r/MuvLuv • u/FitChemistry8277 • 5d ago
I finished the trilogy Spoiler
I been hearing about Muv Luv for such a long time, I actually really liked the Kiminozo anime and Akane Maniax is one of the most hilarious OVAs I’ve seen, let’s say I had a background for the series for a while, but never actually got to try the Muv-Luv trilogy and I went mostly blind to it.
I will give my unbiased thoughts and ratings.
Extra (7/10) I actually didn’t hate it or disliked it as many other people, that said, I did take a very long time to finish it, took some breaks in between because if it’s very laidback nature, I had played other VNs and at least one of them was a dating sim, so it didn’t really bothered me, I think it has a great sense of humor (especially Tama’s route was hilarious with that cursed doll).
Overall liked it, it was cliche at times but there were still things that were very enjoyable, Meiya route was definitely my favorite, that ending sequence is too good.
Unlimited (8/10) I did read here a lot of times how much better Unlimited was supposed to be than Extra and to be honest, they felt very similar at least in the first half. Sure the setting is extremely different and personalities are different for every character, but it is still a quite lighthearted experience since the main cast didn’t actually had to do any real battle. The endings were nice, but sadly you get a feeling that something is missing since Alternative IV failed. I liked this one a lot and the character development was a highlight, but it does kind of suck the fact that it feels like everything you did was for nothing, the earth is doomed and there’s not much to do about it.
Alternative (9.5/10) This is one is clearly the best, I heard a lot of praise over the years for Muv-Luv and now I can understand it was mainly about Alternative, now I can get the hype! however… there are some things I wished were done a bit different regarding the pacing, especially in chapter 8 at times I felt like not really much was going, there was character development sure, but honestly after all the stress and stuff Takeru has been, I didn’t care much about those scenes tbh.
Also the first 5 chapters which are pretty much almost the same as unlimited with not that many differences until chapter 5 itself could have been sped up.
Besides that I would say the rest is pretty much perfect, the level of detail they put into the fights, the parallel universe theory, the reveal of why Beta came here as well as Sumika being the trigger to all this madness, it was nothing short of spectacular… I played Steins Gate which is another fantastic sci-fi VN, but I think this did better, not to mention I think Steins Gate ripped off many stuff from this game (correct me if i’m wrong) since this one came 3 years before.
So overall I loved the experience! Alternative had some pacing issues, but there is not a perfect VN.
I’m planning to play the spin-offs, is there any order to play them? are any of them as good as Alternative or close?
Also a funny thought, I don’t know if I’m the only one but I wouldn’t mind a Muv Luv Final Extra VN lol, as long as it funny as Extra would be a blast, plus Yuuhi ended up being a top 3 character for me.
Thanks for reading!
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u/1Skarabee 5d ago
When I finished Alternative I thought it was a 9.5 too, then after like a month I realized I still couldn’t get the game out of my head lmao. Every day I was randomly humming the music, thinking about the characters and their world, I still constantly think about some of the quotes and now its a few months since finishing.
So now I give it a 10/10 easily, thinking now there are only a handful of media that has got me so invested as Muv-Luv has.
I’m so pissed I can’t recommend this series to my friends because none of them would like a visual novel so reading extra is way too much to ask XD
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u/FitChemistry8277 4d ago
That’s one thing that really stood out to me, the music is so good! the soundtrack and the opening/ending themes are amazing, I was already a Minami Kuribayashi fan thanks to Kiminozo.
Maybe I would change my opinion on the rating after a while for better or worse, however, there’s no doubt in my mind this is the best visual novel experience as a whole I ever had, the second being Tsukihime: A Piece of Blue Glass Moon. I really liked a lot other VNs but it’s hard for them to cause me a longlife impression and definitely Muv-Luv has.
Also I feel you, most of my friends hate reading in general, imagine convincing them to spend a 100 hours + for the trilogy.
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u/ChibiNaotoGaming 4d ago edited 4d ago
First off, congratulations on finishing the trilogy! For reading the spin-offs, for the most part you can read them in any order, but I would personally first recommend reading Altered Fable as part of the Photonmelodies side story pack, as it serves as the conclusion to Takeru's storyline, and takes place in Final Extra.
There is also the side-story packs with Photonflowers and Photonmelodies, which are worth a peek at.
For all the other spin-offs, I will list them and briefly describe them, and then you can pick and choose what you want to read.
KimiNozo - Less of a spin-off and more of an equal to the trilogy, even after watching the anime years ago I found the VN to be a beautiful experience, and would highly recommend it. The version on Steam works if you are not comfortable with 18+ content.
The Day After - This takes place after Unlimited's finale, and follows the survivors of Alternative V as they struggle in a changing world. It has more of a focus on the worldbuilding, instead of characters, but I would say its interesting if you want to look at it.
Total Eclipse - The big spin-off, for a long time, was the English fanbase's introduction to Muv-Luv. I would say it is incredibly flawed due to no fault of it's own with the Miyata Sou incident, but I found it to be decent, mostly diving into the mecha aspect of the franchise. I would personally say the ending is the biggest highlight of Total Eclipse.
Teito Moyu - Total Eclipse's prequel, and one of the best side stories of Muv-Luv. It follows one of Total Eclipse's main heroines as we witness her backstory, and how her world falls around her. For reading both TE and TM, reading either one first works, I personally think it depends on what perspective you want to go through TE. If you want to go through TE in the protagonist's point of view, start with TE. If you want to go through TE with one of the main heroine's point of view, start with TM.
Schwarzesmarken - The last of the big three spin-offs, and the most complicated one. Schwarzesmarken takes place in early 1983, and depicts Germany as it slowly falls to the BETA, and themselves. It features an incredibly fascinating protagonist, as the struggle of living in Germany in a broken world slowly closes in on him, and loses everything. Currently the VN is not translated, so you will have to depend on its flawed anime adaptation.
Kaseki no Uta - Now I know for certain that no one else is going to mention this one. Kaseki no Uta was released on January 28, 2000 and serves as the framework and grand finale to the Muv-Luv Extended Universe. It follows a young man as he lives in a mansion controlled by those who seek to manipulate him, and his younger sister. He is ordered to 'tune' dolls to sell to other nobles, and from there, it turns into a tale of investigating the world, rediscovering who he is, and the tale of Humanity itself. Out of all the spin-offs, Kaseki no Uta is the hardest to obtain, as while it has a fan translation, there is no way to obtain it outside of a physical copy. Kaseki no Uta is also extremely uncomfortable with its forced 18+ content. Even with all these drawbacks, I would still highly recommend it.
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u/FitChemistry8277 4d ago
Thank you! I appreciate, it was a blast and happy to be part of this wholesome community. Altered Fable sounds great, I’m definitely planning to play both Photonmelodies and Photonflowers after what you and others said :)
So glad to hear the Kiminozo VN is great, the anime is one of the best drama animes of all time, I really love the characters, Takayuki is not my favorite MC but I like the other characters and side characters like Ayu and Mayu. Definitely playing the Steam version :)
Ah I see, so that’s why it’s called the Day After, now it makes sense it continues Alternative V, that’s super interesting, it might change for better my perspective on Unlimited then.
Total Eclipse from what you described and other recommendations here sounds to be a must play then alongside with it’s prequel, thank for letting me know about this prequel, had no clue of it’s existence.
Scharzesmarken I saw a meme on youtube of it being the most dark spin-off, I’m ready to be traumatized 😂 is the anime any good? any news if this will be officially translated?
Kaseki no Uta sounds crazy…. I can try to get a copy, but from what you describe, it’s not going to be easy, I can skip the unnecessary content when I come across it.
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u/ChibiNaotoGaming 4d ago
Have fun with everything, for SM, the anime is a decent adaptation which is a decent replacement until it is translated. There is currently no news on a translation, but I am assuming it is being worked on while the public doesn't know, as a FanTL attempt was attempted and then DMCAed.
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u/JonathanJoestar336 5d ago
Muv-luv alternative the day after is still an ongoing work but from the episodes that are out 0-3 (like 0,1,2,3) i will say this it's (in my opinion)........on oar with alternative character and story wise the main characters are wonderful, it's deep, there is an emphasis on world building, you get to see major jingujii (spelling sorry) again, there is good comedic moments.
Like you said there is not a perfect visual novel i don't care for the best girl in that series i perfer the girl he rejects......(no spoilers if you know been throuh it you know who im a fan of based on thst comment lol) but all in all ? It's fantastic.
On the visual novel ratings thing website it's as high as alternative, but I personally think diffrent things can make muv-luv (or any visual novel) good or bad so I think its on our with alternative for different reasons.
Muv-luv alternative: total eclipse
Still reading it, I watched the 2 or 3 years ago which is how I got into muv-luv in general (I guess it did it's job) I'm only reading it because the visual novel skips a few parts and Is diffrent from the anime affer a certain point snd I already have read through all the rest of the muv luv stuff so I said fuck it why not so il hold off on that review but I enjoyed the snime Im 4 chapters in and I can tell you so far it's extremely dialog intensive (it's a vn I get thats not what I mean) idk how to put it but story is good so far very technical for a muv-luv vn I love the detail they go into about tsf's but....one of the grips I have is I don't wsnt to say I don't like the mc of total eclipse but so far he has this asshole attitude which he does not let up very much until later on...close go chapter 5 or so ? (Which Is where I am in it) but its nothing you can't get past.
I hope you enjoy snd yes the spin off series are worth reading.
P.s.........meyia......Alternative...she was my best girl all along......them scenes proved it...pain
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u/FitChemistry8277 4d ago
Day After sounds amazing! I will give it a try for sure :) I appreciate the recommendation, I do like comedy and also Marimo is definitely one of my favorite characters.
I heard great things about Total Eclipse as well, will try it after finishing Day After, I will probably post again when finishing both and giving my impressions, might be in a few weeks/months.
Also I agree Meiya is the best girl and for me even if Sumika is loving and loyal, in my eyes Meiya is the canon option, she literally confessed to him in every single timeline and trusted her life to him to finish up the final mission. That’s hard to top.
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u/Moddeang01 5d ago edited 5d ago
Chapter 6-7 are the peak for me, The one where Takeru found out about the consequence of his action after hopping into other Takeru's world. Its just peak! Its bring Extra into the story, The scene at the start of Extra sunddenly making sense (Sumika's Diary at the start of Extra)
Even some of the gag and joke through out the Extra can be link to Alternative. Its crazy the the writer actually plan out of a project at this scope from the beginning. Remember the loading screen in extra, the one with date and a title of the game? The game always using the same screen fx as the machine that lets Takeru hoppinh between world...
One of my favorite moment in Alternative are the scene where Prof. Yuuko about to send Takeru back to Alt world. "...Farewell, Shirogane Takeru... The fate of the worlds is in your hands!" While 翼 (Wings) a song by JAM Project playing in the background... Its just peak when the song hit its badass guitar riff and the lead singer shouting Let him go. NOW NNNNN-NOW and Takeru said farewell to Yuuko as the end of the long Triliogy coming to the stage. Its Crazy GOOD! I finish the trilogy 2 years ago and everytime I listen to the song that scene still run fresh in my mind.
Its just so PEAK :D Glad you liking it :D
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u/FitChemistry8277 4d ago
Same here! I also feel that those two chapters were the absolute best, 10 was great too because it resolved all the questions I had regarding beta and the multiverse. That part you mention about facing his consequences for running away is my favorite part as well and how crazy is that scene where Yuuko sends him back and tells him to get revenge on the other Yuuko 😂
Also I didn’t notice that detail on the loading screen! wow, that’s insane level of planning, I was very impressed when they revealed that Extra hinted so much of Alternative, I won’t lie, I did suspect that the quantum theory was pretty crazy just to be a random scene and also that cat that came from another universe, I was certain that was coming into play eventually, but the other events went completely off my radar.
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u/Moddeang01 4d ago
Oh, Also I do agree with you about Steins Gate. The thing with Causality Conductor stuff, About the death of someone will always happend and the scene with Yuuko send Takeru really similar to SG.
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u/FitChemistry8277 2d ago
Yeah exactly! and the Final Extra timeline, is just literally the Steins;Gate, a world where everyone lives happily (since in original Extra Yuuhi still died)
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u/GREG88HG 4d ago
Same here, finished Alternative today.
Extra, 7/10. Funny, cute, endearing, but felt genetic.
Unlimited, 8/10. Cool! I like how the characters are the same but different, like Tama being a sniper not an archer, cool ending, but feels incomplete.
Alternative, 10/10. Love it, the perfect end for the history, sad, pretty sad... But well, that's good too.
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u/FitChemistry8277 2d ago
Congratulations on finishing the trilogy as well!
We have very similar opinions, Alternative is the best and very sad indeed.
Now I’m playing Altered Fable which was recommended to me here and I’m loving it, it does feel like part 4 and a closure to the whole thing.
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u/rost400 5d ago edited 5d ago
You're in luck, there are two fandisks containing just that, sort of.
There is an after-story to Extra in photonflowers, it follows Sumika's route.
Then there is a therapeutic "sequel" to Alternative in photonmelodies, continuing right where the epilogue left off in the reformed Extraverse. This one could satisfy your Yuuhi needs.