Sorry for this long rant/review but I needed to get it out of my system D:
Really a lot of mixed feelings with this series, but I can only judge the anime, since I haven't played the VN yet. I first heard of muv-luv in an interview with Hajime Isayama, who cited it as one of his main inspirations for SnK. Naturally, I was curious and found about this anime after watching S2 of SnK. That was the wrong mindset to get into this series, even if my expectations weren't as high. I like to go as blind as possible whenever I watch a series, so I didn't know this was a spinoff adaptation until it was a bit late, and no, I don't have plans to play the VN yet. I might give the Schwarzesmarken anime a shot, though.
Plot: The start of TE got me hooked in an SnK-sort of way (although not that well handled). The training setting with the girls was too happy at first but given the way I got to know about this series it was obvious that many, if not all of the girls, would die. That was fine and all, I had high hopes for Yui's development, but then the focus of the show shifted to Yuuya. That bait-n-switch made the first 2 episodes almost pointless, either they could've saved them for later as Yui's flashbacks or they could've just made Yui the main character for the show (which I was expecting). I think she is a much more interesting character, while Yuuya's tragic past is just not that interesting in comparison. Still, I guess it would be hard to keep the series interesting from Yui's point of view if she is just a lieutenant and not a pilot. I'd say she should've kicked Yuuya's ass in a TSF practice fight way early in the story, just to make him change his attitude (his biggest problem, after all, as he was actually adapting faster than she thought to maneuvering the TSF), and it would've made his victory against her much more meaningful than just "you beat me, now I'm in love with you". The plot dwelves way so much in fan service to the point that it seems like watching 2 separate realities back to back: the slice-of-life one and the BETA-themed one. It takes the "you have to enjoy the few happy moments in this war" advice too far. The character conversations, while interesting, seem to go on for too long, even going in circles at times. The BETA conflict really takes a back seat to the political backstabbing, which seems kinda realistic, but in the end the BETAs are just there... not much is explained or discovered, much less resolved. This also produces a disconnect with the first two episodes: they tease you with a war, but most of the show happens in a base far from the front lines. The war with the BETA and their mysteries is half of what kept me going, so I ended up disappointed. Then they go with a tournament arc for the second half. At first I thought it was really dumb but it was nice it got interrupted. The tournament part of the arc, though, was a bit too long, I didn't care much for it. When the RLF shows up it became much more interesting. In the end, though, not much really happens, and nobody in the harem even dies (unless you count that French girl as part of it). I thought they had grown some balls when it seemed they killed off Yuuya, but nope. That would've made it interesting, but I would've settled for any truly relevant character dying, at least one, because the plot armor was too obvious. The ending didn't have any real impact, but apparently TE only covered half or so of the VN, so... I guess I can't falter them for that (what if they had removed all fan service and harem filler though, would they have had time for the whole story?). So, if it's too early to talk about plot armor, I guess I'll just read a wiki or something because the anime didn't make me interested enough to play the VNs. Back to the ending... The RLF just killing themselves seems believable, but a bit convenient. And just in the final arc it was revealed that there was a secret BETA research going on (which gave it a sort of cool NGE twist), but the implications of that aren't explored because the show ends. That's just cruel, man. Gotta give them props for giving the final episode enough time to wrap up as much as possible, though.
Characters: This is what saved the series for me, and I guess that speaks more to the quality of the source material than the anime itself. Yui and Yuuya are interesting characters and both of them show development. However, I'm not too sold on Yui's, she starts as a mostly innocent girl who learns the harsh reality of war, becomes a badass "I take no shit from you" independent woman, then kinda regresses a bit with all her feelings about Yuuya... on many ocassions she is relegated to harem interest instead of co-protagonist. Yuuya, on the other hand, was handled much better, he learns respect, he learns to adapt to the TSF, and he comes to embrace his Japanese identity, of course being dense to Yui's feelings for most of the show (because I think in the end he kinda knows... right?). I liked the development of the scarlet twins, but I wish more had been explained about their backstory. The rest of the XFJ pilots were likable, but not much is shown about their backstory except for Tarisa, which is a shame because I was sure if any of them died then there would be no impact. I loved and hated Cui, she brought some levity but butted in so much it got kinda annoying... Her instant love for Yuuya made her almost one-dimensional, a bit more flanderization and she becomes a yandere (though Cryska's jealousy is a tiny bit yanderish as well). Then, in the end, Cryska and Yui acknowledge each other as rivals in love. Oh, and Yui doesn't confess to Yuuya, neither she says goodbye to him, because she is sure she'll be back to Yukon base. I was cool with that (suits her Japanese way of thinking), but her conversation with Cryska made it look like Yuuya wouldn't have a say in it, like a trophy. I ship Yui, but turns out she's his half-sister... What are the odds!? I accidentally spoiled myself looking at character profiles (looking for the VA) and then I was waiting for the anime to reveal it, but it only hinted at it with the food thing. Perhaps it's much better for anime-onlys not to know about this. So they're half-siblings, and to make it even easier for Yuuya to chose, going for Cryska is practically getting both Cryska and Inia.
Sound & Music: The music is really the low point, the OST sounds like midi most of the time, can't recall any memorable tunes. Some of the few insert songs were cool, though. That music cue at the end of the episodes right before the ending (I guess it's actually the 1st ending's intro) sounds like the cheapest, most generic way to generate tension. I'm sorry but I found it terrible. The sound effects and the VAs were okay, but I missed more dramatic screams at some points (just a small nitpick, though).
Animation, Art, Direction: I watched the blu-ray version only, but it had its share of issues, characters looked iffy from not too far at times. Bust size seemed to change a lot for Tarisa, Inia, and Stella, and not only when going from casual clothes to their TSF suits XD. I can see the budget wasn't big, but I think they managed with what they had. To be honest I really didn't mind the CG, I actually liked it because at least for the TSFs it was fluid most of the time, unlike other, most recent series. The BETAs though, I didn't like them, but I also didn't like much their design, and that's not the studio's fault, at least not entirely. The direction was okay for the most part but could've been better. I don't know if I'm too used to Tetsuro Araki's direction, but I missed his overly dramatic style every time there was a shocking scene in this show. Some impactful scenes kinda fell flat, especially at the beginning when Yui's friends die like flies or the scarlet twins almost killed Tarisa and Yuuya at the end. Natalie's death was well executed, though.
tl;dr
The tone of the series feels like 2 different stories or realities, one of fan service and slice-of-life, one of war and political schemes. Bait-n-switch start, some filler episodes, not enough meat in the plot (unless you're talking about the female characters XD plot everywhere) Good characters with development, poor music. Really hard to recommend, even to mecha fans (still better than Aldnoah.zero overall).
As stand-alone material, this is ok/mediocre-ish, too much stuff is unexplained which basically screams "read the VN". The problem is, it's terrible advertisement for the VNs in the first place.
4/5 for the ending
6/10 for the series
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