Managing attendance at two conventions in as many weeks is a tall order for me. Though I didn’t have any responsibilities at SGDQ during the last week in June, the late nights and intense emotions of the event definitely wore me down more than I expected them to. This weekend was CONvergence, where I sat on 4 panels while also juggling a day of work on Friday and several anime premiere impressions here at the blog (I really don’t want to end up too far behind this year…). All of the time away from home, the crowds, and the stress of speaking in front of people (among other things), ended up becoming overwhelming, and I skipped out of the last day of CON to recuperate. While it’s disappointing to miss part of something you’ve looked forward to all year, sometimes mental health has to be a priority. The up-side is that being at home gave me the time to continue this watch-along rather than delaying it a day or two (while also trying to dig into all of the high-profile new anime series that premiered this weekend). Life is all about blessings in disguise.
Note: This post contains spoilers for episodes 11-13 of the series.
Kaiser Friedrich’s reign has been on the decline for years, mostly due to his passion for alcohol and women, as well as his disinterest in actually governing. As the Kaiser aged, he began to develop a taste for younger women. At one point he kept company with Marchioness Sussanna von Beenemünde, until Annerose was brought in to become his imperial consort. The Marchioness, feeling slighted by the Kaiser’s lack of favor and willing to go to great lengths to get it back, hatches a plot to kidnap Annerose, murder her, and make it seem as though she had been disloyal, thus bringing shame down upon her family (including Reinhard). Considering the strong and cunning individuals that Reinhard keeps by his side (including the recently-recruited Oberstein), the plan is soon uncovered, Annerose is rescued, and Marchionesse Beenemünde is forced to atone for the crime with her life.
The members of the Imperial court and the military know that the Alliance is likely to make their next move soon, and they are becoming more and more desperate to remove Reinhard and his dubious familial origins out of the picture. However, the young leader may turn out to be the key that ensures the Empire’s survival – for the time being.
Yang Wen-Li is hopeful that the leadership of the republic will choose to extend a peace treaty to the Empire, rather than further continue military hostilities, but that hope turns out to be mis-placed. While an invasion will greatly exceed the military budget, as well as stretch supplies extremely thin among the soon-to-be liberated border territories, the council votes to begin an invasion (for the purpose of padding their public approval ratings). Of course, Yang is tapped to lead one of many squadrons traveling into enemy territory; in total, the fleet has 200,000 ships containing over 30 million soldiers – a massive undertaking threatening to drain every last resource the Alliance has.
The Imperial leadership quickly gets word of the Alliance’s plans via some information trading with Fezzan. Though Fezzan serves as a trading partner with both sides, it’s technically aligned with the Empire, which many people often seem to forget. Reinhard’s plan is unorthodox; rather than prevent the intrusion into Imperial space, he directs the border worlds to offload their supplies and welcome the Alliance soldiers. As the Alliance spends all of their resources feeding the occupied populace, the Empire will sweep in and fight them off. The only thing preventing this plan from going smoothly is the pride of the local fief lord, Kleingeld. To give the appearance of surrendering after sacrificing so much already is an action that is almost unbearable to him, yet the potential continuation of the family line with Karl, his grandson, weighs heavy on his mind.
Thoughts: Last week’s episodes had a lot of meaty tidbits to chew on, while this week’s episodes seem more focused on cultivating the lead-up to another major conflict between the two factions featured in the story. After a long weekend of activities and discussion, being able to relax a bit and enjoy material that’s a bit more focused on human emotions is a welcome change.
Marchioness Beenemünde’s story reminded me quite a bit of The Rose of Versailles in its focus on court intrigue and betrayal (the set of episodes dealing with “the affair of the necklace” especially, as they both involve scorned women). While these types of stories might seem kind of petty when the fate of large swaths of the galaxy are likely to be at stake fairly soon, I think they do a good job of reinforcing the extent of the corruption that’s permeated the Imperial leadership. There’s a reason why absolute monarchies have been mostly abandoned in our current era – no matter what, the fate of 99 percent of the populous hangs on the ability of those with wealth and power to choose the path of fairness in leadership. When just a few people people hold the majority of the wealth in their grasp, there’s very little if any motivation to relinquish the pursuit of more wealth for the greater good. An over-taxed and legally-oppressed people don’t necessarily have the resources to rise up and fight against this injustice, either (although there are limits to every situation, just ask King Louis XVI).
This episode is an interesting look at the position of women in societies where their sex doesn’t afford them much power. There’s a temptation to label characters like Marchioness Beenemünde as petty and conniving, but with male primogeniture the major method by which power is transferred from older generations to newer ones, women desirous of some agency have to resort to underhanded or unorthodox means in order to get it. Their power is often gained through men – lovers and sons, primarily, and when those relationships don’t work out there’s very little way for courtly women to be masters of their own destinies. I sometimes think about what my life would be like if my husband were the one completely in control of my life and our finances. While he’s a kind, generous person and someone who believes in gender equality, if the situation were different and I didn’t have the option to work or have a bank account, whether he was a feminist or not wouldn’t matter all that much for my personal sense of security. Consider that on a much larger scale, and I think even the Marchioness’s actions are understandable.
Kleingeld’s story interested me quite a bit, as he embodies the myth of the kind-hearted oppressor – someone with a lot of power who actually does choose to use it responsibly and who his workers and subjects seem to willingly follow. I found his plight very sympathetic, and that in turn left me with some complicated feelings to unravel. The history taught in my country is sometimes tainted by descriptions of “benevolent” slave-owners, those who owned people, but treated them fairly well. What we need to remember is that, no matter how good their actions were, they also chose to own human beings; we fool ourselves when why try to excuse these kinds of terrible actions on such nebulous criteria (as a side-bar, this is why the current “slavery” trend in fantasy anime has got me especially riled-up; Japan doesn’t have a history of chattel slavery, but the US does and I’m not interested in seeing it fetishized, because in these parts it’s never not “too soon”). Ultimately his actions seem to be geared toward the continuation of his family line, not the certainty it once was since his son lost his life in the war. I wonder if the intended message is that, no matter how kindly and generous someone with financial and social power is, when it comes down to it they’re still about maintaining their status quo. Maybe that’s what most of us are like anyway, even though we all live in very different circumstances from the characters in this anime series. It takes someone with a very special mindset to work as hard or harder toward the good of others when doing so means engaging in a great deal of self-sacrifice.
Once again the Alliance government proves that it has become just another flavor of the same dish as its elected officials vote to go against all good advice and go on the offensive. This is by no means a unanimous decision, and a couple of council members argue very logically against going to war. The Alliance’s fleets will be stretched thin, and their supplies even thinner, but as is stated in the episode itself, military victory is like a drug, and Yang’s heroic takeover of Iserlohn has given the populace a sweet taste of this rare delicacy. And since an election is coming up, a show of military strength will position the candidates up for re-election for victory.
Yang’s insight is, as usual, impeccable, as he muses on the corruption that exists in the upper levels of leadership within both the Empire and the Alliance. Both systems operate secretively in ways that no layperson on either side has any sort of insight into how major decisions are made. The only difference may be that the population of the Alliance has a hand in electing their own oppressors. I look at the state of things in my country right now, and I see many people, some of whom I’m close to, actively voting against their own best interests for the sake of one or two policy positions that don’t actually affect their day-to-day lives. Even when “we the people” have the power to change things to be more equitable, there are those already in leadership positions that prey on our fears and our hatred in order to consolidate their own power. I would like to think that this is not the inevitable end-point of every form of government, but as long as we continue to worship things like wealth and domination, I think even the potential of a great space-faring future will be tainted by our own human weaknesses.
This point marks the end of a bout a cour‘s worth of episodes, and to be honest I’m happy I didn’t try to push myself to complete this many in one week like I was considering. While just watching them certainly wouldn’t have been a problem, each episode has been so full of thoughtful material that I believe any reactions I may have had would have suffered. As a consummate anime-marathoner, it may be a little blasphemous to say, but sometimes slower is better.
