Understanding っていうんじゃ

Question

「……別に琴里は、狂三を軽視しろと言っているわけではない。むしろこちらからも、可能な限り彼女の援護を行うつもりだ」 「え？」 士道が目を丸くして琴里を見ると、琴里は大仰に肩をすくめてみせた。 「そりゃあ、ね。いくら狂三でも、DEMと正面切って総力戦っていうんじゃ分が悪いわ。もちろん士道が生き残るのが前提だけれど、そのあと狂三を封印できるのが最良だもの。助けられる場面で助けないような真似はしないわよ」

Context: 狂三, a girl and a 精霊, was fighting a war with an evil company called DEM to prevent the company from killing 士道. 琴里 was going to help 狂三 because she wanted protect 士道 too.

Could you please explain why there is a っていう before んじゃ? What is this usage? I know のでは is a fixed grammar construction meaning “if”. But I would use 総力戦なんじゃ.

Answer 1

This っていう is basically just と言う, but it has a nuance here. With explanatory-no, と言うのだ is often used to add a "this is unexpected/surprising/unwanted" kind of mood ("to my surprise", "even", "really", "!", etc). You have asked about this before:

• What does というのである mean here?
• Is というのだ similar to "in addition"? Or it is "they said"?

Answer 2

総力戦っていうんじゃ is a contracted form of 総力戦というのでは, and ん (の) here could be understood as meaning 状況 (situation) or 条件 (condition). For me, this usage of という is not much different from that in a phrase such as 狂三という少女. 総力戦という状況 means a situation that fits the description of “all-out war”. If the situation becomes such that Kurumi will have to fight an all-out war against DEM, even she would be at disadvantage.

総力戦なんじゃ (総力戦なのでは) is OK, but this ん (の) seems a bit out of place because the speaker is not explaining the current situation as 総力戦なんだ. She is talking about a future possibility. 総力戦じゃ (総力戦では) sounds more natural to me.

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[EDIT]
The effect of っていう (という) may be easier to explain using an example with こと than ん (の).

総力戦っていうんじゃ in that sentence is close in meaning to 総力戦ということになれば, whereas the equivalent expression for 総力戦じゃ would be 総力戦になれば. This reduces the difference to that of just 総力戦 and 総力戦ということ. While the former refers to the war itself, the latter refers to a situation or circumstance where the label 総力戦 is fitting.