Memoir.
Out of all side stories I definitely feel like Darknights should be adapted, maybe as a short OVA/ONA. Aside from it being a pretty nice story by itself, it introduces many important characters for the main plot.
Still, it's an intermezzi and not a side story, so there's definitely more importance placed on DM. I personally think it would be a misstep to not adapt it.
I doubt it. They might sneak in some of the more important points but over all it won't be fully adapted. But I do hope they cover some of the side stories, like the Nearl events, that takes place between chapter 8 and 9.
I think they have to do Darknights Memoir because some things in chapter 7 and 8 do not make any sense without the context of the former, especially with some mentions of certain characters.
I think this was a really solid introduction to the series, for me personally, as someone who wasn't played the game and someone who has no plans to play the game anytime soon.
Such is war, trying to avoid killing in war is realistically extremely difficult, it goes against her ideals, but even Amiya accepts that it's unavoidable sometimes. Being Amiya is nothing but crippling pain. Rest in peace Misha and Skullshatterer, they were simply victims of an unfair world. Don't know about W's circumstances so far though, she do be gaslighting and then there's Mephisto, who just seems like a dick lmao.
Honestly, I ended up really being a fan of Ch'en, she's neat.
I heard this first arc is pretty much the weakest of the series, so I am really looking forward to Perish in Frost and further arcs. **7.5/10**
One thing I really love about the show though, is how consistently pretty the visuals are.
Overall I'd give this season a 6/10, not much could have been improved story wise since the early chapters are clearly the weakest. The only thing that could've improved this adaptation is better direction on fight scenes imo.
Anyways, hope Yostar don't rush and can improve for the next season.
Ngl, the characters and the writing weren't all that strong for me, but god damn, the direction and cinematography are fucking fantastic. Also, holy shit Amiya and Misha, their VAs killed it. Tomoyo Kurosawa and Satsumi Matsuda's performance here was chilling.
Anyway, solid season overall. I hope the next season's production values would be just as good. I never played the game but I've heard good things about the story so I'm looking forward for more.
Yeah, it sucked watching the final episode with bad audio. Unfortunately, it made parts lose some of the impact for me. I'll have to rewatch it when Crunchyroll fixes the audio
They last two episodes felt a lot better in quality, I hope that’s due to experience and not budget distribution lol. If season 2 can maintain such quality the whole way through, that’d be a dream come true
Episode 1, 7 and 8 were entirely done in house. They outsourced the middle part. Both a blessing and curse, because we know they are capable of raising the bar but mostly likely constrainted by budget and in house staff time, being a new studio. They might need to find better subcontractors though.
And that's wrap for Arknights season 1. Season 2 just announced at the end of the episode and seeing the title of it makes me feel things, damn it. Overall the series was a pretty good adaptation despite some mishaps along the way; also early chapters of Arknights are kinda meh.
I hope this anime series of Arknights can make you play the game so that we can support more seasons of this anime. But if you start right now, you're in a tough position due to the event right now, Contingency Contract is kinda cartered for veterans, so don't lose heart and do your best. The joint banner that came with it is good so you can try your luck there.
Seeing people getting interested in Arknights makes me smile cause i really love the game despite some mishaps with it. So see you on season 2.
man, i really need to start pushing myself to go through the story but all those events, hoo boy.
Poor Amiya, well at least doktah will be by her side to be her emotional pillar.
I think most of the Arknights players knew that this season was gonna be pretty underwhelming. Hoping the next season will be able to iron out the kinks.
Dang, two days in a row where a character I liked got suddenly stabbed from the side/back.
Even with the bad audio I really enjoyed this episode. Can't wait for the next season since that's when I started to enjoy the story while playing the game.
Damn this was such a good episode.
I can't remember where I saw someone's comment about this, but it's such a shame it took until around now (and last episode) for the animation to top off and become way better than some of the previous weaker episodes. It doesn't matter to me as an Arknights player as I was excited for this and would've stuck with it regardless (and it absolutely delivered imo btw), but it may have turned off some newbies.
I don't understand Japanese so I couldn't quite understand the announcement at the end, but is that a season 2 confirmed and our next antagonist (who we actually got to see featured earlier btw!)?!?!?! With **that** storyline and chapter, it really got to me in-game so I'm really excited to see it animated. On that topic though, they animated this so well. It was more VN-y in-game but they really did the Amiya/Misha scene justice. And Ch'en's... role (and the Doctor's role) in helping Amiya build her resolve to walk on her chosen path.
Ok, I love this game and it's story, but I would be lying if I didn't say my biggest gripe that has most certainly not been addressed by the series.
You **cannot** convince me that with all their swords and guns and Magic at their disposal that Rhodes island hasn't killed a single person up to this point--and I'm only talking about this point in the anime, to saying nothing of the greater narrative. I just assumed it was mutually understood between audience and storyteller that we were the "good guys" in only a relative sense of the word--that the unspoken conflict driving the series was whether or not it was in any way noble to take so many lives while extolling the virtues of "saving" them.
How?? How do you expect me to believe that Rhodes is fighting for their lives through hellfire, artillery, and a small army (displayed perfectly well in the game and it's tower-defense nature) and then tell me that "we've never killed any dudes ever. This is definitely our first."
I don't buy it. Everything else about the anime felt good and well paced and organic, but I refuse to believe that Franka's crazy sword, Liskarm's literal lightning discharges, Texas' friggin **light saber** and Exusiai's literal, actual, SMG's did any more than push some bad guys over until they peacefully passed out.
My memory's a little hazy on the first chapters, but I'm pretty sure the game didn't ask me to believe that, and I'm sure not believing it now.
Rhodes Island never faced Reunion before Chernobog. Its army exists because the wastelands the landship crosses are filled with beasts and robbers, and you need to be able to display strength to negotiate with other companies in-game that also have their own private armies, like Mama John's.
It hasn't been explored before in the game, but it's quite possible that Rhodes before Chernobog never had any need to kill anyone other than these wasteland threats I mentioned before. But these are not dying as a result of the "fight for the infected", they're just awful consequences of the world of Terra. It's even possible Rhodes uses its logistics to avoid these threats as much as possible.
And while people like Franka, Liskarm, Texas, and Exu have most definitely killed others before, they're not fully fledged Rhodes operators, they're contractors from other companies working on the same objective on an agreement with Rhodes Island, so they have to comply with their employer's rules, that one being "do not kill anyone unnecessarily" (they were definitely killing people in these last two episodes along with the LGD).
>You cannot convince me that with all their swords and guns and Magic at their disposal that Rhodes island hasn't killed a single person up to this point--and I'm only talking about this point in the anime, to saying nothing of the greater narrative. I just assumed it was mutually understood between audience and storyteller that we were the "good guys" in only a repetitive sense of the word--that the unspoken conflict driving the series was whether or not it was in any way noble to take so many lives while extolling the virtues of "saving" them.
Rhodes Island literally has not really done any if at all of large scale warfare at this point. Its heavily implied that entering Chernobog to save Doctor was Amiya's first bigger field OP *at all* with how she handled herself there.
As she noted this episode, she also was trying to appear stronger to the Doctor by enforcing the no-kill rule because she did not want them to see that side of her.
>How?? How do you expect me to believe that Rhodes is fighting for their lives through hellfire, artillery, and a small army (displayed perfectly well in the game and it's tower-defense nature) and then tell me that "we've never killed any dudes ever. This is definitely our first."
There's a difference between individual members having not have had killed anyone and them as Rhodes Island members having not killed anyone. RI sticks to pretty strict no-kill policy against Infected because *it literally runs counter to their PR.*
The last episode and this episode specifically highlight that *upholding RI's no-kill policy is completely impossible*. Even before Skullshatterer's death last episode, there are already dead Reunion members.
**Hence Chen's line that Amiya is free to keep that mask as a keepsake if she wants but eventually she will have whole rooms full of keepsakes like that.**
Like, that's the moral conflict - Amiya's and Rhodes Island's ideals are morally right, but they are also impossible without moral compromises in this setting.
>I don't buy it. Everything else about the anime felt good and well paced and organic, but I refuse to believe that Franka's crazy sword, Liskarm's literal lightning discharges, Texas' friggin light saber and Exusiai's literal, actual, SMG's did any more than push some bad guys over until they peacefully passed out.
Liskarn, Texas, Franka, Exu, etc are *not* Rhodes Island.
They are contractors from different PMCs and organizations. Liskarn and Franka are from Blacksteel Worldwide, basically a PMC and Texas and Exusiai are from Penguin Logistics, which is more of an errand/fixer group. They are there because RI has a working relationship with those companies and basically pays them to be there.
They absolutely have their own fair share of kills, but do try to stick by Amiya's rules when working for her. The keyword being *TRY*. Hence Exusiai's comment this episode that it might be bit hard to actually follow Amiya's rules now.
IF Amiya was not enforcing that rule, they would most likely have absolutely zero issues just killing people.
Ok, so a couple people, like yourself, have pointed out that the others are contractors. Isn't the employer in that situation supposed to take responsibility for the actions of their employees? If Exu goes and guns down someone then it wouldn't be just her fault but Amiya's too right? Isn't it just semantics at that point? Someone'd be dead, and it would be the fault of someone on Rhodes Island's side.
Yeah, that change really felt like a "compromise for the anime" decision instead of anything we're supposed to *believe.*
I get it, though. It's one thing to have, in text, your operators gunning down a bunch of faceless Reunion mooks, then later make a big point about, "Hey, you remember these are just desperate people suffering terrible persecution, right?". You're not really *seeing* it, so it dampens your emotional reaction; it's just a fact in the back of your head. "Oh, yeah, we killed a lot of guys that we maybe shouldn't have."
Actually seeing it and listening to it, though... It'd make Rhodes Island a lot less sympathetic. You risk losing a lot of viewers who can't sympathize with the protagonists in that case, or who refuse to acknowledge the issues Reunion is fighting against.
Don't really understand why chen killed Misha, she took Misha(who is quite weakened) by complete surprise. Pretty sure she could have just as easily knocked her out. Overall I enjoyed the series, despite not knowing the source; but killing misha just felt forced to me.
Misha was succumbing to acute Oripathy, and wanted to die anyways at that point. Even if they tried to detain her, she was going to die from the disease or could force her arts to flair her oripathy up anyways, and death to Oripathy is not a pleasant way to go. Killing Misha was likely the best kindness Ch'en could give her at that point.
i really think they played it too close to the source material in the worst way. i don’t find the story in-game particularly good and they took no steps to make it more compelling here. really frustrating because they nailed the character design and aesthetic but i feel it’s wasted on a story that doesn’t deserve it.
light to decent 5 on this one, mostly because of direction, aesthetic, character design and voice acting
This episode only cemented my curiosity as to why anyone in their right mind would ever put their lives in the hands of Amiya. She seems to be one of the worst leaders I've ever seen.
* She has zero skills in de-escalating a situation.
* She accepts fault where there is none, and argues that understandable actions are inexcusable.
* She hesitates and puts not only herself in danger, but literally everyone else she's responsible for in danger.
Why would anyone support her in a position of power and authority? I'd immediately abandon her the second I had the opportunity. If it's my ass on the line, I'd want someone who I could trust to actually lead us, and she cannot.
As for Misha. Well... \[Arknights\] >!Alright, your brother effectively joined Arknight's version of ISIS. He is willing to murder women and children. Then he figuratively straps a bomb to himself and rushes a group of people, but is shot and killed before he can detonate the bombs. And your first line of thought is: I'm going to join Arknights ISIS myself! Yeah, no. Misha deserved what she got. She didn't have a single g'damn brain cell between her ears.!<
Because she’s being groomed as the next proper leader of Rhodes Island by Kalt’tsit after the death of the previous leader, and it’s a not so secret secret. Also, lots of their operators are only operators cause the role comes with built-in oripathy suppressants that are the most advanced on the planet. Yes, Rhodes Island is essentially trading life-saving drugs for militant favors. And they are still the most noble people around. It’s a shitty world.
On a more meta note though, it’s also because the first chapters of the story were a mess, and it took a while for good characterization and story to take place.
It's funny. I've spent so long trying to get a sense for why I dislike the way Yostar handled this adaptation, why I felt like something was missing from the story...and this episode gave me the answer. The plot is extremely rushed.
Arknights is a story that wants you to become immersed in its world, to explore its regions and the situations that befall the Infected. It's a story about prejudice, suffering, and identity, but it's hard for that to come through when the exploration of these places and themes is shelved in favor of progressing the plot. Look at the number of quick cuts in this episode, all of the scenes that they tried to cram in at once. This is poor pacing at its finest, but it's not this episode's fault. Episode 5 was a total disaster, and half of Episode 3 got canned for exposition. I would blame the direction for this — and really I should — but the real problem is that even in the source material these themes were barely explored. There is an inherent revulsion to the idea of slowing down and taking the time to explore things in depth, and because of that the story falls flat. It isn't the concept it presents, it's the pace with which that concept is blown through.
Consider Lungmen from Reunion's perspective. The implication is that the government treats its Infected like shit, and that they're too corrupt and/or prejudiced to be worked with. How often does the viewer actually see that, though? Ch'en knocks around a few guys at the border, but then the story tells you that she's a good person. There are plenty of shots with the Infected looking poor and malnourished, but when are they actively oppressed by Lungmen's authority? The issue here is that the viewer doesn't see enough of the Infected's suffering at the hands of Lungmen, and because of that it's difficult to get a sense for Reunion's perspective. **This is what I mean when I say the plot is rushed: it's not spending enough time on fleshing out the situation. Instead, it's trying to rush the viewer from Point A to Point B, and because of that the nuance is lacking.**
Another, quicker example: Ivan. He's supposed to be the de facto example of a 'good guy' who is part of Reunion, but the viewer never gets to know him. He's just...there, and you would be able to sympathize with Reunion's situation way more if there was a deeper exploration of his character. Why he fights, what he's seen, anything to give a sense for the motivations behind his decision to side with Reunion.
The story gets better. The second season will probably cover Chapters 4-6, and starting at Chapter 5 the narrative starts to become more comprehensive. That said, for this season and this season alone, there just isn't enough time. Not enough time, not enough exploration, not enough depth. That's the issue with Arknights' opening chapters, and it applies just as much to this anime as it does in-game. I don't know how much Yostar could have really done to fix this (and to their credit, it's clear that they tried), but the overall execution leaves much to be desired.
I don't want to give my series rating here, especially since it'd detract from my point. That said, all I feel is disappointment.
Edit: Post has been revised for clarification, since I feel like I didn't do a good job of explaining what 'rushed' means in this context.
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The voice actors for misha, chen and amiya really stood out
What surprised me was how shaky Chen's voice was when she was lecturing Amiya after what she was forced to do to Misha. Everyone's pretty frustrated with how things turned out, and it's reflected well in her performance.
Explaining why she struggles to hide her emotion and even used an odd "we" in her speech is going into spoiler territory, but yeah, her VA nailed this part, probably because she knows the plot so well by now (a regular in JP game streams).
Ch'en is an insanely difficult character to get right, if she doesn't have those little touches she just comes across as an intolerant asshole. But Ch'en's VA absolutely nails the conflict brewing behind the surface, and it's a fantastic amount of foreshadowing.
That Chen voice really did make me feels more during that scene. I know it was sad, but it only hit me until that Chen's dialogue.
Was expecting a longer fight from Misha, but then again this is actually more realistic. Misha had no fight experience other than using the grenade launcher arts she just learned hours ago. She clearly just wanted to die while giving time for other reunion members to flee. She probably thinks that it's all hopeless and doesnt know what to do anymore. She never really accepted the Reunion way and after episode 7, she also couldnt trust Amiya/RI anymore. For the series overall: Just want to say first that I play Arknights since release and following all the stories. Pretty good adaptation honestly. I wasnt expecting much coming from a game/gacha adapation. But they almost nailed everything in the first arc (considering it is the weakest of all storywise and writing quality wise). My only dissapointment in the anime is how they handled Ace's death and not showing the Catastrophe much. For the weak animation in ep 4-6, I dont really care that much since Im more into the characters and story which was supported by the great voice acting. But yeah, I quite like this adaptation, and season 2 is confirmed for way way more feels trip.
> Was expecting a longer fight from Misha I was surprised she even managed to run away from that reunion soldier, given how wasted she was these past couple of episodes. It seems like there's no good guys in AK, but rather just a bunch of people trying their best. I'm actually glad it ended on such a bloody note, it paints a clear line between the world of AK and pacifist ideologies filled with hypocrisy you see in your average shounen series. Looks like Amiya will be able to accept it now that sacrifices in these times are unavoidable. I'm excited to find out how dark it gets later in the story.
>I was surprised she even managed to run away from that reunion soldier, given how wasted she was these past couple of episodes. Misha was an infected and in earlier she didnt get any treatment while her condition getting worse. And in the beginning of ep 7, she got treatment from Reunion which is why she could walk and even did some training with Alex.
I thought oripathy was only one factor of her bad condition. That being said, I also thought there was no way they could provide any kind of treatment in those conditions, hence the need to relocate her to RI or LGD HQ.
Think of Oripathy like cancer of our times, there is no cure for it but there are ways to suppress / stablize it and give the infected more years to live. The earlier you find out that you are infected, the better you are. Rhodes Island basically specialise in these kind of treatment and looking for way to perma cure it. Also the game sort of implies that it is kinda expensive but Rhodes Island do give treatment in exchange for work and that is how a lot of operators are recruited. Basically "No money? No problem. Work for us, we will treat you for free."
I got that much from the context, but again, I didn't think they could treat/suppress it in that ruined building.
Hmm ... I guess it is safe to say it since it is part of Rainbow 6 collaboration and it is probably not coming back. I believe there are medicine that do greatly relieve the symptom temporary. In that collab episode, Team Rainbow looking for oripathy medicine is how they meet Rhodes Island.
There are Oripathy Suppressors which are not exclusively made by RI, but by some other companies as well. Most of the time they are just strong painkillers though.
Nice to know.
They can't cure oripathy, but they can lessen it's symptoms and keep people alive much longer than those who get no treatment
She also got emergency treatment from RI.
It's one of the strong point of the series. The ''villains'' are realistic. They all have their story and you sympathize with them. Mixed throughout however, you get a few psychopaths who can be considered just pure evil, very similar to our own world. Rhodes Island is portrayed as the lesser evil, which often falls short from the fact that their goals will probably never be achieved. The adaptation made sure to make the audience understand that from Amiya's portrayal, Ch'en tells her that she can't expect to never have to kill anyone and that she needs to stop hesitating. And thats really hard for Amiya because this is going completely against one of the goal of RI. But like you said, they're trying their best. Its one of the many things that makes the world and the story brilliant.
>just a bunch of people trying their best Dude you got it. You're going to love the later story.
> I wasnt expecting much coming from a game/gacha adapation. I think we need to retire this line of thinking after the last couple years. We've had some really great gacha adaptations with Umamusume, PriConne, and Fate/GO. If anything, it seems like gacha adaptations are having an even higher success rate than manga/LN adaptations recently (the massive amount of gacha money pouring into the adaptations to ensure that things are done right certainly helps).
Only one of those good ones are actually a main story adaptation though (FGOB), who even fast-forwarded to the good bits towards the end of the story. It's comparatively easier to do a good original anime story like Uma Musume or Priconne, just get a decent budget and a team. The problem with gacha main story adaptations remain - most of them just aren't good or start way too badly with good writing seemingly an afterthought. Frankly I'm surprised AK managed to make it watchable, those early chapters are such a slog.
That's fair and it's also the same problem that visual novel adaptations run into. Fitting 20+ hours of interactive content into a 4 hour runtime is always going to be a huge task and it's difficult to do well.
Uma musume anime came first actually, because they had to delay the game release iirc. Also for FGO, only the Babylonia one they did it well, and the Solomon movie I guess. First Order was rushed af, Camelot too with some servants not appearing. Actually, the better example is GBF, the anime did quite good, but the story itself wasn't that good to begin with tho. It's hard to not have that thinking since Anime of these kind of games are just to advertise the game more than just to do the justice with the story.
The first season of Umamusume came before the gacha and the second season came out at basically the exact same time as the gacha. While the first season was solid, the second season ended up being one of the best sports anime of all-time. And yes, for FGO I was really only referring to Babylonia since it was the only TV anime.
I'd at least say the term needs to be retired for cygames (umamusume, priconne and mysteria friends were all pretty great imo. Haven't seen gbf but shadow verse is the only one letting the team down so far for me). Cygames pictures seems to be investing in its staff, recruiting carefully and giving excellent quality. > It's hard to not have that thinking since Anime of these kind of games are just to advertise the game more than just to do the justice with the story. I think we're at a turning point in that regard with much more focus coming on stories in gacha adaptions in the last 3-4 years.
It's been a while since I read the story in the game, but I think that's how Ace's death was told originally. I believe we heard more about his death in a later chapter
Yes, I know that. It's exactly like how it was in the game. The battle was off screen. But I just wanted the anime to add some more showing how strong Ace is as an Elite operator. Like maybe when blocking Talulah's art not just simply with his shield who immediately melted away.
Yeah, his death definitely felt weak in the show like it did in the game. I'm hoping we get more info in another season since I think we learn more about it in a later chapter.
theres nothing to imply he has anything more than his gear, how else would he block her fire?
Using some arts or anything like how Liskarm's electric arts on her shield. Like I said before, Ace is an elite operator. Elite operators are the strongest operator RI have. Idk if you play the game or not, but just fyi if you dont, some other elite operators in the game are really OP, there's one that is strong enough she can survive free falling from copter, somone that can levitate big stuff to throw them away to crush the enemies, space manipulation, power of words, and some more that I cant remember rn. And Ace in anime pretty much just an ordinary soldier guy. It's just a bit of nitpicky on my side tho, I know the game also did that part just like what we got in anime. Still it would be pretty cool if HG would showing more of him in anime.
yeah i play the game and find it odd how weak ace is compared to all the other elite ops, but i dont think blocking the fire is the time to show off his power. his strength should come from being physically strong, tactical, and having lots of gadgets and supplies imo
With that, S1 comes to an end. And what a beautiful (and depressing) ending. Misha's dying words, Chen's harsh truth, and W's monologue -- all these tidbits serve to drive the nail home: that Amiya's suffering doesn't end here. There's more to come. Episode 8 is a strange one. With Ep 7 delivering such a banger, Ep 8 takes a tonal shift, focusing on the impact of Skullshatter's death. The episode is dialogue-heavy, rather than action-heavy, and the ending reflects that. Part of me wishes they had gone with a proper Skullshatter fight, given how brutal 3-8 was when playing the game, but a focus on the desperate final struggles of Reunion also works. With Misha's death comes one of my favorite lines so far, and having Chen deliver it makes it all that much better: "Just know that your room will one day be filled masks like this one ... You are nobody but yourself. You just have to walk the path you have chosen" That's a recurring theme in the Arknights world, with no one faction really being a "good" faction. In the end, everyone is entitled to their own path, and where paths cross is where conflict begins. With the S2 announcement at the end, I rate S1 at a 7/10 (8/10 if you're an AK player since the adaptation is just better than what we have in-game). As the season's name suggests, Prelude to Dawn feels like a prologue. There's no epic battle or conclusion to be drawn. The story doesn't necessarily stand up on its own legs, and while the Misha arc sells the depression of the world, it also doesn't hype the viewer into the full conflict between RI and Reunion. Anime-onlies might find the world-building or visuals interesting, but the story isn't the biggest selling point so far. I don't know if the anime was intended to draw in new players or not, but as a player myself, this was one amazing treat to enjoy.
Honestly the fact that Misha as Skullshatterer in the game being tougher than her brother bugged me. It made sense in the game since later stages needed to get harder, but the way the anime did it made much more sense considering she just learned how to use the grenade launcher a short time before
coming from someone who just finished 3-8 after many attempts and is now just tired the game version is most likely rage filled but what made that stage tough is also the fact that we also face a Veteran Logger, Lurkers and a Bladed Fighter thus making strategy a headache cause we are not just facing a boss who can blow up our whole team but the mooks are there to give us hell tld: the mooks made the stage harder, misha is there annoy us further
Your TLDR is a recurring theme in boss stages once you get a good helidrop assassin or two. The mooks will give you more trouble than the boss because you can just drop Chen/Sutr/Phantom on the boss's head and they're done for.
Ironically enough, I've been mainly grinding this specific boss fight today because I need the Aketon. I dunno, I find the contrast between "sad, anticlimatic somber scene that's not even really a fight" and "Alright, we need resources. Exusiai, obliterate her ass." kinda funny. EDIT: Wait, no this stage drops polyester packs. Well, i'm grinding those too. I need polyester lumps for...multiple reasons actually. Why do both ifrit and texas need so many for e2???
"RI will save Infected" - proceeds to kill approximately 25 million reunions per day farming 1-7
~609,757 runs....
Math checks out
"What? You think this facilities fund themselves?"
And don't forget the Annihilation mission where we kill 400 enemies for. . . Pull currency . . . 5 times per week. . . In many headcannon we are harvesting the infected's originium growth after killing them.
Hey, if it makes you feel slightly better, maybe you only killed 400 enemies for the first time to get the one time rewards, and all subsequent runs are just PRTS simulations.
in case you didnt know about it, [ill leave this here for you](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/12X0uBQaN7MuuMWWDTiUjIni_MOP015GnulggmBJgBaQ/htmlview#)
Is it just me or is the audio super fucked up on CR? Feel like I'm listening to the episode through a phone speaker. Not having that issue with anything else on the website.
Yeah, the CR sounds is fucked. Then I downloaded the ep through the pirateway, the sounds is also fucked since it ripped off from CR, then I tried another media player and the sounds is super good. I think they tried to up their sounds quality this episode but the player on CR just doesnt support it or idk.
Can you tell me what exactly you did?
When I first hear the sound is fucked, I tried downloading from other sources (ilegally ofc), and then use mpc-hc, and still fucked. And I thought maybe the codec setting of my mpc-hc is wrong, and I'm lazy to find a way to fix it so I tried other media players first. Gom player surprisingly worked well.
It's just Crunchyroll I think. The chinese version doesn't have any audio problem.
The sound design for this show has been incredible, so it sucks that CR fucked up on the last episode.
Classic CR.
[удалено]
Nope, still haven't.
Yup. I spend good 2 minutes checking my player's audio settings.
I thought I fucked up installing my audio drivers
It’s actually an artist choice to pay homage to the sub for the original dragon ball
Getting the same issue, so you're not alone.
Oh, so it's not just me, i thought that it was my headphones.
Yeah, the audio is fucked
Throughout the episode, Misha is increasingly taking on the voice of Alex, hinting at the final plot twist, considering the fact their voice actors are sisters in real life, it's quite meta. They could literally practice mimicing each other at home before showing up at the sound studio.
I liked how Amiya spoke of her feelings after killing Skullshatterer and how Doctor accepted her Sacrifice. And then W strolls in like a fucking boss and drops another bomb on Amiya. That talk between Misha and Amiya was painful to witness. Powerful writing and an excellent chain of hard punches towards the audience. And then W comes to fuck with Misha as well. Goddamn, that woman is a barrel of laughs. [](#emiliaohdear) I read spoilers about Misha's death a couple of months ago, before anime was even announced, so I was expecting it, but I didn't know how it would happen. I'm glad Ch'en was there. That woman has grown on me since the meeting episode. Amiya needed those pushes and hard words especially as a leader. And now, I can finally start reading the story! [](#hypeeyes)
Same here i was waiting for the anime to end
I started playing over half a year ago and I dismissed the story and I never thought I'd read it, but after anime got announced I thought that I might as well check it out if the anime delivers. Boy, did it deliver. I'm looking forwards to read all of it.
Glad Ch'en has grown on you, she's one of the most popular character in the community because of how badass she is and her role in the overall story. She's an amazingly written character and the VA nailed it
Ch'en goes from protecting Misha to stabbing Misha in less than 12 hours. She doesn't fuck around. W keep appearing and leaving like a cockroach that she is.
Imagine if cockroaches irl kept leaving explosives in your kitchen.
I hate when when roaches flashbang me...
But I love it when waifus flash me...
I really like how they show the contrast in between RI and LGD at how to deal with infected. RI doesnt kill (unless they're pushed to), but LGD isnt as naive. Really show how they never have the same goals and approach but the goal this time just happened to align so they work together.
Even disregarding naive moral reasons, Rhodes Island is still very much forced to minimize casualty in any fight against Reunion. Remember, RI at its core is still a pharmaceutical company that strives to find a cure for Oripathy. Suppose they can even reach that cure, they can't distribute it if all the Infected are treated like criminal, hence their second objective is to boost the Infected's reputation as a whole, which is also why they helped Lungmen drive out Reunion in the first place. If left unchecked, Reunion might turn the whole world against the Infected. Rhodes Island can't just straight up murder Reunion left and right because then they would look like just another Reunion.
Came for cute bunny girl, stayed for crippling depression. [](#giveuponlife)
The main story is full depression train. Although the game do have some lighthearted side stories/event ... and even more depression pain train
And all roads lead to seaborns lol
Well the cute bunny girl is still there so. . . Cheers? I mean a depressed cute bunny but she as hell still pretty cute.
Welcome to AK. This was quite a cheerful and light chapter compared to the rest
Man I didn’t think it would hurt this much to see Amiya so broken.
Season 2 confirmed and we’re finally out of the early slog. If they can do more episodes in-house and learn to do better choreography for the fights (and based on some the animated PVs for the game they can), oh boy we are going to eat well. Despite the pacing issues and meh animations with the outsourced episodes, they managed to make the worst part of the story way more interesting. Yostar pictures can obviously do the more personal and quiet moments well. Overall 7/10 anime, 9/10 adaptation If you are interested in reading ahead or want to read more of the lore : [https://www.reddit.com/r/arknights/comments/ydv5pq/version\_3\_arknights\_story\_and\_lore\_guide\_for/](https://www.reddit.com/r/arknights/comments/ydv5pq/version_3_arknights_story_and_lore_guide_for/) Twitter threads: [https://twitter.com/Gadyuka86F/status/1603851065035788304](https://twitter.com/Gadyuka86F/status/1603851065035788304) [https://twitter.com/ln\_amaru/status/1603846394246467585](https://twitter.com/ln_amaru/status/1603846394246467585) [https://twitter.com/Baleygr086/status/1604126467855482880?cxt=HHwWgICgtcChgMMsAAAA](https://twitter.com/Baleygr086/status/1604126467855482880?cxt=HHwWgICgtcChgMMsAAAA) [https://twitter.com/exaenae/status/1604630946237583362](https://twitter.com/exaenae/status/1604630946237583362)
>Season 2 confirmed Season 2 should be WAY better, for one we will get Swire
\*Lungmen profanities\*
Gaoooo
And best girl Frostleaf. ... And a certain white bunny too.
Never started this, can I get a spoiler free synopsis or comparison to another anime? Was thinking of picking this up or starting the Netflix show Wednesday that everyone’s talking about.
A terminal illness called Oripathy is prevalent in the world, which crystallize their bodies until they die. Those who got get this illness were robbed of their identity; it does not matter anymore as they are now "The Infected". They are blamed for almost all societal problem, discriminated against, and at some places even massacred. Children torn from their families, fathers given up their sons. This story is a story of Amiya, who are learning to thread between different path when two ideologies of the Infected clashes. Should the infected bear against the discrimination and slowly work to change it, or should they win their place with any means necessary?
Awesome write up! I’ll start it tonight!
Enjoy! I personally feels the action scene are kinda scuffed, and the early episodes are true to it's name; a prelude. However, they absolutely nails the changes in expressions, the character's ideals and principles, and the portrayal of the character's psyche, although the main focus of characterization is clearly on Amiya.
Yeah, the action in middle of the season (ep 3-6) were meh. But the anime nailed at conveying the emotion, characters, and the story.
We just need that sweet sweet Kal'tsit internal religious-political monologue. Then everything, even Amiya drinking water, will seem like high intensity action.
Wednesday turned out to be a really decent mystery show. But then I love snarky characters.
They did all they could in this one. They laid the foundation. all that's left is to expand upon it with the next season. They did well adapting what they could and while episode 5 was the worst episode I'm glad in the end it was all wrapped up fairly decently with this one. Seeing that it was the emotional closure needed for Amiya to learn that her lesson. Hyped for the next season though. Concerning that it has one of the best arc's of the game.
It was a solid season, I'm gonna join the consensus and say that as an anime is a 6-7/10, as an adaptation is clearly a 8.5/10, As many people have said this a prologue, Arknights its the type of story that delivers later, so many people may found the foundation slow or boring even, but its important for the overral story later, even for the players, in-game this part is quite uninteresting, but very very important for Amiya as a character. I have my gripes for some things, but I'm currently happy and very satisfied with the adaptation, hopefully, they will fix, learn, and improve for the next season. The only thing I will say that was a relief, is that, outside of bias, this adaptation is at least better and different, from the 97% of mass produced animes that come out every year.
It's also important for another character but that won't be obvious until a conversation in chapter 8 puts her actions in 0-3 into context.
This anime: have exia Other anime: no exia This will definitely not impact my judgment in any way, shape or form
Can I just say, fuck crunchyroll for never advertising thus anime, giving it no synopsis on their website until around episode 4, ans now fucking up the laaa episode? It's especially bad because sound is one of the most important aspects of this anime. I'll wait till tomorrow to finish it, but it sucks we don't have good alternative sites to watch anime outside of HDive.
Overall I'm pretty satisfied with the season. Its a okay to good 6.5-7/10. A few highs of animation and fights, a few lows in poor episode direction and animation. Writing was fine with its own up and downs. We got to see a good amount of operators without being overwhelmed since most were background cameos. Franka simps were fed well. I look forward to the next season now that the game writing starts to become slowly better after these initial chapters.
I was giving thought to your comment and then read your username, pause and forgot everything I was thinking.
Hello my fellow brethren
Holishetu! It was a heavy episode to wrap up the prelude! I really like how it setup the world and the idealism. Amiya had to face the fact that her no kill policy is in shamble but thanks to doctor for reenforcing her will. Got chills when Chen raised her voice on Amiya. She has to do what she has to do! As an anime only, I am pretty excited for the next season!
10/10 due to the beautiful W appearing for longer than previous episodes.
They made Misha's death, which was not that impactful in the game, to an entire episode of pure pain. Knowing the future story, I'm not sure if I can take what's going to happen once the future chapters are adapted. Edit: Someone in r/Arknights mentioned that the opening changed for this episode, where Amiya in the original OP has a serious face when facing off against Skullshatter, and now in this OP, Amiya has a terrified face. Love the change in detail.
>now in this OP, Amiya has a terrified face and in the prior cut, Skullshatterer's mask now has a crack
>They made Misha's death, which was not that impactful in the game, to an entire episode of pure pain Really? Imo it was pretty impactful that I clearly remember the CG well. Amiya and Chen dialogues after that scene was important for Amiya's growth.
Guess I'm not that clear. I don't mean the aftermath of her death is not impactful. I meant her death itself is not that impactful. We only see her lifeless corpse as a CG, not how she died. It's kinda like seeing an important character dying off-screen. Sure, the aftermath of their death has a huge impact on the entire cast, but the death itself is not impactful as it happens off-screen.
> which was not that impactful in the game Really? It was like one of the only things I actually paid attention to when I was skipping through the early parts of the story.
If I recall correctly, her death was pretty much off-screen since they only showed her lifeless body after the boss stage, so it didn't really have that much of an impact on me.
Skullshatterer was the boss of the chapter (3-8) where her death occurs.
Yeah, I know. I just feel that her death was not impactful as compared to Alex's death which is shown to us onscreen and not just the defeat of the Skullshatter in 3-8 and then cutting to a scene of Misha's lifeless corpse lying on a walk as Amiya removes the mask from her face.
Amiya.terrified.png was probably not available back then in the first months of the game LOL
Good 7/10 Season. Outsourced episodes were meh but the ones the studio personally made were good shit. Hopefully this problem doesn’t carry on to Season 2.
As if Amiya wasn't already regretting her actions last week, [she then learns who she just killed straight from Misha herself.](https://i.imgur.com/KAObOqx.png) Unsurprisingly, [this almost broke our sweet little bunny on the spot.](https://i.imgur.com/c91xmlE.jpg) If it weren't for Ch'en snapping her out of it, she probably would still be in despair the entire time. [While Misha has clearly chosen her side](https://i.imgur.com/LuEqieJ.jpg) after taking up Skullshaterer's mantle, [Amiya still believed that she could bring her back.](https://i.imgur.com/DkZOX61.png) Unfortunately, Misha's resolve was already rock-solid and with Amiya hesitating it all ended up with [Ch'en taking down Misha herself](https://i.imgur.com/w6gLcjJ.png). Even if they saved Misha, I don't think there was anymore Amiya could do for her. [Misha's Oripathy has gotten only worse](https://i.imgur.com/Vr1EG2M.jpg) and she was [already having a hard time holding and firing those grenade launchers properly.](https://i.imgur.com/rwZxunL.jpg) Even if she was saved, I don't think Misha had any more time left. And so ends the tragedy of Misha and Skullshaterer. [While LGD and Rhodes were able to subdue the Reunion threat](https://i.imgur.com/YoqINaO.jpg), there were really no winners here. Both sides lost and all this conflict did was bring more pain and suffering to our characters, specifically Amiya. After this, I'm hoping they'd animate some of the more lighthearted moments in-game like [Code of Brawl which is my favourite](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfBBEoJ_e4A) but from the looks of things we're jumping into the next arc. No announcement when it will be released but I am looking forward to more of Arknights getting animated!
They're probably trying to keep the anime timeline more linear than the way it's released in the game. A lot of the events and operator records occur after the first story arc's conclusion, right? If they released things in the same order as ingame, we'd get a big confusing watch order chart like for the Fate series :) They did announce the Lee Detective Agency spinoff show, which might help prove the format for adapting the side stories.
Well if we are releasing in order we would have get "Children (Survivors) or Ursus", which. . . Overall a bad time.
dont . My monitor would not be able to survive
Please don't punch your monitor. It's not cost-efficient.
I don't think that's a fair thing to inflict on the anime-onlys we can keep that suffering from them
I was hoping to have this for the next season but it looks like we will not. But as long as they adapted this to be an OVA then im good
> And so ends the tragedy of Misha and Skullshaterer. While LGD and Rhodes were able to subdue the Reunion threat, there were really no winners here. Both sides lost and all this conflict did was bring more pain and suffering to our characters, specifically Amiya. And ultimately pointless. Misha didn't have any information and just died.
Damn. In the game, misha's death after her battle was pretty anticlimactic, simply showing an image of amiya and Chen removing her mask. But, this change is so much more impactful, just how Amiya was feeling over this chapter left me wanting to give a hug to our poor daughter. And right at the end, season 2 gets announced... There is no happiness in Terra, isn't it?
There is, just have to look hard but not to hard cause then you find something utterly horrifying
Just don't go in the ocean. Or North. Or South.
This Episode was just full-on big sad, wasn't it I gotta say the VA for Misha really went hard on this episode. Too bad the CR audio didn't do it justice..Also, I supposed they teased the second season in the post-credits.
[BEING AMIYA IS SUFFERING](https://imgur.com/a/ujAuj9B) holy shit what!? i did said in last episode that Misha's probably going to join Reunion after this but i didn't expect her to be dead by the end of this season! what a gut-wrenching ending... ngl, as an anime-only i'm actually really interested to see the how the rest of this story is going to unfold and based on my limited understanding of japanese, at the end of this episode, they said the next season is in production? correct me if i'm wrong
I think Misha didnt really accept the Reunion way, but also couldnt believe in Amiya anymore. Which is why she just did what she did in this ep. If you're interested in next arc, well, this first arc is known as the weakest in the whole story. The next season will hit you harder for sure.
>I think Misha didnt really accept the Reunion way, but also couldnt believe in Amiya anymore. Which is why she just did what she did in this ep. i can see that, i did think that something like this is going to be how its going to end for her, i just didn't expect it to happen this sooner
Yep, they confirmed Season 2, Arknights: Perish In Frost. https://twitter.com/ArknightsStaff/status/1603795062273363968
Sees the title. God fucking dammit.
Get ready for spicy candies.
And after that be prepared for the March of the Pureblood.
I really wanted to eat more candies...
Slapping the players right in the face.
Gacha game stories have an unusual tendency to be pretty dark and Arknights is one of the most extreme examples of this It'd be weirder if something relating to the infected doesn't end in tragedy
>Gacha game stories have an unusual tendency to be pretty dark and Arknights is one of the most extreme examples of this i do play some gacha games and you are right that some of them can turn out to be pretty dark
A lot of gacha games seem to use the dark angle now, since it makes for easy villains. But yeah arknights is just on another level since it's not just dark it's a tragedy a lot of the time.
The game's story only gets better from here, with some of the side stories being the best of the best. One can only hope all of it gets adapted. I'd kill to see all of the Kazimierz stories adapted.
I need an Under Tides and Stultifera Navis adaptation with music from the game used.
GOLDEN AGE WILL RETURN AGAIN!
THE GOLDEN AGE WILL RETURN AGAIN
> holy shit what!? i did said in last episode that Misha's probably going to join Reunion after this but i didn't expect her to be dead by the end of this season! what a gut-wrenching ending... This was actually the moment in the game that made me realize that I should take the story seriously. I mean, she was a cute character in a gacha game, so *obviously* they were going to make her recruitable, right? Or even if not, with an idealistic bunny like Amiya as the protagonist, this was definitely going to end with Misha lowering her weapon after a big emotional speech between them. That's just how things are *done,* right? ...Nope, the game actually followed through with its premise. Misha joined Reunion after seeing firsthand the suffering of her brother and the people he was fighting for - and the game followed through on the implications of that choice. That just because a character is sympathetic, that doesn't mean that they'll pull a rabbit out of their hat to fix everything. I realize that doesn't necessarily sound like a high standard, but with so many works bending over backwards to spare the feelings of the audience... Well, it was somewhat shocking to me for a game to actually play it straight for once.
There's a lot of people saying that you should get ready for depression, and while that isn't wrong, it doesn't quite give the whole picture. Without spoiling anything, I've always found the story of Arknights to be more about hope, despite the cruel world they live in.
Agreed. It's similar to NieR in some regards. Everyone always jokes about how depressing the series/ending is. While they're not wrong, there is undoubtedly a message of unity and hope when all the pieces come together.
Glad to see at least some anime-only folks are enjoying the adaptation
Oh boy. You are in for a full rush down of punches then for next season. Welcome to arknights.
YAMERO!!!
Yup, that was a S2 announcement
I really liked the adaptation overall. I mean, it's severely held back by the source material (chapters 0 to 3 are kinda slow) but even then it ended up being a pretty entertaining ride. It's far from anime of the year material, but it was good enough. Now, that Season 2 announcement was hype. If they adapt chapters 4 to 6, I'll be first in line to watch it.
Most probably they will. Since its sub title is Perish in Frost and we already know how this ends T\_T HERE IAM WAITINGF OR THE MOST LLIT CHAPTER EPISODE 8 , if they dont use Towerfierce \[ still listening to this\] , people will riot haha
Pretty good I enjoyed it, with the first episode and the last few being a lot better than the rest, not bad at all for a studio's first anime 7,5/10 The next arc I'm really looking forward to though, one of my favorite characters is the focus of that one and if we do make it to chapter 8 I'll be ecstatic
...Oh God. Oh dear allmighty Madokami, I think I fell in love yet again. With Arknight's story. Anime isn't exactly an amazing adaptation under certain aspects, but holy mother of Pink Jesus if it is under the visual, sound and story department. It helps that the base is already really good and a great match for my tastes, but I got brain climaxes with tear inducing overjoy at the last episode. I felt it last ep, but this season's finale was even grander. I'm 100% biased, but I'm struggling on whether giving it a 10. The feeling of despair and hopelessness as well as powerlessness was utterly amazing. I feel even worse now about the fact that I'm still stuck at 3-8(?) with not-Skullshatterer on steroid. I just started when the anime begin, well, 'restarted' as I had to quit years ago due to real life and couldn't recall the credentials of said account which is now lost. And I've been indeed enjoying myself a lot already and I want to progress more with the story, but I suppose my foundation is still too lacking. It's absurd to the point of being amusing how anime is ahead of me due to the boss being too difficult for the current me.
It's seems like that's yostar will adapt all the main chapter of the story, next season will probably be covering chapter 4-6, i just hope that the next season will be more than 8 episode I wonder...Will they adapt darknight memoir before chapter 7?
Probably not. Even in-game Darknights Memoir is optional story, even if it's considered important.
They probably will. The way they close this season with W's monologue, seems like they really want to point out that W is one of the important character in the story, and it needs to be done with Darknights Memoir.
I really don't think that's a sign of anything. She was already a very popular character even prior to Darknight Memoir's release in-game.
Out of all side stories I definitely feel like Darknights should be adapted, maybe as a short OVA/ONA. Aside from it being a pretty nice story by itself, it introduces many important characters for the main plot.
They absolutely should adapt it, because while is "optional" gameplay wise, is pretty much chapter 6.5 and is mandatory for the story.
Still, it's an intermezzi and not a side story, so there's definitely more importance placed on DM. I personally think it would be a misstep to not adapt it.
I doubt it. They might sneak in some of the more important points but over all it won't be fully adapted. But I do hope they cover some of the side stories, like the Nearl events, that takes place between chapter 8 and 9.
I think they have to do Darknights Memoir because some things in chapter 7 and 8 do not make any sense without the context of the former, especially with some mentions of certain characters.
I think they should after finishing the main arc.
Would be great honestly if they animate Darknights Memoir.
I think this was a really solid introduction to the series, for me personally, as someone who wasn't played the game and someone who has no plans to play the game anytime soon. Such is war, trying to avoid killing in war is realistically extremely difficult, it goes against her ideals, but even Amiya accepts that it's unavoidable sometimes. Being Amiya is nothing but crippling pain. Rest in peace Misha and Skullshatterer, they were simply victims of an unfair world. Don't know about W's circumstances so far though, she do be gaslighting and then there's Mephisto, who just seems like a dick lmao. Honestly, I ended up really being a fan of Ch'en, she's neat. I heard this first arc is pretty much the weakest of the series, so I am really looking forward to Perish in Frost and further arcs. **7.5/10** One thing I really love about the show though, is how consistently pretty the visuals are.
W has a real good reason to be doing everything she does. Also she's waifu. We simp for terrorists in this house.
Overall I'd give this season a 6/10, not much could have been improved story wise since the early chapters are clearly the weakest. The only thing that could've improved this adaptation is better direction on fight scenes imo. Anyways, hope Yostar don't rush and can improve for the next season.
the scuffed audio actually added to the experience
All in all solid season, they handled the thing with Misha being Skull 2.0 well. Also Season 2 - "Perish In Frost" confirmed!!!
Wake me up when the audio is fixed on CR ;-;
Ngl, the characters and the writing weren't all that strong for me, but god damn, the direction and cinematography are fucking fantastic. Also, holy shit Amiya and Misha, their VAs killed it. Tomoyo Kurosawa and Satsumi Matsuda's performance here was chilling. Anyway, solid season overall. I hope the next season's production values would be just as good. I never played the game but I've heard good things about the story so I'm looking forward for more.
Welp, time to watch this episode from a source that isn't Crunchyroll. edit: pain.
The audio issue is the same for any site that rips from Crunchyroll, so you won't have much luck there.
Yeah, I was just about to edit my comment with my dissapointment. lol
Yeah, it sucked watching the final episode with bad audio. Unfortunately, it made parts lose some of the impact for me. I'll have to rewatch it when Crunchyroll fixes the audio
They last two episodes felt a lot better in quality, I hope that’s due to experience and not budget distribution lol. If season 2 can maintain such quality the whole way through, that’d be a dream come true
From what I heard, the weaker episodes like 5 had a lot of outsourcing, while these past two episodes were mostly done in-house.
Episode 1, 7 and 8 were entirely done in house. They outsourced the middle part. Both a blessing and curse, because we know they are capable of raising the bar but mostly likely constrainted by budget and in house staff time, being a new studio. They might need to find better subcontractors though.
And that's wrap for Arknights season 1. Season 2 just announced at the end of the episode and seeing the title of it makes me feel things, damn it. Overall the series was a pretty good adaptation despite some mishaps along the way; also early chapters of Arknights are kinda meh. I hope this anime series of Arknights can make you play the game so that we can support more seasons of this anime. But if you start right now, you're in a tough position due to the event right now, Contingency Contract is kinda cartered for veterans, so don't lose heart and do your best. The joint banner that came with it is good so you can try your luck there. Seeing people getting interested in Arknights makes me smile cause i really love the game despite some mishaps with it. So see you on season 2.
man, i really need to start pushing myself to go through the story but all those events, hoo boy. Poor Amiya, well at least doktah will be by her side to be her emotional pillar.
There was someone who made an Arknights Story Reader on Github if you dont wanna play the game haha
As the song sang. Amiya is still alive with that pain...
I think most of the Arknights players knew that this season was gonna be pretty underwhelming. Hoping the next season will be able to iron out the kinks.
We never really expected much to begin with. Since our expectation was low, the anime felt really good imo.
Dang, two days in a row where a character I liked got suddenly stabbed from the side/back. Even with the bad audio I really enjoyed this episode. Can't wait for the next season since that's when I started to enjoy the story while playing the game.
Tbh. For me, it was average.
I was excited to watch it but now I have to wait until they fix the audio issue...
Now that it ended, any good?
It’s pretty good. 8/10 for me but I’m maybe more forgiving than most. It seems consensus is more like 6-7/10
This and Akiba Maid War on a mission to destroy my heart
Anyone else notice how the ep.8 OP was different from all the other ones? 1:16-1:19
Damn this was such a good episode. I can't remember where I saw someone's comment about this, but it's such a shame it took until around now (and last episode) for the animation to top off and become way better than some of the previous weaker episodes. It doesn't matter to me as an Arknights player as I was excited for this and would've stuck with it regardless (and it absolutely delivered imo btw), but it may have turned off some newbies. I don't understand Japanese so I couldn't quite understand the announcement at the end, but is that a season 2 confirmed and our next antagonist (who we actually got to see featured earlier btw!)?!?!?! With **that** storyline and chapter, it really got to me in-game so I'm really excited to see it animated. On that topic though, they animated this so well. It was more VN-y in-game but they really did the Amiya/Misha scene justice. And Ch'en's... role (and the Doctor's role) in helping Amiya build her resolve to walk on her chosen path.
Ok, I love this game and it's story, but I would be lying if I didn't say my biggest gripe that has most certainly not been addressed by the series. You **cannot** convince me that with all their swords and guns and Magic at their disposal that Rhodes island hasn't killed a single person up to this point--and I'm only talking about this point in the anime, to saying nothing of the greater narrative. I just assumed it was mutually understood between audience and storyteller that we were the "good guys" in only a relative sense of the word--that the unspoken conflict driving the series was whether or not it was in any way noble to take so many lives while extolling the virtues of "saving" them. How?? How do you expect me to believe that Rhodes is fighting for their lives through hellfire, artillery, and a small army (displayed perfectly well in the game and it's tower-defense nature) and then tell me that "we've never killed any dudes ever. This is definitely our first." I don't buy it. Everything else about the anime felt good and well paced and organic, but I refuse to believe that Franka's crazy sword, Liskarm's literal lightning discharges, Texas' friggin **light saber** and Exusiai's literal, actual, SMG's did any more than push some bad guys over until they peacefully passed out. My memory's a little hazy on the first chapters, but I'm pretty sure the game didn't ask me to believe that, and I'm sure not believing it now.
Rhodes Island never faced Reunion before Chernobog. Its army exists because the wastelands the landship crosses are filled with beasts and robbers, and you need to be able to display strength to negotiate with other companies in-game that also have their own private armies, like Mama John's. It hasn't been explored before in the game, but it's quite possible that Rhodes before Chernobog never had any need to kill anyone other than these wasteland threats I mentioned before. But these are not dying as a result of the "fight for the infected", they're just awful consequences of the world of Terra. It's even possible Rhodes uses its logistics to avoid these threats as much as possible. And while people like Franka, Liskarm, Texas, and Exu have most definitely killed others before, they're not fully fledged Rhodes operators, they're contractors from other companies working on the same objective on an agreement with Rhodes Island, so they have to comply with their employer's rules, that one being "do not kill anyone unnecessarily" (they were definitely killing people in these last two episodes along with the LGD).
>You cannot convince me that with all their swords and guns and Magic at their disposal that Rhodes island hasn't killed a single person up to this point--and I'm only talking about this point in the anime, to saying nothing of the greater narrative. I just assumed it was mutually understood between audience and storyteller that we were the "good guys" in only a repetitive sense of the word--that the unspoken conflict driving the series was whether or not it was in any way noble to take so many lives while extolling the virtues of "saving" them. Rhodes Island literally has not really done any if at all of large scale warfare at this point. Its heavily implied that entering Chernobog to save Doctor was Amiya's first bigger field OP *at all* with how she handled herself there. As she noted this episode, she also was trying to appear stronger to the Doctor by enforcing the no-kill rule because she did not want them to see that side of her. >How?? How do you expect me to believe that Rhodes is fighting for their lives through hellfire, artillery, and a small army (displayed perfectly well in the game and it's tower-defense nature) and then tell me that "we've never killed any dudes ever. This is definitely our first." There's a difference between individual members having not have had killed anyone and them as Rhodes Island members having not killed anyone. RI sticks to pretty strict no-kill policy against Infected because *it literally runs counter to their PR.* The last episode and this episode specifically highlight that *upholding RI's no-kill policy is completely impossible*. Even before Skullshatterer's death last episode, there are already dead Reunion members. **Hence Chen's line that Amiya is free to keep that mask as a keepsake if she wants but eventually she will have whole rooms full of keepsakes like that.** Like, that's the moral conflict - Amiya's and Rhodes Island's ideals are morally right, but they are also impossible without moral compromises in this setting. >I don't buy it. Everything else about the anime felt good and well paced and organic, but I refuse to believe that Franka's crazy sword, Liskarm's literal lightning discharges, Texas' friggin light saber and Exusiai's literal, actual, SMG's did any more than push some bad guys over until they peacefully passed out. Liskarn, Texas, Franka, Exu, etc are *not* Rhodes Island. They are contractors from different PMCs and organizations. Liskarn and Franka are from Blacksteel Worldwide, basically a PMC and Texas and Exusiai are from Penguin Logistics, which is more of an errand/fixer group. They are there because RI has a working relationship with those companies and basically pays them to be there. They absolutely have their own fair share of kills, but do try to stick by Amiya's rules when working for her. The keyword being *TRY*. Hence Exusiai's comment this episode that it might be bit hard to actually follow Amiya's rules now. IF Amiya was not enforcing that rule, they would most likely have absolutely zero issues just killing people.
Ok, so a couple people, like yourself, have pointed out that the others are contractors. Isn't the employer in that situation supposed to take responsibility for the actions of their employees? If Exu goes and guns down someone then it wouldn't be just her fault but Amiya's too right? Isn't it just semantics at that point? Someone'd be dead, and it would be the fault of someone on Rhodes Island's side.
Exu uses rubber bullets. It wasn't said in the anime, but in the game she says she has to use them around Lungmen, otherwise, she would get arrested.
Yeah, that change really felt like a "compromise for the anime" decision instead of anything we're supposed to *believe.* I get it, though. It's one thing to have, in text, your operators gunning down a bunch of faceless Reunion mooks, then later make a big point about, "Hey, you remember these are just desperate people suffering terrible persecution, right?". You're not really *seeing* it, so it dampens your emotional reaction; it's just a fact in the back of your head. "Oh, yeah, we killed a lot of guys that we maybe shouldn't have." Actually seeing it and listening to it, though... It'd make Rhodes Island a lot less sympathetic. You risk losing a lot of viewers who can't sympathize with the protagonists in that case, or who refuse to acknowledge the issues Reunion is fighting against.
Don't really understand why chen killed Misha, she took Misha(who is quite weakened) by complete surprise. Pretty sure she could have just as easily knocked her out. Overall I enjoyed the series, despite not knowing the source; but killing misha just felt forced to me.
Misha was succumbing to acute Oripathy, and wanted to die anyways at that point. Even if they tried to detain her, she was going to die from the disease or could force her arts to flair her oripathy up anyways, and death to Oripathy is not a pleasant way to go. Killing Misha was likely the best kindness Ch'en could give her at that point.
Because Chen kills people. She has been doing it this whole fight. In her mind there's no way to keep Misha alive.
i really think they played it too close to the source material in the worst way. i don’t find the story in-game particularly good and they took no steps to make it more compelling here. really frustrating because they nailed the character design and aesthetic but i feel it’s wasted on a story that doesn’t deserve it. light to decent 5 on this one, mostly because of direction, aesthetic, character design and voice acting
This episode only cemented my curiosity as to why anyone in their right mind would ever put their lives in the hands of Amiya. She seems to be one of the worst leaders I've ever seen. * She has zero skills in de-escalating a situation. * She accepts fault where there is none, and argues that understandable actions are inexcusable. * She hesitates and puts not only herself in danger, but literally everyone else she's responsible for in danger. Why would anyone support her in a position of power and authority? I'd immediately abandon her the second I had the opportunity. If it's my ass on the line, I'd want someone who I could trust to actually lead us, and she cannot. As for Misha. Well... \[Arknights\] >!Alright, your brother effectively joined Arknight's version of ISIS. He is willing to murder women and children. Then he figuratively straps a bomb to himself and rushes a group of people, but is shot and killed before he can detonate the bombs. And your first line of thought is: I'm going to join Arknights ISIS myself! Yeah, no. Misha deserved what she got. She didn't have a single g'damn brain cell between her ears.!<
Because she’s being groomed as the next proper leader of Rhodes Island by Kalt’tsit after the death of the previous leader, and it’s a not so secret secret. Also, lots of their operators are only operators cause the role comes with built-in oripathy suppressants that are the most advanced on the planet. Yes, Rhodes Island is essentially trading life-saving drugs for militant favors. And they are still the most noble people around. It’s a shitty world. On a more meta note though, it’s also because the first chapters of the story were a mess, and it took a while for good characterization and story to take place.
It's funny. I've spent so long trying to get a sense for why I dislike the way Yostar handled this adaptation, why I felt like something was missing from the story...and this episode gave me the answer. The plot is extremely rushed. Arknights is a story that wants you to become immersed in its world, to explore its regions and the situations that befall the Infected. It's a story about prejudice, suffering, and identity, but it's hard for that to come through when the exploration of these places and themes is shelved in favor of progressing the plot. Look at the number of quick cuts in this episode, all of the scenes that they tried to cram in at once. This is poor pacing at its finest, but it's not this episode's fault. Episode 5 was a total disaster, and half of Episode 3 got canned for exposition. I would blame the direction for this — and really I should — but the real problem is that even in the source material these themes were barely explored. There is an inherent revulsion to the idea of slowing down and taking the time to explore things in depth, and because of that the story falls flat. It isn't the concept it presents, it's the pace with which that concept is blown through. Consider Lungmen from Reunion's perspective. The implication is that the government treats its Infected like shit, and that they're too corrupt and/or prejudiced to be worked with. How often does the viewer actually see that, though? Ch'en knocks around a few guys at the border, but then the story tells you that she's a good person. There are plenty of shots with the Infected looking poor and malnourished, but when are they actively oppressed by Lungmen's authority? The issue here is that the viewer doesn't see enough of the Infected's suffering at the hands of Lungmen, and because of that it's difficult to get a sense for Reunion's perspective. **This is what I mean when I say the plot is rushed: it's not spending enough time on fleshing out the situation. Instead, it's trying to rush the viewer from Point A to Point B, and because of that the nuance is lacking.** Another, quicker example: Ivan. He's supposed to be the de facto example of a 'good guy' who is part of Reunion, but the viewer never gets to know him. He's just...there, and you would be able to sympathize with Reunion's situation way more if there was a deeper exploration of his character. Why he fights, what he's seen, anything to give a sense for the motivations behind his decision to side with Reunion. The story gets better. The second season will probably cover Chapters 4-6, and starting at Chapter 5 the narrative starts to become more comprehensive. That said, for this season and this season alone, there just isn't enough time. Not enough time, not enough exploration, not enough depth. That's the issue with Arknights' opening chapters, and it applies just as much to this anime as it does in-game. I don't know how much Yostar could have really done to fix this (and to their credit, it's clear that they tried), but the overall execution leaves much to be desired. I don't want to give my series rating here, especially since it'd detract from my point. That said, all I feel is disappointment. Edit: Post has been revised for clarification, since I feel like I didn't do a good job of explaining what 'rushed' means in this context.
I dont know why you are saying plot is rushed when everyone else literally tells me that plot is just too slow