Man, that anime was such a failure...
Considering that they had solid VN, which really was nice and explained everything pretty decently... Producers of this show must be fired, absolutely garbage like fanservice, plot bucthered into unrecognisable, unrelateful mix of scenes from VN and pure nonsense.
Latter episodes were not making much sense, it looked like producing staff themselves didn't understand much either.
12th episode is full of nonsense. Even if we assume they went with differing reality from VN, they simply don't bother explaining it. First thing messed up reality dimension stuff, and if even they tried to explain it they horribly failed at it.
Terrible final battle when supposedely 814 years old witch get wrecked by bunch of school students with no previous battle experience(except Shiori and Misuzu).
Happy ending, of course, with all revolving problem regarding Yuka mysteriously disappearing
But is not worst that they did.
Horrible, dreadful character develoment.
Out of original 6 main charachter, none of them were developed, leaving only bunch of stereotypes. Lost personalities of Black Knights, even reasons why they attacked party were unexplained.
Kakeru. He stays emo whole show never really participating in conversations between heroes.
Yuka. No comments here.
Kukuri. Possibly stayed most blandest of the cast. And it is considiring she is most important character in VN.
Takahisa. Background not detaled. His life barely scratched. His persona unexplored.
Yukiko. No comprehenseble backstory. Guys don't even normally question her past staying wholly unintersted. I mean she was interesting charecter but they even don't explain it.
Spoiler.
In VN she was child-soldier in Wallcahia, recruited from orphanage and sent to minefields by military group to clear them only to get blown up, but Liselotte's power prevents her from dying, so she
constantly repeats that process. She manages to make friends and lives for them, not for their Motherland, but for "Our future and our tomorrow". But loses them and becomes killing machine drowned in bloodlust. Absolutely amoral, disgusting, but horrifingly true. The world is cruel place with much unfairness. yet she prevailed and picked herself up.
And here we come to the main villain, Liselotte Wreckmeister. Immense potential lost to plain dumbness of plot. How COULD they explain absolutely nothing about her?! I mean she is totally evil but is hard not to simpathatise with her.
They literally could have showed her reasons for destoying the world, not for just Lulz.
Her past is horrible.
Spoiler.
Don't know much about her childhood, only some dippets and her agarophobia. But they coulld have mentioned sack of her town, Beziers, how she ran to church when her town was burning, her kin being killed, raped and slaughtered, begged God to kill her just not witness it, have her wish apperantly granted, only to be spared and put through literal hell on earth.
WARNING: detailed violence.
It wasn't neccessary to show things they had done to her like tying her to chains, cutting her tendons and voice chords, constant rape that she had to go through for MOUNTHS. Her body being destroyed by cuts, bruises, wounds and maggots, worms feasting on her body(she called her womb - house of rot) and then being trown out of the cart like sack of flesh and blood because of numerious infections. Laying their on the road prone to heat ,rapidly decomposing, managing to see countless travelers inspecting her but not offering her any help, her crawling to nearest tree shade with her last bits of strentgh and awaiting blissfull death(I apologize for such grafic image, I think I needed to get it out of my mind. I was horrified because that was not so uncommon in middle ages, hell even to this days sex trafficing exist and to think people going through so much suffering, despair...VN gives us much more then anime. It shoudn't have been on show, to traumatizing for audience but her thoughts on it should have been there.)
She was staunch believer in God even though it was not Catholicism(hence why Crusade happened), but Catharism, important things here how she changed, her beliefs challenged and crushed, refused to believe in this cruel, heartless world full of hate and meaningless violence, how she was approched at her weakest by Michael Maxmillian(Devil?) and got tricked into accepting stone of Cliphoth, abondoning all her values and notions, becoming in the future dreaded, loathed Witch of Babylon. And here I am partly wrong, because she does believe in God until the very end.
Then with her immortal body, she saw violence all over again.(Offhanded mentions of how she burnt on stake countless of times or how many wars were there in Europe during 1209-1945.) Could not die despite how she wished so.
Meeting with Vlad(will not use Velard because it doesn't make sense since it happens in Wallachia and not in Japan), listening to his dream of breaking karmic cicle of hate, death and life(it is not Naruto,is it? I would have liked to see some crossovers fics there, Liselotte after all perfectl fit to archetype of Naruto villains).
and deciding to accomplish it no matter what after his death. She was already crazy but then she became even more crazy and if I remeber correctly Index framed her for killing Vlad.
Anime could have expanded a LOT on her, she is absolutely awesome at being evil. She constantly at the war with whole world, in VN she organises French, Russian Revolutions, involved in starting Second World War, mentioned to be master of manipulation (she had Himmler in her pocket and resources of SS through him), superior batlle tactics, easily reads people because of her sheer experience,and countless magical abilities and already mentioned immortality. She is OP and could be defeated only through words.
i think it is clear who is my favorite character is...
Oh my, I got carried away, it already reminds me of small analysis so to wrap it up.
In the end anime left only sense of bitter dissapointment and ruined hopes. It doesn't do VN justice. Anime doesn't care about anything, doesn't leave us a message as VN does. Message in VN roughly: world is cruel and unfair, but THEIR ALWAYS something worth living for.
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