History Anime / ValvraveTheLiberator

* AnAesop: Telling lies and keeping secrets, however well-intentioned, is never sustainable: one way or another, the truth will come out eventually. All the work the Magius put into their conspiracy ultimately crumbles [[spoiler:and leads to their genocide]] when the populace discover their manipulations, while Haruto's martyr complex and efforts to keep others out of what he sees as his problems cost him his relationship with Shouko, the trust and support of Module 77's people, [[spoiler:his memories, and his life, along with the lives of many of his friends who could have been spared if he'd been honest and asked for help.]]

* [[spoiler: BittersweetEnding]]: [[spoiler:By the end of the series, the Council of The 101 is neutralized and Haruto and L-Elf achieve their goal of founding a nation where humans and Magius/Kamistuki can coexist. However, countless people (including Haruto himself) die in the process.]]

* [[spoiler:BolivianArmyEnding]]: [[spoiler: The end of the epilogue shows Shoko facing down two presumably hostile alien lifeforms as she tries to convince them to resolve their conflicts with humanity peacefully.]]

* [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsforKids Screw the Rules, I'm an adult!]] This happens several times during the series. In episode 1, a random Dorsian Mook screams "how could you lose to a recently weaned babe?" just before Haruto kills him. Senator "Moses" Figueroa gets called out on his DirtyCoward actions by Shoko who asks if he's ashamed of himself, and he replies "of course, not. I'm an adult." The President of ARUS, after getting the senator's report, "you allowed yourself to be bullied by a gang of children?" Granted, we didn't hear Senator Figureoa's side of the conversation, but it's still not a good position for the president and his cabinet to take concerning prospective allies. Lastly, it occurs in the season 1 finale. Where Shoko rightly points out that the Dorsian general is a coward for 1.) Having child soldiers fight on the front lines while he sits (in relative safety) on a battleship in the back. 2.) Refuses to let her father speak for himself to her, despite the fact that he's bolted to the floor in heavy chains. 3.) He and his men try to beat Shoko's father to death taunting him as a "pushover" despite the fact that they are attacking at least 3 on one, AND he's in chains. The general's response "to an adult, 'Coward' is the highest praise" to which he adds "you should leave the warmongering to adults."

* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: Despite the occasional GratuitousEnglish like the song the students sing early on, most the the English in the series is grammatically correct and totally legible. The German on the other hand is either hilarious, SoBadItsGood or just plain silly.

*** BetaCouple Inuzuka and Aina? Same thing.

''Valvrave the Liberator'', or in Japanese called ''Kakumeiki Valvrave'', is a mecha anime series produced by {{Creator/Sunrise}}, with Kou Matsuo as the director, [[Manga/DGrayMan Katsura Hoshino]] on the original character designs and [[Anime/CodeGeass Ichiro Okouchi]] as writer. It aired on [[Spring2013Anime April 12, 2013]], with 12 episodes. Season 2 began airing on [[Fall2013Anime October 10, 2013]].

In the year T. C. 71 ([[AlternativeCalendar True Calendar]]), seventy percent of mankind now lives in space, in space colonies called [[DysonSphere Dyson Spheres]]. Two distinctive space nations emerged, the Dorssian Military Federation and ARUS, the Atlantic Ring United States. Haruto Tokishima lives an ordinary yet content life in the neutral nation of JIOR with his friends and his crush Shouko. However, when the Dorssians attack, an untimely tragedy causes Haruto to swear revenge...

* ArmorPiercingSlap: Takahi delivers one to Saki in episode 5. Saki immediately returns the favor.

* TheyFightCrime: Haruto is a WideEyedIdealist who ends up teaming up with L-Elf, a [[PragmaticHero Pragmatic Anti-Hero]] and {{Chessmaster}}.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: This show has a large amount of characters-most of them are somewhat minor, but there are still plenty in every episode, from the JIOR students to the Dorssia soldiers.

* AdultFear: Episode 21. [[spoiler:The entire school population is declared as non-humans, and the military kills all the students, a few on ''live'' television as a demonstration. Now remember that some of their parents are ''still separated'' from those on Earth and the other colonies.]]

* RecycledInSpace: Franchise/{{Gundam}} [-WITH [[spoiler:[[GrandTheftMe BODY-HOPPING]] [[OurVampiresAreDifferent ARTIFICIAL VAMPIRES]]]] AS THE MECHA PILOTS!-]!

*** Matter is heated up by compression and cooled down by expansion. Since vacuum would cause water to expand rapidly, it might be sufficient to get it to the freezing point. However, that same expansion would prevent it from forming large icicles shown - rather, result would be fine ice mist or something akin to it.

* BandwagonFallacy: Both Shoko and Iori fall victim to this in episode 21. They come to the conclusion that the very Valvrave pilots who have continuously put their lives on the line to protect Module 77 from Dorssia's relentless assaults are vicious man-eating monsters because ARUS and Dorssia, as well as the mass media all claim they are. To make this even more heinous, Shoko heard the president of ARUS basically confess that it was a frame-up when he shockingly cries out that ARUS was in full control of the docking bay when the news piece showing the parents of the children in Module 77 were having their runes sucked out was filmed.

* [[spoiler: StarfishAliens: The Magius are a race of EnergyBeings. In addition to that, there is also "species 53" in the epilogue that are a kind of jelly-like creature.]]
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: It's entirely possible that the anime and the titular mecha were originally supposed to be named "Valbrave" instead of the much weirder sounding "Valvrave", due to both sounding the same in Japanese.

* AliensMadeThemDoIt: [[spoiler:More specifically, the Valvrave made Haruto rape Saki.]]

* ConspicuousCG: This was actually one of the higher points of praise for the show. As WebVideo/JesuOtaku pointed out, making CG look natural and work well for the HumongousMecha is not an easy task, but something that the animation team pulled off.

* FunWithAcronyms: "Valvrave", as revealed by [[http://i.imgur.com/Mm9Lmyv.jpg this]] close shot of the raven logo on unit VI. It stands for [[spoiler: "VAmpire Link Vessel Rune Activation Vital Engine."]]

'''''Beware''' of [[FirstEpisodeSpoiler unmarked]] [[LateArrivalSpoiler spoilers]]!''

* FirstEpisodeSpoiler: One word: "Vampires".

* FiveManBand:
** As of episode two, Haruto and his main circle of friends seem to form one.
*** TheHero: Haruto.
*** TheLancer: Shoko, though Saki fulfills this role in episode two.
*** TheBigGuy: Kyuma.
*** TheSmartGuy: Saki.
*** TheChick[=/=]TagalongKid: Aina.
*** SixthRanger: [[spoiler: L-Elf, but it was either take this role or get killed by his allies, who think that he's a traitor.]]
** At the start of season two:
*** TheHero: Haruto
*** TheLancer: L-Elf, Saki
*** TheBigGuy: Kyuma, Yamada
*** TheSmartGuy: Akira, Satomi, Otomaya
*** TheChick: Shoko, Takahi, Marie, really just anyone in the MissionControl.
** The Dorssian elite team aside from the defecting L-Elf:
*** BigBad: Cain, the actual commander of the strike team, and the one who masterminds the attacks on the JIOR colony.
*** TheDragon: A-Drei, as the second in command and the one with the best leadership abilities after Cain.
*** TheEvilGenius: X-Eins, the best strategist and the most cerebral member of the team.
*** TheBrute: Q-Vier, unhinged, trigger happy and rather dim-witted.
*** TheDarkChick: H-Neun, the mood maker and the most genial of the team.

* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: Dorssia does this to Jior by launching a surprise attack.

* BlackAndGrayMorality: This seems to be what the ARUS versus Dorssia ultimately amounts to. The ARUS may be a rather dark shade of gray, as they have plenty of ulterior motives and are perfectly fine with sacrificing a few pawns if it means victory, but they don't go around openly attacking neutral nations, and are apparently above the use of {{Child Soldier}}s. Their most immoral act so far was the result of one {{Dirty Coward}}'s selfish actions. The only somewhat white group is Jior, which is caught in the middle of their conflict, but leaning towards the ARUS.

* CovertPervert: After the broadcast of the Valvraves' battle to the residents of Jior, during Haruto's moment of triumph, Marie randomly reaches up and starts fondling her teacher's breasts.

** ARUS thinks of themselves as this, forming a group largely based on economic strength. The Jior colony residents seem thankful to them however, since they did help repel a Dorssian fleet in episode 2. [[spoiler:Episode four reveals that ARUS may have ulterior motives for helping them however, particularly when Haruto overhears Senator Figaro talking about abandoning the students and trying to retreat with Valvrave.]]

*** BigBad: Cain, the actual commander of the strike team, and the one who masterminds the attacks on the Jior colony.

* KickTheDog: Dorssia attacking the neutral nation Jior… multiple times.
** [[spoiler:ARUS voting to aid Jior so that they can steal and research Valvrave with the intention of starting open conflict with Dorssia within a year. And in episode 21, ARUS troops open fire and kill quite a few of the Module 77 students after TheReveal by Dorssia's Chancellor.]]

** The second episode then also shows everyone in Jior that was celebrating Haruto's victory [[spoiler:being round up about to be forcibly deported since the Jior government instantly surrendered after the attack]].

** The turrets on the Jior colony ship do this in episode 9, firing lots of bullets at Dorssia's troops.

* OhCrap: Basically anyone who's in the path of a Valvrave attack. The Jior students also experience this look when Dorssia tries a sneak attack as well such as in episode 8.

* PointDefenseless: Averted in episode 9 during the Dorssian attack on the Jior colony. They do manage to knock out many of the {{Mooks}} attacking them. It isn't until the colony loses power due to the barrier system drawing too much power that Dorssia manages to knock some of the guns out.

* SpaceFillingEmpire: In addition to their territories in outer space, Dorssia controls Central-Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Russia, while ARUS controls the Americas, Western Europe, and the western half of Africa. Jioru controls the rest, in East, South, and Southeastern Asia and Oceania.

** In episode four, things look pretty grim for Haruto and his schoolmates. Dorssia has a fleet surrounding them, and has taken over their home country on Earth, and ARUS seems more interested in Valvrave than saving them. Shouko offers an alternative, [[spoiler:by telling her classmates that if Dorssia does anything to Jior or their families, they would hand Valvrave over to ARUS. On the other hand, if ARUS refuses to cooperate and help them like they had originally done, they would hand Valvrave over to Dorssia instead. She also announces that their school would become an independent country, which they vote overwhelmingly in favor for.]]

* WeHaveBecomeComplacent: Dorssia definitely believes Jior has become this, since rather than risk outright war Jior is content on paying them off whenever they launch an attack. Despite frustrations over how their government constantly capitulates to to Dorssia, Jior's citizens mostly take their peace for granted and are in for a nasty shock when Dorssia stages a full scale attack.

** At the end of episode 9, Professor Takumi tells L-elf [[spoiler:that practically everyone on the Jior colony aside from the students and Rion were Jior ex-military personnel. Which might help explain why they were conducting research on the Valvraves in the first place.]]

* GratuitousGerman: On the Dorssian side. They're particularly fond of ''Blitzendegen''[[note]]A little bit more correct but still weird German would be something like "Blitz-Degen"[[/note]] ("Lightning rapier") as an all-purpose battle cry.

* GrayAndBlackMorality: This seems to be what the ARUS versus Dorssia ultimately amounts to. The ARUS may be a rather dark shade of gray, as they have plenty of ulterior motives and are perfectly fine with sacrificing a few pawns if it means victory, but they don't go around openly attacking neutral nations, and are apparently above the use of {{Child Soldier}}s. Their most immoral act so far was the result of one {{Dirty Coward}}'s selfish actions. The only somewhat white group is Jior, which is caught in the middle of their conflict, but leaning towards the ARUS.
** Arus' president then goes and proves that Arus is not to be trusted by trying to kill Shoko and those surviving residents of module 77 AFTER she agreed to turn over the valvrave pilots saying "did you honestly believe the president of a country would keep his word with vermin?"