Review of Schwarzes Marken

Schwarzesmarken is an anime that focus about human rivalry and political tension in the middle of a war with alien invaders. I think this anime got ignored (maybe because of it being of muv luv universe or being mecha which a lot of people seem to dislike) but I want that people would give a chance to this great anime. So as said Schwarzesmarken focus on the humans in Europe (east Germany to be precise) and about their on going war with the BETA, an alien invaders that took most of Asia in a very short time. Being the last defense line of Europe, the eliteunit of "Schwarzesmarken" need to defend their country while also dealing with secret police, political tension with west Germany and the UN and of course internal conflicts. The show does a great job showing us that even in the face of humanity fiercest enemy, humans still won't get along and fight each other, possibly risking everything to get their ambitions.

We see ideals clashes and political discussions which are very interesting, but we also get a good balance of action-mecha fights and military operations, whether it's against humans or against BETA. The story is without a doubt the strongest point of the story.

Unfortunately, it isn't the same for the characters. There is a large cast and we can't get enough focus about everyone. Sure, the main character Theodor Eberbach start as a schmuck and get a character development. But we can say it only about him. The rest are either without personality, or with one gimmick that make them who their are (one is a bitch, one is a strong head etc).
We have also Katia, which is a great character. While at first seems like a Moe blob that only cries, she is tough and have strong personality-but Katia being cool doesn't fix the rest of the characters-problems that could be fix with more episodes and more time to focus about them.

For example Beatrix brehme, which built up to be a big villain, was a cardboard character without nothing to make her stand out except her cool design, a shame, really.

The designs overall were good. There was a lot of doubt about it before it came out but the art and animation were good. Nothing that stands out, but good. The voice acting was excellent.
The music fit nicely to the show, and was pleasant to hear.

Overall, Schwarzesmarken is a great anime. I enjoyed every second of it. I think more people should give it a chance because it was mostly ignored when it aired. The only people who paid attention to it were fans of the franchise, and I believe that even if you don't know Muv Luv or don't want to play the visual novels, you will still enjoy it, as a solid series with war setting and great Mecha battles.