I'm just going to post images until my thoughts are arranged.
Many events in Extra are connected again. It really shows why playing the original Muv-Luv is so necessary beyond simple "backstory" since you get to remember the events along with Takeru.
Takeru and everybody manages to get commissioned as Second Lieutenants too. They get much better looking black and purple Eishi suits that aren't too too terrible.
Also the Base CO (General Rabihodhands? it's hard to remember) definitely has the same VA as Houzuki from Sharin no Kuni. It's a pretty good voice but it just makes the Base CO sound like a total villain.
Daaw bashful Mikoto is best Mikoto.
:O
Uh oh this is when a bunch of veterans beat up the newbie right...
Nope they're actually cool people. I was pretty glad when Age averted that disgusting scenario. They still don't get names but at least they care.
Anyway this has been much too peaceful don't you think so?
It's only been about five days since the Coup d'état why not
have the BETA attack us during afternoon training?!!?Takeru has never actually seen the BETA yet...neither have the players.
Hypnotic suggestion on soldiers? Perfectly ethical, let's pump them full of stimulants too that won't cause any problems with fragile young minds--
And make them forget that their mecha are still only armed with training paintball rounds.
I really enjoyed this scene. Not only is it the first BETA appearance but Takeru really does lose his shit. You can't put full blame on the hypnosis and drugs...he
really hates the BETA I'll get into this more later...
This scene also makes me want to dub Alternative a silly name. Evangelion the VN would work quite well I think. Alien invasions? Apocalyptic setting? Time shenanigans? To be fair only the core cast of mecha pilots are truly young but they
are the core cast.
FILL THEM FULL OF PAINT SHIROGAAANEEEEE
This is when I wish he was fully voiced. :[
This scene was autoread so I couldn't get the full text, damn cinematic...
Well that sucked...and was awesome too.
Takeru was happy. He managed to graduate all of his squadmates much earlier this timeline. He was doing everything possible that he could think of. Sure the events in Episode 6 weren't planned but that wasn't the BETA, his true enemy. His entire goal has been to eliminate the BETA from this world and save humanity, but that wasn't what happened when the BETA finally showed up.
(their appearance is still a mystery to me, but I'm sure it's part of some conspiracy with Yokohama base)
He lost his shit. It was pretty amazing to see the usually composed and levelheaded Takeru (just the fact I can say that shows the amount of character development since Extra and Unlimited) in absolute hysteria. After wasting all his paintball rounds he loses monitor visual and the BETA he was dueling where bashing the shit out of him. It was amazing to see him weeping in a emotional frenzy of fear and rage. Even if he was being suggested and drugged this was not how he predicted he would be acting.
Although as Marimo points out later the fact he faced off against a few BETA with
dummy weapons is badass enough. Also some UN Captain saves him obviously. It was really done well.
Hehehe.
This was a good scene. I started tearing up here.
:\
Marimo's speech here was really good too. Takeru was depressed but with Marimo's help he was definitely going to regroup and--
I'm not sharing the clean version.
...there was still a few BETA left. The report was false.
The sound that played was
sickening. Reminds me of the end of Chapter 4 in Chaos;Head...but let's not go there.
Also again, Takeru having full voice acting would have been amazing.
Think Shirogane Takeru has hit rock bottom at this point? Hardly.
We also get the very very late introduction of the Captain who saved us...their text changed colors so they're probably important. But because their appearance is vastly overshadowed by everything before it they feel...ignored?
Also I thought it was neat the Orderly got a sprite...but it hardly matters after what just happened, again.
GET THE HELL OUT
Suddenly getting Tsukihime vibes from this. TAKERU CALM DOWN DON'T MAKE THIS ANY WORSE THAN IT HAS TO BEEEE
I was imagining him sounding so so desperate and scared and lonely and hurt during these scenes.
He also starts getting a half-crazy laughing tic, we'll get more of that later...
...And well. Takeru runs away. Which I felt was done really well. After the failure of the BETA attacking and Marimo-chan's very shocking death Takeru put himself into such an emotional rut that he just can't take saving this world anymore and...leaves.
I liked Kasumi's "...weakling" as Yuuko warps him back. Weakling indeed...
You wouldn't think it'd be that easy though right?
YES. Shirogane has definitely become ridiculously different. The fact he's back in Extra makes it even more painfully obvious. He's become much more quiet, focused, and determined...although after the events earlier it's more depressed and solemn.
I just can't even imagine him being the type to whack Sumika over the head for mocking him anymore. It's unthinkable and would feel OOC even.
Also yep, this is the scene where I wrote "I'm bawling so hard right now ;_; ;_; ;_;" in. I bawled so hard.
See...Marimo is alive in this world still. And I don't know...combining the fact I'm suddenly deeply invested in this series and the music box version theme started playing it was tough to play...Marimo...Marimo...UWAAAAAH SHE HAD NO FACE
...And then the final destination shit starts. And they had to fucking have the corpses match in both worlds. Fuck.
Just to show how ridiculous in quality Extra and Alternative are. I said Yuuko was the absolutely worst character in Extra. During Unlimited she got better but now in Alternative I wouldn't even say 'mediocre'. It's like...Age...you guys...you could have done this from the start. This is going to make recommendations tough when there's such a harsh prerequisite.
To be fair Extra is the only really tough one to chew. Unlimited was decent in its own rights...it was also shorter than Extra.
Speaking of length. Alternative suppose to be longer than Extra and Unlimited combined, that seems to be the case so far. Extra took 5 days, Unlimited took 2, and this is my...5th day of Alternative? Either way it's definitely out placing Extra already. And I'm sure it can last two more days.
That's nice...rewards need pass the difficulty reaching them.
From then on it starts becoming more and more obvious that Takeru is a very strange existence that would make any VN proud. He's a full fledged slider. Not only time travel but world traveling is possible too.
...In fact.
After Marimo died and Takeru started running all over the base trying to go back to his home world...his vision was warping I seem to recall. And it wasn't just tears or anything. I think he held such a strong conviction to 'go home' that it could have happened if Yuuko didn't use the device for him...anyway...
Yuuko starts calling him a Causality Conductor which sounds pretty cool. CCs man.
Still, for the second half of Episode 7 it's mostly Takeru angst-ing the shit out in the messed up Extra branch world. It was still really well done I think and a very strange pace than what I was expecting. All the tears. ;_;
FuuuuuckI see a yellow ribbon.
YOU MUSTN'T LOOK, STAY AWWWAAAAAY
;_;
Those diary entries in Extra managed to come back and bite Takeru
hard. They're also really neat to see as a legitimate reason for why Sumika was able to remember him...since his coming back to this world was fucking things up as a Causality Conductor.
Hohohohohoho this sounds so familiar to another VN I really love...good work Age.
Episode 7 ends with Takeru getting
even more resolve and Yuuko managing to send him back to Alternative while yet another cinematic song played. Awesome.
Episode 8 is called "After The Tears Fall" and it's really the perfect title. ...And that's where I am presently.
I don't know. I just really felt this whole Episode was done really well. And while I did expect a BETA attack eventually the events afterwards truly left me stunned and amazed. I applaud you.
For a future rating I can't see anything below an 8/10. It's just...so good.