[grevierr]

Originally Posted by Angrypokstick

it was rectoned in the manga.

Spoiler:

Basically in the manga. It was shown that it was Not in the CIA's best interests for the shogun to survive the Coup(Which was also partially the CIA's doing- the soldier who fired an RPG at the imperial guard during the cease fire in the capital was an disguised CIA agent). Unknown to walken there were 2 CIA assets on his squadron during the coup. One is Lt Irma Thesleiff and another one of the Hunter callsigns who is her handler. Irma is a hypnotized sleeper agent so she herself doesn't even know she is working for the CIA. during Meiya's speech the 2nd CIA agent triggered Irma's f22's hypnosis system and forced Irma thesleiff to engage one of the Coup TSF(The MLA VN had Walken shout"What are you doing Lt Thesleiff!") and starting the ensuing firefight so the CIA agent can kill the Real Shogun and make it look like the coup forces did it. During the firefight Walken noticed that one of his men is targeting the Real shogun's TSF and using his commander codes he locked all of the weapon system on the CIA agents 's F22. Walken told him to RTB and be ready to give a damn good explanation why he is trying to kill the shogun. The agent however possess a master code for all the hunter F22s courtesy of the Pentagon and overrode Walken's codes. Using the same master code, the agent then shut down all major systems on Walken's F22 just as walken was about to engage Sagari causing Walken's untimely demise at the hands of Sagari(You will note in the VN during the fight Walken was in a state shock and suprise). The CIA agent was killed shortly after by one of Sagari's men during the chaos.

Since in the VN it was completely from Takeru's POV it had the hilarious knock on effect of making Takeru believe you can "row row fight the power "with pilot skill and banzai spirit for the rest of Alternative
Also Kouki himself made it very clear that The rafale is far superior compared to a type 94 and yet when Sagari was piloting the Rafale he could not defeat Walken in a F22 as shown in TDA.

Ahh, sucks.

Spoiler for MLA:

The original VN based on DVD only had Walken shocked that he could not hit him. He was going all hot blooded american when Sagari closed in and CHOP. Then he went up against Takeru, who had the XM3 and is the Urber Pilot IDDQD, said the same thing... As for the Rafael, piloting that is not the same as piloting something you have been with for years, and have pride in. His skill would definitely take a hit, like Yuuya in the Type-97. And because of Sagari, Takeru believed in banzai power when he took on 30+ Fort Class BETAs... and survived.

Still many thanks for the update. ^^

Originally Posted by Angrypokstick

In TDA. Canada, France ,surviving European union forces and probably the Russians too,have declared war on the United states. Sagari left the Japanese army to join something akin to the Muvluv verse of the french foreign legion. In TDA 02 He piloted a french Rafael and fought against Walken who was in a F22. There were no clear winner after several minutes of fighting, as both side had to fall back eventually for their own reasons.

Spoiler for cybreed:

Basically a not so secret European union project which resulted in many Military veterans from all branches of the armed forces who were gravely injured to receive Advanced prosthetic and/or cybernetic implants. The implant type vary depending on the type injuries received, but basically just think Adam Jensen from Deus Ex HR. Often but not always, the subjects are reassigned to a different job more suited for their cybernization.
For an example, the main character--Sylvio Orlandio--- a former special forces TSF pilot, in the side story "resurrection" have revived the following upgrades.

As a result he is now known among the fandom as the 6 billion Euro man. And in theory can take on anything empty hand short of a Tank class Beta.
Though obviously you wouldn't send such an investment to the front lines, where cheaper equipments can do the job faster and safer. The UN had him reassigned to do either secret undercover "jobs" or as a bodyguard for important people.

So are they still able to pilot TSFs effectively?

Spoiler for cybreed:

I thought I read that even with the limbs they still have problems such that they are not combat flight certified. Any confirmation? I'm talking about Haruka as the other example, although hers is lower tech.