Tensei Kizoku, Kantei Skill de Nariagaru 2nd Season Episode 5 Discussion

I was expecting this season to be more serious but it's been overly safe so far.

I really enjoyed watching this episode as it showed the intricacies of war and the fallout based on various decisions, such as Ars asking Couran to spare the prisoners and Thomas' backup plan. It also showed how Ars' talent with his appraisal skill has come in handy with the quality of people he has surrounded himself with although I will say that it was bit of a stretch with the way Rosell concluded that the castle was booby trapped and had Pham move the explosives (btw how was Pham able to find the explosives?)

Anyways, with Thomas' defeat I'm sure that Vasmarque will be very upset considering how much it has been said he won't fight unless victory can be guaranteed. On that note I don't think he knows that Mireille is working for Ars and is therefore now also an enemy.

"Ordering their execution is too cruel"

Oh for f*cks sake. At this point it shouldn't surprise me, but I'm still amazed that the show can manage to have both opinions and yet still be stupid and wrong.

"We need to execute them because holding them captive will take too many resources" - stupid, wrong
"We shouldn't execute them because it's cruel/morally wrong" - stupid wrong

The reason you don't execute captives is manyfold
1. Because if you get the reputation for executing surrendering captives, future enemies will not surrender. Instead, they'll fight to the very last man's very last breath with the strength of fanatics who believe they have nothing to lose and everything to gain by resisting you, slowing you, killing your forces...because they're right. In the long run, taking captives saves resources and shortens battles/sieges.
2. Because executing large numbers of enemy soldiers will cause the enemy populace to hate you, leading to guerilla attacks, higher levels of enemy recruitment, and future difficulties managing the conquered people as subjects. (Ars eventually makes part of this argument, which is good, but the show treating it as some sort of amazing genius is laughable when it should be baseline understanding of how conflicts work)
3. Because then the enemy will do the same to your soldiers it captures, resulting in massive damage to both sides' populations of young, working age people. It's in both sides' interests to not have wars end up in mutual crippling devastation. Both sides want to end the war with as many soldiers as possible going back to their economies/families.

Edit: abuse of the POW swap is a terrible idea in the long run, because it undercuts the ability to do any such swaps in the future. This show loves to do stuff like this and pretend it's smart when it's a bad idea in the long run. Plans like this are only smart in shallow plots where the enemy is stupid and has the memory of a goldfish.

Selena's death with honor instead of surrender attitude is historically accurate and just as stupid here as it was in history. Ugh. Her dad's priorities are much more sensible, but even then the anime feels the need to justify them with honor using Thomas's scheme as a foil. Thomas's plan, on the other hand, was pretty good until he had the idiotic idea to tell the people being sacrificed that they're being sacrificed. That's cartoonishly evil and stupid just for plot purposes, which felt weird. Thomas's plan would have undercut trust in future surrenders, but it might have been worth it to take out the entire enemy command structure in one explosion.

On the other hand, I forgive all of this because ARS FINALLY USES HIS ABILITY, AND FOR SOMETHING USEFUL. ALL PRAISE, IT FINALLY HAPPENED. The mangaka remembered what the show is supposed to be about. For once the main character isn't useless baggage. This is literally what I've been waiting for for 1.5 seasons. Even better, the preview indicates there will be an even bigger focus on him using it next episode. Fantastic. The most frustrating part of watching a show about a reincarnated person with appraisal abilities has been that he never acts like a reincarnated person and virtually never appraises anyone. Feels like that is finally changing.

Also...the castle has cannons? Have we seen cannons at any point prior to this? Did I just miss it or forget? That seems huge. Magic artillery which can be used by non-magic users would be a game changer. Up to this point, all I can remember seeing is infantry and mages. There has been a curious lack of cavalry (not counting isolated officers on horseback) and artillery, and almost every battle has just been forces blobbing up and then the commander saying "charge." Would be great to see some actual battle strategy in this show about war.

"Ordering their execution is too cruel"

Oh for f*cks sake. At this point it shouldn't surprise me, but I'm still amazed that the show can manage to have both opinions and yet still be stupid and wrong.

"We need to execute them because holding them captive will take too many resources" - stupid, wrong
"We shouldn't execute them because it's cruel/morally wrong" - stupid wrong

The reason you don't execute captives is manyfold
1. Because if you get the reputation for executing surrendering captives, future enemies will not surrender. Instead, they'll fight to the very last man's very last breath with the strength of fanatics who believe they have nothing to lose and everything to gain by resisting you, slowing you, killing your forces...because they're right. In the long run, taking captives saves resources and shortens battles/sieges.
2. Because executing large numbers of enemy soldiers will cause the enemy populace to hate you, leading to guerilla attacks, higher levels of enemy recruitment, and future difficulties managing the conquered people as subjects. (Ars eventually makes part of this argument, which is good, but the show treating it as some sort of amazing genius is laughable when it should be baseline understanding of how conflicts work)
3. Because then the enemy will do the same to your soldiers it captures, resulting in massive damage to both sides' populations of young, working age people. It's in both sides' interests to not have wars end up in mutual crippling devastation. Both sides want to end the war with as many soldiers as possible going back to their economies/families.

Edit: abuse of the POW swap is a terrible idea in the long run, because it undercuts the ability to do any such swaps in the future. This show loves to do stuff like this and pretend it's smart when it's a bad idea in the long run. Plans like this are only smart in shallow plots where the enemy is stupid and has the memory of a goldfish.

Selena's death with honor instead of surrender attitude is historically accurate and just as stupid here as it was in history. Ugh. Her dad's priorities are much more sensible, but even then the anime feels the need to justify them with honor using Thomas's scheme as a foil. Thomas's plan, on the other hand, was pretty good until he had the idiotic idea to tell the people being sacrificed that they're being sacrificed. That's cartoonishly evil and stupid just for plot purposes, which felt weird. Thomas's plan would have undercut trust in future surrenders, but it might have been worth it to take out the entire enemy command structure in one explosion.

On the other hand, I forgive all of this because ARS FINALLY USES HIS ABILITY, AND FOR SOMETHING USEFUL. ALL PRAISE, IT FINALLY HAPPENED. The mangaka remembered what the show is supposed to be about. For once the main character isn't useless baggage. This is literally what I've been waiting for for 1.5 seasons. Even better, the preview indicates there will be an even bigger focus on him using it next episode. Fantastic. The most frustrating part of watching a show about a reincarnated person with appraisal abilities has been that he never acts like a reincarnated person and virtually never appraises anyone. Feels like that is finally changing.

Also...the castle has cannons? Have we seen cannons at any point prior to this? Did I just miss it or forget? That seems huge. Magic artillery which can be used by non-magic users would be a game changer. Up to this point, all I can remember seeing is infantry and mages. There has been a curious lack of cavalry (not counting isolated officers on horseback) and artillery, and almost every battle has just been forces blobbing up and then the commander saying "charge." Would be great to see some actual battle strategy in this show about war.

@amf85 i agree, especially with the surrender thing, it also considered a war crime to kill surrender soldiers

"Ordering their execution is too cruel"

Oh for f*cks sake. At this point it shouldn't surprise me, but I'm still amazed that the show can manage to have both opinions and yet still be stupid and wrong.

"We need to execute them because holding them captive will take too many resources" - stupid, wrong
"We shouldn't execute them because it's cruel/morally wrong" - stupid wrong

The reason you don't execute captives is manyfold
1. Because if you get the reputation for executing surrendering captives, future enemies will not surrender. Instead, they'll fight to the very last man's very last breath with the strength of fanatics who believe they have nothing to lose and everything to gain by resisting you, slowing you, killing your forces...because they're right. In the long run, taking captives saves resources and shortens battles/sieges.
2. Because executing large numbers of enemy soldiers will cause the enemy populace to hate you, leading to guerilla attacks, higher levels of enemy recruitment, and future difficulties managing the conquered people as subjects. (Ars eventually makes part of this argument, which is good, but the show treating it as some sort of amazing genius is laughable when it should be baseline understanding of how conflicts work)
3. Because then the enemy will do the same to your soldiers it captures, resulting in massive damage to both sides' populations of young, working age people. It's in both sides' interests to not have wars end up in mutual crippling devastation. Both sides want to end the war with as many soldiers as possible going back to their economies/families.

Edit: abuse of the POW swap is a terrible idea in the long run, because it undercuts the ability to do any such swaps in the future. This show loves to do stuff like this and pretend it's smart when it's a bad idea in the long run. Plans like this are only smart in shallow plots where the enemy is stupid and has the memory of a goldfish.

Selena's death with honor instead of surrender attitude is historically accurate and just as stupid here as it was in history. Ugh. Her dad's priorities are much more sensible, but even then the anime feels the need to justify them with honor using Thomas's scheme as a foil. Thomas's plan, on the other hand, was pretty good until he had the idiotic idea to tell the people being sacrificed that they're being sacrificed. That's cartoonishly evil and stupid just for plot purposes, which felt weird. Thomas's plan would have undercut trust in future surrenders, but it might have been worth it to take out the entire enemy command structure in one explosion.

On the other hand, I forgive all of this because ARS FINALLY USES HIS ABILITY, AND FOR SOMETHING USEFUL. ALL PRAISE, IT FINALLY HAPPENED. The mangaka remembered what the show is supposed to be about. For once the main character isn't useless baggage. This is literally what I've been waiting for for 1.5 seasons. Even better, the preview indicates there will be an even bigger focus on him using it next episode. Fantastic. The most frustrating part of watching a show about a reincarnated person with appraisal abilities has been that he never acts like a reincarnated person and virtually never appraises anyone. Feels like that is finally changing.

Also...the castle has cannons? Have we seen cannons at any point prior to this? Did I just miss it or forget? That seems huge. Magic artillery which can be used by non-magic users would be a game changer. Up to this point, all I can remember seeing is infantry and mages. There has been a curious lack of cavalry (not counting isolated officers on horseback) and artillery, and almost every battle has just been forces blobbing up and then the commander saying "charge." Would be great to see some actual battle strategy in this show about war.

@amf85 So this show is stupid for not going into as much detail as you on why you don't execute captives? They only have 12 episodes, they gotta do the best with what they have. Furthermore why do you think it is that they wouldn't surrender to an army that kills captives? Why would the populace hate an army that does that? Why would the enemy start executing captives after they did? Because in simple terms it's morally wrong as the show put it. And the enemy would have a form of justification for doing so if their opponent did it themselves. Honestly I can't really blame this show for doing that, they gotta focus on the main focus on the show and they have 12 episodes to work with. Furthermore, neither of those options were necessarily without a reason behind it, just because the show doesn't explain something in detail to your face doesn't mean it wasn't a factor in the characters decision. Ars simply convinced Couran to go with the other option and I'd rather not have an unnecessary internal monologue of them thinking for every part of the show.