During âge’s 20th anniversary event a video message of Hajime Isayama praising Muv-Luv was played. In this video, the Attack on Titan creator spoke about how he completed the entire, almost 50 hours long game in just 2 days. He also said that he’d love to make “Attack on Titan” as captivating as “Muv-Luv Alternative” was. Now that “Attack on Titan” anime is ending and “Muv-Luv Alternative” anime got announced, let’s look into the similarities between both titles.
In case you want to watch the entire 20th-anniversary event, you can do so below:
Muv-Luv
*Please note that the text below will include slight spoilers about the beginning of the Muv-Luv Unlimited game
For starters, let’s talk about what the Muv-Luv series is about. The main story consists of two games that are split into three “arcs”: “Muv-Luv Extra”, “Muv-Luv Unlimited,” and “Muv-Luv Alternative”. The games tell the story of Shirogane Takeru, a typical high school student in a standard romance comedy setting. He loves playing a mecha battle game “Valgern-on” and he’s very good at it. We follow his story while making some choices that allow us to pick a route of a specific character. After clearing the routes of two main heroines, Sumika and Meiya, we unlock “Muv-Luv Unlimited”.
In Unlimited, Takeru wakes up in a different world and sees that the town he lives in has turned into complete ruin. That’s when the game takes a huge turn and starts building the story up for “Muv-Luv Alternative”, the game that later on became an inspiration for Hajime Isayama.
The anime adaptation of “Muv-Luv Alternative” is going to premiere on October 7, 2021.
Attack on Titan
The “Attack on Titan” manga began serializing in September 2009 and officially ended on April 9, 2021. It also inspired an anime adaptation that finished airing the first past of its final, 4th season this Winter. The final season’s second part will air in January 2022.
As for the story, you can read Attack on Titan’s synopsis below:
A century ago, the grotesque giants known as Titans appeared and consumed all but a few thousand humans. The survivors took refuge behind giant walls. Today, the threat of the Titans is a distant memory, and a boy named Eren yearns to explore the world beyond Wall Maria. But what began as a childish dream will become an all-too-real nightmare when the Titans return and humanity is once again on the brink of extinction …
Kodansha USA
The Similarities Between the Two
You don’t have to look too much into “Muv-Luv Alternative” and “Attack on Titan” to find similarities. Humans in both works are facing mortal danger in form of invaders. “Attack on Titan” world is haunted by Titans, while the humanity in “Muv-Luv Alternative” has to fight aliens called BETA. These enemies, mostly, aren’t too intelligent and are fighting using brute force.
Human forces in both works are also based on the military. Ranks, orders, and schools are teaching kids to become the defenders of humanity. Ideas of peace, survival, and freedom are ever-present.
Both franchises are also very brutal. None of the characters are safe, and even if they were fleshed out and developed, they might die. A lot of people and soldiers end up dying on the battlefield or as a result of the ongoing war. That allows for both franchises to make us cry over great side characters or even loath the fact that some main characters got slaughtered.
As you can see, the titles are similar in some ways but due to being completely different works, they aren’t identical. “Muv-Luv” franchise may have inspired Hajima Isayama, but he made a completely different story in his own way.
In case you want to try out “Muv-Luv” games, you can buy the games on Steam.
© Muv-Luv
©諫山創・講談社／「進撃の巨人」The Final Season製作委員会
