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[series:4389#628] | ||||||
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(Eight episodes watched): 'Don't expect me to remember where things stood at the end of the last Muv-Luv series' I said to myself while preparing to watch episode one of this show, because my vague memories of that show were that it was confusing and frustrating. You would think that Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse would be a sequel to this show, but no, it's the other way around. Fortunately about the only thing the two seem to have in common is that they are set during the same war, so being familiar with the 2012 series is not an obligation for making sense of this one. In this alternate history the BETA (Beings of Extra Terrestrial origin that are Adversarial to humanity) invaded earth in 1973 and a desperate war to repel them has been underway ever since. The Sado base comes under ferocious attack and is overwhelmed (in part due to the failure of US forces to support their Imperial Japanese allies). There's plenty of action against the truly disgusting BETA but this episode is little more than a prologue since the main story must take place somewhere else and we have only met one of the characters, Komaki. I thought the heroic sacrifices made by the noble warriors of Imperial Japan (for example the admiral aboard a warship) were a little too corny and nationalistic and therefore difficult to take seriously. But otherwise I am curious to see where Komaki will wind up (Alaska again?) and how she will fare. There was little to confuse us in this episode as the plot has barely begun and hopefully it will flow smoothly and hold our interest from here on as well. The real premise is revealed in episode two (I needed to completely rewrite the synopsis), namely Shirogane Takeru's attempt to prevent the apocalyptic Alternative V plan from being implemented. This was pretty neat and drew me in. It didn't make complete sense: why does the professor need a mecha pilot? Why does Takeru keep travelling through time and space? What had become of Komaki and any other survivors of episode one? I keep getting the impression that it has been assumed that anyone watching this show must already be familiar with whatever previous anime, manga or video games that exist in the Muv-Luv franchise (I wonder what the ---- 'Muv-Luv' means). Takeru keeps mentioning how events in this redo of recent history compare to the first time around, which was not included in this series. It gets kind of confusing at times, and the show would probably have been more fun if I had known what he was referring to. The fact that he's already a fully trained and highly experienced mecha pilot is difficult to keep from being noticed. There's a lull in fighting with the BETA as the clock winds down towards Alternative V being carried out. You start to wonder if Takeru and his girls might get so good at mecha combat that the BETA could be defeated after all. In episode six it turns out that it's surprisingly easy for Takeru to pay a quick visit to his alternate world in order to recover some vital information--a little too easy, if you ask me (and the escapade he experiences on his first intentional visit is about as cheap as they come). We also get another dose of a trademark of the Muv-Luv incarnations, namely the counter-intuitive way that just when the human race is in it's greatest danger ever human leaders feel the time is right to make power plays and stuff like that. In episode seven we get a briefing on the four 'alternatives' that have been attempted so far. They were basically attempts to communicate with the BETA and negotiate a cease-fire, but needless to say that hasn't happened. You can't help noticing that the BETA have no possessions, no tools or technology, just their own bodies, yet can somehow travel between planets. They seem to possess the intelligence of insects, yet are deadly and seem to know exactly what their goal is and ruthlessly carry it out. Who's to say that Takeru's alternate world is only peaceful because the BETA haven't arrived there yet? Well, guess what: there's a full-fledged coup attempt in episode eight! Whoever the author of Muv-Luv is, he/she has a definite infatuation with coups, as was obvious even in the first incarnation. But it is absurd to the point of being ridiculous. The plotters make no mention of the BETA in their statement, they just feel (if they are being honest) that the government hasn't been serving the people well enough. But there's a f---ing war against invading aliens under way! This trenchcoat-wearing investigator dude is an annoyance rather than cool. I don't give a damn whether the 'Shogun' or the UN or the US or some other faction is in control of Japan, I want to know whether the BETA or the human race is going to be annihilated. How many episodes have passed since the last time we even saw the BETA? This coup business is nothing but a distraction from the main plot and a waste of time. When it was the turn of episode nine to be watched, I found that my interest in this show as a whole had largely evaporated and I decided to skip it. Maybe I will watch it later, but maybe I won't. Last updated Tuesday, December 14 2021. Created Friday, October 15 2021. | ||||||||
