Pumpkin Scissors
-Military War Drama Comedy
Fan Translated by Eclipse.
Released in the States by Del Ray(the Manga) and ......(anime). I have heard conflicting information on the State release of the manga. I have heard both ADV and Funimation did it.
The Imperial State Section III, granted the name Pumpkin Scissors, is the war relief unit of the Imperial Army. Their job is to provide relief to counteract the problems created by the long war the Empire had with the Republic.
However, to most people S.S. III is merely a joke. The military created purely out of the desire to save face. Only those that don't fit into other units are assigned to S.S. III. In addition S.S. III has little power over the rest of the military. Combine this with rampant corruption and well, it is no wonder the S.S. III is considered a joke.
That is until Third Princess Alice L. Malvin heir to one of the Thirteen Appointed families of the Empire joins the unit(as a 2nd Lieutenant she leads many of the missions). Alice possesses a strong will and a 'noble' heart. She happens to also belief strongly in bringing war relief. As such she quickly whips the unit into shape. Or at least tries to... Warrant Officer Oreldo is subject to frequent 'talks' with the 2nd Lieutenant due to his behavior.
Pumpkin Scissors follows the adventures of this rag tag unit.
Overall the anime is pretty good. However, it really botched it at times. They could have made many of the combat scenes much better. However, the battle scenes mostly ended up as boring. Several times I was easily able to guess what was going to happen next.
However, the anime excelled in the area it was most strongly focused on. This was character development. We get to see various sides of each of the major characters. And while they are not as fleshed out as well as one would hope for a 24 episode series they are still very well done compared to many other shows.
I, in particular, am fond of Alice. Oh sure she is your 'typical' Jeanne D'Arc type character(is that even a character archetype?), however, she is just enjoyable to watch. In addition, I failed to predict her actions on several occasions... either I wasn't paying attention or as she states in the final(or was it second to final episode): "I am not as straight forward as I appear".
Well Discuss. I have a number of Animes I would like to hear others opinions on and I decided to start with Pumpkin Scissors. Why you ask?
This and This and This.
All of that is from the same episode. The basic Premise of that episode is that everyone on the team is down. They failed their mission, a girl is leaving, someone they wanted to save died, etc. Big downer. And Stekkin, bless her heart, wants to make everyone cheery again. The first two links involve two of her attempts to make them all happy.
The second Værn says is beyond an epic failure. What is beyond an epic failure?
