Narumi Nitpicks: Muv Luv Trilogy
Muv-Luv Trilogy
Going into Muv-Luv entirely blind isn't at all a possible feat. Its reputation as being one of the most highly rated VNs in VNDB and other similar sites has made its true genre clear, in that it is a grimdark mecha setting with politics and war. So the twist of transitioning from the harem romcom antics from Muv Luv Extra all the way to the suffering in Muv Luv Alternative is lost on many folks including myself. Still, I'll be avoiding more intricate spoilers in my review while I will be going no-holds-barred on my Extended Thoughts.
Review (Spoiler-Free...relatively)
If you're already a fan of Mecha or VNs chances are you've already played this immensely popular VN already. However, if you're like me and have been living under a rock for the past 20 years or so and have come to try out Muv Luv (really Alternative) because of the critical acclaim Alternative has received, this review section is for you.
First though, a little word of advice. If you've decided to read Alternative first because it's the best one or because you have no patience for Harem Romcom antics then you're doing it all wrong. Muv Luv at its core is a trilogy of games, although the first two are packaged into one. It goes from Muv Luv Extra -> Muv Luv Unlimited -> Muv Luv Alternative with a bunch of spinoffs that are optional. Please do note this sequence is absolutely mandatory and not optional, Alternative is the third game in the original trilogy and you will not appreciate the series as much if you hopped straight into Alternative. We good?
I suppose the transition from a lighthearted high school harem romcom to a grimdark mecha is in it of itself a worthwhile motivation to continue the series even as the genre shift is no longer a plot twist. I did thoroughly enjoy my time with Extra though. It is a genuinely funny comedy with tons of laughs to be had over silly moments. Then there is lacrosse which is the absolute nadir of the franchise and shall go unmentioned. I wasn't too keen on the romantic elements, those feel quite weak since the focus is on the comedic aspects, and the side characters outside Meiya and Sumika honestly don't offer much to the point I was surprised they were included in Takeru's harem. Takeru being a dense harem protagonist is fine until near the end where it does get frustrating. The endings to each girl's arc is quite weak, but overall Extra is a fun journey that is nonetheless filled to the brim with foreshadowing (some obvious, some less so) and mysteries that do push you to continue on with the series.
Following that we have Unlimited which begins in a post-apocalyptic alternate history world with an alien menace and towering robots. It too is a lighthearted romcom, except Takeru is even more pathetic than usual. I gotta say I was surprised that given the shift in setting, the whole VN is still relatively lighthearted and fun, less so than Extra of course, but still enjoyable. It is unfortunately more forgettable than Extra and merely serves as a bridge to Alternative.
Alternative is a very slow burn, but one with a very rewarding payoff. It's a tale of political intrigue and war brimming with themes of nationalism, identity, existentialism, despair and suffering...most of which delivered through exposition dumps. Can't say I'm too fond of this approach, however I must admit it does make sense in context seeing as Takeru is just as we are basically foreign to the setting and generally unaware of the context of it all. But in terms of pacing Alternative really takes a long while to get going. While I am not too familiar with the mecha genre, I am a fan of military science fiction so these exposition dumps, mission briefings or what have you is really engaging to me, but Alternative does understandably take a step backwards in character development for the main cast outside of a select few (thankfully this includes Takeru but to say any more would be to spoil the experience).
I've always said the VNs are a weak medium when it comes to depicting battles or action sequences, but Muv Luv Alternative have some of the best action sequences I have ever come across in the medium. Make no mistake, Alternative is an expensive triple AAA VN when it comes to production values, and while this can be said of the previous two Muv Luvs (lip sync and backwards facing sprites are practically a luxury), Alternative manages to construct elaborate battle sequences with extensive animation (some pre-rendered anime sequences) and intricate spritework (the cockpits for each TSFs is truly a sight to behold in movement, alongside 3D backgrounds in some areas). All of this without being too overly long-winded in describing the battles. Now this doesn't hold all the time (it does cut corners for some battles, only showing the outcome), but age decides to go the extra mile, it works gloriously well.
The overall plot is fine. Interesting enough to get you going, but over 2 decades of pop culture osmosis has made some scenes lose their impact a little. Muv Luv does predate a lot of them, but I can't help but compare it to Steins;Gate and Madoka and similar anime from recent memory at times, not helped that the many years in between them has allowed for a refinement when it comes to pacing and plot progression. Make no mistake, you're in for a wild ride, one of the best in the business, with this series, it's just that after years of watching military sci-fi from recent memory, all the themes start blending together after awhile no? And as stated earlier character development for most side characters start to wane after Unlimited. The pacing however is terribly slow especially in the beginning. The VN could honestly use some fat trimming at certain points, not everything experienced necessarily ties in to the overall plot and main themes of the story. Without spoiling much I will say going through Alternative has certainly made me appreciate Extra more (not so for Unlimited), and I consistently went back to play through chunks of Extra to catch up on foreshadowing and the like. And as a comfy refuge from the stresses in Alternative.
In all, I've had a blast with the trilogy. As with some of my other favourite mechas (of which there is very few), it's a grand adventure with many fist clenching moments and borderline tear jerking moments to be had. In spite of its flaws (mostly due to pacing and overuse of expository dialogue and Takeru being a dense idiot), I can't recommend this enough even if you're not a fan of mecha. You do start to appreciate why the mecha genre (more accurately the real robot subgenre) appeals to the hearts of many.
And for what its worth, it's quite possibly the only isekai battle harem I've actually enjoyed.
8/10
In all, I've had a blast with the trilogy. As with some of my other favourite mechas (of which there is very few), it's a grand adventure with many fist clenching moments and borderline tear jerking moments to be had. In spite of its flaws (mostly due to pacing and overuse of expository dialogue and Takeru being a dense idiot), I can't recommend this enough even if you're not a fan of mecha. You do start to appreciate why the mecha genre (more accurately the real robot subgenre) appeals to the hearts of many.
And for what its worth, it's quite possibly the only isekai battle harem I've actually enjoyed.
8/10
Filler Content (No turning back after these images)
Extended thoughts on Muv Luv (FULL SPOILERS)
I personally think there are two ways to approach the series.
You can play Sumika's route in Extra, then either shelve the game or continue with Supplement. This is the closest you can get to a no suffering route, full of happiness and joy and harem shenanigans.
Of course no one chooses Sumika, Sumika isn't even that entertaining in her own route. She shines as a supportive role in Meiya's route. And once you chose to do Meiya's route, you are cursed. Locked into an endless loop of suffering until Alternative forces you to revert back to Sumika.
This is my preferred way (and well, the proper way I suppose) to experience Muv Luv. Never have I experienced a heroine hijack this severe and it's glorious to behold. This I feel is the true essence of the series, not so much on the actual war with the BETA or the many intra-human conflicts (well there's really only one major one in Alternative). Those events if anything serve to build Takeru's character. It's one of those cases where world building ultimately serves to build the main characters, and why I honestly feel the spin-offs not focused on Takeru miss the point of the series (beyond being cash cows). All the suffering is meaningful because it makes the happy ending even sweeter.
Of course the sacrifice being that Takeru's harem sans Sumika get very little focus. I never liked most of them anyway (apart from Meiya) so I didn't mind it much. But their sacrifices at Operation Cherry Blossom felt forced and contrived (the entire Operation felt rushed to begin with, but a little on that later). I cared more for Isumi's death than the main harem's and that isn't a good thing when it comes to character. Meiya did get some focus in the Coup d'etat arc, but outside that she's just a plot device to remind Takeru (by extension the player) how her route was the wrong route and she should remain as a mere Noble Confidant instead.
As far as connecting the player to the protagonist, the series does a decent job in making me empathize with Takeru's plight. He's dense to a degree of frustration, such as during Meiya's death which I thought went on for far too long than it needs to be, but his yearning to go back to the Extraverse did manifest in me as I started replaying certain segments of Extra to catch up on foreshadowing, and later to comfort myself during the PTSD arc. The windowsill conversations with Sumika all throughout Extra is just so comforting and relaxing after going through parts of Alternative, and I suspect the Code 991 fakeout in the beginning is there to trip players going for a full replay of Extra.
Indeed the latter half of Muv Luv Alternative is when the series truly shines. All the foreshadowing and buildup to this point across 2 and a half games finally pays off spectacularly, with almost nothing left unmentioned. It also houses two of the best arcs in the novel, the Sadogashima arc and the Yokohama Base arc, both excellent war sequences that really showcases the engine and setpieces to their best. Which is a shame considering the final arc is completely lackluster and drawn out, especially the sacrifices made by the team. Believe me when I say I felt more for the sacrifices of the battleships and Isumi's Valkyries than I did for any of A-01. Meiya's sacrifice in particular did not need to be 15 minutes long and did not need to have Takeru being more of a dense idiot than he already is. I was practically yelling at the screen for him to just shoot her already. I was surprised how much attached I was to Isumi's Valkyries over the main harem, especially during the Yokohama Defense. Alternative deals with the themes of Survivor's Guilt very well, as its Life and Death drama nature has Takeru confront these situations a lot in the second half. You can really see his growth and change from cocky incompetent hero, to a coward, back to a cocky but competent hero, then back to a coward wrecked with PTSD, and finally to a hardened warrior with actual resolve beyond the surface level.
As mentioned earlier the only characters that really matter in the long run are Takeru, Sumika, Yuuko and Kasumi. Virtually everyone else from the main harem is sidelined. Not that I'm complaining much, considering the harem members work better from supportive angles than when they're romantically engaged to Takeru. The series does a great job in making you like Sumika I feel. In the beginning she's a pretty annoying bratty Tsundere Childhood Friend but I started enjoying her antics a lot as Extra progressed even though I was on Meiya's route all the way through. This gamble certainly paid off making her absence in Unlimited to the revelation on her character being the main instigator of events in Alternative all the more meaningful to the player. I wouldn't be surprised if the writing was deliberately made to make you subtly choose Meiya (or anyone else) above Sumika in Extra only for her to lock you into her route come Alternative. Seeing Sumika wake you up for the first time in Alternative after all this time and after having Kasumi do the same is incredibly heartwarming.
The MVP of this is clearly Yuuko-sensei. Starring in the funniest scene as well as being the source of most of the mystery and foreshadowing in Extra made her endearing enough, but her actions in Alternative is what really elevated her to Best Girl status. It's one thing to have a Chessmaster, but it's another thing to have the Chessmaster outgambit herself. That and Extra Yuuko's microwave PS2 scene at the climax of the PTSD arc coupled with the brilliant Tsubasa made me salute her in real life. And despite this, for all her plans and gambits, the VN still goes to show that they can and will fail spectacularly despite seeming faultless during the planning stages. You really get into Takeru's psyche once the dust has settled and you realize there are easier and cleaner solutions that aren't so obvious from the get go that no one would have thought of.
Kasumi's role in the trilogy isn't fully realized until Alternative, but her role as the anchor (for both Takeru and the player) can be felt gradually as you get accustomed to her waking you up every day and you really do start caring for her, moreso than the other teammates. It's also why the ending worked so well with me. Seeing Kasumi finally granted a Happy Ending of her own in the Altered Fable-verse tugged at my heartstrings more than anything in the whole series. After all this time, the sense of accomplishment and realization that the journey is finally over comes overflowing full force and I almost couldn't hold back my tears. Having her just cry in your face while Eishi no Ryuugi play in the background in the ending is just so emotionally manipulative, but I can't argue on how well it works. It's a damned near perfect ending and a fitting conclusion to the series.
I do think, from a story perspective, the spin-offs miss the mark on what made Muv Luv truly special. It's never really been a story on war and aliens and intrahuman conflicts. It's ultimately a story of Takeru's personal growth and his relationship with Sumika. Virtually everything, from the coup d'etat to the old lady in Mt. Tengen to the assaults on BETA hives, is all in service of his character arc. Omitting that and shifting the perspective to other characters in the Unlimited/Alternative worlds no longer has that impact you get from witnessing Takeru's growth and journey as a character. It's really a story of dumping a generic dense high school harem protag into a warzone. Casting anyone else would just be missing the point entirely.
You can play Sumika's route in Extra, then either shelve the game or continue with Supplement. This is the closest you can get to a no suffering route, full of happiness and joy and harem shenanigans.
Of course no one chooses Sumika, Sumika isn't even that entertaining in her own route. She shines as a supportive role in Meiya's route. And once you chose to do Meiya's route, you are cursed. Locked into an endless loop of suffering until Alternative forces you to revert back to Sumika.
This is my preferred way (and well, the proper way I suppose) to experience Muv Luv. Never have I experienced a heroine hijack this severe and it's glorious to behold. This I feel is the true essence of the series, not so much on the actual war with the BETA or the many intra-human conflicts (well there's really only one major one in Alternative). Those events if anything serve to build Takeru's character. It's one of those cases where world building ultimately serves to build the main characters, and why I honestly feel the spin-offs not focused on Takeru miss the point of the series (beyond being cash cows). All the suffering is meaningful because it makes the happy ending even sweeter.
Of course the sacrifice being that Takeru's harem sans Sumika get very little focus. I never liked most of them anyway (apart from Meiya) so I didn't mind it much. But their sacrifices at Operation Cherry Blossom felt forced and contrived (the entire Operation felt rushed to begin with, but a little on that later). I cared more for Isumi's death than the main harem's and that isn't a good thing when it comes to character. Meiya did get some focus in the Coup d'etat arc, but outside that she's just a plot device to remind Takeru (by extension the player) how her route was the wrong route and she should remain as a mere Noble Confidant instead.
As far as connecting the player to the protagonist, the series does a decent job in making me empathize with Takeru's plight. He's dense to a degree of frustration, such as during Meiya's death which I thought went on for far too long than it needs to be, but his yearning to go back to the Extraverse did manifest in me as I started replaying certain segments of Extra to catch up on foreshadowing, and later to comfort myself during the PTSD arc. The windowsill conversations with Sumika all throughout Extra is just so comforting and relaxing after going through parts of Alternative, and I suspect the Code 991 fakeout in the beginning is there to trip players going for a full replay of Extra.
Indeed the latter half of Muv Luv Alternative is when the series truly shines. All the foreshadowing and buildup to this point across 2 and a half games finally pays off spectacularly, with almost nothing left unmentioned. It also houses two of the best arcs in the novel, the Sadogashima arc and the Yokohama Base arc, both excellent war sequences that really showcases the engine and setpieces to their best. Which is a shame considering the final arc is completely lackluster and drawn out, especially the sacrifices made by the team. Believe me when I say I felt more for the sacrifices of the battleships and Isumi's Valkyries than I did for any of A-01. Meiya's sacrifice in particular did not need to be 15 minutes long and did not need to have Takeru being more of a dense idiot than he already is. I was practically yelling at the screen for him to just shoot her already. I was surprised how much attached I was to Isumi's Valkyries over the main harem, especially during the Yokohama Defense. Alternative deals with the themes of Survivor's Guilt very well, as its Life and Death drama nature has Takeru confront these situations a lot in the second half. You can really see his growth and change from cocky incompetent hero, to a coward, back to a cocky but competent hero, then back to a coward wrecked with PTSD, and finally to a hardened warrior with actual resolve beyond the surface level.
As mentioned earlier the only characters that really matter in the long run are Takeru, Sumika, Yuuko and Kasumi. Virtually everyone else from the main harem is sidelined. Not that I'm complaining much, considering the harem members work better from supportive angles than when they're romantically engaged to Takeru. The series does a great job in making you like Sumika I feel. In the beginning she's a pretty annoying bratty Tsundere Childhood Friend but I started enjoying her antics a lot as Extra progressed even though I was on Meiya's route all the way through. This gamble certainly paid off making her absence in Unlimited to the revelation on her character being the main instigator of events in Alternative all the more meaningful to the player. I wouldn't be surprised if the writing was deliberately made to make you subtly choose Meiya (or anyone else) above Sumika in Extra only for her to lock you into her route come Alternative. Seeing Sumika wake you up for the first time in Alternative after all this time and after having Kasumi do the same is incredibly heartwarming.
The MVP of this is clearly Yuuko-sensei. Starring in the funniest scene as well as being the source of most of the mystery and foreshadowing in Extra made her endearing enough, but her actions in Alternative is what really elevated her to Best Girl status. It's one thing to have a Chessmaster, but it's another thing to have the Chessmaster outgambit herself. That and Extra Yuuko's microwave PS2 scene at the climax of the PTSD arc coupled with the brilliant Tsubasa made me salute her in real life. And despite this, for all her plans and gambits, the VN still goes to show that they can and will fail spectacularly despite seeming faultless during the planning stages. You really get into Takeru's psyche once the dust has settled and you realize there are easier and cleaner solutions that aren't so obvious from the get go that no one would have thought of.
Kasumi's role in the trilogy isn't fully realized until Alternative, but her role as the anchor (for both Takeru and the player) can be felt gradually as you get accustomed to her waking you up every day and you really do start caring for her, moreso than the other teammates. It's also why the ending worked so well with me. Seeing Kasumi finally granted a Happy Ending of her own in the Altered Fable-verse tugged at my heartstrings more than anything in the whole series. After all this time, the sense of accomplishment and realization that the journey is finally over comes overflowing full force and I almost couldn't hold back my tears. Having her just cry in your face while Eishi no Ryuugi play in the background in the ending is just so emotionally manipulative, but I can't argue on how well it works. It's a damned near perfect ending and a fitting conclusion to the series.
I do think, from a story perspective, the spin-offs miss the mark on what made Muv Luv truly special. It's never really been a story on war and aliens and intrahuman conflicts. It's ultimately a story of Takeru's personal growth and his relationship with Sumika. Virtually everything, from the coup d'etat to the old lady in Mt. Tengen to the assaults on BETA hives, is all in service of his character arc. Omitting that and shifting the perspective to other characters in the Unlimited/Alternative worlds no longer has that impact you get from witnessing Takeru's growth and journey as a character. It's really a story of dumping a generic dense high school harem protag into a warzone. Casting anyone else would just be missing the point entirely.
Further thoughts on the future anime adaptation
As of this writing an anime adaptation of Alternative has been announced which is rather foolish considering Alternative itself is a) the third game in a trilogy and b) the longest of the trilogy. Apart from the obvious reasons (i.e. cashgrab) I don't see an actual purpose in adapting Alternative. The battle sequences would be nice to see, but a lot of my favourite moments come from the quieter segments, ones who rely heavily on Extra for that buildup.
Anyway since no one does 60 episode seasons nowadays, my ideal version of the anime would be a 12 ep season solely focused on Extra, another 12 ep season focused on Unlimited and Alternative's Unlimited prologue. Then a 26 episode adaptation of Alternative starting from the coup d'etat arc. Of course that won't happen so everything in Alternative would be squeezed into 26 episodes without any buildup. But at least there's the fight scenes to look forward to I guess. It's gonna be a disaster that makes Dies Irae look masterful in comparison, especially when the adaptation of Total Eclipse and Schwarzesmarken weren't very good to begin with (and those were adaptations of shorter self contained spinoffs).
Anyway since no one does 60 episode seasons nowadays, my ideal version of the anime would be a 12 ep season solely focused on Extra, another 12 ep season focused on Unlimited and Alternative's Unlimited prologue. Then a 26 episode adaptation of Alternative starting from the coup d'etat arc. Of course that won't happen so everything in Alternative would be squeezed into 26 episodes without any buildup. But at least there's the fight scenes to look forward to I guess. It's gonna be a disaster that makes Dies Irae look masterful in comparison, especially when the adaptation of Total Eclipse and Schwarzesmarken weren't very good to begin with (and those were adaptations of shorter self contained spinoffs).
Scattered Thoughts
- The beginning 1st hour of Extra is set up so perfectly to completely mess with returning players. From mentions of memory loss to that santa rabbit to Code 991, it does so much so well to just fuck with you and it's so good. The rest of Extra doesn't keep this up barring the foreshadowing and Yuuko scenes though.
- Perhaps I'm overthinking this, but when I first went through Extra I thought Meiya was the one who was travelling between dimensions what with her social awkwardness and identifying the arcade machines as military training equipment. Not too sure if this was a deliberate red herring given her position in the cover art to Alternative spoiling the genre twist, but it'd be neat if it was.
- If there's one solace in the BETA-infested world is that there's no lacrosse. Huzzah!
- I wasn't particularly enamored with any of the romance stuff in Extra/Unlimited. Only in Alternative did I feel that all this romantic buildup finally had a payoff.
- The exposition is a necessary evil but as a result I ended up caring less about the world building because of it. I get that given Takeru's position the only way he's getting information of the world at large is through exposition, and thus his opinions on the world are largely meaningless, but I wished it could be handled better.
- The actual intrahuman conflicts end up being somewhat meaningless as the Sadogashima, Yokohama and Kashgar operations show that humanity is still united (somewhat) in fighting those fronts, even if part of the unity has to come from deception and manipulation. The intra-Japanese conflict of the coup d'etat arc ended up affecting very little of the plot beyond character building, as are the other political conflicts in the VN.
- That title screen transition at the end of Alternative almost broke me. Everyone finally got a happy ending free from suffering. Plus I'm a sucker for Book Ends like these.
- For a 14 year old VN it has aged surprisingly well. The high production values put even modern VNs to shame.
- The endgame that is the Kashgar arc felt incredibly rushed. From the immediate depiction of the crew inside the Hives to the drawn out sacrifices and the Kasumi Revelations being mostly expository dialogue, it all makes for an incredibly weak climax. I did like the revelations and that one final plot twist that Sumika was unknowingly the instigator for all of this, but I had hoped it could've been handled better.
- I like how plans can just straight up fail in the series despite seeming perfect on paper, and that's even taking into account the many contingencies. Murphy's Law being in full effect here. Even successful operations are Pyrrhic Victories.
- Despite being quite dark I honestly hesitate to call it grimdark. The whole series ends on a happy ending for goodness sake. I just referred it as grimdark as to not spoil anything, but the series does have fairly optimistic moments at points to counter most of the cynicism. It was dark without being edgy.
- The attention to detail is astonishing. Even stuff like the fanservicey nipple suits are given a reasonable in-universe justification for their nature. Take note, Kojima.
- The voice acting for Takeru is very inconsistent. He's voiced in all flashbacks, but certain scenes do have him voiced, but not others. It's usually the climatic stuff, but not always.
- To give you an idea of how sidelined the main harem (sans Meiya) is in Alternative, they receive less attention (and subsequently less love from me) than the Kimi ga Ita Kisetsu and Kimi ga Nozomu Eien imports.
- For anyone keeping score at home, my current top 5 VN rankings go like this: Seabed>Umineko>Steins;Gate>Subahibi>Muv Luv
- Best moments in the series for me:
- Meiya greeting an auto-ticketing machine
- Assorted windowsill conversations with Sumika
- Yuuko vs Takahashi combined with the "We learned a lesson today" ending
- The whole PTSD arc but especially the microwave/PS2 scene
- The entire Sadogashima operation but especially the sacrifices by the battleships
- Sumika waking you up one last time
- Sumika acting like Sumika in Alternative
- Kasumi finally getting her happy ending
And allow me to end with a quote from the epilogue to Owarinaki Natsu, Towa Naru Shirabe, which beautifully encapsulates the ending to the series.
"...And as for music, it was a life or death struggle.
And I myself, came close to giving up many times...
But then a miracle happened.
In a world that had been swallowed by profound darkness, a ray of light appeared.
That light wasn't just any light. It was a hope for mankind to hold on to.
A light of hope...
It is because of that, that we can have this concert.
I do not know who you are, but to those who saved this world... I am thankful."
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