Dec 23, 2021
There are two types of people who would watch this: Those who are anime only and people who have read the visual novels. Chances are you won't like this.
Anime Only
You should not watch this. There is absolutely no reason to watch this unless you've read the VN. You could get some enjoyment out of this but you are robbing yourself of an incredible experience. Muv Luv Alternative is the final part in a trilogy of games that does not even do a good just adapting it. You can stop reading here.
The first episode does not happen in the VN and ruins the most memorable
...
experience in the entire trilogy and any forms of media. You hear about the BETA many times but first actual contact is something else. You can figure out the gist of the story but how it all comes together will be lost on you since you missed the first two games. The characters while new to you are well established to source readers. A central plot point later is about a character you don't even know and never really will. It also moves lightning fast to get to the part where Muv Luv Alternative truly begins skipping a lot.
Visual Novel Reader
You can save yourself some anger and time just by asking yourself a simple question: What do you want from this?
Full 1:1 Adaption
Stop. Don't even attempt to watch this. You will hate it. Voices/character art are different to boot. First episode is anime original to introduce a character not from the original. From there it moves extremely fast skipping anything not needed to get to before the coup where it slows down to normal pace and will end after those events. All preliminary reviews are from before it slows down.
Everyone Else
I was hyped as hell for this. But my expectations were actually in check. MLA could in no way be adapted in 12 episodes and is pointless for an anime only without the previous games. It isn't short either so a reread of the entire trilogy would take 50+ hours at bare minimum for a fast reader skipping some voices doing only 1 route each. That's a good chunk of time. Did you know a sequel to MLA is being made? It's a pretty good recap. I'll admit this is probably objectively a 3/5 but I love this franchise so seeing it animated was great.
The story moves fast and anything that isn't needed is cut. All references to Unlimited and Takeru's growth are gone. While people were having meltdowns over skipping the TSF certification it is pointless without Unlimited. The story slows to somewhat normal pace around halfway leading up to and adapting the coup.
The character art is different. From my experience half the community doesn't like the original art anyway. This is the typical modern anime style. I don't mind it but I also didn't mind the original. What is an issue is sometimes the art is terrible when not fully in focus. This could be fixed later but I wouldn't count on it. Voices are all different. Hold the pitchforks they actually did a pretty good job getting people to sound similar to most of the original cast. The original would have been better 100% but ML is old and some don't even work anymore.
Where the budget really went was the TSF. These look incredible and is what a good chunk of MLA concerns. Sadly this doesn't cover the entire game. While you do see them in action a lot during the coup the Sadogashima Hive assault would have been amazing. Next season is going to be great.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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