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Originally Posted by Tempester
Thanks for the info. So under the safe assumption that this'll have one cour, either the story will be very fast-paced, or not all of the novels will be covered. I kinda hope it's the former.
The irony behind this statement is hilarious, considering the general mood and subject matter of of Muv-Luv Extra, which is many people's first impression of Muv-Luv.
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Doesn't that irony extends to every anime viewer who has not read Muv-Luv, or indeed, even heard of the entire franchise. which I take it is the majority of the viewerbase right now? For viewers like me, Total Eclipse is our first exposure to the series.
That being said, after reading up a little of the back-story, I dare say being sentenced to the world of Muv-Luv Alternative for a few years might be one of the most amusing, if also incredibly sadistic possible punishments haters of the Generic Harem Protagonist Syndrome might want to recommend for bland male leads. Should this anime prove popular enough. there's a possibility of fanfiction threads being made dedicated to such Crossover projects.
Also, I think if Muv-Luv Extra was animated, instead of a Sidestory of a Sequel to an AU of a Generic Harem Visual Novel, it'll be getting exactly the same reaction as Medaka Box got last season, and Muv-Luv fans moaning that with the BD pre-orders it's getting, we'd never get to watch the really good meat of the Franchise. Sounds familiar? That's what manga readers said about Medaka Box recently, TGWOK just awhile further back, and I imagine Negima during it's disastrous double adaptation unfaithfulness.
From what I've been reading, both here, and through quick googling, it seems that the main problem with an anime adaptation of Muv-Luv is that it shares the same issue with some genre shifting manga stories with botched adaptations, of which Negima was one particularly bad offender, among several. That of genre shift. And when the pre-genre shift material could easily consume an entire Cour (if not more), that's a real killer. Madoka Magica, for comparison took three episodes for a genre shift, and before that, it was getting rained hard for being boring and generic. I think the main lesson is that if you want to adapt such stories with genre shifts after considerable pre-genre shift material, it might be best to start at a spot long after the genre shift as a first anime project, if you want to test the waters. I actually applaud the decision makers behind this anime for starting In Media Res, so to speak.
Should Eclipse sell well enough, I think we might see a full adaptation of the entire Muv-Luv Universe, since well, Eclipse is a Side Story after all. But of course, it's Mecha, and Mecha normally sells quite well. So, I imagine it's also in part a commercial decision. Start with Extra, and Muv-Luv will bomb - this is a given, since there's no other anime adaptation whose source material leapt from Lightheated to Dark has ever succeeded commercially, unless the genre shift was executed within three episodes.
My theory is that they are testing the waters here, and if Eclipse sells well, they'd move on to adapting the entire VN series, from Extra to Unlimited to Alternative in Anime form, or if they are that creative, merging Extra as Counter-point Flashbacks to Unlimited and Alternative. Since Eclipse already informs audiences of what to expect, a Muv Luv Extra adaptation might be a rarity- an actual Pre-genre shift story that's regarded as a masterful counterpoint to the rest of the Muv Luv franchise, which every other story with big genre shifts have tried to do (leap from Harem/Comedy/Cutsie Moe Slice of Life to something more serious), and has mostly failed, with the exception of Madoka (from Cutsie Moe Generic Mahou Shoujo 12359 to the Evangelion of Magical Girls), though even more experienced viewers of anime might be able to point some other examples.
Finally, I wish for Total Eclipse and the Muv Luv of Alternative to be to Muv Luv Extra what the Nanoha Franchise was to Triangle Hearts, beyond the VN Medium alone. Since CR is licensing it, I imagine that Muv Luv Eclipse is going to the first time that most of the English Speaking audience is going to be exposed to this franchise.