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burningdaybreak · 5 months ago

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"OVER RAD SQUAD!!" Event Impressions — and then it kind of becomes a Summary and Analysis halfway through

(Disclaimer: This post contains spoilers for all of the OVER RAD SQUAD!! event, and general VBS stories spoilers.) Hello, to whoever is reading this. Last week was quite an eventful week, between the Sekai Broadcast and this event and banner's announcement. There's been many negative reactions lately, huh. Not really the place to talk about them, but I understand many of them (or more like understood, in some cases). This essay isn't like my usual one, since it'll mainly be my thoughts on the event; but I'll also summarize the event a bit and perhaps talk about the cards and my general impression. However, I wouldn't call it an analysis, and perhaps not even an essay? I'm just talking about my impressions and such. [Note after finishing the essay: It very much became both a summary and a bit of analysis lol] Warning that this isn't formally written like I did for my other posts, and it has the incoherent and perhaps even incomprehensible thoughts of a fan. So yeah, this is just a regular post. But perhaps I write an actual essay eventually because this event rocked.

1. The Event's Announcement

OVER RAD SQUAD!! had a pretty stormy announcement, not just because it was a unit limited event when VBS had already had one just two months ago (Whip the wimp girl!!), while a unit like WxS hasn't had one since 2021, but also because the story preview suddenly mentioned they're surpassing RAD WEEKEND in this very event. There was a lot of commotion on both things, but the former isn't particularly important here. People felt it was rushed, too soon, that Colorful Palette was ruining VBS's story... among other things. While I was actually pretty excited for the event, not just for the story but also the banner (new Akito lim card yay!!), and had faith they'd do the story well, the general negativity and dooming ended up getting to me and I got a bit stressed regarding the story. However, it turns out that everyone was wrong, and the event story turned out to be amazing and managed to cover pretty much all the important remaining plot threads neatly, and surpassing everyone's expectations. I'm glad everything ended well... (I demand an apology.) The outrage regarding the quick in succession unit limited events is understandable. It was especially bad not just because VBS had gotten one two months ago, but also because of WxS not getting any since 2021, and the second announced unit event for this month was WxS; so people generally assumed it'd be a permanent VBS event in early July, and WxS lims at the end of July. I really understand the rage, but I wasn't particularly surprised at VBS turning out to be the limited banner because, well... the Sekai team's decisions have been a bit erratic since the third anniversary, and VBS being the limited banner fit within my expectations. (Oh and I did kind of want VBS to be limited, since I think unit lim events are very hype... and because I wanted an Akito lim. Among other reasons. I apologize) Either way, the event turned out great, and the cards are very nice and Akito's card is very aibouyaoiful (yippee!), so all is forgiven (no it's not?). Now, getting into the event itself; first of all, I want to say, it's a very good event. And also extremely long. That's part of the reason why I'm not writing out the plot like I usually do; but also because I believe it's better to read it yourself, especially while listening to the voice acting and music. It's genuinely really good. (I was planning to write a summary at least, but I'm finding it pretty difficult and it'd be ultra long, sorry everyone...) [Post-essay addition: LOL. not editing this so everyone can laugh at me] Of course I can't expect everyone to know Japanese; I personally don't know much, and I machine TL events while reading them over at Sekai.best (along with the voices and Live2D in-game) — however, I later read sub TLs made by people, in case anyone just went "oh my god how can we rely on this guy's essays if he machine tl's things?!" I do know a bit of Japanese though! And I also get the general tone of a line by listening to it. So I can easily know if something's getting butchered by a machine. But if you don't like the machine TL method and prefer subs, then there's people on YouTube who sub events. (lozy bug usually sub VBS events pretty quickly; as of posing this, they've already subbed four chapters of the event) But yeah, read this event if you like VBS. I'd say it's one of the best VBS events. (I'm not really sure about calling it the outright best because I'm very biased towards Akito's focuses, but the fact I'm even considering it should be a sign of how good it was.)

2. Event Impressions and Thoughts

[Warning: Not very formal and may be incoherent. Also sort of becomes a summary halfway through lol. DISCLAIMER that I will mix my thoughts among the summary. AND!! I translated most quoted lines myself; I apologize if they're wrong, but they should get the general feeling of the line across.] God. It was so good. I genuinely cried and sobbed multiple times. It was very funny because it was just the very beginning of the event and I was already crying. There was a new BGM playing right at the start and it was so hype and exciting and it was like. This is it. This is the end... this is what they've been working so hard for... They're finally doing it... I was way too excited by the fact VBS would finally accomplish their goal. I'm not even a VBS fan (well, actually, I'm rethinking if that's true lol), but I'm just... ugh. It's been over three and a half years since their journey started, and they're finally achieving their dream. I'm very happy. The entirety of chapters 6 and 7 had me going crazy. I mean, that's pretty much the main part of the event, where VBS's event takes place. This was all the culmination of VBS's story, all their effort rewarded. This is it, this is what they wanted, and they finally reached it. Their dream has been accomplished. Ughhh... But let's go back to the beginning first: Kohane's task. Or tasks, rather, but the other one comes later. It was actually a quite simple task, which was strengthening her singing. For that purpose, Ken has her being coached by the other groups that participated in RAD WEEKEND: RUST and GLaP day. It was very cool to bring them back tbh, and that they were all coaching Kohane. The coaching method was also quite interesting: it was a sort of game where they take turns improvising lines. Her objective was to beat everyone at least once. She was struggling to beat them when suddenly, An sends her a message, and it was actually the scene from Whip the wimp girl!! where they meet in the morning and they have their singing duel. I really like how that happens during this. So cool. I love WTWG by the way. Her feelings of frustration from losing to not just RUST and GLaP day but also to An motivates her to give it her all and pour all she has into this. She wants to give back to An everything she has been given. Or, in my mentally ill way, she wants to give back the love she has received from An. Showing how grateful she is in her own way. Focusing on all that, fueled by her frustration, and wanting to give back to everyone, Kohane manages to beat everyone, and she's now more than strong enough to surpass RAD WEEKEND. She's curious about her second task, but Ken tells her he'll tell her on the day of the event. After that, she keeps practicing at COL, trying to grasp that feeling that allowed her to win against everyone, but she isn't quite there. COL's owner tells her that if she keeps singing like that, her voice will run out, and explains to her that perhaps she has to look into herself; find her own ego. That is, a selfish feeling, an impulse, what she's doing this for. What would make her do this even if it troubled other people. "I'll do this no matter what, no matter who I cause trouble to." Walking through Kamiyama Street and thinking about others' egos, Kohane wonders what's her own ego. Miku then appears to her, wondering what's her. Kohane explains that she doesn't know if she has an ego of her own;

🐹 For a long time, I've never been able to find a dream or something I want to do... 🐹 But I met An-chan and the others, and I was able to have the dream I have now. 🐹 ...Just like that, I was able to have dreams thanks to someone... 🐹 …If you ask me if there's something I want to do no matter what, even if it means causing trouble for everyone—

Miku then tells her that there is, but she just hasn't noticed it. And she suggests they go on a walk. She reminisces about how far she has come and her journey from the start, how she came across An and WEEKEND GARAGE. Then, she overhears a song, and following it, she comes across WEEKEND GARAGE once again, like she did back then. There, she finds her partner and teammates practicing.

🐹 (— What an amazing song...) 🐹 (My skin is tingling, my heart pounding...) 🐹 ("More"...) 🐹 (... I don't know if it's ego or not, but—) 🐹 (I like this feeling.) 🐹 (If I'm going to sing at an event bigger than RAD WEEKEND, I want it to be with this feeling.) 🐹 (I want to feel more excited.) 🐹 (I want to make you feel even more excited.) 🐹 (I want to cherish this feeling and sing it.)

Afterwards, her teammates notice she's there and she asks them to sing with her, before the flashback ends. I really liked the parallelism in this last scene, and how she finds her own ego in a similar way to how she found music back then. It was An and her teammates that allowed her to find music and herself, and now she wants to cherish this feeling, and sing for them, and do this with them. Ughh. So, yeah. The Kohane section was really good. It showed her character's development so well. She used to be shy and such, but now she's so confident in her skill and using everything she has learned and all her feelings to get stronger. She's so cool tbh. And the ego part was very good, too, and figuring out what she sings for, what she wants to do no matter what... very good. Now in the current day, there's one week left until their event (which is where the event actually starts, but chronologically, the flashback goes first). After their meeting, Kohane is worried in her room and Miku talks to her again, and that's where all of the aforementioned flashback takes place. Following the flashback, Miku tells her she'll be fine, since she has been facing her feelings all this time. Then the day before the event arrives. They left practice earlier than usual, to prepare for what's coming the next day. While talking, they reminisce about Arata, who isn't with them anymore. Touya hasn't given up on bringing back Arata, but there's nothing they can do about that anymore. They did all they could, and now all that's left is to finish it. They're doing it tomorrow — going beyond RAD WEEKEND! Chapter 6 is possibly one of the lengthiest chapters in all events in the game (I don't remember any longer one right now, at least). The chapter starts with Taiga coming back which is !!!!, because at that point I thought he wouldn't come back at all, but he did. It was a cool surprise. He talks a bit with Ken, wondering if it's fine he's here rather than backstage with them, cheering them up like a coach; but Ken replies that it's not his event — it's their event. The "next generation"'s event. By the way, their event is named RAD BLAST. Silly name tbh. But it's fun. Meanwhile, backstage, everyone's thinking about what they're feeling.

🐹 (... Amazing.) 🐹 (The atmosphere is different from previous events even before it started.) 🐹 ("I want to see the moment RAD WEEKEND is surpassed", "I want Nagi-san's wish to come true" —) 🐹 (All those strong feelings turn into heat... and I can feel them all the way here.) 🎧 (... It feels strange.) 🎧 (This time, I'm looking at the view I looked up at that day from the same perspective as Nagi-san.) 🎧 (Finally — I've come this far.) ☕ (... I've never been this nervous, even in the biggest competition I've ever participated in.) ☕ (... We only have one chance.) ☕ (We will definitely surpass it.)

But then, Akito interrupts everyone's thoughts, telling them to form a circle, since doing that before a show gets him really pumped. And then, he says he'll go first and:

🥞 I've been betting on this day! 🥞 I couldn't take anything seriously, and I couldn't forgive myself for being half-hearted. 🥞 The thing that made me realize that life was worth risking was RAD WEEKEND. 🥞 When I overcome RAD WEEKEND, I'll be proud — of myself, and everything I've ever been. 🥞 So no matter what... I'll surpass it!!

(Interrupting the summary: this part made me so emotional I started crying the first time I read it. In fact, I am sobbing again as I write this. I love Akito so much, honestly. Ugh.) Then following his partner's lead, Touya speaks up, too:

☕ — I want to know. ☕ I came to this town, met my partner, my friends, and new music. ☕ During those days, I was able to acknowledge myself. I was able to accept everything, both my past and present. ☕ ... No matter what obstacles I faced, thanks to everyone, I was able to keep going and get to this point. ☕ And then — at last, we came this far. ☕ I want to see how the songs I write will move the town, and how far I can go... ☕ For that reason, I will do my best today.

Kotaro (🍓) and Tatsuya (🏍) follow, too:

🍓 ...I!! I don't want to be such a pathetic person anymore!! 🍓 Laughing and saying there's no way I can do the things I really want to do — I don't want to be like that!! 🍓 With this — going beyond what I think is the most amazing thing, I will be able to accept myself!! 🏍 This time, I sing to believe in myself. 🏍 Even if someone ridicules me, I will pursue my dreams. 🏍 ... Even though I longed for that kind of lifestyle, somewhere along the line, I was swayed by the words of others. 🏍 There's no way it will come true, there's no way I can win, there's no way I can surpass it... I will resist such words. I will surpass RAD WEEKEND — I will believe in myself!

Kohane realizes that this is everyone's ego. They won't give in to anyone, and accomplish it no matter what... she starts to understand. She couldn't put her feelings into words, and she's beginning to understand her ego. Then, An talks, too:

🎧 I— I've always admired it; RAD WEEKEND... and Nagi-san. 🎧 I always thought that someday I'd catch up to that place, run with you, and surpass you. 🎧 ... I can no longer run with Nagi-san. 🎧 However— I can carry on the dream that Nagi-san left behind. 🎧 I can go to a world that Nagi-san couldn't go to— that she couldn't see. 🎧 If we can surpass RAD WEEKEND, I'm sure... 🎧 So we will surpass it! Absolutely!

Finally, Kohane speaks up, telling how she feels:

🐹 I— I want to go! 🐹 Beyond RAD WEEKEND, to the place beyond that...! 🐹 I'm sure it'll be exciting, like when I first heard An-chan's song... 🐹 ... No. I'm sure it'll be even more exciting! 🐹 I want to go there!! — No matter who tries to stop me, I will definitely go!! With everyone!!

Finishing the speeches off, An tells everyone to make this the best night of their life. It's time to go beyond RAD WEEKEND, and begin a new legend! (At this point, this has truly become a summary, but I still want to give my thoughts lol: this scene was REALLY good. Akito's words really hit me hard and made me cry the first time I read this part, as I mentioned earlier, but I also really liked everyone else's words. This was when I was like "Oh... I really understand these characters...", because many of the things they said are things I wrote about in my essays. I get these characters, and I'm so glad.) But going back to the event: following their speeches, Ken appears to tell Kohane her second task, before promptly leaving. And then, with the audience unable to contain their excitement, it's time to begin their final event — the one that will mark a new legend, 「RAD BLAST」. An and Kohane are the first batters. Together, they sing, hyping up the audience, and increasing the heat. The event is off to a good start, and if they grasp the feeling of "evolving together" that they learned in their duel, they can make the fire bigger. They finish off their performance, leaving the audience very excited, and so it's Akito and Touya's turn. And they give us this absolutely sickening (positive) interaction:

🥞 … Let's go, Touya. 🥞 Hm? What are you smiling about? ☕️ You are too. Aren't you nervous? 🥞 I got over that a while ago. Now, I'm just-- 🥞 Surpassing it. That's all I'm thinking about. ☕️ Yeah. I agree. ☕️ Let's go, Akito. Let's make our dreams come true.

"Our dreams"... ugh... critical hit. It's now a shared dream... a dream he got from Akito... that now belongs to both of them... Sorry I'll stop being gay. They sing together, exciting the audience even more. They think as they sing:

🥞 (I gave top-batter to those guys, but—) 🥞 (To move upward through clashing with your partner, isn't your privilege alone!) ☕️ (We both looked toward each other—we looked at what we didn't have, and we ran upward.) ☕️ (I hope I can be a worthy partner!)

(So good... the bond with your partner is amazing... Working together, growing together, experiencing things together... argh...!) Following them it's Kotaro's turn, and then Tatsuya and EVER. Watching them perform, Taiga thinks of how he didn't expect these guys to turn into such great singers. As he thinks, he notices a guy in a wheelchair, which is tough with the crowd in the livehouse. But when he asks if he's fine, he notices who it is— Meanwhile, backstage, EVER is about to finish their performance, and it'll be time for the final performance. But suddenly, someone appears: Arata. Akito asks him why he's there, and he shows them a CD; a CD that Souma sent him, telling him "Please surpass this" in a memo, along with "I was moved by the song that Aoyagi-kun wrote.", "If you listen to it and it moves you, please listen to this one last time." He couldn't listen to it, as he felt he didn't deserve to when he couldn't carry his dream. But he had to at least listen to this song, and upon listening to it, he understood — he wants to carry Souma's dream. It doesn't matter if he can do it or not — he wants to do it. That's his ego. He's being self-centered, but he wants to carry his dreams, and his songs, regardless. He wants to sing. Despite running away and coming back at such an important time... and what he's asking for being so much... he wants to sing. Akito simply responds that he hopes he didn't get stale, and he gets permission from them to sing. EVER's performance is about to end, and Akito tells him to get ready. He thanks Akito... and Touya, too — since Souma wrote "I was able to write this song thanks to Aoyagi-kun." in his message. Touya brushes it off, telling him that the reason Souma was actually able to write this song was because he was thinking of Arata, to which he responds that he'll sing that feeling — all of his and Souma's feelings.

With EVER done, the audience is looking forward to the finale by Vivid BAD SQUAD — but instead, it's Arata who appears, which surprises everyone, especially Souma, as he wasn't in the lineup for the event. When he's about to sing, he notices Souma among the audience. Even though it should be hard for him to even stand still, he still came. Souma shouts, saying "Let's overcome this together!!", and Arata begins singing. Souma cheers for him as he sings, shouting that he's there too — with his song, next to him. Arata's performance gets the audience even more excited, and the time for Vivid BAD SQUAD to deliver the finale is getting closer. It's up to them to surpass RAD WEEKEND. While waiting for their turn, Kohane goes get some water. As she drinks, she thinks that they have to surpass it, and clearing her task too. She thinks back on it, and it's revealed what her final task is: putting all her feelings into her song, and telling Ken what she's feeling, at that moment. She thinks how she has to do it, deliver her feelings, her ego — everything. But then she realizes her hands are shaking, and her heart beating loudly. As she thinks that now's not the time to be trembling, Miku interrupts her. (Interrupting the summary again: this is where chapter 6 ends. It really was a very long chapter. I think it was super great. As I said earlier, the circle scene truly took me out, and the Arata-Souma part made me Sick (in a good way). I recommend reading this chapter with voices and Live2D; everyone gets new Live2D models! Even the NPCs!! This is the most important part of VBS's story!!!) Wondering why Miku has appeared, she tells Kohane she just wanted to check things out, since their turn is coming soon. Miku then asks her if she's feeling excited right now — feeling the same excitement she felt that day, the day she went to Vivid Street... the day she found WEEKEND GARAGE... the day she met An. Kohane responds she's feeling excited, but it's a different kind of excitement — "I have to do this" is what she's feeling. It's like she can no longer see the excitement of "I want to do this"; which isn't good, as she had finally found her feelings. Miku says it can't be helped, as this is a place where emotions swirl, and sometimes it's easy to lose sight of things. However, she has to remember —

💚 『Kohane is now standing in front of a big wall that leads to a new world.』 💚 『We don't know what's on the other side. No one knows yet.』 🐹 No one... 💚 『Let's go see it, Kohane — together with everyone.』 🐹 … Yeah. That's right. 🐹 Together with everyone in Vivid BAD SQUAD, and all of my friends who've come this far...

Miku then replies that that's not all, is it? But then says that it'll become clear on stage when Kohane's confused at her reply. They then hear the cheers from the audience — their turn is coming soon. The rest of Vivid BAD SQUAD come looking for Kohane, and they make notice of Miku. Soon after, the rest of VIRTUAL SINGERS appear too, coming to support them and wishing them luck.

💚 『Let's go see a new world together.』

And then, it's time for Vivid BAD SQUAD's performance... the time to surpass the legend has come!! ... However, this is where I'm stopping the summary for chapter 7. I'm really sorry but I really believe this is a chapter you have to read yourself; something you have to witness yourself. This chapter is probably the best chapter they've made in all events so far, and any summary I make of it won't do it any justice. They really went all out with it. I really, really recommend reading it yourself. Watch Vivid BAD SQUAD surpass RAD WEEKEND. But, as you may know already: they do it. They surpass the legend — they surpass RAD WEEKEND. And they make a legend of their own.

[Chapter 8 — To the next world] EPILOGUE

A few days later, everything's so lively on Vivid Street. There's musicians everywhere singing, a familiar scenery for the people in the town... everyone has been inspired by RAD BLAST, wanting to surpass this new and exciting legendary event. Vivid BAD SQUAD managed to even change the scenery of the town. Meanwhile, at WEEKEND GARAGE, Taiga and Ken are talking. Taiga is already heading to the airport, poking fun at Ken since he has things to do, unlike the man who closed his store. Furthermore, he has to go back and brush up his skills — he wants to be the one to achieve Nagi's dream, but now he has more rivals. Finally, he thanks Ken. But then, Ken tells him he wants to do it together again. His role as a mentor to the next generation is over, and he'll be just an artist again, so — he wants to sing with Taiga, again. His wife's fine with this, and An laughed and said they're rivals now, so it's alright. They're partners once again.

Finally, Vivid BAD SQUAD and everyone else are at the graveyard, visiting Nagi's grave. They clean up then pray to her grave, saying a few words.

🎧 ... Nagi-san, we've come this far. 🎧 From now on, I will go beyond Nagi's dream. 🎧 The scenery that Nagi wanted to see, the various places... We'll go and see them all. 🐹 Thank you very much, Nagi-san. 🐹 Thanks to Nagi-san, we have come this far. So— 🐹 From here on, leave it to me. 🥞 "Conquer the world"... We've accepted Nagi-san's big dream. ☕ The rest will be slow — please watch over us.

Following that, Kohane asks what everyone's planning to do from now on: Kotaro is planning to upload his raps online, as he wants more people to listen to them, and tells everyone to subscribe to him; meanwhile, Tatsuya and EVER are planning to go major, debutting as pro singers, since they want more people around the world to hear the music that was born in the town. As for Arata and Souma, they're planning to team up together again, with Souma as the track maker, and Arata singing his songs. They'll be a team once again. They haven't decided what they'll do exactly, but they will pursue the dream that Nagi entrusted to everyone, which means they're Vivid BAD SQUAD's rivals now. Finally, Vivid BAD SQUAD — of course, they're planning to take over the world, and going beyond Nagi's dream. Kohane thinks, while she may not know what she wants to do from now on, she's sure it'll be okay; they can move forward. Because—

Because—!

Because they will never be discouraged, no matter how big the wall!! Furthermore, just imagining what the view as they "Take over the world" will be like makes Kohane's heart race. She then calls out her teammates' names, telling them she wants to go there soon. And the event ends. Vivid BAD SQUAD has accomplished their dream — but their journey is just getting started. Run to a new world!!

2.1. My Event Impressions and Thoughts For Real After I Accidentally Summarized the Whole Event

Well, lol. Sorry, in the end I summarized most of it. (Also I may be accidentally repeating here some of the thoughts I wrote throughout the summary.) So, as I was saying earlier: it was sooo good. I genuinely cried and sobbed multiple times. This is very noteworthy because I really dislike crying, so I don't cry often (im just like akito fr), and not many Sekai events got me close to being emotional over them (there is a few, though. I'm not emotionless lol), yet this one had me emotional all throughout. In fact, even days later I still feel emotional over it. Just the thought of this being the end... what they worked so hard for... what they've been looking forward to for so long... they're finally accomplishing their dream. I'm so, so happy. Kohane's part of the event was really good. Didn't expect they'd bring back RUST and GLaP day to coach her (also, at first I thought COL's owner was gonna be the one coaching her lol!), it was so cool. I also really like how much it showed Kohane's development — how she used to be so shy and with no dream, but now she's very confident in her skill and her dream that she inherited from her partner and teammates. I also quite like how Whip the wimp girl!!'s does actually happen concurrently to this event. Very epic stuff, guys. With her feelings of frustration, after losing to Taiga, RUST, GLaP day, and now An... she uses those feelings to improve even further, with the desire of giving back to An, wanting to show her cool side too. Giving back the love she has received from An... wanting to love back, after An has provided so much love... Ughh...!! Kohane is very cool, actually. The finding your ego part was also quite cool; I had never viewed everything that way, but it makes a lot of sense. Of course, as an Akito fan, I end up naturally thinking of Akito's ego, sorry, but this isn't about him; Kohane finding what she's doing this for, what she'd do this for even if other people didn't like it, it was so good. Very cool. When you think about it, RAD WEEKEND was Nagi's selfish wish; it was her ego, and the ego of everyone else who participated; and RAD BLAST was everyone else's ego. This kind of ties it together — everyone came together for their own wants. Oh, the parallels... they make me crazy. And then there's chapters 6 and 7. Pretty much the main point of the event. To be honest, there's a few people who complained about Kohane events mostly being "plot events" rather than "character events" and — perhaps that's true, but the first half focused on her character, her task and her growth, and this is like, the big VBS event. There's no helping it. In a way, this is a plot event, but it's very closely tied to the characters, since they're reaching their ultimate goal. But as I was saying... chapters 6 and 7 were crazy. The circle scene at the beginning of chapter 6 really had me losing it. When Akito started shouting his Akito-like lines, I just... started sobbing, genuinely. The lines were the usual Akito lines but... they really hit me hard. Man. I love him so much. Honestly. Fuck!!!! (sorry for swearing) Everyone saying their ego and everything, it was so good.

Pretty much the entirety of chapter 6 was amazing. It was so nice to see the partner duos performing together to kick off the event. Also Touya's line about "Let's accomplish our dream" has been imprinted in my brain. Just... ugh. The Arata-Souma part was also really good. I like how he appeared last minute and sang Souma's song... even though Souma can't sing anymore, they were doing this together, in a way... oghh... I get emotional thinking about this. This is tragic yaoi, perhaps. (Little bit of nitpicking here) Maybe it would have been nice if they gave us a bit more about Arata, though, such as what he was doing until now, and how Souma even found him... but perhaps they'll do that in a future event. And chapter 7? Mannnnn. I didn't summarize it but I'll give my thoughts on it. Don't read this part if you didn't read the chapter or something!! Chapter 7 had me speechless. I was livetweeting my event impressions and I just couldn't keep tweeting anymore except a random screenshot because Kohane's lines hit my head hard, but yeah. It was so epic. I was sobbing, happy, laughing. This really was the greatest chapter in all Sekai events so far. (Actual chapter 7 spoilers now) All the effects and stuff were so epic. And how they used multiple BGMs of the characters singing?? And then for the finale, VBS's cheers and time stopping for Kohane??? It's just... wow... it was so incredibly shounen and perhaps even a bit corny but it was amazing. I loved it so much. I'm not even that big of a fan of shounen stuff but it was so cool. They really went all out with this chapter. A big love letter to VBS, and really delivering on their finale. Man!!! So great. I'm so, so happy. They finally did it. I didn't even really consider myself a VBS fan until recently, but WTWG really hit my head hard, and I've since reread most VBS events and reconsidered my thoughts on a lot of things. And now here we are... But even then, I've always been an Akito fan, so even if I didn't like VBS (which I do!), just seeing him accomplish his dream... makes me cry. I'm so happy for everyone, really. I'm so grateful. Chapter 8 was a pretty nice epilogue. The chapter starting just like back after RAD WEEKEND, with the musicians singing in town and aiming to surpass the new legend in town... wow... the themes of chains of inspiration and generational cycles are cool. RAD BLAST inspired and motivated everyone, and revived the scenery of the town once again. It's so nice. Ken and Taiga becoming partners again was quite an interesting development. Didn't expect that. It's pretty sad that Ken-san may be gone... between that and all the NPCs having their own plans (Kotaro becoming a YouTuber lol), it's like... VBS is by themselves, once again. I feel sad thinking about this.

Also I wanna say that I really loved how they showed the development that all the VBS characters went through. This event is like a culmination of not just their story, but also their characters. They grew a lot... It makes me so happy. It also focused a lot (more than I expected) on the partner bond; not just within VBS, but also Arata-Souma and, very surprisingly, Taiga-Ken. Not to bring "discourse" here, but some people seem to think the partner stuff is fanservice, for some reason (I beg people to Read the stories, please); but it's a very integral part of the VBS characters. The bond with your partner and growing together and helping each other grow; this event really drove the point home multiple times, including in the cards (lol). I talked about partners a few times in my past essays, and I'm glad the game really shows how important they are to each other. While they're a group, and there's a friendship between all of them, the most important person to each other is their respective partner. It's a truly inseparable bond. This did feel like an actual finale. Of course, their story is far from over, but they REALLY did make it look like an actual ending. Good job. Breaking the mood for a bit, I actually feel a bit mixed about this ending. I kind of... dread what's next? It's an odd feeling. Like, I feel super happy and satisfied, but also... it has been over three and a half years since their journey started, and now it's over? It's like when you finish a very long game that you loved and suddenly you're like "Oh... now what?" It's also weird because most of their life has been about surpassing RAD WEEKEND... it's scary to think what they're gonna do next. Of course, I support them in whatever they plan to do, they're like my kids (everyone in Sekai is, tbh), but the unknown is scary. While random to mention here, perhaps Akito may feel something similar soon. He even says it in the event, but RAD WEEKEND was all his life, what kept him alive, and he has been looking forward to this day all this time; so now that he accomplished this goal, he may feel a bit lost on what's next. While "conquering the world" is definitely VBS's next goal, he may want something... more concrete? Direct? But there is someone that has always been with him... his partner. Maybe this is me being a bit delusional but perhaps it'll be Touya that gives Akito a "new purpose" in life — they'll always be together, no matter what, just like Arata and Souma. In the end, it's all about aibou. Leaving the negative feelings aside: yeah, it was an epic event. Possibly the best VBS event? Or even in the game? However, I don't know if I can rank it higher than Akito's focuses because, well, that's my boy!! But as a group event, this is perhaps the best. There's some minor nitpicks, such as why, despite being their big event, none of their friends and loved ones were there (like, Saki and Tsukasa would want to be there for Touya; and Kohane's parents too, among other people), but perhaps they simply didn't appear physically since they didn't want to crowd the event too much? Or it was recorded (don't make the same mistake as RADder lol)? But it's a bit "hmmm" to think about. (<- guy who just said he'd leave the negativity aside) BUT! I think they really landed this event. It was quite Crazy to suddenly finish not just the arc, but their STORY so soon, and everyone doubted they could do it (June 29th was a rough day). But they did it. In a way, this is storytelling (what is he yapping about), and as my friend put it:

i do think that doomer phase was a quintessential part of the vbs experience. “there’s scenery you can only see when beaten and crawling on the asphalt” after all . they scared the shit out of us with insane balance and pacing decisions and pulled it all right back together (source)

I had faith in the writing, unlike most people, and thought they'd be able to cover, at the least, most of those plot threads that there were hanging... but they actually covered nearly everything. It was much better than I expected. They surpassed my expectations, both the writers and VBS. It was so great. A really good event. I love Akito. I love aibous. I love VBS. Truly legendary.

3. Event Cards Impressions (and Some Analysis)

[Disclaimer: Personal opinions ahead. The analysis is very minor, since I think there isn't That much to analyze here.] So epic that they gave Akito a gay bar themed card to finish off pride month 🧡💙 We truly ended pride month with a BLAST!! Okay, jokes aside. The event gacha's name is The Party Of Blast!! Gacha, and looking at the cards, it's easy to see why. They're all partying in their cards; this is pretty much the afterparty of their event. Everyone's cards take place in bar-like settings, and there's alcoholic glasses all over — however, rather than alcohol, they're filled with diamonds and various other gems, some of them colored as VBS's characters' image colors. (They're minors and can't legally drink alcohol by the way.) There's also confetti raining down on them, representing their victory. They're all dressed in military-like clothes, symbolizing how hard they've been fighting so far to reach this place. And, they also all have elements of VBS's image color (hot, bright pink) in their outfits, mainly their belts or belt straps and their shoelaces, which represent their unit and their unity as a team. (Won't mention this detail for all of them, so just adding it here.) There's also chains present in most of the cards. I did talk about chains a bit in my latest essay, and I feel they may represent a similar thing here: connection, the connection between these characters as a team, and the partners' deeper connections to each other. So overall, the theme of these cards is as I said — an afterparty, celebrating their achievement after all their hard work. Something that could be interesting to talk about before getting into the cards themselves is the fact they chose a bar setting for these cards. An often-controversial aspect of VBS is that they often cover and sing adult-themed songs; like, suggestive songs (such as PaIII.Sensation), or in their most recent cover, Yoidore Shirazu, featuring elements of drinking (As I've said in the past, I don't really condone them covering these kinds of songs and I'd rather they weren't a thing but, it is what it is). This last example is fitting since this set, too, has a drinking-related theme, which is bars. VBS are often associated with adult elements, despite being one of the younger units (all second-years, same as Leo/need), and this is another case of that: minors aren't allowed to drink alcoholic beverages, nor enter bars in general. For that reason, the content of the glasses in the cards are replaced with diamonds and other gems, but the original feeling still remains of them being in a place that is usually reserved for adults. One way to look at it is that they're more mature than expected for their age, chasing after a dream in a mainly grown-up world, and aiming to surpass an event hosted by adults, and they represent that maturity by putting them in adult situations? Or perhaps, due to the street culture, these things represent them breaking the rules and doing things that aren't fit for minors; to symbolize the underlying theme of rebellion in these characters, too, and showing everyone that they can do whatever they're chasing after. Project Sekai is, in a way, a "coming of age" game, showing all the characters' growth and development as they experience things in their teenage life, so this adult angle does make sense. Vivid BAD SQUAD are growing up...! In any case, let's get into the cards; of course, starting with a very special boy:

4☆ Shinonome Akito - "A Circle Signaling Our Determination"

"... Good. Everyone has their hands in."

This is Akito's 4☆ card from the event. This may be crazy to say but, I think this is THE gayest Akito card. Not just for the gay bar joke (sorry), but it very much gives that vibe. While I actually think "woww he looks so gay here" whenever there's a new Akito card... this time, it's for real. I'm not sure how to explain it, but he LOOKS gay. I've seen gay guys that look like this before. This is a gay guy, if I've ever seen one. His beloved partner sitting on the chair's arm next to him, so close to him, really adds to the homosexuality. It's just a great card to me. ... Anyways, getting serious. My general thoughts on the card is that it has become one of my favorite Akito lims (still below FES and Doggy though). People were being mean to his hairstyle but I think it looks really nice! It's now one of my favorite hairstyles for him.

Fun fact: Akito's hairstyle here is quite similar to Souma's hairstyle. Meanwhile, Touya's hairstyle in Whip the wimp girl!!, which I thought was a reference to his dad, does share similarities to Arata's hairstyle, too. Are they implying something?

Also, I quite like his outfit. I'd definitely wear that stuff (you're insane), he looks very handsome and attractive. It's very nice that his pants are dark pink? Grape pink? (I don't know color names lol.) Furthermore, his boots' shoelaces and his belt strap are bright, hot pink; which is VBS's image color. It's pretty nice and bold. From memory, I think this is the first time he wears these kinds of pink? Which I feel is quite bold, since he usually wears less showy colors; a recent exception being his BURN MY SOUL card's outfit, which he got in the event where he realized he has to listen to how he feels and be true to himself more, which I interpreted in the outfit as him being more confident in how he dresses. There's even a similar contrast in both of these cards' costumes, combining black / dark colors, and a showy color. Could just be reading too much into it, as usual, but the fact he's getting bolder with his fashion is quite nice and something I enjoy. He feels more confident in himself, and now wears colors he didn't use to wear (pink), which is a color usually considered "for girls"... Don't want to delve too deeply into the topic of his sexuality in here, otherwise this is gonna get extra long, but I talked about getting bolder with his fashion and how it could relate to what he learned about his feelings and feeling more confident about them, and his sexuality and my homosexuality headcanon in the BMS card section in The Gay Akito Thesis™. Similar logic would apply to this card and outfit, in my opinion. A very nice detail is the colored diamonds and gems — they're colored after VBS's image colors (Pink, Light Blue, Orange, Dark Blue). The fun part is that, even as diamonds/gems, the partners are always together (Pink+Light Blue, and Orange+Dark Blue). You can see them together on the table, and in the glasses in the card. They're inseparable, after all. Speaking of which, Touya himself is next to Akito in this card. So nice... always together... aibou4ever...

Oh, nearly forgot to talk about the theme. Yeah, as I said earlier, they're dressed in military-like outfits, and it's a party at a bar. Out of all the set, this card is the one that is most obviously a bar because of the glasses hanging in the back. (Considering that, and the, uh, nearing-homosexual bond between Akito and Touya, the gay bar joke seems quite fitting.) Also, not that important and likely obvious; the neon sign in the back saying "Go all out" symbolizes Akito and everyone else giving it their all during their event. it also represents akito coming out of the closet (joke) In short, this card represents the afterparty and celebration after surpassing their goal, which they had been working so hard to accomplish and put all their effort into. It's quite cool. Great job, guys, you deserve it. So, overall, I think it's a great card. I really like it. The untrained illustration also features Touya next to Akito, and a neat detail is that it's the first time Touya reciprocates Akito's shoulder touch (Akito is always all over Touya's shoulders, but it was never the other way around), just... wow... sorry I'll stop being gay. Great card, everyone. Gay Akito is real. Happy pride month.

2☆ Aoyagi Touya - "Just a Little Bit More of This Atmosphere"

Touya's 2☆ card. Not much to say here, it's just a 2☆... But it looks quite nice! I like how he's Happy (both literally and the actual card attribute) and enjoying singing... such a nice development from the Touya at the start of the game... he enjoys music once again thanks to his partner and the town. So good. I like it. Touya's initial 2☆ (his very first one) was also Happy, and comparing his appearance between both cards, with his initial 2☆ him looking serious and gloomy, and now in this card him looking happy and enjoying himself as he sings and does what he enjoys... it's quite a difference. It's very nice. Perhaps this card may represent this moment in the story, too:

Very good... smiling about making THEIR dream come true — it's not just Akito's dream, it's their dream now... So great. Aibous forever!!

4☆ Hatsune Miku - "Beyond the Door"

"Let's go and see it, Kohane. Together with everyone."

Now we have Miku's 4☆ card. This is a quite notable card because, up until now, Miku's lims were mainly reserved for "special occasions" (FES, collabs, and special events). Although, perhaps, this IS a special occasion — besides the fact it was the first Bloom Festival banner, it's also a special occasion for VBS. Their arc end, their final goal, the end of their story... maybe? Yeah. It's a nice card. Seeing Miku with her hair down is new and interesting, although I would've liked a different hairstyle for VBS Miku but... eh, it's alright. It's good too. Just like Akito's card, the card takes place in a bar-like setting, and she's wearing military-like clothes, with hot pink shoelaces, belt, and thigh belt (VBS's image color). The glass she's holding has four different colored gems: dark blue, yellow, light blue, and pink, which I imagine represent KAITO, Len, Miku, and Luka. It's odd that there's no red and orange for MEIKO and Rin, but you could pretend they just can't be seen from the front. There's also something else: if you zoom in, there's two glasses in the background, one with dark blue and orange diamonds, and the other with light blue and pink diamonds. Even in this card, the partner pairs are together, and in different glasses, to boot. Funny. They're truly inseparable. Also the neon signs in the card "get over" and "NEXT" are quite nice. Symbolizing surpassing their goal and, as the second sign literally says, what's next. Pretty cool card. I should also mention the card's untrained illustration: usually, the VIRTUAL SINGER holograms in the story aren't that big, but it feels more symbolic than anything; Miku being next to Kohane, supporting her and watching her back as she heads towards her dream. It's very nice.

💚 『Let's go see a new world together.』

3☆ Shiraishi An - "What I Want to Tell You"

"Nagi-san, we've come this far..."

An's 3☆ card from the event. Just like the others, the theme is a bar celebration in military-like clothes. Also, once again, the outfit has bright, hot pink elements (the shoelaces and the belt). I think it's a pretty nice card. Unlike the previous cards I've talked about, there's colored gems of many colors in this card, and there's a lot of them. You can make out the VIRTUAL SINGER's colors laying on the table, including the missing red and orange in Miku's card, and the middle glass on the table has VBS's image colors, and once again, they're together. (The light blue one is a bit hard to make out because of the glass' reflection, but it's definitely there, next to the pink one.) The other two glasses seem to be a combination of all colors, all together. And the untrained illustration is kind of insane, in my opinion: An visiting Nagi's grave... it really hit hard when I first saw it. After surpassing RAD WEEKEND, she's finally visiting the grave of the one she admired, saying a few words to her, telling her how she finally did it. It's just... argh. It makes me emotional...

🎧 ... Nagi-san, we've come this far. 🎧 From now on, I will go beyond Nagi's dream. 🎧 The scenery that Nagi wanted to see, the various places... We'll go and see them all.

4☆ Azusawa Kohane - "A World Full of Excitement"

"It's so beautiful... my heart's pounding..."

And finally we have the star of the event, Kohane, and her 4☆ card! Same theme as previous cards, her card is a celebration in a bar-like setting, featuring drinks and wearing a military-like outfit, also with hot pink elements; although, due to the artistic lighting, you can't really see them, but they can be seen better in-game: she wears a hot pink belt, shoelaces, and her top. She looks very cool and confident in this card, powerful even, which I quite like; showing off Kohane's development from the beginning. Also the hairstyle is quite nice! This card also has colored gems. At first they were hard to make out, but I think the ones in the glass are also VBS's image colors. There may be other interpretations though, since it's not as clear as the other cards. However, there is two more gems on the table, and those are definitely light blue and pink, representing An and Kohane. Very nice. Always together! The untrained illustration is the main part of the event: VBS after they give their final performance, and looking at that view they've aspired to see all along... the excited audience after their legendary event. Proud of what they accomplished. It's so good...

The card section this time wasn't as deep as usual (although I waffled a lot about Akito lol, sorry. Just me being crazy about Akito and homosexuality), but I believe there isn't that much to analyze here; it's pretty much just an afterparty at a bar, celebrating their big achievement, confetti raining down on them congratulating them for their victory, and the military outfits representing how hard they fought to reach where they are. Perhaps you could analyze something like the meanings of the diamonds and gems and their colors, though, but I don't think there's any deep meaning behind these cards like, for example, WTWG's set: it mainly represents VBS, the inseparable bonds with their partners, and them enjoying themselves after all their hard work. I think it's a really nice set. I like it a lot.

4. Conclusion

This wasn't like my usual essay. It's much more informal and unserious, so I apologize for that. It did kind of become a summary halfway through, but I didn't analyze too much (although I don't think there's much to analyze this time?). I mainly wanted to voice my thoughts and impressions on this event, and I hope that's fine too. I said it multiple times throughout the essay but, it was a really good event. I've mentioned it in the past, but I'm not a VBS fan — my favorite units are Niigo and MMJ. However, ever since WTWG, I've been reconsidering whether it's true that I'm "not a VBS fan"; I mean, I like every unit, but I always thought my absolute favorites were Niigo and MMJ. This is funny though because my absolute favorite character is Akito (as you can see in The Gay Akito Thesis™ — yeah I'm linking it again), it's curious how that works. I think, after reading this event, I can certainly say it: I'm a VBS fan. But, it's a bit silly to have three favorite units out of five, so idk what I'll do about that. Though, for now, I'm a VBS fan, too. I love Akito. I love VBS. I love aibous. 𝓐𝓲𝓫𝓸𝓾𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮. This is one of the greatest events in the game, perhaps one of the best, if not the best (even though I don't know if I'd say it's better than Akito's individual focuses). I really enjoyed it, and it's absolutely a must-read if you're a VBS fan. A bit of a tangent here but, personally, I think My Footprints, Your Destination is Sekai's peak. I loved everything about that event: the song, the cards, the story, the hype leading up to it... everything was great, and I still think about it years later. No event has reached that peak, but Whip the wimp girl!! has come close; the one flaw about WTWG is that I don't like a part of the full song (silly reason), and the story is amazing, but Footprints was a different kind of amazing. However, OVER RAD SQUAD!! is getting close to that peak, with the story being extremely great, and I really like the cards even if I admit they may be the weakest point of everything I mentioned. The only thing remaining is the song... it's a bit scary, since it'll release at the end, but I hope it's good! Even if it turns out to be flop, I think it's very close to the peak I mentioned. This is one of the greatest events in the game. We truly ended pride month with a BLAST, huh? (stop with this joke bro) And that's all. This is how I feel about this event. I don't know if there's much else to add about it. I hope people enjoy this, even if it's not the usual serious essay I write. These are my thoughts and opinions, and hopefully that's enjoyable, too. The last thing to mention, which is not related to the event, is that tomorrow (July 4th) marks two months since I posted my first essay; it's a bit dumb to celebrate just two months, but it also happened to be a VBS lims event and an event that I really enjoyed. Before that, I had never written anything serious like these essays, and WTWG was good enough to make me actually write something? And with that, I started writing stuff. And just last month I wrote and posted a very long essay that I had been wanting to write for a while, which I'm so proud of. Please give it a read if you haven't!! I feel like my writing improves with each essay I make, which I'm quite happy about. To finish this off, while perhaps a bit corny, I would like to thank everyone that reads and enjoys my essays; all the likes, reblogs, retweets, and everything else (?). And also give thanks to all the friends I've met. I met a lot of people recently, when before I barely interacted with the fandom because I thought it was full of awful people; but there is good people out there, too. I'm glad. I'm much happier with my life now, having met great people and interacting with others more. I'm very grateful to everyone. Thank you so much!! And so, see you in the next essay! If I don't write anything else before then, there should be two essays at the end of this month, so look forward to that!

#prsk analysis #(not really an analysis this time but theres a bit lol)#project sekai #pjsekai #pjsk #kohane azusawa #an shiraishi #toya aoyagi #touya aoyagi #akito shinonome #vivid bad squad #vbs #RAD BLAST #OVER RAD SQUAD!!#aibou #aiboulove #aibouyaoi #aibouyuri #yeah adding those too. its necessary

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