Total Eclipse - Episode 7 Discussion / Poll

[Kaihan]

Inia didn't even seem be bothered about wearing a school swimsuit, even gave the teddy bear something to wear.
Episode was a lot better than I thought as they began talking about their past and problems.

I kind of had some hint about Scarlet Twins hating the sea when Inia said she didn't like the sea last ep and Cryska fainting.

[Silvance]

Originally Posted by Bombo

Yui so cute .
ANYWAY
From the preview we will meet BETA ....!

I can't wait for it myself. I hope the battle scenes will not disappoint like in episode 5. The previous episodes already mentioned that Yuuya has no prior experience in fighting the BETA so it'll be an interesting sight to witness.

As for the episode, I found it rather entertaining. The atmosphere in the cave was indeed suffocating. lol

[orion]

Go Cryska! She got Yuuya to open up. We need more ep to see what makes her and Inia tick.

[SoFarGone]

hope they didn't spent most their budget on these swimsuit episodes lol.

[orion]

Originally Posted by SoFarGone

hope they didn't spent most their budget on these swimsuit episodes lol.

Nah, it'll prob be on the BETAs in the next ep. But hey, I got to see more Cryksa and Inia so I'm not complaining. The more development Cryska and Inia get, the happier I am.

*proudly waves the Russian flag and hopes that they survive the series*

[Silvance]

Originally Posted by SoFarGone

hope they didn't spent most their budget on these swimsuit episodes lol.

With the pleasant quality of the female anatomy in the beach episodes? I'm not surprised if they blew a big percentage of their budget already. Haha.

[Maverick05]

Gave it a 9.

No mechaporn, but I like the episode. Made me laugh and feel good all the way to the end, unlike other recent series.

Yet gave it a 9 just because I was expecting Cryska to melt down a bit more in the end and I was also expecting Yui to go out in a full brazilian bikini. XD

[novalysis]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

For those who don't see where I'm coming: just ignore TE premise a moment and imagine that it is just a high school comedy/drama series with foreigners packed in the lot.

Rather than High School students, I think that University Undergrads might be more apt.

Age wise, they'd be University Undergrads if there was no BETA War, I'd imagine, and personality wise, they are supposed to correspond to people in their early 20's, not late Teens.

[orion]

Originally Posted by novalysis

Rather than High School students, I think that University Undergrads might be more apt.

Age wise, they'd be University Undergrads if there was no BETA War, I'd imagine, and personality wise, they are supposed to correspond to people in their early 20's, not late Teens.

But I thought Yui was close to 17-18 yo?

Inia definitely does not act or look in her 20's. Ditto for Chobi.

[novalysis]

Originally Posted by orion

But I thought Yui was close to 17-18 yo?

Inia definitely does not act or look in her 20's. Ditto for Chobi.

I'm referring to Yui, Yuuya and Cryska. I thought that all three of them were in the 20-21 age range....

Chobi and Inia have all the feel of Child Soldiers, and it has been suggested (and I did predict in Episode 2) that Chobi's childishness hides a very, very unstable personality.

[KleenexGhost]

My first post on this episode was more on the things I enjoyed. This one is more critical.

While I thought the episode was fun, I did have some problems with it. I get that they were trying to develop the characters this episode, I do. It was kinda hit and miss. I liked the interaction between Yuuya and Cryska. It was good to see them have an actual conversation and get some insight as to how they see each other. Only problem being that it felt a little bit forced.

As for Yui... Are they just turning her into the standard tsundere character? I mean I get that they're trying to show a softer side to her, but come on she was acting like the typical jealous childhood friend character we see from time to time in so many other series. I like Yui's character. I think that she is a good female character. I understand that they're trying to "defrost the ice queen" as the trope calls it, but they're taking some steps in the wrong direction with her character. Just show other sides of her personality.

Now for the bit at the end. I did point out things I liked about it in the earlier post, and I like fan-service as much as the next guy, but it felt forced. What was the point to it? Did we need it? Don't get me wrong I think Yui in a bikini is all good in the hood, but was it needed? Like Triple_R said it felt like shameless fan-service.

[PonSquared]

I doubt most of you, those who love this series, are going to like my post very much. Please stop reading now, if that is the case.

Originally Posted by Sheba

You put the nail on the head as in one of the many things that makes Muv Luv what it is. Those people would be right at home in a highschool romcom. One of the aspects of the universe itself is an experiment of thought along the lines of "We take those harem romcom stereotypes. Put them in highschool romcom moments, with its share of jealousy, misunderstanding and rivalry. Before feeding them to the realpolitik or meat grinder."

I mean, you are right, this is usually an universe fit for "unshaven macho men" (to quote someone who seems to have an unhealthy obsession with them). Either the context is a sore for harem romcom fans or the characters are such for those wanting the meatgrinder to start. And you don't have to like it. You just have to bear it. So when the shit hit the fan, if you cry bitch tears and long for the simpler times, those quirky romcom moments have likely done their job. (emphasis on if

It is true that this kind of story can be written. It is also true that it can be animated and broadcasted. However, it must also be done in such a way that follows the rules of SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF. Something that, sadly, these last few episodes do not do.

Take EVA for example. It went into great detail to explain why kids are the pilots and main characters. You could watch it and think, "Yeah, okay, it had to be kids cause the rules of the EVA universe dictate that not anyone can control an EVA. Look how much trouble these kids are having - mental breakdowns and all. Yes, I could see how this would be possible." Suspension of Disbelief satisfied.


MLA:TE on the other hand, well, lets see how it was planned out.

Lets make them anime about adults in the military who are representatives of different countries. "Sure. Sounds great." Now, lets make it the end of the world with an alien race of bug-things slowly taking over the planet. "Cool." Then we'll say that the main characters are test pilots who are trying to perfect a weapon that is the last best hope for humanity. "God, this sounds awesome!" Then, finally, have all the main characters act like high school students in a silly logical love triangle (it isn't even a triangle, lets be honest). "Uhhh... but..." Oh, and then we'll make sure the rest of the world allows this to happen by no one acting in the manor in which anyone would believe them to act based on their age/sex/title/military rank/position/life experiences. "No, that doesn't make any sense!! That doesn't sound like it could happen..."

Green-light it!

(Suspension of Disbelief completely breached.)

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

Hmm...while I admit that "stuck on the island with two girls in swimsuits while we talk a lot" didn't do much for me (simply because the fanservice crossed the line from "hmm, cute" to "okay, enough of this already), it was nice to get to see some more character development, particularly from Cryska, who's been rather an enigma for the first six eps. (well, 3-6, since she wasn't in 1-2).

(I don't know if Europeans have school swimsuits, but I have no idea why Vincent should have called it classic, since Americans definitely don't.)

It was a largely boring episode. Though, it was nice to get a little bit more information on Cryska. What I do not understand is what the point of the long conversation between Cry and Yuuya? What did it reveal?

I watched it twice and still do not know what it was about. We learned that Cry and In. are test tube experiments (Will that matter later on?? - Yuuya doesn't know, only the audience does.) What did either of them gain from it?

"Do you like my sister?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I dont like the sea... You are Japanese"

"How dare you!"

"Ah, so you like Yui."

Whaaaaaaaaat did I just watch?!

I really felt that most of that episode was pointless and made no sense,

As for the swimsuits, after several searches on Google/Bing for Russian school uniform swimsuits and the like I could find no examples of them. I did find tons of anime characters wearing them, and most of those to be hentai... blah.

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

Yeah, this is what I was getting at with Yui (and why I gave the ep. a 7 on the poll), only you say it a lot better. Even if Yui's just a kid, Yuuya is both an adult and an American; he shouldn't be acting like a Generic Japanese High School Student. (Heh...maybe Yui's been right all along about the effects of racial genetics in the MLA universe...who knew that Harem Protagonist Guy was an ethnic attribute?)

Yes, yes, 10,000% YES!

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Before I begin, let me just say that I really didn't like this episode. So if you don't want to read a critical review, it might be a good idea to stop reading now.

I didn't mind the softening that Yui received last episode, but this episode's depiction of her was downright ridiculous, imo. The way they portrayed her character in this episode may well make it impossible for me to take her seriously ever again.

And that final scene... good grief. That's one of the worst anime scenes I've seen in a long time. Am I to seriously believe that this sort of utterly shameless silliness is going on within a military operating in a world severely threatened by a massive alien invasion?

For all the talk of racism/nationalism in this anime, it pales in comparison to the obnoxious male chauvinism of the last scene of this episode, imo.

About the only thing I liked in this episode was Yuuya's character. He's about the only character in this show that consistently acts like a self-respecting professional, let alone a soldier. He's a good character - It's a shame he's been saddled with goofball allies and over-the-top tsunderes.

It makes zero sense. This is bad writing at its worst. Much like the cat girl scene in the restaurant. It would not and could not happen. Adults, especially military trained adults would not act the way that most of the main characters in the show are acting.

The racism in the series could work - if it wasn't all "Japan is great and all your countries are messed up for reasons A/B/C. You should all be Japanese and just forget your cultural heritage - it is not the Japanese way."

As for the ending of the episode, why did the girls have to parade their sex out in front of the whole US/USSR contingents? Perhaps, because they got stranded at see and needed a rescue? SERIOUSLY?! Could that happen in the US military or for that matter the Russian? Perhaps some behind the scenes intimation and sexual assaults, that I could believe. But having a "photo shoot" punishment in front of 100 horny guys. Ugh, just, seriously ugh. Heck, I used to live near a Japanese military base and that kind of stuff would never happen there either - at least not in this context (Perhaps a military beauty pageant? Doubtful but I suppose possible...) Finally, would Russian military commanders allow their top pilots the humiliation of being ogled at by a bunch of horn-dogs, no less in another countries swimsuit style... and with their names written in that other countries language. No, no. Oh, and no. Poor writing and poor research on every level.

Originally Posted by YF19EX

Its not an excuse to let bad writing slide, but more of a series can never give an audience all it whats. Sometimes to get to the better part you have to live with it. This is a 20+ ep series. There will be plenty of time for it to sink or swim. So the next question, is such "bad writing" in this early stage unforgivable or do you still see potential to flush out a story. I still see the war aspect of the story engaging and the romance element could possibly be given a better writing out during those times. I have no particular problems with either way it goes.

Next episode "Far East Battle Lines" looks to be promising. Perhaps most of the main characters will die in joyfully horrible ways (especially the annoying ones) and we'll get back to the bugs eating faces part of this series that is/was? so wonderful.

(5/10) I already feel the stitches of universe unraveling with me giving it such a high score. I dare go no higher.

[kari-no-sugata]

For the last 2 episodes, considering most of the individual scenes separately, they're generally enjoyable or interesting. The problem I have is taking the episodes / mini story arcs as a whole, a number of things seem quite shallow and poorly developed. Given that this is based off a series of novels, I was hoping for more depth. The mecha and sci-fi aspects are quite interesting and I'm happy with most of that but the author / script-writer doesn't seem to be able to develop the characters without resorting to tropes. Now, I'm not going to demand originality for the sake of it, but if you're going to resort to using tropes you should at least execute them well.

So... enjoyable in pieces but lacking in overall satisfaction.

While things may be looking up with more action hinted at in the next episode, the longer term problem I have is I don't really care about most of the characters enough - it wouldn't affect me much if/when they die. I dunno if we'll see any side characters dying yet, but I dont get the feeling we'll be seeing any of the 4 major characters die soon so any action scenes would rather lose the tension they could have had.

PS I dont think it's a very good excuse to say that because the overall franchise is based on an eroge we should automatically forgive certain faults - this is an anime series and it should stand on it's own merits if it wants to succeed. If you're just preaching to the choir (ie eroge players) then what's the point of doing an anime version really?

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Sagecat

Next episode "Far East Battle Lines" looks to be promising. Perhaps most of the main characters will die in joyfully horrible ways (especially the annoying ones) and we'll get back to the bugs eating faces part of this series that is/was? so wonderful.

(5/10) I already feel the stitches of universe unraveling with me giving it such a high score. I dare go no higher.

It sounds to me, based on all you're claiming, that we can probably come to the conclusion that Total Eclipse is a series about fanservice:

The mecha/sci-fi scenes are fanservice for mecha/sci-fi fans
The harem/shounen-romantic-comedy scenes are fanservice for harem/shounen-romantic-comedy fans
On the whole, the show is fanservice for people who like the particular blend of elements shown (serious wartime action/mecha when it wants to be, silly harem comedy/romance when it wants to be).

If that's true, then the story can only be taken as seriously as you want to take it. People who dislike one element or the other may find the blend intolerable, at least at times. But at a certainly point, rather than thinking it should be more of A and less of B, we may have to conclude that the intention of the writers (for better or worse) may have been to create "AB". I've seen similar arguments for other shows that have blended these sorts of elements before.

[novalysis]

Well, we could always consider the Commercial angle to everything. There has always been an element of pandering to this anime, I think, in it's objectives.

But still, scratch that layer of pandering, and there is indeed substance. Poorly adapted substance it seems, but hey, it did spark page after page of debate after Episode 2 and 3.

[KleenexGhost]

Right. We're only 7 episodes in of a series that is 24 episodes long. Total Eclipse has shown that it can tell a pretty good story, just look at episodes 1-5. Yes, this was the weakest episode of the series so far. TE is going back to what the story is about with the next episode, which will hopefully be better.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

I basically agree with most of the critical comments posted in this thread.

This episode is rather bad. Unlike the previous episode which somehow works in revealing Yui’s soft side a bit, this episode is overall a pain to watch. Aside from many unbelievable (and highschool harem cliche) elements here, the only redeeming thing is seeing Cryska’s attempt to undestand another person (for the first time, one could argue). While Yui’s character has turned into a “generic teenage female tsundere with military ranks”. Sigh....

And that last “forced photoshooting” scene is really really uggggghhh......! Sagecat has already describe my agony of watching it. The problem is not the fanservice itself, but how it is written, and this episode done it poorly.

You know, before watching this, I never thought that I’ll miss seeing those BETAs more than Yui-in-a-bikini. Yet, this very episode made that feeling came true.

[KleenexGhost]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

I basically agree with most of the critical comments posted in this thread.

This episode is rather bad. Unlike the previous episode which somehow works in revealing Yui’s soft side a bit, this episode is overall a pain to watch. Aside from many unbelievable (and highschool harem cliche) elements here, the only redeeming thing is seeing Cryska’s attempt to undestand another person (for the first time, one could argue). While Yui’s character has turned into a “generic teenage female tsundere with military ranks”. Sigh....

And that last “forced photoshooting” scene is really really uggggghhh......! Sagecat has already describe my agony of watching it. The problem is not the fanservice itself, but how it is written, and this episode done it poorly.

You know, before watching this, I never thought that I’ll miss seeing those BETAs more than Yui-in-a-bikini. Yet, this very episode made that feeling came true.

Hopefully, the writing will be better with the next episode.

[serenade_beta]

I think this episode would have been better if they actually developed Yui's dere towards Yuuya. Because her dere just seemed really sudden.
Not that I would have been able to pay much attention anyways, with the butts and breasts everywhere.

[tsunade666]

this episode is full win that I can't stop grinning and laughing with all the troubles that comes in different way from nom nom. Yuuya having a very hard battle to understand and get along with Yui Cryska is also a nice add to the cat fight with her being straight forward with her interest and also loving the fan service at the end. I even completely forgot that Yui and Yuuya are always having a childish banter. Like it didn't exist. I wonder if its good or bad.