Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Ars Nova

[Buffalobiian]

http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/3245/7qjo.jpg

Alternative title:
Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio (Japanese)
Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio : Ars Nova (Japanese)
蒼き鋼のアルペジオ (Japanese)

Genres: action, drama, romance, science fiction

Themes: battleships, military, war

Plot Summary: By 2039, global warming had caused sea levels to rise and large amount of territory to be lost. As though in response, a mysterious group of warships clad in mist, “the Fleet of Mist,” appeared in every corner of the ocean, and began attacking human ships. In spite of humanity mustering all their strength, they were utterly defeated by the Mist's overwhelming force. All of humanity's trade routes were blockaded by the Fleet of Mist, their political economy was destroyed, and the human race was steadily beaten down. Seven years later, the Fleet of Mist's submarine I-401 appears before cadet Gunzo Chihaya. The humanoid life form that pilots the sub, who should be their enemy, is instead offering her services to mankind.

Links: ANN (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com.au/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=15359), MAL (http://myanimelist.net/anime/18893/Aoki_Hagane_no_Arpeggio)

HS - Episode 01 (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=480732), 02 (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=483039)

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Nothing spectacular. Basically submarine warfare with eyecandy. It lacks the humour of Upotte, and I haven't seen Girls und Panzer to compare those two. Animation is a a choppy at times, but that only fits in with the mediocrity of this.

[David75]

the full 3D CGI is annoying too. There's no flesh/emotion you can attach to.

[shinta|hikari]

This is a lot more serious than Upotte and Girls and Panzer. There will be a meaningful and deeper plot. The CGI ruins it though.

[Kraco]

Yeah. This looks constantly strange due to the CGI, even if I got a little used to it during the second ep. Normally I don't mind CGI in animating vehicles and other such machinery because, to be utterly realistic, we wouldn't have this many anime shows without that huge cost saving method, but these kind of full-CGI shows are nastily plastic.

Other than that, I have doubts about the realism in humanity abandoning the seas compeletely as opposed to using a few nukes.

[Buffalobiian]

This is a lot more serious than Upotte and Girls and Panzer. There will be a meaningful and deeper plot. The CGI ruins it though.

I was wondering if that was going to be the case, because currently it's about beating up girls and making them want you to ride them. :p

Poor discrimination to 501 last episode. She got blasted apart because she didn't have a cute Mental Model to tease Gunzou with. It was at least intelligent since Takao talked to her.

HS - Episode 03 (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=485366)

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I actually looked at the OP stats this time round. Along with the episode's content, Takao just confirmed that the Heavy Cruisers at least can submerge, which seems strange. Iona last episode confirmed that Takao can't submerge I'm pretty sure. The OP suggests that all of them can.

For whatever reason, subs also use dual-core Models.

[Kraco]

I hope this won't turn into a stupid harem by Gunzou defeating the fog ships one (or two) by one and the mental models all falling for him. But considering this is anime, I guess that's more than likely to happen. They should just find more men to be captains. Or women, since I guess the mental models wouldn't initially have sexual preferences even if they all appear as female. As long as they don't choose old cadavers like the geezer in this episode. In the first place, a captain can only captain a single ship at a time. He would need to promote himself to an admiral if he wants to manage a whole bunch of them.

This is actually entertaining enough, for now, if you can get past the graphics.

[Kraco]

Episode 4 - HS (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=487689)




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So far the naval battles have made this show well worth watching, if you get past the CGI based video. I guess it's given a solitary ship, barely resupplied, on the human's side will have its hands full with a large fleet of enemies and thus the underdog position is obvious, but it has been handled quite decently so far. I really hope the humans will get some good weapons developed to rearm I-401 with something that will surprise the Fog ships momentarily. Even if it has some weakness and requires special, favourable conditions, it would be good. Or actually even better that way, since Gunzo's quite an uber tactician, albeit a dangerous gambler as well. On the other hand I guess they will get reinforcements from other defectors. At least they said Takao is looking for a crew, so maybe my fear of this turning into harem is unfounded.

I wonder what good Haruna will be, having lost her ship. In fact I don't even get how she still exists in a human form with the ship gone. But I imagine she will find an interesting chatting partner in the little girl. No doubt she will record highly usefull phrases from her child's talk...

[Buffalobiian]

So far the naval battles have made this show well worth watching, if you get past the CGI based video. For some reason I never really minded it in this show. Perhaps Letter Bee really got me used to watching such scenes.

Iona seems to be able to take heaps of bloody damage.. way more than I'd expect for a submarine. The battleships' shots and missiles were hitting, so they mustn't have all been Erosion Torpedoes.

I do love how the mental models pose themselves to reflect the action of their ships (diving, driving forward etc). Just like last time, Iona showed her belly when the crew asked her to open up. :3

[Kraco]

I do love how the mental models pose themselves to reflect the action of their ships (diving, driving forward etc). Just like last time, Iona showed her belly when the crew asked her to open up. :3

But based on Haruna, they don't explode in a shower of blood and guts when the ship gets blown up... But yeah, it's quite cute and really appropriate. Maybe her ship is still salvageable and only the other ship was totally annihilated. Humans might repair her to a degree if the little girl manages to win her over. Dunno what kind of a captain the shrimp would make though, haha.

I also don't mind the graphics anymore. During the first episode it actually bothered me more and more towards the end (especially since I hadn't read beforehand this was that sort of production), but mysteriously during the second ep I started to forget the whole thing.

[shinta|hikari]

Haruna had breasts!?!

Betrayal!!!

The animation continues to bother me. It just looks cheap, no matter how I try to rationalize, ignore or tolerate it.

[Kraco]

Episode 5 - HS (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=490029)





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Haruna is hot! Perhaps she's only made hotter by the fact usually only the top of her head and the twintails are visible. I didn't expect the tiny girl to have such a sob story behind her, but then again, the army seems to be made of 100% pure scumbags, so I guess such stories are more common than not. I wonder how this is going to progress. I reckon the mental models will snatch Makie with them and escape, but what happens afterwards, is an open question. I don't see them really returning to the Fog with her, but I guess that could happen as well. It would be too bad for the research projects on the human side. They should just join Gunzou... He takes care of his own.

[David75]

We do not know much about the fog.
It's a little strange how they are mostly human in almost everything, bar some traits.
Haruna has her obsession with words and their true meaning in a real life experience.
They all seem to lack the understanding behind human relations/feelings (well, I can't say I undertand that well...), but they still understand humor and know body language, do some, feel awkward or shame.
I wonder what is the message behind the show, I guess we might understand later when fog is better explained.

[Kraco]

As far as I've understood based on the eps so far, the mental models were created to understand the edge humans have in naval warfare, bar the pitiful technology. As soon as humans, Gunzou to be specific, got to captain the I-401, he has been constantly beating technically far superior foes. I reckon that's essentially what the mental models are supposed to figure out. Kongou stupidly thinks she has humans all figured out already, but the rest don't seem to share her optimism (with good reason, after getting their assed handed to them by Gunzou).

So, the mental modes obviously need to be as human as the Fog could create them. Some of the stuff we have seen is extremely easy to program in, like vocabulary. But that doesn't mean they can use the vocabulary in innovative ways like humans. Or basic emotions, but that doesn't mean they can use and express those emotions naturally when interacting with others. I guess the mental models that really have been in contact with humans aren't anymore interested only in warfare like mere weapons are suppose to be (according to Kongou).

[Buffalobiian]

Even if Haruna escapes with Makie, they still have to manufacture her drugs somewhere in order to keep her alive. The drug composition may be easily analysed visually, but the production shouldn't be so easy. They'll need money at the very least, which they may or may not be able to take with them. Gonzou may be able to settle them with a different government, and since communications are down between them she'd be alright, if only temporarily.

Unless the father has some vehicles organised, the escape itself is the most worrying. Makie isn't particularly athletic and the mental models don't have their ships.

edit: on second thought, since Takao is in the area, she may be able to pick them up once she's dealt with... whatever it is she's dealing with.

Haruna's cute with her personality change without the coat and all, but I'll stick with Takao.

[David75]

Some stretch:
We have a core that cannot rebuild a mental model yet, but can control a teddy bear... and maybe mesh with a human being. I could really see some kind of symbiosis, where the core provides strength and solves the health problems or what Makie lacks, and Makie hosts that core.

Regarding vehicules, my guess is that a mental model can take control of anything with mechanics and electronics, so any vehicule would do.

[Kraco]

It's a bit early to try to deduce too much. The mental models might be largely made of the nanomachines, since Kirishima apparently had none left and needed Haruna to lend her some before she could animate the bear. This, along with other things, makes me think the Fog ships are largely made of nanomachines as well. Maybe they have a skeleton of some more rigid stuff but otherwise they could be nothing but huge aggregates. So, in order to control vehicles, they might need to spread around those nanomachines, assuming they could integrate them with human machines and electronics. Haruna has such a nice figure under the Shazam coat that it would be a real pity if she reduced it by letting go of too many liters of nanomachines.

But on the other hand, Iona was able to hack the dry dock, so maybe you are right.

Edit: Actually, why would Haruna need to do anything fancy to gain mobility? She only needs to sit behind the wheel and drive like anybody would. I have a feeling the cadaver in the basement isn't about to let the soldiers simply walk in and have their way with Makie and the mental models. He'll probably be able to buy them the time needed.

[Kraco]

Episode 6 - HS (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=492243)



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I was starting to wonder how long Haruna, Kirishima, and Makie's plot would stay separated from Gunzou & Iona's, but naturally having the latter save the former was the most obvious way to handle it. Still, the rescue was only necessary because Haruna didn't anymore want to kill humans and had to think of Makie. Otherwise the awesome powers of a mental model would have allowed her to make short work of all the attackers. I guess the scenes we have seen of the mental models personally defending their ships weren't symbolic at all. They are like miniature fighting vehicles themselves.

Takao apparently lost her battle against Gunzou's stronghold. I hope her ship wasn't too badly damaged, let alone destroyed, though. She seemed perfectly willing to join humanity's side, so that sort of greeting would be a bit problematic.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 6 - HS (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=492243)



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I was starting to wonder how long Haruna, Kirishima, and Makie's plot would stay separated from Gunzou & Iona's, but naturally having the latter save the former was the most obvious way to handle it. Still, the rescue was only necessary because Haruna didn't anymore want to kill humans and had to think of Makie. Otherwise the awesome powers of a mental model would have allowed her to make short work of all the attackers. I guess the scenes we have seen of the mental models personally defending their ships weren't symbolic at all. They are like miniature fighting vehicles themselves.

Takao apparently lost her battle against Gunzou's stronghold. I hope her ship wasn't too badly damaged, let alone destroyed, though. She seemed perfectly willing to join humanity's side, so that sort of greeting would be a bit problematic.

Was it Gunzou's stronghold that she had to fight against last time, or someone else? I can't remember specifically.. but so far it seems strange for humans to win against a fully capable (albeit lovestruck) heavy cruiser.

[shinta|hikari]

I remember Iona to be 10x cuter in the manga because of the weird anime animation, but Haruna is equally good in both.

Shakiiiiiiin!!!! (Shazam...?)

They should rename mental models to mental monsters after this encounter. Is this the first encounter humans have had against a mental monster? If not, they all deserve to die for not retreating immediately after sighting a portable battalion.

[Buffalobiian]

I remember Iona to be 10x cuter in the manga because of the weird anime animation, but Haruna is equally good in both.

Shakiiiiiiin!!!! (Shazam...?)

They should rename mental models to mental monsters after this encounter. Is this the first encounter humans have had against a mental monster? If not, they all deserve to die for not retreating immediately after sighting a portable battalion.

I believe so. Field Command told them not to engage the mental models if possible since they don't know what they're capable of. Kirishima and Haruna were the first mental models who were shot down by Iona, and I can't imagine any humans accomplishing the same feat.

[Kraco]

In the past we saw how Gunzou didn't have a worry in the world when walking around on land or accepting dubious invitations. After this episode it's clear that as long as he's with Iona, nothing short of another mental model or a nuke could likely hurt him. So, Gunzou did know but, few of the other humans had any knowledge, only a hunch, perhaps.

For some reason Iona is made less human than the other mental models. Her face is always very expressionless, far more so than Haruna's, for example, and her behavior is hardly better. Who knows why, especially since she's the one with most time spent with humans.

Haruna is still my favourite.

[shinta|hikari]

I blame poor character design. Iona was adorable in the manga.

Strangely though, I have always thought that Haruna was a loli. Her dynamite bod in the anime was surprising, but excellent nevertheless.

[Buffalobiian]

Even though Iona is siding with the humans, she's still retaining her Fog mentality of following orders. The only thing different about her is that someone changed her order from "Obey the Fog" to "Obey Gunzou". The other mental models all have their own little personality quirks, Fog-loyalty or not. Kirishima in particular seems to have her spunk from the get go. Aside from the submarine mental models, all the other ones seem somewhat capable of having fun.

[Kraco]

Oh, having a glance at older posts I was reminded of Bill's good point earlier: What will happen to Makie without her arsenal of pills. I certainly hope the story won't simply forget that little detail, haha. I'd assume some of them are far less necessary than others and some might even be there for the sake of security: Like some purposefully missing enzyme; so that lacking it would kill Makie in a week or something. However, most should probably serve a role to stabilise her body. Since all of her brethren didn't survive for medical reasons, it would make sense she's only hanging there barely. However, this is hardly the kind of show that would see her die, I believe. Haruna would be so sad if she did...

[Buffalobiian]

I just came up with the hax, but quite possible answer: Nanomachines cure all!

[shinta|hikari]

Yeah, they would.

[Kraco]

Episode 7 - HS (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=494447)







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Yeah, they did.

I suppose it was indeed the only explanation existing for Takao's prompt defeat, but it's still quite interesting Gunzou's private navy had another mental model on their side. It's also quite necessary to make their history of victories more believable. Gunzou keeps getting better as a main character for this sort of show. He shows no regret whatsoever when deciding to abandon the base, even though it must feel like the only place they could call a home and must have played a big part in supporting their operations. Yet he's far from cold. He's also big enough not to harbour ill will toward the enemies, treating them always respectfully, including not being soft during battles. I reckon his decision to let Takao decide for herself was quite crafty and in line with his tactical genius.

Regardless, he should have his hands full trying to avoid Kongou's retribution. I wonder if he's planned a role for Takao in surviving that. The other mental models won't be of awesome help considering they are shipless. I'd like to see him employ multiple ships in battles, though, not always Iona alone.

[lelouch]

I watched the first 15 minutes of this series. Couldn't get through any more without shooting myself.

[shinta|hikari]

Shoot yourself then.

[Buffalobiian]

Iona and her slamming torpedoes into everyone. :3 (Now equipped with Vibration warheads!)

[Kraco]

Episode 8 - HS (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=496732)




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As expected, Kongou wasn't so easily won over. Although I'd find it hard to believe Gunzou would have been counting on that so solidly. Maybe he planned to get something else out of this as well, aside from the jackpot of Kongou & Maya getting "contaminated", but at the very least it seems like this allowed/forced Haruna & Kirishima to realise they are already different from the Fog stock. Who knows if those two are good for much more than deflecting a few rounds before they are out of juice, but even that could matter considering how much the odds are against them.

One interesting thing is Takao, though. It's possible Iona could sneak past the siege, being a submarine, but no such luck for Takao. So, we ought to see a nice naval battle where Gunzou will need to devise tactics beyond a single ship (on his side). Naturally Hyuuga can help as well as long as they are near the island. To keep things realistic some kind of diversion might be appropriate.

[David75]

Kongou thought that leaving her core on her ship would protect her from getting spoiled by those human feelings.
Well, she was wrong.
She did feel the warmth of a true tea, she did smile at Maya playing, she did take a bite of the BBQ.

She was careful and all, but the seeds are there already. The only thing is to know wether they'll grow fast enough.

Now, we still do not know what the fog is.
We do not know why they evolved to mental models.
And these mental models crave for some humanity, their party time closed space, Haruna's crave for words and phrases etc... strange. As is they had a routine/subprocess specifically designed for them to side with humans provided they can teach them how to feel human.

[Kraco]

Kongou thought that leaving her core on her ship would protect her from getting spoiled by those human feelings.
Well, she was wrong.
She did feel the warmth of a true tea, she did smile at Maya playing, she did take a bite of the BBQ.

She was careful and all, but the seeds are there already. The only thing is to know wether they'll grow fast enough.

If we are talking about that much, they might have been there even before she landed on the island. Maya was already more human like (or a human kid like) than Iona, that's for sure. Takao and Hyuuga are certainly surprisingly human, and it seems like they became like that simply from being beaten by Gunzou in naval battles! It didn't take tea or BBQ parties, that's for sure. In fact both Haruna and Kirishima seem more human than Iona. Actually, even Kongou does...

Well, anyway, I also think Kongou has been underestimating the danger, or potential, since the weakness is so severe it's more like a feature, not a weakness. In the first place, had she still been pure Fog, she wouldn't even have accepted the invitation, she would have simply attacked immediately. All the human like meetings with other mental models and studying humanity changed her, without actually meeting any humans.

[Kraco]

Episode 9 - HS (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=498886)






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When Gunzou was still standing on the beach it already started to look like he wouldn't be pulling off any really fancy tactics this time. And indeed he proceeded relying more on his gambler's side than master tactician's. I suppose it paid off, in a manner of speaking, but to be realistic the odds were far too much against him. It was just his lonely sub, Takao, and crippled Hyuuga against a whole fleet of fully supplied Fog ships. Kind of interesting he still decided not to use Iona's supergravity cannon for anything. When you are badly outmatched, it's risky to try to keep an ace up your sleeve just in case and not put it on the table; after all, you might lose before you had the chance to play it.

One noteworthy thing here was how Gunzou had no interest in trying to sink enemy ships. Perhaps it would have been arrogant, but in the end submarines, especially, are all about attack. At least he naturally had the decency to risk his own life most of all in his high gamble. It's rather interesting that never visited Kongou's mind, despite Kongou preaching the Fog ships and mental models are nothing but expendable weapons with no other priority but to follow orders, no matter the cost. She clearly didn't expect Gunzou to be able of the same.

[David75]

In a way what you wrote made me think Gunzou does not show lots of human feelings. Or at least I do not remember well if they ever did show him expressing his feelings.
Regarding strategies and tactics, he was still able to decide the precise timing when he should reallocate all processing to super-speed calculations.

[Buffalobiian]

It's a little weird how processing power is used in this show in regards to not being able to fire the supergravity cannon 2 times without resting. It's as if processing is required to recover from it somehow.

As for human feelings, Iona advanced the most (or at least, showed it the most compared to previous episodes). Before she was just all "I'm your ship", but she reveals that she gets something out of it.

Still loving Takao, but MVP today goes to Hyuuga.

[Kraco]

I wonder if Iona has seemed less emotional than quite a few other mental models because the others have had much more preprogrammed emotions. Looking at Maya, for example, while she's a pure, uncontaminated Fog ship, she's still running all over the place heedlessly. Apparently Iona was a blank slate in the beginning (as we actually saw), so all of her emotions would be naturally developed over time. But then again, it looks like submarines are somewhat stiff in general.

[Kraco]

Episode 10 - HS (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=501005)





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Poor Takao. Right when I was hoping this show would expand to larger scale naval warfare. But I guess they wanted this to remain a single submarine vs the world story. I suppose Takao will still remain in one form or another, but likely not in the second hottest mental model form (after Haruna). Practically speaking this might make their journey to North America much easier since it'd be difficult to sneak across the ocean on a heavy cruiser. The new submarine looks like it will kick major ass, at the very least. Certainly it should, after such a sacrifice.

I will miss Takao if she doesn't retain interactivity.

[Buffalobiian]

Takao = Best Girl. :'(

The Iona look-alikes need to die. I would ask Iona to make room for Takao as well, but that doesn't seem possible. Surely someone could spare a few nanomachines to animate Takao in some kind of avatar though? I wonder what that would be..

[shinta|hikari]

They just need to win and gain control of nanomaterial production, then produce as many lolis mental model bodies as they want.

[Buffalobiian]

They just need to win and gain control of nanomaterial production, then produce as many lolis mental model bodies as they want.

Are nanomaterials something humans can make, or is it a Fog thing? They had a store of it on the island, but they never told us about its source. It could have all been leftovers from Hyuuga's ship.

edit: by "make room" I mean in the romantic department.

[shinta|hikari]

Haremu...

[Kraco]

Are nanomaterials something humans can make, or is it a Fog thing? They had a store of it on the island, but they never told us about its source. It could have all been leftovers from Hyuuga's ship.

I also thought it was just Hyuuga's remains. Perhaps they had boosted their stocks with the remains of other ships they had sunk as well, although they haven't seemed overly eager to salvage anything after the fights we have seen. That's almost a plot hole, unless using nanomaterials requires a permission from the original owner and thus robbing it would be impossible. Unless Admirality is involved, like Iona's case, and also Kongou's, I suppose, just proved.

[Munsu]

Just watched all 12 episodes of the series, and honestly in the end didn't manage to care much for it.

[Kraco]

The anime plot left the manga behind quite early, during the Makie incident. The manga is a bit more complicated and not nearly as smooth sailing as the anime. But the mood isn't so different, naturally, that you'd ever like the manga if you didn't care for the anime.

One external thing making me like Arpeggio more is that Kantai Collection is so stupid in comparison, despite both being centered around warship anthropomorphism.

[Munsu]

The anime plot left the manga behind quite early, during the Makie incident. The manga is a bit more complicated and not nearly as smooth sailing as the anime. But the mood isn't so different, naturally, that you'd ever like the manga if you didn't care for the anime.

One external thing making me like Arpeggio more is that Kantai Collection is so stupid in comparison, despite both being centered around warship anthropomorphism.

Well, it's not like I wouldn't have liked the anime more if there was more to it. I quite enjoyed the early portions, but after half the series it really seemed like they weren't going to accomplish anything particularly on 12 episodes. So it just ended up being a waste of time.

I might give the manga a try at some point.

[Munsu]

Apparently 2 movies of this series are coming out in 2015.

The first one, already aired by the looks of it, will be a compilation movie, while the 2nd one (looks like it comes out in October) will be new material.

I was thinking of this series with a bit more fondness that I thought while watching it. I really had enjoyed the early portions, but the shortness of the series contributed to all being a waste of time.

Hopefully this new movie remedies this notion of mine a bit.