Muv-Luv is a 3-part visual novel series released between 20, the last part of which, Muv-Luv Alternative, is widely considered to be one of the greatest visual novels ever made. So before I get into this, there are a couple things I'd like to clarify for those who are unaware. And depending on which side you fall on, your view on this anime will be quite different, although both sides will have their own problems with it, albeit totally different ones. There are two kinds of people that might watch Schwarzesmarken: those who have played the Muv-Luv trilogy and those who haven't. If I had to recommend a show to anyone I think this would have to be one of the first ones YOU MUST WATCH. The fact that the average is a 7 is almost a joke to me. What matters is they are implanting that idea in your head. It almost doesn't matter whether X-Chan is a traitor or not. You will assure your self that you know the truth when you don't. All you can do is wait for something to happen even though every second you will try to figure it out. There are no clues out there for you to find. This whole show is a deconstruction of the mystery genre. This show is probably one of the deepest anime out there. All you do is hope that you didn't get accused. There was no way to truly tell if you could trust someone. This very well replicates the Red Scare in America. They want you to question everything and create evidence in your head that you believe true that probably is non-existent. They want you to wrench and search to try to figure it out knowing very well you can't. We don't even find out the truth till almost the very end. All I could do is watch the events unfold. I kept playing all possible scenarios in my head, searched for something I missed, but to no avail because there was nothing there. As I kept watching I was searching for something, anything, to whether to trust our suspect or not. This is why this show is truly brilliant. That is all we have to work on to determine whether or not X-Chan is truly a traitor or a Red Herring. There is one scene in I believe the third episode where they show X-Chan's "evil smile". There is serious suspicion about this character whether X-Chan is a traitor or not. The Mechas and Aliens are really second to the situation. People selling out their own friends and family for self-preservation. with the Red Scare, there was a struggle in Eastern Germany about loyalty. So this whole show revolves around the Cold War Era.
However, the reason I hate this show is because the writers are dicks and they know it. And yet, I can't find myself giving this show any less than a 10. So let me start off by saying "I F**KING HATE THIS SHOW." Really I do.