I'm only interested in keeping this story enjoyable, not the whole fantasy genre.
You know, to exaggerate a little, what good was Ikta's brilliant first plot in the show, to get the group back to the empire using the scheme with the hot air balloon, if Yatori could have simply slaughtered every enemy soldier at the border post instead, allowing them to pass just as easily and even keep their gear? With Ikta's plan there was still a high chance of something going wrong as it really relied on the opponent making a hasty decision under stress, but with Yatori simply killing everybody, nothing could have gone wrong since there wouldn't have been an enemy left standing.
See what I mean?
Yatori isn't invulnerable. A good sniper from a decent distance away would pawn her. The situation in the forest was the exception.
Peace.
Hey don't spoil.
Peace.
Episode 5 - HS
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Those were some mighty decisive actions from a couple of kids, but it was a very nice episode. Despite normally not liking flashbacks, I ended up liking this episode. It explains more than sufficiently why Yatori goes to such lengths to endure Ikta's quirky personality, which was something I wondered before. Now I can accept it alright.
However, I still think that civilization looks too neat and developed not to have anything scientific going on.
How can wolves be smarter than arrogant military students?
The part where the leader wolf uses another wolf as a pedestal to jump inside made me laugh. That scene would've made more sense if they made up fantasy wolves, which are supposedly smarter than normal variants.
I'm actually surprised Yatori gave Ikta a run for his money in chess. Now that's just plain impressive. She's like Inaho.
Peace.
If the humans can produce stainless steel, among other things, despite not knowing science at all, it's only fair the wolves were at least that smart.
Yatori mentioned she had played chess before as it's was a part of what's expected of her social class. Considering her background, I reckon she then played it a lot and always against adults. It's possible Ikta had played it much less, he had lots of different interests after all, and many of the times might have been against other kids. In other words, Yatori could have offered a challenge through sheer experience, not innovation.
Yeah, the whole wolves using each other as a trampoline was the epitome of idiotic.
But whatever, moving on.
I want to see more from the mom and dad. I don't know if there'll be time but I want to see what the went through, not solely as an anecdotal event.
She's like Akari.
But the Ikta-Yatori combination is actually better than that duo. Ikta and Yatori compliment each other in both personality and skills, with neither's demeanor really dominating the other's.
She's the weapon he needs, and he's the humanity she needs to stay human. Yatori is smart enough to never question his strategies, because she can grasp the nuances others miss, and trust his judgement. Yatori provides Ikta both the flawless execution of his ideas, and provides the respect of a serious individual to bring weighted trust in him when others might doubt him.
But Tooru is the superior fighter among the two and also has a good head above his shoulders.
Yatori is like a queen of all trades, only beaten by Ikta by a small margin in tactics, unless their time apart has widened that gap significantly.
Peace.
Ikta is much smarter than Yatori. Substantially so. If they were playing chess, she thinks ahead four moves, he thinks ahead ten, while being blindfolded the whole time.
She's smart enough to see a few of the angles he's going for, when everyone else thinks he's doing something insane. She might not understand exactly what his plans are, but she knows enough to operate independently as his field commander.
Something like, "Yatori, obliterate their flank. Destroy their storehouses. [Then mesh with whatever we have going on when you rejoin the main battle in order to pincer them, or simply rejoin if they go to try to put out those fires.]"
He never says the latter part, she just does it based on the objectives he gives her.
Well, I was just basing my assessment on the chess match between them when they were children. Ikta's father called it a close match, and Ikta looked serious.
Peace.
Yatori is smart and grew up in a military family. Tactics and such would be part of her education. She's decently smart as well.
Yatori is more worldly than she is and is also better at reading people. When they were young she may have given some trouble in chess, but I don't think she'd be able to bait people like he did in their mock battle (faking the river's depth etc).
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
How can Yatori be more worldly than her?
Peace.
I meant currently, but forgot to put that in the post, despite thinking I should have when I typed it.
I agree they were tactical equals in this episode's flashback period, and their combat skill was closer to each other as well.
I'm suspect we'll start to see Ikta pull away from her on a tactics basis next episode when they're teens, as well as Yatori displaying combat skill that puts her into bloodlust. That's how this flashback was introduced at the beginning of this episode; that Ikta is the only one who can force her to maintain humanity.