Type of Anime: TV Series
Genre: Action, Horror, Science Fiction
Original Creator: Hirohiko Yoshida
Original Presentation: Manga
Animation Studio: Ixtl/Satelight
Notable Voice Actors: Daisuke Ono (Yuuya Bridges), Mai Nakahara (Yui Takamura), Rie Tanaka (Sharon Imes)
So.... This one. Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse is somehow, by far, one of the most enjoyable anime I've seen this season that ISN'T a slice of life or feel good anime. Which is really, REALLY sad, considering that this series was based off of a hentai game that STARTS with the main character waking up bed with an unknown girl who is apparently his betrothed out of the blue with no previous explanation. Oh, she also happens to be the sole daughter and heir to a REALLY powerful and rich company, but that's no big deal. But this isn't something that you necessarily have to remember or care about, as a visual novel that looks like this....:
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| Hmm, I can see the pairing combinations now.... |
Has now become this.
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| This is the view of some alien creatures eating through metal to get to the fleshy insides... Like what we do with crab. |
Yeah... How, did this happen, exactly? Well, it's simple. While Muv-Luv is just your typical hentai visual novel meant to entertain the masses with simple, carnal pleasures (Because, let's face it, that's the only reason you'd get a game like this), someone out there decided that they needed to make an alternate reality that actually made SENSE. So they made another novel with the same characters and everything, but threw in an alien invasion, resulting in Muv-Luv Unlimited. Good. Great. Now that we've established that, onto the actual review.
Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse is the anime adaptation of the manga that is the sequel to Muv-Luv Unlimited, meaning that it's pretty much a fresh slate since none of the main characters from the original are present as far as I can tell.
The story of Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse isn't anything all that special: Aliens invade Earth and then humans develop weapons in the form of giant mechs (Of course. Anything else just isn't as... conventional.) to combat them. This is good. Overdone, but good. What I like about this series, though, is that the humans are losing, and by gods is it terrifying to watch these things in action. The aliens in question are called BETA (short for "Beings of the Extra Terrestrial origin which is Adversary of human race"... I'm just going to go on a limb here and assume that BETOWAHR is a handful to say, despite the fact that it sounds like the name of some axe in Skyrim), and they like to eat humans. Quite explicitly, actually.
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| Had to cut out the rest since it's not really minor-appropriate.. Anyway, Lunch! |
So far, it looks like the plot has shown that a special team of mech pilots is being assembled in Alaska at the world renown Yukon Base (in this world, it's a part of the Soviet Union. The Cold War was put on hold due to more pressing matters.) composed of the very best minds and hands from every country now that the BETA invasion has successfully taken over and all but eradicated human life in Europe and in Asia (including Japan, as was shown in the first two episodes.And because this is anime, once Japan is lost THEN the world starts to care.) The main protagonist is an American pilot named Yuuya Bridges, who has been sent to Yokun Base to lead this special team. The female lead from the first two episodes, Yui Takamura, is an officer stationed there after she watched her country burn to the ground in wake of the BETA attack. The anime is presenting Yuuya as an arrogant prick, who holds himself in the highest of esteem, but has the actual skill to back it up: After all, he was the test pilot for the Raptor (whatever that is.) However, he has only existed for one episode so far, so he may actually be a pretty good guy later on. Yui, on the other hand, was meticulously fleshed out for us within the first couple minutes of the show, probably so that we as an audience could truly appreciate the destruction of Japan.
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| Ah, right.... Spoilers. |
I thought it was pretty important, that whole burning of Kyoto thing, so I put a picture right above this sentence. I'm not going to lie, though, I was really confused during the first episode's training of the new pilots, and how the schools and the society for the most part is very much like it is now. Sure, they mentioned that there was an Emperor and stuff, but I'm not buying it. There're just small, little itty bitty things that don't add up or shouldn't be there.
So, officially, these are my rankings:
Plot: 3/5
I like it, I really do, but I have to acknowledge the fact that i's nothing new to me. I've seen a number of shows that have a similar premise, like Stratos 4 and Evengelion (duh), but I appreciate this show mainly because the BETA look awesome and the only major plot hole is how humanity created these mecha in 1993, but I'm sure that's ALL explained in the visual novel. The growth of Yui and her relationship with main character Yuuya also interests me, since I want to see how she's changed between the end of episode 2 and the beginning of episode 3, wherein three years have passed.
Characters: 3/5
So, Yui is fun and all (totally a tsundere in the making), and Yuuya is your stereotypical dick (who probably has a nice guy underneath all the gruff), so that leaves the other characters... who are not all that much different from anything else. There's the hot-blooded short girl who loves to grapple and has a wild personality; there's the suave, long haired guy who's a playboy and makes advances on all the women for comical relief; There's the cool blonde who has a mysterious past (and she's european, which makes her even better) and then there're the two white haired girls, who seem to have A LOT in common with one another (and one is potentially a psychomaniac killer). There's even the crazy old engineer who helped build the damn robots. All in all, I give a three mainly because all bases were thoroughly covered, not because I'm impressed.
Setting: 3/5
Despite being set in our own world, I was intrigued in the subtle little changes here and there, and accuracies that I noticed too. I really like how Kyoto is still the capital of Japan, since that's a fun little thing (Tokyo is still the center of commerce, though). I'm docking a point, though, based on the fact that even though this is a Japan that was apparently never taken over by America (let's face it, it's what happened), it's still VERY much like Japan today. I mean, the Japanese MILITARY students are wearing the sailor outfits that became popular solely because America had such a huge influence on the current society.
Animation and Length: 4/5
Continuity/Fluidity of Anime: 3/3
It's well done, and the time skip worked out really was so far, so I'm pleased with it. The advances in the mecha can actually be seen (a.k.a., they got that much cooler looking.) and Yui seems to have grown in that time, so I'm really just waiting for the next episode to find out what's up.
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| Just cooler and cooler. |
The Pull: 2/2
The cover features two gorgeous women in tight suits virtually holding hands. Oh, there's also a shadowy mecha in the background. There's an alien invasion If that doesn't get male fans riled up, then I really don't know what will. And then all the male fans can talk about to the female friends they have and get them to join in on the shenanigans. So I give Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse full points here.
Personal Opinion: 4/5
As I've said, I really like where this anime is going right now. The opening has me slightly hooked, and it's REALLY catchy. It is not, however, a really frilly, girly song. Which is thankful, since that would ruin the whole show's tone. That happened with Tactical Roar, and I can never look at that show the same again. What worries me though is that this show had a great start. And as I've learned recently, shows that have great beginnings that don't already have established endings tend to have disgustingly open endings. When I say "open", I don't mean that the director intended to leave a question hanging in the air that stays with the audience. Oh no, what I mean is that it was blatantly obvious that the production team had no idea how to end the series. Such was the case with Guilty Crown, and most recently Aquarion: EVOL. I'm hoping this isn't the case with Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse. That being said, I actually recommend the series to anyone who want's a good mecha show, and I have high hopes for the show.
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Setting: 3/5
Animation and Length: 4/5
Continuity/Fluidity of Anime: 3/3
The Pull: 2/2
Personal Opinion: 4/5
Grand Total: 22/30
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