Forum

Lord_Ziba wrote:

I am wondering about Yui, is she is an Imperial Guard of what, Japanese Imperial Military or JSDF?

Personal guards of the Emper...ess of Japan.

Lord_Ziba wrote:

I am wondering about Yui, is she is an Imperial Guard of what, Japanese Imperial Military or JSDF?

The JSDF doesn't exist in Muv Luv, since WWII ended differently (Germany got A-bombed rather than Japan) and Japan does have a proper army, the Imperial one that you mentioned. Yui works directly under the Shogun which is why she's allowed to have a Takemikazuki.

I'll just throw this out there:

Scene from original source material

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzGhxzkrRJY

A nice look into the Muv Luv Alternative franchise

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eEcBuYj4v8&feature=youtu.be

I was very surprised to see this review was by Ms. Silverman, given I normally agree with her tastes. Although I would claim that something graded as 'B-' is not 'very good' as much as 'slightly better than average'. I have not and will not watch this show so I will not harp on my preconceived ideas of it, but there are some comments I would make.

First, it was a good review, I understood Ms. Silverman's though process and her justifications for her grades. However, I have to disagree with a segment here. Ms. Silverman is impressed that the show brutally shows the horrors of war. Any show about war should be brutal. I find it hard to be impressed just because a show does what it is supposed to do. A better indicator would be the show's willingness to kill off important characters in battle.

As for the quote-unquote racism that many of the commenters have brought up, it seems par for the course. There is a small but vocal segment of Japanese society that is crazy right wing nationalist (I'm talking Republic of Derpistan level crazy here), and these are disproportionally represented in the male anime otaku crowd (This is probably caused by the same effect that causes nearly all white supremacists to be trailer trash, namely that when you are at the low rung of the social ladder, you need something to raise yourself above others) (Also note that these people are only a minority of fans, but they are quite vocal). A lot of these radicals see the 1930's as a golden age, deny any atrocities happened, and would like to return a more imperial form of government. And anime companies will pander to this right-wing crowd to sell more. Now, having not seen the show I will not claim that this is wholly jingoistic pandering, but it certainly sounds like there is elements of it.

Melanchthon wrote:

Any show about war should be brutal. I find it hard to be impressed just because a show does what it is supposed to do.

Have you seen many war animes? You're right in that they're supposed to be like that but they rarely are. War is usually shown as something more glorious and not quite so... messy.

Melanchthon wrote:

I was very surprised to see this review was by Ms. Silverman, given I normally agree with her tastes. Although I would claim that something graded as 'B-' is not 'very good' as much as 'slightly better than average'.

To be honest, "slightly better than average" was more my rating than "very good." I hesitated to give it a grade in the C range, however, because of the no-holds-barred attitude of the first two episodes.

Quote:

First, it was a good review, I understood Ms. Silverman's thought process and her justifications for her grades.

Thank you! (Not sarcasm; I mean that.) As a writer, that is something that I always hope to convey. Not necessarily easy when the majority of your training is in fiction! Smile

Quote:

Any show about war should be brutal. I find it hard to be impressed just because a show does what it is supposed to do. A better indicator would be the show's willingness to kill off important characters in battle.

Absolutely. Vaisaga already addressed this in the words I would have used, though I would add that that spoiler[ is precisely what the show did in the first two episodes - we are introduced to the girls with every expectation that they will be the main characters, and then they are systematically killed off before Yui's (and our) eyes. One scene even shows the BETA munching on Yui's friend's corpse,] which I will certainly see in my nightmares. As the granddaughter of a severely disabled WWII vet, I think it is important that these things be brought up, and I recognize my own bias in believing that they should be more or as much a part of war stories as the patriotic glory that Vaisaga mentioned as being a more routine part of war anime. (Or just about any war story, really.) I give this show credit for being more Tatterdemalion than Henry V.

Princess_Irene wrote:

Melanchthon wrote:

I was very surprised to see this review was by Ms. Silverman, given I normally agree with her tastes. Although I would claim that something graded as 'B-' is not 'very good' as much as 'slightly better than average'.

To be honest, "slightly better than average" was more my rating than "very good." I hesitated to give it a grade in the C range, however, because of the no-holds-barred attitude of the first two episodes.

Quote:

First, it was a good review, I understood Ms. Silverman's thought process and her justifications for her grades.

Thank you! (Not sarcasm; I mean that.) As a writer, that is something that I always hope to convey. Not necessarily easy when the majority of your training is in fiction! Smile

Quote:

Any show about war should be brutal. I find it hard to be impressed just because a show does what it is supposed to do. A better indicator would be the show's willingness to kill off important characters in battle.

Absolutely. Vaisaga already addressed this in the words I would have used, though I would add that that spoiler[ is precisely what the show did in the first two episodes - we are introduced to the girls with every expectation that they will be the main characters, and then they are systematically killed off before Yui's (and our) eyes. One scene even shows the BETA munching on Yui's friend's corpse,] which I will certainly see in my nightmares. As the granddaughter of a severely disabled WWII vet, I think it is important that these things be brought up, and I recognize my own bias in believing that they should be more or as much a part of war stories as the patriotic glory that Vaisaga mentioned as being a more routine part of war anime. (Or just about any war story, really.) I give this show credit for being more Tatterdemalion than Henry V.

Personally, I'm sad to say, I disagree with several points in the review.

First off it reads like you didn't really read up on the background or world setting of the series before watching it. With a series as extensive as the Muv-Luv franchise that's kind of a no-no. Yes, they did give a basic intro at the start of the first episode, but that's all it is - basic. It doesn't explain why humanity is losing so badly (less than a billion people left on Earth), why TSFs were developed and why they and the people who pilot them are the soul reason the remainder of humanity isn't BETA food yet.

Second one is a minor one, Total Eclipse is a spinoff from Muv-Luv Alternative (the closing part of the original trilogy) and is in not what you would really call a romance VN. Yes it has romantic elements, but the main focus of the plot is saving humanity from a doomed future where we annihilate ourselves, no matter the cost, spoiler[Hell the protag even ends up killing his own girlfriend] Calling it a romance is like putting Starship Troopers in the same category as Pride and Prejudice or Top Gun hardcore porn because Tom Cruise sleeps with Kelly McGillis ^^;

Thirdly, although I guess this is mostly because I know what is going to happen in the coming episodes, I don't think it is very fair to judge the entire series off 6 episodes. There will be a return to the hardcore, large scale mecha massacres of the second episode, and as this is a story written by Age (who by and large are known for inflicting soul crushing despair on their creations) key characters can and will die at any given opportunity yayrunonsentences.

The rest of the review I by agree with by and large. Some of the BETA animations are atrocious...heck even the VNs released back in 2003/2006 have better animation and artwork than they do. Yui's feelings do sorta come out of nowhere but there are subtle hints about that. Cryska's feelings however as far as I remember come from Yuuya doing ever-so-slightly more than going on a boat instead of Inia :S

Anywho that's my incoherent ramble. TL;DR would be read up on the backstory, give it a little more time and the awesome will kick in soon.

I'm glad at least Silverman saw what I saw in the show, which is a more realistic approach to what happens to people in war (even though their fighting aliens) and a show that takes the time to actually develop their characters instead of rushing them off to do the ALIEN of the week battle or some other lame excuse to insert action scenes.

Episodes 3-6 are slow as they are use to introduce Bridges, but I'm sure this is one series that will pick up if Episode 2 is any reminder of what this series is capable of showing.

ShinnFlowen wrote:

I'm glad at least Silverman saw what I saw in the show, which is a more realistic approach to what happens to people in war (even though their fighting aliens) and a show that takes the time to actually develop their characters instead of rushing them off to do the ALIEN of the week battle or some other lame excuse to insert action scenes.

Episodes 3-6 are slow as they are use to introduce Bridges, but I'm sure this is one series that will pick up if Episode 2 is any reminder of what this series is capable of showing.

Trust me it's gonna pick up in a big way, considering they will be doing live combat trials and paying a visit to a certain french Hive.

Vaisaga wrote:

Lord_Ziba wrote:

I am wondering about Yui, is she is an Imperial Guard of what, Japanese Imperial Military or JSDF?

The JSDF doesn't exist in Muv Luv, since WWII ended differently (Germany got A-bombed rather than Japan) and Japan does have a proper army, the Imperial one that you mentioned. Yui works directly under the Shogun which is why she's allowed to have a Takemikazuki.

lolwut? Srsly?! You're joking, right? I was kinda interested in this show, though I've fallen behind on the eps, but this sours the show for me. It also raises a lot of questions pertaining to the integrity of their historical fiction.

Fencedude5609 wrote:

Lord_Ziba wrote:

I am wondering about Yui, is she is an Imperial Guard of what, Japanese Imperial Military or JSDF?

Personal guards of the Emper...ess of Japan.

If the Japanese were never forced to accept unconditional surrender and to have their traditional culture trampled over by the USA's, which is clearly the case if they still have their Emperor/Empress, then how is a Japanese woman a commanding officer? I'm expecting more from the show's explanation than an unbelievable cop-out along the lines of "one woman in power created instant equality between the sexes in Japan". I don't think there could be an explanation for the Nepalese girl (destined to be Hilary Haag in a Sentai dub); if they had to bring in someone from Nepal, they could have made her more Gurkha and much, much, much less "Japanese derogatory visual stereotype of average Chinese person with a personality that sacrifices integrity for blatant and cheap otaku pandering".

More importantly, why is a Japanese woman a high-ranking CO at a base on American soil? How does the UN still exist?

Most importantly, how the f*ck on God's Green Earth did the USSR get a sovereign base (that apparently has no security; just walk right on in) on American soil?! There is no way that Cold War era America would let a bunch of defeated "pinko commies" set up shop on its turf. The UN would have no way to "force" them to do it, as per the first eps, once the aliens attacked there were no powerful nations left in the UN to force America's hand (as if there ever were).

Japanese equality between the sexes that developed seemingly overnight, a UN-run base on American soil with a sovereign commie compound next door...what is the show's explanation for that WTF-fest?

Echo_City wrote:

Japanese equality between the sexes that developed seemingly overnight, a UN-run base on American soil with a sovereign commie compound next door...what is the show's explanation for that WTF-fest?

Alien invasion having killed 3/4 the population of earth.

sporked wrote:

First off it reads like you didn't really read up on the background or world setting of the series before watching it. With a series as extensive as the Muv-Luv franchise that's kind of a no-no.

While I get what you're saying, this review is for the anime only and as such it looks at how the anime stands alone on its own merits.

Echo_City wrote:

lolwut? Srsly?! You're joking, right? I was kinda interested in this show, though I've fallen behind on the eps, but this sours the show for me. It also raises a lot of questions pertaining to the integrity of their historical fiction

The Unlimited/Alternative timeline is different from our history (and the history of the game's world hopping protagonist). Rather than a cold war they focused more on the space race, which lead to the BETA being discovered on Mars so early.

As for the women being a CO, the BETA wiped out the human population to less than a billion so they really can't be picky. All the men did get drafted first (and thus died on the battlefield first) which lead to the training school in ep 1 being all girl.

As for the Russian base, their mainland is under BETA control so the US let them move into Alaska.

Vaisaga wrote:

Echo_City wrote:

lolwut? Srsly?! You're joking, right? I was kinda interested in this show, though I've fallen behind on the eps, but this sours the show for me. It also raises a lot of questions pertaining to the integrity of their historical fiction

The Unlimited/Alternative timeline is different from our history (and the history of the game's world hopping protagonist). Rather than a cold war they focused more on the space race, which lead to the BETA being discovered on Mars so early.

How did World War 2 end in the Pacific if Japan wasn't nuked, and didn't unconditionally surrender? Even without the nuking, they were still royally screwed as they were caught between the pincers of pissed-off Americans and ruthless Soviet forces. I've heard that it was the crushing onslaught of Stalin's forces which were more responsible for the Japanese defeat than the nuking.

What does the show do to explain this?

Vaisaga wrote:

As for the women being a CO, the BETA wiped out the human population to less than a billion so they really can't be picky. All the men did get drafted first (and thus died on the battlefield first) which lead to the training school in ep 1 being all girl.

When we had less than a billion people on Earth before, back in the ancient days, women didn't fill the fighting ranks of our armies. The show has to have a deeper explanation, even if it something simple, like parroting Heinlein's reasoning in Starship Troopers.

Vaisaga wrote:

As for the Russian base, their mainland is under BETA control so the US let them move into Alaska.

There is no way that the US would cede ground in one of its states to a foreign government. If the Soviets had been allowed into America as refugees and put into some sort of refugee camp/army (as has happened before in history) then it would be more believable, a sort of Star Trek-style "uniting in the face of a greater, common foe".

But that's not what happens in the show. The Soviets effectively own their chunk of Alaska, they're still secretive and hostile, and there is a double standard: commies can go into the UN/American base but non-commies can't go into the Soviet base, not unless they want to risk capture, torture, and all sorts of other "fun" stuff.

So again I say W-T-F to this.

Echo_City wrote:

How did World War 2 end in the Pacific if Japan wasn't nuked, and didn't unconditionally surrender?

Japan still surrendered, they just weren't A-bombed.

Echo_City wrote:

When we had less than a billion people on Earth before, back in the ancient days, women didn't fill the fighting ranks of our armies.

Back then we didn't have to deal with an unstoppable alien hoard either. The fact is that humanity needs every single capable person they can get, regardless of gender hense why they reinstated the draft.

Echo_City wrote:

There is no way that the US would cede ground in one of its states to a foreign government.

Why not? Not like they need Alaska for anything and it puts the Russians in their debt.

Echo_City wrote:

and there is a double standard: commies can go into the UN/American base but non-commies can't go into the Soviet base, not unless they want to risk capture, torture, and all sorts of other "fun" stuff.

You're misunderstanding this. Yuuya got arrested because he managed to get into a top secret facility without permission (even if Inia led him there). He wasn't supposed to be there so of course they're going to suspect him of spying. If he had proper permissions and an actual reason to go over there (like Inia and Cryska when they went for the meeting) there'd have been no problem.

@ Echo,

Japan did not unconditionally surrender in this timeline I think, since they still kept their Imperial structure of govt. Not to mention, the Meiji Restoration happened differently here so we still have the Emperor as "de jure" head of state, but a Shogun as de facto leader of military and national affairs.

I could only assume that in this universe, America took a "Europe First" or Japan sued for peace after the Nazi's got nuked/the Kwantung army got smashed by the Soviets. The Americans, lacking the nuclear option, probably just went fudge it, we'll let you surrender/

Well, if 5/6th of the population has been wiped out and with Males disproportionally drafted during the initial years, its definitely possible that there would few men of military age (who are "newbies", most would have been killed or are now veterans) left. Remember, BETA made landfall in 1973, its only the year 2000 now. Barely, 2 generations passed.

Also regarding the Soviets if the world was [expletive] ending, I would assume we would eventually lease part of our land to refugees. Besides, who the hell lives in bumfuck Alaska (trololol) and, spoiler[its okay since we nuke mined the land where their bases and civilians/refugee live] just in case dem commies get uppity.

Forum - View topic
REVIEW: Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse 1-6 Streaming

River's Edge Manga Review

New Projects Bring New Opportunities for Kinema Citrus Anime Studio

Tokyo Revengers TV Anime Gets Sequel, Fairy Tale Mini Anime

The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses Season 1 Anime Series Review

Cyber Attack Delays Kadokawa's Releases, Accounting With Niconico Expected to Stay Offline for 1 Month or More

Baki Hanma vs. Kengan Ashura Anime Special Review

Guilty Gear Fighting Games Get TV Anime

Samurai Warriors 4 DX Game Review

Heavenly Delusion Director Discusses Keeping the Story Straight

Delicious in Dungeon Anime Gets 2nd Season

Forum - View topicREVIEW: Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse 1-6 Streaming

Forum

Forum - View topic
REVIEW: Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse 1-6 Streaming