#I've honestly been annoyed for the past month by people saying Toya would be Anni this year

[planetarythorns]

Every single time someone posts a 4th anni and Bloomfes prediction I die inside a little because something is usually off.

So welcome to my final anni prediction that I've been cooking for the past month and an explanation of my reasoning behind one or two minor massive things

The lineup (IF colorful palette stops chucking curveballs straight at our skulls this year) is going to most likely be An, Shiho, Airi, Ena, and Nene. This is assuming that leaders for anniversary are an every other year thing, and that members of 2nd anniversary cannot have a repeat appearance.

The only character that can possibly be contested is Ena, as Mizuki isn't entirely off the table, just unlikely with the likelyhood of Mizu5 being the next N25 event. (Mizuki being there instead of Ena would also fix the "issue" of this lineup being almost identical to 2.5 anniversary, with the only difference being L/N Miku being swapped for Airi, but eh.)

Now, that's the known part at this point. What people cannot decide on relatively unanimously is who tf is the 3 star. I've seen some people argue on the 3 star being Airi since she just had a lim focus not that long ago, but in my opinion:

The 3 star will most likely be Nene. This is because, if we look at the anniversaries past, the 3 star for an anniversary has been from the unit that gets the focus next anniversary. Anni1 had Kanade as a 3 star, and Anni2 was Mafuyu focus. Honami was the 3 star for Anni2, and Anni3 was Ichika focus. Obviously, this doesn't mean a pattern yet. But it's safe to assume that with Kohane as the 3 star for 3rd anniversary, 4th anniversary is going to be a VBS focus (Unfortunate I know, VBS fans can't catch a break)

So, why does that mean Nene is going to be the 3 star?

If we follow the pattern of the 3 star being from the same unit as the next anniversary's focus member, and assume that An is in fact the 4th anniversary focus, that means the only unit that will be without a focus for anniversary will be WxS. So ultimately, Nene will be the 3 star. (Additionally, if anniversaries are in fact alternating between leaders and non-leaders on lineup, that would mean 5th anniversary would be a Tsukasa focus. Not important to this, just something I find interesting.)

Bloom festival is a whole other clusterfuck. Rin and Rui are in desperate need of a lim, with Rin's last being from Let Your Song Resound, and with Rui's last being from Pandemonium. Rin is going to be on the banner as Bloomfes. One question comes to mind, though…

Will they let an OC be on an anni's banner as a fes card???? The only other time that's happened was 1st anniversary, with Miku and Ichika as colorful festival. The other two had Miku/Luka with Anni2 And KAITO/MEIKO for Anni3. So…it's ultimately unclear. The first Bloomfes being KanaMEI does give me hope that RinRui is possible, but there's truly no way to be sure.

If you read this far you're actually so awesome, ty for reading my 3 am word dump <3 Have a great day :3