Muv-Luv



Muv-Luv is a series of Visual Novels produced by age which takes place in the same universe as Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien, and shares some characters with the latter. There are 3 main games in this series: Muv-Luv Extra, Muv-Luv Unlimited, and Muv-Luv Alternative. The first two were released together as Muv-Luv, with the Unlimited portion of the game unlocked by progressing in Extra. The series' fame comes primarily from Muv-Luv Alternative, one of the most popular visual novels of all time, known for its high production values, complex plot, exciting mecha battles and political intrigue.

Muv-Luv Extra

"Save in the name of true love."

Extra tells the story of the protagonist Takeru Shirogane and his childhood friend Sumika Kagami as they go through their final year of high school. Soon after the game begins, their parents go on vacation, and Takeru wakes up one morning to find a girl he doesn't know in his bed. Said girl is Meiya Mitsurugi, the heir to the Mitsurugi Corporation. The story evolves into a love comedy, only much weirder. Extra makes references to the prequel game/OVA Akane Maniax and takes place immediately after it, with Akane Suzumiya herself appearing as a side character.

Muv-Luv Unlimited

"Even if your own life is what's most important to you, you can't protect it alone."

Completion of the two endings of the "main route" in Extra unlocks the Unlimited portion of Muv-Luv.

In Unlimited, Takeru wakes up one morning to discover that the rest of the city around him is in ruins, and Sumika is nowhere to be found. He later finds out that he's in an alternate world to Extra, where aliens called BETA (an acronym for "Beings of Extra Terrestrial origin. Adversaries to the human race") have invaded Earth and mankind fights back against the alien aggressors with Humongous Mecha called Senjutsuhokousentouki (戦術歩行戦闘機), "Tactical Surface Fighters", as almost all conventional weapons before simply didn't work. Unlimited relates Takeru's story as he tries to adjust to military life in an unfamiliar world, while rebuilding relationships with his friends. All of the major characters from the Extra timeline are present in Unlimited, except for Sumika,. The characters are, for the most part identical to their Extra counterparts, with the possible exception of Mikoto, who is now female.



Muv-Luv Alternative

"This is the alternative ending unable to be told before: A very great, very small, very precious, tale of love and courage."

The sequel to Unlimited and released after several delays around 3 years later.

After 3 years in the Unlimited world, Takeru wakes up to find that he has rewound back to the beginning of Unlimited. Unable to accept the result of what happened at the end of Unlimited, he strives to find a method that could give humanity victory. Alternative also includes Michiru Isumi from age's debut game Kimi Ga Ita Kisetsu, which got a remake in 2011 (in which Touko Kazama and Misae Munakata also appear), and Mitsuki Hayase, Haruka Suzumiya (Akane's sister), along with Akane herself, from Kimi ga Nozomu Eien. The composers from Muv-Luv return for the music, which also features contributions from JAM Project, Hijiri Anze (Resident Evil Code Veronica), Hikaru Nanase (Zone of the Enders, Chrno Crusade), and Taku Iwasaki (who would later compose for Soul Eater and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann).

A port of the series to the Xbox 360 was announced by 5pb, co-creators of Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate with Nitroplus and was released in October 2011. Total Eclipse, one of the many side stories, will receive an anime adaptation in Summer 2012.

You can find (and please add to) other tropes and fandom reactions here, Crowning Moments of Awesome here, funny moments here, and depressing moments here.

Please contribute to the character sheet.

'Please note that this page, as well as its subpages, contains a ton of spoilers, especially for the latter parts of Unlimited, as well as the entirety of Alternative''. And yes, even mere mentions of many tropes here are in themselves spoilers.'''

The series contains examples of:
"US Pilot: Attention, unidentified craft! Enable your real-time interpreter, or, follow the UN mandate procedure, and identify yourselves in English. That's the official international language. JP Pilot: US Pilot: Repeat. Speak in English, the official language. I don't understand what you're saying. JP Pilot (presumably activating his interpreter): US Pilot: What!?"
 * Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male: Played straight and inverted - Takeru hits Sumika just as much as she hits him, but it's Played for Laughs on both sides.
 * Ace Custom: Meiya's purple Type-00R Takemikazuchi TSF in Unlimited and Alternative, . The sidestory Total Eclipse focuses on a multinational team of pilots testing out custom TSF models. However the concept of having TSFs reserved to individual pilots was ridiculed in Unlimited, with the reasoning that pilots have to be able to use any TSF on hand during emergencies.
 * Ace Pilot: The main cast as well as most of the supporting cast in Alternative.
 * Especially impressive considering he killed a significant number of other species, he was the distraction, and that there were 23 of that species present.
 * Action Bomb: The Japanese TSF units (and them alone) are equipped with the S-11 Explosive which doubles as a self-destruct system, allowing pilots to go out on their own terms instead of a horrible death at the enemy's mouths.
 * After the End: Unlimited and Alternative.
 * Alien Invasion: The BETA invading Earth.
 * All the Myriad Ways: Averted. Takeru (and the reader) comes to care about his friends very much, no matter whose alternate dimension/universe selves they may be.  In fact, the only person who Takeru doesn't treat as the same one regardless of dimension is  .
 * All There in the Manual: Several characters and events will not make complete sense unless you've seen/read Rumbling Hearts. Alternative itself cannot be understood fully without reference to Extra and Unlimited. In addition there are the various side stories, artbooks, and other material age is coming out with. Finally some aspects left out of the Alternative VN are touched upon in its manga adaptation.
 * Alternate History: While the Japan of the world of Unlimited/Alternative lost World War II, she surrendered on far less humiliating terms: the country did not get nuked and was apparently allowed to keep the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere (here called the Far Eastern Alliance).
 * Alternate Universe / Alternate Timeline: And how!
 * Anime Hair: The entire main heroine cast in Extra.
 * Anyone Can Die: in the world of Unlimited/Alternative. The tagline of the prequel/side-story Schwarzesmarken says: Death is not a special event. It is the story of the battlefield.
 * Apocalypse How: By the time of the events of Unlimited/Alternative, Eurasia, except for several remote peninsulas have been laid bare and devoid of life, and it was only a matter of time before the rest fall as well (Continental/Total Extinction, quickly heading towards Planetary scale).
 * Arc Number: Three years, same as in Kimi ga Nozomu Eien.
 * Arc Words: "Even if your own life is what's most important to you, you can't protect it alone" in both Unlimited and Alternative. Also,"I am going to do what only I can do" and "You must never hesitate to stain your own hands with blood" in Alternative,
 * Art Evolution: Due to changing character designers: just take a look at a screenshot from Alternative versus the newer side story Confession.
 * Ascended Fanboy / I Know Mortal Kombat: Takeru's skills at the mecha arcade game Valgern-On give him an advantage when piloting actual mecha,.
 * Atomic F-Bomb:
 * Badass Creed:
 * Baka: Takeru is called one many times by many people, especially by Sumika, Chizuru, and Meiya.
 * Battle Harem: Takeru's in Unlimited and Alternative, Yuuya's in Total Eclipse, Hibiki's in The Day After. Theodor's women comrades in Schwarzesmarken may also count, but the series doesn't seem to focus on harem antics.
 * Bland-Name Product: Valgern-On, Gameguy, etc. Not to mention the defense companies named in side materials: Lockweed Mardin, Northrock Grunnan, Boening, Mitsuhishi Heavy Industries, Onda...
 * Bleached Underpants: The all-ages versions of the trilogy censor the H-scenes.  The upcoming Visual Novel adaptation of Total Eclipse is expected by fans to be all-ages from the start, due to having several voice actors who do not do eroge roles.
 * Voice actors who do not do eroge have voiced characters in eroges numerous times before, as long as the characters that they voice are not involved in any eroge scenes. However, considering that the voice actors for virtually all of the characters are non-eroge, Total Eclipse is pretty much guaranteed to be non-eroge.
 * Book Ends:
 * Brain In a Jar: In Unlimited / Alternative, Takeru often sees Kasumi in a room with this.
 * Bug War: Humanity against the BETA, and with good reason, too.
 * Cerebus Retcon: In Alternative Hayase gets a little pissed at Munakata for not having a proper confession or romantic moment the last time she saw her fiancee. It's played for laughs
 * Cerebus Syndrome: While Unlimited takes place in an apocalyptic wasteland during a war with alien invaders, it's still mostly lighthearted. Alternative, however, is far more serious. Even the chibi art has almost entirely been done away with.
 * Cliché Storm: Extra is bombarded by this. Invoked on purpose, likely to contrast the huge shift in mood, seriousness, and darkness as one goes from Extra to Unlimited to Alternative.
 * Chekhov's Gunman: Near the end of Extra, it's mentioned that In Alternative,
 * Chekhov's Classroom: You can be sure that all those info-dumping rants by Yuuko-sensei will become important later on.
 * Chest Blaster:
 * Chick Magnet: Takeru, naturally. However, due to the seriousness of Alternative, it's a relatively minor plot point in that game.
 * Though they do not actually appear in the game, from what we hear from their respective harem members (Captain Isumi and Haruka/Mitsuki), Masaki, protagonist of Kimi Ga Ita Kisetsu and Takayuki, protagonist of Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, most definitely qualify, even within the screwed up world of Alternative.
 * Childhood Friend Romance: Possible with Sumika, who appears to be the primary love interest.
 * Childhood Marriage Promise: A major plot point in Extra.
 * Cluster F-Bomb:
 * Colony Drop: Referred to in one of Yuuko-Sensei's exam review questions, which asks the student to calculate the kinetic energy of an O'Neill-type space colony falling to Earth and the corresponding energy released upon impact. Another question asks how much nuclear fuel said colony must contain, and what its velocity should be, in order to obliterate the Japanese mainland, given some defined parameters.
 * Coming of Age Story
 * Common Tongue: English is the official international language mandated by the United Nations in Unlimited and Alternative. This leads to the following scene in Alternative :


 * Continuity Cameo: One that is lost to those who never played age's first releases before Alternative: Emi Motoi (Yuuko's voice actress, who voiced a main heroine in age's debut game Kimi ga Ita Kisetsu) also did an unnamed role in Alternative as the Imperial Army grunt saved by Ikaruga at Sadogashima.
 * Cool Car: Yuuko Kouzuki's Lancia Stratos, which inexplicably has the classic Alitalia livery painted on competition versions back in its day.
 * Cooking Duel: Yuuko hosts one for Takeru's harem, with the winner going out on a date with him.
 * Crapsack World: After the BETA invasion, humanity is reduced to one billion people from six, a substantial fraction (if not the majority) of the male population is dead from fighting an overwhelmingly-broken enemy (to the point that the draft age had been lowered and military service for women had become compulsory), and the entirety of Eurasia is overrun by the BETA (with 24 of the 26 existing hives, including the first and biggest, within its confines). North America is (temporarily) safe, at the cost of half of Canada being turned into a nuclear wasteland. Australia, Africa and South America are still safe as well - for the time being.
 * Cryptic Conversation: In Alternative, Takeru asks Tsukuyomi, a member of the Imperial Honor Guard tasked to guard Meiya, about something, to which she replies that she has been ordered to "prepare for the day when the setting sun draws the curtain of night on the capital".
 * Darker and Edgier: Alternative, in comparison with its immediate prequel Unlimited.
 * Date Peepers: No matter who Takeru chooses as the winner of the Cooking Duel, the other four girls will spy on them during their date.
 * Death From Above: In contrast to the UN and Japanese Army tactics of using orbital divers to break into and shut down hives, the US Army prefers dropping G-Bombs, one after the other, on hives. Only after then are American TSFs sent in, to mop up whatever opposition remains. This ties into the in-universe perception of Americans as having the "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality.
 * Death Seeker:
 * Deflector Shields: Not present in this setting, and a major reason humanity was faring very badly against the BETA.
 * Dropped a Bridget On Him: Mikoto in Unlimited. Played both for laughs and seriously, as Takeru's initial inability to see Mikoto as nothing but a boy causes him to avoid her, creating even more strife within the squadron against him.
 * Dropped Two G-Bombs on Him: The Unlimited/Alternative prequel/side story Operation Zero implies that
 * Due to the Dead: One responsibility of a Valkyrie who witnessed a comrade fall in battle is to tell of her last moments to the remaining squadron members, so that her memory lives on.
 * Dying Moment of Awesome/Face Death with Dignity: Invoked in the worlds of Unlimited and Alternative: all TSF pilots are trained to be prepared for death, so long as their deaths count for something or is something they could be proud of.
 * Eagle Land: The US, which was among the very few nations not invaded by BETA in Unlimited/Alternative, is seen by many Japanese as opportunistic.   Subverted in that the American soldiers and field commanders Takeru meets in Alternative turn out to be as decent and gentlemanly as their Japanese counterparts.
 * Expy/Captain Ersatz: Takahashi Ichimonji, Meiya's limo driver, is basically Ryousuke Takahashi in personality and traits - stoic, always with a laptop, formulating a Theory of Maximum Street Velocity - with the face of Takumi Fujiwara. Yuuko is a genderbent Shuu Shirakawa, and Meiya has a hairstyle taken from the RX-78GP02A Physalis, while  has one from the AGX-04 Gerbera Tetra. In sidestories we also see Meiya's grandfather and training master, who look like, and are named after, Raideen and Grendizer respectively, while   master's name is a pun on God Sigma. The ongoing sidestory Schwarzesmarken adds Captain Ersatzes of Meat and Tsugumi.
 * Pay no mind to the fact that Meiya looks every similar to Mitsuki and Sumika looks similar to Haruka or that Sumika gets hit by a car in "Extra" in blatant reference to Haruka's accident in Kimi ga Nozomu Eien. Don't worry, this is only played for laughs and Sumika gets better pretty much immediately. As you might had guess, like Haruka and Mitsuki, Sumika and Meiya are the main heroines in this game. As a bonus, the song "Muv-Luv" is sung by Haruka's voice actress and is apparently, by "Word of God," a song about Sumika. To make up for it, the personalities between Meiya/Mitsuki and Sumika/Haruka are completely different.
 * Eye Beams: The signature weapons of the Laser-Class BETA Lux and the Heavy Laser-Class BETA Magnus Lux, and, due to their nullification of the concept of "air superiority", the reason for the development of the Tactical Surface Fighter.
 * Fade to White:
 * Fan Translation: Muv-Luv Extra, Unlimited and Alternative were translated by Amaterasu Translations in 2010 and 2011. An independent (and earlier) project to translate the all-ages versions of the trilogy by someone on /m/ is currently on indefinite hiatus.
 * Fatal Family Photo:
 * Foreshadowing: Many events and characterization in Extra heavily foreshadow events in the Unlimited and Alternative worlds, such as Miki's incredible ability with archery.
 * One event of particular note is the Valgern-On team battle at the hot springs in Extra, where the teams are Takeru-Chizuru-Ayamine vs Meiya-Miki-Mikoto. Guess what the exhibition match teams turn out to be with TSF training in Unlimited?
 * Finagle's Law: See Murphy's Law below.
 * For Want of a Nail:
 * Also see Vehicular Theme Naming below.
 * Freaky Friday Flip: In the upcoming fandisk Kimi ga Nozomu Muv-Luv ("The Muv-Luv You Wished For"), between Takeru and Takayuki of Kimi ga Nozomu Eien. This results in Takayuki (in Takeru's body) living the carefree life of Extra, while Takeru (in Takayuki's body) is stuck trying to manage the heavy drama of Rumbling Hearts.
 * Frickin' Laser Beams: The presence of the laser-class BETA (Lux and Magnus Lux) ended air superiority as a viable combat philosophy, and was the reason for the development of the TSFs. In contrast humanity only had conventional weapons . No Beam Spam for humanity here, folks.
 * Gallows Humor: Survivors of two orbital drops (operations with survival rates of 20% on the average) are called "chicken divers" (due to them "chickening out" of death), while those who die on a drop are called "fried chickens".
 * Gender Is No Object: Takeru is the only man in a six-person unit. Justified in that.
 * Genre Shift: And how. Goes from harem comedy (with lots of mecha and sci-fi shout-outs) to hardcore mecha.
 * Good Looking Privates: Pretty much the entire cast (including Takeru).
 * Gratuitous English: Several dialogues in heavily-accented English in Alternative. age's decidedly shoddy English is clearly pointed out in the translation patch's readme: "age cannot speak English. They just can't. If you see, for instance, an image says 'preceding paragraph' and the text box says 'transferring seat information', trust us and not them."
 * Gratuitous German: The title of the Unlimited/Alternative side story Schwarzesmarken.
 * Gratuitous Latin: The names given to the different BETA classes (e.g. Medium, Lux, Gravis etc).
 * Harder Than Hard: In the two turn-based strategy game spinoffs. What is more difficult than Hell Mode (which outright tells you that winning is impossible), you ask?
 * Heroic Sacrifice:

"Sumika: Gaaaaah!!! Apologize to slugs! Takeru: Gyahahahahaha!! do you even know what you're saying!? Sumika: Shut uuup! Apologize to me too!!"
 * Hero Secret Service: The true purpose of the VFA-01 Valkyries . The trope was played with, but later played straight.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: The original trilogy has, among others, Kira Yamato, Rakshata Chawla, Akiha Tohno, Lu Bu, Rider, Hinagiku Katsura, Katejina Loos and Charles zi Britannia. The side stories add, among others, Battler Ushiromiya, Rena Ryuugu, Bazett Fraga McRemitz, Kyon and Kotomi Ichinose. Sumika also shares a voice with Miyako Miyamura.
 * Humongous Mecha: The "Tactical Surface Fighters" in Unlimited and Alternative are Real Robots.
 * I Choose to Stay:
 * This bounces back and forth repeatedly throughout Alternative.
 * That last part is debatable depending on your interpretation of the ending of Alternative.
 * Intended Audience Reaction: Extra is really meant to be painfully generic. If it wasn't, the overall premise of dropping a generic harem protagonist into a battlefield would not work. Similarly, negative reactions to the characters in the first part are also setup, such as Takeru's personality and upbringing working extremely poorly in Unlimited and Alternative.
 * Interrupted Cooldown Hug: In Alternative,
 * Intimate Healing: In order to keep Takeru warm after he's suffering from the after-effects of snake venom, Mikoto sleeps on top of Takeru naked.
 * Insult to Rocks: When Takeru calls Sumika a slug, she gets so angry that she accidentally does this to herself:
 * Insult to Rocks: When Takeru calls Sumika a slug, she gets so angry that she accidentally does this to herself:


 * It's Raining Men: The standard UN method of clearing out hives involves having mechs dropped from orbit to break into hive interiors using sheer gravitational force. This was most likely inspired by Starship Troopers.
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Sumika in Meiya and Chizuru's Routes in Extra. She tries this in her own route, but, being her route, Takeru has other ideas.
 * The Jimmy Hart Version: Being a tribute to a whole range of works, much of trilogy's OST is this. For example, "The End of Regret" sounds very similar to the Takashi Kako song "Is Paris Burning?".
 * Just One More Level: When one of the girls discovers Takeru's GameGuy in Unlimited, he passes it off as a training simulator, and lends it to the girl along with a different game. This leads her to getting addicted to the game for an entire week until the battery eventually dies.
 * Letting Her Hair Down: Chizuru does this on dates in her route in Extra,
 * Lighter and Softer: The main story of Altered Fable: "Kagayaku Toki ga Kienu Ma ni" (Before That Shining Moment Fades)
 * Lonely Piano Piece/Playing the Heart Strings/One-Woman Wail: All three in one track: For You Who Departs. Should be obvious at which scenes this plays.
 * Love Triangle: Takeru, Sumika and Meiya in Extra; Yuuya, Cryska and Yui in Total Eclipse.
 * Macross Missile Massacre:
 * The Masochism Tango: Takeru and Sumika's relationship in Extra in a nutshell.
 * Meaningful Name:
 * Meaningful Funeral: . is a particularly-poignant one with the funeral march Flame of Life playing in the background.
 * Megaton Punch: Sumika's "DRILL MILKY PUNCH!"
 * Takeru becomes
 * Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness: 4 out of 6.
 * Mood Whiplash: Unlimited, with respect to Extra. In Alternative:
 * Multinational Team: The cast of Total Eclipse belongs to a research and development division set up by the United Nations to test new TSF models. The pilot main character is a Japanese-American, while there is another Japanese, four Russians, a Swede, a Nepali, a Turk, and so on.
 * Multiple Endings: In Extra and Unlimited only. Alternative is strictly linear, the few decisions you get to make not having any plot effect.
 * Murphy's Law:
 * New Game+: Unlimited can only be unlocked by finishing the two possible endings of Extra's "main route".
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
 * Nintendo Hard: The Rumbling Angel card game included in the Muv Luv Supplement fandisk (known as "that card game from hell") and the two Turn-Based Strategy games included with the fandisks Altered Fable and Haruko Maniax (infamously known as "Get Raped By BETA: The Game" and "Get Raped By BETA: The Game 2".
 * Nostalgic Music Box: A World To Protect, one of the three rearrangements of Muv-Luv main theme.
 * Not a Morning Person: Takeru and Ayamine are terrible when it comes to waking up.
 * Now or Never Kiss:
 * Nuke'Em: Four cases:
 * During the BETA invasion the Soviet government retreated all the way to the northeastern tip of Siberia while attempting a scorched-earth policy using tactical nuclear weapons; it didn't work, however as they acted too late.
 * The United States, upon learning of a BETA hive landing in neighboring Canada did not waste any time and nuked the hive to oblivion, turning half of poor Canada into a wasteland.
 * The later US standard tactic of dropping G-Bombs - experimental bombs made with an alien element recovered from BETA hives which are more powerful (and even less well-understood) than nukes - to destroy hives.
 * In Total Eclipse,
 * Number of the Beast: Two examples in sidestories.
 * The number designation of the unit the main cast of the Unlimited/Alternative prequel/sidestory Schwarzesmarken belongs to: the 666th TSF Squadron.
 * The standard military code for "impending G-Bomb deployment" is CODE 666, which is first seen at the aptly-named Operation Lucifer.
 * Old Save Bonus: Unlimited shows several scenes for certain heroines only when their corresponding routes in Extra had been cleared. Alternative does similar things with regards to both Extra and Unlimited.  There was an issue in the 18+ version of Alternative where it would not check for applicable event flags taken from the previous two games; this was fixed in the all-ages version.
 * Omake: Several non-canonical, and comedic, "Radio Dramas" set in the world of Alternative, about such things as Mitsuki attempting to find out what exactly the relationship between two of her squadmates is,  showing up in place of Meiya during Squadron 207's breakfast, and Squadron A-01 facing off with a berserk Base Commander.
 * Ominous Latin Chanting/One-Woman Wail: Original Hive
 * Psychic Powers:
 * Psycho Strings: The aptly-named Creeping Anxiety, which plays during tense or traumatic moments.
 * Rapunzel Hair: Almost anyone with long hair will have really long hair. Bonus points to Tama for having hair that likely weights more than she does.
 * Redshirt Army: The average survival time of a new pilot against the BETA is  .
 * Reference Overdosed - And how!
 * Relationship Voice Actor: Masayo Kurata (Chizuru) and Yuko Nagashima (Ayamine) voicing allies who are rivals of some sort at the same time? Hmm...Where have I heard that before?
 * In addition, Masayo Kurata and Soichiro Hoshi (Takeru) had four other instances playing as teammates: Michael and Fasalina in Gun X Sword, Fayt and Peppita in Star Ocean 3, Kira and Mayura in Gundam Seed and
 * Rewrite: The Reveal in Unlimited  was changed to   in Alternative. This change was retained in the later all-ages release of Unlimited as well.
 * Road Cone: As the direct sequel of Akane Maniax, Mitsuki's end in Kimi Nozo is canon to Extra.
 * Rousing Speech: Yokohama Base Commander Paul Radhabinod gives one
 * Running Gag: Meiya injures her left ankle while in a cave in Extra, prompting Takeru to carry her out on his back. In Unlimited, she injures it again  In Altered Fable, she injures it
 * Say My Name: Many times, but the most tear-jerking instances are
 * Schedule Slip: Extra, Unlimited and Alternative were supposed to be released together, but Alternative got delayed for three years due to various problems, thus the Japanese meme "Oruta mada?" ("Is Alternative here yet?").
 * Seinen: Despite running in Dengeki Daioh, the manga adaptations of Extra, Alternative and Total Eclipse are classified as such.
 * Semper Fi: The Black Knives squadron in the side story The Day After are US Marines. Interestingly, their main Tactical Surface Fighter is the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, whose real-life aircraft counterpart has been avoided by the US Marine Corps, which prefers to use the F/A-18C Hornet.
 * Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Takeru's goal in Alternative.
 * Shounen: The manga adaptation of Unlimited, which ran in Dengeki Daioh. The original visual novels are, of course, anything but shounen.
 * Shout-Out: Muv-Luv has at least three general sources:
 * Mecha and Tokusatsu Series. Muv-Luv and its prequel Akane Maniax has a ton of shout-outs to these. A partial list includes Tekkaman, Ultraman, Getter Robo, Grendizer, Brave Raideen, Char's Counterattack (see Colony Drop above), and Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory.
 * Science Fiction Literature. Several chapters in Unlimited and Alternative are named after  sci-fi novels or short stories (most notably Arthur C. Clarke's The Songs of Distant Earth, which gave its name to Unlimited's last chapter and ED). In addition, several plot points in Alternative owe their origin to Starship Troopers, per Word of God.
 * Video Games. From (among others) Virtual On (Valgern-On), Tekken (Dokken), Fire Emblem (the strategy RPG Takeru lends to Chizuru), and Metal Gear Solid (the game Takeru lends to Ayamine, in addition to a line from Takeru where he says he's not a member of "SOCKSHOUND").
 * Shower of Love: H-Scene in Unlimited.
 * Sibling Yin-Yang:  Subverted in that they turn out to have exactly the same personality and can understand each other's feelings perfectly.
 * Signature Style:
 * Silent Scapegoat:
 * Sole Survivor: The Unlimited / Alternative side-story Atonement reveals that.
 * Spin-Off: Of Kimi ga Nozomu Eien. Extra is also the direct sequel of the KNGE side-story Akane Maniax.
 * Spoiler Opening: The OP of Unlimited
 * Starfish Aliens: The BETA.
 * Suck Out the Poison: Mikoto has to do this to Takeru when he gets bit by a poisonous snake during a combat exam.
 * Suicide Mission: In the standard Japanese and UN Army tactical doctrine, once the orbital diver squads break through a hive monument into the interior, they are essentially cut off from reinforcements and additional supplies against a Zerg Rush of enemies in their home territory.
 * Super-Deformed: In typical age fashion, characters are drawn as such during moments of levity, as well as in Sumika's diary sketches (see the image on the YMMV subpage for an example)
 * Super Prototype:
 * Survivor Guilt:
 * Taking the Bullet:  in the side-story Atonement.
 * Temporal Theme Naming: Japanese TSF models and equipment (even those manufactured under foreign license such as the F-4 Phantom) are given designations of the form "Type-xx", where the latter is the last two digits of the year the particular equipment was adopted; for example, the Type-74 longsword was adopted in 1974, the Type-77 Gekishin (alternate name of the F-4J) was first used in 1977, the Type-97 Fubuki TSF entered Imperial Army service in 1997, while the Type-00 Takemikazuchi was adopted by the Imperial Royal Guard in 2000.
 * The Dead Have Names: The names of fallen Marines and naval personnel are read at a Memorial Day service in The Day After 00, just before a 21-gun salute.
 * Theme Music Power-Up:
 * They Call Me Mister Tibbs: It's "Instructor Jinguuji", Takeru, not "Marimo-chan".
 * Totally Radical: An interesting version - due to the alternate history taken by the Unlimited and Alternative worlds, much of the slang that Takeru uses in the Extra world doesn't exist, requiring him to often explain what said slang means to people in those worlds whenever he uses it.
 * Trademark Favorite Food: Ayamine's yakisoba bread, as can be seen in this page's picture.
 * Translator Microbes: The standard pilot suit comes with real-time translator equipment, enabling soldiers of different nationalities to converse.  TSFs are also equipped with real-time interpreters, which apparently broadcast translated spoken speech (see Common Tongue above).
 * Trapped In A Parallel Dimension
 * Trolling Creator:
 * True Companions: Takeru's friends in Extra, Squadron 207/A-01 Valkyries in Unlimited and Alternative. The trope was invoked by the commanding officer of the Valkyries, who recounted that she joined the army out of a desire to protect the one she loved, but ended up caring more for her teammates instead.
 * The Unfought / The Unseen:  When they finally
 * Universal Adaptor Cast: Done on purpose by the creators.
 * Unobtainium: Element Gray in Unlimited and Alternative, which is never found outside BETA hives, and even then only in small amounts. Unlike in other settings its properties are too little-understood to be widely-used, is tricky to use, and highly-toxic to boot.
 * Unwanted Harem: In Extra. Justified in Unlimited, where Takeru is pretty much the only guy that his teammates know that is in the same age group as them.
 * Vehicular Theme Naming: Almost all TSFs (the later Japanese models being the only exceptions) are named after real-life fighter aircraft, and share characteristics and general roles with their real-life counterparts. This is because of the presence of Laser-class BETA, which forced defense companies to build and develop TSFs instead of fighters.
 * Wave Motion Gun:
 * Wedding Deadline/Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: The climax of  in Extra.
 * Winds of Destiny Change: In the context of Yuuko's Theory of Quantum Causality, certain people (especially those with strong willpower) have the subconscious ability of picking out the course of action which will give the optimum outcome for themselves, their comrades, or humanity.
 * X Meets Y: Rumbling Hearts meets Resistance Fall of Man.
 * Alternatively, your standard wacky Dating Sim high on Starship Troopers and.
 * Your Princess Is in Another Castle: During the combat exam, it looks like the squad has finally made it to the target point,
 * You Should Know This Already: The setting of Unlimited, which was a surprise and Mood Whiplash to those who played it for the first time when Muv-Luv came out.
 * Zerg Rush: On any battlefield the BETA outnumber human forces at least 20 to 1 (inside hives the ratio is at least 100 to 1), and have perfect One-Hit Kill extreme-range attackers.
 * Zerg Rush: On any battlefield the BETA outnumber human forces at least 20 to 1 (inside hives the ratio is at least 100 to 1), and have perfect One-Hit Kill extreme-range attackers.

The following tropes contain major plot twists for the trilogy and side materials. Read at your own risk!

 * : Several scenes in Alternative.
 * : The song Songs of Distant Earth is about this trope.
 * : Operation Cherry Blossom was one for
 * : Invoked by Takeru
 * Fridge Brilliance:
 * : Several scenes in Alternative.
 * : The song Songs of Distant Earth is about this trope.
 * : Operation Cherry Blossom was one for
 * : Invoked by Takeru
 * Fridge Brilliance:
 * : Several scenes in Alternative.
 * : The song Songs of Distant Earth is about this trope.
 * : Operation Cherry Blossom was one for
 * : Invoked by Takeru
 * Fridge Brilliance:
 * : Several scenes in Alternative.
 * : The song Songs of Distant Earth is about this trope.
 * : Operation Cherry Blossom was one for
 * : Invoked by Takeru
 * Fridge Brilliance:
 * : The song Songs of Distant Earth is about this trope.
 * : Operation Cherry Blossom was one for
 * : Invoked by Takeru
 * Fridge Brilliance:
 * : Operation Cherry Blossom was one for
 * : Invoked by Takeru
 * Fridge Brilliance:
 * : Operation Cherry Blossom was one for
 * : Invoked by Takeru
 * Fridge Brilliance:
 * : Operation Cherry Blossom was one for
 * : Invoked by Takeru
 * Fridge Brilliance:
 * : Operation Cherry Blossom was one for
 * : Invoked by Takeru
 * Fridge Brilliance:
 * : Operation Cherry Blossom was one for
 * : Invoked by Takeru
 * Fridge Brilliance:
 * Fridge Brilliance:
 * Fridge Brilliance:
 * Fridge Brilliance:
 * Fridge Brilliance: