In October, I will be speaking at Rowan University at the "Alternate Worlds" conference. My paper will be about Valkyria Chronicles. Here is my proposal:
Valkyria Chronicles is a Playstation game released in 2008, and reissued in a remastered edition in 2016, by Sega. The game chronicles Squad 7, a militia in an alternative version of World War II Europe, as they fight back after their neutral, but resource heavy, country is under siege from both outside and within. Squad 7, “peasants and barbarians,” as an enemy calls them, is led by Welkin, a nature loving school teacher and his half sister Isara. Isara is a Darcsen, a group of people blamed for calamities in the world and discriminated against both by society and members of Squad 7 itself.
Valkyria Chronicles uses the tropes of World War II films, modern anime, and post 9-11 anxieties about dwindling resources and The Other to create a narrative that explores how we fight war, what we believe, and how ingrained prejudice is difficult to overcome. Each member of Squad 7 has “potentials” which randomly activate during battles. Some members are pacifists, who will occasionally refuse to fight. Some members are so prejudiced against Darcsen that they will trigger a “Darcsen Hater” potential that lowers their statistics when near Darcsen.
The game's plot explores these issues by combing war film tropes with the conventions of anime to create a narrative that reimagines the past while also examining our current world and the issues that modern life struggles with each day on the homefront and battlefield. Cut scenes explore these issues and examine a world fighting over limited resources, thousands year old prejudices, and both military and civilian life.
Valkyria Chronicles is critically acclaimed and received a remastered re-release in 2016. As Nadia Oxford argues in “I Can't Believe They're Not Jews! Valkyria Chronicles And Respectful Representation,” the game “pinpoint(s) Jewish culture, its history, and its struggles in a way that’s respectful, emotional, and non-cloying.” The game engages the past and brings it forward to the present to examine the modern world. Valkyria Chronicles is worth further examination.
My colleague Chris Gazzara will also be giving a paper at this conference. When the paper is drafted, I am going to create a podcast version for Giraffe Feels as well.