Soukou no Strain: Episode 2
Rating: 8.5/10
Impressions:
I’m still waiting for Shinsen’s release of Soukou no Strain 3, but I have no idea when it will come since Shinsen has so many active projects at the moment. Anyway, Sara has lost her mimic, changed her last name to Cruise, joined a mobile infantry training battalion, practising in standard mechanical weapons in order to seek out her traitorous brother. Strain pilots, called Reisner(?), are highly regarded in this regiment, and it just so happens that a Reisner decides to become friends with Sara. Well, not really, since Sara is still pretty cold, refusing to talk with anyone. She puts 100% into her training and wishes to advance as fast as possible. I can already see where this is going. Sara probably uses the mimic she finds to pilot a Strain (or something like that) and shows all the poor losers that pressured her how awesome she is, including the midget Reisner. There of course will also be the clashing reunion of Sara and her brother, and the little girl (Emily was it?) that he took will become a major part of the story, probably after being rejoined with her mimic. If it is her mimic, that is. I’m looking forward to the next episode, as despite its mediocre animation, Soukou no Strain still remains as one of my more favoured ones this season (though it is still new and mysterious, and could diverge in many ways).
I’m not too impressed with the new characters, since I like the initial one better, though they were all killed off were dramatic effect. Or, they might not end dead and come back some time later in the series. Their deaths really hardened Sara’s personality and have given the show an obvious darker mood than it would be if no one had died. Hopefully, the guy who likes Sara is still alive, as a large amount of time was spent on development between the two before he ‘died’. The general plot is yet to be revealed as well, so once that becomes more obvious, perhaps the possibility with reappearances of supposed dead characters will become more determined. People returning to the main plot after being removed from it are always interesting, and usually give me a satisfying feeling after either seeing the enemy’s astonishment, or another protagonist’s delight (or both). Awe is also a nice factor that’s used in these situations. I would sure like to see Sara’s reaction if something like this happened; I don’t really like her current attitude. It’s too harsh and not nearly as fun as her previous persona. That’s another issue that this anime excels in expressing; emotions. The scream at the end of episode 1 was truly good, and her actions this episode enforce the idea that she has been broken to the core, before trying to mend/cover the mental wound up with a solid stance. Character development as such is a sure appealing factor in this show, which will work wonders if it can be exploited further.
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Its Sara Cruz actually … fansubs seem to got the name wrong but episode 4 makes it very clear since her name is displayed one a screen.
I doubt the episode cast retruns since the guy that liked Sara back in episode 1 is midget reisner onii-chan.
I know that’s what the fansubs say but everyone translates things differently. Is there some sort of official english translation for that name? I know the fansubs say it’s Cruz, but I just thought Cruise sounds better. It’s like with D.Gray-man, where the subs (that I watch) say Lenalee, while the manga scanlations say it’s Linali. I think Linali looks better so that’s what I use.
Actually, it’s Sara Crewe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Little_Princess
I guess it is, and the anime stuffed up the name or something…
It is Cruz, dont argue about it since as I said, episode 4 shows her name in romanji displayed on a screen .. you cannot get more official then that.
Well I’m not big on the name, but I think it was interesting how the first episode is soley for background, and then a jump to the second episode. Sara made it from the academy to the space school pretty quick.
You think that is bad?
Now try to explain how midget Reisner managed to get in that position were it seems she is following her OLDER brother that had not graduated yet in ep 1.
Must be one hell of a crash course.
At least Sara is/was still training and she is assigned to vastly inferior mechs, its kinda like someone that undergoing commando training to get assigned to infantary.
Ok, it’s Cruz. But now I’m lost…who’s the midget reisner?
The brunette with blue eyes and red ribbon in the images.
I’m not following at all. Since when did the brunette have a brother and how did this happen in episode 1? Is this explained in a later episode or something? I’ve only watched up till episode 2 (but not for long..)
It shows in episode 3 the reason why she joined the military (same reason as Sara, to be close to her bother), that he was killed by Sara brother during the attack in ep 1 and finaly a picture of her and her brother.
Subs have catched up pretty fast, episode 4 already been subbed.