Originally Posted by novalysis
I think one good way to imagine Muv Luv's character is to envision them in a Slice of Life setting, and think of what archetype they'd fit. For Yui, that's rather easy - you could call her a stoic Tsundere with Ojou vibes who can be prickly. On the other hand, you'd have to look outside anime for Yuuya's archetype - a competent immigrant child with a certain degree of ego who tries his hardest to assimilate into the Culture he is born with, and distance himself from his ethnic roots.
Now, what Muv Luv' does is that it takes those archetypes, and throw them into a Lake of Fire- ie: The BETA Om nom nom nom machine. Still, at the core of it, Yui and Yuuya's disastrous interactions with one another is the result of those personalities clashing with one another, in the context of Alternative. I've wondered personally whether their first meetings with one another would be that disastrous in a more peaceful setting.
Yes, Yuuya should have shut his mouth and not made that silly comment that Yui was a Japanese Doll. That was very, very offensive. But, since we are entitled to his PoV, we know why he said such a silly, silly thing. And since we can see Yui's backstory too, we understand where she's coming from too.
Ultimately, the Yuuya-Yui relation seems to be the central conflict of the plot here, and I don't think it's actually shoddily written - on the contrary, it seems quite thoughtful here. It's partly Culture Clash, partly extenuating circumstances (hand Yuuya an American design, and I'd presume he'd have fared far better) and partly the fact that both personalities can potentially grate on one another in the right circumstances, and in others, gel very well together.
Alternative is a world that tests the limits of a man or woman's character, tempering them in a harsh world, and putting them in situations that would not exist in the genres these characters are plucked from. It still holds true for Eclipse, and I think the anime is doing a good job of showing it. I would like to suggest that NONE of these characters at their base belongs to the Cynical Mecha Genre- they are drawn, no, conscripted from various genres, and not merely anime genres. It is the nature of the genre that produces the characters we see, yet I think in the Muv-Luv universe, it's very easy to imagine what they'd be like were they civilians in a peaceful world. Most especially Yui.
If the characters are as horribly simplistic and as bland as some Haters are charging, such volume of discussion revolve around both characters as the show presents them seems rather implausible.
And there really should be a fanfic thread for Muv-Luv. The Yuuya-Yui angle makes for a very fascinating character study, especially considering the fundamental nature of the Muv-Luv universe.
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