Yui’s struggling to survive as the BETA continue to bear down on her.
What They Say:
Yui is trapped in the abandoned supply base, and the BETA have broken through the defense lines. With no hope of escape, she attempts to destroy the prototype cannon to keep it from falling into the wrong hands…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the attack on the base we saw unfold previously, it was interesting to see just how personally Yui took everything when it came to protecting the cannon and making sure it didn’t fall into Soviet hands. There’s still too many nationality issues coming into play when mankind is facing extinction, but you can’t help but to feel that it’s not all that far from the truth of the matter. We are often our own worst enemy, so knowing that we’d stab each other in the back for an advantage in dealing with an alien threat doesn’t stray too far from the mark. With Yui, she’s intent on winning things overall, but even then she has her allegiances and intends to stand by them at the cost of her own life rather than let the weapon fall into their hands.
With Yui and one of the maintenance people all that’s left now in the facility, they’re working hard to deal with the threat. Yui is a bit much at times with the way she’s so in control and going by the rules in a way, even calling up her Samurai Family past at one point, as it just paints a picture of someone who really is too professional for their own good. It’s something that does of course serve as inspiration to the tech that’s helping her, but it just feels off as it unfolds and makes Yui less likable after a few episodes that have worked rather well to repair her personality in the face of others.
A good chunk of this episode is just focused on the two of them struggling through the base to survive and to push back against the BETA that are crawling all over it. While we’ve had varied BETA instances in the past, there’s something different with this one in its feel because we’re able to see a lot of them up close, single and with them almost taking a more cautious approach. Mingling in more from Yui’s past where we see her as the young girl going to training, aiming to be a part of the war effort and seeing those that she lost once again helps to make it all resonate and provide some balance to the more serious side that we got as well. Mixing this with more tension when it comes to the BETA that are hunting her down and getting to see how they’re almost eying her is certainly intriguing.
In Summary:
With the focus largely on Yui’s trying to survive the invasion of the base, Total Eclipse has a somewhat predictable episode in many ways since it’s just that, a survival story. With her mostly on her own once the tech is dealt with, we see a bit more humanity out of her through some well placed flashback sequences that add some good stuff for her. I rather found myself far more interested in the BETA this time around than I was before and they definitely made for more interesting viewing as it progressed. Bringing Yuuya into it to save the day certainly is no surprise as well but it’s well played and serves to help set up where things are going to go from here, which looks particularly dangerous considering what’s outside of the base now….
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
