GATE: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri

[neflight86]

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"A gate appears in Tokyo's Ginza district sometime in the 21st century. From the gate pour out monsters, knights from middle-age Europe and other fantasy-like beings, and they kill many citizens of Tokyo. This event is known as the Ginza Incident. The government sends a small group of soldiers from the Japanese Self-Defense Forces to the alternate world beyond the gate. Led by otaku soldier Itami Youji, they find that the villages in the world are being attacked by a dragon. An elf girl who is a survivor from the dragon's rampage joins the group in their travels across the dangerous new world.

Source: ANN"

Genre(s): Military, Political, Fantasy

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HorribleSubs Ep01
HorribleSubs Ep02

So far pretty entertaining. A list of things I like so far: 30+ year old protagonist, very low harem building (so far), grounded dialogue that feels neither too mundane nor lofty, no blatant labeling of an evil or good side, yet. I'm enjoying it so far, and recommend you give it a try.

[MasterOfMoogles]

Definitely one of the shows I am most hyped for this season. They're taking it a little slow to start, but it is scheduled for 2 cours, so that should be fine.

I kind of wish they had leaned a little more towards showing the brutality in the first attack. Instead, there seemed to be a lot of implied or offscreen killing.

[MFauli]

Agreed, one of the better shows of the season. Still, I hated how un-scary the whole first invasion of our real world was presented. Dozens if not hundreds of innocent people were brutally slaughtered, but the atmosphere didn´t capture that at all. I mean, ffs, this should have felt akin to the eclipse in BERSERK, but not in the slightest. episode 2 was much better in that regard, although it seems wrong to just murder hundreds of thousands of underequipped medieval soldiers without negotiation beforehand.

Now Im looking forward to how Leafa fits into the military group.

[David75]

It's true that human lives have no value at all in that show. And I think the slaughter in ep 2 was a bit long.

Take the gate idea we had in a show 1 or 2 years ago, that was a lot more otaku heaven like and for late teens, change the setting to a more mature audience and have more killings, and that's it. Well, I'm still waiting for a little more otaku elements. We've seen dragons and there's the OP and ED. But that's not much.

[Ryllharu]

I mostly like that the main character is an adult and a member of a team, not a solo teen.

Take the gate idea we had in a show 1 or 2 years ago, that was a lot more otaku heaven like and for late teens, change the setting to a more mature audience and have more killings, and that's it. Well, I'm still waiting for a little more otaku elements.

Also tying into Kraco and shinta's comments, I think Outbreak Company did a much better job with using a wormhole/gate culture for political advantage. The Emperor's strategy probably would work the first time, but there's no way they would have stuck around for a second round. Outbreak Company handled it better because it was all about economics. Japan primarily wanted Petralka's (Holy Eldant Empire) natural resources, and made sure that they would be the new world's first choice by overwhelming them with culture (and that's all in the first episode or so). Outbreak Company is underrated, the only shame is that they didn't get into much detail about the other nations.

GATE is kinda doing the same thing the other way around, using the JSDF to level the field again after losing horribly months ago, but it lacks a lot of the nuance so far.

Slow start, but it looks like it will pick up.

[Kraco]

The third battle was a bit hard to watch, even though I knew one had to be coming. It can't be helped it looks silly and a huge waste to pit ancient Rome style troops against those with modern weapons (although everybody who has played Civs has experienced it). Like an immature power fantasy. No doubt that's why the studio skipped the second battle. I hope from now on we won't even see such battles anymore and it's all going to be small scale stuff, diplomacy, negotiating, and adventure. I take the elf girl as a promise of better things to come. Another thing I liked was the emperor actually using the Japanese to get rid of factions that could threaten him. Not that it would have been so difficult with all those morons in charge.

Americans got a cheap role here.

[shinta|hikari]

Another thing I liked was the emperor actually using the Japanese to get rid of factions that could threaten him. Not that it would have been so difficult with all those morons in charge.

This is the part I disliked the most. It just makes no sense for enemies of the emperor to blindly sacrifice themselves when the imperial troops didn't show up. Ridiculous.

[MasterOfMoogles]

While it may seem silly, I totally believe this is actually what would happen.
When people attack you, you fight back. That's one thing I really appreciated about the first episode - the MC just knifes that guy. He doesn't try to talk to him or anything, because that would be stupid. It's war.

I'm sure they'd be happy to talk if the enemies came up willing to talk. But that's not what is happening, they're coming with troops and weapons.

There are actually some amusing similarities between this and what America does in the Middle East. Bombing runs with jets and drones against people in caves is pretty close technologically to shooting medieval horsemen with machine guns.

[David75]

Outbreak Company, thanks Ryll.

After such a slaughter, it should be difficult to really negociate with people from the other side. Because they know they have nothing to balance the power deficit.


let's get our otaku fantasy now !

[Kraco]

After such a slaughter, it should be difficult to really negociate with people from the other side. Because they know they have nothing to balance the power deficit.

Since the other side suggests ancient Rome style or medieval at best, they shouldn't really have much of a concept of greater nationality or such. If the random villages they encounter reckon the Japanese are super strong, those people would join the Japanese side naturally. Some nobles might also switch sides quickly, bringing whole towns with them. The times were like that.

[shinta|hikari]

But do random villages know that? They don't have a quick communication method, so it's likely those villagers got burned without knowing the exact reason why.

[Kraco]

Episode 3 - HS






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Helluva scales the dragon has. 0.50 HMG penetrates quite thick steel, yet this lizard didn't give a shit. Seems like it wasn't above suffering from a HEAT round, at least. Quite an inept dragon in any case, aside from its thick hide.

The gothic loli was quite amusing. The elf so far hasn't been, but I'm willing to give her some time. The wizard's apprentice seemed far less funny than the wizard himself, but I suppose that's natural. All in all, this episode didn't yet reveal too much about the alien world's domestic contributions to the main cast. At least not what they are supposed to do in the future, if anything but hanging around. It's not like we would have had a particularly strong story so far anyway.

I wonder if these guests will see the hundred thousand corpses feeding crows when they are taken back to the Japanese camp... Or did the Japanese bring over some excavators and bulldozers to get rid of the health hazard?

[Ryllharu]

Helluva scales the dragon has. 0.50 HMG penetrates quite thick steel, yet this lizard didn't give a shit. Seems like it wasn't above suffering from a HEAT round, at least. Quite an inept dragon in any case, aside from its thick hide.

This bothered me a lot as well. A .50 caliber round does a tremendous amount of damage with mere grazes. They are anti-materiel rounds. Into and through things it does even more. That video even shows a cavitation bubble collapse in the trail the bullet leaves. That's how fucking powerful those rounds are. That the dragon took those hits as if they were mere pebbles, but still lost an arm to the RPG ruined the suspension of disbelief a bit for me.

I do appreciate that the protagonist is more pragmatic than he is idealistic.

[MFauli]

This anime is getting good. I thoroughly enjoy watching real world soldiers walking amidst a fantasy rural area, haha. Let´s just hope there won´t be too many plot threads and too little active on-going story, see Log Horizon.

As for the girls, my current choice would be Goth Loli Girl. The elfen girl looks too generic (and I´m still shocked that apparently Im the only one who thinks she´s a blatant copy of Leafa), and the wizard girl is just meh. Agreed, the old wizard was more fun.

I also thought that the dragon could take too much. Was hoping he´d lose at least one of his arms from that bazooka blast.

And yeah, the hundred thousands of dead soldiers are the big elephant in the room. Ya know, they had parents, lovers, friends and children, too.

[shinta|hikari]

RPG >>>>>> Guns is a Japanese tradition since Resident Evil.

The lap sitting scene with the weird smiling girl was nonsensical. This entire show just leveled down one bit because of that.

[Kraco]

The lap sitting scene with the weird smiling girl was nonsensical. This entire show just leveled down one bit because of that.

No, it wasn't nonsensicat at all. She's clearly at least a bit a mental case. She slaughtered the bandits for her own amusement, by the looks of it, chasing them like some predator. When she noticed the MC didn't know how to deal with her, she immediately "attacked" like animals oft do. Just like people who don't know how they should behave in the company of dogs or cats mysteriously seem to be at the center of attention of the said animals. I reckon the girl chose to sit on the dude's lap precisely because it would bother him and be an inconvenience. She wanted to ride the car in any case. Above all, she seemed to be afraid of nothing.

I suppose some might take the scene as a (sexual) fanservice, but to me it was like the girl purposefully messing with the dude, who's very much a boy scout even if he's more pragmatic than idealistic.

[shinta|hikari]

I suppose some might take the scene as a (sexual) fanservice,

Uh, that's what that is. The guy on the passenger seat screamed confirmation of that several times. There are a million ways to develop an insane character. Lap sitting (of a goth loli no less) is not one of them.

[Ryllharu]

Uh, that's what that is. The guy on the passenger seat screamed confirmation of that several times. There are a million ways to develop an insane character. Lap sitting (of a goth loli no less) is not one of them.

I'm with Kraco, I'm really not seeing how this detracted from the series at all. Or even how it was nonsensical.

1. Goth loli shows up with an enormous ax.
2. JSDF personnel make note that the villagers worship her.
3. Villagers mention that riding in the Humvee is neat and comfortable.
4. Goth loli notices the discomfort of the JSDF personnel at her presence.
5. Goth loli rides in the Humvee, choosing to sit in the "front bench" à la a wagon. This also happens to be in the commander's lap.
6. Goth loli lays her giant ax on top of the injured elf girl in the back.
7. JSDF personnel don't do anything, because she's obviously an important and imposing figure to the locals.
8. The more he complains, the more she goes "ara ara ara~"

She's teasing them, and showing off the extent of her influence. On purpose. Once she's done teasing them, she finds a spot in between the seats to enjoy the ride.

The only alternative is that she considers people and object to be the same.

[Buffalobiian]

and I´m still shocked that apparently Im the only one who thinks she´s a blatant copy of Leafa)

Or just every other blonde elf?

The dragon did lose its arm after the RPG as well.

[MFauli]

Or just every other blonde elf?

Examples please. And no, the elf from Record of Lodoss War does not look like a blatant reverse-copy.

The dragon did lose its arm after the RPG as well.

It definitely had 2 arms when it flew away.