This review contains spoilers
Full spoilers for Muv-Luv Extra and Unlimited, but none for Alternative.
Recently I've decided to do a reread of the trilogy. This likely won't be the only time, since I plan to reread this in Japanese a few years from now after reading older âge content, too. Additionally, a while ago I wrote a spoiler-free review on MLA, in which I called Alt my favorite story of all time. So, while my feelings on that haven't changed (and if anything, they got enhanced even further), this time I am reviewing what is essentially just the prologue to my favorite story of all time.
To get it out of the way, the Muv-Luv trilogy is impressive in its audiovisual aspects, as well as ambition. The music is good, and despite being a VN, doesn't feel static at all. It is crazy that this is a 2003 VN with how much animation there is, and it only gets more impressive in Alternative. It's genuinely insane that this is an early 2000s VN, especially compared to other VNs that came out at around the same time. It's basically an anime with how dynamic and lively it is. It's also ambitious with how unapologetic it is about its premise and structure. I genuinely am fascinated with how this even came into existence, to this day, three years after my initial read. Even after reading almost 90 VNs I am still as fascinated with Muv-Luv as I was after I read four VNs.
It's because of the fact that Unlimited is basically the prologue to the real meat of the story (making Extra the prologue to the prologue..?) that I feel like a lot of people, my past self included, see it as something to go through solely because they are interested in seeing what the fuss is about with Alternative. Some consider Extra, or even Unlimited a chore. And I think that's a pity, because this is already a well-put together story already.
Extra isn't really the romdrama slog that many expected it to be, at least for the most part. Most of Extra is overly exaggerated shitpost humour with chibi versions of characters shooting each other into the stratosphere with a single punch, or stuff like Meiya (the rich girl heroine trope but heavily exaggerated) leveling Takeru's entire neighborhood overnight or calling in choppers with world-class chefs for a school lunch. That part of Extra is fun for me. Humor is subjective so I can't speak for others on this, but I genuinely found it funny both in my original read and reread. I also now appreciate the references to Gundam with Meiya's and some other characters' hairstyles and things like the Evangelion reference through "Kei Ayamine", as well as other things due to my increased experience with media.
The other part of Extra is the romdrama aspect, which varies greatly in quality. On one hand, the rivalry of Sumika and Meiya is a fun drama that involves themes of inevitable partings and the sacrifices you have to make when making a decision, and how those around you won't stay in a status quo forever, same as yourself, really. Tama's route is also mostly lighthearted and focuses on Tama's fears and her overcoming them. However, on the other hand, you have the Kei and Chizuru routes. The Kei route involves a very frustrating drama involving Kei and a doctor who is ready to throw away his wife, family and job for a high school girl. The Chizuru route is not only the least relevant route for Unlimited and Alternative, but probably the furthest away in terms of what the rest of Extra is going for. It suddenly starts a bullying storyline with what feels like pretty forced commentary on bullying and society or whatever. Overall, though, Extra is something I don't really understand the hatred people have for.
Unlimited is kind of where you can start to see the true Muv-Luv, so to speak. Our boy Takeru gets isekai'd in a very abrupt fashion as minutes into the game he steps out of his house to find that it has become a wasteland. One very notable thing here for me is how impactful this moment was for me when I first read it. Before I was theorising how the hell this would become a mecha, and then it just up and happens. Another is how even 20+ years later, in a weeb fiction landscape full of isekai, you have a story that dedicated a noticeable chunk of its runtime to showcase the protagonist's old world, rather than vague or rare references without knowing anything more than superficial about the people in their old life or the life they led. Additionally, this also really works well of showing the calm before the storm. In a lot of media, you have basically the equivalent of the first half of episode 1 of a show of showing the town that's about to get attacked, and then suddenly you are excepted to be shocked or emotional once they do. While I get what they're going for, it rarely works on me because I don't feel like I've connected with the characters there. This kind of structure leads to slow pacing, but it's what makes Muv-Luv Muv-Luv. The idea of "hey, let's give a harem/romcom MC who doesn't know how good he has it REAL PROBLEMS!" is just incredible. It's not "subversion" for the sake of "subversion" either, you actually get to appreciate Extra more.
I REALLY like the setting of the BETAverse. Before Muv-Luv I wasn't really too into mecha or sci-fi, but I think I just hadn't found my niche yet. The hard sci-fi real robot setting where they explain strategy and technology and history in a grounded, believable way that also is constantly actually used in the narrative is amazing. TSFs are vastly underpowered compared to a lot of mecha, but that's what makes the situations they get into more compelling. They don't have beam swords or easy space travel. And it makes sense why they were invented, too — tanks are too slow and bulky, and planes don't have easy access to three-dimensional movement without crashing. Hence, humanoid mechs with a focus on agility over durability. It's great. You get to see all sorts of in-depth world building on tech, strategy and world history that is tied to directly in the story and inspired a several hundred page textbook called the CODEX based on VN info alone (and it's outdated by 10 years! That's not even everything!) in such a believable setting. Even the fortified suits (despite the silly cadet ones, thank god they use better ones in Alternative) are so cool to me that now when I try another mecha I'm wondering where the neck braces and other commonly used Muv-Luv tech are to keep the pilots safe when they don't have Evangelion LCL or aren't in space. I also frequently miss Muv-Luv's detail in regard to tactics and strategy with a lot of other media. I can't help it, really — in ML you get given the main plan and three backup plans in case it fails, and you know what various terms like "Arrowhead-2 formation" mean. It doesn't feel like technobabble just for the sake of sounding cool. You get plenty of explanation for differing design philosophies for specific TSFs and countries and organizations. Even in Unlimited, which only has training fights and cutting a rock or shooting a sniper shot in terms of action, it's still really cool to me.
I would like to dedicate this section to comment on one misconception that people often have about the trilogy, as well as an opinion on the play order. So, actually, despite what some say, I don't think it is a spoiler to call ML a mecha, because it was advertised heavily in 2001 and 2002 (since before its release: example 1, example 2), on the original 2003 game box — more sources: 1, 2 (including a quote about Takeru wanting "out of this f'ed up world" (paraphrased), as well as this, though I still think people should spoiler tag the isekai thing to make it more surprising for new people, as it isn't as well known of a plot point), and in the menu screen of the 2003 release (with the Extra menu screen having this in the background, and then changing to this when you unlocked Unlimited. So really you aren't spoiling anyone by calling it a mecha, and it never was a "spoiler that got well-known" — âge were never hiding it in the first place!).
Second, the Extra and Unlimited routes (if you can even call the highly similar endings for Unlimited "routes"). For a while and to this day, in both the English-speaking and Japanese communities for Muv-Luv, it's been a commonly accepted fact that you should at a minimum read the Sumika and/or Meiya Extra routes (more so the Sumika one than the Meiya one, so you could just do both just to be safe) before unlocking Unlimited. This consensus is heavily influenced by the fact that in the original release (no longer the case in the Steam one), to unlock Unlimited, you needed to do those two routes. They also happen to be the routes you need to understand Unlimited and Alternative (except for a one-minute direct reference to the Kei route of Extra, after which Takeru dismisses it and the story moves on). You won't really be lost with this if you only did the Sumika and Meiya routes, you'll just go "huh? Okay, whatever" like Takeru does and just move on. That character hardly focuses on the same stuff that their Extraverse self did. In the English-speaking community, the fan translators not liking Extra also influences this, so many readers wanted to get it over with ASAP. In reality, Sumika and Meiya are nearly an identical route and give you the same actual information. So at the very least you would want to read Sumika's route and/or Meiya's as well before Unlimited. Despite Miki's and Kei's routes having reappearing characters that later appear in Unl and Alt, when he meets them there, Takeru still acts like he's met them for the first time, like with Miki's dad. In fact, in my view, in Unlimited, the main benefit of these routes comes from the contrast — in the Extraverse Miki is an archer, in the BETAverse she's a sniper, and they both have confidence issues. Her dad appears in both the Extra route and Unlimited and has a similar dynamic with her in both. It's not really something you would be clueless about if you hadn't read the side routes before Unlimited with, though, as you've likely interacted with Tama in her dojo in Extra anyway and they reiterate Tama's confidence issues and the Kei/Chizuru conflict in Unlimited, but it's nice to know. It's kind of similar for Kei in regard to Alternative, though much harder to use as an argument for Chizuru in Alternative, who probably has the Extra route with the least relevance for the overall story. Even the parallels to her arc in Alternative are much more vague than the contrast between the Extraverse route arcs and BETAverse arcs for the other girls. It certainly is beneficial to do all of them, since that would increase the impact of Alternative even further than the impact it already has. It depends on the reader, really — it's not like you HAVE to rush while minmaxxing with only the essential content to get to the good stuff or that you HAVE to 100% both Extra and Unlimited, but I think experienced VN readers should certainly try to read all of them, though not at the cost of dropping Muv-Luv or Googling and getting spoiled if they don't already have a friend who's read the trilogy to give them this information (my first read was without anyone else I knew who'd read Muv-Luv or VNs in general, so I had to make some decisions for myself without Googling and risking getting spoiled, which would be the worst possible outcome). While I wouldn't downplay it and say that doing everything and not just the completely essential routes, as well as one or a couple Unlimited heroine endings is content that only marginally improves your experience of the trilogy and especially Alternative (in fact, there is definitely a benefit and increased payoff that you get by doing everything, given that it is the grand finale that wraps up the entire trilogy), it truly does depend on the reader. It's not like Alt will not be impactful if you did the minimum required content, but if you can and/or want to do everything, by all means, do it. It becomes more complicated and questionable over whether it's even worth doing with Unlimited where every heroine except Yuuko gets the same pair of endings, and the amount of skipping and unskippable cutscenes is pretty insane, it takes more than two hours. It's essentially the same route with mildly differing variations of the Game Guy addiction arc, playing with cat's cradle, juggling or marbles, and some other interactions. So while you do get some callbacks to these in Alternative, I would say do at least one Unlimited heroine's pair of endings, and then see how it goes before Alternative. Maybe you'll be able to 100% it.
Muv-Luv is a somewhat rare case where you cannot judge how you might feel about the later parts at the beginning. Extra has no direct showcase of what's about to come in Unlimited and Alternative. Ideally, you would enjoy all three parts of the trilogy, but I've seen cases where massive Muv-Luv fans hate Extra. For example, I even know a person who rated MLE a 1/10 (???) but rated Unlimited and Alternative rather highly. And even the biggest Extra haters that I've seen end up appreciating it and what it represents after the genre shift. You can't truly show the contrast between peace and war without showcasing what peace is like, I guess.
Overall I am very satisfied with this reread, it's made me increase my score for MLE/MLU from an overall 7/10 to an overall 8/10. Even those are ahead of what most VNs aim for on a technical and ambition level. It made me appreciate Extra and Unlimited even more, not solely for foreshadowing, but just in general. Unlimited especially strikes a comfy balance of the dread of the BETAverse and slice of life comedy during training. I am really looking forward to my Alternative reread. My review for it will be spoiler-tagged unlike my existing spoiler-free one, so I will be able to talk about anything in it freely.
Recently I've decided to do a reread of the trilogy. This likely won't be the only time, since I plan to reread this in Japanese a few years from now after reading older âge content, too. Additionally, a while ago I wrote a spoiler-free review on MLA, in which I called Alt my favorite story of all time. So, while my feelings on that haven't changed (and if anything, they got enhanced even further), this time I am reviewing what is essentially just the prologue to my favorite story of all time.
To get it out of the way, the Muv-Luv trilogy is impressive in its audiovisual aspects, as well as ambition. The music is good, and despite being a VN, doesn't feel static at all. It is crazy that this is a 2003 VN with how much animation there is, and it only gets more impressive in Alternative. It's genuinely insane that this is an early 2000s VN, especially compared to other VNs that came out at around the same time. It's basically an anime with how dynamic and lively it is. It's also ambitious with how unapologetic it is about its premise and structure. I genuinely am fascinated with how this even came into existence, to this day, three years after my initial read. Even after reading almost 90 VNs I am still as fascinated with Muv-Luv as I was after I read four VNs.
It's because of the fact that Unlimited is basically the prologue to the real meat of the story (making Extra the prologue to the prologue..?) that I feel like a lot of people, my past self included, see it as something to go through solely because they are interested in seeing what the fuss is about with Alternative. Some consider Extra, or even Unlimited a chore. And I think that's a pity, because this is already a well-put together story already.
Extra isn't really the romdrama slog that many expected it to be, at least for the most part. Most of Extra is overly exaggerated shitpost humour with chibi versions of characters shooting each other into the stratosphere with a single punch, or stuff like Meiya (the rich girl heroine trope but heavily exaggerated) leveling Takeru's entire neighborhood overnight or calling in choppers with world-class chefs for a school lunch. That part of Extra is fun for me. Humor is subjective so I can't speak for others on this, but I genuinely found it funny both in my original read and reread. I also now appreciate the references to Gundam with Meiya's and some other characters' hairstyles and things like the Evangelion reference through "Kei Ayamine", as well as other things due to my increased experience with media.
The other part of Extra is the romdrama aspect, which varies greatly in quality. On one hand, the rivalry of Sumika and Meiya is a fun drama that involves themes of inevitable partings and the sacrifices you have to make when making a decision, and how those around you won't stay in a status quo forever, same as yourself, really. Tama's route is also mostly lighthearted and focuses on Tama's fears and her overcoming them. However, on the other hand, you have the Kei and Chizuru routes. The Kei route involves a very frustrating drama involving Kei and a doctor who is ready to throw away his wife, family and job for a high school girl. The Chizuru route is not only the least relevant route for Unlimited and Alternative, but probably the furthest away in terms of what the rest of Extra is going for. It suddenly starts a bullying storyline with what feels like pretty forced commentary on bullying and society or whatever. Overall, though, Extra is something I don't really understand the hatred people have for.
Unlimited is kind of where you can start to see the true Muv-Luv, so to speak. Our boy Takeru gets isekai'd in a very abrupt fashion as minutes into the game he steps out of his house to find that it has become a wasteland. One very notable thing here for me is how impactful this moment was for me when I first read it. Before I was theorising how the hell this would become a mecha, and then it just up and happens. Another is how even 20+ years later, in a weeb fiction landscape full of isekai, you have a story that dedicated a noticeable chunk of its runtime to showcase the protagonist's old world, rather than vague or rare references without knowing anything more than superficial about the people in their old life or the life they led. Additionally, this also really works well of showing the calm before the storm. In a lot of media, you have basically the equivalent of the first half of episode 1 of a show of showing the town that's about to get attacked, and then suddenly you are excepted to be shocked or emotional once they do. While I get what they're going for, it rarely works on me because I don't feel like I've connected with the characters there. This kind of structure leads to slow pacing, but it's what makes Muv-Luv Muv-Luv. The idea of "hey, let's give a harem/romcom MC who doesn't know how good he has it REAL PROBLEMS!" is just incredible. It's not "subversion" for the sake of "subversion" either, you actually get to appreciate Extra more.
I REALLY like the setting of the BETAverse. Before Muv-Luv I wasn't really too into mecha or sci-fi, but I think I just hadn't found my niche yet. The hard sci-fi real robot setting where they explain strategy and technology and history in a grounded, believable way that also is constantly actually used in the narrative is amazing. TSFs are vastly underpowered compared to a lot of mecha, but that's what makes the situations they get into more compelling. They don't have beam swords or easy space travel. And it makes sense why they were invented, too — tanks are too slow and bulky, and planes don't have easy access to three-dimensional movement without crashing. Hence, humanoid mechs with a focus on agility over durability. It's great. You get to see all sorts of in-depth world building on tech, strategy and world history that is tied to directly in the story and inspired a several hundred page textbook called the CODEX based on VN info alone (and it's outdated by 10 years! That's not even everything!) in such a believable setting. Even the fortified suits (despite the silly cadet ones, thank god they use better ones in Alternative) are so cool to me that now when I try another mecha I'm wondering where the neck braces and other commonly used Muv-Luv tech are to keep the pilots safe when they don't have Evangelion LCL or aren't in space. I also frequently miss Muv-Luv's detail in regard to tactics and strategy with a lot of other media. I can't help it, really — in ML you get given the main plan and three backup plans in case it fails, and you know what various terms like "Arrowhead-2 formation" mean. It doesn't feel like technobabble just for the sake of sounding cool. You get plenty of explanation for differing design philosophies for specific TSFs and countries and organizations. Even in Unlimited, which only has training fights and cutting a rock or shooting a sniper shot in terms of action, it's still really cool to me.
I would like to dedicate this section to comment on one misconception that people often have about the trilogy, as well as an opinion on the play order. So, actually, despite what some say, I don't think it is a spoiler to call ML a mecha, because it was advertised heavily in 2001 and 2002 (since before its release: example 1, example 2), on the original 2003 game box — more sources: 1, 2 (including a quote about Takeru wanting "out of this f'ed up world" (paraphrased), as well as this, though I still think people should spoiler tag the isekai thing to make it more surprising for new people, as it isn't as well known of a plot point), and in the menu screen of the 2003 release (with the Extra menu screen having this in the background, and then changing to this when you unlocked Unlimited. So really you aren't spoiling anyone by calling it a mecha, and it never was a "spoiler that got well-known" — âge were never hiding it in the first place!).
Second, the Extra and Unlimited routes (if you can even call the highly similar endings for Unlimited "routes"). For a while and to this day, in both the English-speaking and Japanese communities for Muv-Luv, it's been a commonly accepted fact that you should at a minimum read the Sumika and/or Meiya Extra routes (more so the Sumika one than the Meiya one, so you could just do both just to be safe) before unlocking Unlimited. This consensus is heavily influenced by the fact that in the original release (no longer the case in the Steam one), to unlock Unlimited, you needed to do those two routes. They also happen to be the routes you need to understand Unlimited and Alternative (except for a one-minute direct reference to the Kei route of Extra, after which Takeru dismisses it and the story moves on). You won't really be lost with this if you only did the Sumika and Meiya routes, you'll just go "huh? Okay, whatever" like Takeru does and just move on. That character hardly focuses on the same stuff that their Extraverse self did. In the English-speaking community, the fan translators not liking Extra also influences this, so many readers wanted to get it over with ASAP. In reality, Sumika and Meiya are nearly an identical route and give you the same actual information. So at the very least you would want to read Sumika's route and/or Meiya's as well before Unlimited. Despite Miki's and Kei's routes having reappearing characters that later appear in Unl and Alt, when he meets them there, Takeru still acts like he's met them for the first time, like with Miki's dad. In fact, in my view, in Unlimited, the main benefit of these routes comes from the contrast — in the Extraverse Miki is an archer, in the BETAverse she's a sniper, and they both have confidence issues. Her dad appears in both the Extra route and Unlimited and has a similar dynamic with her in both. It's not really something you would be clueless about if you hadn't read the side routes before Unlimited with, though, as you've likely interacted with Tama in her dojo in Extra anyway and they reiterate Tama's confidence issues and the Kei/Chizuru conflict in Unlimited, but it's nice to know. It's kind of similar for Kei in regard to Alternative, though much harder to use as an argument for Chizuru in Alternative, who probably has the Extra route with the least relevance for the overall story. Even the parallels to her arc in Alternative are much more vague than the contrast between the Extraverse route arcs and BETAverse arcs for the other girls. It certainly is beneficial to do all of them, since that would increase the impact of Alternative even further than the impact it already has. It depends on the reader, really — it's not like you HAVE to rush while minmaxxing with only the essential content to get to the good stuff or that you HAVE to 100% both Extra and Unlimited, but I think experienced VN readers should certainly try to read all of them, though not at the cost of dropping Muv-Luv or Googling and getting spoiled if they don't already have a friend who's read the trilogy to give them this information (my first read was without anyone else I knew who'd read Muv-Luv or VNs in general, so I had to make some decisions for myself without Googling and risking getting spoiled, which would be the worst possible outcome). While I wouldn't downplay it and say that doing everything and not just the completely essential routes, as well as one or a couple Unlimited heroine endings is content that only marginally improves your experience of the trilogy and especially Alternative (in fact, there is definitely a benefit and increased payoff that you get by doing everything, given that it is the grand finale that wraps up the entire trilogy), it truly does depend on the reader. It's not like Alt will not be impactful if you did the minimum required content, but if you can and/or want to do everything, by all means, do it. It becomes more complicated and questionable over whether it's even worth doing with Unlimited where every heroine except Yuuko gets the same pair of endings, and the amount of skipping and unskippable cutscenes is pretty insane, it takes more than two hours. It's essentially the same route with mildly differing variations of the Game Guy addiction arc, playing with cat's cradle, juggling or marbles, and some other interactions. So while you do get some callbacks to these in Alternative, I would say do at least one Unlimited heroine's pair of endings, and then see how it goes before Alternative. Maybe you'll be able to 100% it.
Muv-Luv is a somewhat rare case where you cannot judge how you might feel about the later parts at the beginning. Extra has no direct showcase of what's about to come in Unlimited and Alternative. Ideally, you would enjoy all three parts of the trilogy, but I've seen cases where massive Muv-Luv fans hate Extra. For example, I even know a person who rated MLE a 1/10 (???) but rated Unlimited and Alternative rather highly. And even the biggest Extra haters that I've seen end up appreciating it and what it represents after the genre shift. You can't truly show the contrast between peace and war without showcasing what peace is like, I guess.
Overall I am very satisfied with this reread, it's made me increase my score for MLE/MLU from an overall 7/10 to an overall 8/10. Even those are ahead of what most VNs aim for on a technical and ambition level. It made me appreciate Extra and Unlimited even more, not solely for foreshadowing, but just in general. Unlimited especially strikes a comfy balance of the dread of the BETAverse and slice of life comedy during training. I am really looking forward to my Alternative reread. My review for it will be spoiler-tagged unlike my existing spoiler-free one, so I will be able to talk about anything in it freely.
interestingly, i found myself enjoying both halves of this first muv-luv entry about as much as the other. extra and unlimited both do a very good job of keeping things entertaining and heartfelt while definitely knowing and embracing the late 90s/early 00s anime archetypes from which they gained much of their backbone. having grown up on the likes of toonami and early illegal anime streaming sites in the late 2000s, everything from the art style to the characters designs to the mechs to the gag comedy hit really close to home as far as my early days as a fan of this media.
you could almost mistake muv-luv for being stupider than it is, which is kind of the feeling i went into it with as it seems many other sitegoers were blindsided by as well. as it turns out, the subversions of this first muv-luv title aren't what it changes about the archetypal structure of these stories, but how it frames them and the late-game twists on those concepts that it pulls. the eroge confession scenes for the main pair in extra result in you deliberately choosing one path that will immediately and direct hurt someone else you care for, and in sumika's case it's done right to her face. takeru's slice-of-life prospects warm up the cold-hearted militant lifestyles of unlimited's cast just enough that the comedy and almost haruhi-esque negligence and avoidance of the known terrors awaiting the cast are almost forgotten until reality tears through and breaks hearts at the last moments.
not sure how many other works i can say have recalled early key works, fullmetal panic, and xenogears perfect works all in perfect tandem that i've experience, but i'm really glad my early assumptions were wrong. seriously anticipating alternative.
oh, and there's a really blindsiding space runaway ideon reference on one of the extra routes and i just want to shout out how sick it was to see tomino's best work referenced in a work that i can see is about to be heavily influenced by it.
you could almost mistake muv-luv for being stupider than it is, which is kind of the feeling i went into it with as it seems many other sitegoers were blindsided by as well. as it turns out, the subversions of this first muv-luv title aren't what it changes about the archetypal structure of these stories, but how it frames them and the late-game twists on those concepts that it pulls. the eroge confession scenes for the main pair in extra result in you deliberately choosing one path that will immediately and direct hurt someone else you care for, and in sumika's case it's done right to her face. takeru's slice-of-life prospects warm up the cold-hearted militant lifestyles of unlimited's cast just enough that the comedy and almost haruhi-esque negligence and avoidance of the known terrors awaiting the cast are almost forgotten until reality tears through and breaks hearts at the last moments.
not sure how many other works i can say have recalled early key works, fullmetal panic, and xenogears perfect works all in perfect tandem that i've experience, but i'm really glad my early assumptions were wrong. seriously anticipating alternative.
oh, and there's a really blindsiding space runaway ideon reference on one of the extra routes and i just want to shout out how sick it was to see tomino's best work referenced in a work that i can see is about to be heavily influenced by it.
Most people will tell you to play this game so you can play Muv-Luv Alternative, but I'm going to tell you that this game is just as worth playing as Alternative is.
I wish more people played this game to enjoy Extra and Unlimited. So many people don't care about the first two parts to this Muv-Luv trilogy and I think that's a damn shame. I really enjoyed both Extra and Unlimited, and just because Alternative is one of the best VNs out there, doesn't mean you should feel like you need to rush through this one to play it.
Extra was dumb enough for me to realise I don't need to take it too seriously and it worked as very nice light reading whenever I felt up to it.
Unlimited was such a great experience. It's a great subversion of expectations if you don't know what you're getting into. Granted, most people will likely know what Muv-Luv is about, but I didn't!!!!! ....until others ruined it for me but whatever.
I wish more people played this game to enjoy Extra and Unlimited. So many people don't care about the first two parts to this Muv-Luv trilogy and I think that's a damn shame. I really enjoyed both Extra and Unlimited, and just because Alternative is one of the best VNs out there, doesn't mean you should feel like you need to rush through this one to play it.
Extra was dumb enough for me to realise I don't need to take it too seriously and it worked as very nice light reading whenever I felt up to it.
Unlimited was such a great experience. It's a great subversion of expectations if you don't know what you're getting into. Granted, most people will likely know what Muv-Luv is about, but I didn't!!!!! ....until others ruined it for me but whatever.
Really tired of the slander that the Extra scenario constantly receives as “the bad part you have to sit through before you get to the good stuff”! It’s very self-aware of the harem romcom tropes that are liberally invoked and often exaggerates them to parodic levels, but never ironic as there’s plenty of sincerity to be found in the girls’ endings. That self-awareness helps give the girls an extra depth that allow them to function and develop in the far more serious Unlimited and Alternative scenarios, even if they don’t fully break away from their archetypes. So many seemingly cliche scenes in Extra are iterated upon to powerful effect in Alternative as well as some interesting genre meta-commentary achieved later by juxtaposing the alien war epic that develops to its romcom roots. Extra is not the best of its genre, and it won’t win anybody over who is already predisposed against this kind of premise, but it is so critical as a baseline to establish the stakes of what Takeru is fighting to return to and the story’s characters, and ages wonderfully the further you get into the trilogy.
The Unlimited scenario, despite expectations, is more straightforward with what it’s trying to accomplish. It’s a transitionary point tonally between Extra and Unlimited, still containing many SoL scenes despite the threat of the BETA invasion being introduced, and in some ways is even funnier than Extra due to the sharp contrast. The aliens loom in the background but never appear on screen at this point, allowing Takeru and the player to gradually lower their guard as the outlook becomes more optimistic until the ending delivers a swift gut punch. Despite having his suburban life taken from him, Takeru is still sheltered in this timeline, and does not yet understand real hardship.
A lot of the more thematic material doesn’t fully materialize until Alternative, but the seeds are planted. That does make this title hard to evaluate on its own since so much of it rides on the success of its sequel, but I think the careful planning is evident to an astute first-time reader, and the fun character dynamics can be appreciated on their own merits. Takeru’s assholery can be hard to tolerate at times but there’s plenty here to like and talking about this VN like it’s homework does a disservice to it.
The Unlimited scenario, despite expectations, is more straightforward with what it’s trying to accomplish. It’s a transitionary point tonally between Extra and Unlimited, still containing many SoL scenes despite the threat of the BETA invasion being introduced, and in some ways is even funnier than Extra due to the sharp contrast. The aliens loom in the background but never appear on screen at this point, allowing Takeru and the player to gradually lower their guard as the outlook becomes more optimistic until the ending delivers a swift gut punch. Despite having his suburban life taken from him, Takeru is still sheltered in this timeline, and does not yet understand real hardship.
A lot of the more thematic material doesn’t fully materialize until Alternative, but the seeds are planted. That does make this title hard to evaluate on its own since so much of it rides on the success of its sequel, but I think the careful planning is evident to an astute first-time reader, and the fun character dynamics can be appreciated on their own merits. Takeru’s assholery can be hard to tolerate at times but there’s plenty here to like and talking about this VN like it’s homework does a disservice to it.
Extra is actually pretty enjoyable, though the later routes kind of drag on a bit. No idea how people get filtered by this unless they have a physical aversion to slice of life.
Unlimited is also great as a huge departure from the tone and setting of Extra in ways I wasn't expecting at all. The really hard hitting moments all seem to come closer to the end however, and it seems like mostly setup for what's to come in Alternative. I'm definitely looking forward to that payoff when the time comes.
Also, I would literally die for Jinguuji Marimo.
Unlimited is also great as a huge departure from the tone and setting of Extra in ways I wasn't expecting at all. The really hard hitting moments all seem to come closer to the end however, and it seems like mostly setup for what's to come in Alternative. I'm definitely looking forward to that payoff when the time comes.
Also, I would literally die for Jinguuji Marimo.
what if you put the guy from the 'wow cool robot' meme through the traumatic experience of being in the robot
Hope it's worth it for alternative
Extra:
Normal: 7/10
Sumika: 6.5/10
Extra Meiya: 7.5/10
Extra Kei: 7/10
Unlimited:
Normal: 4/10
Meiya: 6/10
Kei: 6/10
Extra:
Normal: 7/10
Sumika: 6.5/10
Extra Meiya: 7.5/10
Extra Kei: 7/10
Unlimited:
Normal: 4/10
Meiya: 6/10
Kei: 6/10
the stages of muv-luv progression:
stage 1: "extra mid"
stage 2: "alternative makes extra better retroactively"
stage 3 (enlightened): "extra was always based"
stage 1: "extra mid"
stage 2: "alternative makes extra better retroactively"
stage 3 (enlightened): "extra was always based"
I have not played Alternative yet, so this review will mostly serve as my thoughts on both stories as they are on their own without the context provided by Alternative. I may do another review after Alternative.
It's hard to separate my thoughts on both Extra and Unlimited but I will try.
I wanna start by saying that Extra is definitely a struggle to read through, especially on a first time read. My first issue is with the pacing. The main premise of the story; Meiya suddenly appearing in Takeru's life and the effect it has on Sumika's relationship with Takeru is made immediately clear in the first 10 minutes. The reader can immediately understand where the plot is going but the story itself takes hours before finally making meaningful progress. The main two routes are Meiya and Sumika, they are clearly the most prominent love interests, and the game explicitly wants you to do both routes before going on to Unlimited. That's fine as Sumika and Meiya are clearly positioned to be important characters moving forward in the other stories, but Meiya and Sumika's route are 85% identical. There are only a couple of scenes that are unique between the two of them. This makes going back rereading the other route a chore. What's worse, Sumika is so present in both routes, that it really feels that Takeru has barely any quality time with Meiya, at least not until the very end where Takeru has to literally reject Sumika in order to be Meiya. And can I just say that Sumika is just so obnoxious? On top of being constantly with Takeru, she's always annoying, never expresses herself openly and doesn't have much of a personality. Sumika does not really grow in the end of her route either. And beyond Takeru finally figuring out that he has feelings for his childhood friend, he does not really grow as well. I also hate their dynamic, probably my least favorite pair besides Takeru and Ayamine. Meiya on the other hand is flashy, openly affectionate and stubborn; her insecurities are explored, and she grows as does Takeru at the of her route. Her conclusion is a lot more dramatic and flashier, but I'd argue that it provides more closure than the Sumika route. Last thing I'll say about the main route(s), is that it does a poor job of introducing and showcasing the other characters. The other girls essentially one-dimensional window dressing for Meiya and Sumika, with no real personalities of their own except anime tropes. Because of this, I'd actually recommend going to Unlimited after you finish Meiya and Sumika, then come back to Extra for the other girls if someone made an impression on you during Unlimited. Unlimited does a much better job of introducing the other girls and showcasing their personalities better than the main route of Extra. Unlimited spends extended periods of time with each girl individually creating a spark of interest in them, however Unlimited is mostly linear with no deviations in the plot. Unlimited did such a good job that I went back to Extra and finished the rest of the routes, just so I can know all the girls better. I started with Ayamine, and that route was so bad that I almost dropped the game all together. Ayamine is a goofy, aloof, closed off who takes nothing seriously. Her route was essentially played for comedy until one of the classmates is injured and needs to go to the hospital. In the hospital, Ayamine and Takeru have a choice encounter with Dr.Sagiri, who clearly has a past with Ayamine. It is eventually found out that the doctor almost killed a patient early in his career and Ayamine's mom, a nurse, took the fall for it. Ayamine never knew so she grew to dislike her, and authority as they saw how brutally they ostracized her mother. This leads Ayamine growing to become the closed off character she currently is. However, in a shock of ridiculousness, it is revealed that the Doctor is in love with Ayamine, and has been for years. And Ayamine loved him back, so much so that they were considering getting married. That would mean that a grown man in his mid 20's was considering marriage with a girl who's at most 15. And it's played 100% straight, Takeru sees the Doctor as a rival rather than a predator. Which is...yeah. It's hard to take this story seriously when this is the emotional crux of the route. Thankfully Chiziru's route is much better. Chizuru is the tsundere of the cast and the character with the highest walls. She's standoffish, harsh and no nonsense. She's a perfectionist and expects the best out of everyone because she's constantly pushing herself to be perfect. Or at least, to create an image of perfection. When an accident happens at school and her perfect image gets tarnished, she loses herself. She hides behind her walls and pushes everyone away, the perfect student now skipping class. Her emotional state is in such a vulnerable position that she gets manipulated and almost roped in with what is implied to be an adult film maker. Takeru steps in and saves her from herself. Takeru shows and teaches Chizuru that it is okay to make mistakes, it is okay to ask for help, and it is okay to let people in. Chizuru on the other hand teaches Takeru to take things more seriously and to be more considerate of others. It's a simple romance story but it's honestly sweet and ugh I just love their dynamic together. This route was the highlight of Extra. Finally, Miki's route was another sweet and simple story with a more comedic flair. Takeru's dynamic with Miki is the most ridiculous; with Miki enabling Takeru's nonsense to comedic extremes, leading to all sorts of hijinks. I busted out laughing at the screen a couple of times, which speaks to the strength of the localization as well. Takeru helps Miki get rid of her stage fright in front of others, but also how to properly push herself when she's starting to plateau in her progress as an archer. Probably my second favorite route. Overall, I would say that by itself Extra is not very impactful but with the context of Unlimited it becomes a much more interesting read.
Jumping into Unlimited, to call it a culture shock would be an understatement. The very same Takeru: annoying, bratty, loudmouth, lazy protagonist we have been stuck with for all of Extra is now transported into a world at war. An alien race called the BETA has taken over the Earth and wiped out 85% of the world's population. Immediately Unlimited spends no time into drilling into your head that this is a different game, and the stakes are infinitesimally higher. The game does a great job at showing Takeru slowly coming to terms with his situation and making the best out of it. From believing that it is all a dream, to trying to escape back to Extra, to becoming invested in this world and wanting to make meaningful change. You actually see him grow from a brat to a leader, and you're there every step of the way. Unlimited's writing also has a sense of mystery to it. As you progress through the plot there is this constant sense of foreboding that never let's go. The more you learn about this new world, the more questions arise, questions that the game explicitly does not want to answer. You are told that you are being trained to fight the BETA, but you can't help but feel that there is something larger at play. And that feeling never goes away, even when you finish the game. I also really appreciate how detailed the character writing is. You get a strong sense of who every character is and what they value. Like I mentioned previously, Unlimited does a much better job of showcasing and involving all the characters into the main story, as it is much more linear than Extra. Takeru spends extended periods of time with every girl by himself which helps in deciding if you want to spend more time with them. It is because of this strength in its writing that I decided to go back to Extra to see the rest of the routes. Of course, this only makes sense because both games make considerable effort into making sure that the character personalities stay consistent between Extra and Unlimited. The Meiya of Unlimited, is at her core, the same person as the Meiya from Extra, and that applies to every character. I wouldn't care to learn more about Chizuru in Extra if she was a completely different person in Unlimited. This consistency in character writing is what I believe the greatest strength of both games. The ending of Unlimited is also quite beautiful. It achieves something that games rarely do, give emotional closure while also setting up questions that can only be answered in the next game. It took a while, but Muv Luv sank its teeth into me, and I am now very invested in finding out the secrets of the BETA, the world and its characters.
Alternative here I come.
It's hard to separate my thoughts on both Extra and Unlimited but I will try.
I wanna start by saying that Extra is definitely a struggle to read through, especially on a first time read. My first issue is with the pacing. The main premise of the story; Meiya suddenly appearing in Takeru's life and the effect it has on Sumika's relationship with Takeru is made immediately clear in the first 10 minutes. The reader can immediately understand where the plot is going but the story itself takes hours before finally making meaningful progress. The main two routes are Meiya and Sumika, they are clearly the most prominent love interests, and the game explicitly wants you to do both routes before going on to Unlimited. That's fine as Sumika and Meiya are clearly positioned to be important characters moving forward in the other stories, but Meiya and Sumika's route are 85% identical. There are only a couple of scenes that are unique between the two of them. This makes going back rereading the other route a chore. What's worse, Sumika is so present in both routes, that it really feels that Takeru has barely any quality time with Meiya, at least not until the very end where Takeru has to literally reject Sumika in order to be Meiya. And can I just say that Sumika is just so obnoxious? On top of being constantly with Takeru, she's always annoying, never expresses herself openly and doesn't have much of a personality. Sumika does not really grow in the end of her route either. And beyond Takeru finally figuring out that he has feelings for his childhood friend, he does not really grow as well. I also hate their dynamic, probably my least favorite pair besides Takeru and Ayamine. Meiya on the other hand is flashy, openly affectionate and stubborn; her insecurities are explored, and she grows as does Takeru at the of her route. Her conclusion is a lot more dramatic and flashier, but I'd argue that it provides more closure than the Sumika route. Last thing I'll say about the main route(s), is that it does a poor job of introducing and showcasing the other characters. The other girls essentially one-dimensional window dressing for Meiya and Sumika, with no real personalities of their own except anime tropes. Because of this, I'd actually recommend going to Unlimited after you finish Meiya and Sumika, then come back to Extra for the other girls if someone made an impression on you during Unlimited. Unlimited does a much better job of introducing the other girls and showcasing their personalities better than the main route of Extra. Unlimited spends extended periods of time with each girl individually creating a spark of interest in them, however Unlimited is mostly linear with no deviations in the plot. Unlimited did such a good job that I went back to Extra and finished the rest of the routes, just so I can know all the girls better. I started with Ayamine, and that route was so bad that I almost dropped the game all together. Ayamine is a goofy, aloof, closed off who takes nothing seriously. Her route was essentially played for comedy until one of the classmates is injured and needs to go to the hospital. In the hospital, Ayamine and Takeru have a choice encounter with Dr.Sagiri, who clearly has a past with Ayamine. It is eventually found out that the doctor almost killed a patient early in his career and Ayamine's mom, a nurse, took the fall for it. Ayamine never knew so she grew to dislike her, and authority as they saw how brutally they ostracized her mother. This leads Ayamine growing to become the closed off character she currently is. However, in a shock of ridiculousness, it is revealed that the Doctor is in love with Ayamine, and has been for years. And Ayamine loved him back, so much so that they were considering getting married. That would mean that a grown man in his mid 20's was considering marriage with a girl who's at most 15. And it's played 100% straight, Takeru sees the Doctor as a rival rather than a predator. Which is...yeah. It's hard to take this story seriously when this is the emotional crux of the route. Thankfully Chiziru's route is much better. Chizuru is the tsundere of the cast and the character with the highest walls. She's standoffish, harsh and no nonsense. She's a perfectionist and expects the best out of everyone because she's constantly pushing herself to be perfect. Or at least, to create an image of perfection. When an accident happens at school and her perfect image gets tarnished, she loses herself. She hides behind her walls and pushes everyone away, the perfect student now skipping class. Her emotional state is in such a vulnerable position that she gets manipulated and almost roped in with what is implied to be an adult film maker. Takeru steps in and saves her from herself. Takeru shows and teaches Chizuru that it is okay to make mistakes, it is okay to ask for help, and it is okay to let people in. Chizuru on the other hand teaches Takeru to take things more seriously and to be more considerate of others. It's a simple romance story but it's honestly sweet and ugh I just love their dynamic together. This route was the highlight of Extra. Finally, Miki's route was another sweet and simple story with a more comedic flair. Takeru's dynamic with Miki is the most ridiculous; with Miki enabling Takeru's nonsense to comedic extremes, leading to all sorts of hijinks. I busted out laughing at the screen a couple of times, which speaks to the strength of the localization as well. Takeru helps Miki get rid of her stage fright in front of others, but also how to properly push herself when she's starting to plateau in her progress as an archer. Probably my second favorite route. Overall, I would say that by itself Extra is not very impactful but with the context of Unlimited it becomes a much more interesting read.
Jumping into Unlimited, to call it a culture shock would be an understatement. The very same Takeru: annoying, bratty, loudmouth, lazy protagonist we have been stuck with for all of Extra is now transported into a world at war. An alien race called the BETA has taken over the Earth and wiped out 85% of the world's population. Immediately Unlimited spends no time into drilling into your head that this is a different game, and the stakes are infinitesimally higher. The game does a great job at showing Takeru slowly coming to terms with his situation and making the best out of it. From believing that it is all a dream, to trying to escape back to Extra, to becoming invested in this world and wanting to make meaningful change. You actually see him grow from a brat to a leader, and you're there every step of the way. Unlimited's writing also has a sense of mystery to it. As you progress through the plot there is this constant sense of foreboding that never let's go. The more you learn about this new world, the more questions arise, questions that the game explicitly does not want to answer. You are told that you are being trained to fight the BETA, but you can't help but feel that there is something larger at play. And that feeling never goes away, even when you finish the game. I also really appreciate how detailed the character writing is. You get a strong sense of who every character is and what they value. Like I mentioned previously, Unlimited does a much better job of showcasing and involving all the characters into the main story, as it is much more linear than Extra. Takeru spends extended periods of time with every girl by himself which helps in deciding if you want to spend more time with them. It is because of this strength in its writing that I decided to go back to Extra to see the rest of the routes. Of course, this only makes sense because both games make considerable effort into making sure that the character personalities stay consistent between Extra and Unlimited. The Meiya of Unlimited, is at her core, the same person as the Meiya from Extra, and that applies to every character. I wouldn't care to learn more about Chizuru in Extra if she was a completely different person in Unlimited. This consistency in character writing is what I believe the greatest strength of both games. The ending of Unlimited is also quite beautiful. It achieves something that games rarely do, give emotional closure while also setting up questions that can only be answered in the next game. It took a while, but Muv Luv sank its teeth into me, and I am now very invested in finding out the secrets of the BETA, the world and its characters.
Alternative here I come.
MUCH better than what I was expecting. Extra was half funny (Fucking initial d guy) half boring (Fucking lacrosse) and I can't quite say I liked it. 'Dramatical' scenes aren't for me.
Unlimited on the other hand was fun. The whole military training thing didn't bore me at all and was quite easy to read. Also It made me want to read Alternative asap.
Yeah for zero expectations they weren't "roadblock" or "filler" but I need to read Alternative before making assumptions
Unlimited on the other hand was fun. The whole military training thing didn't bore me at all and was quite easy to read. Also It made me want to read Alternative asap.
Yeah for zero expectations they weren't "roadblock" or "filler" but I need to read Alternative before making assumptions
Better than Alternative, fight me. (don't actually fight me please I'm very sensitive)
cómo con tanto presupuesto age hizo esta basura? he leído moeges que tienen más calidad de guion que esta cosa.
y no, unlimited no hace que valga la pena, al menos la premisa es interesante pero la ejecución sigue siendo igual de pésima que extra. pero como dije, la premisa admito que es interesante y si se llega a hacer las cosas bien contratando a gente competente para escribir la historia estoy seguro de que crearían una excelente obra y... sé que existe alternative y le tengo bastantes esperanzas puestas en el para que si sea una buena obra y no algo sobrevalorada que termine siendo decepcionante.
y no, unlimited no hace que valga la pena, al menos la premisa es interesante pero la ejecución sigue siendo igual de pésima que extra. pero como dije, la premisa admito que es interesante y si se llega a hacer las cosas bien contratando a gente competente para escribir la historia estoy seguro de que crearían una excelente obra y... sé que existe alternative y le tengo bastantes esperanzas puestas en el para que si sea una buena obra y no algo sobrevalorada que termine siendo decepcionante.
sumika
This is the worst experience I've had reading a Visual Novel. I don't care how good Alternative is supposed to be; you can't make me read it after going through this shit.
I played only one route a year ago and im still recovering, alternative will have to wait.
"It's only 43 hours! 43 hours is not that much!"
I say that while proudly showing my badge with "43 wasted hours" engraved on it
I say that while proudly showing my badge with "43 wasted hours" engraved on it
gundam de puta
Honestly I enjoyed both of these a lot of these a lot more than I was expecting to, especially Extra
I had a lot of fun with it, it really got to the part of me that loves SOL lmao. I almost didn’t bother with the other routes but I’m glad I did as I liked them and probably wouldn’t have found myself appreciating the full cast as I do
Unlimited was really cool too, I just wish I realised I was reading the exact same endings but with different heroines before it was too late
Really looking forward to reading Alternative
I had a lot of fun with it, it really got to the part of me that loves SOL lmao. I almost didn’t bother with the other routes but I’m glad I did as I liked them and probably wouldn’t have found myself appreciating the full cast as I do
Unlimited was really cool too, I just wish I realised I was reading the exact same endings but with different heroines before it was too late
Really looking forward to reading Alternative
To put it bluntly, Muv-Luv Extra is a generic romcom, with obviously stereotypical characters. Takeru, for example, is the stereotype of a romcom idiot, dull and blind to everything around him, it gets frustrating that he can't even decide things for himself even without someone pointing the way. The emphasis of the work is clearly on the Slice of Life moments of the work and on the comedy, which at least worked for me in most cases. Regarding the two main routes (Meiya and Sumika), but as a whole the drama of the work is quite off, and seeing how things happen after Extra, I don't know if the author wanted something mediocre/terrible on purpose or not. Mainly regarding the final stretch, things are very rushed and full of clichés (not that the work wasn't full already). The characters being quite two-dimensional is very frustrating, as I mentioned previously, but in a work where comedy is prioritized this almost goes unnoticed.
What I like about Muv-Luv Extra is its main theme about change and how it ends up resonating with the series from that, even if the theme branches out into the subplots of each route, what encapsulates this entry is the lesson of not being afraid of change and that change makes us grow as people, even if changes can be negative or ruinous, you must face them and go through them, because you never know tomorrow, even if our time is scarce, the future can hold for us wonderful things and you are the one who decides that, with your own hands. I'm not made for romance, much less generic romcom, but Muv-Luv gave me a new perspective on romance in an extremely positive way, people who risked an entire relationship for the partner they want. As if they enter a battlefield ready and determined to give their lives for what I believe in, it's surprising that I've never looked at things that way, it's very chuuni and I like that perspective lol.
As for Unlimited, we see on Extra how Muv-luv wants to talk about life, how things are fleeting and everything ends. This is the great core of the entire Extra, after all, as long as they are the small relationships, the happy and ephemeral moments, but even with the adversities of the extra, many details were problems that hidden behind the facade an era of peace and sociability, combined with a lot of comedy.
But in Unlimited, because of this peace, because this scenario around us ceases to exist, we know the true face of humanity, how humans are when stripped of all the values and weights that surround us, all the categories in which we place ourselves. And with that he asks the question why live? Essentially, this world is no different from our world full of war and suffering, but why do we continue to live? If we are just existing listlessly until the day we die, because we keep striving endlessly and suffering in the process. The world of Unlimited is nothing more than a naked reflection of the world of Extra that serves as a reflection of our own world. Questions of why we live, why we want to survive, what we are willing to sacrifice and what we really want to protect. I will never forget chapter 9 whose lesson is: "Do you want to protect human life or the human heart? Exist or Live." Unlimited leaves several questions in mind, considering the open ending, but mainly the feeling of emptiness and the sadness of defeat at the end of the work.
What I like about Muv-Luv Extra is its main theme about change and how it ends up resonating with the series from that, even if the theme branches out into the subplots of each route, what encapsulates this entry is the lesson of not being afraid of change and that change makes us grow as people, even if changes can be negative or ruinous, you must face them and go through them, because you never know tomorrow, even if our time is scarce, the future can hold for us wonderful things and you are the one who decides that, with your own hands. I'm not made for romance, much less generic romcom, but Muv-Luv gave me a new perspective on romance in an extremely positive way, people who risked an entire relationship for the partner they want. As if they enter a battlefield ready and determined to give their lives for what I believe in, it's surprising that I've never looked at things that way, it's very chuuni and I like that perspective lol.
As for Unlimited, we see on Extra how Muv-luv wants to talk about life, how things are fleeting and everything ends. This is the great core of the entire Extra, after all, as long as they are the small relationships, the happy and ephemeral moments, but even with the adversities of the extra, many details were problems that hidden behind the facade an era of peace and sociability, combined with a lot of comedy.
But in Unlimited, because of this peace, because this scenario around us ceases to exist, we know the true face of humanity, how humans are when stripped of all the values and weights that surround us, all the categories in which we place ourselves. And with that he asks the question why live? Essentially, this world is no different from our world full of war and suffering, but why do we continue to live? If we are just existing listlessly until the day we die, because we keep striving endlessly and suffering in the process. The world of Unlimited is nothing more than a naked reflection of the world of Extra that serves as a reflection of our own world. Questions of why we live, why we want to survive, what we are willing to sacrifice and what we really want to protect. I will never forget chapter 9 whose lesson is: "Do you want to protect human life or the human heart? Exist or Live." Unlimited leaves several questions in mind, considering the open ending, but mainly the feeling of emptiness and the sadness of defeat at the end of the work.
pintou um clima aqui tbm, mas faltou fascismo
Oh nah they made a school for muv luv fans 😹😹😹😹😹😹😹
If someone mentions lacrosse ever again I'll fucking chop their heads off
there can’t be a single person alive who read this whole game and seriously thought it deserved a 9/10 on vndb
Lacrosse arc > fiction
if fascism was a game...
CONTEXT This review is only for Muv-Luv Extra, as it is all I have played at this time. I may come back to the series and complete the remaining portions of the story, but I somewhat doubt it.
Muv-Luv Extra, the opening act of the acclaimed visual novel Muv-Luv, carries the weight of immense expectations. Released in 2003 and developed by the Japanese Studio âge for nearly every available platform at the time, Extra has been touted as a gateway to a genre-defining experience, promising a charming slice-of-life narrative interwoven with themes of love and loss. However, in my opinion, Extra falls short of these lofty expectations and instead presents a generic and lackluster high school romance story. Even understanding this installment serves as a prelude to a much larger narrative, Extra lacks the depth and originality needed to keep players thoughtfully engaged over its runtime. Whether experienced on PC or other platforms, the game's attempt at humor, character development, and overall storytelling left me searching for more than the lackluster amount of high school tropes and paper-thin plots it constantly presented.
The story of Extra unfolds in a typical high school setting and introduces us to our protagonist, the lazy mech-loving Takeru Shirogane, and essentially his harem of love interests: the tsundere childhood best friend Sumika Kagami, the shy bookworm class president Chizuru Sakaki, the tiny cat-girl Miki Tamase, the kuudere Kei Ayamine, and the strange new transfer student Meiya Mitsurugi. To go into every plotline with these characters would take far too long, but suffice to say that the narrative overall relies heavily on clichés, offering little in terms of innovation or unique storytelling to push the genre forward.
Once the character introductions and opening act of Muv-Luv Extra is complete, the story essentially stalls for most of the game's run-time. While there are interesting tidbits of information scattered throughout, there are far more moments of tediousness than anything else. The story essentially meanders without purpose for far too long, bogged down by endless school festivals, sports matches, and generic slice-of-life filler that brings everything to a complete standstill. This left me just skipping through text boxes rather than engaging with the uninteresting narrative. Where's the hook? The intrigue? There is genuine interest in the actions and odd personality quirks of the exchange student Meiya Mitsurugi and why she acts the way she does, but this is forgotten for essentially all of Extra’s runtime. The game seems far more content to wallow in its predictability, than offering players an incentive to push through the endless monotony.
I assume the main point of Extra is the romance element. With so many ladies to try and woo, one would assume the game is at least engaging in this respect, but I disagree. While the female characters are visually appealing, their personalities lack depth and nuance as they all fit very well-established anime tropes. Furthermore, interactions with Takeru, absent some with Sumika, feel forced and shallow, failing to spark a genuine emotional connection at all. This, in turn, means the various potential romances fall flat, unable to evoke any emotions from players.
Fortunately, Extra isn’t a complete write-off as a visual novel. As previously stated, Extra is not a standalone game; it's a prologue, a foundation upon which the true story is built. Muv-Luv Alternative, the critically acclaimed sequel to Muv-Luv Extra, takes the familiar characters and throws them into entirely new scenarios devoid of the high school drama of Extra. While the tonal shift present in Alternative may be enough to bring me back to the series, I can’t say I’m looking forward to it. I obviously understand that judging Extra solely on its own merits is a disservice to the complete Muv-Luv experience, but Extra is so bland in its presentation, storytelling, and characters that I just can’t find the will to care at this point. I know the payoff awaits in Alternative, but going through the slog of Extra has left me devoid of care for the series as a whole.
In conclusion, Muv-Luv Extra is a paradox. It is a hollow prelude to an apparent genre-defining experience in Muv-Luv Alternative, a tedious, yet necessary, trek through a narrative trope-filled wasteland before a promised story-rich oasis. Whether the emotional payoff of Alternative outweighs the slog of Extra is a question each player must answer for themselves. I am still grappling with my own decision.
Muv-Luv Extra, the opening act of the acclaimed visual novel Muv-Luv, carries the weight of immense expectations. Released in 2003 and developed by the Japanese Studio âge for nearly every available platform at the time, Extra has been touted as a gateway to a genre-defining experience, promising a charming slice-of-life narrative interwoven with themes of love and loss. However, in my opinion, Extra falls short of these lofty expectations and instead presents a generic and lackluster high school romance story. Even understanding this installment serves as a prelude to a much larger narrative, Extra lacks the depth and originality needed to keep players thoughtfully engaged over its runtime. Whether experienced on PC or other platforms, the game's attempt at humor, character development, and overall storytelling left me searching for more than the lackluster amount of high school tropes and paper-thin plots it constantly presented.
The story of Extra unfolds in a typical high school setting and introduces us to our protagonist, the lazy mech-loving Takeru Shirogane, and essentially his harem of love interests: the tsundere childhood best friend Sumika Kagami, the shy bookworm class president Chizuru Sakaki, the tiny cat-girl Miki Tamase, the kuudere Kei Ayamine, and the strange new transfer student Meiya Mitsurugi. To go into every plotline with these characters would take far too long, but suffice to say that the narrative overall relies heavily on clichés, offering little in terms of innovation or unique storytelling to push the genre forward.
Once the character introductions and opening act of Muv-Luv Extra is complete, the story essentially stalls for most of the game's run-time. While there are interesting tidbits of information scattered throughout, there are far more moments of tediousness than anything else. The story essentially meanders without purpose for far too long, bogged down by endless school festivals, sports matches, and generic slice-of-life filler that brings everything to a complete standstill. This left me just skipping through text boxes rather than engaging with the uninteresting narrative. Where's the hook? The intrigue? There is genuine interest in the actions and odd personality quirks of the exchange student Meiya Mitsurugi and why she acts the way she does, but this is forgotten for essentially all of Extra’s runtime. The game seems far more content to wallow in its predictability, than offering players an incentive to push through the endless monotony.
I assume the main point of Extra is the romance element. With so many ladies to try and woo, one would assume the game is at least engaging in this respect, but I disagree. While the female characters are visually appealing, their personalities lack depth and nuance as they all fit very well-established anime tropes. Furthermore, interactions with Takeru, absent some with Sumika, feel forced and shallow, failing to spark a genuine emotional connection at all. This, in turn, means the various potential romances fall flat, unable to evoke any emotions from players.
Fortunately, Extra isn’t a complete write-off as a visual novel. As previously stated, Extra is not a standalone game; it's a prologue, a foundation upon which the true story is built. Muv-Luv Alternative, the critically acclaimed sequel to Muv-Luv Extra, takes the familiar characters and throws them into entirely new scenarios devoid of the high school drama of Extra. While the tonal shift present in Alternative may be enough to bring me back to the series, I can’t say I’m looking forward to it. I obviously understand that judging Extra solely on its own merits is a disservice to the complete Muv-Luv experience, but Extra is so bland in its presentation, storytelling, and characters that I just can’t find the will to care at this point. I know the payoff awaits in Alternative, but going through the slog of Extra has left me devoid of care for the series as a whole.
In conclusion, Muv-Luv Extra is a paradox. It is a hollow prelude to an apparent genre-defining experience in Muv-Luv Alternative, a tedious, yet necessary, trek through a narrative trope-filled wasteland before a promised story-rich oasis. Whether the emotional payoff of Alternative outweighs the slog of Extra is a question each player must answer for themselves. I am still grappling with my own decision.
I fucking hate romance shit.
it is average to be honest and not a lot of going for it however it is required to understand alternative and to understand the characters in it but it still is nothing special and pretty forgettable
Muv luv alternative could actually be the greatest VN of all time and it still wouldn’t be worth reading this