Alderamin on the Sky

Episode 10

Ikta has been shown before to be a brilliant tactician, good actor, and fairly keen observer of character. But if there was ever any question about whether he had balls, this episode should incontrovertibly put that to rest. Cutting your finger off – in chunks! – to convince someone of your sincerity when there's no time to convince that person through words is pretty damn hardcore. He was even able to joke about it afterwards! It's easy to lose track of in that scene, but also surprising that Yatori didn't try to stop him or even seem that disturbed by it. Ikta clearly filled her in before they went into the tent, but her not causing a scene about it either during or afterwards strikes me as just another sign of the trust between them. She also had no reaction to him knowing Nana, the Sinack chieftain, from years earlier, or his compliments about her beauty.

Ikta's history with her from his much earlier visit to the Sinacks was an expected twist. The flashback scene at the start of the episode showing their innocent interactions (knowing that women go to sleep with men of their choice during a particular festival, but not what “sleeping together” actually entails) contrasts nicely with both the ladies' man Ikta has become and the danger that Nana encounters from the rampaging soldiers. Her character design outside of her formal attire also does an excellent job at convincingly portraying her as an exotic beauty without playing up her sexuality, and Ikta's application of last episode's Hero vs. Warrior metaphor to the soldiers preparing to rape Nana was a nice touch. (“I don't care if you're a Hero or Warrior. But I've got no patience for beasts.”)

As seems to be the norm for the last few episodes, there is a lot of other interesting stuff going on too. It turns out that I was wrong in my assumption about the assassins last episode; they actually are Kioka Republic agents, and this was Kioka playing the Sinack off against the Empire – and the holy kingdom of Aldera against both the Empire and the Sinack as well. It's both a pretty cunning plan and almost textbook tactics. Fortunately, the Imperials have Ikta (acting mostly through his Captain) to get them out of this trip by winning the cooperation of the defeated Sinack. Unfortunately, the story has chosen this point to introduce the Rival Tactician antagonist that I have long been anticipating, which means we could be heading for a Light vs. L kind of duel. After all, as Ikta implies himself, what more perfect foil is there for a lazy tactical genius than one who never sleeps?

Another nice touch was Matthew's impassioned argument for not being exempted from the rear guard action, one of the few times that Ikta has truly been caught off guard. However, that's also connected to the one thing in the episode that I didn't think worked. It's clear why Yatori and Ikta got field promotions for their actions, as both were instrumental in fending off the attacks from the previous episode. However, the other three getting lesser promotions was less clear. Haroma and Torway's beneficial actions can be assumed even though they weren't clearly shown, but we never really got much about Matthew that would justify the promotion.

But that's only a minor irritation in an otherwise well-done episode in a series that is now running at the top of its game. And as a bonus, we also get a clearer indication of the direction that the final story arc will go in.

Rating: A-

Alderamin on the Sky is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.