Posted by OP2.20 Sequence
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OP2: 「Doubt the World」 by 栗林 みな実 (Kurabayashi Minami)
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「牙を剥く世界」 (Kiba wo Muku Sekai)
“The World Bares Its Fangs”
I had heard about something like this happening toward the end of Total Eclipse… but even then, it still didn’t really prepare me for how drastically things changed from the light-hearted beginning to the gruesome and bloody killings toward the end. But I suppose that it was inevitable that “shit would hit the fan” (for lack of a better term), and it seems that time has come. Because in the end, Muv-Luv is more than a science-fiction story based on an apocalyptic scenario bought on by aliens. It’s about the humans that live in that world and a commentary on the best and worst of what humanity has to offer. It’s about how we as humans are both capable of unimaginable feats… and also unimaginable cruelty.
This week on Total Eclipse, some of that cruelty becomes exposed as the Refugee Liberation Front launches a surprise attack on Yukon base. Spurred on by treatment that pretty much leaves them to die and starve as the chosen ones live, they manage to take over most of the base in an attempt to change the world. Needless to say, they’re willing to sacrifice themselves to do it too, because “someone has to fight for the oppressed and those who are discriminated against”.
And you know what? Despite the fact that most people (and myself) disagree with the methods they’ve chosen, the fact of the matter is, it’s not all black and white. Thrown into a similar scenario, chances are that a vast majority of people would do the same thing… and well, you can’t necessarily blame them for doing what they’re doing. At the same time it’s also understandable that in a world on the brink of destruction, sometimes it’s just not possible to save everyone, and that sacrifices may sometimes need to be made for the greater good. Of course, one can argue all day about where to draw that line, but the bottom line is: neither side is completely right or wrong and Muv-Luv’s strong point is demonstrating this aspect.
Moving forward, perhaps what’s even more notable is the depiction of how many of the Eishi seem to know about the various cruelties occurring around the world—not only regarding the refugees, but even their fellow soldiers. As the unnamed Eishi points out:
“More starved than were killed by the BETA.” (On the North African Front Lines)
Yet despite this fact, most of the Eishi we’ve seen continue to fight on… and at this point, words are just inadequate to describe what they must be feeling, and their mental fortitude as they choose for forge on and try their best to eliminate the BETA. But if there’s one quote that really highlights this, it’s the quote by Tarisa:
I am an Eishi. I don’t fight humans.
Just brings a tear to my eye the resolve Eishi have and how they’re willing and able to toss by petty squabbles when crunch time comes.
In the end, what can I say? It looks like we’re entering what looks to be the final arc of Total Eclipse, and it seems like it’ll be quite the doozy. Of course, it likely means that the BETA won’t be making a reappearance until perhaps the end of the series (which’ll likely set up for the upcoming VN about to be released)… but if this episode’s any indication, it’ll be worth it. After all, Total Eclipse was always meant to be a side story focusing more on the human side of things (and the development of TSF’s), and this arc’ll give this series some nice moments to shine with the elements it was intended to focus on. Again, it’s sad that the VN will be in Japanese only so I won’t get to see how the story works out… (for at least the foreseeable future) but alas, can’t have everything.
Additional Points:
ED3.20 Sequence
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ED3: 「Revise the World」 by ayami
The burning star falls through the sky
From far to near
There’s no way I could feel the heat
but the cage around me seems to melt.
Burn it all and show me a new place in the broken world
When two hearts are fated to overlap
you look at me with gentle eyes.
The light of judgment in a heart I want to protect
Will its smile disappear?
Preview
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Hopefully more Takemikazuchi action next week.
or better yet, Scarlet twins go nuts.
Yes, Scarlett Twins and some crazy Japanese-American, American, and Chinese mother freaking revenge on those bastards.
DAMN IT. DAMN IT DAMN IT ALL TO HELL. Seriously, this episode pisses me off so freaking much. The guy shoving his foot on the girl’s face while shooting her in the heart pissed me off. That perverted piece of crap rubbing that muzzle all over that doctor’s body and then Natalie getting killed.
I WISH I was freaking BETA with the mind of a human so I can freaking eat those mother freaking bastards and then #@%^ their carcass out.
Anyways…there’s a difference between killing BETA and preserving humanity.
Kill the BETA all you want, if there’s no more people left in the world, what the #&$@ is the point?
These guys are just freaking everything up.
ONORE KOUUUUUUUUKI
This is what I’m talking about.
As someone who has not reader the novel, can some explain why there are BETA underneath the base?
And does the opening mean that Inia will be piloting her TSF alone from now on?
Show Spoiler ▼
Show Spoiler ▼
Seriously, read the VNs. My reaction to them all is “I was born to experience this.”
Slight VN spoilers re:captured BETA…
Show Spoiler ▼
Show Spoiler ▼
But seriously, play the MuvLuv Alternative(Not Total Eclipse). Its really required.
I highly recommend you read the MLA VN, it is amazing beyond words. Show Spoiler ▼
Well that was one pretty convenient usage of rock at the end.
Muv-Luv: Where everyone dies and the points don’t matter!
Yes, that’s right, the points don’t matter, just like girls to a mechasexual. ^^
Goooooooooooood evening everybody! Welcome to… “Which Eishi is gonna die today?”!!!
Do hummers behave like that?
Even if you blew it’s tires, it’s weight and size would make it pretty much impossible to flip, the army shouldn’t also use gasoline on their vehicles but diesel, it doesnt burn or blow, even gasoline doesnt behave like that…
To much Hollywood this ep…
Other than that a decent ep…
Yeah I expected them to break through instead of being stopped by machine gun fire.
This is the truth on why the hammer exploded.
*hummer.
Wahahaha!
So, Yuuya didn’t torch it? ^_^
By the way, who is the guy who pressed he button and which anime is it from?
NATALIE!!! D:
Aside from my emotional break down, I just have to note that these guys have some extreme accuracy….EVERY FRIGGIN SHOT FIRED AT A HUMAN, WAS A HEAD SHOT. The more noticeable shots at least, not every shot in the episode. Except for that one girl….she got shot in the heart….that wasn’t deserved.
My love for Tarisa jolted even more. The proper word for this is respect as a matter of fact. Yup her resolve is extremely praise worthy, even with a gun pointed at her….many guns pointed at her actually.
The new themes are intense man…It hypes me up for the the action, especially in this episode. So much shit went down…yet again another episode where I wasn’t ready. Although I should’ve known…
Very action packed episode, with a lot of amazing OST’s to go with it.
Natalie…:'(
RLF say that protect the weak, but kill unarmed people and that has nothing to do with the high command. They do the same to those who oppress them. They do not change the world, do the same in a more brutal, direct and cold. They are terrorists, murderers and power hungry.
They say equality and freedom, but they impose their will for their own benefit. Kill the pilots and soldiers, destroy advanced weapons, and destroy the base causes only losing real opportunities to beat the BETA, the enemies do not talk and treat us as food.
So begins the terrorist arc. And yes people, this is where things get really bad, Muv-luv style. Start counting the mortality points, because no is safe anymore. I did like how the bright orange trucks were used as foreshadowing in previous episodes, I wonder how many noticed that.
This arc is Show Spoiler ▼
My stance is still the same from it though. A coup accomplishes jack s*** and its done without any foresight at all. Do they have any idea what to do if they win? Because all they really did was waste valuable military resoruces and lives over a really violent tantrum. Meanwhile the BETA are still around.
Say VN readers did anyone notice that the “S*** GOT REAL BUTTON” gets pressed Show Spoiler ▼
Just noticing the similarities.
Yeah, I know I was drawing parallels during the whole scene. Actually I had a slight feeling beforehand that SOMETHING might happen during the exercises but didn’t expect this. Show Spoiler ▼
Show Spoiler ▼
Sadly, it’s human nature rearing its ugly head again.
They probably know they can’t get to the ones truly responsible, so they take out their anger on anyone associated with them; guilt by association.
As mentioned, there’s just no point to this. Even if they win, they won’t gain anything from it. All it is now is treason, terrorism, etc and that’s exactly how the leadership would spin it while most likely making sure any sort of evidence they may have along with witnesses are silenced, thus even if the RLF did win, most would want to support them after no matter what they say.
Guilt by association and exacting their vengeance in such a way is, as mentioned, no different than how they were discriminated against.
All that gore. Anyone interested to watch those shots uncensored? Because I sure as hell am not. 🙁
Good episode with only a few QUALITY shots.
Oh, and being some nameless grunt in company of Yui-hime means death. Or did that mechanic have a name? Dont remember, but both died as expected.
Awesome episode, though I was kind of worried Chobi would bite it there.
This ep. shows human are such idiots killing each other while the BETA is just chilling.
Crunchyroll says this is episode 21… Was crunchyroll mistaken when they counted the recap episode as episode 20? Or maybe everyone hates recaps so much that they pretend they don’t exist and don’t count them? I would think crunchyroll would know what officially counts as an episode or not. Oh well.
This is really bad from a logistics standpoint.
Basically, they killed a lot of the greatest soldiers humanity had to offer.
In an already losing war.
They’re insane if they think they can win the beta war, by killing these soldiers.
I’d have imagined them capturing the pilots instead of killing them.
If your ultimate goal is fair treatment of all humans, you should at least respect the humans who can do the most good for all, or hell, keep you alive.
That quote by Tarisa just summed up what humans need to do, focus on winning the war with BETA. It doesn’t help that the RLF is destroying the machines to kill the BETA. But of course, having more dead by starvation and not BETA is bad, very bad.
Decent episode. The new OP is pretty good. Loving the ED.
I know right! CRYSKA is too damn HOT!!!! and with Inia’s look on her face, i’d say she’s gonna die and cryska goes to psycho mode with yuuya duking it out with her, and they both die and Yui is left with a tragedy. — this would be a cool ending plus i think the conditions have all been met, cryska and inia attached to yuuya, yuuya and yui connected by a semi mutual attraction with yuuya just learning the importance of life and friends regardless of affiliation and LASTLY, yui having the most purpose to live with her importance to future military projects. THE OTHERS ARE EXPENDABLE OF COURSE, the writers have a lot room of buttering them up to the public then kill them to induce artificial rage.
that was one of the worse plot developments i’v ever seen all year…this anime is supposed to be BETA vs Humans, right? How the hell could the story be so misleading lie this? I know, i know, the inner conflict between the humans is also part of the plot, but i never though it would be a dominant one like this….everything just felt so abrupt, and the sudden resolve of the rebel fighters to commit a full-on massacre all for the sake of “Freedom” really is such a frail plot device anywhere…
Seriously fellas, think, even if u kill all humans on earth, there are still BETA that will mangle and eat u alive everyday!!!
On another note, i actually have kinda a guest as to how the story will end… i do think the BETA will show up at the end, but only to quell the current conflict between the humans and make them realize that fighting each other is not the way to go to protect their planet, i do think throughout the final battle there will be some victims (perhaps Kuze and his girl, and perhaps Yuuya’s friends [except his harem] are gonna be them)
btw, is it just me? or was the animation kinda better than usual in this episode? i thought it really seemed neater than usual..
You thought wrong. Muv-Luv Alternative isn’t a story about Human vs. BETA, its a story about humanity facing adversity and overcoming it. The BETA are just part of that, but the politics are just as important.
Also, TE is a SIDE-STORY about a bunch of test pilots developing weapons. If you want a Muv-Luv story dealing with the BETA, play the VN.
This ep looked pretty good compared to the past episodes. Anyways, i was thinking it would be pretty cool if yuuya died, and had to do things over in the game… Like a certain someone had to…
Got a mix feeling about this ep…. its nice to see another faction show up to show us the cost of this war with BETA. How ever i felt it was done poorly, as if they just want to add another “Big Bad” than another group who we can identify with.
Sensless killing as if RFL is just out to kill who ever is slightly well off than the refugee. I have not read the any of the origional material, but could these group represent a more fanatical faction within the RFL?
I’m a bit disappointed on how they depicted humanity in this episode, the faction was supposedly composed of REFUGEES whose suppose to have witnessed the BETAs terror first hand, and they would actually do that to weaponless civilians and personnel and even to their own NAKAMA i mean is that how desperate and edged out they want the RLF to be or are the writers just making a psyke’d-magnet move on the viewers, since the gore left about 17eps ago?
Show Spoiler ▼
Well, you also can’t forget that aside from witnessing BETA horror and all, you also have the governments hardly doing a thing to really help them because they’re “not important enough” for whatever reason; civilians, “undesirables”, etc.
The trauma of the BETA and the anger at the lack of help (especially due to discrimination and such) is pretty much what resulted in this.
Sadly, it IS how humans most likely would act if we were put in similar situations. Sure, we’d like to THINK we wouldn’t act like this (like I’ve seen tons of people say they’d never act certain ways in a zombie apocalypse after seeing how people act in such movies, whether it be fear or selfishness and such) and that we’re better than that, but I wouldn’t be too sure. History shows that, when pushed into corners (or even not), mankind is capable of doing things we never thought we’d do.
Individually humans are selfish. you’re right, when driven to a corner the basest instinct of surviving takes precedence over most functions but that isn’t always true, especially when one is living for a purpose or a code. the nipponjin can attest to this, knights from the feudal ages, greeks from the mesopotanian era and im sure other forms of chivalry.
also collectively humans will join forces to fight a single enemy if that enemy gives them a reason to. WW2 is the best example, UN was first realized by the three superpower nations who is suppose to be enemies but then hitler got crazy so the world took him down, and japan also got ideas so yeah history.
I mean humans are capable of really the worst things but we also have the potential to do the best but i think marketing the best for viewers to see is better, itll give us more reason to not stay in primate mode and reach for the flood in the halo stations waiting for us out there in space.
“Individually humans are selfish. you’re right, when driven to a corner the basest instinct of surviving takes precedence over most functions but that isn’t always true, especially when one is living for a purpose or a code. the nipponjin can attest to this, knights from the feudal ages, greeks from the mesopotanian era and im sure other forms of chivalry.”
Note that those are all ancient groups. The last form of real all around chivalry we saw in war was in WWI and that was really just between most pilots (“knights of the air” and all).
Also, they’re all organizations following higher authorities as well. If we were to lose such higher authorities, we’d have nowhere to turn to but ourselves. That’s pretty much what the RLF felt, it seems. The government(s) they were serving abandoned them, leaving them having to rely on themselves with no one to reign them in for their actions. I won’t deny some individual people (and possibly form groups) may try to go on humanely in such times, but exactly for how long is anyone’s guess. People can only endure so much before breaking, even among the best of them.
“also collectively humans will join forces to fight a single enemy if that enemy gives them a reason to. WW2 is the best example, UN was first realized by the three superpower nations who is suppose to be enemies but then hitler got crazy so the world took him down, and japan also got ideas so yeah history.”
In general, yes we could, but it would have to be a pretty big threat too. Also don’t forget that behind the scenes of WWII, there was constant planning by each side for their own agendas, both personally and for their own countries, like Stalin purposely taking some other routes on the way to Germany in for conquest and expanding the Soviet Union, plans to use the atomic bomb after the war as sort of a way to hold potential future enemies hostage to prevent future war (I’m American, mind you). Also, many of the generals/admirals and leaders (even within their own side) didn’t like eachother at all and would avoid dealing with eachother unless it couldn’t be helped; Patton and Montgomery despised eachother, MacArthur and Nimitz never got along, Churchill never trusted Stalin (and vice-versa against all the Western Allies), and so on, which lead to quite a few squabbles among them.
Basically, alliances are a very fragile thing that can be broken from the smallest bump, even if the fate of the world hangs in the balance. The only thing that really held them together was the Axis powers, but as they grew weaker, the splinter in the Allies grew bigger, and true agendas began showing themselves more.
“I mean humans are capable of really the worst things but we also have the potential to do the best but i think marketing the best for viewers to see is better, itll give us more reason to not stay in primate mode and reach for the flood in the halo stations waiting for us out there in space.”
Sadly, it’s also much easier to do the worst things than it is to do the best. Many things could have probably been done differently throughout history if someone(s) would’ve just dropped their pride, ignored their ego, weren’t so competitive, etc, but that’s just how human beings also are. We’re a competitive race who always wants to see ourselves above everyone else. Sometimes we try to make ourselves look nice for others to cover it up, but it’s still there.
The Cold War was pretty much a huge competition between the US and Soviet Union when you get down to it. Sure, WWIII hung in the balance, but that didn’t stop both sides from churning out more new technology, more powerful weapons, and so on to show off to the other side to keep saying, “We’re better than you, so don’t screw with us”.
From what you said, all the more reason why its sad to see these depictions show up in anime and the thought of it being seen by a lot of viewers, its sad mainly because its not the way forward.
well the RLF may have a reason for seizing the base but still that doesn’t justify the anime makers from showing scenes like pervertly killing arm less civilians. you can just clearly see how the anime company is using emotional/psychological predictions from viewers to sell their stuff and that is what is sad, not the fiction or source material itself and especially now that ive finished the VN, I can say showing those scenes of killing people were unnecessary.
and i have to disagree that real chivalry ended in WWI fighter pilots, BUSHIDO came way past WWI (it still even exists), so does the different codes and bibles of various religions and every other code that teaches humility and loyalty. The idea is still there and as ripe as day one and just like how carvings from walls became animated moving pictures or sci-fi becoming reality, it has also evolved over the years.
also its not about covering up the dark side of humanity, everybody knows already that it is within our capacity to do stupid, baseless things, its about overcoming that darkness and evolving into something more. though most people may still take the safest way out when cornered (its just in us) laving every morality behind but that’s just because most people are just living, not really alive. But i can assure you not everyone will take the safest path and if someone thinks them to be stupid then they’re just hiding the fact the if they had the same amount of courage and willpower as those who chose to be heroes that they’d have done exactly the same thing, if and only if.
Lastly, no offence bro but you seriously need to be more positive about these things, we already know what reality is, saying things like its easier to do the worst things than the take the harder path or that the ww II was just a competition to churn out more weapons, its like you’re giving up on looking or creating a better future already just because you think humans are like this and like that and that’s not gonna change.
Instead see it from a perspective like if WWII or the Cold War hadn’t happened UN would have never been realized (maybe become the result of some other form of human horror), or we would never have put a man on the moon or discover that we could someday colonize planets or have satellites to make the world a lot closer, or passenger planes would still be carrying ten persons a flight by now and the weapons, hell if aliens exists we’d be fighting them with sticks and stones.
you see despite the existence of our not-so-really-evil nature we still made a lot of progress and moved forward, and even in times of disasters or pinchy situations, we helped each other out regardless of ideology, race or color. I’m not actually arguing or lecturing you about the merits of each of our posts or how you sadly quoted my last post and turned it into something like a negative, i’m just stating hope and im just making my original case as to why i was disappointed, and that is to see people profiting from showing the public these kinds of negative depictions of humanity.
>America’s Top Secret thing
Slight VN spoilers…
Show Spoiler ▼
Sorry for missing your post earlier. There is a nice comment you have. ^_^
Sadly, for the examples you listed, many conditions have to be met before the crisis broke out or the integrity you hoped will not manifest. Simply put, the individuals must have received long-term training and education (assume the training program works) and have a team for it to join. Also, the external pressure has to be big enough (that, the BETA provided).
Now, back to the story, I don’t think every one in the world of Muv-luv has been taught about ‘be together and we will be safe’ as many places on Earth are in mess and wasn’t united even after the BETA hit. Also, just like this episode has said, the cold war doesn’t really ended. So, we can imagine there is no ‘Terrain Federation’ (from the real, original novel of ‘Starship Troopers’, not that fake movie) to unite everyone and the UN has been a military functionless organization for a long time (as the only military operation it conducted was the intervention of Korean War) who will (or can) raise a banner to rally everyone on Earth that all or most humans will follow?
As we can see in Blue Flag, nobody.
So, for your question, the final answer is simple: no one is the leader and no one can be the leader. As a result, even if everyone are happy to follow the orders, they can’t find any–not to mention that not everyone are willing to be united under the same banner to begin with. Hence, things fell apart
Hope this helps.
Why do I have a bad feeling these four are the only ones who will survive at the end of the series.
https://randomc.net/image/Muv-Luv%20Alternative%20Total%20Eclipse/Muv-Luv%20Alternative%20Total%20Eclipse%20-%20ED3.20%20-%20Large%2004.jpg
+1
That would be not unusual for Muv Luv. Even less unusual would be if even less people survived.
oh boy they pull mix combine of 24 & IRIS conspiracy plot it sure now bring in group of evil rebels to takeover base.
sure whacked some pilots, military, even civillans, etc oh where jack bauer to handle all this?
yea bartender lady is part of rebel group give sorta “spill all beans” which in cost boom shot shut up on bartender lady.
& now this really yea forget the beta & training now to battle evil rebels what next?
This was a “woah!” development for me. So its nice something is happening but I don’t know, destroying the machines that are holding their front lines and killing some of the best pilots in the world. RLF has a good reason(allot of people would side with them under same circumstances) but they can’t afford to lose people and resources(TSF) like this in an already “not so good going”(lol) war. Their plans just rather annoyed me. Because how would they clean up afterwards if they did change the world and got rid of all the new TSF’s and commanders. They better have some damn good strategists and soldiers among their ranks(not to mention engineers).
Something gets really provoked within me when I saw the scenes of the RLF burning, fighting and killing humans. It’s really humanity at it’s ugliest from both sides, but more so when one thinks violence solves everything. Then again, the argument’s up in the air about what’s right or wrong. The world’s gone mad the moment BETA invaded.
Amazing how the anime is panning out. There’s not one episode where I don’t yearn for more by the end. I love how they depicted the grey-ish area between ‘survival of the fittest’ and trying to save every single person. The latter speaks of naivety while the former produces consequences like this one.
Quite like the lighting and shadows they used too. Somehow they give you the feeling that despite the light-hearted atmosphere at the start, things are going to take a turn for the worst. I had that sense of foreboding during the scene with Inia, then with Sandek and Dahl. Lovely piece of work.
Now it’s interesting to see how Yuuya and co. get out of this predicament. The preview itself seems exciting enough. Can’t wait.
Wtf? What happen to the “Red Line” Humanity fighting against “Betas” in a brink of Death?
Oh my, looks like some “Producers” want to drive this “Anime” into Nirvana. They are on a good course
Note fragb85’s post above
“You thought wrong. Muv-Luv Alternative isn’t a story about Human vs. BETA, its a story about humanity facing adversity and overcoming it. The BETA are just part of that, but the politics are just as important.
Also, TE is a SIDE-STORY about a bunch of test pilots developing weapons. If you want a Muv-Luv story dealing with the BETA, play the VN.”
Yes! I knew that something good was coming up!
I literally threw up when I saw Natalie die 🙁
I am getting tired of these so called humans that cannot coexist with their own species. We need the Ahb (banner of the stars), the evolved humans that will not age nor will not kill people from their own species. The Ahb need to come and conquer earth to assure peace on earth.
This got me by surprise…, i tough that things wouldn’t end up this way at all, my respect for Tarisa increased a lot, i mean, its not everyday that you stand that way in front of dozens of people ready to kill and show them how human you still are.
Chobi was the best this ep.
I hope the RLF has either a REALLY GOOD plan to ground the Infinities, or extremely skilled Eishis. The F-22 Raptor seems to be as much an anti-TSF platform as it’s a Beta killer.
The RLF can blow up the prototype TSFs like we saw happen to a flight of F-4s. I guess it just depends on how quickly they work and well defended the hangers are and whether or not those defenders were surprised like the rest of the base.
I wanted to see Argos Flight go up against the Infinities with Yuuya and Leon settling things, but this ending arc may be more interesting. Someone using his influence to push for the Blue Flag exercises so Yukon Base use up a lot of resources and then have a sketchy private company come help resupply–some very deep planning has been going on here.
But if Blue Flag was to continue, how would Argos Flight overcome a flight of F-22As? The only thing I can think of is to split up and try to surround the Raptors so that there is always at least one of Argos Flight pinging a Raptor from an angle other than it’s front and then share the location via data link. By quickly boosting from cover to cover in an erratic manner, it can buy them time to get around the Infinities. In all fairness, this is only a really viable strategy when you outnumber the Raptors (like, I don’t know, 7-to-1) and an equal 4v4 gives the Infinities so many options against this strategy. I don’t see an alternative, though, and waiting to get shot at like Tarisa (and Yifei earlier) suggested didn’t work out for Bao-Feng Flight. So in a way, it was ?fortuitous? for this attack to happen so Argos Flight wouldn’t lose to the Infinities…
These rebels are good at headshots. Almost all of their shots shown to us were headshots. What’s more is that most only take one bullet. Isn’t it difficult to hit heads since they’re a small target? At least that’s what I know. Oh well…
And even if they have their reasons, this is still pretty stupid. The battle with the BETA is a worldwide crisis and the humans are losing so manpower is totally needed. Yet these guys are killing precious military personnel. Yeah, oppression and hunger, etc. but in face of a common enemy, people really should be working together. But such is human nature I guess.
Yes, yes, I know this is in the VN. I’ll get to reading it. Soon.Secret American plan, huh?
Okay, I get it. Made much more sense if you read the VN before… I pity those who haven’t, since without that guessing a logical motive behind RSF’s plan would be very hard. It’s hard to think them as some organization other than “clueless terrorists”
‘The covenants are tough enough… you innies stab us from behind, and
now we have to risk our lives to clean up your mess!’
(From ‘Halo: Cole Protocol’, when the Pelican Pilot, Fin, confronted
Delgado, a colonist ‘converted’ into insurrectionist [innies].)
‘They said, when the aliens invade, we will be united.’
By Lt. Jacob Keyes
‘They were wrong.’
By ONI officer Major Watanabe
(From Halo: Cole Protocol)
This episode of Muv-luv just reminds me of these scenes. Just like
General F. J. Fuller (from First World War)said, in any war there are
two fronts: the external and internal. Obviously, humanity in Muv-Luv
Alternative: total eclipse are losing the internal one.
Despite the tragic fate of those RLF members faced, and regardless how
understandable their actions are, when I watched this episode last night all
I wanted to see is: reinforcement arrived, re-secure the base and have every
last one of those RLF scum arrested, charged (martial laws should have
been in effect) and be sentenced as they found guilty of charge. Why? The
BETA are knocking on the door already and all they care is their little
game of ‘change the world’, which is pointless to begin with. Tell me:
what kind of ‘change we can’ would fend off hordes of hungry BETA when
heaps of TSF, countless irreplaceable military personnel and invaluable time
were lost?
Of course, the other side is not totally right (like the USSR)
and this kind of contradiction and controversy is the beauty of this show.
Another thing that I loved this episode is: nowadays, when there
are so many shows (like ‘Code Geass’) that is glorifying terrorism in
an over simplified, so-called ‘pure evil’ setting, this episode delivered a better
performance: yes, there are reasons for terrorism to appear but it doesn’t
mean they are Robin Hood. Also, terrorist are not fabulous as they have to
get dirty (that means even you have Geass to control others, you won’t be
looking good all the time) and, terrorists are definitely not saint (remember
what did one of the RLF scum did to the female scientist with its barrel?).
So, there is no such things like: because they are Britannian soldiers they
are evil and while the other lot is Japanese…no, ‘Elevens’, they are all
good guys.
The actions are simply great. Especially the part that Yui have to dash
out of the blast doors in the last moment. It’s so logical, plausible and cool at
the same time. I love it. Another good one is the confrontation between Chibi and
Natalie (the bartender). Rather than giving us a crazy bitch yelling non-sense,
the creators turned this scene into an intriguing one with a heart-breaking ending
(the poor french girl is probably the only RFL who doesn’t deserve to die). That’s
genius!
Looking forward to the next episode.
Natalie just pulled a 180 on the character likability scale with the shit she pulled, and I’m glad she’s dead. She deserved it.
It’s true mate. My image of Natalie was also destroyed by this episode.
However, the reason that I think she deserve to live is because she demonstrated that she knew the RLF’s sabotage of war effort is totally pointless but she is too late to turn back. In another word, she is the kind of usual pawns conscripted by many ‘movements’, ‘activists’ and ‘revolutionaries’, the kind that joined the cause out of a whim and only found out they were being used later. For me, people like this still have to pay for what they did (and Natalie paid) but compare to those pulling the strings from behind (like the RLF A-hole that shot her) people like Natalie still deserve a second chance.
Thats bs everybody deserves a second chance, she was just hurt because of they way people were being treated.
> Thats bs everybody deserves a second chance, she was just hurt because of they way people
> were being treated.
I guess you can put it that way as well.
By the way, does your reason about Natalie’s action comes from the visual novel or is it your deduction?
I disagree with u. No 2nd chance for those keep killing innocent people for nothing and shooting Natalie from behind when he can just stop her
And TOMA is right on one thing, Natalie is just being used. That’s why she is deposed when she is in the way
Total Eclipses’ climax shifts into high gear in this thrilling episode.
I’d like to start by saying that I’ve never once regarded the Blue Flag Arc as a lighthearted harem romp. We’ve had political machinations behind the scenes, character motivations explored, Yuuya’s less than stellar past revealed, and what the life of a Test Pilot Eishi means in the long run. Even the Harem antics worked in its own way towards giving the cast some character development. But I’ll concede that the arc never really had a sense of urgency, or danger, where the lives of the cast we’ve come to grow attached to are on the line. Of course, that all changes with this arc.
You’d think that in a Muv-Luv related work that the major threats would come from the BETA, but if Total Eclipse has established anything it’s that humans are as much a threat to themselves as the BETA are. Thinking on it, Total Eclipse has always been more about human conflicts, be they political or personal, than the war with the BETA. And what better way to demonstrate this than by having the “final boss” of the show be human terrorists, the Refugee Liberation Front, who are living examples of the worst humanity has to offer.
I’ll admit that the RLF have a good cause, a cause I sympathize with, but their methods are deplorable and downright pointless. Is it really necessary to kill all those innocents to achieve your ends? Especially when you’re fighting to help the innocents being screwed over by the government? And what will their actions here achieve in the long run? The BETA aren’t slowing down and destroying the next generation TSF’s at the Yukon will only cripple the war effort. Whether the RLF wins or loses, humanity will still pay the price when the BETA come in with full force.
But I realize it’s not all black and white, and that the RLF wouldn’t be in this position if not for the U.N. screwing refugees. And yet that doesn’t justify their actions or make them “heroes.” Though if Total Eclipse has proven anything, it’s that humans can always find a reason to do cruel and terrible things.
Oh poor Natalie… her flashback was more of a Checkhov’s Gun than I thought. Considering how terrible things looked for her there, I can understand why she’d be sympathetic to the RLF. But the time she spent with Eishi in the Yukon, Tarisa in particular, caused her to have a small change of heart. This led her to intentionally try and sabotage the RLF by giving Yuuya, Cui, and Tarisa information that could potentially help them stop this chaos. Unfortunately, her aiding our heroes led to her being killed by the same group who see themselves as the “good guys.” And just when I was hoping she’d join Yuuya’s harem…
It’s nice to finally see Yui back in her element, where she doesn’t have to worry about how to handle romance and her likely first love, as she proves once again why she doesn’t need a TSF to be awesome. And now she’s joined by Cryska, just as the two are slowly realizing exactly what their relationship is: that of love rivals. I’m really hoping for the two of them to have an honest conversation about Yuuya while they dodge the RLF and get to their TSF’s. It would be a nice mirror to the Sumika/Meiya hot springs scene in Extra. And boy will it be great to see the Takemikazuchi again.
The interaction between Ibrahim and Sandek though struck me as the most interesting scene of the episode. For one, it led me to further question what Sandek is really planning. Is his goal to get Yuuya and Cryska closer or to drive them apart? Two episodes ago it seemed the former, while here it seemed like the latter. I’m definitely interested to see what his plans ultimately amount two. Secondly, I found it really interesting that despite the animosity of being in opposing Flights and nations, the two seemed to have genuine respect for one another. Of course, whether Sandek was genuine is very much up for debate, but I think Ibrahim at least was sincere.
While I can understand the advantages and scientific meaning present in studying the BETA, I think the scientists were stupid to think that keeping a bunch of deadly creatures in one place for study wouldn’t bite back at them in the end.
The die is cast as Total Eclipse heads towards the end. Yuuya now has a general idea of what’s going on, more than most of the cast can say, and I have to wonder how long it’ll be before he gets in the action with his new Shirauni. The current status of the Infinities is left to question since they didn’t appear at all in this episode, and it’d be a shame if Total Eclipse ended without showing off the Raptor in combat. Of the cast, I’m most worried about Vincent and Inia. Vincent because he may have been caught in the line of fire of the RLF, and Inia because she’s being forced to pilot the Terminator alone.
The grim reality portrayed is still “light” compared to some of what happens in ML Unlimited: The Day After (and a few sidestories set earlier; on the European-end of the conflict). Those of you who’ve kept up as much as possible with ML discussions know exactly what I’m referring to.
Anyway, a few spoilers:
—-
Terrorist Arc:
Show Spoiler ▼
Show Spoiler ▼
—-
Some MLU & Early MLU/A Story Element Spoilers: (NOT for the faint of heart)
Show Spoiler ▼
Kouki, the god of soul-crushing DESPAIR, has heard our anguish directed at him many times, but all he does is laugh and say “More. I need to hear more.”
Poor Natalie. Torn between loyalty to the RLF and to her friend Tarisa. As cruel a death she had, it was the better choice, between death and whatever harsh sentence would be passed had she been taken into custody and tried (I have no idea how harsh a punishment would be in the MLA-verse; I shudder to think what even life in prison would be like if the food shortage is what it is (much less the living conditions, given the other horrors-in-the-closet), provided they’re not outright conscripted for suicidal frontline soldiers).
Thanks for the ‘Intel’, mate. (I have only read the ‘MLU & Early MLU/A Story Element Spoilers’, though)
Seriously, after the success of this anime, someone should license it together with the original visual novels (all translated, of course).
The problem I see with the action here is terrorists almost never go after high-value military targets… they attack soft targets, schools, hotels, trains, theatres. It isnt that they are cowards, it is just matter of economy of force and risk taken. Oh and its extremely rare for them to display the level of organization and discipline, let alone material resources needed for doing such complex action.
I am further perplexed at the REAL target of the action – it is hinted that some secret research has been carried out in the base. Of course this means that if the terrorists have miscalculated, someone might just nuke the entire area to cover up… (see the Kamchatka!)
Anyway our characters are truly screwed now. BETA hath no fury like people dispossessed!
Sabotaging war effort though, is nothing but a clear treason in war of survival. And I can’t but quote 40k at this point:
A Heretic may see the truth and seek redemption. He may be forgiven his past and will be absolved in death. A Traitor can never be forgiven. A Traitor will never find peace in this world or the next. There is nothing as wretched or as hated in all the world as a Traitor.
> The problem I see with the action here is terrorists almost never go after high-value
> military targets… they attack soft targets, schools, hotels, trains, theatres. It isnt that
> they are cowards, it is just matter of economy of force and risk taken. Oh and its extremely
> rare for them to display the level of organization and discipline, let alone material
> resources needed for doing such complex action.
Nice post, mate. ^_^
I think the reason for the lack of economy of force is because the RLF wanted to get their hands on some facilities for future use as it seems that they are going to occupy the base for quite a while. At the same time, some of the massacre on unimportant/ unrelated targets could confuse the base’s security and this is one of the many usual tricks used by the special forces around the world. About the level of organization, I think this episode has already explained: remember when the assault began there were at least two members of RLF are actually ‘sleeping cells’ in the base’s personnel? (The blonde Eishi with olive skin and a ground crew who killed and spat on a Japanese noble officer). If the RLF had infiltrated the base this much, it is not a surprise that they are that efficient.
And that’s what I love Muv-Luv: everything explained, no stone remained unturned and no question unanswered. It sounds easy but if you take a look at many other sci-fi with heavy military/political elements, a lot of them didn’t do a thing about these issues. (Again, first two seasons of ‘Code Geass’: why did Britannia has to attack Japan? Was it because Japan brought it up to herself or what. Someone told me that even in second season this question remained unanswered.)
> Sabotaging war effort though, is nothing but a clear treason in war of survival. And I can’t
> but quote 40k at this point:
> A Heretic may see the truth and seek redemption. He may be forgiven his past and will be
> absolved in death. A Traitor can never be forgiven. A Traitor will never find peace in this
> world or the next. There is nothing as wretched or as hated in all the world as a Traitor.
Sorry for forgetting to quote this part.
So, this is from War-hammer 40K. Nice quote.
Wow, this episode was pretty powerful. I really enjoyed it, but it left an extremely bitter feeling with me after I finished it.
Woww, after this episode I really realized I should read the vn… But I can’t find it anywhere…. Sorry guys, but can anyone help me out?? Really thankful….
There is no VN for TE out at this time, only the demo that came with Altered Fable. The actual VN is releasing early 2013 in Japan. There is however, a light novel and manga version of the story that has been released.
I found volume 1 of TE’s manga, but I didn’t find volumes 2 and 3…. maybe there isn’t an english version of them?