English Dub Review: Warlords of Sigrdrifa “Exploring a Mythical World!”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

After the rescue mission, the group heads to the underground base away from the Pillars. They discuss their status from their plane’s condition to the pillars in the Tateyama area. Luckily Ichiro had the foresight to stashed supplies and parts in an area where the Pillars haven’t reached yet. Despite the losses, Ichiro lays out the plan for retaking the Tateyama base. Miyako agrees to the plan and does a speech on taking that chance to take back their base. The remaining Valkyries agree to the plan. Later Azuzu and Ichiro listen to a secret recording that the commander took before he died. In the recording, Odin mentions Valhalla, Asgard, Thor, and Northern Europe which they consider to be the secret he was hiding from them.

Claudia sees Lizbet who gives her Yayoi’s last message warning her that Odin’s hiding something. Azuzu meets up with Claudia and asks her if she knew the terms that Odin mentioned in the recording. Then Claudia opens a gate to Valhalla after she recalls Odin’s words about it being always open to her. The team decides to both explore Valhalla and retake the Tateyama base. Azuzu and Claudia head to Valhalla as Miyako retakes Tateyama base with the shield squad. Meanwhile, Sonoka is scared to fly again and helps out on the ground. She’s thanked by the pilots who she saved in the retreat. However, trouble starts when all the girls run into trouble with the pillars in Japan and the guards of Valhalla.

Our Take:

Despite the multiple losses the team presses forward and in this week’s episode we uncover what Odin’s hiding, Valhalla. The episode worked well with the Norse mythology, the apocalyptic conflict, and the emotional conflict from Sonoka and weaving each aspect through the episode.

Now in Odin’s conversation, he mentions Valhalla, Asgard, and Thor. All the terms are from Norse mythology and I’ll start with Valhalla, the hall where Valkyries send the souls of those fallen in combat to rest. The hallway has paintings of gods even from other mythologies like Greek with the Olympians. It is a surprise considering that we’ve only seen Norse mythology references in this anime. Then there’s Thor, the god of the thunder, and Asgard, the home of the gods. Then one of the escorts mentions the hammer in the painting like the one in the Pillar. Azuzu quickly connects the dots to Thor, the thing in the Pillar, and Odin. However, before she can voice out her thoughts something attacks them, presumably a guard of Valhalla. It’ll prove to be a hard fight since it’s been established that modern weapons aren’t that effective towards unknown creatures.

It’s fitting that Claudia, a Valkyrie should be the one to open the gates to Valhalla. However, Odin’s favor only extends to her since she’s his favorite. Even her fellow S-Class Valkyrie, Lizbet notes that Odin treated her more differently from the other Valkyries. The song she sang previously to the fallen soldier according to Claudia has been in her family for generations. Therefore Odin’s claim of her being his daughter doesn’t seem too farfetched. She sings that same song when she touched the runes floating in Valhalla. Although descendant seems more appropriate since we’ve seen her father before in a flashback. Either way, it’s an interesting detail to add to Claudia’s role.

Meanwhile, Miyako deals with retaking the Tateyama base with the shield squad. However, things prove more difficult with the tertiary pillar becoming a secondary class pillar. Without any backup Miyako and the shield squad aren’t going to win without serious casualties like in the second episode. Otherwise, it would just throw the tension of their battle out the window for me as a viewer. Her cheerful personality remains even after the casualties and it works well to help Sonoka with her fear.

In the aftermath of Yayoi’s death, Sonoka grieves and develops a fear of flying as a result. It makes her question how Yayoi could keep on flying despite the risks. Miyako tells her that the two fly similarly and Sonoka could find the answer to that along the way. It was a touching moment as Miyako assures her that she can still help out on the ground. Sonoka’s scene brings the human moments in this episode with her fear. Then when the girls she saved during the retreat thank her, and she admits that she’s weak. That conversation is a hint for Sonoka on Yayoi’s actions, and hopefully she’ll realize it in the next episode. Soon after that the lunch lady saying that she’s going to have her baby soon that moment could clear up Sonoka’s fear of flying with something more powerful than fear.

Overall this episode was good with how it handled juggling these three conflicts together. I can’t wait to see how the writers are going to navigate through this mess.