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Jan 13, 2023 5:48 AM
#1

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Nov 2011
129185
Hmm, in a world like this and especially during training, I guess anything can happen including accidents. Not even surprised at all.

Lavian still displays a somewhat cold personality but she is motivated. And while this show is following is own story, I do like how it does still stick with its military themes and giving us more Jeagers. Rufus also shows up!
Stark700Jan 13, 2023 6:38 AM
Jan 13, 2023 7:11 AM
#2
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Dec 2021
53
We all already know that shit's about to go down when Campanella snaps thy fingers.
Jan 13, 2023 7:34 AM
#3
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Jul 2018
564055
It kinda annoys me how Erebonia annexed Crossbell regardless of how they were competing against Calvard. For those who have played the Crossbell Arc, i think you already know the details. At this point i'm still interested in the Northern War Arc, some of the questions i had are still yet to be answered on this anime.
Jan 13, 2023 8:38 AM
#4

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Jul 2011
2202
That room where the meeting was happening, was too dangerous. Thankfully no one was a smoker, with  that 95% vodka.

So Rogan look like that, I thought was the speech illumination, but no, is natural.
Jan 13, 2023 11:04 AM
#5

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Nov 2009
335
Lavian's  personality might be annoying for some, but I personally like the way she act. The main group dynamic is alright, it should be fun when they all go out to adventure together.

That guys who fought with Lavian hold back his skill for sure.
Marina2Jan 13, 2023 11:17 AM
Jan 13, 2023 11:18 AM
#6

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Nov 2016
32003
"Oh, my Aidos" lol

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Jan 13, 2023 11:52 AM
#7

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Mar 2018
136
Better than the awful first episode, but still not good enough. Hopefully with setup seemingly finished it will get even better.
Jan 13, 2023 11:56 AM
#8

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Jun 2020
293
does anybody think it's possible that we'll get an enforcer or an anguis reveal? 
Jan 13, 2023 3:03 PM
#9
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01Wind10 said:
does anybody think it's possible that we'll get an enforcer or an anguis reveal? 
Highly doubtful but anything is possible 
Jan 13, 2023 4:23 PM
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Oct 2021
231
Rogan : If we don't act now, North Ambria will once again be engulfed in the flames of war
Also Rogan: I suggest we start a fucking war with the Empire.
Genius.

I was gonna complain about Jayna sending rookies to infilitrate the empire and gather information, and when questioned why she'd do so she doesn't really provide a reason. She just goes "You're the right person for the job, Lavi. Just trust me bro". But it seems she has some goal to achieve with Campanella? I still want an eventual motive, but I guess that can wait for now.

The action scene with our gang trying to stop a rampaging vehicle filled with explosives was a bit stupid. The fact Iseria shoots 2 tires and the vehicle doesn't flip or stop is lucky. I guess I have to headcanon that Campanella kept it going. And then Talion, Marty, and Lavi jump into another vehicle and chase it. Talion gets into the rampaging vehicle and gets the driver out. Couldn't he control it then? Couldn't they try to slow it down gradually using their vehicle? 

I'm saying all of this because Lavi's genius solution of shooting down an observatory tower, without really knowing for sure if anyone is in it, to crash the vehicle into it is a bit nuts. Like, what the hell were any of these people thinking? At least it didn't crash into city walls and kill civilians of Haliask. Maybe don't build your military training camps right outside the fucking city walls?

And something that this anime does is fast, short cuts to show a person before going back to the original scene. They were there in episode one and they're here now so I guess I'll have to get used to it, despite how jarring it makes the flow of events.
Jan 13, 2023 4:27 PM

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Apr 2013
7945
This is proper Trails. The political discussions, the slow way to move forward and so on.
This will probably not please most anime onlies since many folks throw a tantrum as soon as there is even 30 sec of exposition let alone the first 2 episodes used that way almost entirely, but technically that's this franchise style. So it's either staying in the franchise style and potentially pleasing the fans or trying to please anime fans and instead potentially displease the core fanbase. I think this is the right choice, since that anime doesn't have anywhere near the budget or hype to attract lots of non core series fans anyway.
Some of the decisions from characters in the action part was a bit strange tbh, but that wasn't really the crux of this episode anyway, felt like the action was added more as something to avoid having only exposition in the episode and having a bit of action, like the village in danger in episode 1. Same with the comedy bits. They're just trying to ease the exposition parts as they can. With more or less success lol.

Also Jayna probably has very little care about the success of that spying mission to begin with, considering the after credit scene. And when you make that face while making a deal with Campanella, you've got a few screws lose as well ImO.

Also I like that purple hair lazy commander. He's the most likeable among the new cast imo.
ZefyrisJan 13, 2023 5:01 PM
Jan 13, 2023 4:34 PM
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I won’t to stop it but i will give this a one a last chance bcs i feel nothing…
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Jan 13, 2023 5:14 PM

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Ehm... Don't know nothing about the game and I got lost here, so I'm pulling the cord for this one.
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Jan 13, 2023 5:15 PM

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Sep 2021
650
I know the production values are on the lower side, but as a long-time Kiseki fan, I seriously couldn't be happier with this so far~
It really feels like Kiseki with all of the dialogue, political discussions and exposition, comedic moments interspersed with heavier ones... and getting to hear the game's OST is just so neat.
Lavian is really compelling so far, and I like that she'll be our sort of window into something that was only hinted at in the games. It's going to be so surreal seeing Erebonia animated, too! It was already so wild seeing that small scene at Orchis Tower recreated! Hearing Osbourne's voice again gave me chills (Jouji Nakata is just too perfect).

I can totally see how this would be really annoying and/or boring to watch as an anime-only, or someone who isn't into Kiseki, because they're really leaning into similar aspects of the games here, but I'm honestly glad for that. I think it would be really difficult for it to bring in new fans, especially with this clearly lower budget- and as a show that takes place in the middle of the third arc of a long-running, dialogue heavy, video game series. I'd rather have the anime stick to its roots than feel 'all over the place' in trying to be something it's just not.
Like other people have said, some... weird choices were made with Iseria shooting the tires of the vehicle (lucky that it didn't just plain flip over) and Lavi shooting the tower... but then again, a lot of the action in the games is equally kind of questionable and just based on pure luck, too, so it didn't bother me too much. I'm really more here for all of the neat dialogue and lore drops.

Finally, it was such a treat getting to see Campanella in the post credits scene, I really didn't think we were going to see them so early. I'm sure absolutely nothing will go wrong with them on the scene, nothing at all...




I'm okay now... At least... I want to be able to say that.
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Jan 13, 2023 7:46 PM

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I agree with the people above. 
Trails has a great focus on world building so the politics talk is very familiar to us who played the games. And will be an important plot point moving forward.

Also nice to see that OP. Lots of familiar faces that we expect to see in the future. And off Campanella is here doing Campanella things *snap*
Jan 13, 2023 9:05 PM
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Sep 2019
36
more lavi action pls AND RUFUS ALBAREA THE GOAT HIMSELF
Jan 13, 2023 11:41 PM

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2332
Hmm, interesting to see a bit of Cold Steel 2's Divertissement at the start of the episode. Overall, this episode was an improvement since it focused more on politics and the comedy flowed better this time too.

The moment I saw snapping fingers and then something bad happening, I knew it was Campanella. He and Jayna probably wanted to find through that incident candidates to infiltrate Erebonia and most likely give a reason to Erebonia to invade North Ambria later on.
Jan 13, 2023 11:46 PM

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Jul 2014
1061
What is Vlad exactly trying to achieve by picking a fight with Erebonia? The empire is the largest military superpower on the planet trying to antagonize them more won't do you any good. 

Jan 14, 2023 12:50 AM
Shingster

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Jun 2015
4422
Nice to finally see Rufus and Osborne get animated. Not to mention Rean and Altina as well. Having an important meeting while watching a play a curious contrast. Given the sudden annexation of Crossbell alarm bells would ring continent wide for sure. Being assigned to training camp must be a real change for Lavi. Nice intro to the Enigma as well. Wished that they used Valimar's default scheme when showing it though. If that truck had collided with the walls the death toll would have been high. Jayna really has a sadistic side to her huh. Overall a solid ep that had a nice balance of lore and character expansion. The insight into North Ambria's status especially was interesting not to mention the tension between the corps and the polics. The upcoming mission would be an interesting test for Lavi and co but i feel that Rogan's going to be the wild card given his actions thus far. Campanella appearing now was unexpected though as was Jayna's reaction to her.
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Jan 14, 2023 12:50 AM

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Feb 2015
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I'm a fan of the games but so far the series is really boring, I'm struggling to care about the MC
Jan 14, 2023 1:20 AM

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Dec 2015
3218
So war it is okay. But I fear it might turn out to get worse ... when we are missing out on good action. I mean: If she is supposed to infiltrate the empire this won't be big battles between the armies of the two factions (North Ambria and the Empire) ... but they might be putting SoL moments (and a lot of them) into it.

At least the chars are nice - and not annoying. Afaik the game was disliked by people that played all the games in the series (not only the Steel ones) - cause of the school setting and them trying to fit weird stuff into it. (With free day and dating/bonding stuff.)

Interesting was the stuff at the meeting - all the politician guys together. For Campanella (I knew him cause I played Trails in the Sky - but only the first two games and not the 3rd one and nothing else of the franchise) ... I would have preferred another voice actor.
Jan 14, 2023 5:09 AM
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Feb 2022
227
What republic were they talking about? They were like " The Empire and Republic shoul be evenly matched" before showing the mysterious hero.
Jan 14, 2023 6:39 AM
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231
DavidM_27 said:
What republic were they talking about? They were like " The Empire and Republic shoul be evenly matched" before showing the mysterious hero.

“The empire” refers to The Empire of Erebonia
“The Republic” refers to The Republic of Calvard. Crossbell was a buffer state and that status was maintained since they were evenly matched. However that changed because of the appearance of the “hero” of erebonia which tipped that balance in the empire’s side.
Jan 14, 2023 6:46 AM
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227
Secret333 said:
DavidM_27 said:
What republic were they talking about? They were like " The Empire and Republic shoul be evenly matched" before showing the mysterious hero.

“The empire” refers to The Empire of Erebonia
“The Republic” refers to The Republic of Calvard. Crossbell was a buffer state and that status was maintained since they were evenly matched. However that changed because of the appearance of the “hero” of erebonia which tipped that balance in the empire’s side.

Thank you for explaining, it was really bugging me, so basically Crossbell is part of the Republic?
Jan 14, 2023 7:18 AM
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Oct 2021
231
It’s not. It was a buffer state before. But the empire of erebonia annexed it, utilizing the mysterious hero that appeared.
Jan 14, 2023 8:52 AM
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Kujou_Kuon said:
It kinda annoys me how Erebonia annexed Crossbell regardless of how they were competing against Calvard. For those who have played the Crossbell Arc, i think you already know the details. At this point i'm still interested in the Northern War Arc, some of the questions i had are still yet to be answered on this anime.

There is a game for his show? Is it good?
Jan 14, 2023 9:46 AM
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Codes247 said:
Kujou_Kuon said:
It kinda annoys me how Erebonia annexed Crossbell regardless of how they were competing against Calvard. For those who have played the Crossbell Arc, i think you already know the details. At this point i'm still interested in the Northern War Arc, some of the questions i had are still yet to be answered on this anime.

There is a game for his show? Is it good?

This anime is a sidestory in a series of (currently) 12 games, all of which are connected. It takes place between the 7th and 8th game.

Unless the anime drastically improves, the games are much better and also provide a ton of context you won't get by only watching the show.
Jan 14, 2023 9:48 AM

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7945
DavidM_27 said:
Secret333 said:

“The empire” refers to The Empire of Erebonia
“The Republic” refers to The Republic of Calvard. Crossbell was a buffer state and that status was maintained since they were evenly matched. However that changed because of the appearance of the “hero” of erebonia which tipped that balance in the empire’s side.

Thank you for explaining, it was really bugging me, so basically Crossbell is part of the Republic?

Crossbell is a territory located between Erebonia and Calvard, and both side have been trying to integrate it in their own country but the other side has always been in the way. They've been fighting and bickering politically, economically and militarily over it for a long time; and this does include influencing the mafias and other crime lords in Crossbell, corrupting local politicians, the police, and assassinations of political opponents.
officially Crossbell was "overseen" by both countries rather than being fully independent. That's the agreement both superpowers came to to stop warring over Crossbell. They basically get a lot of financial benefits out of the situation, while Crossbell is permanently trembling in their shadow. Some other countries tried to broke out a more durable peace a few years prior (Notably the Kingdom of Liberl, located south west of Erebonia, and they were particularly backed up in the political negotiation by Artoria, located east or Northambria) and it worked for a few years but the agreement has been fully breached by now.

Crossbell is basically like Switzerland but without the mountains to protect it, very strong economically especially bank side, but has not enough army to defend against the two super power sandwiching it. There has been a lot of troubles to lead to the new situation, but long story short, the Empire won a war against the Calvard Republic that they should have not been able to win, thanks to "new weapons" they have, and this allowed them to annex fully Crossbell in the process. The scenes of public speech you see in this episode are the public speech given by the Empire chancelor and the new appointed ruler of Crossbell, who is part of the Erebonian nobility, as they announced the new status of Crossbell as part of the Empire.

Until now, Northambria "enjoyed" a relative peace with Erebonia since they're a poor country that's nowhere as juicy as Crossbell, and invading Northambria without a good reason would worsen the relationship with other neutral countries near of it like Artoria as well as give an excuse to Calvard to restart a war with Erebonia. But now that Calvard is currently weakened by its surprise defeat, and that Erebonia is securing Crossbell, there's nothing stopping Erebonia's expansionist ambitions to target Northambria. All they need is an excuse to invade. That's what the Northambria side is currently very scared of.
ZefyrisJan 14, 2023 9:54 AM
Jan 14, 2023 8:19 PM

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Luthandorius said:
So war it is okay. But I fear it might turn out to get worse ... when we are missing out on good action. I mean: If she is supposed to infiltrate the empire this won't be big battles between the armies of the two factions (North Ambria and the Empire) ... but they might be putting SoL moments (and a lot of them) into it.

At least the chars are nice - and not annoying. Afaik the game was disliked by people that played all the games in the series (not only the Steel ones) - cause of the school setting and them trying to fit weird stuff into it. (With free day and dating/bonding stuff.)

Interesting was the stuff at the meeting - all the politician guys together. For Campanella (I knew  him cause I played Trails in the Sky - but only the first two games and not the 3rd one and nothing else of the franchise) ... I would have preferred another voice actor.
Nah, the fans like the bonding events in Cold Steel, and Kuro no Kiseki, the problem comes from the fact they give you a limited bond points so you can only use it for some characters(which is why fans have to load a previous file, or watch the other character bond events on youtube for Cold Steel 1-4, and Kuro no Kiseki 1-2), Azure had a similar problem with the final chapter also like that even tho it Didn't have the bond system
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Jan 15, 2023 5:02 AM

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Jun 2015
3269
The dialogue in this is fantastic. Been a while since one has watched this scale of political intrigue!
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Jan 15, 2023 10:45 AM

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last episode i kinda enjoyed the main girl but hated everything else, probably cause this is a sequel to the game that i never even heard about, was thinking about dropping but, i kinda wanted to leave high card as my only drop LOL

now this episode

if nothing else, hearing Jouji Nakata voice is always nice

we see Lavi, our main girl aiming and easily hitting every target, i like how her advice was simply "aim well?" yet everyone said it was a genius advice, that cracked me up :D

that old hero has a cool looking armored dog, what the hell
according to that map, the red part sure is getting big, like 75-80% of the total?

the leader of the red part is not even a noble, but it's the highest rank person, not bad lol
that other guy "my all seeing inteligence" what? lolol
that woman is probably the only interesting part of that reunion, i like how she talked with them

Iseria with the random appearance, cutely touching Lavi cheeks, kawaii haha
also wtf is that guy's purple hair strings, so random

even that scene with the guy falling down the stairs and the girl laughing at him is more interesting than the politics part :D
ofc the leader guy sleeping and getting his face painted counts too :v

Ravi has a mission and she will do everything for it, you go girl :D

that blue haired guy did something and there was a truck trying to isekai people lol luckily our trio managed to stop it before it killed anyone

meh that mecha, not a fan lol

i keep getting confused about who is which side (doesn't really matter, idc about politics lol), seems like Lavi is part of the North side, and will infiltrate the big empire, trying to learn about the mecha, and the others will have to go too
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Jan 15, 2023 11:18 PM

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So who messed with the driver....hmmm....
Jan 15, 2023 11:27 PM

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Sep 2015
755
As an anime viewer only... this series have been pretty bad so far.. Guess I'll drop it.
The characters are so flat.. to the point that none of them have any identifiable characteristics. Not even the stereotypes, except for the MC which is the quiet and edgy one. Everyone else so far is not even one dimensional since I can't identify any characteristics... and they couldn't do that with two episodes? I'm not expecting some sort of character development this early on, but i just don't know a single thing about them, not their personality at all. Everyone acts the same(goof balls) so I can't differentiate any of their personalities.

They also spent more or less the whole episode talking about geopolitics in the most boring way possible and still failed to give me any information as to what's going on beyond the usual 'generic empire vs republic cold war/world war' scenario with a weak neutral country about to be invaded by one of the superpowers. Seen this storyline a dozen times... done better no less.
So like last episode they info dump us about the nation's past which is a really bad way of world building... but they still didn't explain why they were fighting monsters... is that like wildlife???
This episode doesn't address it other than a off hand implication they kill monsters for money from other countries? At least that is what I got from it. Honestly idk why this point is brought up in this episode when it would have been more relevant last episode considering that is what they were doing.

The episode long discussion really boils down to "small country got invaded and we are next. What do we do? Lets wait and see." Really??? They spend 24 minutes to talk about that? 
Can we know why exactly the empire is being expansionist??? What about that whole civil war??? Is that relevant to what is going on and explaining the current situation? Why did they bring it up, is that a important factor for them to consider what to do?
And all the dialogue feel so unnatural. For a table of the nation's top officials, they act really childish and nothing from what you'd expect a national security meeting be like. 
I have zero issues with geopolitics and dialogue heavy discussions... but it felt more like characters regurgitating a history lesson without giving the context why any of that matters to the present situation... while occasionally bringing up some buzzwords before proceeding to do absolutely nothing, not even a plan for potential course of action.

At least give me some decent action... But the CGI used for the flashback battles were really bad so I guess it wouldn't matter even if there was more action. Both action scenes this and last episode are pretty lackluster due to the animation and choreography. I mean even the entire sequence is bad. Why did the guy hesitate when fighting Lavi? Also the female sniper shot off the tires but the truck continues offroading just fine? And a heavy machine gun knocks down a large steel tower???? What??? Why exactly are they going to get punished for stopping a explosive laden truck out of control with no injuries? And why did they decide to get random grunts(one of which is a rookie with infractions) to do a infiltration mission? Isn't espionage a spy's job? Not soldiers?
zcv45Jan 15, 2023 11:57 PM
Jan 16, 2023 1:47 AM

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Jan 2014
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zcv45 said:
The episode long discussion really boils down to "small country got invaded and we are next. What do we do? Lets wait and see." Really??? They spend 24 minutes to talk about that? 
Can we know why exactly the empire is being expansionist??? What about that whole civil war??? Is that relevant to what is going on and explaining the current situation? Why did they bring it up, is that a important factor for them to consider what to do?
And all the dialogue feel so unnatural. For a table of the nation's top officials, they act really childish and nothing from what you'd expect a national security meeting be like. 
I have zero issues with geopolitics and dialogue heavy discussions... but it felt more like characters regurgitating a history lesson without giving the context why any of that matters to the present situation... while occasionally bringing up some buzzwords before proceeding to do absolutely nothing, not even a plan for potential course of action.

Your criticism of the characters and animation is valid, but the simple answer to all your questions about the world and politics is that you have to play the games. Northern War isn't an adaptation meant to get new fans into the series, it's a side story to the games (taking place between the 2nd and 3rd games of the Cold Steel arc) and it doesn't waste its time explaining the political situation because it assumes the audience is already familiar with what's happening in the world right now.

But since you asked, I can give a short answer your question. The anime takes place on the western part of the continent of Zemuria, which is dominated by two super powers: the Erebonian Empire and the Calvard Republic. In Trails of Cold Steel 2, Erebonia ended up in a civil war because the aristocracy was starting to lose power and the nobles wanted to be in control of the country again. However at the same time as the empire's civil war was going on, Crossbell (the small city state located directly between Erebonia and Calvard, acting as their buffer) tried to take advantage of Erebonia's civil war and declared itself independendent while the civil war was happening (this is the plot of Trails to Azure). After the civil war was resolved at the end of Cold Steel 2, Erebonia then invaded Crossbell to stop their independence.

And that is where this anime starts from. Because Erebonia's invasion of Crossbell was an indirect declaration of war against Calvard, every country in western Zemuria is now on edge because a major war between the two largest nations on the continent is inevitable, and North Ambria's politicians want to make sure they can defend themselves in case Erebonia ends up invading them as well.
Jan 16, 2023 7:31 PM
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Aug 2017
43
Pretty Meh so far. The new characters are boring to me except for Jayna.
Jan 17, 2023 2:14 PM

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755
Hannescha said:
zcv45 said:
The episode long discussion really boils down to "small country got invaded and we are next. What do we do? Lets wait and see." Really??? They spend 24 minutes to talk about that? 
Can we know why exactly the empire is being expansionist??? What about that whole civil war??? Is that relevant to what is going on and explaining the current situation? Why did they bring it up, is that a important factor for them to consider what to do?
And all the dialogue feel so unnatural. For a table of the nation's top officials, they act really childish and nothing from what you'd expect a national security meeting be like. 
I have zero issues with geopolitics and dialogue heavy discussions... but it felt more like characters regurgitating a history lesson without giving the context why any of that matters to the present situation... while occasionally bringing up some buzzwords before proceeding to do absolutely nothing, not even a plan for potential course of action.

Your criticism of the characters and animation is valid, but the simple answer to all your questions about the world and politics is that you have to play the games. Northern War isn't an adaptation meant to get new fans into the series, it's a side story to the games (taking place between the 2nd and 3rd games of the Cold Steel arc) and it doesn't waste its time explaining the political situation because it assumes the audience is already familiar with what's happening in the world right now.

But since you asked, I can give a short answer your question. The anime takes place on the western part of the continent of Zemuria, which is dominated by two super powers: the Erebonian Empire and the Calvard Republic. In Trails of Cold Steel 2, Erebonia ended up in a civil war because the aristocracy was starting to lose power and the nobles wanted to be in control of the country again. However at the same time as the empire's civil war was going on, Crossbell (the small city state located directly between Erebonia and Calvard, acting as their buffer) tried to take advantage of Erebonia's civil war and declared itself independendent while the civil war was happening (this is the plot of Trails to Azure). After the civil war was resolved at the end of Cold Steel 2, Erebonia then invaded Crossbell to stop their independence.

And that is where this anime starts from. Because Erebonia's invasion of Crossbell was an indirect declaration of war against Calvard, every country in western Zemuria is now on edge because a major war between the two largest nations on the continent is inevitable, and North Ambria's politicians want to make sure they can defend themselves in case Erebonia ends up invading them as well.
Thanks for the explanation. Things makes lot more sense now.
One question though. They said Crossbell was a buffer state, so aren't they (at least de jure) a independent state to begin with?
Jan 17, 2023 3:21 PM

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zcv45 said:
Hannescha said:

Your criticism of the characters and animation is valid, but the simple answer to all your questions about the world and politics is that you have to play the games. Northern War isn't an adaptation meant to get new fans into the series, it's a side story to the games (taking place between the 2nd and 3rd games of the Cold Steel arc) and it doesn't waste its time explaining the political situation because it assumes the audience is already familiar with what's happening in the world right now.

But since you asked, I can give a short answer your question. The anime takes place on the western part of the continent of Zemuria, which is dominated by two super powers: the Erebonian Empire and the Calvard Republic. In Trails of Cold Steel 2, Erebonia ended up in a civil war because the aristocracy was starting to lose power and the nobles wanted to be in control of the country again. However at the same time as the empire's civil war was going on, Crossbell (the small city state located directly between Erebonia and Calvard, acting as their buffer) tried to take advantage of Erebonia's civil war and declared itself independendent while the civil war was happening (this is the plot of Trails to Azure). After the civil war was resolved at the end of Cold Steel 2, Erebonia then invaded Crossbell to stop their independence.

And that is where this anime starts from. Because Erebonia's invasion of Crossbell was an indirect declaration of war against Calvard, every country in western Zemuria is now on edge because a major war between the two largest nations on the continent is inevitable, and North Ambria's politicians want to make sure they can defend themselves in case Erebonia ends up invading them as well.
Thanks for the explanation. Things makes lot more sense now.
One question though. They said Crossbell was a buffer state, so aren't they (at least de jure) a independent state to begin with?

Crossbell has their own government and are technically independent, however, since they don't have their own military they can't do anything that won't be approved by both countries, since they wouldn't be able to defend themselves if either country retaliated with military action. Over the years the political situation in Crossbell has gotten so bad that Erebonian and Calvardian officials can indirectly break the law and get away with it, and Crossbell's police simply can't do anything about it since the government is afraid of retaliation if they do anything about it. And at the time the games happen Crossbell has essentially become the most corrupt country on the continent because the police simply isn't allowed to do their job against foreign criminals 

If you want to find out more about Crossbell in particular, the games focusing on it are Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure, where a group of young police officers seek to change the system from the inside and unearth the conspiracies of both countries' governments (the remastered version of Zero is out on Steam, PS4 and Switch right now, while Azure's remaster while be released March 14)
Jan 17, 2023 9:38 PM

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Nov 2012
2371
I'm not at all interested in the war or the politics, but the spy aspect might be interesting.
Jan 19, 2023 3:41 AM
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May 2020
275
It is official Putin got put in the series.

I fon't know how people never cue in how the animators made the bald North Umbrian official look like Putin.

Easter egg people missed
Jan 19, 2023 12:44 PM
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121
I'm enjoying this much more than I thought I would. The best part of Trails was always the politics which examines the socio-economic impact of fantastic elements. Seeing how North Ambria reacted to the Crossbell incident was truly fascinating. 

That being said, this is not for newcomers. Trails is a massive world and just like the later entries in the game series, this anime expects the viewers to know a few things. The story takes place shortly after CS 2, which is 7 games in. You need to know the major players, smaller factions, important settings, and key terms, all of which the anime most likely will not elaborate on. 
Jan 19, 2023 5:59 PM
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May 2020
275
Avarion said:
I'm enjoying this much more than I thought I would. The best part of Trails was always the politics which examines the socio-economic impact of fantastic elements. Seeing how North Ambria reacted to the Crossbell incident was truly fascinating. 

That being said, this is not for newcomers. Trails is a massive world and just like the later entries in the game series, this anime expects the viewers to know a few things. The story takes place shortly after CS 2, which is 7 games in. You need to know the major players, smaller factions, important settings, and key terms, all of which the anime most likely will not elaborate on. 


This show also evokes that wierd feeling when jumping into the cold steel games itself as you are now looking at things from a country that has been depicted as baddies from the past outings.

In that aspect making the focus point be at North Ambrian centric is very very cold steel in that aspect.
Jan 28, 2023 2:36 AM

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Oct 2019
69
my question is who are the ppl that give this trash anime a 10/10 only 4 episodes in xD
Feb 28, 2023 3:07 PM
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Jan 2021
2
Look at her trigger finger at 2:55, and how much of that stock is even on her shoulder, maybe half. It's hilarious.
Jul 19, 2023 2:43 PM
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Aug 2013
47
Still not much is happening, a lot of setup. again a person with no game background knowledge would be lost.

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It’s time to ditch the text file.
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