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「BETA 進撃」 (BETA Shingeki)
“BETA Offensive”
If there’s one thing Muv-Luv loves to show, aside from grotesque aliens tearin’ down yo houses, it’s the human element behind everything. This week, we get a continued focus on human nature in general, and how the creators believe that even with extinction smacking us in the face, we’d still be too busy trying to screw over each other instead. And it’s just a powerful commentary, because the series doesn’t hesitate to show the negative aspects of humanity, and uses that to great, dramatic effect… (especially in the source VN’s).
Now whether or not this will actually happen if we faced such an extinction scenario is still a chalk up, and you can call me a pessimist for this, but I sure as hell don’t see us reacting any differently. And sadly, it’s a result that makes so much sense, yet so little at the same time. After all, people will naturally want to protect their own friends, family, and country—the things closest to them they can see, the things they treasure physically. If the war’s being fought thousands of miles away, why risk yourself when there is no impending threat on your own shores? Why bother caring about something that you can’t see? Call it short sighted, call it down right selfish, but it’s a natural response and you just can’t blame anyone for thinking this way, no matter how angry you feel from an opposing standpoint.
And this week, it’s exactly this self-preservation that the Soviets take to the extreme, proving both Ibrahim and Takamura’s prior suspicions. Because as it turns out, in an attempt to ensure that they get the upper hand in terms of being the ones to defeating the BETA later, they went as far as leaving a hole in the defensive line intentionally. As a result, not only could they sacrifice the Zhar Battalion filled with “non-Russians,” they could take the EM Radiation Cannon’s specs and key data too. But hey, you know, that’s worth the fair exchange for an innumerable amount of deaths from those that defended the base from the previous attack and the loss of a key front line base. What a joke.
At least though, there are still some members with smart heads on their shoulders, as we have Corporal Yamamoto, who tries to stay behind in order to ensure the Radiation Cannon’s destruction. In the end it’s all for naught though, as not only does Yui only possess the self-destruct code, but they can’t even use it due to some strategic Soviet tampering. Speaking of smart heads, Ibrahim’s coded message to Yui was quite sneaky indeed, as was the Argos Flight group’s piggy backing on the Zhar Battalion’s data. Still, things look grim, as the BETA have arrived at the complex…
Overall, the episode was pretty solid to say the least. It’s not great or anything, but at least continues a string of solid episodes since the main story kicked in. I was slightly disappointed there was no Yui Takemikazuchi action, but well, she has a job to do (and did a pro leap from a helicoptor to boot), so you can’t get pissed at that. The thing that did annoy me though, was how they didn’t put the actual VN sound effect in for the Code 991 (BE SURE NOT TO READ THE COMMENTS), which would’ve been a nice PTSD inducing treat for those who have played the VN and the start of some PTSD for first time viewers… but I guess you just can’t have it all. Notably, this goes double for the soundtrack, as the VN OST’s for Alternative are massively superior to this anime. In any case, it looks like we’ll be in for some Bridges saving action next week, or at least some of the PTSD inducing moment’s the series is known for (hopefully).
Full-length images: 19, 22, 30, 31, 32.
Preview
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YEAH GUYS! PLAY THE Visual NOVEL!
My thoughts about this anime change after playing MuvLuv(Extra,Unlimited,Alternative).
Show Spoiler ▼
MuvLuv Extra might be a meeeeeeh a bit but you guys must injure it! Its part of the story.
When you enter Muvluv Alternative part – AWESOMENESS will flow out of your brain!.
A bit you say? Those past days I played through Extra, and yeah, playing through it was very painful, especially the route of that one character that I am not really missing in Unlimited. Such a clichee character.
But yeah, I finally made it to Unlimited yesterday and it’s good to see that the atmosphere is now more serious. A pleasant surprise to see who is voicing Takeru. 😀
@boingman
Extra – Back then it wasn’t much of a clichee.
UNLIMITED – was made for ALTERNATIVE to LOOK AWESOME!
I have to agree with boingman on this one, MLE was a lengthy, easily boring experience.
I even made the effort to clear all “plot lines”, to make sure i didn’t miss anything.
By the way it is cliche even back than years ago, however that is fully intentional by the author.
MLE – Over lengthy characters introduction. I would recommend to play only the two “main plot lines” to move on. 5~10 hours
MLU – Introduction to the BETA world. IMO one play through is more than enough. 4~8 hours
MLA – The yummy main treat. 50+ hours
Burning up to 18 hours to enjoy a 50+ hours awesomeness, guess i would say time well spend through.
Minor Spoiler
Show Spoiler ▼
I liked Extra because its self-aware. Even the official website describes it as “ultra-generic”.
Show Spoiler ▼
Also Tama and Ayamine routes are kind of needed to introduce other characters in Unlimited and Alternative.
I am currently watching the WT of Extra on Utube and I’ve find it pretty entertaining if not a bit…well boring. Also out of curiousity I’ve checked the part where *ahem* scenes and its edited out…. lol.
Also, I cheat a bit and take a quick look at Unlimited…. Takeru has a voice!!! (Even for tht short while…. His VA?)
Takeru is voiced by Sochiro Hoshi, best known as Kira Yamato from Gundam SEED.
For all of you who played extra, have the ending scene from the good old Akane Maniacs OVA. 😀
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMoLHyURZzk
(don’t mind the french subs)
Does that mean that as in Unlimited, in Alternative as well he’s only voicing a few lines? What a shame. I had hoped that I would be able to constantly hear him in Alternative.
It makes sense that there’s no voice in Extra. Hearing him in Unlimited shows how the game has changed from some generic harem comedy to something different.
What about the console version for the Xbox 360? Maybe that one is fully voiced?
so um… is everyon e gonna die next week?
cause damn…. knowing muv luv… just….
damn…… frigging beta zergs….
Oh man, another cliffhanger. But oh well, Yuuya to the rescue.
Sorry, but could someone explain to me the difference between Imperial ARMY and Imperial GUARD?
The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) is the standing army of the Empire of Japan.
The Imperial Guard, however, is the military force that exclusively serves and protects the Shogun and the five(?) ruling families.
I see, thanks. Must have missed that.
The Imperial Guard has all the wonderful toys. The Takemikazuchi is exclusively for their use. The IJA is largely composed of Gekishins(modified F-4’s), Kagerous(modified F-15’s) and a few Shiranui for the pilots skilled enough to use them.
Can someone tell me if this pilot plays a larger role later?
Despite having limited screentime so far, she has really grown on me. I like her cheerful and spunky attitude.
To answer your question:
Show Spoiler ▼
Show Spoiler ▼
Her name is Cui Yifei (a.k.a Chinese Miku) and yes she has a more important role later. This pic can sum up all you need to know about her for now.
Oh, and she’s voiced by Kaori Ishihara so that makes her Maru.
God bless you, that´s all I needed to know. Can´t wait for next week.
She will be around a bit. But she is definitely a secondary character. Not very important at all. Kind of the pilot version of those 3 female controllers.
Oh yeah I forgot to post the QUALITYs that I found in the internet.
here and here
Well there are always examples for QUALITY, but for an episode of TE, this was a pretty good looking episode IMO.
does it really matter? Look at Batman 2 did anyone really cared?
I agree with Zephyr, they didn’t include the trade mark soundtrack of Code 991 kinda annoyed me too.
(Darn. Why i’m feeling so disturbed whenever i hear the soundtrack…I hate u PTSD)
Can’t say i didn’t expected that scheming from the Soviet, the top brass been giving “bad-guy vibes” from the start of the show.
Possible Spoiler
Show Spoiler ▼
Agree. If they didn’t include it(991 original OST), they should have at least replace it since the 991 in the VN is somehow from an old siren or something.
You read my mind, poor corporal!
Politicians scheme and plan, while brave soldiers loyally obey orders and give their lives for people who don’t deserve them. In other words, just another day in the MLA-verse.
To be fair the Soviet’s have a sound plan, their plans hinge on a bombing run to wipe out the BETA since LASER are absent and they pretty much evacuated most of their important assets. Publicly they look good for prioritizing the evacuation of UN personnel. Unfortunately they aren’t savvy enough to understand that in Muv-Luv, Murphy’s Law is king.
Still, Muv-Luv isn’t without its heroes and brave Corporal Yamamoto here volunteers to stay with Yui to help despite being a mechanic. Too bad I can see his Red Shirt under his uniform, we hardly knew you.
Mavu = Murph Lavu = Law
Think about the Japanese pronunciation of english words.
Mind went into autistic mode due to overheat.
What the Soviets are doing makes sense once you get past how they’re doing it. I mean who wouldn’t want an experimental super weapon that can do that much damage.
But the Japanese… should they really be worrying about who will have the weapon advantage in a post BETA world when there’s still that little problem with the current “oh god the massive aliens are eating everyone” world? Let the soviets have the damn weapon instead of blowing it up…
It makes sense, but it all boils down to the fact the Soviets are doing it for weapon advantage in a post BETA world as well. And in the end, the Japanese can only trust themselves to utilize it in the manner it should be used.
Also, that’s another part of self-preservation as well. Because the BETA assault is a slow one, relying on repetitive onslaughts to eventually wear you down, rather than any semblance of tactics, it gives off the impression that they have time to spare to find a way to beat them once and for all, as well as hope for a post-BETA world. And where you have any semblance of hope for that post-BETA world, well, human nature takes care of the rest.
I said it before and I say it again, Mankind is the only spicies stupid enough to stab to each other in an ongoing apocalypse. If they keep telling to themselfs they have to spare to find a way ti eliminate the aliens while playing spie games they are going to run out of time and be eating with almost no effort. For God sakes, the BETA must be getting bored of winning so easiely, I know cynical but humanity doesn´t help either.
actualy insect like praying man tiseat the same of thier kind when they really become hungry. That also applies to spiders.
Would you really trust a super railgun to a government who literally sacrifices assets and manpower to acquire a new toy? Not to mention in this alternate universe the Cold War mentality has never died out so handing Soviets new technology is a very risky prospect.
The Type-99 is incredibly sensitive and dangerous information to spread out. Its test is only authorized by the Japanese because its being done by the UN, which is the closest thing in the world to a neutral party.
When Operation Overlord (the official name of the D Day) was first concieve the general opinion in the higher ups of the United States and Great Britain decided that it was a suicide, they will an absurd number of troops even in best case scenario but they through with it anyway beacuse to them it was the only way to stab Germany where it really hurt and drive the war to a corner.
The military leaders always sacrifice their own men in the name of some crappy greater good or even worse, the benefit of their country without thinking they are wasting irreplaceble lifes; that was true for the D Day and I think it aplies here too, people can be truly disgusting in the name of patriotims.
“Patriotism varies, from a noble devotion to a moral lunacy”.
I´m sorry Zephyr but how many episodes is going to be this adaptation? Someone told it was going to be only 12 but in wikipedia said 26. I can´t imagine being only 12, I mean the fun it´s just begining by the looks of the plot at this point.
It’s definitely at least 24 episodes at the moment. But there’s more material coming out for TE in the form of a new game for PS3/XBOX later this year… so I hesitate to say if the remaining 13 episodes will cover everythin’.
It´s that so, thanks man, now I can realx and enjoyed the rest of the story without fear that it will be cut half way.
No, the real fear would be that the anime would cut off at the cliffhanger with no conclusion like the LN.
I could have live without that knowledge fagb, I better start praying.
Now I hope the TE VN would get translated quicker…. if worst come to worst.
Is there a trailer???
@D-LaN
That would be impossible though cause the VN are from PS3/XBOX.
Can we have Adoration next? I really like Makabe and Ceberus Battalion sounds cool enough
Yep, we will kill ourselves before the enemy attacks us.
Then again, if we are under attacked by aliens and is losing, the last few humans would probably drag quite a lot of those aliens to hell with them.
It says something when VN has superior soundtrack to anime…
Other than that, though, I can see the ending now (kinda…) Yuuya storms in, grabs the cannon in one hand, Yui in another and they evacuate (this assuming no additional Murphy’s Law interventions happen)
Of course we can end in a “BETAs fall everybody dies” scenario too, and anything in-between including, but not limited to, major characters dying and others suffering PTSD as result.
Anyways, brace for some rough flying, Eishi! There is going to be hell of a battle, it seems…
Holy Christ… an anime with big bad robots vs digusting aliens and all they do is talk, talk, talk!!! I’m starting to hate this show: three/four episodes of good fights and seven of blubberish. More bullets, more gruesome killing and more boobies, please.
That’s just one of Kouki’s long Wall of Text Exposition that is prevalent in the VN. This episode is actually 3 chapters long in the LN full of talking between characters. Yes, really. Be thankful that the anime did you a favor by summarizing it all into one episode.
Zzzzzz… zzz… zzzzzz…
Starting from the next episode, they shoud put a “Talk Only Episode” sign so I can pass those 22 minutes playing Starcraft II.
Character interation episodes are fun in Hyouka or similar, in a sci-fi/mecha/splatter are just so boring. Damn, even Evangelion was more action packed!
Actually, this things are need to grasp the situation. A war situation isn’t all about battles you know(even if its aliens or BETA).
Horizon is one example for that.
Its like everyone fights with BETAS without knowing how dangerous the BETAs are. We would think that BETAs are just ants and lots of conspiracy from around the net would spread that “this is a loophole” and “that is the loophole there.” Its like charging into battle without thinking things through.
This show was sold as Boobies + Gruesome aliens + Big Fucking Mechs + Bigger boobies (damn, we had already the beach episode!!!).
In 13 (or 26, I don’t know how long it last) episodes you have to balance the blabla with the boomboom, easy peasy. Evangelion has done that, Gundam has done that, etc. etc.
The first two episodes where great, the rest (with that damn ‘THINK JAPANESE’ stuff -_-‘) is pretty boring.
I’m sorry. You are an idiot. Please stop talking and spend the rest of your life playing Call of Duty and lurking on Fakku.
On a serious note, if you did any research at all, you should have known that this is an adaption from a light novel that’s part of a very, VERY dark, heavy, and serious franchise. It’s almost a given that this anime would be filled with dialogues and character interaction given the form of it’s original medium, as well as the nature of the franchise. If you actually thought this series would be a pure fanservice big aliens violent gorefest, you should quit while you are ahead, because this is NOT the kind of show you think it is.
@BaLdUrIaN
Fun fact, Muv-Luv Alternative’s tag line is “A tale of love and courage”, so please take your “Boobies + Gruesome aliens + Big Fucking Mechs + Bigger boobies” elsewhere.
Beach episode bitch… a fucking beach episode. A very serious and dark franchise indeed. I’m waiting for an onsen one for more fanservice.
Muv-luv is series of contrasts. It plays all the harem cliches and fanservice for fun and comedy and then tosses these characters into the grim setting to show how they deal with it. That was the entire point of the original trilogy.
There is also this mistaken notion (even among those who read the VN) that MLA is a grimdark series. The setting itself is grim, but Kouki is clearly an optimist. More than anything Muv-Luv empathize that humanity will pull through all the hardship and adversity. Why else would they have f***ing JAM PROJECT sing an OP about that very theme?
VNs might be more Novels than Visual in many cases… and yes this means Loads and Loads of Text…
Things shift into high gear for the end of Total Eclipses first course.
As much as the BETA are the overall Big Bad’s of both the Muv-Luv franchise and Total Eclipse, I can’t help but feel that the true Big Bad of this arc is none other than the Soviet Union. The fact that they’re using the BETA’s attacks, as a way of both supplementing themselves and sabotaging the U.N., put them at blame for most of the conflict present during this arc. As much as I dislike the idea, it’s believable that even amidst a war with a race that seem to live solely for humanity, each section of the world would still look out for themselves and their best interests especially if it proved detrimental to rival nations.
Stuck in the midst of all these political machinations is Argos Flight, and it’s good to see that Yuuya’s squad mates are savvy enough to figure out what’s going on and keep him in the loop. Our protagonist is lucky to have such loyal team mates who’ll stick up for him and help him see the bigger picture he’d otherwise never suspect was there. Then there’s also his buddy Vincent who’ll always try to give him a boost when he can, while also making jabs at his love life. Oh and there’s his harem, which I’ve come to believe he has purely because of his Japanese blood.
While I’m disappointed that Yui won’t be piloting the Takemikazuchi, even though she was quite awesome in this episode without it, I’m all for more Yuuya/Yui development in the show. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling after she said his full name, marking the first time she’s said his first name without meaning to insult him with it. And that smile at the end was just perfect.
Poor Yamamoto, he has red shirt written all over him. At the very least, I hope his death isn’t terribly gruesome. Yui doesn’t need to be reminded of Kyoto anymore than she already has.
It looks like Total Eclipses first course is going to close out with some action and romance, as Yuuya finally gets into real combat with the BETA to save Yui. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.