Recap: Kyoto is destroyed as the Japanese forces are forced to retreat. Three years later Yui is leaving Japan, determined to never cry again.

Jel’s Thoughts: This episode was very blunt in taking the Horrors of War angle and the fact that their attempts were so transparent kind of dampened the effect. The one scene that comes to mind was an old man literally saying “oh no Kyoto, our Imperial capital of 1200 years, has fallen!”, something every Japanese person would have already understood, and shedding a very quick tear. That and the baby in the war hospital at the end were clearly shortcuts to stir our emotions and it was just too straightforward to be effective.

That being said, no matter how predictable the death of Yui’s squadmates I still found the way they died to be appropriately unsettling. Clearly these first two episodes have just been establishing Yui’s source of motivation and while it wasn’t the most elegant setup I think we got what we need. I am very curious now to see what direction the series takes from here. Will it continue to try and depict the grim results of war or will it be a lighter setting for our heroine to recover in? I’m fairly certain it will be the latter but we shall soon see.