Alderamin on the Sky

Episode 9

Ikta's long-term survival is set in stone by the narration, and at this point I would be genuinely shocked if any of the core Imperial Knights got killed off (even Matthew, who seems most at risk). As last episode suggested though, that most definitely does not apply to second-tier characters. With the passing of Warrant Officer Deinkin at the hand of an assassin, I now have to think that the lives of Captain Sazaluf and Ikta's subordinate are in some degree of imminent danger.

That's a real shame, because as with Kanna, Deinkin was on the verge of becoming a very likable character. Though he initially came across like a pompous jerk, this episode in particular modeled him more as an unflappably forthright and genuinely caring person, even toward the people that they were trying to subjugate. That means Ikta has now lost two people who could have been invaluable to him. While Kanna had the makings of a protégé and possibly even love interest, Deinkin had the makings of a PR rep. In other words, the story is being pretty ruthless in weeding out the decent people, which makes me wonder once again if it isn't trying to send some kind of message.

The episode had other interesting points, too. There's a nicely-animated swordfight between Yatori and Nanaku, the Sinack chieftain, but what impressed me most is that Yatori didn't win through superior skill, power, or athleticism; the two were about evenly-matched on that. Instead, she won through her wits, anticipating the surprise that her opponent may have had in store for her. In a relative rarity for anime, we got to see her thought processes in action without pausing the action mid-flow. Seeing Ikta acknowledge that he's more than a little bothered by not saving Kanna was also a nice touch; I half-expected the script to forget about that, or else decide that Ikta wasn't troubled by it. The appearance of the assassins also puts an interesting twist into the picture. They clearly aren't Sinack and are probably not from the Republic, so presumably they're from some faction within the Empire using the attack as an opportunity for an assassination. (That would tend to suggest that they are pulling the Sinack's strings too.) However, since the General was pretty much setting himself up to be killed anyway, why bother?

That intrigue and the nastiness of the campaign aside, the other entertaining scene comes from a rare truly light-hearted moment: the discussion about “heroes” and “warriors” in the middle of the episode. I always wonder about sexual relations being an issue when we see militaries with mixed genders in anime, and the series actually bothers to address that. Fraternizing is explicitly against regulations in wartime (both heterosexual and homosexual, unless that's just Ikta's flippant interpretation), though that doesn't stop it from happening in some cases, of course. It also gives us a confirmation that nothing of that nature is going on between Ikta and Yatori – at least not currently. Then Matthew gets arguably his best moment of the series at the end of the scene.

The one significant ongoing flaw that Alderamin on the Sky has at this point is that it never quite captures the full spirit of drama and excitement that would push it over the top into the realm into greatness, but it's still on a strong path for remaining very good.

Rating: B+

Alderamin on the Sky is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.