so JAM Project is performing at Otakon 2017 so I'm buying a VIP pass because hell yeah
to commemorate the occasion I am going to do a tiny lil thing on one of my favorite visual novels, Muv-Luv Alternative, the third and final entry of the Muv-Luv VN series.
I've been meaning to write about how brilliant this game is at tethering the player to the protagonist so I will draft out some thoughts here because you are all a captive audience
obviously none of you have played or heard of this game so I will drop the minimum amount of context required to understand what I'm saying
Muv-Luv vs the Otaku
The Muv-Luv series is, to my knowledge, the first overtly anti-escapist mainstream visual novel ever written. To clarify what I mean by this, I will first describe the target audience for this game, draw upon a well-known anime as a point of comparison, and then describe how Muv-Luv Alternative functions in this lens.
Part 0: Context
Muv Luv is a visual novel trilogy that started in 2003 and concluded in 2006. It is comprised of three parts (obviously):
Muv Luv Extra,
Muv Luv Unlimited, and
Muv Luv Alternative.
The first game, Extra, is a generic high-school rom-com harem eroge starring resident pussy magnet Takeru Shirogane.
In Unlimited, Takeru one day wakes up to find himself in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi/military hellhole and is forced to join the United Nations to fight against an alien menace (using giant robots, of course). Ultimately, he fails to save humanity, leading us to ---
Alternative, in which Takeru is sent back to the beginning of the timeline of Unlimited, and is given a second chance to save humanity. (This is the meat of the story)
In this essay(?), I suggest how, fundamentally, Muv-Luv attacks the conventions of harem eroge and serves as a criticism of the otaku consumerbase.
Part 1: Otaku
Most of you probably are aware of what otaku culture is like, but for the rest of you, here is Google's definition:
o·ta·ku ōˈtäko͞o/ noun (in Japan) a young person who is obsessed with computers or particular aspects of popular culture to the detriment of their social skills.
It should be little surprise that there are large otaku subcultures that play pornographic dating sims and watch anime. In particular, I want to draw attention to the following points:
Axiom 1:
Above all else, otaku value bitches and guns.
Axiom 2:
Otaku fucking love mecha anime.
Corollary 1:
Otaku resort to anime and computer games for the sake of wish-fulfillment.
Computer games and anime serve as wish-fulfillment for these otaku because of course they can't have bitches and guns of their own. Mecha anime, in particular, hold a special function for otaku because not only do they have guns, but big fucking guns and fighting robots.
Naturally, a few works of fiction have addressed this trend, to varying degrees of success.
Before diving in to Muv-Luv's commentary, I will ground you with a more mainstream anime response to the otaku trend: Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Part 2: Evangelion vs the Otaku
You all know what this show is. I'm too lazy at the moment to go over a plot synopsis, but the idea is that a wimpy teenager is forced to pilot a giant robot to save humanity against alien intruders.
What's most important here is the main character, Shinji Ikari, and his function in the narrative as a whole.
Shinji is cowardly, weak, and unable to function socially around women. He is completely emotionally incapable of performing the tasks set out before him by his environment and routinely shuts down when confronted with adversity.
Shinji is the otaku caricature.
Shinji, and Evangelion as a whole, are an answer to the question, "what would I do if I was allowed to pilot a giant robot?"
It's quite easy to say, as viewers, what we would do if we were in the pilot's seat in a giant mech, but Evangelion provides a realistic account of how the otaku caricature would function in this genre.
The otaku is fundamentally ill-equipped to deal with this scenario.
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One problem that people tend to have with this show is, unsurprisingly, the protagonist. He is a bitch and thoroughly unlikable. He is, in my opinion, a very accurate caricature of the target audience, but that actually kinda works against the show as a whole. We reject Shinji because he is not the kind of character we typically project ourselves onto in mecha shows. Thus, the show's message falls on deaf ears (at least to the part of the core otaku audience).
^ Regarding this point, I am not suggesting that Evangelion is a commercial failure, because it's not, but this is a description of a common response to the show to those that are not "in the know."
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Muv-Luv addresses the same otaku phenomenon, but it takes a subtly different approach and arrives at a different conclusion.
Part 3: Muv-Luv vs the Otaku
The "Fantasy World"
Takeru Shirogane, the protagonist of the Muv-Luv series, the kind of person we all wanna be. He has not one, but two childhood friend waifus who clamor over the dick for no reason beyond the fact that it literally exists in their general proximity. He's smart, but he's a bit of a slacker. He's a nice guy with a bit of a rough edge. He's good at videogames and everyone just gravitates towards him because he's the main character.
Takeru is the otaku ideal, the person the otaku audience wishes they were. His desirable traits make him perfect for self-projection. He has no particular depth beyond what you might expect from a generic harem eroge.
Takeru is a strong tether for the kind of wish-fulfillment masturbatory fantasy that Muv-Luv Extra describes. Muv-Luv Extra is a fantasy world.
The author knows this and exploits this to its fullest potential.
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You might think, then, that the post-apocalyptic hellhole described by Unlimited is "the real world". Well, not exactly.
Despite what most people think, Unlimited is very similar to Extra, just in a different setting.
The bitches still want his dick.
He's still remarkably attractive to everyone around him.
He's not only a good pilot, but the best pilot everyone's ever seen, and the only reason he's the best is because he played a lot of video games.
Takeru, the otaku ideal, is fucking amazing in this sci-fi/military/mecha scenario. He never really has to dramatically change himself in order to fit in.
Unlimited is still the fantasy world. This is still wish-fulfillment for its audience. This time, instead of a romance fantasy, it's a mecha fantasy.
And, after spending upwards of 30 hours living vicariously through Takeru, we "become" Takeru.
...but this world isn't really realistic, is it?
The "Real World"
Hey fam, remember all those desirable traits Takeru had and how awesome it was to live through these cool scenarios in his shoes?
Fuck you.
Fuck you for liking Takeru. Fuck you for thinking that Takeru was the kind of person that is actually desirable in society. Fuck you for thinking that Takeru could save the world.
Fuck you.
Muv-Luv Alternative is like the incontinent pet mastiff that just can't stop shitting diarrhea chunks over the carpet of your brain.
To give you an idea of what Alternative is like, Attack on Titan is a fanfiction of it. Admitted by Isayama himself.
I won't go too deep into spoiler territory, but the idea is that all of these things that Takeru, the otaku ideal, is good at don't actually fucking matter in the real world.
Bitches? Guns? Fuck you, that doesn't really matter.
What actually matters? Empathy for others, mental fortitude (a FUCKTON of mental fortitude), courage, and strength of character, for starters. Takeru initially possesses none of these things and is fucking FLATTENED by the events that unfold. (There's literally a story arc about PTSD)
We otaku are not prepared for the real world.
Alternative makes us question what characteristics we, the audience, should actually value.
Muv-Luv Extra and Muv-Luv Unlimited are both the kinds of wish-fulfillment escapist fantasies that Muv-Luv Alternative criticizes at a core level.
The series as a whole works because of how it forces us to invest in Takeru, and how it routinely tears him down when it actually matters. We are on a journey with him, we like him, but we realize that we need to change in order to survive in the real world. Takeru's charm and likability are not sufficient ideals to live for in this world.
This is what I mean by Muv-Luv Alternative serving as an anti-escapist fantasy.
We projected ourselves onto Takeru, the otaku ideal, and were punished for it. At the same time, we are forced to mentally adapt with Takeru, or die.
Alternative is optimistic, though, and shows us that the world isn't purely a shitsack of terror. With enough effort, willpower, and courage, we can change ourselves into heroes, heroes that can actually save the world.
We grow alongside Takeru because of the tether established in Extra and Unlimited. Takeru is us, and if Takeru can adapt in this hellhole, maybe we can too.
But we have to work for it.
