Muv Luv and What It Means To Be Responsible (Spoilers)
Responsibility—a word we hear often, yet rarely pause to consider its true weight.
Take a quick moment from reading this. Seriously. When you do, think of a response to the question: What is responsibility?
You have a responsibility to pay taxes. You have a responsibility to go to work. You have a responsibility to wake up. You have a responsibility to take care of yourself. Yet, these are all shallow definitions of what responsibility is.
When I finished Muv Luv Alternative, it was around 3AM; exhausted physically and emotionally, I decided it was time to go to bed. Yet, when I woke up the next morning, everything that conspired finally hit me; the loss of Captain Isumi, Kashiwagi, Marimo, and the Valkyries. It hurt like a freight train, hitting me when I least expected it. Yet, I found myself thinking of not only them, but episode 6 of Muv Luv and asking myself a singular question;
What is my responsibility?
Throughout all of Muv Luv, this is the topic rung throughout the series time and time again. Yet, I believe that the answer lies within the rebel forces of Japan and Captain Isumi.
When I first started the chapter, I believed the rebels would be no more than a black and white side, meant to be simply destroyed and handled like any other situation. Yet I realized I had fallen into the trap of viewing things in polarized terms, when in reality, life is more like a canvas, filled with brushes of all colors and patterns.
In the original timeline of Muv Luv Unlimited, Takeru is taken on a mission where he must evacuate an area. There are several inhabitants within who are at risk of being affected by the eruption of a nearby volcano. However, these inhabitants made the choice to stay rather than evacuate for their own personal reasons. In one particular case, Meiya and Takeru handle an older woman who believes that the mountain God will protect her and that she must wait for her sons to return home.
Takeru, who believes the woman is taking time away from operations, is given a perspective change from Meiya. To Meiya, it is alright if the old woman wishes to die in her home because of the resolve she has towards the homeland she’s grown up with and is connected to. As she says, there is a difference between living and surviving. It is the responsibility of those in power to understand this and Takeru comes to understand the connection the older woman has to the house. To him, the house is any other. Yet to the older woman, this is the piece of the world she knows and loves. She grew up there, had a family there, lived, smiled, laughed and lost there; to lose the house would be losing a part of herself.
Still, Takeru and Meiya decide to do their best for the older woman as they feel it’s their responsibility to do what they can to help her.
In the alternative timeline, though, Takeru sees the issue of beating the BETA through his logic of what will happen as usurping the wishes and goals of all others around him. After all, if Alternative V happens, there will be no future for humanity to speak of. He tells Yuuko sensei about the days they lost to this event at first, as well as the damage to the TSFs. In response, she agrees to have the civilians removed by force.
When Takeru later sees this on TV, he is happy to have saved time. Meiya on the other hand is unhappy with how the rights of the citizens to choose life or death were trampled over for what the government decided was best for them. Takeru gets upset, calling their want to do as they please selfish when there is a real enemy at hand (AKA the BETA). To him, his responsibility has changed and what happens to those they evacuated in the previous timeline now are only a hindrance to his goal.
This, in fate’s cruel way of handling fate, would come back to get Takeru.
Later, rebel forces take over the capital of Japan, executing Chizuru’s father alongside a few other officials. At first, you’re made to believe these rebels are a violent pack, hurting whom they wish to on a whim.
In reality though, Captain Sagiri (The man who leads the rebels) directly quotes the mistreatment of those Takeru decided were better off handled by the government. They were taken to minimal shelters with little to eat and barely livable conditions. Captain Sagiri explained that the government had a responsibility to help the people, yet there were those who used the image of the Shogun to do as they pleased in the name of their own interests.
Takeru, originally upset at this, eventually comes to realize that the factors he believed didn’t matter were actually extremely important to others.
Takeru starts by believing that his resolve for fighting should be around the BETA only and that this same idea is the responsibility of all others to have; to be uncaring around anything except the BETA. It’s only when Takeru finally has to handle the weight of a life in the form of Yuuhi that he realizes the true cost of war.
Everyone has different ideals they’re fighting for and more importantly, do so not just for the world now, but for the world after the BETA. Yuuhi, who has had many of her comrades die, doesn’t demonize the rebels as easily as it would be. Instead, she understands their point of view; the government has a responsibility to help the people, yet has stopped doing so in the name of personal interest. The rights of people are being stepped on in a way which crushes spirits for the few on top.
Still, she understands the weight of the actions done by the rebels; at the end of the day, they are extremists who have killed others for their ideals of a better world. Yet, this is something Sagiri himself understands and does not fight with. While he wishes there was less bloodshed involved, his rebels have the resolve to understand what they’ve done, how it will affect Japan, and the outcome for them.
To simply ignore the ideals of the world in the name of the BETA is to allow it to become a machine where citizens are crushed under the weight of tyranny and betrays the idea of Japan Sagiri and his rebels had in regards to it. They felt it was their responsibility to do something and could not bear to watch things continue as is.
Atop this comes the weight of action. Takeru understands this when he must use a drug on Yuuhi to bring her to Yokohama base, but in doing so, a chance of killing her exists. This in turn causes Takeru to pause, being unable to bring himself to administer it.
Better yet, Takeru sees the cost of war firsthand when the UN pilots he is with die during battle. To him, the entire battle beforehand was simply a numbers game. Now though, he comes to better understand that each person has their own ideals and wants for life besides killing the BETA. Nobody wants to be flung into the war, yet because of the ideals they hold and their goals, they feel it is a responsibility to fight.
This is best visible throughout his squadmates, all of which have some sort of connection to the uprising. Kei knows Sagiri personally. Tamase’s father was the one who brought in UN support. Yoroi’s dad may have had much to do with the uprising in the first place. Chizuru’s father was killed by Sagiri at the start of the uprising as an example. Meiya’s sister being the Shogun makes all of this more personal.
They all believe that they have a responsibility to see things through and handle the battle as effectively as possible as UN soldiers, even through their own internal struggles and thoughts regarding the entire situation.
As an example of this, Miki’s father allowed US troops to support the Japanese government in handling the rebels; in his eyes, he wanted to do what was best for Japan and longevity, even if it didn’t match with what might have been best in the eyes of others. This comes at an expense however; there is an extremely good chance the US has to do with the uprising at hand. To Tamase, knowing only that her father (who she loves so much) called in the UN troops and the connection the US has to this makes her believe she’s (by connection) responsible for the rebellion in a way. She fears that her father may have helped in setting up the rebellion, not knowing the knowledge Takeru has and being unable to realize his true intentions.
To Tamase’s father, it’s his responsibility to do what he can for the people, even when it may go against their initial beliefs as long as it ensures their survival over anything else. This does not mean he is a yesman to the UN, however. He has his own feelings regarding the situation and directly says he is a Japanese Citizen first. Nevertheless, his actions are limited by the weight of what he must do as a leader and what he really wants to do.
So, I come back to the question of “What is Responsibility”. To each person in Muv Luv, there are so many ways responsibility can be defined.
To Meiya, it’s to act in a way which will best allow the spirit of Japan to live on.
To Chizuru, it’s to become a diligent leader who can make the right choices.
To Tamase, it’s to act in a way that reduces the trouble for everyone.
To Kei, it’s to become someone who can handle any situation on the battlefield for her peers.
To Mikoto, it’s to become someone others can rely on emotionally.
To Sagiri, it’s to keep Japan as a place where the thoughts of their people matter
Yet, what is the singular line holding all of these ideals down? What is it that connects everyone’s story and gives them so much weight?
All of the characters have a system of ethics that causes them to be unable to simply view things as is and instead motivates them to move forward. Meiya is the clearest example of this, being unable to simply allow the status quo to dictate her actions since the events of Unlimited. It’s the reason she took so much effort saving the old woman’s home and she laments over the treatment of the civilians in the alternative. It’s why she, Tsukiyomi and even the shogun can empathize with the rebels even when it would seem counterintuitive to outside standards.
To me, this feeling of purpose is one that is both the most important to me and the most central to my being. Outside of this blog, I am the founder of a tech-focused startup I call Walker Industries. Having started it when I was around 13, I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth or into an environment that helped nurture my development. In fact, there are several occasions where my school encouraged my parents to throw away all of my research and engineering components at the time.
At first, it was heartbreaking; I did not come from money and had to work with the bare minimum to get more out of the world. I got my first sponsorship with over $200 in parts from Sparkfun, but most of the parts were thrown away after the school I attended threw allegations at me regarding my engineering being dangerous (While some teachers already knew and supported my work, given this was a math and science technology school). I remember watching how excited my family was to throw everything away as some sort of punishment and the resentment I felt.
I felt resentment at my school for blocking my development. I felt resentment towards my family for choosing the school over me. And most of all I felt resentment towards myself for not being able to do as they wanted. Even now, I remember their smile and the feeling of being looked down on. Sometimes, I still wake up in a silent rage, thinking of how upset I am before fully realizing it was just a dream and that the time has long passed.
I especially remember when there was a rumor that i’d become the enactor of school violence that I felt true despair. Violence is not in my nature, yet those I didn’t know told me as much because of what they heard from their friends. I tried clearing my name, only to hear that there was evidence of actions i've never committed, meaning either people were fine lying to my face about the reality of the situation, or someone fabricated evidence to make the situation worse.
In any case, I believed my simple presence at the school would make them realize these rumors were founded in lies but that truth never was realized. I think that was the loneliest I ever felt in my life.
Still, as much as I felt hate at the time, I could not give up on my dream. I continued working towards development in secret.
Even when the vice principal told me she personally checked my classes each year and removed me from any tech related ones I moved forward. I sacrificed being an Honors student in the name of learning more through a crappy HP laptop the school provided. I learned Unity, Graphic Design, 3D Modeling and many more things through my own efforts while also slowly working towards the goal I set.
Then, when the vice principal left the school and I finally got into my first tech class?
I got recognition from Congress for an AR app I developed and won a hackathon at my school for a website page. Then, I started applying for business competitions which I too won. I was able to return a %2000 profit on a stock simulator using shorting techniques I taught myself to fund the little research I could. Still, fate would play with me and my inhibitions.
I was originally admitted to a place in South Korea for my developments, having made many steps forward in technology. My family however, decided I should go local and not even to the Science/Tech University outside of the state. I ended up doing community college online and it killed me. I eventually got my AS’ but it felt as if I were slaving towards a goal I didn’t care about.
In the meantime, I continued doing only what I could as both my reason for existence and an escape. I developed the Psuedopancakes, one of my most famous projects, used across the DIY space. I made many developments in between, but that one was the most important. In the time between, I even made a team, cut ties with them after a year passed without good progress and made another team which made something wonderful.
At one point, I even got the courage to defy my parents for the first time in my life and move out. They wanted me to work a job I had no understanding of or care for because they saw my time on the computer as a waste. They had no understanding of the work I did and thus decided it was nonsense. Even as I explained to them, they had more interest in their idea of the world than mine.
It wasn’t until I got a job as an XR developer far from them and that I survived on my own that they realized the power of my resolve and that I was an adult capable of making conscious decisions for myself. Without me around, they started to look more at the work I did through the updates I sent them once we made amends and realized how serious my work was. Now, I am with them once more helping them and things have completely changed. They’ve long since changed how they act and have been more supportive of my work greatly.
Atop this, my work is being looked at for funding in the hundred thousand range and I am looking at going to Keio University for my Master’s program.
At this point, this may sound like a story of triumph to the outside, but to me the meaning is completely different.
As I kept building, I couldn’t ignore how fragile life itself was. At any moment, everything could end: from natural causes or human cruelty. Maybe that’s why I turned to technology in the first place: not just as creation, but as defiance. Over time, that defiance became gratitude, as I realized how lucky I was to have the means to build instead of just survive.
While I may have had many struggles growing up, I came to have a respect for life whenever I would think of those who went through worse both in the US and in third world countries; to me, they were the strongest type of people to exist. Yet, why was it that this was allowed? In a world of such advancement, we still allow such heinous crimes to exist and for many to die senseless deaths. These deaths aren’t in the name of some great ideal like Sagiri and his rebels, nor are they chosen like the old woman. These are deaths that take the lives of those who could have one day changed the world all in the name of personal gain.
To me, my work became more than just something as entertainment. It became the way to make the lives of those in the world better in more ways than one. With the technology I made, I could bring forth true and real change in the world. Instead of simple feel good projects that allowed those who made them to feel better about themselves, I shifted in mentality to thinking about this as a way in which I could immediately make the lives of those in the world better. I might not be able to do it in a day or two, but if I keep working, I know I could change the world for the better.
My company then became a tool rather than an ideal in my hands. I make it a point to not focus on profit outside of sustainability and employee care, having plans to directly increase the quality of life for everyone around the world. It’s my inherent goal to reinvest in lower quality neighborhoods and change them into walkable, higher quality neighborhoods for the same residents who once lived there. I want to decrease the price of quality produce and introduce cleaner alternatives for electricity at a high scale. I want to focus on medicine as well, offering things such as insulin at a cheap rate and putting RnD into future alternatives for a lot of modern drugs and future research into things like Cancer, prosthetics, nerve damage related injuries and women’s health (which has a huge gap in quality).
To me, my purpose has become what I consider “incubating greatness”. I see my technology as a gate between both developing the things I care about and bringing forth actual change in the world. Instead of waiting for the current government leaders to do something about the situation eventually, I will have the power to immediately bring forward positive change to those who I know and those who I may never meet in this life.
Ever since this has become my goal, i’ve gained a feeling where instead of having confidence in the work I do, I simply fail to understand the idea of it failing. This and great resolve has seen me recently start to bear the fruits of this way of thinking. It’s also why I continued development through all that occurred and never gave up. I remember when I was 13, I inspired someone to go into the engineering field because of my actions. They told me they saw greatness within me and that if anyone could achieve my goals, it was me.
Since then, i’ve heard this sentiment time and time again. It was never my goal to become a symbol of hope, but i’ve many times heard that i’ve inspired people to continue working towards their goals in the hope of a better world or that they saw me and what I was doing, then became inspired to do something in the field of engineering.
It’s been a huge shock to me; I have my own private demons I keep but I truly do my best to at least be someone others can look up to for knowledge and support. In that, I somehow became more than that. I became an idea of the future; someone others look to and think “Yes, the future is in good hands.”
This further pushed me towards my idea of my goals, but it also became a responsibility I was willing to accept. My inherent want to make the world a better place became a reason for people to think that the future is saveable, and in the same way helped others realize they can put the future into their own hands as well.
Still, responsibility is a double-edged sword.
Recently, i’ve made it a goal to get into Keio University’s Media Design program for their love of future technologies. Hearing how light the classes are and the focus on research, I could very likely push forward development at a pace unheard of and get my footing down in the world greatly. Yet, this isn’t a singular sided die.
Sagiri’s struggle helped me realize the weight of my actions more than I ever did beforehand. I speak of wanting to help people, but what happens if I were to get accepted? It isn’t hard to see myself staying in Japan; after all, with the current US government, it’d be a much better place to focus on RnD without the expense of trying to change a system that actively gets rid of those who try to change the cogs within.
Yet, if I were to leave, would it be fair to say I’m living up to my ideals? Could I truly say i’m helping the world if I were to leave for somewhere “cozier” until times get better and then say “I’m helping the world”? What use is a Band-Aid on an already healed scar?
I thought about this for a long time; I felt that as an American citizen proud of the people, it was part of my job inherently to change America. Yet, how much more of an impact could I make if I worked within a place that didn’t subject me to the same weights America did? I doubt it would be impossible for me to make a name for myself in Japan and i’d be dealing with significantly less of a challenge both thanks to the change of environment and my overall goal of bringing forth immediate change. In fact, it’d be very possible to bring forth a lot of those changes in Japan as a test run.
For a while, I thought about it.
Eventually, I came to a conclusion.
I would continue trying to enter Keio University.
At the end of the day, I feel that it is in both my goal and genuine nature to change the world. I have no qualms about this and feel that this is almost surely something I have been born for at this point. Yet, my location does not change that goal.
It is entirely possible for me to work within another place and make it better while keeping my American routes at heart. America is not based on just a location, or a demographic or a political ideology. When you see a black man in the street, an asian woman, a transgender person, a gay couple or anything else, they are at the core Americans. America is defined by it’s idea of freedom and the want for better, and no matter where you are, as long as you hold those dear to you you’re an American at heart.
It doesn’t matter if you were born far away, or barely speak English or don’t understand American culture. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never touched the soil even; that want for a better world? A place where everyone can work together, even if we might not always agree with the ideas those next to us hold? That’s what America was built upon and it’s an ideal we’ve long fought for time and time again. That is the true core of being an American, and i'm sure a good part of the silent majority would agree.
Throughout all the different people in the US, the true Americans to me are those who want better out of the country not just for themselves, but for their fellow man. A society only prospers when it grows trees it will never live to see and this is something we as Americans have long begun to forget.
Even if I move to Japan, it does not change my ability to buy broken down neighborhoods and repair them with incentive programs, walkable neighborhoods and better housing at proper prices with more job openings. It does not change the fact that I can work on hydroponic farms and increase the quality of them to reduce prices for food and limit the US’ love of corn oil in products. It does not stop me from helping support the development of those who I wish to see bring forth a better world, for the next generation who will hopefully be more creative and smarter than I could ever wish to be. It is at the end of the day what I choose to make out of it and does not take away from my responsibility.
To me, I think Muv Luv was trying to say something simple; responsibility isn’t determined by what decisions are put upon you, but rather by the ones you decide to be built upon. When you decide to bear the weight of decisions and truly understand what they mean and how they affect others, you truly become responsible.
It isn’t just about doing what society demands of you like paying taxes or waking up every morning; responsibility is a contractual obligation you create with yourself in the name of your ideals. When you lose that sense of responsibility, you lose your form of self and your resolve. Chizuru, Sagiri, Meiya, Tamase, Takeru and everyone in the story all have their inner sense of responsibility formed by this same idea. They take the decisions they believe will be best, each coming with loss, suffering and ambiguity.
Your responsibility is what causes you to do the impossible even when the world screams it’s not worth it. It’s what causes you to defy the traditions you’ve always known and break the cycles others may have come to. It’s what caused Sagiri to rebel against the injustice he saw, Meiya to risk her life and talk to the rebels and what causes Takeru to eventually beat the original hive.
Responsibility in it’s truest form is never something others might see immediately. It’s a living contract you make with your ideals which help you form your next thoughts and actions in a way you know you can be proud of while being completely aware of the actual costs of your actions and not just the end result.
Muv Luv taught me that responsibility is formed not through just actions but yourself; when you live responsibly, you allow others to see not the environment you were born into or who you may have been born as in nature, but rather who you choose to be.
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