Chained Soldier Episode 10 aired on Thursday, spending most of the time preparing for next week’s season climax. While we did get some action here and there, along with some story developments and the strangest minute of fan service all season, The Chained Soldier still managed to deliver another enjoyable episode — well, mostly.
On the other hand
The best villains are those who give a reason why they became a “villain” in the first place. Forcing the viewer to walk along the line between who is right and who is wrong is a key component of storytelling. However, an important piece of the cake is that you have to make the villains, and anyone on their side, first go through proper development to be believable in the first place.
In this case the episode with Aoba, Naon and Koko, there was not a single moment where I felt convinced. Certainly, the experiments they went through and how they became what they are now can arouse feelings of sympathy, even Kyouka agrees with Aoba on this. But what kills me is that even though Kyouka and Tenka agreed with her that the crimes committed in the Ying Yang dormitory cannot be ignored and must be destroyed, Aoba still stands there and still wants to kill them both Surname.
So when two sides come to a reasonable position and one just shrugs his shoulders and wants to take the other out, it creates a kind of shallow villain, especially when the real puppeteer of everything, Shikoku, was soaking in a bath somewhere and enjoying himself. Aoba refuses Kyouka’s help because she doesn’t trust the Demon Defense Corps instead of being reasonable, which makes me shrug my shoulders not caring what happens to her next—sorry, Yuuki.
I would say that taking Aoba’s place here would be the right thing to do to get a clearer view of the situation. But when she constantly says how much she loves and trusts Yuuki only to end up ignoring him because of her irrational thoughts and feelings, it’s hard to really care and now I completely focusing on Kyouka and Tenka only to completely eliminate her.
Fan Service – Wrong time, wrong place
The fan service in Chained Soldier is nothing more than fan service and a prop for the comedy aspect of the series, which is completely fine. Oddly enough, the timing of it all was almost perfect. But when you deploy weird fan service in the middle of something serious just for the sake of fan service, it takes away from the experience and what’s going on in the story. And unfortunately, it did that in episode 10.
I like the team arrangement and who is paired up to fight against Aoba, Naon and Koku respectively. Unfortunately, Yachiho defeating one of Naon’s shuuki in a bad moment only to take off half of her uniform killed everything in it, especially considering what happened. with Himari shortly after. It’s one thing to have your uniform torn in battle like we saw in the exhibition match earlier in the season, but it’s another thing when everything goes silent and the camera pans her entire body for a second as everything was torn apart from a single slice of the shuuki blade.
The other one comes with Kyouka and Tenka, mainly the latter. I understand what Kyouka has to do, actually I can accept it or ignore it. But Tenka engaging in fan service out of pure possessiveness in the midst of a major conflict only deflects the anger she had before entering the cave. The jealousy surrounding Yuuki and the female cast in the series is understandable but not at a time like this, save it for later when things have calmed down.
I mentioned that Chained Soldier tends to sometimes separate itself from other ecchi series when it comes to story development and character development, and that remains the same up to this point even in episode 10. But “time and place” is a thing for a reason.
Production – Surprisingly solid
I loved the color design of the different sets in each part of the episode. Maybe it’s just me but things seem to pop up a bit more than usual, especially in the cave. The deep purple-blue color may be a bit oversaturated but for some reason it works and all the characters themselves look great in most frames of the episode. Dark backgrounds are associated with combat, while light blue and green backgrounds are mainly shown during dialogue moments.
Yuuki voice actor Yuuya Hirose was part of a video for Chained Soldier that showed fans some behind-the-scenes footage produced at studio Seven Arcs, which is animating the series, and one of the people he He spoke with color designer Kaoru Nishimura. So thank you Nishimura-san for your hard work!
I also really like what director and scriptwriter Kazunobu Fuseki did with Naon’s plot. I know the use of aspect ratios in the series is nothing new, but the artwork is great and the camera work is also good, especially the terrible focus when Naon sees his new hand for the first time. Firstly. Little techniques like that can go a long way in taking something dramatic to the next level.
I won’t say anything was so truly amazing that I spit out my drink and wondered how he did it or what was going through his mind when he did it. So. Lots of close up shots, some medium shots and a few wide shots here and there but nothing too extreme. However, he handled Naon’s backstage moment brilliantly.
Summary of The Chained Soldier Episode 10
Sahara and Shushu’s fight has a “Dragon Ball” moment where punches fly and every cut feels like something out of the iconic series, so inspiration must have been taken. that from it in some capacity. However, we saw Dragon Ball’s influence when we first saw Sahara fight Shushu at the beginning of the season. Additionally, Himari’s capture was really the only development of the episode that had any weight and Yachiho’s (voiced by Nene Hieda) scream sent chills down my spine.
Episode 10 rating: 7/10
If you loved Episode 10 The Chained Soldier, be sure to vote for it in our weekly poll! Episode 11 of The Chained Soldier will be released on Thursday, March 14. HIDIVE is streaming the uncensored version of the anime.
Image via HIDIVE
© Takahiro/Yohei Takemura/Shueisha/Magical Defense Corps Public Relations Department