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「朧月の群れ」 (Oboroduki no Mure)
“A Flock of Hazy Moons”
Continuing straight off from the last episode, Yui continues her barrage against Yuuya… and well, let’s just say after counting no less than five epic insults in the opening minutes, I lost track. I mean, Bridges got owned so many times that I unconsciously started counting how long it took between insults! Yui was just on a roll today to say the least, and more power to her, because if there’s anyone who needed to be taken down a few pegs, it was him. Some memorable quotes below… and don’t forget the peanut gallery watchin’ ya:
Phew. Quite a few zings there, to say the least, and that was just covering the surface. Combine that with his inability to pilot the Fubuki, his poor performance in the simulated BETA exercise with the Scarlet Twins, as well as the hate toward his Japanese heritage… and it’s no wonder he has Yui practically haunting his dreams too!
Anyway, jokes and insults aside, this episode did a surprisingly good job of integrating some character development, as well as insight into the Total Eclipse‘s world.
For one, we see a large amount of racial discrimination present. Yes, I know many viewers will probably point to this being a subtle satire/insult of Americans as being the reason why it’s there. But, while that’s a fair assessment, considering the fact the original visual novels also incorporated a fair amount of such elements, I think it also serves as an important thing to show just how the Total Eclipse world is, as well a demonstration of human nature. How so?
See, each Eishi in Total Eclipse comes from a different country. And the differences between them are clear cut, even emphasized from episode to episode in terms of how they act and so forth. And when they’re talking to each other, at some point, the country of the pilot’s origins/allegiance comes into the conversation as well. And from this, and especially from the conversations Bridges and Yui have regarding being Japanese and bring American, it’s seems that nationalism is a key element in the Total Eclipse world.
Granted, the first thing that comes to mind is that it’s a complete waste of time, not to mention a negative to be so preoccupied with who’s from where, and in thinking one’s nation is worth more than another when you should be uniting together. And from the objective sense, you would be right. But the thing is, what should happen, doesn’t mean it’s something that will happen. And this is what Total Eclipse seems to be giving us: a realistic interpretation of human nature. That even in the face of a threat of something that’ll potential wipe out the entire race, we’ll creatures that will still put a priority on protecting what’s near and dear to us, on protecting our own countries, over yours if need be. Sure, I might be going a bit deep into it, but regardless, I feel it’s an interesting aspect to at least ponder as a possibility.
In any case, the racial discrimination in turn also gives us some character development for Bridges and Yui. We see why Bridges is how he is, considering how he grew up being treated as an outcast because of his Japanese heritage, an American bias, and an American father (grandfather?) who spent his time telling his family not to trust other Japanese. And from here, it explains exactly why he’d subsequently grow up to be who he is now, because he had to grow up as someone who despised and threw away part of himself (his Japanese heritage) and someone who had a lot to prove to both himself and others, that he wasn’t inferior to the eyes of the people looking down on him.
In terms of Yui, the whole Japanese aspect, combined with how she acted toward Bridges, shows us the ultimate effects of her past experiences in episode 1 and 2. As someone who lost friends and fought BETA at a young age, it’s no wonder she’s developed into a person who’s no nonsense and expects the best from others, so that no other lives need to be lost. Furthermore, having fought to defend the Japanese capital and having seen the efforts of fellow Japanese in fighting off the BETA years back, we see how she’s merged her cultural pride with her reasons for fighting, culminating in her outward disgust toward Bridges, whom I suspect she realizes is trying to throw away that side of himself. Ultimately though, from events at the end of the episode with Yui assisting in helping Bridges escape the clutches of the Soviet interrogator and his “special techniques”, she’s still someone who secretly cares about the people she works with, even though she doesn’t show it outwardly. I guess in a way she’s a bit of a tsundere and I guess her character doesn’t necessarily break a lot of archetypes, but she’s definitely a likable character for one reason or another… at least for me. You just have to admire how she’s overcome her dark past to get to such a point… if not her ability to take down arrogant assholes down.
Moving on, another important thing from this episode was the whole conversation between the Argos Flight team during the drill… the whole bit about “There’s so much of them! Is there something wrong with the system?” “What’s wrong Top Gun?” “This is pretty normal for Asia.” “Europe too.” And it’s important because it demonstrates a clear difference between what the Asia and European fronts have been facing, compared to the Americans. We had a glimpse of this difference last previous episode via the map that showed that most of the Eurasian continent has been taken over, compared to the American homeland being virtually untouched… but this episode just hammers in the difference in battle experience and goes to show that even though he’s an American ace, mock combat is a lot different than real combat. It’s an aspect Yui mentioned as well toward the end and it definitely feels like a key thing to keep in mind. Notably though, the fact he isn’t as great as he was said to be is a good thing in my opinion, as it’ll pave the way for some nice development and interactions with his other teammates.
All in all, another pretty solid episode. It wasn’t absolutely amazing, but something continuing to watch. It would’ve been nicer without the awkward and excessive censoring on certain scenes in this episode and the first few, but alas… can’t get everything you want. Next episode seems to start with the Shiranui testing, so we’ll be moving right along. Lastly, I gotta mention them Scarlet Twins again, they’re just so HNGG!
Author’s Note: Keep an eye out for my Blast From The Past column on Eureka Seven (preview as first post on blog) and K-ON! movie post sometime in the coming week.
EDIT: Please keep VN references in spoiler tags and note as such, as many people have yet to play them.
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Yui is still my favorite. Yuuya needed to be taken down a bit, and she did it very well.
From the start Yuuya fit in well with the squad, didn’t try to take credit for anything, even gave credit to chobi for piloting so well and not hitting the cargo plane. His ego wasn’t even a part of it, Yui has singled him out for another reason, and I doubt it’s anything to do with his “ace” title or his piloting skills in general.
Except for everything relating to his CO or Japan. That’s simply unacceptable for the lead test pilot in a JAPANESE project. Hell, they should have gotten a Japanese-trained Eishi to do it anyway, since they wouldn’t then need to unlearn all the habits they had from piloting an American unit. Surely the Takemikazuchi development team would have a few lying around…
So why didn’t they? Why bring him in? Oh I know, it’s because he’s half Japanese! I see where this is going and it’s silly, we really didn’t need to bother with this whole racial bit at all. The world is getting fucked up my monsters ffs. Yes, once again, we have an anime to show us how great the Japanese are compared to the rest of the world, gg. The big arrogant Americans have no skills! Can’t even fly such a basic TSF! lolz! Yui is still a bitch, and if anything she’s just as arrogant as you think Yuuya is, miss hot Japanese soldier chick who knows better than everyone, look out!
Hey hey, i bet not all Americans are like him. Why he got smacked in his face from his Buddy? Why they put him on this “Prototype Mechas” Base? As punishment or as achievement? This is a Hole that i dont have an Aswer so far. perhaps the Anime will bring us enlightenment
Actually, it’s not a purely Japanese project. The original design was Japanese, but it’s officially a joint US-Japanese one, as said in Ep 3. Notably, if you’re wondering why the Japanese design was picked, it was because the Shiranui had performed better in real battles.
Bridges was assigned seemingly because he wasn’t getting along well with his team in America and because he was part-Japanese, which is something the big wigs probably reasoned would allow him to get along better with the Japanese representative. So yes, there’s some pro-Japanese elements here, but it’s not all that, nor is it as big of a factor as you’re putting it as.
Also, regarding him getting along with his squad… “He might’ve developed a good rapport with his team, but it’s also quite obvious he’s not giving his full effort… which is something that could easily get the team killed, good relationship or not.
An elite pilot wouldn’t complain about the TSF he’s piloting, but instead try to learn the nuances of the machine he’s piloting, which he doesn’t do. Not to mention, this is something he does even after he admits Yui was right to order him to pilot it, and the fact the machine he’s a test pilot for is a design of Japanese origin… which makes it even more vital for him to know the Japanese Fubuki predecessor. So I feel Yui’s attitude toward him is due to his smug attitude and the fact that he has a lot of skills, but isn’t meeting his full potential, rather than because of her past etc.”
I suspect her issues with him are more that he hasn’t had any actual combat experience and lacks versatility and she sees him as a risk which will lead to the death of the entire team. Regardless of whether they have a laugh together, if members don’t have versatility or experience they’ll die just like the initial team did in the second episode. Think of her less as an ideal bishoujo and more of a drill sergeant, quite willing and capable of tearing a person to pieces and rebuilding them into more perfect killing machines.
The reason for the multinational team is most likely that Japan having lost a lot of its territory no longer has the manufacturing capacity to embark on major projects while the US which appears to have escaped unscathed from the Beta thus far.
Also I expect that the reason for all of the racial animosity stems from a different conclusion to world war 2, it’s obvious from the fact that the Imperial Japanese Army exists that this is the case. As such it’s likely neither the Russians nor the Americans got the closure that occurred in the real world and those prejudices that were omnipresent during and for some time after the real world events lasted for an awful lot longer.
If you start thinking that a lot of the opinions on all sides are far closer to that of the 1940s you’ll find it less offensive. The Europeans largely indifferent to the Japanese as only England had a real run in with them, the Americans distrust the Japanese intensely due to Pearl Harbor, the Russians hate the Japanese due to the Japanese owning them in the Early part of the century. Meanwhile the Japanese still have the intense nationalistic pride and dislike for outsiders. Also everyone likely begrudges the Americans to a greater or lesser degree due to the fact that they haven’t had to experience the horror of the Beta (while at the same time not wishing that fate on them.)Also with it being more of a 1945 style xenophobia (for want of a better word) mixed race couples would be vanishingly rare, and for your everyday Japanese person of the time getting their head around it would just be bizarre.
Meanwhile Yuuya’s biggest weakness is in not understanding that Yui is battle hardened as are other members of the team, though I expect she is by far the most experienced.
It all seems pretty straight forward (while still being a tangled mess) when you get into the context of the show.
Anyway here’s hoping for a quick short battle where Yuuya goes “oh… damn… you’re not a doll…”
The Type-94 Shiranui is Japan’s first domestic TSF and the first 3rd generation TSF because of its capabilities vs. BETA (though not necessarily against other TSFs). It took lessons learned from the Type-77 (what we saw in episodes 1 and 2 and an export variation of the American F-4) and shifted emphasis away from armor towards maneuverability. It’s low thrust-to-weight ratio (probably because the Japanese do not have the same technical expertise that the Americans do) is made up for by having the limbs help with maneuvering–making the TSF very sensitive to control and very different to handle from something like the F-15, the current most prolific 2nd generation TSF. The Type-97 Fubuki is a trainer TSF developed from the Type-94. Yuuya is probably having problems because he is not used to his limb movements affecting his maneuvering so much.
The reason for the joint Japanese/American upgrade program for the Type-94 Shiranui is because the Japanese failed to do so themselves. The Type-94 was designed with such strict goals back in 1994 that they made no room for future improvements, dooming the Type-94 to be a dead-end machine. An upgrade attempt was made with the Type-1C (what the instructor was using in episode 2) but largely failed. The Japanese hoped that including American know-how would help them build a better 3rd generation machine that still functions in their battle tactics. In the manga, Yui’s uncle jokes with her about using a foreign model which she absolutely objects to because it would waste the sacrifice of those who came before her in developing their current battle tactics.
In order to make a craft more manuverable, the designer must make a air vehicle’s flight surfaces asymetric. European and chinese delta shaped fighters are an example. The Aircraft is made stable by aggressive robust flight by wire control system that actively maintain level flight electronically. American fighter such as F-15 are design to be symetric flight surface with redundent flight by wire manuver during dog fights. It is manuverable base on huge amount of engine thrust and wing surface to compensate its weight to thrust ratio. If a F-15 pilot get into a chinese jian-10, french Rafael, british eurofighter or swedish griphen he would feel exactly what bridges feel unstable and under powered. It doesn’t mean he is a bad pilot.
Lack of power in a japanese craft would also limit flight tactics. For example, you can’t climb to get away from your enemy because you would bleed air speed. Your advantage would be fighting horizontal due to your asymetric wing you can out turn a big F-15. F-15 on the other hand would fight horizontal and climb its way out of trouble due to high engine output and then dive on enemy with the sun behind him.
However you can’t climb too high or the lasers will kill you.
Oh another thing, as the proto type they’re going to be flying is going to be Japanese then it isn’t likely he’ll be able to use it if he can’t even handle a training craft.
And his body language is just offensive when she meets him after his shambolic test flight, he’s lucky Yui wasn’t American as he’d probably have received a much more offensive dressing down plus 50 laps around the courtyard (and if he looked to good after that, a couple of hundred press ups)
♥ Japanese Doll
A doll very beautiful and dangerous at a time
It seems like Yui is implying that Yuuya is relying too much on the technological superiority of American-designed TSF that he is accustomed to pilot. She says that even the Japanese trainees can handle the less advanced Fubuki, without all the additional warning systems. So his ace title is really overinflated, hence she directly told him that he has no talent.
Next episode, I would like to see Yui wipe the floor with Yuuya, using what he calls an “inferior” Japanese TSF.
From the wiki:
It is inferior, but regardless why single him out anyways? Right from the start it seemed like she was on a mission to go after him and why? Because he’s labeled as an ace back home? So what? She need to pull that stick out of her ass.
The same could be said about Yuuya right from the start. Right as he found out she’s Japanese, he started having an attitude problem with her.
I think yuuya’s backstory can explain his attitude problem with his japanese heritage and all nipponjin at that, not just yui. it screwed up his puberty years dude. hehe
It’s not even so much “technological superiority” as it is that the Japanese and American TSF have fundamentally different design principles. Japan is on the frontlines, and uses the “traditional” invade-and-destroy approach to dealing with BETA hives, so they need to think about hive actions, hence the focus on mobility and melee combat (near-impossible to resupply in a Hive, so melee allows for extended action even without ammo). The American strategy is to drop G-bombs on everything, and mop up whatever’s left, hence their emphasis on ranged weaponry.
Great post. I was glad to see how you addressed the ever present nationalism theme in MuvLuv. You could even draw a parallel between the childhoods of Sakamichi no Apollon’s Sentarou and MLA:TE’s Yuuya.
When the Scarlet Twins joined the battle why was there DAL-01, and DAL-02. I thought Inia and Krysta pilot the same suit.
Maybe the teddy bear is piloting the second TSF. ^^
There was someone talking to the sisters at 8:57 about picking up the kill rate. The other TSF might of been like a supervisor or something for the sisters.
How is the “three of us”.. Is that their “Soul Link” Mind hive?
Misha is the bear. Therefore the 3 of them are Ania, Cryska, and Misha(bear)
How many miles did Yuuya walked to get into another base without noticing?
Probably less than one. Its a multinational base afterall. He just wandered into the soviet controlled area of it. Also half of Alaska is soviet territory anyways in this universe.
She’s just mad, and I think you’re giving her too much credit. She sees a guy who’s not went though as much as her or lost as much, as far as she knows, and decided to knock him down. To me she’s just bitter and mad. Get over it, a persons service record doesn’t tell you anything about them personally. She’s just a bitch at this point.
He’s actively disrupting the squad with his attitude though, and if he’s going to be the lead pilot on the Japanese project, he can’t just say “your TSF isn’t exactly like an American one so it sucks”. Especially not since the design principles between Japanese and American units are fundamentally different. If he can’t handle a Japanese unit, he’s useless as a test pilot, no matter how arrogant he is about it.
She was after him even before the newest test where he held them back and before she made him use that TSF. And if he’s holding back then don’t make him the lead pilot, you don’t have to go after him like it’s personal though. That’s not going to help things. No, she’s at his neck probably because he’s half japanese more than anything else I bet.
@GP
I think first time she spoke to him if he would of answered differently than put up that front that he’s all that in front of her; Yui might of done things differently. It was not the case so instead she took that as an offense and took it upon herself to knock him down a few notches. I think the relationship they are having now is more like an instructor and student. He never experienced fighting any Beta and if they were attacked he wouldn’t last long. Just like her instructor showed Yui’s friends and her the dead body of the pilot back in episode 1 that this is something to take seriously.
In order for your subordinate to absorb an officer’s criticism, the officer must earn ensign’s respect. Yui didn’t earn anything before she ran her lips off. That’s just patronizing. Yuuya is half japanese, in american military Asian soldier are considered physically inferior to white, but mentally their equal. I can reference a few hazing incident recently where the asian enlisted men took their own life, because the hazing was so bad. Yuuya cauld have an inferior complex about his japanese roots, where he consider that a weakness. If he feel that way, then yui’s criticism become 2 times the insult.
Hmmm… as “bitchy” as Yui seems… I’m more inclined to think she’s getting on Bridges case for a reason, particularly his attitude. Remember, even he said he didn’t want to be there, and in the original test, he also just hands over the leader’s unit he was ordered to use… which just gives off the vibe: “I’m too cool for this, watch me own you even without the suit?” not to mention it pretty much disobeys and insults the Captain’s original orders. Combine that with the smug attitude he had throughout that, one can reason Yui saw this (and she was observing the test at the very least) and realized what kind of a soldier he is. He might get along with his teammates, but really, the initial effort he gives indicates he has more skills than he’s showing… which is also something emphasized by what he said himself: that he knows what Yui’s doing is right.
Forcing him to pilot a Fubuki wasn’t because she was a bitch, but it was to get him to have a feel for the Japanese way of doing things, which is a key factor… considering the machine they’re trying to make, a new version of the Shiranui, is inherently Japanese in construction.
She might’ve been able to go about things a little differently I suppose… but I don’t know… you can see how her way of going about it lights a fire under Bridges arse, and it’s something that’s caused him to have a noticeable change in character toward the end of the episode and something that I feel will go a long way toward his improvement in all aspects. Combine that with Yui being involved in springing him out and I have to say, it looks more like she did what she did for a reason, rather than just being pissed at her past or because she’s bitchy eh.
I agree with you. She did most of this for a very good reason. But I can’t support her all the way. Because she’s clearly inept at social interactions and her way to handle Yuuya could have backfired a lot worse.
Namely, she took things too personal with this racist crap and purposely made him fail by giving him a machine he obviously wasn’t going to be able to pilot properly. The result was a risk that he would just say ‘screw it’ and ask for a transfer, prefer to desert or most likely get into trouble while he screws around because he no longer gives a shit about her. He has the type of arrogance where her handling of the situation has either a big chance of backfiring or a big chance having a great success with little to no in-between.
Here’s what I think she should have done. Do that combat simulation and lie about it, purposely program the BETA to act differently or unexpectedly to make him fail (while the others from front-line countries pass it) then justify having him use this PITA lower specs machine by his failure to adapt properly and skip the racist shit by using ‘no experience in real combat’ instead.
Pretty much the same goddamn result except he won’t be screwing around and getting in trouble because he’s too pissed at her to rationally think and just want to get the hell out. Meanwhile, it also teaches him an extremely valuable lesson about real combat against the BETA.
Yui is a total bitch. I can’t stand her.
Thanks to this “Japanese Doll” i am back in game. She said that was i was thinking about Episode 3
I must say, i got surprised. Nicely surprised
Agree with GP. Yuuya isn’t being a bad teammate or anything. He has already developed a good rapport with the other pilots. We saw what happened to Yui in the first two episodes. So it’s easy to be a little sympathetic to her. But that is the reality the entire world faces. She isn’t the only one that has suffered or has had to bury friends. The frigid bitch routine is inexcusable.
As I mentioned above, he might’ve developed a good rapport with his team, but it’s also quite obvious he’s not giving his full effort… which is something that could easily get the team killed, good relationship or not.
An elite pilot wouldn’t complain about the TSF he’s piloting, but instead try to learn the nuances of the machine he’s piloting, which he doesn’t do. Not to mention, this is something he does even after he admits Yui was right to order him to pilot it, and the fact the machine he’s a test pilot for is a design of Japanese origin… which makes it even more vital for him to know the Japanese Fubuki predecessor. So I feel Yui’s attitude toward him is due to his smug attitude and the fact that he has a lot of skills, but isn’t meeting his full potential, rather than because of her past etc.
Well let’s talk about the end of the episode real quick. Yuuya was contemplating his situation at the base of the TSF. The conversation with his mechanic was fresh in his mind. Maybe he was going to fix these issues on his own? The point is that he is trying. But any mental progress he may have made was instantly thwarted by Yui. Seriously. Why did she have to show up and antagonize him?
I can see how antagonizing him could have led to thwarting any of the things he was pondering at the time, but this didn’t happen, as the end result wasn’t negative at all. The end of the episode showed him pretty much realizing that he needed to give his best and give the machine a chance and it’s pretty clear that antagonizing him led directly to that decision.
Also, he might’ve been pondering stuff before hand, but from his demeanor of just sippin’ juice and messing around sarcastically with Yui at the beginning, it definitely seemed more like he’d just shrug it off and go whatever, and dismiss it rather than end up with the resolve he ended up having at the end of the episode. I mean, from my standpoint he’s clearly running away from his feelings involving his Japanese heritage, and just getting pissed when people mention it, over actually thinking about it and getting over it. And it seems like he’s been doing this for years to the point where I don’t see him suddenly changing and actually reconciling his feelings, without someone really pushing him to face it, and Yui is the only one who bothers doing it.
Sure, she could’ve maybe done it a better way, but it was also a valid way to play hard ball too by putting it the way she did, because it’s entirely possible he wouldn’t have taken her seriously otherwise… as it took that much to finally get an actual reaction from him other than the sarcastic ones he had earlier.
From what I in the raw scans, next ep should be…
Next episode spoilers: Show Spoiler ▼
Having said that, I don’t get the hate on the guy. He’s a victim of bullying and he treats everyone very fairly, he just hates on the Japanese. He’ll fix that eventually.
In reply to above spoiler:
Show Spoiler ▼
It´s true,
Show Spoiler ▼
Show Spoiler ▼
Show Spoiler ▼
In reply to Silver.
Show Spoiler ▼
@ SomeAnon
Show Spoiler ▼
lol. just Spoilers 🙂
I can’t wait to see that!
Does Yuuya rub it in her face? I’m just hoping he puts his ego aside and responds with something less inflammatory.
Hope that is true anon. He needs an opportunity to shine at this point.
Totally agree with GP and rukia, Yuuya united the squad after his arrival (there were jokes and callsigns) but she is only causing tensions with her stupid actions. Probably she dislikes a “japanese” that hates all the japanese things and “works” for another country but that only says about her that she is a nationalist bitch. If he is so bad and she is so good why doesn´t she use the damm prototype?
Good Question. Perhaps the Anime will tell us the reason why she is not Piloting the Mecha anymore. Perhaps she got a Trauma from her past. Hope they will bring this point. Or the Anime will show us that she is still an Active Pilot and Bridges is really a Newbie compared to her.
No Spoilers pls. Let me my curiosity to see that on my own 🙂
Show Spoiler ▼
It’s just simply like this. Yuuya is a pretty good guy. However have problems with the Japanese so he starts having an attitude problem around Yui. Yui picks that up as well and the two starts picking fights with each other.
Here is some guy who is supposed to be an ace pilot. He is however is a greenhorn with no experience. Starts having an attitude problem with you which stems from that fact that you’re Japanese just like he is (well he’s half). Also it’s clearly not about him being half-Japanese becuase then she would not say “I see you’re a second generation Japanese-American. As someone of the same race, I find that haughty attitude unpleasant and upsetting. You are an embarassment to the Japanese.” She clearly views him as a Japanese but his attitude was just bad.
Once he can get over his problem about the Japanese, he will then shine.
The TSF is one he never flew before, he isn’t a greenhorn. He hasn’t had any encounters with the BETA because the Americans in this world only ever get involved if they have to simple as that.
The entire ’embarrassment to your race’ is pretty much BS to me. He’s only half and he wasn’t brought up in that culture at all. I think it is just silly ‘woo, Nippon better than gaijin’ bs. So, he’ll discover how much better it is to be Japanese than American and unlock his true Japanese potential as a god’s gift to mecha anime and harem shows. Not really a direction I care to go in.
I do like both characters, and they both suffered different emotional traumas. Yuuya’s trauma stems from a life of being “inferior” to everyone else in America. Show Spoiler ▼
Yui’s stems from watching her country be destroyed by the BETA, her friends getting massacred by them, and not showing mercy to Yamashiro as she was being eaten by the soldier class. I assume she also lost her family too.
Yuuya’s hate stems from identity issues, while Yui’s may stem from how powerless she felt and a strong sense of patriotism. Though personally I think she needs to stop that Ice Queen BS that isn’t good for anyone.
Muv-Luv VN spoilers. Show Spoiler ▼
How many episodes will pass before Yuuya and Yui inevitably end up in bed together? LMAO. Definitely will happen.
unfortunately
Show Spoiler ▼
But I think that she is from an old relationship so now he is free to go with Yui or Kryska (or maybe because Show Spoiler ▼
)
Personally, based on episode 3 I wouldn’t say that he’s naturally arrogant. I feel like there was some sort of event in the past such as his alienation that forced him to bring forth that persona to deal with such people. I don’t think that he honestly an arrogant ass in a sense he’s the tsundere. If he really was that arrogant I don’t think he’d work well with others unlike what he showed in the third episode. Granted this might change once I watch this episode.
This main guy gets irritated easily. Geez guy, chill.
How do the Russian girls fit into this? I would assume Yuuya met them for a reason.
I reckon because they’re on the base, they’re probably involved in some kind of base defense at the very least… though it seems from the secret portion of the base, they’re definitely tied into some larger project. I have an idea what the project might be, but that’s a VN spoiler… and hopefuly something they’ll elaborate on later. Also, they might end up serving as mock combat practice for the new Shiranui as well, so they might end up with Bridges’ team at some point.
Quite funny how bullying someone’s part of identity can led to that person hating it as well.
Yui maybe overly harsh a bit there. Still, it is not unjustified. Yuuya’s attitude is clearly mocking toward Yui since the very beginning. Its no wonder he got reprimand and harsh treatment for it. Personally, between Yui’s harsh scolding and Yuuya’s anitpathy/mocking I found the former to be far more annoying. Besides that, everything Yui said make sense. It is a harsh world that they live there. Meanwhile, Yuuya is just throwing tantrums. Natural reaction really, considering his expereience and all. But, Still.
On top of that, its clear that Yuuya is the most inexpereienced as far actual battles with BETA concerned.
BTW, anyone else think the animation quality dropped this week or it is just me?
I did notice some random animation quality drops… but it didn’t feel anything that major…? I dunno, I’ve heard their budget isn’t that big and they’re having some issues that required a shift in directors, so it’s probably playing a big part as to why. :[
My problem with her is that she initiates all of these confrontations. It’s pretty clear that her presence irritates Yuuya. Why can’t she leave him alone?
Yeah, but Yuuya also irritates Yui. Lol. In the end… I can’t help but feel that it’s gonna turn from an epic hate relationship to epic love one though. Heh.
The quality of the animation has been pretty low for all eps. expect the first one, so it’s nothing new for this ep. Disappointing considering the popularity of the VN.
It’s rather strange that Yui accuses Yuuya of being worse than an imperial trainee; she either is just trying to rile him up, or has no idea how combat piloting works.
Trainees learn how to use a TSF with no background at all, gaining the knowledge and reflexes required to survive. Yuuya has this, on a machine with completely different design parameters, as noted before. This means he is fighting whatever training he received previously, and in dangerous situations reflexes win out over any book knowledge. It’s not that he has no talent, but that his talent is working against him in this new unit.
Given that we’ve seen Yui’s combat history, it seems that the former scenario (riling him up) is more likely the case. The most positive reason for this I can think of is that she’s trying to help him grow through adversity. She is certainly an expert in that department, but I don’t think it’ll work quite as well for Yuuya, if the flashbacks this episode are any indication. Everyone, his family included, has been taking him down pegs all his life to get him to this point.
Also, I don’t buy any of this “Yuuya is arrogant” nonsense. If anything, he’s shown a surprising amount of restraint amidst the verbal beatings he’s been receiving. I fully expected him to sarcastically ask “What empire?” the first time Yui mentioned it in her rants. That would top everything she’s piled on him thus far combined.
Yuuya’s problem with his giant ego is pretty obvious so I won’t touch on that. Yui is being an entitled hypocrite though. Yuuya is an AMERICAN citizen, part of the AMERICAN army, a pilot of an AMERICAN TSF and trained on AMERICAN combat doctrine. Of course, he wouldn’t be used to Japanese methods overnight and yet Yui apparently reams him for it. That’s like a Navy SEAL criticizing an Army Ranger for not knowing anything about amphibious insertion. In addition, the Type-97 Fubuki is the worst machine you can bring in the front-lines anyway, since its low-spec and was built specifically for training pilots.
All this its just an egotistic, racist half-American butting heads with an entitled Japanese nationalist. I’m actually not looking forward to when they inevitably fall for each other since seeing these two be doucehbags to each other (when they are both equally wrong) is highly entertaining.
Oh and and hooray for the Shiranui next episode!
Both of them are right in their own way.
With Yui, in any sort of combat situation, much less the fate of the world at stake, having a smug, cocky, etc attitude, regardless of being liked by your teammates or not, will only end up leading to you making a rookie mistake(s) that can result in getting you and your team killed; caring more about record, prestige, etc to others. While she may come off as bitchy, she has the advantage in actually experiencing real combat and seeing just how horrible a fate awaits many a pilot. She obviously wants people to give it their all all the time to lessen the chances of such things happening again as much as possible.
With Yuuya, while it’s not good to be smug and all, it also is just as bad to have absolutely nothing but a no-nonsense attitude 24/7. Even in the worst of times, you should try to find ways to release tension, relax, and give your body and mind time to rest (hence, where the comraderie between the team comes in). Otherwise, having such an attitude could end up driving people mad (both yourself and others), especially if it’s, like with Yui, driven a bit by such a traumatic experience as seeing two of her friends and classmates be eaten alive by the BETA while all the others got destroyed in different ways.
Looks like Top Gun is about to get served next week.
It’s unfortunate that the series seems to be on fast-forward. We’re likely already at the Shiranui vs Yui (in a TSF) portion. Even the manga was a bit slower than this. I wonder how far they’re going to go for the remaining 20 or so episodes; and if it will warrant a 2nd season.
Regardless, I may be in the Yui camp, but I do wish she just straight up beat him into the ground in a TSF duel while smacktalking him about his skill. That would have driven the point home like nothing else.
And people who are complaining; the Joint Project is actually a Japan-centric project relying on US aid in order to allow them to develop a more flexible and capable upgrade of their general military TSF the Shiranui; which while effective for its time, was strictly developed for very specific parameters; making it tough to upgrade easily. And since Japan is at war with the BETA, they don’t exactly have the luxury to spend time and resources on dedicated R&D of a new and improved Shiranui. It just so happens that the Argos Squad was chosen to help with that particular bit of R&D, and that Yuuya just so happened to be reassigned in time for the project as America’s representative “Ace”.
As to the impending battle, if the LN/Manga are still being followed in general…
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Uhh no.
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If Yuuya and Yui survive and eventually become the main couple, I can see this happening:
Yui: You have a dislike of the Japanese race, yet you want to marry me?
Yuuya: *gets down on one knee* Yes, please marry me, you Japanese Doll! =)
https://randomc.net/image/Muv-Luv%20Alternative%20Total%20Eclipse/Muv-Luv%20Alternative%20Total%20Eclipse%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2032.jpg
Chobi, why are you so cute? =) If Yuuya’s not gonna end up with Yui, Chobi’s the next best choice.
Well, yup, from what I glimpsed of the MLA universe, it seems US is the least affected by the fighting (didnt they nuke the first landings of the BETA in Canada?)
As for Yui being a bit harsh on Yuuya, I can understand that she doesnt want to see a “seal cub massacre” as we saw in the first 2 eps, hence she wants her pilots to be top-notch trained.
Finally the Red Twins in the bathtub – HNNNNG…
Uhhh… this whole Yuuya/Yui thing over American or Japanese is better is starting to get annoying. Get a room you two to solve that belligerent tension you both have. Also, have the Scarlet Twins join you as well.
Scarlet twins and Yuuya would make an awesome threesome. IYKWIM.
There´s a doujin about that XD
Does anyone have an idea of how the simulation worked?
It seemed the beta should be holographic, yet they spill blood onto the TSF?
Or were the pilots all just in a simulating machine (doesn’t seem like it though)
Both Yui and Yuuya had rough pasts to say the least. I see where Yui is coming from in the sense that she’s seen and knows what the BETA are capable of, so that’s why she’s hard on Yuuya. She demands nothing but the best because even though her character is cold she still doesn’t wanna see people die. Zephyr definitely made a good point as well when you pointed out that she wants Yuuya to live up to the standard of his Japanese heritage.
In Yuuya’s defense, he was very much racially discriminated against because of him being half Japanese, even suffering discrimination from his own grandfather. The guy had to put up with that his entire life, I’m guessing, not to mention the fact that his father, who happened to be Japanese, bailed on his mother and him.
I’m guessing that Yuuya and Yui are going to eventually find out these critical parts of each other’s pasts and grow to accept each other.
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Overall this was pretty good episode. Needed more Chobi, but that’s just a nit-pick.
Oh yeah, hopefully they don’t try to shoe-horn in a love triangle.
Well, the curse of have 2 Parents are. Your not really an American, because you have a Japanese Mother. And your not really a Japanese, you have an American Father.
So, you cannot escape this. You will still be a Person in the middle of both Countries. Only one thing you can do, accept that. And make both sides your own.
example:
Made the German logistics your own, fight with a Japanese pride, and be a Russian Bear 🙂
I disagree. Yuuya is American. He was born in the United States, raised as an American, and could even theoretically become a U.S. President if he had the charisma and funding to do so. He’s a U.S. citizen with a few genetic links to Japan, but that isn’t saying much in a nation of immigrants.
Yeah, that’s how I feel as well. I really wanna see where they go with this. Cause if they have him just conform to one race, then there really is no good message in that. And I like that example you gave too. lol
Well, you can Swap “Parents” with living in other non-birth-Country.
You have not the ID Card of the Country your living in. You have the ID card of your Birth Land. 1
Even if you think and speak in the Country your live. Others see your “foreign” roots and so on. 2
As you can guess. i have Experience in this matter, too
And if you go to your Birth Country, they see your “Foreign” Lifestyle. 3
I made the best of both Worlds. I learned the German Logistics thinking, and bewared the calm/easiness of my Birth land. Not a good thing? 🙂 Dont try to fight against it. Make both sides your Own 🙂
@ LunarMoon
True he’s an American. However what does people see him first? They see him as A Japanese-American and the results? He was bullied throughout his childhood. He may be American but he’s also Japanese. He can’t just disregard that part of him.
@Germanguy Yeah, we’re definitely on the same page 🙂
@LunarMoon I see what you mean. And that is true in a lot of cases, but like Silver said he just can’t disregard that part of his heritage. For instance I’m an American citizen but I’m African-American.
is anyone foreseeing a love relationship between them here??
Very good and nice review.
Only next episode I will kick the test squadrons asses with my yellow Type 00F!
It’s clear this show is drained in anti-American sauce. I know it’s the same in American shows and series, but it’s crystal clear in this one.
Japanese doll is a lousy captain and shouldn’t be named one just because here Uncle is a hot shot in the Japanese army. Shit like that gets people killed. Same with Top Gun, he shouldn’t be named “Ace” and made the test pilot if he has attitude problems. You don’t need that when the world is at the brink of destruction.
Sure, irl world leaders and officers only think about image but when half the world lays in ruin I would like to think that Obama, Van Rompuy, Baroso, Merkel, Putin and the other leaders can cast aside their personal agendas and safe the fucking world.
Hopefully he kicks her ass next episode, WITHOUT somehow admitting that she was right. Instead she would have to apologize and then resign with him taking over her position. 😀
What gets me is that Yuuya is a legitimate pilot on a joint-service base, and none of the Soviet guards look up his Social Security Number or ID tags on his chest after throwing him in jail? They’re going to immediately go to the drug & torture interrogation? How’d the Soviets like making an international incident with the Americans over their pampered Scarlet Twins?
That’s the part I couldn’t figure out.
Yeah, that bugged me too.
You’ll know the answer soon
It is indeed strange, in the manga he just gets bailed out by UN troops immediately after his nightmare sequence.
Yuuya is half japanese, in american military Asian soldier are considered physically inferior to white, but mentally their equal. I can reference a few hazing incident recently where the asian enlisted men took their own life, because the hazing was so bad. Yuuya cauld have an inferior complex about his japanese roots, where he consider that a weakness. If he feel that way, then yui’s criticism become 2 times the insult. Yui who has never been in US armed forces is oblivious to what Yuuya face, the fact that she misread the situation and put Bridges in her shoe. This makes her a unfit officer. The truth is A Japanese American and A pure Japanese may look the same but culturally they cauldn’t be more different.
This post summarizes very well the situation between Yuuya and Yui
http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=4272108&postcount=1485
Good post that. Although I’m not sure about the “kisama” issue (IIRC it is acceptable to use in a position of authority), the rest of it sums up the masochistic tango pretty well – remember, it takes two to tango.
The Beta are kind of cute.