Thoughts on Muv-luv Extra and its Meiya route

Em Marko of Abnormal Mapping fame is someone yours truly trust when it comes to weeb stuff. So, when they said how much they enjoyed the visual novel Muv-luv, I knew I was doomed to make an impulse purchase on Steam.

Well, the Steam product known as “Muv-luv” is actually the combination of 2 originally separate visual novels: a rom-com titled Muv-luv Extra and a military science fiction novel subtitled Unlimited. This piece is all about the former as I am tearing myself away from reading the latter to write this.

On the route

A high school boy and a pretty but not that pretty high school girl are childhood friends. They start considering entering a committed relation with each other on their own. “Not that pretty” is added here not just to be mean, but rather for comparison coming up. Stories like these do not really start until a girl out of this world came crashing into their life, and the boy got a choice to make.

“Is Urusei Yatsura the subject here?” I hear you asking. Indeed, the Rumiko Takahashi book is one of the subjects here just like visual novel Muv-luv and comic book Nisekoi. All 3 share the similar premise yours truly put up there. The 2 comic books also have 2 other things in common. A both kept their original Japanese titles when translated into English and B both got “a woman’s touch” to yours truly. Urusei Yatsura is authored by a woman while Nisekoi was recommended to yours truly by a woman.

Yours truly went down the Meiya route mostly because of reading those 2 funny books, since she is the “out of this world” archetype of Muv-luv and the boys in those books eventually chose the one out of his world over the childhood friend. Though the boy and the girl in Muv-luv are very different from their comic book counterparts.

Meiya Mitsuruki (A Japanese family name I am tempted to translate into “Saber” just to take a piss at Type-Moon) is out of this world in a different way. Ram in Urusei Yatsura is a space alien while Chitoge in Nisekoi is blonde bombshell among shades of raven hair. Meiya is one of two potential love interests with raven hair and she is certainly not an alien, her family is just filthy rich. In many ways, Urusei Yatsura readers can see her as the gender bending version of Shutaro Meido.

Player point of view character Takeru Shirogane is a very typical “dumb boy”, his mother just refers to him as “my idiot son” after all. Though he is not a playboy like Urusei Yatsura’s Ataru Moroboshi, he is by all means and purposes, a gamer. As much as yours truly dislike that G word, there is no other way to describe someone indulging that particular vice across arcade cabin, home console (PS2 does exist in Muv-luv’s world, though the S does not stand for “station”) and dedicated handheld (Called Game Guy, not sure if it’s an homage to Game Boy or Game Gear). By the end of Meiya route, he finally got to spend some quality time with his wife (I believe this route is the only one ending with him legally married.) and he wanted to play Tokken (Apparently Tekken “with serial number filed off”.) on PS2 with her.

Their relation building does interrogate the question about fates and promises. Shirogane and Mitsuruki are 2 families that would not cross path in a million years, however Takeru and Meiya met once when they were 4. To add to the dramatic, the story has them share the same birthday. And the boy being smoother operator back then promised to marry her. Then of course as the vice known as gaming did to many of us, he forgot all about it until after their eightieth birthday. This story would have been blader if the 2 did not get married and the promise ended up being moonshine made up by a kid not knowing what he was saying. But this is a dating sim with the goal of “get the girl”, so hope for a balder conclusion like that is against the whole idea of playing a dating sim.

On the game

As a game came out 2 whole decades before the time of writing, Muv-luv does feel refreshing compared to its modern time counterparts. The streets in Extra are jam packed with various character sprites, maybe just to be a contrast to the empty war-torn streets in Unlimited. The game is a sprite fest where it comes to the speaking roles, one can see up to 5 of them at once interacting on the screen.

As someone who cut their teeth with Type-moon products it comes to full-priced visual novels, Muv-luv just seems so better paced. The days usually keep going for a nice 20 to 30 minutes long run time, though the days do get longer as endgame approaches.

The game is marketed as an “All Age” title though I would add 2 pieces of contents warning.

First there is a comedic scene regarding under age drinking. All present there are 18 and above though, with the game expressively saying that all the high schoolers are about to graduate. Kinda of a “we would let this one slide just do not make a habit of it” thing it comes to 18-year-olds drinking alcohol.

Second there are 2 up skirt panty shots in my playthrough. They are not gross for yours truly but sensitive type be aware. The er, unsavory bit of the picture is on the bottom of the screen rather than front and center but I don’t think it helps. The text is displayed on that level after all. I have my theory about why those made into the clean version: the girls have their shirts, panties and stockings on, combined with the fact that there is a skirt to look up into, the images are considered as fully clothed instead of nudity.

Anyway, the game does deal with sexy characters with a little more consideration than say er, Neon Genesis Evangelion. There are 2 hot teachers with big tits, one likes to show them while the other covers her assets with a sweater, it’s at least better than Anno wanting 2 tits out ladies instead of one, wouldn’t you say?

So, I guess even after 20 years after its launch, Muv-luv is a visual novel worth checking out. The Steam Deck has a community layout making the game operates more than a console title, it’s a nicer way to enjoy some rom-com on the go.