Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse

That was my question. The Phantom and the Tomcat weren't produced for the US at the same time.

US has already phased out the F-4 as of ML 2001. Other countries are still using the licensed export variants, though Japan at least (and likely other nations) is looking into phasing them out too.

New episode is out. Looks like I'm not the only one who thinks maybe Yuuya and Yui need to get locked in a cockpit for a while.

And things did not go quite the way I had thought they would. Nice to see Yui acknowledge that Yuuya's doing a damn good job, even though the plot will never acknowledge his entirely valid critiques of Japanese design philosophy. Maybe her little stunt caused her to get her comeuppance, but I sort of doubt it.

The episode was pretty decent. It's pretty much certain Yui let Yuuya win, especially after that comment from Inia. It's resulting in him accepting the Shiranui, which will be necessary to develop it further. Yui will probably start acting less frigid over time as well.

Next up: Time to befriend the Russians. That should be interesting. Hopefully, we get some info about Project Alternative III.

I'm still up in the air on it. She certainly didn't act like she let him win; I get the impression her goal was to make him use the sword and fight her toe-to-toe than anything else, and it'd be pretty unusual for the protagonist's Sudden Revelation to not result in Surprise Victory

Wasn't Alternative III when the UN tries using psykers/espers en-masse to communicate with the BETA, but ended in a massive disaster after the infiltration of the hive in India? This is all second-hand info though (picked up from hanging around the Technology and Geopolitics thread at Asuki), but the 6% survival rate of AI-01 post Alt-III would guarantee that the few psykers left would be re-assigned to where they could be better used.

Incidentally, people are saying that Cryska is likely to be an Alt-III survivor, given her age.

edited 29th Jul '12 4:16:05 PM by MyssaRei

Yup, that's Alternative III. A load of test-tube telepaths sent out in modified F-14 Tomcats to try to communicate with the BETA. The few survivors were indeed assigned to other posts.

I can't remember if the last generation was also sent in to fight, but Cryska was probably part of the Hive assault. It also explains why she's fiercely protective of Inia.

edited 30th Jul '12 2:05:18 AM by MarqoD

New episode is out.

I've got to admit I didn't expect Inia to return Choubi's dislike in such equal measure.

Well, she does read the dislike of a lot of people around her with her ESP and she's rather bad at social situations. I would expect most people to respond with some hostility in that situation.

I rather enjoyed seeing the love triangle start with a bang at the end of the episode. Also got a kick out of the Running Gag with YAMATO DAMASHI and weak ankles.

Anyway, some notes on stuff which was in the LN's, but neglected by the anime. Excerpts from http://type94.wordpress.com/2012/08/02/total-eclipse-03-05/

The major thing that leaps out at me, rereading the novels, is that everything is just a little more dialed back than in the anime. Maybe that’s the nature of the medium – things just feel more lively than when you read words on a page. So, for example, Yuuya still mouths off to Yui, but without animation you don’t see him rolling his eyes, and without voices you don’t hear the obvious sarcastic edge to his words. The net effect is that Yuuya doesn’t come off as insubordinate to Yui as he does in the anime. And even then, during his first major argument with Yui, he’s well aware that his attitude towards a superior officer is enough to earn him a beating, and he’s a little surprised that one isn’t forthcoming. This is part of the reason he keeps thinking of her as a “Japanese doll” – she simply doesn’t seem to show the range of emotions that he would expect.

As for Yui herself, her problem is that everything she sees and does is through a Japanese perspective. Not only does she live in an Imperial Japan that is surely heavy on nationalism, she belongs to an elite samurai lineage. That colors everything she does. She opposed Project XFJ to begin with, not wanting foreign input into a Japanese TSF – and she especially opposes having an American test pilot rather than a Japanese one. So she naturally latches onto Yuuya’s Japanese heritage, hoping to mold him into a “proper” Japanese pilot. She has absolutely no concept of the tolerance for other nations’ cultures and beliefs that must exist in a mixed-nation UN base. So it’s not really a surprise that nobody else seems to like her much. Yuuya quickly bonds with his fellow pilots in Argos Flight, but after a month on base, it doesn’t seem like Yui is friends with ANYBODY.

edited 6th Aug '12 7:39:33 PM by HighVelocityPointyThings

Was I the only one who started rolling eyes during the whole "trapped alone in an island" setup for the episode? I swear, one part of my mind was ticking off the situations where, in an Eroge, Yuuya would have gotten into either — or BOTH — ladies' panties.

Forget that, I snorted big time at the hammer and sickle swimsuits.

Eh, I'm not to terribly worried about Yuuya: the joke being that the only reason he's ever shown interest in a girl was in order to get inside her mech.

edited 6th Aug '12 9:14:55 PM by HighVelocityPointyThings

I'm aware of the running joke (I even have the image of the "Relationship Chart" where everything connected to him was a TSF), but given that this IS tangentially connected to Extra (via franchise), which HAD excuses for "sexy time" and "fluid exchange", it's hard not to think of it.

Lol'd hard at the "ORE WA TSF!" pic of Yuuya someone posted somewhere else. Reminds me of one of the Gundam protagonists I hate the most.

And with the latest ep it looks like this could keep up with Kokoro Connect for the highly coveted "A show you've got to watch because it's so bad that you'd want to see how it gets even worse" anime of the season title!

Sure, Sure.

It must just be harder for me to imagine it,given that Yui's still in that first phase of naive befuddlement, and Cryska's only really interested in him (for now) because Inia happens to like him.

So what makes it 'bad'? Genuinely curious here - Aside from budget issues, the show seems rather well executed. I can certainly think of a few other series I would rank as considerably worse this season.

edited 6th Aug '12 9:51:49 PM by HighVelocityPointyThings

Harem stuff this episode, huh. Obvious set up is obvious. I'm gonna enjoy watching Yui fumble around.

New episode is out.

So, Doll (can't bother with her name) is upset that he's not a xenophobic prick?

She's just being a tsundere.

Probably THE episode that wouldn't have been too out of place in Extra. Seriously, aren't these people supposed to be professional military personnel? They seemed more like awkward highschoolers on a school trip than soldiers.

edited 12th Aug '12 10:32:43 PM by MyssaRei

Yui's seventeen or eighteen and Cryska's had minimal human contact outside of Inia. Yuuya's really the only adult in the group, apparently in his early to mid twenties.

Not trying to justify it, just trying to explain it.

Not to mention that Yui has a hard time socializing with non-Japanese people.

It is not right to expect from young people to act like mature adults when they have to deal with situation they are not used to and usually try to avoid for good reasons.