Romelia War Chronicle ‒ Episode 4
Maybe it's because I've been gorging myself on Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave over the last few weeks, but I can't imagine I'm the only one who is drawing favorable comparisons between Nintendo's venerated RPG series and Romelia War Chronicle. The series really benefits from its focus on battlefield tactics, the interpersonal relationships of the different “units” in Romelia's army, and the larger political implications of its fantasy swashbuckling. When Ray and Al are fighting together alongside Romelia on the battlefield, I can practically see the little heart icons popping up above their heads to indicate that we're one step closer to getting another fun bonding scene for the characters.
The emphasis on strategy and ground-level maneuvers also continues to make Romelia a much more interesting heroine than if she were merely another overpowered battle-goddess who could cleave hordes of enemies in twain like she were living in a Dynasty Warriors isekai. The giant boar monster that the troops take down this week would have been a cakewalk for any Potato-kun with enough points invested in the “Kill Everything” skill. Here, the soldiers have to plan, position, and make use of their tools and their wits just to prevent Ray from becoming a shish-kebab. That's the sort of small but meaningful conflict that makes a weekly fantasy anime run smoothly.
Speaking of Ray and the Fire Emblem parallels, his storyline serves as a fun parallel to the exact kinds of decisions that players of SRPGs always have to consider when planning out the long-term goals of their armies. The magic test Romelia conducted with her men revealed that Ray has a lot of potential for wind magic, but he currently feels stuck in a rut as her personal bodyguard. It's obviously critical work, but sticking so close to the commander means that he won't get to earn the glory and renown that comes from making big moves on the front lines. It could be that “reclassing” Ray into the company's resident mage would be the perfect decision, but such changes always come with risks. Is it worth creating an opening at the core of the defensive line to give yourself the offensive boost that a wind-razor-slinging mage could provide? Is Ray even truly cut out for the work of a mage, or does his (thankfully) metaphorical stat-sheet indicate that he's built for more defensive hacking and slashing?
If the demon ambush that closes out this episode is anything to go by, it seems like Ray probably isn't cut out for life as a cavalier, in any case, since his horse takes an axe straight to the skull after Ray rushes in to try and save the probably doomed Al (the poor guy got Yamcha'd!). It's a gripping and tense bit of action, and it highlights the strengths of Romelia's core storytelling sensibilities. It doesn't take an eagle-eyed expert to notice that this week's animation is noticeably weaker. There are many more instances of still frames and motion lines making up the bulk of the “action” than usual, and even characters like Romelia struggle to stay on model in many of the medium and wide shots. Still, the climactic cliffhanger works because the episode does a good job of establishing the mortality of the troops and creating a physical space of dense, claustrophobic combat. Even if it verges into the territory of motion-comic at times, the emotional connection to Romelia and her men is still strong. I sure hope that the production values can even out into something more consistent for the long term, but the story itself shows no signs of disappointing just yet.
Rating:
Romelia War Chronicle is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on BlueSky, his blog, and his podcast.
discuss this in the forum (14 posts) |
back to Romelia War Chronicle
Episode Review homepage / archives
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.