Arknights: Reimei Zensou Episode 2 Discussion

fenrirr2 said:


If you don't mind very mild "spoilers" (no real spoilers just worldbuilding information that came far later in the story), I can give you an overview of the World and story:

We are in a World called Terra (which means Earth in Latin), where "humans" are, as you see, humanoids with animal traits, consisting of many subspecies (as of yet this only seems to be an artistic choice, though the Doctor (us) seems to be an actual human, and it is noted, that he is strange).
Those subspecies while capable of crossbreeding, don't really do that (which is obviously irrealistic, and only a convenience to have characters with distinct features), mainly explained by political reasons, but the subspecies live too mixed for this to be a rational answer.
There are numerous great nations, that generally consist of a dominant subspecies and a few smaller ones close to them in appearance. These nation's are loosely modelled of real World empires or notable cities/nations (Europe and Asia), like Lungmen - Hong Kong, Victoria - British Empire, Kazimierz - Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Ursus - Russian Empire, Iberia - Spanish Empire, Columbia - USA, Leithania - Austro-Hungary + Switzerland, Laterano - Vatican etc.
You can easily spot that based on the names of the characters (if you have some knowledge about different languages and history).

The World is ravaged by devastating Catastrophes of unknown origin, and it is unknown when they started to happen, which often leaves originium crystals behind, both a blessing and a curse.
Therefore most modern cities are "Mobile Cities", that can actually move, though slowly and always trying to avoid Catastrophes. Catastrophes can be predicted with some accuracy, hence life and civilization are possible. Stationary cities are often poor, ravaged and lived by outlaws, poors, and Infected.

Infected are people who contracted the originium disease. This disease isn't transmitted through human-human contract, but mainly by different methods contacting raw originium, yet Infected are ostracised and avoided like Leppers. Infected's body becomes more and more crystallous, and in the end, their body shatters and turns into Originium dust and crystals, which are actually dangerous and can infect others easily (so the prejudice against them is actually understandable somewhat, even though they don't spread disease while they are alive).

Different nations have different approaches to the infected which ranges from symptomatic treatment and mild but persisting segregation while harnessing their talents and power (Columbia - close to USA) to total segregation, decimation and slave camps to mine Originium crystals, until they are dead, often including the whole family who can't avoid contracting the disease in the mines (Ursus - Russian Empire, we are here atm).

Magic is called Originium Arts in this world, and it is a learnable and nurturable thing, but the aptitude for this differs between the subspecies and between individuals. Generally, you can use it through devices using refined originium, but Infected are exceptions. Their power is significantly greater than somebody with the same talent, subspecies and training, and can use the power without any instruments.
However, they are burning their own life, and worsening their condition. The greater their power and the more they tap into it, the greater the price on their condition. Reunion consisting of a bunch of Infecteds without outlook or respect to their lifes, and burning with hatred are a threat for this reason, even though they shouldn't have the same resources as proper nations and organizations.

We are Following the story of the amnesiac doctor (substitute for us, has no real personality so it is questionable how will they deal with this) and their little merry band called Rhodes Island. Rhodes Island is a self-proclaimed medical company, but in reality it behaves far more as a paramilitary and mercenary organization with self-interests, that does peace-keeping, cross-nation negotiations, covert operations and full-out defensive or offensive, but small-scale wars through its numerous and well-trained operatives, most (but not all) of them are Infected and powerful Arts users. It also has a lot of eyes and "envoys" from multiple nations, and military companies, who also help in their operations, maintain diplomatic and business relations, and keep an eye on them.
Rhodes Island has a huge Landship, basically an aircraft carrier moving on land so they have military power projection and a moving base of operation.

Its leader is Kaal Ts'it a mysterious and pretty feline medic with enormous knowledge, soft power and diplomatic weight on a global scale. Aamiya though constantly called the leader by the others, is a young, naive and idiotic figurehead, and the adopted successor of a dead Queen, who created Babel, the predecessor organization of Rhodes Island with the Doctor and Kaal Tsit. Aamiya has enormous power, but she rarely uses it due to her advanced Oripathy condition, the rings on her hand are constantly inhibiting her power, and she rarely takes them off.

Their main goal is finding a cure to Oripathy, but in the meantime they give (the best on the World) symptomatic treatment for Oripathy patients, give medical and disaster relief, try to solve issues between the Infected and general populace, and militarily intervene in their own interests, mostly (but not exclusively) when they are requested, or if the Infected or the status quo is at risk, or they want to get diplomatic favors/leverage.

As a player or in the anime case, a viewer, you are following them as they go from place to place to do different things (mostly fight against Reunion, prevent tensions or massacres against the Infected, or rebellions).
The characters are generally well-written, and the nations are pretty interesting, and most antagonists are well-written, however this is a gacha game, and the writing and worldbuilding stepped up over time, so the earliest part is the weakest of the story, and there can be inconsistencies between the portrayal of early events and later worldbuilding.
For example, based on her later characterization and story (but based on events from prior to joining Rhodes Island), Nearl The Radiant Knight of Kazimierz, could wipe out single-handedly half of Reunion, and only a few could go against her from the organization (Talulah and probably Patriot, Frost Nova), and Mephisto or Faust are not amongst them. Yet, they are running away from a small Reunion party with Mephisto and Faust.

Anyway, it is hard to say how good this will be. The visuals are pretty good in my opinion, and as a player its good to see the story and characters animated, but it seems a bit slow, there is too much info dump and exposition, and we are at the weakest part of the story, so its hard to say how enjoyable will it be for newcommers, and how much of the constantly improving story and characters will be adapted.