Muv-Luv

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
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[1] 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, and the Unlimited world's Takeru, who is said to be dead. 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

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 (mass evacuation of Earth, followed by the remaining humans' last stand against the BETA), 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 following tropes are common to many or all entries in the Muv-Luv franchise.
For tropes specific to individual installments, visit their respective work pages.

The series contains examples of

  • 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, which was originally the personal TSF of her twin sister the Shogun, and given to Meiya as a gift. 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. Takeru with his killing twenty fortress-class Gravis BETA solo during the Sadogashima Hive operation takes the cake.
    • 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. Mitsuki sacrifices herself using two to destroy the Yokohama Hive reactor, while Chizuru and Ayamine self-destruct at the end of Alternative during the Original Hive mission after running out of options and to prevent more BETA from coming after the rest of the squad.
  • 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. (Yes, that includes their deaths.) In fact, the only person who Takeru doesn't treat as the same one regardless of dimension is himself.
  • 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). The Shogunate also continued to exist, as opposed to its 19th-century abolition in our world - together with the maintenance of the two traditional centers of power: the imperial capital Kyoto for the Emperor and Tokyo for the Shogunate (at least until the BETA invaded and the Emperor had to relocate to Tokyo).
  • Alternate Universe / Alternate Timeline: And how!
  • Anime Hair: The entire main heroine cast in Extra. Deliberately-done by the creators; see Universal Adaptor Cast below. It is worth noting that the side-stories released subsequent to Alternative have curtailed the use of it, for the most part.
  • 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). Alternative V will just hasten the process, with Continental-level Physical Annihilation added into the mix: the landmasses of the entire Eastern Hemisphere sink beneath the waves, while in the Western Hemisphere, expanding salt deserts have appeared where the oceans had been. Causality Conductor Takeru's continued presence in his home world would have resulted in either Class 1 or 2 due to population levels plummeting down to those of Alternative's world.
  • 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, with the meaning of the latter becoming heart-rendingly clear to Takeru by the end.
  • 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, which he later imparts to his squadmates via an improved TSF OS in Alternative.
  • Atomic F-Bomb: Takeru at the end of the Original Hive mission, after losing all his teammates, being forced to kill Meiya and ejecting out of the Susano'o after the BETA Superior's destruction.
  • Badass Creed: The oath of the Isumi Valkyries in Alternative: "Achieve your mission with all your might. Despair not until your last breath. Make your death count!" Also encapsulates the desperation of humanity's struggle against the BETA, and becomes depressing once the events of the final suicide mission set in. The oath also counts as Arc Words for Alternative.
  • 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. They also censor some of the Gorn over which fans raised an outcry. 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: The ED of the prequel Akane Maniax, the OP of Extra, and the ED of Alternative, is the same song: "Muv-Luv" by Minami Kuribayashi (the voice actress of Kasumi and Haruka). The song has also been stated by the singer to be about Sumika in Unlimited / Alternative.
  • Brain In a Jar: In Unlimited / Alternative, Takeru often sees Kasumi in a room with this. Alternative reveals that it is all that remains of Sumika.
  • Bug War: Humanity against the BETA, and with good reason, too. The BETA are just organic mining machines.
  • 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 until we learn that Hayase was never able to have one either before the man she loved died.
  • 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 Meiya had a twin sister who died in a car accident when she was three. In Alternative, she shows up alive and well.
  • Chekhov's Classroom: You can be sure that all those info-dumping rants by Yuuko-sensei will become important later on.
  • Chest Blaster: The Wave Motion Gun installed onto the two Susano'o units.
  • 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. Well, Takayuki was until he was killed in action.
  • Childhood Friend Romance: Possible with Sumika, who appears to be the primary love interest. Meiya also happens to have had a Childhood Marriage Promise with Takeru, but they haven't seen each other in about fifteen years.
  • Childhood Marriage Promise: A major plot point in Extra.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: Takeru ruing his inability to save his comrades' lives after being ordered by a self-destructing Mitsuki to abandon her during the BETA attack on the Yokohama base.
  • 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 during the coup d'etat by Japanese nationalists:

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: You are a foreign nation intervening in a domestic affair. Cease all hostilities at once!
US Pilot: Repeat. Speak in English, the official language. I don't understand what you're saying.
JP Pilot (presumably activating his interpreter): To the American Army. English can eat shit. I repeat - English can eat shit.
US Pilot: What!?

  • 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. Succession later confirms that the grunt is indeed Akira Isumi, Michiru's youngest sister.
  • 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. She repeats it in Final Extra and Altered Fable, to determine who gets to sit near Takeru.
  • 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. The Unlimited sequel/side-story The Day After shows that, after Alternative V is activated and G-Bombs are dropped everywhere, substantial parts of Eurasia sink beneath the waves, while on the other half of the globe huge areas (including previously-oceanic regions) began turning into deserts of salt.
  • 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". Combined with Meaningful Name below, we learn that the Yuuhi (the Shogun) was prepared to die when she fled the capital, in which case Meiya would secretly take her place. The American commander was implied to have been unable to pick up on this due to the limitations of his translator.
  • Darker and Edgier: Alternative, in comparison with its immediate prequel Unlimited. Also Bloodier and Gorier.
  • 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: Atonement reveals that Marimo, seeking death in the aftermath of those of her squadmates, began to fight like a mad dog, but ironically surviving, all the while losing close friends and subordinates.
  • Deflector Shields: Not present in this setting, and a major reason humanity was faring very badly against the BETA. The Susano'o units were later equipped with a prototype, however TSF-sized ones were still impossible to build yet.
  • 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 Narumi Takayuki ignored an urgent retreat order during the attack on the Yokohama Hive and was caught up in the resulting blast.
  • 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. For Granny Kyozuka the camp cook, her due is to cook the deceased's favorite dish.
  • 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. This is why, in the Alternative sidestory Succession set in the aftermath of Michiru Isumi's Heroic Sacrifice during the Sadogashima Hive battle, her younger sister, a pilot in the Imperial Army herself and a survivor of the same battle, was unable to accept the official reason given for Michiru's death: a freak training accident on the day of the assault.
  • Eagle Land: The US, which was among the very few nations not invaded by BETA in Unlimited/Alternative due to their nuking of Canada when a hive landed there, is seen by many Japanese as opportunistic. Justified, as the CIA instigated and escalated Sagiri's coup in Alternative in order to bring those with his sentiments out into the open and wipe them out. 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 her twin sister Yuuhi 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 Yuuhi's 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: Meiya's death at the end of Alternative.
  • 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. [dead link]
  • Fatal Family Photo: Prime Minister Sakaki (Chizuru's father) in the manga adaptation of Alternative.
  • 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: Only If Takeru was facing more than 45 degrees to the right there would be no HEADCHOMP...
  • 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 and later a Wave Motion Gun, but that's only on two Super Prototypes. 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 the men were the first to go out and fight and die against the BETA, and as such, most soldiers are now female.
  • 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? Why, Real Mode, of course! And the second game's Real Mode is even harder than that of the first!
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Go with God in all the dark places you may walk, Valkyrie Squadron. Humanity will never forget your sacrifice.

Gen. Radhabinod: We will carve into our hearts the noble deeds of those who are not permitted to reveal even their names.

  • Hero Secret Service: The true purpose of the VFA-01 Valkyries was to escort the 00-Unit and her Susano'o mobile fortress into battle and protect her. The trope was played with as Takeru (the main character) was initially among the escorts, but later played straight when he assumed piloting duties (in tandem with Sumika and Kasumi) for the Susano'o Type-4.
  • 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. The Type-2 and Type-4 Susano'o units technically are, as well, but veer close to the Super Robot borderline.
  • I Am a Humanitarian: The Day After: In the aftermath of the mass G-Bombing and the sinking of Eurasia beneath the waves, Canada and France (whose has relocated to the former) went to war with the US. Hibiki's squad found that the besieged defenders they were sent to relieve had resorted to cannibalism in their desperation.
  • I Choose to Stay: Takeru has a chance at the end of Unlimited to join the colonists on the last shuttle. He says no. "I will protect this beautiful world."
    • This bounces back and forth repeatedly throughout Alternative. Initially in Alternative he helps develop a machine that would send him back to his original Extra world and demonstrates extreme joy at the possibility of going home. HOWEVER, Takeru decides to remain in the Alternative world to ensure Alternative IV's success... until he suffers PTSD and flees back to the Extra world. In the end, he goes back to the Alternative world and stays after completing Alternative IV... until forces outside his control force him to return AGAIN.
      • That last part is debatable depending on your interpretation of the ending of Alternative. Considering the way Takeru and Sumika were interacting, it's likely that this version of Takeru is yet another AU version, and the "composite" Takeru who came into existence in the Alternative timeline simply vanished at the end. Kasumi's tears could be tears of joy... or not.
  • 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, a Shogun-disguised Meiya was on the brink of convincing Sagiri to stand down and peacefully end the coup d'etat, when an American TSF had to start shooting out of nowhere. Thanks a bunch, CIA.
  • Intimate Healing: In order to keep Takeru warm after he's suffering from the after-effects of snake venom (Which turns out to just be a cold.), Mikoto sleeps on top of Takeru naked. In the manga adaptation, the snake turned out to be poisonous.
  • Insult to Rocks: When Takeru calls Sumika a slug, she gets so angry that she accidentally does this to herself:

Sumika: Gaaaaah!!! Apologize to slugs!
Takeru: Gyahahahahaha!! do you even know what you're saying!?
Sumika: Shut uuup! Apologize to me too!!

  • 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, and in the Epilogue of her route in Unlimited. Meiya does the same thing in her Epilogue.
  • Lighter and Softer: The main story of Altered Fable: "Kagayaku Toki ga Kienu Ma ni" (Before That Shining Moment Fades), which is the direct sequel of Alternative from Takeru's point of view.
  • 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. Also Takeru, Ayamine and Sagiri in Ayamine's route in Extra.
  • Macross Missile Massacre: Courtesy of the Susano'o Type-4 Unit.
  • The Masochism Tango: Takeru and Sumika's relationship in Extra in a nutshell.
  • Meaningful Name: Meiya's name contains the characters for "darkness" and "night", which ties into her role as the Shogun(her twin sister)'s shadow. Yuuhi contains the character for "light of day", fitting in with her role as the Grand Shogun.
  • Meaningful Funeral: Captain Isumi and Haruko. Then Haruka and Mitsuki. Then Meiya, Chizuru, Ayamine, Tama, Mikoto and Sumika. Michiru's 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 resistant to it in Alternative when he goes back to his real dimension through Yuuko's machine, so much so that he actually doesn't flinch at all (thanks to his military training in his other timeloops). This resistance doesn't stop 00-Unit Sumika from flooring him when she does it to him though.
  • Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness: 4 out of 6.
  • Mood Whiplash: Unlimited, with respect to Extra. In Alternative: Takeru has fallen into depression in the aftermath of a surprise BETA attack, and won't move from near the remains of his trashed TSF, when Marimo comes by to give him a pep talk. The latter is succeeding, calming music is playing... then Takeru looks up and sees HEADCHOMP.
  • 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. The nature of the multiple routes is a major plot point.
  • Murphy's Law: When you "hope of humanity" crashes on its second shot, your mechanic dies at the 'insert command' option, your acting squad leader finds out her bomb was dismantled just as she escaped, your girlfriend's continued life is reliant on the reactor that you failed to save, your own life is dependent on her survival, and when your final victory is dampened by all of you allies dying, you killing one of your love interests in an act of mercy, and discovering that your victory amounted to nothing in the face of 10^37 (or 10000000000000000000000000000000000000) BETA in the universe; it's no longer: "if it can go wrong it will," it's: "it's already gone wrong," and "it got worse."
  • New Game+: Unlimited can only be unlocked by finishing the two possible endings of Extra's "main route".
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In Alternative, Takeru's choice not to get Squadron 207 personally involved in the evacuation of the villagers from the eruption of Mt. Tengen (unlike what they did in Unlimited) was the indirect trigger for Sagiri's coup d'etat, which claimed the life of Chizuru's father the Prime Minister.
  • 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. After having lived in a military livestyle for three years, at the beginning of Alternative Takeru has begun waking himself up on time, much to Kasumi's disappointment.
  • Now or Never Kiss: Takeru and Meiya in Unlimited nearly got into one after being trapped in his TSF which had been buried in a landslide. Cue the rest of the squad getting through the rubble and opening the cockpit.
  • 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. This strategy was implemented worldwide during Alternative V, and would have been implemented had Takeru and company failed to destroy the BETA Superior.
    • In Total Eclipse, the United States leased half of Alaska to the Soviet government (which had fled there after Eurasia was overrun by BETA), but had secretly planted hydrogen bombs all over the place, ready to detonate them should the BETA invade in force.
  • 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. In-universe this is a major plot point: see Tomato in the Mirror below. 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, the Shogun (or so it seemed) 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: Kasumi Yashiro, as well as Cryska Barchenowa and Inia Sestina in the side story Total Eclipse. All three are among the last survivors of Alternative III, an attempt to communicate with the BETA using psychics.
  • 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 just eight minutes.
  • 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?
  • Rewrite: The Reveal in Unlimited about Meiya being a member of the Imperial family was changed to being a member of the Shogun's family (the Shogunate still exists there) 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. Due to 00-Sumika retconning away Haruka's accident, other Kimi Nozo routes could take place in Final Extra - like timelines.
  • Rousing Speech: Yokohama Base Commander Paul Radhabinod gives one at the beginning of Chapter 10 of Alternative, in the aftermath of the BETA attack on the base and as Takeru's squad sets off for its final mission.
  • 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 while rescuing the old women during the Mount Tengen eruption, again prompting Takeru to carry her to safety. In Altered Fable, she injures it in a skiing accident with Takeru. This time, however, he gets knocked unconscious, resulting in her dragging him to safety.
  • Say My Name: Many times, but the most tear-jerking instances are at the end of Alternative: Takeru screaming out Meiya's name as he pulls the trigger at her along with the BETA Superior, shortly followed by Meiya (who had always maintained a respectful distance to the Grand Shogun) in her final moments finally calling the Shogun "My sister...".
  • 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:
  • Shower of Love: Chizuru's H-Scene in Unlimited.
  • Shrine to the Fallen: In Alternative, a short beam of iron was erected on the spot Marimo fell as a memorial to her. It was later moved to the foot of one of the cherry trees in front of the base, and turned into a memorial for all the fallen Valkyries (Marimo with her "children") together.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: The twins Meiya and Yuuhi (the Shogun) were supposed to be this (see Meaningful Name above). Subverted in that they turn out to have exactly the same personality and can understand each other's feelings perfectly despite being separated mere days after birth and never meeting each other since.
  • Signature Style: age seems to have a thing for Last Stands, Kill'Em All and/or Sole Survivor in its works set in the Unlimited and Alternative timelines.
  • Silent Scapegoat: Ayamine's nurse mother in Extra, who chose to take the blame for Dr. Sagiri's malpractice. Mirrored in Unlimited and Alternative by Ayamine's father, a general who was imprisoned and disgraced for prioritizing the safety of noncombatants during a battle.
  • Sole Survivor: The Unlimited / Alternative side-story Atonement reveals that Marimo was this of her squad. Kasumi becomes this of Operation Cherry Blossom after Sumika dies and Takeru ceases to exist.
  • 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 shows the Type-4 Susano'o unit, which would not appear until Alternative.
  • Starfish Aliens: The BETA. They were created to harvest resources, with a programming which is essentially: "There can be no carbon-based sentient life. No exceptions."
  • Suck Out the Poison: Mikoto has to do this to Takeru when he gets bit by a poisonous snake during a combat exam. In the game, it turns out the snake wasn't poisonous; in the manga adaptation, the snake was.
  • 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. Takeru and his squad go off on this when they were ordered to invade the Original Hive, with predictable results.
  • 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: The Susano'o units in Alternative, which were the only ones big enough to carry the prototype Deflector Shields and Wave Motion Gun. They require in turn another Super Prototype to even operate at all - the 00-Unit.
  • Survivor Guilt: Marimo after losing her squadmates to a surprise BETA attack, as her backstory reveals.
  • Taking the Bullet: Marimo's former squad leader shielding her TSF from a laser-class BETA in the side-story Atonement. In Alternative, orbital shuttle pilots tanked lasers and died to a man for the Susano'o during the drop over the Original Hive.
  • 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. Side materials reveal that the Imperial Army adopts the Shiranui Type-2 (test-piloted by Yuuya in Total Eclipse) as the Type-04 post-Alternative.
  • 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: With a heart-wrenching twist at the end of Alternative: Meiya's eponymous theme music plays during her death scene, while she begs Takeru to end her life along with the BETA Superior. The music crescendoes to its climax as Takeru pulls the trigger screaming out her name in tears.
  • They Call Me Mister Tibbs: It's "Instructor Jinguuji", Takeru, not "Marimo-chan". Though she allows Takeru to use the latter after his squad is commissioned.
  • 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. The translators are implied to work only on the level of the spoken word and not on how they are written, and this becomes a minor plot point (see Cryptic Conversation and Meaningful Name above). 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: Go fire up a new installation of Extra. Notice those random lines in the background? That's actually a Type-00R Takemikazuchi. And you were expecting some random comedic "moe" game, haven't you? ONORE KOUKI!
  • 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: Takeru and the rest of Squad 207 never actually fight or encounter the BETA during all of Unlimited, except offscreen during the ending. When they finally show up for real halfway through Alternative, the onscreen body count goes through the roof.
  • Universal Adaptor Cast: Done on purpose by the creators. Part of the experience of those who played Unlimited without knowing about its setting beforehand is the surprise at seeing Anime Haired girls seen in the typical romantic comedy suddenly thrust into a life-and-death war story.
  • 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: The Particle Cannon, of which only two (both prototypes) were made, both equipped to Susano'o units.
  • Wedding Deadline/Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: The climax of Meiya's route 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. All who undergo pilot training in the UN are screened for this ability, with those having the strongest latencies becoming members of VF-A01.
  • X Meets Y: Rumbling Hearts meets Resistance Fall of Man.
  • Your Princess Is in Another Castle: During the combat exam, it looks like the squad has finally made it to the target point, when a gun battery suddenly attacks the helicopter supposed to pick them up, requiring the team to take a whole day just to get to the next point and disabling the battery.
  • 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. It got far worse later on when the BETA started using tactics in addition to sheer numbers and Laser types.
  • Zombie Apocalypse: The Venator BETA strain is created by recycling protein of humans.


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

  • Artificial Human: Sumika (the 00-Unit) in Alternative.
  • Attempted Rape:Takeru, suffering PTSD from seeing Marimo brutally killed in front of him, and having been injected with several different chemicals, on Meiya. In an echo of what Mitsuki did in Kimi ga Nozomu Eien she offers her body to Takeru in the hope of preventing him from going off the deep end; Takeru then runs away out of intense guilt and shame.
  • Backup Twin: Meiya
  • Bittersweet Ending: Alternative IV is successful, and Takeru has bought humanity three more decades of survival... at the price of the lives of his lover and closest friends,[2] one of whom he had to personally pull the trigger on. Takeru himself becomes Ret Goned, and only three of the Valkyries remain. And there remain at least 10^37 BETA out in space. May border on Shaggy Dog Story considering the last point.
  • Blue and Orange Morality: The reason humans are incapable of making peace with the BETA is because they are essentially organic mining machines created by super advanced silicon-based alien life forms and are pre-programmed to not acknowledge any carbon-based life forms (including themselves) as living creatures, just resources to be recycled and processed.
  • Body Horror: Meiya at the end of Alternative was infected by the BETA Superior, an excruciatingly painful process. Takeru is forced to pull the trigger on her and the Superior before the process was completed, upon her begging.
  • Cartwright Curse: Non-romantic example: All of Takeru's Cool Big Sis mentor figures in Alternative die in front of him. He is understandably upset, at one point taking out his frustration at invading BETA after being told by one of them to leave her to destroy the Yokohama hive reactor via self-destruct.
  • Dead Person Conversation: In Takeru's dream shortly after the defense of Yokohama Base.
  • Death Notification: The official explanation given for Michiru's death was an explosion of her TSF's jump units during a training accident on the day of the Sadogashima hive assault.
  • Diabolus Ex Machina: Poor Marimo-chan...
  • Downer Ending: Muv-Luv Unlimited, with Alternative V being implemented: A small fraction of the remaining human population (including Takeru's girlfriend, whom he had convinced to live on) flees the planet, and the rest go out with a bang, nuking themselves and the BETA with lots of G-Bombs.
  • Dwindling Party: The members of original Squadron 207 die off one by one in the final suicide mission against the Original Hive.
  • Dying Declaration of Love: Meiya at the end of Alternative.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: When Takeru tries to weasel out of his responsibility to save humanity from the BETA/find out why he's trapped in that timeline, it really doesn't work out so well, so he resolves to return and finish his work. His efforts not only earn him a return to his happy life (see however, the Alternate Character Interpretation entry on the YMMV subpage), but the parallel-universe selves of several characters introduced in Alternative (being dead or otherwise not present in the Extra world) get to join him in happiness.
    • In the Alternative world, the ending is a touch more bittersweet, but all the same, you can't deny that Takeru and his squad earned every last drop of sweetness enjoyed.
  • Everybody Lives: Together with Kill'Em All below, a double whammy by Alternative! Only in a separate dimension, though.
  • For Want of a Nail: Alternative V went into action because the Unlimited world never created gaming systems. Yuuko thus never played some RPG that showed her that her theory was flawed and thus had no stimulation to fix her theory or even realize it was wrong. End result? The Earth was doomed because Yuuko never played 'some crappy RPG.' Alternative really gets going when Takeru tells her that Extra Yuuko said that Unlimited/Alternative Yuuko's theory was flawed.
  • Gorn: Several scenes in Alternative. Marimo's death seems to be the most infamous and memetic in the English-speaking fandom. The Gorn was so graphic that many Japanese fans complained about it, causing age to create a gore-censoring patch.
  • Go Out with a Smile: Meiya in the end of Alternative.
  • Groundhog Day Loop: Unlimited repeated itself an unknown but large number of times before Takeru happened to retain some memory of what had happened. Every time he died in that world, the world reset back to October 22nd.
  • Gut Punch: HEADCHOMP is but the beginning. Can't spell 'rage' without 'age', indeed.
  • Her Heart Will Go On: Takeru's girlfriend at the end of Unlimited. The song Songs of Distant Earth is about this trope.
  • Human Resources: The BETA can recycle their own, as well as humans, into more of them. The Soldier-class Venator strain is made by recyclng humans.
  • I Cannot Self-Terminate: Meiya at the climax of Alternative.
  • Kill'Em All: All[3] of the main cast, as well as the majority of the supporting cast, are dead by the end of Operation Cherry Blossom and its aftermath, many of them via Heroic Sacrifice. Of the three immediate survivors of the operation, Sumika dies due to No Ontological Inertia and Takeru ceases to exist in the aftermath. Old Tomino would have been proud.
  • Kill the Ones You Love: Takeru blows up Meiya along with the BETA Superior with the Susano'o's particle cannon at the end of the Original Hive mission.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: Marimo in Alternative, brutally killed by a soldier-class BETA while trying to cheer Takeru out of depression. Also Captain Isumi and First Lieutenants Suzumiya and Hayase.
  • Noble Confidant'd: Meiya.
  • No Ontological Inertia: Sumika in Alternative. Her 00-Unit body needed the hive reactor of the Yokohama Base for sustenance, which she lost after said base's defense. Also Takeru, as Sumika was the one sustaining his existence in both Unlimited and Alternative; he ceases to exist shortly after Sumika dies.
  • No Romantic Resolution: The romance plot ends up like this: Takeru is an amalgamation of all of the possible endings of Extra who then went through an unknown number of Unlimited loops until he had at some point been in a relationship with everyone. In Alternative he ends up in a relationship with Sumika, but this is basically retconned out of existence when Takeru 'returns' to the world of Extra thus leaving him single again, only now with more love interests than ever. In essence, Takeru dated everyone and in the end no one.
  • One-Way Trip: Sumika never intended to survive the Kashgar Hive assault, and in fact originally planned to go at it alone.
  • Shoot the Hostage: A rare instance where the hostage begs for it: At the end of Alternative, Meiya's TSF has been captured by the BETA Superior and is being held in front of Takeru, leaving him unable to fire Susano'o's Wave Motion Gun at the Superior. Meiya, who was under excruciating pain from the BETA infecting her, begs him to fire; Takeru is forced to pull the trigger in a Tear Jerker moment.
  • Silicon-Based Life: Takeru later finds out that the Creators of the BETA are silicon-based life-forms.
  • Someone to Remember Him By: The True End of each heroine's route in Unlimited.
  • Taking You with Me: VFA-01 commander Michiru Isumi starts off with wiping out the Sadogashima Hive, along with the entire island, in self-destructing in the Susano'o Type-2. Acting commander Mitsuki Hayase soon follows suit in taking out the Yokohama hive reactor to stop the BETA assault on the UN base aboveground. Alternative caps it off with the final mission in the Original Hive, where Chizuru and Ayamine choose to self-destruct after fighting to the end, taking out a large number of BETA with them.
  • The Greatest Story Never Told: Not the deeds of the Valkyries, whose names were released post-Operation Cherry Blossom, with one exception. All of Takeru's achievements will never be revealed due to ceasing to exist and being Ret Goned from everyone's memories save Kasumi and Yuuko's, and the latter has vowed to take the secret of the existence of alternate worlds, and therefore Takeru's existence, with her to the grave.
  • The Hero Dies: In Unlimited.
  • The Last Dance: Operation Cherry Blossom was one for Sumika, who had previously lost the hive reactor which was sustaining her life. She managed to hold on for long enough to see the success of the operation.
  • Together in Death: Invoked by Takeru in the Normal End of each main heroine in Unlimited.
  • Tomato in the Mirror: The Takeru we see in Unlimited and Alternative is a quantum-causality phenomenon, an amalgamation of all the Takerus in Extra, and has gone through Unlimited many times in numerous alternate timelines. Unlike Rika, however, Takeru is wiped clean at the end of each Unlimited loop (save the one which preceeded Alternative), and can only remember brief flashes from Extra and Unlimited when certain triggers are present. He had also started subconsciously absorbing memories from Unlimited / Alternative's Takeru, who had been killed off long before the start of the story.
  • Utsuge: Prepare to shed Manly Tears at the end of Unlimited. Prepare to shed even more during Alternative.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Inverted - the BETA are programmed by their Creators to recognize only silicon-based life as alive. By extension, they don't recognize humanity (and even themselves) as alive. May be a warped version of Asimov's First Law of Robotics.
    • Fridge Brilliance: In combat, BETA choose their targets according to threat it poses to them, but targets with more advanced/more numerous computers get precedence over other targets with the same threat level. Human computers are silicon-based.
  • You Are Number Six: Kasumi Yashiro's real name, revealed by the manga adaptation of Alternative and side materials, is Trista Sestina ("Sixth 300th") - marking her as belonging to the sixth - and last - generation of Soviet espers from Alternative III - the same as Inia from TE.
  • You Are The BETA: While berating Takeru, Yuuko in the Extra Branch invokes this trope, telling him that, to that world's Takeru, to that world's Sumika, and to the five billion people who will die due to his being a causality conductor, he is the incomprehensible harbinger of despair that the BETA are in the world of Alternative.
  • You Killed My Father: Chizuru, to Sagiri in Alternative. Subverted; she gets an arm sliced off her TSF and nearly gets killed for her troubles.
  • You Shall Not Pass: In the Original Hive mission, Chizuru and Ayamine choose to buy time for the rest of the squad to proceed to the target. Leads into Taking You with Me above after a desperate fight.
  1. ↑ Sumika's and Meiya's
  2. ↑ all of whom were his lovers in alternate worlds
  3. ↑ except two if you consider Kasumi and Yuuko as main characters
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