Everything that can go wrong…
What They Say:
ARUS Golden News is broadcasting the shocking events in Module 77’s hangar. Dorssian chancellor declares that the residents of Module 77 are actually monsters that drain human lives. Shoko is devastated to find out that Haruto has been lying to her.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
We’re really in the thick of it now. Dorssia has executed a multilayered plan to reveal everything about the Kamitsuki that they don’t want the world to know, and skew the facts to paint them as absolute villains, their equally ignorant classmates included. Their dramatic display was only the tip of the iceberg, though, and by the end of this episode, there’s really no telling how big that iceberg is.
After 20 episodes of a show like this, you come to expect certain things, and extremes that haven’t been seen in it prior make a big impact as a result. Some shows like to capitalize on that expectation, and Valvrave certainly joins them in this episode. The space wars of body-jacking vampires in magical giant robots feel trivial in comparison to what this episode brings, with all of Module 77’s efforts destroyed in one fell swoop, past enemies joining forces to play ultimate villain against them, and the students themselves turning on Haruto based on false promises, including a Shoko who can’t handle the frightening revelations about the boy who’s kept her going all this time.
And that’s without even mentioning the part that has the most permanent impact on the story: the death. Valvrave is far from a show that’s avoided death, but it had yet to join the massacre party until this episode, which goes all out to do so. The bloodbath of simply that good chunk of the regular humans isn’t enough, though, so the episode also concludes with another major death that hits even harder with all the insanity surrounding it. With an immortal killed, it’s clear that nobody’s safe from immediate death except the characters we’ve seen in flashes to the far future, and it’s starting to become less surprising that even our main character wasn’t among them.
Some may find issue with the execution and I wouldn’t argue that they’re unjustified for that, but this is certainly the most gripping Valvrave has been in recent memory, and for its final stretch, I’m glad to see that happen. If you were enjoying the lighter moments in Valvrave, it’s unlikely that you’ll get any more of them, but as successfully shocking as this episode was, it was also very likely that that would be the case from the events leading up to this. There have been a lot of issues in getting to this point, but it does feel like it was planned for maximum impact, not unlike Cain’s plan in the episode itself. There is of course a chance that it won’t be able to play out as well as it might want to with three episodes left, especially given the teases of the far future we’ve had, but at this point I’d like to give it the benefit of the doubt. At any rate, this episode certainly proved that no guarantees can really be made.
In Summary:
We’ve reached the most eventful part of the series, with master plans playing out to destroy every hope our heroes have left, and death so abundant that there’s no telling who will make it out anymore. It’s been a slow build at times, but this is clearly a point that has been worked toward for a long time now, and as it plays out a lot of the intended impact hits just as hard as it should. With only three episodes left, there are a lot of uncertainties to make it a very compelling watch.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Toshiba Satellite L655-S5191 PSK2CU-1C301U Notebook PC.