It's pretty amusing that the clone was imploring Izetta not to interfere with human wars...while wearing Germanian colours.
Also, we have no guarantee that the clone actually has the original White Witch's memories. Our only evidence is that she knows what happened to the original White Witch and knows about the mandate not to interfere with human nations. That could easily have been gleaned from documents such as the one looted from that monastery in the Alps.
I wasn't sure that she even believed any of what she was saying - I could totally believe that everything up until her freakout was scripted to try and hurt Izetta's morale. Though the flipout DOES make me wonder exactly how sturdy Berkman's control over her is...
Surprisingly, being betrayed by the people you dedicated your life to and sold to the enemy to be tortured until you die does not leave you feeling entirely at peace with the universe. Who would have guessed.
Surprisingly, being betrayed by the people you dedicated your life to and sold to the enemy to be tortured until you die does not leave you feeling entirely at peace with the universe. Who would have guessed.
Obviously, she'll be defeated by Izetta and Fine marrying each other, showing her that the power of love can win.
I mean, imo, she wasn't lying when she was nice at the beginning of the duel and turned psycho because she saw herself in Izetta's loyalty and that made her mad given how it ended for her.
Eylstadt has largely fallen, with high command and most of the remnants being pushed into the Alps. Izetta is recaptured in the Sellun Corridor by Eylstadt forces and is brought along as the high command retreated to the Alps, where she wakes up apparently nearly a month later. Berkman earns a promotion to Lieutenant Colonel(Or Obersturmbannführer, to be period-accurate) and is promptly kicked out of the relevant affairs because Not!Hitler doesn't like Berkman being too competent. My guess that the red magical stone absorbs magical energy appears to have been largely correct, except apparently it eats into the witch's life through using it(insert omnimous music here. Also, Sophie only has one half of the full stone). Also, the whole red magic thing we saw earlier in this series when Izetta was loosing control of her powers, is apparently called Exenium and is some sort of magic-fuel-explosive; it is what Sophie uses to power Germanian's magical V-1s, and it is also what the Not!Nazis use to begin their version of the Blitz(which is probably a precursor to their version of Operation Sealion). The Not!Nazis are apparently also using it to develop some sort of nuke, I think. To get back to the magic stone thing, using it puts a considerable strain on her unstable clone body, which the Nazis try to compensate for by mass producing clones for her to transfer into(yes, the Not!Nazis now have mind transfer technology. Because Nazi superscience!), but Sophie doesn't care - she's only concerned with destroying Eylstadt and it's royal family in the most painful and horrible way she can imagine. While all this is happening, Not!Hitler and Not!OKH meets together to discuss a peace treaty to offer the allies, which is apparently full of demands like having the allies retreat from North Africa, give access to the Suez Canal, war reparations, give over Malta and Gibraltar, etc. Not!Hitler is confident the allies will have no choice but to accept this treaty due to Sophie(don't really think they would, but the Allies in this timeline and OTL are different...), and once it is done, he plans to invade Not!USSR, called the Volga Federation. Yes, pick a fight with the USA and the USSR, real smart there buddy.
While all this is happening, back in Eylstadt's temporary capital, Fine realizes Izetta has gotten hurt(to the point of apparently not being able to walk anymore) because of her, because Izetta wants to fight for her, and because Fine doesn't want to give up on saving the country, causing her to break down and cry. Izetta also realizes that Fine is now crying because of her, and becomes even more desperate to do something for Fine. Then Sieg walks in, offering the other half of the magic stone - telling Izetta if she really wants to do something, he can give her this.
This episode fleshed out Sophie's character a bit more after her brief introduction last episode - she is consumed by hate and anger towards Eylstadt, uncaring for anything else other than that, including her own well-being. This level of emotional response doesn't seem quite possible if she doesn't actually have the memories of the original White Witch, so I'm going to assume that Sophie does indeed have the original White Witch's memories. Fine's and Izetta's relationship appears to be taking in more unhealthy aspects - Izetta's obsession with Fine is causing her to harm herself, and causing emotional pain to Fine(which causes Izetta to push herself even more. Positive feedback loop!); what's more tragic is that Fine definitely knows this, and yet also cannot give up her attempts to save her people and her country - to push for the latter is to cause Izetta to harm herself even more.
Not!Hitler is also obviously mad - also, racist(Not!Hitler is racist? You don't say...) against the Slavs(or Volgans) just like Hitler OTL.
Not!USSR is called the Volga Federation, which is actually pretty interesting in that it suggests the Tsar regime didn't last either in this timeline - so either the White Army won or the Bolshevik Revolution succeeded as in OTL. Another interesting note is that the Japanese for the Soviet Union is ソビエト連邦(so-bi-e-to ren-po), the latter 連邦 usually being translated to "Federation" in English or referring to Federations in English works(ex. the Federation in Gundam, or the UFP from Star Trek), but it can also refer to Union, as here when referring to the USSR. So technically a more historically accurate translation for the "boruga renpo" would be the "Volga Union", if it actually is the USSR.
With only 2 episodes left, I have no idea how the hell they're going to milk a happy ending out of this situation. I would expect either another cour, or probably a bitter-sweet tragic/happy ending at best for this cour. Judging by the fact that Sieg gave Izetta the red stone, my guess is that she uses it to defeat Sophie and the Germanians, before the strain it puts upon her body killing her(probably right after a tear-inducing scene of Fine talking to the dying Izetta or something), making her quite literally the last witch on Earth - she died, leaving no heirs - consistent with the show's title and a more omnimous interpretation of it.
Given the USA were all "oh shit oh shit oh shit" when a little country with no army had a witch, they'll probably shut up when the greatest military power gets a more powerful witch.
Given the USA were all "oh shit oh shit oh shit" when a little country with no army had a witch, they'll probably shut up when the greatest military power gets a more powerful witch.
Might have been the Atlanta diplomat just having a freak out. It didn't really make much of a difference, as the !Ger stomped Edelstadt before the !Atl could show up. Dday is still going to happen tho, probably.
At this point, I'm half expecting for a second season in which a much older Fine would be leading an army of Izetta clones in a world wide war where witch clone soldiers are the name of the game.
The actual story would be about a Izettrooper who, after being shot down, was nursed back to health by some civilian and decide to fight for that person's sake just like the original Izetta latched on Fine.
At this point, I'm half expecting for a second season in which a much older Fine would be leading an army of Izetta clones in a world wide war where witch clone soldiers are the name of the game.
The actual story would be about a Izettrooper who, after being shot down, was nursed back to health by some civilian and decide to fight for that person's sake just like the original Izetta latched on Fine.
Huh, you know what, maybe Izetta won't die. My fingers are crossed.
The episode opens with the Not!Nazis discovering the Eylstadt-government-in-exile and Fine's location, immediately followed by an assault by the Germanian SS(technically speaking the Japanese used is Shinetai 親衛隊, but that's the Japanese word used in reference to the SS) - They storm the building capturing most of it almost immediately and isolating Fine, getting her to surrender even by bringing all the Eylstadt soldiers they captured and killing them off one by one until Fine came out. Thankfully, she is saved once again by Izetta, who has received the magic stone from Sieg and proceeds to sh*t stomp all over the Nazis. Berkmann, who was part of this assault, shoots the SS Colonel after he presses the Colonel into admitting that he was ordered to execute Berkmann after this battle, and surrenders to the Eylstadt forces. Fine and co. move to another place, where Berkmann is interrogated by Sieg. Berkmann reveals as proof of his honesty that Germania has developed a magic-nuclear-bomb(20 kilotons) using the Exenium mentioned last episode, and plans to nuke Landsbruck(Eylstadt's capital) with it. They are also gathering the world leaders(including that of the allies) at Westeria, for the exterior purposes of a peace treaty but in actuality to threaten them using the demonstration of the nuke to force a surrender - however the missile the nuke is equipped on doesn't have proper guidance yet, and requires Sophie to guide it manually from launch to impact. Thus, defeating Sophie would prevent the launch. Upon hearing this news Fine is distraught, realizing she has to send Izetta out to fight once more. She is extremely conflicted over making Izetta suffer for her, as well as introducing witches to the modern world in the first place. At first she contemplates on surrendering to Germania, but Izetta slaps her out of it and brings her to her senses. After a scene in which [YURI INTENSIFIES] , Sieg, Bianca, Berkmann and Fine leaves towards Westria to prevent the allies from signing any treaty with Germania - only to get caught by our Nazi!Ace guy. Meanwhile Izetta encounters Sophie once more, leaving us with Episode 12 for the final showdown....
Izetta's personality certainly has grown throughout the show, even if not by huge margins. Fine showed her kindness - and so did the people of Eylstadt. It isn't just about Fine now, but what Fine loves and Fine stood for when Izetta made her pledge to her. When Fine herself seems to give up, distraught and torn apart by the dilemma of having to see Izetta suffer for her again, Izetta is the one who reminds Fine of why she's the Archduchess, and why she pledged to fight for her. The bond between the two is now most certainly more than "she saved me!" one-sided adoration. Izetta loves Fine, but not just Fine herself, but her personality and ideal, to keep Eylstadt safe.
Berkmann and Sieg's interaction also brought forth some more interesting character development out of Sieg - Berkmann asserts that they are similar, but Sieg disagrees. The two fundamentally disagree in the basis of their motivation - Berkmann is self-serving and is all too aware of it, while Sieg cares for things other than himself.
We'll see how the conflict is resolved in the last episode. I still think Izetta will probably die, but I'm not ruling out the possibility of some method that we are told but not shown explained to Fine by Izetta in this episode being game-changing enough to defeat Sophie decisively.
Man they could totally have put a kiss in there. I hate it when shows take the prudish route, but I guess it's suggestive enough that I can make it my headcanon and nobody can deny it.
Ah, now it's time for Cipher to ride out and take down Solo Wing Pixy before he can launch V2. (There had better be a goddamn air joust scene I'm fairly certain it's guaranteed but if there isn't...)
Dammit Belka every goddamn time m, "Waah we're losing! NUKE TIME."
...Didn't Germany take Landsbruck a few episodes ago? I mean, there's presumably guerilla resistance, but they'll ALSO be bombing their own occupation forces. Also a little annoyed that no one pointed out to Fine that surrendering wouldn't help. The point isn't to force a surrender, it's to be a demonstration of force.
Also yeah I really wish they'd put a kiss or SOMETHING in during that scene. Like. There is a shot where they're close enough and it's far away enough that I can believe that they DID but it'd be nice if they'd actually freaking show it.
You have to admit that it's worth being cautious about that much power being the hands of someone else. Like Berkman says, if Izetta can beat Sophie she will without a doubt be the most powerful person in the world. Batfleck is hyperventilating about the possibility as we speak.
Welp, the only observation I have to add about this is that not-Stalin apparently never purged his military... *Red Alert-esque sequel fic potential intensifies*
