Say it in Red | Episode 31: Heaven Will Be Mine

Say It In Red

Launch protocols accepted. Pilot vital signs within nominal range. Catapult locked: Mission Accepted. The battle at hand is already underway - Which future are you planning to fight for? Who are you planning to fight for? What can you do, alone in space against the eternal, ever present pull of Earth's Gravity?
This week, Sara and Runa are joined by tabletop developer and mecha enthusiast Bismuth to discuss the Worst Girls Games 2018 title, Heaven Will Be Mine. Join us as we fly over space colonies and dig through the history of the mecha genre, queer theory, the Space Program, and our own childhoods in an effort to answer one of the greatest questions of all time: How much are giant robot fights just about making out? As it turns out, the answer is almost 100%.
Heaven Will Be Mine (2018) is a visual novel developed by Aeevee Bee, Max Schwartz, Alec Lambert, and with development and publication by Pillow Fight. It's a game about giant robots, about space, about interstellar conflict and the existential threat of truly inhuman, alien beings. It's also not really about any of that, at least not any more than it's about gender, queer liberation movements, Gravity, Culture, romance on the battlefield, mecha fights as communication and flirtation, and the all-encompassing desire to be a horny goblin when you see a hot girl on the other side of the war. If all of this sounds a bit abstract and difficult to parse, that's because Heaven Will Be Mine is a game rich with layered meanings and abstractions that are both literal and allegorical, narration that is both physically impossible and emotionally true, and conversations that may take you a few passes to fully grasp. The writing is brilliant and draws you deep into the realm of space at the same time as it gets you thinking about otherness, the force of expectation exerted by a dominant culture, and the relationships you've built between the people who surround you and cross your path. This game is about queerness, community, and what paths we should take forward into the future together even when that future is at times bleak and uncertain. Please join us as we unpack the three pilot routes and three endings to this game, discuss its implications, and sigh fondly over Luna-Terra's cool scars.
As always, if you enjoy the show please support us by giving us a rating and writing a review wherever you listen! You can also follow the podcast's twitter at sayitinredpod on twitter and find bonus episodes at patreon dot com slash sayitinred!
Content Warnings for this episode:
There are specific no content warnings for this episode but there are spoilers for the original Gundam series, Evangelion, Gunbuster, Diebuster, and Gasaraki in this episode.
Links:
Aeevee Bee's interview in Rock Paper Shotgun
The Waypoint Radio Plus episode discussed here is Waypoint Radio Plus episode 101, which at the time of this episode's publication is only available to waypoint plus subscribers.