Northern war episode 1 subbed is out
I actually really liked the episode. Was going in expecting the animation to be pretty budget, and it was. But this episode has me excited for the world building of North Ambria. Might be in the minority but I liked the exposition jaeger duo, they at least made the exposition a little more entertaining for those of us who know most of it already. Thought the voice acting and bgm were pretty good too. Again, I probably only found it enjoyable as a supplement to the games and world I’m already invested. Unless they really go in and make it an emotional story later on, I think it’s safe to say that people should only be watching this if they’ve played the games.
Not bad at all, animation is budgeted but has good direction
I am really curious as to what people who have never played the games will think of this show. I know there are a decent handful out there watching.
That was better than I expected. It’s not anything special but if they can keep this we can have a pretty decent show.
The pacing is good too
Very watchable, was expecting worse. Do have to give props for trying to get the exposition out of the way early, there’s no real way to deal with the lore of the series in a short time frame. Just explaining things like the Salt Pale, North Ambria as a state, jaegers, Crossbell, Erebonia, etc., is something which was explained gradually over multiple games with easily up to a hundred hours each of game time.
The only real way to do this is as a personal story really, so it’s a good decision they’ve made to focus on the Northern Jaegers.
I do feel for them, Falcom has entire games as prologues to introduce people to the world and they only have minutes.
That said, I do appreciate that the anime is here and am looking forward to what they do with it.
IT’S FINALLY HERE! So far looks better than the Sky OVA 
I think the first episode was fine and Even if ir could be better it introduce North ambria well to people who don’t know anything and gives people who know a little more of one place whe never seen Before
I like the little details
Like in the ending Lavi is in Ymir and have beadux(baron Schwarzer’s dog) or that the northen jaegers believe Valimar is a Soldat
I almost got a bit teard up after listening to Rogan’s speech. Knowing Erebonia empire annexed Crossbell and now after North Ambria. He understands the stakes. Don’t know if he is a bad character, but may as well be the one who has the will to make a big change.
As soon as I saw Lavi give a head pat I was like “oh no, not her too”, lol.
Also, I do have to say I like the OP a good bit too.
I’m surprised there haven’t been any official discussion threads set up for the show now that it comes out. A weekly one for each episode would be welcomed.
That aside, if anyone has seen it, could someone tell me what the animation and writing is like, while I would like to support the series I am a little scared of the show ending up like the Sky OVAs.
Anyone know if the opening song is on spotify? I know the song is called “The story so far” by akita chisato but I can’t find it nor can a google search tell me when it releases without getting bombarded by a million articles about the anime
Honestly… it wasn’t as bad as some people here are making it out to be.
Animation wasn’t anything special, but it’s not like it was bad.
Exposition was expected, but it did take up a lot of the episode.
Those two guys were very annoying, hope they don’t show up again.
I liked how they said something along the lines “Does she think she’s the second coming of the Purple Lightning” because Sara respect is nice.
Rogan seems like he’s the actual main villain of the story and the Northern Jaeger’s “ace”. If he fights Aurelia and doesn’t get one shot, I’ll have a problem.
I’m just excited to see characters I actually know in future episodes.
Overall, about what I expected, quality wise. Though I did expect more to happen in episode 1.
Q for everyone – how spoiler heavy is the anime for those not caught up w the series? Personally finished (and loved) Sky 1/2/3, CS 1,2, currently halfway through zero (Anniversary special), haven’t played Azure yet. Initially put down the series after CS 2 because it was obvious I was missing context for what was happening in the last quarter or so of the game, obviously planning on playing / finishing them all at some point. Would probably enjoy watching the anime but only if it doesn’t spoil some of the bigger character / plot reveals. Thx!
Just based on how the Sky Anime movie was, I was honestly expecting worse animation and dialogue.
I went in with low expectations and I was pretty surprised at the overall quality. I enjoyed the first episode but it was ultimately a first episode and nothing terribly exciting has happened yet but I’m here for whatever story they want to tell.
I enjoyed it. Cautiously optimistic about quality at this point, actually. Expectations had been set pretty low based on the trailer and by watching the Sky OVA last week.
The glimpses of old friends from Erebonia actually looked pretty good too.
Quick question: should I go around playing and finishing Cold Steel 2 before watching it? I finished the first Cold Steel recently and I’m currently on Sky SC.
I liked it but I will also say that it’s pretty clear that the show assumes you’re pretty aware of the setting. 
I really liked It, my worries was If The relationships and presentations would look rushed or artificial but It was Nice. And of course, How they would build up The lore, It was good as well, i want to know more of The Salt pale incident if possible(How The gralsritter Deal with it) in the Future and The talks and references with connections of The games was really Nice.
But for me, this is like a DLC for CS, A DLC i loved(First episode) but It needs The main game counterpart to be Full, If you played The games The anime Will be a better experience. So There is no way Newcomers Will be able to digest this easily, or not get bored with something they don’t understand. I Hope this is a gift from Falcom for The fans because i don’t know if this Will manage to bring more people. Let’s Hope giant robots fighting Will make non players stay until the end.
And finally: MY GOD I LOVED THE OPENING!!!
I watched it this morning. Expectations are low but I figured what the hell. Thoughts on ep. 1 below.
Opening scene playing the CS3/CS4 track immediately made me think that Falcom tasked poor Sonoda with sound design for this show too but I’d have to check the credits.
Long exposition scene walking in the snow making extra sure that you know what you’re watching is a bit much but it’s broken up… well enough, I guess. Disappointed at how non-plussed the veteran mercs are at the newbie dodging snowballs from behind.
Mysterious, new figure is called the “Aurora Phenomenon”. Sounds fabulous. I like that even his hair is iridescent.
Action sequence revealing newbie to be protagonist-chan was stilted in a few spots (that spot where the music abruptly cuts out when the jobber mercs run out of ammo without adequate build-up stands out in particular) but is decent enough for what is clearly a budget production.
Hearing more music in the show now and I have no clue where the new tracks are from but I want to guess straight-ripped from the newer games that haven’t been released in English yet. The track that plays as Lavian is walking among the city stalls sound too eastern so I’m guessing it’s Calvard music.
Exposition dump from the granny stands out even more as ofc the mercs who are almost certainly natives know the basic-est history of North Ambria but I guess the show needs to get the background out there for people not with the program and it could have been done worse.
That shot of Rogan’s corp restraining the two goober mercs clashes a bit with them clearly securing the memorial for their leader and leaving protag girl just standing there on top. I guess they knew Rogan was going to pass and speak ominously into her ear before delivering his grand revolution speech.
Credits had a decent number of Trails callbacks, and I’m not just talking about Mishy.
Overall this episode is a little better than I’d expected. The subs got all the locations and names correct, and the show is… mostly on point in this regards (the long engraving on the memorial is perfect English but one of the fliers spells Aidios as “Eidos”). The atmosphere of what little we see of Haliask is about what I’d imagine - A grand, central government building presumably preserved from pre-crisis surrounded by shantytowns. I was a little surprised at the existence of a post-war memorial but then I thought about it for a moment and realized that building it is probably the type of thing a new government in a poor country would try to do to curry up any favor.
Expectations are still low but I’ll be back for next week.