Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse discussion thread

[Buckeye]

The terrorist plot continues as it is led by a Turk named Mariem Zarner. Apparently America is on-board with their cause as the good guys don't know who to turn to. And something is going on with Inia. And now, the TSFs are launched without any firepower, with Cui and Cryska in TSFs they are not familiar with. Next objective is to get to a Soviet base to get some real ammo.

This is a good followup to the previous episode with the climax being that there is something going on at the base, something that has terrorists trying to infiltrate the base. Next episode should have a good amount of fighting.

[Buckeye]

The truth about the terrorist plot is now revealed: The UN has long ignored Eurasia's refugees and the UN is spending too much on TSF research. The Americans have an anti-BETA defense system that would use H-bombs to break off the western part of Alaska. Mariem's sister blows up herself to try and take down Yifei, but that's not enough to take Yuya's supposed wife-to-be down. Now, it's a battle with both the RLF and the BETAs.

That was a pretty nice episode there to build up for the ending, as it turns out that there is a lot of corruption going on with the Americans, and now the RLF is taking extreme measures for their refugees. Two more episodes to go.

[ookamigirl]

Hope they resolve the internal matters fast.
I'm kinda starting to miss those Betas.
They sure picked one hell of a time to have power struggles.
Interesting episode.

[FUNiOP]

The aliens are finally a part of the story again. I figured the ending would have them dealing with both humans and BETA. Now let's see how that goes.

Those fucking Americans, I tell ya...

[ookamigirl]

Lots of action this time as well.
Things got pretty intense.
Felt like they crammed all the action of the season into one episode.
Well, at least everyone was working together nicely.
Inia & Cryska ending was very interesting.

[FUNiOP]

Tsar Bomba x 2000. O_O

Well things didn't work out too well for those rebels. This was pretty obviously going to be the case, but I wasn't sure it was going to be quite so brutal, with zero survivors, and it was all internal. I guess I should probably expect that from this show by now. Which means things aren't likely to turn out well for Cryska and Inia... I assume that Yui will continue to survive as all her comrades die, and Yuuya will most likely be there along with her. Everyone else is kinda expendable in the relative scheme of things at this point.

Next episode: White Darkness. Well that definitely won't be anything compared to the episode that I associate that title with...

[Buckeye]

Looks like the RLF is not exactly a close-knit group as all Mariem wanted is for the UN to stop turning a blind eye on their refugees. However, to Christopher, they are just a pawn in their evangelical mission, and thinks the BETAs are servants of God. They want the Red Shift to happen as divine punishment. Yui was about to bite the dust after memories of her comrades being killed in Kyoto resurface, but Leon and Sharon come to the rescue. Now, the Scarlet Twins are about to unleash a weapon that could very well mean sacrificing themselves.

Just when things could not get any more desperate, it just has thanks to that evangelical organization that is bent on ending the world in accordance to God's will. Or something crazy like that. The next episode should be quite dark seeing that whatever weapon Cryska and Inia are using will die from using it.

[FUNiOP]

Well that all turned out a lot happier than I expected. Sure, the Scarlet Twins lost their minds and starting attacking their allies, but in the end, there were actually no more casualties, although there were some problems with Inia. And then the Americans come and drop a bunch of bombs and the world is saved! So yeah, a lot more simple than I expected. The romance doesn't really progress any more quickly for the end than throughout the series so far, so it ends with Yui and Cryska acknowledging each other as rivals in love, rather than either being at Yuuya's side for the end. Between that and the "knife at the map" scene, there's minor foreshadowing to a continuation, but I doubt it will come to be.

The Visual Novel Database still lists the original Muv-Luv Alternative visual novel as the highest rated visual novel of all time, just above Steins;Gate and Clannad, the sources of my #3 and #1 anime of all time, respectively. So while this series was far worse than I ever expected it could be, and had me contemplating dropping it at times, just barely hanging on because those times happened to be in the summer when I was following far fewer shows than I am now, I would really love to see an anime adaptation of the original Muv-Luv story.

[ookamigirl]

Very interesting final episode.
Lots of tension and abundance of action.
I felt sorry for Inia and Cryska.
Takamura leaving, Yuuya feeling down..
I still can't decide if this anime was about fighting Beta or personal dramas.

[Buckeye]

With the situation dire, the Scarlet Twins activate a berserker program when preventing the Red Shift is the top priority. Christopher went down without much resistance as he was crushed and his TSF was seized. It was thanks to Yuya who the Twins were about to hurt that they were able to stop them. As for the remaining BETAs, the U.S. bombers took care of the rest. Now that the whole RLF incident is over, Yui is getting ready to head back to Japan, saying goodbye to everybody. Even though their countries may be at war, Yui and Cryska will never be enemies, but rivals in love.

Despite the series being up and down, the series definitely ends very nicely. It was going to look like a battle between the RLF and BETAs, but in the end it all set up the Scarlet Twins to do what they were built for, and for Yuya to have his feelings reach them just when it looked like they were ready to self-destruct. The battle is far from over with the BETAs and the Soviets, but now a lot of doubts have been cleared out so that the war can properly proceed.

Overall, this series had a mixture of good episodes with some really bad ones. It started out with a forgettable and dark prequel, followed by lots of episodes that develop the characters before going into battle. Then more characters are introduce and a new enemy comes to expose secrets and push the characters to the brink. The first few episodes following the prequel were good, but it went south to the point that I was thinking about dropping the show. But the final arc was nice to watch. The characters in this show are really nice, and the show does a solid job in developing them. It could have been worse since it could have involved many more battles against the BETAs, which is what made the prequel so tough to watch, but watching the pilots interacting at the base is what the show is all about considering its visual novel roots. It took awhile, but I ended up enjoying this overall.