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.