To put into perspective, Total Eclipse (TE) is a spin-off of the Muv-Luv Alternative universe. Strangely enough, an anime adaptation of the Muv-Luv Alternative VN will be airing on October 2021, 9 years after Total Eclipse aired on TV.
Total Eclipse is NOT an adaptation of the Total Eclipse VN (as MAL has wrongly put it). Rather, it is an adaptation of the LN of the same name. The six-volume LNs came out first before the VN and judging from the LN release dates, it seems that the anime is based on the first five LNs. The VN itself is supposed to be a concluding sequel to the LN.
The Muv-Luv Alternative universe itself is set in an alternate history timeline where several key events have changed. New viewers of TE may be confused as to the changes in this alternate timeline, so I scoured the net (including the wiki, most of which is based on the Muv-Luv Alternative Integral Works) and I believe these key background events should suffice to help viewers understand Total Eclipse better:
(Quick Disclaimer: The following events are not spoilers because the series barely addresses these at all. If you want to read my review only, you can skip this part. I'm only putting it here so that viewers don't have to spend hours looking at different websites trying to understand the premise of this alternate universe.)
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- Japan and Germany both lost WW2, but Japan surrendered conditionally in 1944 and avoided the atomic bombings. Nazi Germany gets those two bombs instead.
- Japan remains an empire but still under substantial pressure and control from the US. Nationalism remains a strong force in the country.
- After WW2, many countries accelerated their space programs and made technological breakthroughs in space much faster than our real world counterpart, going so far as to establish permanent lunar bases.
- Aliens known as BETA were discovered in Mars. The BETAs would later attack lunar bases in The First Lunar War.
- After losing the first and only extraterrestrial war, the BETAs invade Earth, starting at India and PRC, and soon the whole Eurasian continent would fall to the BETAs. Casualties are presumably in the billions and whole nations in the Eurasian continent are displaced, leading to a huge humanitarian crisis.
- The start of the BETA invasion prompted new developments in weaponry and equipments. One of those weapons would be TSFs (mechas) frequently featured in the series.
- The BETA invasion causes major geopolitical changes. Many nations form regional blocs to represent them in the UN. Some of these blocs are both political and military in nature. Both PRC and ROC form a new united front.
- The US would lease Alaska (at least half of it) to the Soviet Union for 50 years. After the BETA invasion, the Soviet Union's major institutions would relocate to Alaska and remain there ever since. The Soviet Union's territory is subsequently reduced to the northern half of Alaska and some islands close to the Eurasian continent on the Far East.
- After the fall of Korea, Japan lost half of its territory to the BETA invasion, including the imperial capital of Kyoto.
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Now, allow me to give my short review of Total Eclipse.
* Story: 6/10
Don't get me wrong. The alternate history timeline provides for an interesting background. This is exemplified in the first two episodes of TE about the defense and fall of Kyoto during the BETA invasion from the perspective of Takamura Yui.
These two episodes are so good that if I were to rate Total Eclipse on the two episodes alone, I'd give a 9 or perfect 10 out of 10.
You might be forgiven for thinking that Yui will be the main star of the series. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case. From the third episode onward, the story shifts to the present where Yuuya Bridges takes the spotlight.
The story itself is nothing like the first two episodes. It basically turns into a generic Shounen series involving Yuuya and his new teammates in a collaborative project for developing new TSFs. The story itself is divided into several arcs, none of which are remarkable.
Total Eclipse does bring up interesting questions and challenges. It doesn't, however, explore them deeper. To me, it's basically just scratching the surface without digging into it. This, I believe, is the source of my frustration.
Then there's the fanservice issue. Depending on your preferences, it might or might not be a good thing. The series occasionally features nudity in shower scenes.
Putting everything negative aside, I think the story is still good enough to give it a go. Some arcs are considerably better than others in storytelling. The political tensions between different nations, groups, and factions did contribute to getting me continuously hooked up with the series.
* Art: 6/10
The animation is pretty average to me. The mech battles are animated properly, but elsewhere, the animation quality isn't anything premium.
Considering this is a 2012 anime and that TE is just a spin-off, I might still be able to overlook the average quality. I'm hoping that Muv-Luv Alternative does much, much better with regards to animation quality.
* Sound: 7/10
The OP and ED songs aren't really my style, but still fun to hear compared to many other OP and ED songs from other animes.
I haven't really noticed the sound effects, but I still think they're OK.
* Character: 5/10
I'm rather ambivalent about the nature of the characters in TE and their growth.
TE features four main characters: Yuuya Bridges, Takamura Yui, and the Scarlet Twins - Cryska Barchenowa and Inia Sestina.
Of the four, Yui was my favorite mainly due to her temperament and strong moral convictions. The first two episodes really did shape Yui. She also exhbits Tsundere-like characteristics.
Her uncompromising attitude towards Yuuya really made for a good conflict. The constant back-and-forth between the two could have easily been the focus of the entire story. Unfortunately, a quarter way through the series, Yui's attitude suddenly became more shy and less confrontational towards Yuuya. I presume this was done to allow room for romance, but the way they did it was rather abrupt and sudden. I personally think this ruined Yui's character for the rest of the season.
Yuuya himself was not a very interesting character. He had a difficult upbringing and shady history in the military, but the way his background affects him is inconsistent. Sometimes, he hates certain people due to his past, and sometimes he just doesn't really care at all. His character did grow considerably in the first half of the season, owing much of it to the conflict between Yui and him. After that, his character growth stagnated, replaced by underwhelming storytelling and fanservice.
The scarlet twins, Cryska and Inia, do add some interesting dynamic between Yuuya and Yui. Their backstory isn't really fully explored until near the end of the show, and even then there's not much to know about the two other than being known for their impressive piloting skills.
For supporting characters, Yuuya's pilot teammates are Stella Bremer, Tarisa Manandal, and Valerio Giacosa. The show doesn't really give much to learn about them, and I was kinda disappointed about that. I wished the three be given a few episodes of their own due to their diverse backgrounds, but they weren't given the chance. I actually found these supporting characters more interesting than Yuuya himself. To sum it up, Stella, Tarisa, and Valerio didn't have any character growth because the show considered them grown already. They were already the best versions of themselves.
* Enjoyment: 7/10
Having laid out all my criticisms of the show, I still enjoyed it, probably more than most reviewers here.
* Overall: 6/10
Total Eclipse had a lot of potential. Unfortunately, TE began as more of a side series than a main one, and it started out as an LN series. It's not unreasonable to believe that with better development and less focus on the fanservice, TE could have easily been a masterpiece.
That being said, I'm hoping TE's anime adaptation would provide a valuable lesson to Muv-Luv Alternative's anime adaptation that's going to air in October 2021. As a parent story to TE, Alternative has a rather low bar to surpass in terms of quality.
