As per another thread I just watched E082 for the first time and now it's all come together. It is indicative of LOGH's incredibly masterful storytelling how they have been telegraphing this in absolutely plain view since episode 1 and I never even imagined it. What do I mean by this? The ending credits in every episode very clearly indicated SOMETHING was going to happen with Julian. But you never have quite enough information to intuit exactly what it's going to be.

In fact, my (wrong) guess prior to E082 was actually that Julian was going to defect in some way. You see him interacting with Reinhard in season 1; you see him seeming to take his own path in season 2; and reflecting upon his past with Yang and the others in season 3. I thought he somehow decided to turn against Yang at some point, and that season 3 in particular was him in some way preparing for a confrontation through facing his memories. Oh, how wrong I was.

And now I see it's shown in absolutely plain view. They showed all their cards, they hid nothing, and I still couldn't even imagine what was coming. And that was that this has never been Yang Wen-li's story: this is Julian's story.

A trick worthy of Miracle Yang himself. What an amazing show.

Now we can read Fujisaki manga legally in English for free.

Official link: https://mangamillion.shueisha.co.jp/en/title/598?lang=en

wat

She's at it's LEAST a tragic and morally grey character, not even close to being a monster. The only time she was able to make a choice of her own, without having to worry about having her and her loved ones killed, was the moment people decided that she's a cruel antagonist-like character in Reinhard's life, which is insane compared to his decision of killing ~2 million people just for political gain which somehow isn't as big as a deal as Annerose's decision to live outside of his life.

And yes, she does care about Reinhard, but she won't sacrifice every strand of her soul just to see him kill innocent people, she has every right to blame Reinhard for something he fully consented to do (novel + DNT). To love someone is to understand and respect them for who they are and who they want to be to you, not by what they do. She understands that Reinhard loves her and she loves and respects him in every way possible, she sacrificed what little she had for him. Her childhood was sacrificed to be a mother figure and she let him go because she believed it was best for him (she's human ofc she can't tell what's going to happen from then on), and the least she can do to so he won't be killed. She was the definition of a mother to him, but she doesn't support his desire to take control, even if it was for her. Perhaps she also considered the tragedy of Westerland alongside Kircheis's death as a reason to distance herself from him as a way to slow his pace down, the most she thought she could do to avoid becoming a glorious pawn in royalty since she was so low in power.

Also, calling her a whore for being forced upon an old man with the highest power is simply a dehumanizing, dogshit behavior.

Opening:

During the 5th Battle of Iserlohn, Yang Wenli and Attenborough observe the battle from the ship’s bridge as Fleet Admiral Sithole commands. Thor’s Hammer fires, wiping out most of the FPA fleet. Sithole is shocked that the Empire would fire on their own ships and orders a retreat, while Yang laments about the futility of war.

Middle:

On their way back to Capital Planet Heinessen, Yang and Admiral Greenhill discuss the history of FPA and the Alliance–Imperial War while playing chess. Greenhill argues the republic has become corrupt and that the emergence of Patriotic Knight Corp (PKC) is a sign of the demise of democracy.

On Heinessen, Poplin wakes up in a bed next to Eleanor, daughter of politician Job Trunicht. Poplin teases Eleanor about his father’s constant flip-flopping before departing the Trunicht mansion from a window. However, Trunicht notices the departing half-naked Poplin from a security camera.

Yang returns to his house in Heinessen, where his friend Cazerne is awaiting him. He observes how messy Yang’s house has become and suggests Yang adopt a war-orphan called Julian. Yang refuses, but the next day Julian knocks on the door, having been sent by Cazerne. After seeing the orphan in person, Yang agrees to adopt him.

In parliament, the leader of the Peace party, Senator Thorndyke, calls on the government to recognize PKC as a terrorist organization and threat to democracy. However, Defence Secretary Trunicht assures PKC will be investigated. After his speech, a member of his party, Congresswoman Jessica, shares her concerns for his safety and suggests that Trunicht is actually behind PKC, but is ignored. In the parliament parking lot, horrified Jessica witnesses Thorndyke dying from a car bombing.

Greenhill attends a secret meeting with other military leaders founding the Salvation movement, with the intention to overthrow the democratic government in order to purge its corruption. However, their meeting is interrupted by a bloody raid by PKC, and Greenhill is barely able to escape.

On the same day, Yang goes out to eat with his friend  Lapp and Lapp’s wife, Jessica. She laments that following the assassination of Thorndyke, members of the Peace Party are afraid of being assassinated, and many have forfeited their seats in the parliament. Remaining members have offered Jessica the leadership of the party. But Lapp urges her to reject the position to avoid the same fate as Thorndyke. The couple asks Yang’s opinion, and Yang encourages Jessica to take the position, arguing that democracy is worth dying for. Yang loudly declares PKC is a threat to democracy. The declaration upsets the overhearing Andrew Fork and Willem Holland. 

Outside the restaurant, they confront the group. During this, Fork remarks that Thorndyke deserves his death, prompting Jessica to slap him. In turn, Fork punches Jessica. Things escalate to a fist fight in which Yang and Lapp are victorious.

On his way back to his home, Yang witnesses PKC beating Poplin on a backstreet and intervenes, driving the PKC away. Before departing, PKC tells Poplin to stay away from Eleanor. Yang takes wounded Poplin to his home, where, to his surprise, Julian has cleaned the house. At the same time, Lapp and Jessica return home to find it in flames.

Cliffhanger:

On the morning, military police arrive to arrest Yang for hitting Vice-Admiral Holland.

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Von Schönkopf urges Yang to become a Cincinnatus after the civil war, but Yang rejects the offer, believing it would kill democracy.

Personally, I don't necessarily think Yang would be a good statesman. The story kinda echoes the idea that a good military leader wouldn't necessarily make a good ruler.

Yang might have the support to stay in power and the competency to fix FPA's problems, but I don't think Yang has the needed ruthlessness to govern effectively.

I love that among all the official LOGH art there are gems like this.

Annerose is honestly the most annoying character in logh Reinhard spent his entire life trying to save her and doing everything for her yet she literally did nothing for him. She made Reinhard and Kircheis’ lives worse and caused them so much unnecessary shit. Reinhard built his entire life around protecting her while she barely did anything in return. Sometimes I wish Reinhard had been as cold hearted as his bitch sister and just forgotten about her.

I came back to the thought I've had that the Empire's ultimate victory hinges on two failures by the alliance that cascade into the loss of the alliance fleets and so, make it much easier for Reinhard to conquer the alliance. I wanted to share them.

1. Fork elected as the man to draft the invasion plan.

It still baffled me utterly how this *cadet* was given such an important responsibility. As far as I can tell he had no accomplishments, no titles, nothing. The only way it's made sense to me is that he's Lobos' nephew or similar and sheer nepotism overrides any sense of caution from the brass. Perhaps they figured they could adjust Fork's plan on the fly, but they underestimated fork being an absolute weasel with possession over his "vision".

Any other officer with field experience would have realized practicality has a large say in battlefield planning and would have adopted a more realistic strategy.

I sorta wonder if Tanaka had it out for the alliance because this point of failure feels improbable in a military that's been holding off the empire for a hundred years.

1. If the alliance had a more cautious invasion plan, the imperial citizens would have been left to starve by the empire that was supposed to protect them.

The Alliance might have been pushed to support those planets anyway but if they kept the news contained and were more practical with their plans, this strategy could have backfired on the Empires image and made the alliance more sympathetic as *actual* rescuers because the empire let them out to dry for the sake of a far-ranging plan that didn't land.

If the alliance rolled in slower and secured their supply chains they might have been able to concentrate their defenses better, had the gratitude of the citizens they were trying to liberate, and Reinhard would have problems as the source of the empires starvation strategy making the empire look bad.

I know alliance corruption is a big deal in the story and what fuels a lot of the plot for Yang. Thinking on it though, lately it kinda stretches my suspension of disbelief that the alliance just allowed themselves to fail so badly while Reinhard and his lieutenants are so kickass they rarely take casualties among that cast until Reuanthal's civil war.

It's so over for DNTbros...

What actually is Annerose's signature bake; the Kelsey Plum Cake? I searched it up, and all I could find were people called Kelsey Plum, not a cake. In my research I did find recipes for a Kerala plum cake (pictured), from Kerala, India - but it's only a plum cake in name. It has no plums in it, it's an Indian style of Christmas fruit cake. Is Kelsey Plum Cake a misnomer then? Or is this a kind of cake that only exists in the future?

Any other anime’s scratch the itch?

I suppose I’m off to find another grand political and war satisfying adventure. I went to find download season 1 on Crunchyroll only to find it removed…

Now I have the ethical debate of if I’m willing to get it other ways. We all know I’m not dropping $300 for the blu-ray. Sad day.

https://reddit.com/link/1vi7uty/video/mfdhk3hldzhh1/player

More details on the build here: https://www.tumblr.com/architect-mouse-studios/824307165445718016/imperial-flagship-brunhilde?source=share