Muv-Luv[e] is a Japanese visual novel developed by âge and originally released as an adult game for Windows on February 28, 2003.

The first part, titled Muv-Luv Extra, features playable character Takeru Shirogane (voiced by Sōichirō Hoshi, credited as Tsuyoshi Aiba in the Windows version) who wakes up one morning to find a beautiful young woman sleeping in his bed, just as an infuriated Sumika Kagami (voiced by Hiroko Taguchi, credited as Rika Fujiwara in the Windows version), Takeru's neighbor and childhood friend, comes to wake him up that morning.

The young woman, Meiya Mitsurugi (voiced by Kazumi Okushima, credited as Aki Okuda in the Windows version), is the heiress to a financially powerful family and is determined to be Takeru's bride.

Takeru later learns that he is in an alternate world to Extra, where aliens called BETA (an acronym for "Beings of Extra Terrestrial origin which are Adversary of the human race") have invaded and mankind fights back against the alien aggressors with mecha called Tactical Surface Fighters, (戦術歩行戦闘機, Senjutsuhokōsentōki) usually referred to in Japanese as simply Senjutsuki (戦術機).

Subsequent battles with BETA resulted in the global population dropping to 2.4 billion with most of mainland Eurasia having been lost by the time the game starts in 2001.

In the sequel Muv-Luv Alternative, Takeru wakes up three years after the beginning of Unlimited to find himself back in his room.

The 2016 Steam release removes this lock and makes Unlimited available immediately, albeit with a warning that the player should experience Extra first.

BETA strategy RPG, computer wallpapers, and a Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse short story.

[9] In an October 2019 livestream producer Koki Yoshimune announced he was working on a new sequel to Alternative, called Muv-Luv INTEGRATE, but was not sure at that time what form the project would ultimately take or when it might be released.

[11] In 2015, âge partnered with Degica to launch a Kickstarter campaign to officially release the Muv-Luv series in English.

The campaign also met all of its stretch goals, including ports to PlayStation Vita and Android and English localizations of photonflowers* and photonmelodies♮ side-story collections.

Muv-Luv Alternative also adds a character from âge's first visual novel, Kimi ga Ita Kisetsu.

Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse was later adapted into the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 visual novel by âge and 5pb.

Crunchyroll has acquired the streaming rights for the series, with Sentai Filmworks licensing the anime for digital and home video release.

The protagonists are the 666th TSF squadron of East Germany, who fight both the BETA and opponents from the corrupt Stasi (Ministry of State Security).

A visual novel adaptation by âge was released in late 2015 for Microsoft Windows in two parts: Kouketsu no Monshou and Junkyoushatachi.

[39] On September 18, 2015, a teaser website announced that an anime television adaptation of the Schwarzesmarken novels by ixtl and Liden Films was scheduled to air in January 2016.

Other spin-off material appeared as short visual novels in re-releases of earlier games, and in the Muv-Luv Alternative Chronicles series.

The browser game Muv-Luv Alternative: Next Answer launched in February 2015, and remained in operation for about a year.

[44][45] Muv-Luv Alternative: Strike Frontier, available initially as a browser game and later for iOS and Android, launched in September 2016, and shut down in July 2018.

[10] Immortals: Muv-Luv Alternative, a free-to-play mobile action RPG developed by aNCHOR, was released in Japan on March 17, 2022, for both Android and iOS.

[47] Immortals was shut down approximately four hours after it was released due to an exploit, and was re-released on July 11, 2023 under the name Muv-Luv Dimensions.

The Muv-Luv franchise has prompted the creation of a wide variety of tie-in merchandise, including clothing, model kits, action figures, dakimakura (hug pillows), and more.

[49] The Kickstarter campaign that funded the official English translation of the core trilogy commissioned new merchandise as rewards for backers.

[50] Unique items included a plush BETA toy, and Muv-Luv Alternative Codex, an English translation of most of Integral Works along with other material.

[53] Summarizing the series for DualShockers, Giuseppe Nelva wrote: "If you love strong storytelling, solid and realistic sci-fi, diverse and engaging characters, quite a bit of charming fanservice, and to be deeply engaged on the emotional level, you owe it to yourself to try the Muv-Luv trilogy out.