In the previous episode of Saikano, Atsushi went to war in the name of Akemi, a girl who did not love him equally; Chise was revealed to have a different personality outside of her life as a student, and she finally broke up with Shuji, seemingly for good.

The war has yet to end, and the outlook does not look good for *. In one episode, a group of students, who I guess who are fed up with the devastation of their town, decide to attack an enemy combatant who they discover in the woods. This gives us, the audience, a chance to see the enemy for the very first time. Considering how they look, I wonder what gives them an advantage over the good guys. I guess that might be answered in the next volume.

Now that the war has gotten to a certain point, Chise has stayed on the military base for good. Her only friend is Tetsu, Fuyumi‘s husband. Even though she is superhumanly powerful, she is still a human girl, so Tetsu protects her.

There are highly questionable sexual situations in this volume, even more so than when Shuji first met with Tetsu’s wife, Fuyumi.

On the soldiers’ side of the war, the battle is horrifying and tense; but just when you thought it was safe to live in town once again, a calamity happens that affects everyone, especially Shuji. I dare you to not cry during Shuji’s heart-wrenching dialogue in episode 9.

In episode 10, the war has gotten so bad that the military has decided to use Shuji and Chise’s school as a camp, to the dismay of the poor students, who have already been through so much heartache. Episode 10 is nowhere near as sad as episode 9, which is a nice rest from all the violence and bloodshed. After episode 10, the preview for episode 11 looks very happy and it shows that all is not lost for Chise and Shuji.

This volume is the most highly depressing out of all the series’ episodes so far. I don’t know what I expected from this sad love story, but I really felt genuinely sad for every character involved, especially in the second episode. Usually, when you have a bunch of cute high school characters living in the same town, it’s a show appropriate for teenagers and no character gets anything more than a scraped knee. Please, do not expect that from this show. None of your feelings will be spared, and although I didn’t see some of tragedy coming in this volume, I am glad that this Anime takes a very mature route.

Shin Takahashi’s work effectively pushes all the right buttons and doesn’t wallow in predictability. What makes Saikano stand out over many Anime I have seen is that many Anime don’t deal with what happens to young people in a war. When you watch Gundam, the young characters might be sad, but I don’t feel as involved in their emotional struggle as I do with Saikano. There is no giant robot to save people from destruction. The only hope for the unfortunate people of Hokkaido is a girl who, wants more than anything, to be loved and to live a normal life. What separates Chise even further from the average young hero is that her destructive power is bad news for everyone and everything, not just the enemy.

Volume 3 of Saikano has a bonus interview with two actors from the series and a gallery with sketches of some characters. I always like voice actor interviews, but this one didn’t interest me as much as the others. This time, I felt like I would have liked to hear from the American voice actors, probably because I’ve listened to the show in English more than Japanese with subtitles. The gallery is decent, but I wanted a feature with character biographies, not just extra pictures.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older