Argevollen is a Mecha anime series that started in the summer of 2014. The show had it final episode on December 18, 2014. The basis of the show is a Mecha military anime that follows one squad at war with another country. Before I continue, this blog post contains spoilers, so if you haven’t seen Argevollen or are catching up and don’t want the series ruined you can stop here. In viewing the last episode of Argevollen it showed similarities to Broken Blade, which can be purchased here on Amazon.
The final episode of Argevollen had an anti-climatic ending to a Mecha series. To recap this episode, Captain Samonji has decided to disobey orders and to take the unmanned mecha units to meet Ingelmia forces. Just as the captain is engaging with the Ingelmia forces the independent 8th squad arrives. The independent 8th squad plan is to recapture the Argevollen by pinning it down. Once the Argevollen is down Jamie and Tokimune reboot the Argevollen and Tokimune jumps in to re-pilot. Argevollen is in the battlefield and Captain Samonji activates a device. The purpose of this device is to destroy the U-link systems, which he successfully does. The U-link systems destroyed, the Argevollen is no longer able to function which spares Tokimune from the problems that the U-link causes. This is considered to be the action component of the episode and the first 7 minutes of the episode. The remainder of the episode focuses on how Captain Samonji destroyed the U-link systems and is prepared to die. He is about to be killed but is saved by his lover and Lieutenant. As a result he becomes a contact officer for the temporary peace between Ingelmia and Arandas. On the other hand the Lieutenant that saved Captain Samonji has taken over the independent 8th squad. Tokimune is still in the independent 8th squad but has no Argevollen Mecha unit. Jamie, at the end of the episode, receives a call from her former boss, before he gets assassinated telling her that she will receive her severance check in the mail. Jamie and Tokimune have a semi-happy ending and appear to be on the fast track of being in love with one another. The episode has its flaws, but provides a semi-nice ending that wraps up the ending.
As I mentioned in my opening paragraph the series reminds me of Broken Blade. Broken Blade and Argevollen have similar endings. Argevollen ended with both countries agreeing to a temporary peace that will eventually be broken. In Broken Blade the series ended with the two countries still at war. These endings, to their respective anime, give the impression that the war is not over. Instead of the war being over it is a stalemate and everyone is waiting for the war to start again. The ability for an anime to end on a note where the problems at the beginning of the anime are not resolved is extremely tricky. This is demonstrated in Argevollen as it could have been executed better. Conversely Broken Blade executed the continuation of the war perfectly. Despite the fact that Argevollen execution of the idea was not perfect the effect and message that it was trying to achieve is still relevant and carries a strong meaning. This meaning is extremely crucial to the fact that Argevollen is a modern day warfare anime and current warfare does not end. Argevollen and Broken Blade both ended with the idea that the war goes on and it leaves the next chapters of the story to be fulfilled by the fan rather then the creators. Furthermore, with it ending so openly, we as fans can speculate what the next story will be in Argevollen and Broken Blade. As fans of Argevollen there are some flaws with the last episode but it tied up lose ends and was a satisfactory ending to this military Mecha anime.
