still-breathing.md

#Luv’s Labour’s Won
##Invalid thoughts on âge’s “Still Breathing” event
### [@invalidname](https://twitter.com/invalidname), October 27, 2019

October 22 is the definitive red letter day in the [_Muv-Luv_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muv-Luv) fandom. It’s the day that protagonist Takeru Shirogane:

* wakes up in his bed to find the mysterious Meiya Mitsurugi having joined him there, or
* wakes up in his bed to find his town in ruins and a mech crashed into the side of his house, or
* wakes up in his bed after three years fighting the alien BETA, determined correct history this time.

Appropriately enough, âge — creators of the _Muv-Luv_ franchise — chose October 22, 2019 as the date to re-engage with the public after a long silence. The company’s “Still Breathing” event, a ticketed affair (at over $100/seat for guests) that was livestreamed around the world, was meant as a grand coming-out party, after nearly disappearing following their parent company’s [acquisition](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2017-07-11/avex-pictures-acquires-muv-luv-game-maker-ixtl/.118665) in 2017 by entertainment conglomerate Avex Pictures.

Reader, it did not disappoint.

Details are available on various anime news sites, but the event's major announcements were:

* A [“reboot”](https://twinfinite.net/2019/10/kimi-ga-nozomu-eien-rumbling-hearts-reboot/) of the visual novel _Kimi ga Nozomu Eien_, known in the west as _Rumbling Hearts_.
* A subscription-based [mech action game](https://twinfinite.net/2019/10/new-muv-luv-action-game-code-named-project-mikhail-announced-for-pc-and-mobile/), “Project Mikhail” (working title).
* A proper [sequel](https://twinfinite.net/2019/10/muv-luv-integrate/) to _Muv-Luv Alternative_, called _Muv-Luv Integrate_.
* A tease of a _Muv-Luv Alternative_ [anime](https://twinfinite.net/2019/10/muv-luv-alternative-anime/).

There are also good summaries of the event as a whole at [Twinfinite](https://twinfinite.net/2019/10/muv-luv-age-20th-anniversary-report/) and the [Type-94 Blog](https://type94.wordpress.com/2019/10/22/age-20th-anniversary-broadcast-still-breathing/).

Following up on these, I’d like to add a few thoughts of my own. First, of course, is the fact that this was made available to western fans at all. In its heyday, âge hosted a weekly Nico Nico livestream, but it was aimed entirely at its Japanese fanbase — entirely sensible since the games weren’t legitimately available in English until 2016. This week’s livestream was not only available on the more readily accessible [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EEoc1QAqSA), but actually had a live, real-time [English translation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIPDPs3eAv4). Despite the fact that it was at 2AM my time (I was in California for the week, otherwise it would have been a more manageable 5AM for me), I tuned in and joined the chat, as did several hundred other westerners.

It makes sense, because for this niche series to have a future at all, it probably needs its Japanese and international fanbase to be on the same page going forward from here. Years- or decades-long delays are no longer tolerated by game and anime fans around the world, who have literally hundreds if not thousands of alternatives every year. Plus, an aging Japanese fanbase might not be able to keep the franchise aloft by themselves — they certainly didn’t turn out in a big way for 2016’s _Schwarzesmarken_ — but add in a throng of foreigners and maybe it’s another story. It’s also very telling that the “Project Mikhail” game was announced as being available in Japanese, English, and Chinese, over a year before its putative launch date.

There’s a deeper reason for this, and that reason is almost certainly the record-breaking [_Muv-Luv_ Kickstarter](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/muvluv/muv-luv-a-pretty-sweet-visual-novel-series), which raised $1.2 million to localize the games into English. Not only did the [campaign](https://www.kicktraq.com/projects/muvluv/muv-luv-a-pretty-sweet-visual-novel-series/) attract thousands more backers than the next two visual novel localization campaigns ([_Clannad_](https://www.kicktraq.com/projects/sekaiproject/clannad-official-english-release/) and [The _Grisaia_ Trilogy](https://www.kicktraq.com/projects/sekaiproject/the-grisaia-trilogy-three-huge-visual-novels-for-p/)), but the average spend per backer was a healthy US$159. As the Type-94 blog notes:

> This may be a good time to mention that I strongly believe that a major reason Avex picked up Ixtl is because of the immense success of the Muv-Luv Kickstarter – the Total Eclipse anime didn’t make a ton of money for them, so I really think it’s the $1.2 million dollar Kickstarter that caught their eye.  Ever since Avex acquired them, they’ve been paying special attention to the overseas fans that funded the Kickstarter, including the real-time translation on this broadcast.

I think that’s exactly right, and it’s worth keeping in mind that the “Still Breathing” livestream featured the principals of three visual novel companies — Overdrive, minori, and Circus — all of whom are now working with âge, since at least one of those companies is defunct and the others may not be long for this world, in light of the grim finances of the contemporary visual novel industry. Given the middling reception of _Schwarzesmarken_ and the failure of the mobile game _Strike Frontier_, I have to wonder if getting acquired by Avex is why âge is even still around. If that’s the case, then in retrospect one could argue the Kickstarter literally saved the company.

On the other hand, continually going back to the Kickstarter as the high point of _Muv-Luv_'s western popularity brings up a nagging question: is this a franchise whose fanbase can go wide, or is it just deep? Given the highly problematic nature of much of the franchise, and the fact that its fans literally boast of how much mental and emotional harm the games have caused them, it’s not exactly a top prospect for being the next _Cowboy Bebop_ or _Fullmetal Alchemist_ in terms of broad appeal.

So that leaves us with the devotion approach. Going back to those Kickstarter numbers, _Muv-Luv_ got about 30% more backers than _Clannad_, but they spent **200%** more, on average. In part, that speaks to the Kickstarter’s physical rewards as a once-in-a-lifetime shopping spree for western _Muv-Luv_ fans; I personally pledged $450, about as much as all my other Kickstarters combined (of course, _Muv-Luv_ had the courtesy to actually finish and get released, unlike some other backed Kickstarters [that](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fredrin/megatokyo-visual-novel-game) [I](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/465561141/lovely-little-thieves) [could](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/littleorbit/unsung-story-tale-of-the-guardians) [name](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1266693296/arcadian-atlas-tactical-rpg-inspired-by-classics).)

I’m of two minds of this. Adding an international niche fanbase to a Japanese niche fanbase doesn’t seem like much of a win in a world where _Fate/Grand Order_ [makes](https://thinkgaming.com/app-sales-data/62911/fategrand-order/) US$3 million **a day** selling waifu JPEG lottery tickets. On the other hand, fans whose love for a title is skin-deep and who move on every three months with the new anime season isn’t much to hang your hat on either. Fair-weather fans aren’t the ones who’ll drop $50 on a Meiya nesoberi, whereas the _Muv-Luv_ fanbase have proven themselves to be the epitome of Fry holding his up cash and yelling “Shut up and take my money!”

And yet, that committment to spending hasn’t been noticed by any of the western anime and manga companies: there’s no English Blu-Ray of _Schwarzesmarken_, no translations of the _Total Eclipse_ light novels or the _Muv-Luv Alternative_ manga. It is apparently more lucrative for them to continue to license yet more _isekai_ wish-fufillment trifles, quarter after quarter.

Furthermore, all we heard from the livestream was plans and promises. Of the four major projects listed above, only “Project Mikhail” has even an estimated release date, one that’s likely to slip into 2021. _Muv-Luv Integrate_ doesn’t even have a format settled: Kouki Yoshimune said he’s not sure if it will end up as a visual novel, an anime, or something else entirely. It’s going to be a long wait for any of this to come to fruitition. In a way, the livestream title “Still Breathing” is ironic: “still” as in “continuing to do something” or as “motionless”?

It was great of âge to reconnect with their fanbase, and for us as fans to have our day in the sun after a very long drought — now I know how [Samantha](https://twitter.com/sam_animeherald) of [Anime Herald](https://www.animeherald.com/about-samantha-ferreira/) felt after her beloved _Sakura Wars_ got a major relaunch announcement earlier this year, following a long dormancy for the franchise. But we’re still at least a year from any of this coming to fruition, and probably longer. In the meantime, we [wait](https://twitter.com/enjoievan/status/1188502522765250560) for [_photonmelodies♮_](https://muvluv.fandom.com/wiki/Muv-Luv_Photon_Melodies), write more [fanfic](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1234325), and hope we don’t grow too much older before any of this stuff actually comes out.