「選択の対価」 (Sentaku no Taika)
“The Price of a Choice”

Things pick up right where we left off last time and it’s not looking good. With the BETA attracted to the cannon, it’s now or never for them to get the heck out of dodge and to trash the cannon while they’re at it. Thanks to some smart thinking though, Yuuya realizes the possibility of just salvaging the core module instead of destroying the whole thing, and gets us some Yui-dere moments as a result too. It’s all for naught however, as the BETA get there sooner than expected and his TSF loses an arm and the core too. And well, it’s all downhill from there, as not only does he get literally whipped by a Fort Class, he’s also on the brink of getting blown to bits by the Soviets and their cover up plan.

And I don’t know about you, but I actually rather enjoyed this episode. The flashback into Yui’s past and the other Takemikazuchis were a nice touch for one, and the whole aspect of getting surrounded by BETA not only gave Yuuya his moment to shine without having to resort to some ultimate weapon, but also gave players of the original VN’s some nice nostalgic BETA PTSD-inducing flashbacks as well. Nothing like being surrounded by BETA as far as the eye can see and having to fight your way out of it, running out of bullets, and having to resort to melee combat to cut em’ up. Granted, the CODE 991 wasn’t used properly this episode but alas… like the also missing music from the VN’s, you just can’t have everything.

At this point, it’s all but confirmed that the Zhar Battalion’ll end up swooping into save Yuuya, but the real question is what comes afterwards. They’ll undoubtedly realize the maneuvers the higher ups pulled and well, it’ll be interesting to see just how Latrova will handle things when having to choose between her orders and protecting those under her wing. I want to say she’d rather disobey an order than anything, but one does wonder at the possible repercussions they might have regarding her own child (if he’s alive at all), not to mention the fact it sure doesn’t look like they’ll all make it out of there alive. But then again, that’s where Muv-Luv shines the most: creating adrenaline inducing combat situations and making it so that you just can’t be sure when someone’s gonna die or not.Either way, next week can’t come soon enough.

Author’s Note: Notably, after doing some pondering and especially after this episode, I will not be dropping coverage of Total Eclipse and instead will attempt to cover of three shows and the Naruto manga during the Fall season. However, as I have a major examination coming up, there is a possibility I will not cover next week’s episode on time. If that happens, there will be a double post to make it up when the following episode airs.

 

Preview

49 Comments

    1. You said it, if the Gundma franchise has tough us anything is that thouse things can fight until the very end!. Arm rip off? no problem!, head blow up?, still can do some serious damage!, core about to overheat and blow sky high? don´t worry, a gundam can still take 30 enemies and a boss before saying good bye!.

      haseo0408
      1. U know what’s even better? If Yuuya’s TSF is actually QanT Gundam from 00Gundam, he can force the BETAs to come to an understanding with humanity, thus ending the entire war singlehandedly! Then again….given past history in the Muv-Luv universe….I highly doubt that’ll work

        Rand
      1. Eh, the twin buster rifle only comes off as powerful as a mega beam rifle in the Universal Century line. Go with the Moonlight Butterfly of Turn A Gundam and let all the BETA ranging from Earth to Jupiter get devoured by nanomachines, lol.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
  1. Yuuya is such a show off i hope he get the grusome death he deserves and Yui can be attracted to a better man. (psh fuck the module he should have just grab Yui and book it, soldier that is slow on his feet is good as dead)

    Yuuya hater
  2. MLA’s main antagonist has finally arrived. Murphy’s Law makes every well-though out plan turn to s*** in the worst possible way. How evil.

    For what its worth, Yuuya is lucky the Fort didn’t melt his TSF its acid stinger. I did find it unusual that the Shiranui was sent out into the field without a primary melee weapon though. Still, it acquits itself nicely in close combat with only a knife.

    I’m still bothered that the action once again wants to portray BETA decapitation. Grapplers do not die from that!

    fragb85
    1. Well, they were testing the long range railgun in this mission so no sword in that case but the miltary wanted meelee combat data this time around, knowing they didn´t give him a sword for the test, that´s strange. Maybe they wanted data of the Shiranui using it´s machineguns at medium range?.

      haseo0408
    2. If I remember correctly the others in command really wanted to force Yuuya out into the field even without his outfitting finished. So they sent him without proper equipment to tag along with the others all so he wouldn’t be in the base to carry the em cannon.

  3. Muv Luv at it’s finest: Gruesome death, action-packed yet hopeless battle, with all sort of death flags rising up.

    While i have no doubt that Yuuya will survive the day, i’m keen to find out how and at what cost…

    Can’t wait for next episode!

    Bakaro
    1. Survive the day but what hell of a day. Left alone to get thruogh a whole swarn of BETA, no weapons at all, a TSF damage to the limits and just to spice it up your own “allies” are about to turn you into ash. Someone is going to need a drink after this.

      haseo0408
  4. Great episode. This episode was full of action and romance between Yui and Yuuya, their moments were very sweet.
    Yuuya and Shiranui had a real moment to shine and show what they are made, yeaah XD
    Thank you very much Zephyr for continuing to publish Muv-Luv, you do a great job.

    Shadow74
  5. My prediction on MuvLuv TE:
    1.) I’m expecting that everyone will tease Yui after this for calling Yuuya Bridge his first name while crying. It would be interesting if everyone will hear the voice logs after the battle but I guess Stella will say it verbally.
    2.) Russia and UN will not be allies anymore.
    Reasons:
    ->Russia commaders will use “The UN just use us as test subject just to protect their precious railgun and blah blah blah.” as scape goats.
    ->UN will hate Russia for what they did, the schemed operation I mean.

  6. PHEW! – wipes sweat off forehead –

    I seriously thought Stella was going to bite it with that Fort Class but she double tapped that beast from 700 yards like a boss AND escaped the hoard with the Lieutenant in tow.

    Good job 😉

    Major points for Yuuya being a badass in this episode. No more left arm and jet propulsion function? Screw that, I’m gonna shoot those BETA bastards so that my comrades escape.

    No more ammo? Screw that, I got a knife to fight those BETA bastards off close encounter style.

    No more anything? Screw that, I got a promise to keep to that fine ass tsundere Lieutenant that I plan on getting with (if I ever realize it since I’m so dense).

    The only downer for me was Kyoko in the first 3 minutes. Her crying when realizing the Fort Class was it for her got me. Damn it all…

    Horus
  7. it’ll be interesting to see just how Latrova will handle things when having to choose between her orders and protecting those under her wing. I want to say she’d rather disobey an order than anything, but one does wonder at the possible repercussions they might have regarding her own child (if he’s alive at all), not to mention the fact it sure doesn’t look like they’ll all make it out of there alive.

    -Interesting. I haven’t thought that. But it sure will be interesting to find out. d(^.^d)

    Anyway..

    I wonder if Yuuya really dies. I wonder how the story will develop. JUST SAYING IF and seriously NOT trolling. I love MuvLuv series after all.
    Here is my thoughts:
    I feel if Yuuya dies, the view of this anime will change(maybe also for all anime).
    Main protagonist dying in the middle of the story. That’s something that we don’t see everyday. Like what happened to Kamina in Gurren Lagan, it was something we didn’t expect to happen in that kind of anime and it ended better than our expectation.

    1. As much as I like to believe that, I have never seen a harem without the harem master. And not saying that this is a harem but only an anime with mechs and aliens and girls falling faint for the main dude, but I have never seen a Yui, Inia, Cryska, Tarisa and unknown hot green haired girl without a Yuuya.

      Just sayin…

      Horus
    2. There is no way Yuuya is going to die, being the he has the protagonist plot armor. In fact I’m fairly certain the he and the primary love triangle (Yui and Cryska) will make it all the way to the end of the TE story. As per Muv-Luv standards though, the question then would be if any of them it make THROUGH the end.

      At the very least the Alternative Chronicles PV implies that Show Spoiler ▼

      fragb85
  8. Damn.. This series is getting so unrealistic. They are in a situation where every second counts since thousands of enemy aliens are charging into them. Yet, they take their sweet time pondering, thinking and pausing so much. I mean, if you have something to say, you say i within seconds but no they take like 5 mins just to say one thing. That is some really horrible director for this animated series.

    banzemanga
    1. Well, unrealistic is one way of putting it, I was getting so uncomfortable when Yuuya kept on talking and talking to Yui.

      And when he knows that the BETAs are heading toward his direction, instead of making a clean escape(well, maybe that was only from my point of view), he had to attack one or two BETAs , which then render one of his “arms” useless, before trying to accelerate and fly off. I was getting all pissed and thinking that they should “stop talking and get out of there” the moment they retrieve the core module.

      Seraphic
    2. That ALWAYS happens in anime. Even in the most emergency of situations where every second counts, theres ALWAYS room for heroic speeches, love confessions etc.
      The unrealism is so blatantly obvious to the logical mind but I’ve seen it so many times that I’ve given up on expecting someone to do things differently and just accept it as a natural part of watching a fictional show

      Sharingod
      1. you pretty much said everything man.Ive seen so much anime that i consider this kind of thing to be complety normal
        this also happens in the last episode of hagure yuusha where they spend like 5 minutes talking in front of a huge dragon that just sits there waiting like “you guys finished yet?”

        i know it seems completely dumb and its annoying to most people but after watching a certain amount of anime you end up realizing that there will always be time for speeches,useless conversations and flirting,even in the brink of death

        Typ
    3. Ok, i didn’t mean “unrealistic” as on the “fictional” part. I meant “unrealistic” as the
      “behavioral” part. And i agree it does happens often, but not only in anime but also in movies.

      The good animes (or movies) don’t do that. Good anime will give an unpredictable situation so that you won’t be able to escape even though you wanted to. Here, they clearly could escape but they just stayed there taking their sweet time.

      What we can see in here is simply animators trying to extend the time so that they can rack up the number of episodes in their DVD sales.

      @Typ I agree with you. Hagure Yuusha did the same thing. That is one of the main reason that potential series was so disappointing. The enemy is right in front of them. And yet they are talking like if they are alone. And to make it worse, the enemy let them talk like if he was busy fighting something else.

      banzemanga
  9. Things take a turn for the worse as Yuuya and Yui grow closer and Yuuya finally gets a chance to really shine in battle.

    The Yuuya/Yui moments in this episode were great in this episode, as Yuuya continually brought out the Dere from Yui and she’s gotten to the point where she wants him to call her by her first name which while holding no special meaning to an American like Yuuya, means much more to the Japanese and Yui. As cute as Yui as when she gets Dere in front of Yuuya, I can’t help but wonder what a Dere Cryska would be like. Can Yuuya get it out of her? I’m anxious to see.

    I doubt Yui is going to be able to deny her feelings for Yuuya once this arc is through, after going to the trouble of trying to get him to call her Yui, making him promise to come back alive, and breaking down after realizing that Yuuya probably wasn’t coming back, I’m sure she’s aware by now that he means more to her than just another comrade and test pilot. Yui’s broken her vow before, with the railgun, but there were definitely more tears flowing here. I’m looking forward to seeing how things progress for the two of them, and how Cryska might shake things up.

    Yuuya really proved himself in this episode. He did his best to save the Core Module and made sure Stella and Yui got out safe without any care at all towards the risks he’s bringing on himself. And for a rookie, he was pretty awesome against the BETA. Of course a veteran pilot probably would not have gotten in as bad a position as Yuuya is, but it can’t be helped, and Yuuya fighting with just one arm and a knife against hordes of BETA nets him a lot of points in my book. Even without any arms he still charges forward simply because he made a vow to Yui and won’t give up. I very much hope the Russian Eishi get to eat their words as Yuuya now well deserves credit. Though I’m curious if he’s managed to survive the 8 minutes of death… though there’s no way to tell by anime time unless it gets pointed out later.

    So is the new op next week or are they going to wait until the arc is officially over. I’m leaning towards the former but I wouldn’t be surprised about the latter.

    Next week, it looks like Yuuya and Zhar Batallion are going to team up to try and fend off the BETA with Latrova caught between what she wants to do and what her orders demand from her. I guess we will truly learn next week what “The Job of an Eishi” is, and hopefully Yuuya will survive the experience.

    Frontier
  10. Man this is awesome! All those “battles” between Yuuya and Yui brought such a change in both of them. Yui is finally more open now and Yuuya seems so at home in the Shiranui now. Although what the heck is with the Soviet side? They are definitely hiding something. And… I want to see more Takemikazuchis in action…

    Silver
  11. Yuuya….hope tht plot armour is working fine….
    Zhar Battalion, hope the plot allow you to make it there at the nick of time….

    Also, kudos to Yuuya who come up w/h the idea and winning Yui dere side. And Yuuya badass level has gotten a level up!! About time lol.

    Srsly, BETAs been flipping houses to humanity… But the Russian still trying to be a d*ck and in the process sabotage the weapon testing which COULD help mankind win the war…. WTH dude??
    Wonder wht UN gonna do after the ordeal…

    Some question for VN reader:

    Some detail on Fort class?? Does it exist to whip TSF down??

    D-LaN
    1. The Fort-Class is essentially a BETA APC, its heavily armored and can hold lesser BETA inside it. Its primary weapon is its extendable acid-stinger tentacle, but its legs can also slice any TSF in one hit. The best way to take it down is to hit its fleshy unarmored joints in close range (Or in Stella’s case snipe it because she is THAT good).

      Standard procedure is to not to even bother with it and get out of its way. Its a low priority target, and when you’re facing a rampaging BETA horde, a slow, lumbering, hard-to-kill giant is the least of an Eishi’s worries.

      Its one of the problems I had with the battle in the flashback, no way in hell would the fast high-spec Takemikazuchi get caught with its pants down against a Fort. She would have maneuvered away from it fast.

      fragb85
      1. Forts may be slow moving, but their Acid Stinger has considerable speed. Hence why it was so amazing why a certain someone was able to doge so many at once. Although I do agree that the Imperial Guard girl probably could have moved away from the Fort before it got close enough to use it’s weapon.

        FlameStrike
      2. 1) The Fortified Suit is pretty much an uber-suit. Its made of reactive material that hardens on impact and absorbs blows (such material exists IRL). In addition, it can protect the wearer from extreme heat and cold, has its own life-support to monitor and regulate a pilot and it even has its own waste recycling system. Its so effective that a pilot actually survived having a house collapse on her.

        2) The TSF cockpit is EXTREMELY shaky so a pilot suit is actually bolted to the cockpit when ridden. To put that in perspective, the first TSF training lessons involve getting used to a cockpit. Trainees would spend half-hour inside a cockpit doing basic walking and running exercises and end up wanting to puke their guts when they get out. It is not a comfortable place for a second person to be in, especially in a combat situation.

        fragb85
    2. Fort Classes are the largest of the confirmed BETA strains. They can pretty much crush a TSF with a single hit. They are known to be quite deadly within the range of their appendages. Usually they don’t come out with very large numbers of fort classes so you fight while keeping your distance from them. You need 120mm rounds or a sword/halberd to attack their joints. They can carry up to 4 Heavy Laser class inside them (they typically carry smaller BETA strains though.

      Most Takemikazuchi are known to be beast because of the pilots and not simply the TSF. The machine specs really don’t matter though. The issues seems to be that the were overrun. You really can’t take advantage of mobility when you don’t have the space to use it. Like Isumi said BETA’s main strength isn’t the laser class it is in sheer numbers. If they abandoned the rear guard I doubt she would have died, so basically they got wiped out buying time for Imperial Army regroup.

      shin
  12. Author’s Note: Notably, after doing some pondering and especially after this episode, I will not be dropping coverage of Total Eclipse and instead will attempt to cover of three shows and the Naruto manga during the Fall season. However, as I have a major examination coming up, there is a possibility I will not cover next week’s episode on time. If that happens, there will be a double post to make it up when the following episode airs.

    Amen, my friend. This made my day.

    I really enjoyed this episode especially Yui-dere and Yuuya’s conversations. But most of all, Yuuya finally got to shine without any overpowered weapon. I’m really looking forward for next week’s episode and your blog!

    The Story You Don't Know
  13. The BETA reminds of the hoards of Ivans charging up to German positions at the Eastern Front.

    Frankly speaking, I feel apprehensive for every every single episode. Death flags every where!

    c2710
    1. Human Wave attacks were the original Zerg Rush 😛
      BETA’s aare one huge death flag for Mankind, so individual death flags are obvious to happen.
      regarding rest of episode:
      OK, instead of talking a lot with Yui, Yuuya should get the hell out of the base ASAP. Having no Laser class in vicinity there was no obstacle to do as eventually Stella did, long jump and head for the hills. Now with Soviets ready for “damage control” using carpet bombing airstrike, things are grim indeed, but I think there is one more chance for Yuuya to survive: Zhar battalion is not exactly the paragon of discipline and might just pretend their comms are jammed when ordered to NOT rescue anyone…

      ewok40k
      1. Nice going ewok. I have to agree with you on Yuuya but hey, if it ramps up the adrenaline factor… Anything goes. Though WRT to the Zhars… I don’t want Latrovka to be written off. Neither Stella or the Argos bridge bunnies for that matter

        c2710
  14. My comments on this episode:

    1. Good flash-back:
    There is always a gap in the story between the time that Yui was still a girl and after she became the LT. Now, we know a little more about the heroine of the story.

    2. Bad timing:
    While the conversation between Yuyaa and Yui is vital to the development of the relationship between the two main characters of the story, it was done at a text-book bad timing for mecha anime! Does anyone remember that in the last episode Yuuya told Stella (through radio) that he will pull out in 15 minutes ‘as planned’? Now, with the first aid, sabotage of the cannon and the fact that Yuuya’s TSF cannot maneuver in full performance all in his consideration, will trained combatants like Yuuya and Yui just standing and wasting time on this kind of ‘love talk’? I mean, even they can’t help but talk about it, you will see them still working, moving and getting out of there, right? I don’t know why the anime creators always make the story like that but I will rank the scene as the fist blunder in this series.

    3. Overall, exciting and still making sense:
    Although it was very frustrating to watch that love scene (even it is, without a doubt, vital to the story) this episode is still very exciting and I can’t wait to see how will Yuuya get out of that shit. (Or, will he?)

    TOMA
  15. Why is this show only 20 minutes !!!! The last three episodes hsould have been one hour long! Even thought the “talking” is getting in the way for some viewer. I feel is a necessary “evil” to give the show some dept which for me is always a good thing. As for next time:
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Yes!@
  16. Let’s try this on for size: Zhar shows up and blows the bombers out of the sky and pluck Yuyaa out by the skin of his teeth. In the aftermath, the Zhar claim the bombers were taken out by Beta Laser class elements and they just happened to be there to clean up…

    SmithCB
  17. Good luck on covering three shows and the exams, Zephyr!
    I am going to put off watching this show until it’s over. It seems like I would enjoy this more in a marathon.
    I don’t think I can stand the tension waiting weekly.

    acolyte

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