There are spoilers for Muv-Luv Extra, Unlimited and Alternative here. I took care not to mention anything for the side content outside of setting. If you haven't read ML and MLA, I highly recommend you stop reading and go read them. MLA in particular goes hand in hand with Umineko as some of the most spoilable stories in the visual novel medium, it's not worth missing out on a crazy story that might potentially change your life.

I don’t even know how to start this. Muv-Luv Alternative is my favorite story of all time. This time, I’m making a spoiler review, written soon after my reread. This might not be the most polished essay I’ve written, but even though I do appreciate people seeing this, it is primarily for myself. I’ll try to put every single thought I’ve had about MLA and Muv-Luv as a whole into it, but of course, words aren’t enough, so there will always be more I will want to say. This will be a long one.

For the longest time, I used to not get attached to stories, especially emotionally. It’s why I played multiplayer games primarily. For basically the entirety of the 2000s and 2010s I was mostly into familiar media or adaptations of that media — Marvel, DC and Star Wars. Nothing wrong with enjoying them, of course. When looking forward to new content, I was mostly looking forward to more of the same. It was nice in a way, but lacked novelty after a while. I didn't really get emotional from media either, let alone to the extent of crying. With the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdowns, I started exploring more due to sheer boredom, and eventually got into anime for real after trying a few shows in 2011-2015 previously. One thing led to another, and after playing Doki Doki Literature Club and watching Steins;Gate I decided to explore more of the SciAdv series, and read Chaos;Child (at the time, Chaos;Head wasn’t on Steam and I was not aware of its existence). I never had the apprehension about the visual novel medium since I was used to reading a lot of books as a child. Experiencing C;C blew away all other narrative media I was into previously, even my beloved Spider-Man adaptations and comics, as well as the dozens/hundreds of anime I’d watched in 2020. After that I moved onto the most popular VN and VN adaptations series — Type-Moon. I read Fate/stay night and Tsukihime, and I was obsessed with it for months. I was convinced that there was barely any point in exploring the medium at that point, with nothing else really catching my eye. However, I decided that I would at least try Muv-Luv, since Alternative was the highest rated VN on VNDB at the time (not that rankings on a website matter that much to me, I could be the only fan or the millionth fan of a thing, all that matters is if I like it), and in the top three on EGS (Japanese eroge and ADV game website), in addition to the anime adaptation of MLA being announced (which I've also written reviews (1, 2) on, and getting told to not rob myself of the experience, hence deciding to read the source trilogy. If I didn’t end up liking it, I would quit the medium, since I was convinced nothing would surpass C;C anyway, probably.

I was honestly surprised to see the amount of hatred towards Extra online after finishing the trilogy. It might not be a masterpiece, but the humor is something I’ve always found entertaining. It is even more apparent on my reread after experiencing dozens upon dozens of other VNs where the humor is the MC being a pervert or classroom pranks. In Muv-Luv, you have the rich girl heroine trope exaggerated into being able to level the protagonist’s neighborhood and bring in 5-star chefs from around the glove on helicopters to school, as well as turning into chibis and shooting each other into the stratosphere. For some, it may have gotten repetitive, but given how I enjoyed this reread, and prior to that Altered Fable and some other side stories, I still enjoy it. The main two routes of Extra (Sumika and Meiya), the ones that were required to unlock Unlimited in 2003 (and for good reason, as I'll mention later), also have a well-executed romance drama, though I do take some issue with the side routes, which I’ve discussed in my Extra/Unlimited reread review prior to this one.

Unlimited was really crazy from beginning to end. I spent all of Extra anticipating the genre shift which never happened then, only for Takeru to suddenly walk out into a wasteland three minutes into this one. It was the last thing I expected after spending a large portion of Extra theorising that Yuuko would do some kind of experiment and they would get invaded at the end of Extra. And then Takeru gets shoved into what is another genre, as well as literally another world. The “new normal” of Muv-Luv shifts, and Extra already starts to seem like a distant dream. Takeru goes through a training arc and episodic arcs that focus on the girls, building up confidence, but by the end of it things start to feel wrong, and they announce Alternative V, making Takeru fight with the rest of humanity for survival as a fleet that only hosts a small portion of humanity on board, possibly with the heroine, who is also the mother of his child. It is an emotional gut punch due to how abruptly the ending comes — Takeru couldn’t do anything due to lack of information and maturity at the time, yet he’s giving it his all regardless. Isn’t this insane, though? Wasn’t it so long ago that we were choosing between Sumika and Meiya’s lunches? How is this even the same story? At this point we really start to miss the Extraverse and Sumika just like he does. It gets even crazier. It makes me feel bad for people who waited between 2003 and 2006 when Alternative wasn’t even certain to come out.

So, we finally get to Alternative — the true story, so to speak. After an awesome Hive invasion scene that made me shout “ENGLISH?!?!?!?!?”, and the iconic, intriguing “human brains” moment, the story adds yet another layer besides dimensional travel this time with time travel. Takeru loops back to the beginning of Unlimited with his knowledge and training and starts to retrace his steps to use the future knowledge to its fullest. One thing that really stood out about chapters 1-5 of Alternative is how it genuinely feels like a timeloop due to small changes snowballing. Yuuko takes longer to trust Takeru’s story despite Kasumi’s mind-reading due to his trained body and suspicious amount of classified knowledge, Takeru doesn’t hold back the cadet squad, but leads it this time, and Yuuko and Takeru debate which events to intervene in without losing the advantage of future knowledge, while also trying to save as many days and hours before Alternative V is implemented on Christmas Day as possible. It’s really cool seeing this after several stories, especially visual novels, having one small choice leading to another character becoming a psychopathic killer and killing the entire cast, or something. The story being a slow burn really makes it feel immersive.

The first true change is the coup d’etat that did not happen in the Unlimited timeline, due to interfering with the events of episode 9 of Unlimited. I’ll get back to this later, but this arc is one of the most controversial aspects of MLA, and for good reason. For now it will suffice to say that both the reader and Takeru are asking themselves why his first mission is fighting humans instead of the BETA, and why anyone would bother doing this when humanity is facing extinction. It is an attempt to say that nobody is strictly right or wrong (even if it is biased towards the Japanese nationalistic perspective), and humanising American and UN soldiers and not blaming them for their leaders’ choices is cool.

After that ends and the XM3 trials happen, the true turning point of Muv-Luv occurs — the chomp of Jinguuji Marimo. Takeru and we both believe we've seen the worst with Alternative V and the coup, and that the "therapy not included" part of Muv-Luv is hearing soldiers die one by one on the battlefield, but then it turns out that's just the beginning, it affects someone close to Takeru as well, someone he cares for deeply dies, and he loses it. It is a completely unexpected moment, delivered only after the reader and Takeru feel completely secure about thinking that they have already finally reached the "serious part" of the story with Takeru getting into more serious situations than most of Unlimited, yet prevailing regardless like the hero he believes himself to be due to his future knowledge at the start of Alternative, as well as the advantage of retaining his training and body from Unlimited, making him no longer the dead weight that he was for a large portion of Unlimited, only to have something like this happen during a typical “Muv-Luv talk”, and all the allegedly heroic resolve Takeru had goes to waste once this starts to affect the people near him. He has a truly deplorable display in front of Meiya, Kasumi and Yuuko and runs away to his world, until it starts to affect him there. After that we finally get to see the fight against the BETA.

I know it is a bad habit to start summarising the story in a review, but I feel like this way I will assemble the pieces to truly discuss it, as well as provide a refresher. In any case…

The coup arc is controversial due to Sagiri’s resemblance to Yukio Mishima from Japanese history. By essentially saying “your methods were extreme, but your motivation wasn’t, you just went about it the wrong way”, MLA understandably rubs many people the wrong way about this. However, I wouldn’t really call it “nationalism simulator 3000” because of this. Even besides the fact that Total Eclipse and other side material dials down the nationalism aspect (though is it really fair to mention that as a retroactive point when talking about MLA specifically, especially when TE sort of partially exists to ‘fix’ it?), it’s certainly nice to not have an ‘evil foreigner’ angle, which is more than I can say for a few popular VNs, anime and JRPGs, especially with downplaying Japan’s role in World War II, but I digress. Having Takeru have an outsider’s perspective is cool, since he is just a normal Japanese high schooler from a world similar to ours. The line of thinking that ordinary BETAverse citizens have is completely alien to him for a large portion of the story. They still have him be more understanding of the nationalistic view by the end of the arc, which plays into the nationalistic undertones of the arc, as well as despite being a UN operation, having the entire squad be of Japanese descent (even though it plays into the whole “UN soldier duties vs Japanese roots” aspect). I still enjoy the arc despite its issues, especially with the tension and Takeru’s dynamic with Yuuhi, but I can definitely see where people who dislike it are coming from.

To call the XM3 trials’ chomp a turning point is an understatement. The story effectively undergoes a second genre shift through the multiple tragedies of chapter 7. All of what we thought we knew about Muv-Luv undergoes a change, and we realise that nowhere is safe, not even the Extraverse. The distant memory of Extra now comes under attack. There is truly nowhere left to run. I’ve mentioned that I cried to MLA previously, and on my original playthrough, this got the most tears out of me. From seeing Extraverse Marimo to the various tragedies, to Sumika’s memories and "Now, get out there and show them who's boss, Shirogane Takeru!" as JAM Project blasts into my ear, it was probably to date the most emotional I’ve gotten over media. After more than a decade of not crying over fiction, I finally started bawling. And the reason for that is due to the slow burn that MLE, MLU and early MLA were, due to how attached I’ve gotten to these characters, like I truly knew them. The end gave Takeru and me both a determination to see this tale through to the end. The reveal that Sumika is the brain from the brain room and has been under Takeru’s nose all along was shocking, despite being a bit predictable at this point. After experiencing her heavy injuries in Extra, seeing her like this and unlike her usual cheery self is painful for readers, too. By the way, Sumika being in the menu screen and marketing material this isn’t a spoiler on the Steam version’s part, she was marketed to be in this game even with the 00 Unit pink fortified suit even in its original release (source), such as with the game cover. Just like Muv-Luv being a mecha, this isn’t really a spoiler you should be worrying about, since âge certainly doesn’t consider it one. Pretty much nobody who buys and plays Muv-Luv, any version of it, is unaware that it's a mecha without extremely careful outside control by a friend who's already read it and wants to run this as an experiment of pretending that Muv-Luv is just a cutesy romcom until the player reaches Unlimited.

And so, Takeru finally gets involved in a squad as a commissioned officer, with cast additions such as Isumi Michiru from Kimi ga Ita Kisetsu, Hayase, Akane and Haruka from Kimi Nozomu ga Eien, Kashiwagi from Extra, as well as Kazama and Munakata (who later got added to the KimiIta remake). This must’ve been a real gift for long-time âge fans, seeing alternate versions of the characters they knew in the BETAverse. Like the BETAverse versions of the Extra heroines, the BETAverse versions of these characters are similar, yet adjusted to the setting. Isumi dies without confessing, and Mitsuki and Haruka have lost Takayuki. Seeing even further connections like this is why I’m planning to finish pre-ML âge VNs before my second trilogy reread, this time in Japanese. Back to Muv-Luv itself though, we finally get to truly fight the BETA for the first time. The reason the XM3 surprise attack was so effective was because the BETA’s appearance was hidden behind ambiguity for the story until that point. They were a threat that was always looming over the characters and in-universe populace. They are a truly terrifying force with no morals or hesitation that people might have. They aren’t even villains of the week — they are more akin to insects such as ants or bees that come in thousands or even millions. Seeing the scale increase so drastically from Extra, and even Unlimited, is a sight to behold. Now we have another new normal that is 1000+ vs 1000+ large scale battles that have multiple parties constantly moving with their own objectives, and seeing how the BETA’s response affects the entire battlefield. Following Takeru’s incredible show of determination in his Storm Vanguard moment and the plan going off the rails, Isumi’s sacrifice is an emotional scene despite for how short of a time Takeru has known her, and seeing Kashiwagi be the first person besides Marimo to get killed off from the Extra cast leaves a void in the reader’s heart.

At this point it becomes abundantly clear to never expect peace from Muv-Luv anymore, but the attack on Yokohama Base comes as a surprise regardless. This time around, the base takes major damage, and with Mitsuki’s and Haruka’s deaths, as well as the injuries of the rest of the Valkyries, the only crew that remains in fighting condition is our original gang, armed with Tsukuyomi and company’s Takemikazuchis. They too undergo a suicidal attack against the BETA, and the story wraps up.

It really is insane that this is the same story as lacrosse and various shenanigans from Extra. I constantly had to remind myself of the fact that yes, this is indeed the same story, many times throughout the experience. But the main reason this even works is due to it taking so long to “get good”. The reason the BETA attack during the XM3 trials is such a shock is due to how long it took for the first ‘real fight’, and the reason chapters 7 through 10 are so impactful is due to how long we spent with these characters. The contrast between the worlds and genres plays a part, too. There are some cool connections that are even more apparent while rereading, such as Alternative Takeru throwing the shoe to his Extra self, or Sumika meeting him while going home with groceries, or Sadogashima mentions and Yuuko’s quantum causality theory, but by far the most impressive part of the trilogy is how almost all the parts work as pieces of a greater picture.

The world building plays a part in that. Muv-Luv’s hard sci-fi lore explains almost everything and connects it to plot points through strategy, tactics, technology and history, while the soft sci-fi such as multiversal and time travel, as well as causality conducting ties to the themes and characters. It is so nice to see things be properly explained in the main work (where it’s often vague or sometimes just straight up unexplained) and not just side content (where it’s usually actually explained). It is so refreshing to see a story with such a grounded take on mechs that don’t have beam swords and cannot fly into space not be filled with unexplained technobabble like omega particles that never get explained outside of interviews or obscure side material, with the main story mentioning rules but immediately breaking them two minutes later. You actually know what an Arrowhead-2 formation, data link or feedback protector is. It's not just there, they actually use this stuff in the story! The XM3 is invented due to just being a logical thing to do when you have a guy who knows a way to improve TSF software. You get told several versions of a plan so that you know exactly what is happening if something doesn’t go ideally and they have to use a backup, which they told you about ahead of time. The TSFs themselves get a lot of detail in their design philosophies between countries, generations and models. In fact, TSFs being based on real life planes like the F-22 Raptor makes it even more cool. It actually makes sense why they were invented — it’s not just to look cool, you want a machine that can move three-dimensionally without crashing into a wall like a plane, but also something with more agility than a tank. Muv-Luv in general has so many things I wish other mecha had, even small things like neck braces when pilots aren't in something like Evangelion LCL or space, so that maneuvers in those mechs don't case whiplash. It is also nice to see a story where you actually have to undergo training (and we see the cast undergo training) both in Basic and with simulators before you can actually pilot a mech. It just makes sense! It makes sense why the cast don’t get into real action for so long, aside from just political reasons which are revealed later. The political and technological landscape is so developed that it is so immersive, and I can’t get enough of it. I was initially curious if I’d end up liking this, since I wasn’t into mecha for the mecha previously, but it seems I just hadn’t found my own niche at that point. Having such comparatively weak mechs with a focus on agility over durability, since additional armor wouldn’t be much help anyway in such a grounded setting definitely made me find that niche. Exposition and a lot of details to remember is a common complaint about Alternative, but that’s what makes it so compelling to me. You can’t have so much detail in strategy, tech, politics with various parties having their own complex motivations and history make consistent sense without explaining them.

The structure certainly makes this story the greatest “trust me bro, it gets good” of all time, even if you liked Extra and Unlimited due to the fact that every reader is excited to see what Alternative is about, but that’s what makes it worth it. It’s already common for VNs to have a slow, slice of life beginning as the high schooler main character gets thrown into supernatural shenanigans, but having that main character live through what is basically a detailed pre-isekai life (making it stand out among a sea of low-effort isekai novels and anime nowadays, 20+ years later), get thrown into a dystopian mecha alien invasion with humanity at the brink of extinction, witness the end of the world, and get timelooped back and experience trauma after creating another branch (route) in his original, more traditional visual novel world makes it stand out even among other acclaimed visual novels. Like I said, it’s crazy that it’s the same story as lacrosse and picking school lunches, and you think that at many points in the story. But most importantly, it gives you attachment to that old life, you genuinely start to miss Extra. Even people who didn’t like Extra can become major Muv-Luv fans and start to miss it and appreciate it more in Unlimited and Alternative, I’ve seen it happen time and time again.

The visuals are amazing even two decades later. This stuff is still more animated than the overwhelming majority of VNs there, and from the popular ones, rivalled only by the recent 2010s and 2020s Type-Moon visual novels. From moving mouths and eyes, to the crazy amount of CGs and movement, to creative uses of the limitations of the VN medium to be as dynamic as possible, Muv-Luv, especially Alternative and future entries, is extremely dynamic, and while not quite like an anime, makes you forget that it isn’t one sometimes. I even remember watching a friend livestream this and be impressed by having back sprites and seeing warm air when characters spoke and breathed outdoors during autumn and winter. But even that doesn’t compare to how dynamically TSFs and tactical maps adjust and change during fights. Very few visual novels have reached this level of constant animation, I can say that for sure after having around 90 at the time of writing this now. I also don’t really get some of the complaints about the soundtrack. Not only are Asu e no Houkou (and the other OPs, such as Name and 0-GRAVITY), Wings and Carry On incredible tracks by JAM Project that (take this with a grain of salt, I don’t have a specific source for this) the author, Kouki, allegedly went into debt to afford, as well as funding a huge part of Alternative out of his own pocket, but you also have banger OSTs like Storm Vanguard, Briefing, War Preparation, Valkyries, For You Who Departs, Ambush Attack, Crash and many more that have become classics to me. The aforementioned War Preparation was inspired by a track from Gunbuster (not the only case of this happening either!), and you will find many of these kinds of references to mecha, such as Takemikazuchi’s design resembling an Evangelion, Kei Ayamine/Rei Ayanami; Sumika’s, Meiya’s and some other girls’ hair designs resembling Gundam helmets, etc in its distinct hair vents-having art style in Muv-Luv. It is inspired by so many previous works, yet puts its own spin on the genre regardless. Some talented individuals that have other acclaimed works in the videogame or anime industries include Yoshinari Kou (animator) and Iwasaki Taku, who also worked on the Gurren Lagann's, Katanagatari's, Soul Eater's and some other soundtracks.

But a love letter to mecha though it may be, Muv-Luv is primarily a love letter to romance visual novels. That is why, despite how exaggerated the tropes are, you have the classic childhood friend, rich girl, class president tsundere, kuudere, as well as others. That is why the fact that the original has routes, and that Takeru creates a new one by interacting with the Extraverse in Alternative, and why you get progressively fewer and fewer impactful choices with each entry in the trilogy. That is why the grand revelation at the end is that Takeru, not simply alternate versions of him, loved them all. That is why the main thing about Muv-Luv is “save in the name of true love”, and why the name comes from the slang mabu-dachi ("true friend") turned into mabu-ravu (Muv-Luv, or "true love"). That is why the closest person to being a human antagonist in the story is the childhood friend who is essentially forcing her own route on the protagonist, making hers the “true route” and not letting the story end until the protagonist chooses her, then finishing the story by undoing her interference on the other routes and giving the other girls an equal playing field. In the 2020s where we have many visual novel "subversions" that actively mock the usual tropes, this treats them with love and care. Extra matters. And after all, who better to showcase the transition between privilege to having real problems than a privileged harem romcom protagonist in a visual novel, and then use his love to persevere regardless even as he is forced to grow up and witness many tragedies? I am in general a fan of “normal guy” main characters who are just ordinary people going through extraordinary circumstances, but the way that connects to the commentary on VNs and the themes is noteworthy.

As a series, Muv-Luv is just relaxing to get into in general. You can basically do anything you want in any order (other than prequels for stuff you’re reading anyway) after Alternative, though you do get some mild references to older works in newer ones. It’s nice to have a series without a strongly enforced reading order, where you can pick and choose what you’re interested in, with little to no amount of what I call “media homework”. You don’t get a cheap copout of having a second Takeru, since none of the other main characters are isekai protagonists. Instead, you get variety with a story that happens in Alaska, which is controlled in part by the UN, in part by the USA, and in part by the USSR, with a Japanese-American protagonist; a gritty struggle for survival in 1980s communist Germany; a post-Alternative V, G-Bombed world with very little of land and population remaining. And those are just the major side-stories, there’s a bunch of shorter ones that you might be into, both with Extra-style humor and Alternative-style serious plot. However, the original story is still my favorite.

To repeat what I said in my MLE/MLU review, and to follow up on talking about S00mika and whether she's a spoiler from earlier, I would like to dedicate this section to comment on one misconception that people often have about the trilogy. 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!).

It’s not like I think it’s perfect. The cadet suits were a good idea to phase out as the franchise went on, and I still think that not all the Extra routes are made equal — Tama’s dad’s (who Takeru meets "for the first time" in Unlimited) and Sagiri’s appearances in Unlimited and Alternative, as well as Chizuru’s parental issues (this dad is barely even explored in her Extra route) aren’t really enhanced that much by reading their routes, and I think the doctor willing to throw away everything he has for a high school girl in Kei’s route and the bullying storyline in Chizuru’s don’t really contribute much. Tama’s route is fun but her confidence issues are made apparent without missing content in Unlimited and Alternative even if you don’t do her route. In Extra she has to hit a target with her bow, in Unlimited she has to hit a target with a TSF and a massive sniper rifle. Her dad (who, again, Takeru meets "for the first time" in Unlimited despite Tama's Extra route) is also there. And Mikoto doesn’t even get a proper route in the first place. Unlimited is even worse with this — I cannot expect first time readers to do every almost entirely identical route where the heroine is copy and pasted (besides Yuuko's, but that one is also literally under 10 minutes long and requires barely any auto skipping wait time), with a bunch of unskippable autoread sequences. In my original 100% run after finishing Alt and on this reread, I enjoyed seeing variations of marbles, shogi, cat's cradle, etc. and various Game Guy addiction arcs (with my favorite being what I assume is a Fire Emblem ripoff), however. I will say though that experienced VN readers should definitely try reading all the Extra routes, it’s just natural to want to read all the routes of a VN. But for new people or those who have had enough Extra, reading Sumika (since it has more essential content than Meiya's route, if you're doing one) and maybe also Meiya’s route (which you shouldn't read on its own without Sumika's route in your Extra playthrough before Unlimited) works as the bare minimum before Unlimited. Other than Sagiri’s one-minute appearance and Takeru going “huh? Anyways, moving on”, you won’t really be confused. In fact, Unlimited and Alternative generally only show flashbacks for stuff you've personally done, for example during the sleepover scene in Unlimited, where if you did the side routes, Takeru will have a flashback, and if you didn't, he won't. And I'll take doing the bare minimum without getting spoiled because you might not have a VN friend who's read Muv-Luv over looking stuff up and getting spoiled, which has a high chance of happening considering how easy it is to get spoiled on this story. Now, don’t get me wrong, I won’t lie and say that it doesn’t add even further to the fact that despite the differing circumstances between universes, the core human nature of the characters is the same, as well as perhaps the main point of Muv-Luv — that being Takeru’s love(s) for the girls — and the payoffs in chapter 10, such as the heroines laying down their lives for the protagonist, but you actually don’t get any new plot-related substance added to chapters 6, for example, by knowing about Extraverse Sagiri’s love for Kei (barely talked about in Alternative) and his story with Kei’s mother in the medical field, when it comes to the coup arc and his relationship with BETAverse Kei, because what matters here is his relationship to her dad’s philosophy, and its effect on Sagiri, Kei and Yuuhi. You don’t really need to know about Tama’s archery in Extra beyond that she does archery for Unlimited and Alternative, and you meet Tama’s dad in Unlimited as if it’s for the first time anyway. We never see Chizuru’s dad on-screen, and he barely gets mentioned in Extra. While it makes the payoffs even greater, it’s not knowledge that will make or break the story for you, even though you could interpret Chizuru’s struggles in her route as foreshadowing for her future leader role, and Tama’s contrast as an archer versus her BETAverse self as a sniper and her dad caring for her, or Kei’s and Chizuru's closed-off nature. Everything plot-related (besides Extraverse Sagiri’s one-minute appearance) that you actually need to know will be told or retold in Unlimited and Alternative. The main point of doing Extra, other than the primary two routes having the necessary information for the central plot and background, is the contrast between Takeru’s original world and what comes later, as well as a demonstration of Kouki's view on human nature, where despite the vastly different circumstances, our cast are similar to their Extraverse counterparts in spirit. That being said, like I said in my MLE/MLU review, if you can do them all, by all means, do them — it’ll make you care even more in Alternative, that part is undeniable — you won't just enjoy one of the greatest things you've ever experienced at a 100%, you will do so at 110%, so to speak. The most problematic aspect is probably the “twizzlers” tentacle scene in chapter 9, though, which is arguably disrespectful towards Sumika as a character, even in the all-ages version of the story which I prefer. That scene certainly blindsides you since there is very little sexual content even in the original version of MLA.

One thing I won’t change my mind on is the structure not being to its detriment. Muv-Luv is a work of passion that is so unapologetic about its vision, so dedicated to its niche, so ambitious that I now use "this is the Alternative of X" as a way to explain how big a step up from something is in a sequel, and that to fully enjoy it, you would want to be a fan of both slice-of-life romcoms and hard sci-fi real robot mecha, and have enough patience for the “true story” and action to begin dozens of hours in. Extra gives you no taste of the future TSF vs BETA action to come. For once we have an invasion/war story that doesn’t have the calm before the storm only last the equivalent of the first half of episode 1 (at most), we actually see that peace that is later contrasted to war through the protagonist’s eyes. It is both a slice-of-life romcom and a grounded war story, as well as a love story about that love crossing all boundaries, and prevailing nonetheless. It is a story of a young adult transitioning from adolescence to true adulthood with responsibilities through character development, but does not lose his innate kindness regardless. It wasn’t even a decisive victory against the BETA either, Takeru bought the BETAverse an extra 20 years. But for just a single person, that is an incredible feat. And I don’t think the ending, which is the final most commonly criticised aspect of Muv-Luv, goes against this — the epilogue of Final Extra is the first time we are truly out of sync with Takeru in terms of knowledge and experiences. Regardless of if you think his memories and experiences are still there (at least we know from Altered Fable that the characters act more like their post-Alternative, more developed selves rather than just being their Extra selves from square one), we are shown a second, retroactive, slightly altered look at the beginning of Muv-Luv Extra. Now that we have known what war looks like, now that we have seen Takeru and the Valkyries help peace continue through their own efforts as opposed to being only on the receiving end at the start of the story, will we be able to take that peace we have come to take for granted in Extra the same way? Now that we know the blood and tears, the suffering to create this small miracle that Takeru, Sumika and all the rest went through to create this reality and give Kasumi a peaceful life, will we be able to trivialise the importance of Extra, regardless of how we felt about it at the beginning of the tale? Absolutely not, it wasn’t all for nothing, and that’s why this ending works.

I have never cried over any media before this in general (I got teary-eyed at most, but I didn't go hysterical), and I have never cried over stories this much since. I have cried even more on my reread, noticing foreshadowing and getting emotional over more character and plot moments due to better understanding. It is safe to say that Muv-Luv Alternative will not be surpassed for me as a work of fiction for a while, if ever. There are few works as ambitious and full of passion as this. I feel the same way after having experienced 89 visual novels and much more mecha and other media than my 2021 self that initially read this with around four visual novels’ worth of experience, and far less with other media that makes you appreciate this story more. At the risk of repetition and being cliched, it is also safe to say that my life is divided into pre-MLA and post-MLA. I don’t see myself getting tired of this story and world. I even started learning Japanese and exploring a variety of fiction, not judging things by their cover because of it. It just means that much to me.

I could talk about this for hours, even days. But I do have to put this review to an end somehow. So, to repeat from my spoiler-free review: Thank you, Shirogane Takeru, for your inspiring journey. Thank you, Kagami Sumika, Mitsurugi Meiya, Ayamine Kei, Tamase Miki, Sakaki Chizuru and Yashiro Kasumi, for your stories that showed both the protagonist and reader the many perspectives and lives that exist in the world. Thank you, Kouzuki Yuuko, Jinguuji Marimo and other cast members, for being reliable mentors and saying things that both Takeru and I, a university student at the time who had been lost with as to what to do with life, needed to hear. Thank you for making this story such a joy to read.

Lastly, and most importantly, thank you, âge and Yoshimune Kouki, for creating this beautiful tale of love and courage that I hold dear in my heart to this day.

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.

Similarly to Extra and Unlimited, there was never a dull moment for me, which single handedly raised it to 7.5 - 8/10.

There were also a lot of big, emotional moments and many dilemmas embedded in each episode, which had influence on my thinking in more than one way and changed my viewpoint on some things.

Lastly, to mention some negatives. It felt like the characters were a bit overdramatic, some dialogues/monologues tended to go on for too long and there was a lot of repetition of ideas which was annoying, especially when it came to Takeru. The characterization was a bit weak and I didn't like Takeru at all in this installment.