#ao no imakagami

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Two versions. Original post by eveydeevey.

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We have some knowledge of this, but not much! We know Celica's power of 'opposing Seithr' is somehow linked to the Power of Order. I always interpreted Celica as being born to be a counter to Nine's incredibly power to draw Seithr- the two of them balance one another out in the environment. While I won't get into it right now for lack of time, I feel like applying a similar "force of nature" lens to Celica really enhances her character.

Jin's connection to the Power of Order that seems to overtake him as Hakumen, then, is also directly linked to the disaster his elder sibling poses. He was born to address the issues that Ragna's existence created; if Ragna is doomed to be the Black Beast, that which destroys this world, then his brother was born to become the one who slays the Black Beast, he who saves this world. We can see the way this 'destiny' or 'soul programming' (or whatever you want to call it) threatens to override his actual personality/personhood- it's the heart of his psychosis, it's what Yukianesa capitalizes on and draws out so powerfully. It's why he can't have a normal relationship with his brother.

I'd have to do an actual, sourced refresher on BB to scrounge up all the information we have on the Power of Order as a force (and that might be fun) but for now, the last note I can think of is when BBDW made some very loaded implications when applying it's "Order" trait to certain characters.

The main series explains Celica, Jin, Hakumen, and Izayoi-Tsubaki's connections to Order- but what the HELL is going on with Drei, Hibiki, Homura, Tenjo, and Kiiro!???!

Did Homura inherit whatever role Tenjo had, similarly to how Tsubaki was able to inherit part of Jin's role??? Should we assume that family plays a huge role in how a person may be born with the Power of Order, as it does in the two main series examples I touched on- or is that just Mori enjoying writing complicated families???

For now, no way to tell.

Hey, so I was wondering if it’s just me, but I always kinda read hakumen as a ‘force of nature’ type figure within the blazblue story, for how much focus there is on him being literally unbendable in his beliefs, and one of his epithets, “the World’s Choice”. I find that interpretation really fascinating, so, curious if it resonates with you at all :3

Well he does have power of order which is basically a force of nature in the blazblue world so it does make sense yah

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It is very likely that Ringo Akagi is one of the most powerful characters in the greater BB/XB franchise, and almost certain that she's one of the most knowledgeable about the greater magics of her world.

As a member of the Mercury family and the Ten Sages, her magical abilities and know-how must be on the same level as Nine's.

Additionally, she's implied to be one of the greatest members of the Sages, as when she left the organization, they reserved her seat for her; in hopes of her return, and in acknowledgement that she could not be replaced.

The only other character to be granted this honor is Relius Clover in his tenure as One.

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By Konomi Higuchi, From Es Works

Edited by me to separate him from the rest of the sketch page. The original can be found below!

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Kokonoe Astral, sprite rips, BBDW

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I feel much the same way. I was very smitten with BBDW. In part because I'm a 'degenerate gacha game fan,' I can admit to my bias- but also because of the incredible potential for character and setting expansion the game had. We were getting roughly two events a month, and with each one, we'd learn SOMETHING about the larger BB world, or about characters we would otherwise have never seen again outside of their debut media.

Watching every BBDW announcement stream be flooded with people wishing the game (and its developers) would die and demanding "where's rollback" or "make another fighting game already" upset me a lot. Because of that, I really do not want to be overly negative about the roguelike- a lot of people seem very excited about it! But I'm generally not a fan of roguelikes, and it feels sort of like salt in the wound to me...

I definitely don't see it as having any potential to expand on the BlazBlue series, and if I'm being honest, it feels more like a knockoff with a BlazBlue-themed coat of paint than a licensed title to me. I also don't trust the studio developing it; they're the same people that did/do BB Revolution Reburning. I will admit the game has some fun gameplay, and if that's what you're ultimately into, this game is in good hands for you. But BBRR also had some of the absolute worst localization I have EVER seen, and in my (admittedly biased opinion) its story was/is... I don't even have an analogy for it... felt like a poorly translated bootleg parody.... like putting a few dodgely translated trivia bits from the BB series and the character designs into a blender...

The point is, it didn't feel like a BlazBlue game, not as someone who enjoys/is invested in the story of BlazBlue. And that would be fine! It's fine to have games or spinoffs more focused on gameplay. But to have that at the cost of or in place of anything related to the story...

I'm definitely not looking forward to this new game, and I worry that it (and Mori's departure) signal ArcSystems loosing interest in the world of BlazBlue in favor of parading the series' flashy, hollowed out corpse in the name of profit.

UPDATE: This post has been sitting in my queue for a little while now. We've since received more information about the game. As I feared, Chaos Effect/Entropy Effect doesn't seem like it has anything to do with BlazBlue's world. From what I can tell the game's premise is some kind of dystopian scifi where you play as a robot that transforms into the featured members of the BB cast for battle.

As I mentioned earlier in the post, I'm VERY happy for anyone excited for the game, and I hope it's everything they want it to be! But damn, I'm really upset about it. Even kind of bitter, honestly.

this is like a very subjective opinion that i absolutely dont expect the majority of people to share but the new blazblue fan spinoff roguelike just makes me unironically miss bbdw because damn bbdw fed us with some good expansions on some very niche characters and its gonna be god knows how long until we see that again.

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TSUBAKI = YAYOI

I // II // III IV // V // VI VII // VIII // IX

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Some Lambda gifts from my BBDW video here!

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waiting at these cemetary gates is a dying dream

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Lambda-11 was added to BBDW as a limited 5⭐ character on November 11th- which fits quite nicely, doesn't it??? As with several of the characters added later into the game's run, she was only given two costumes. She was still granted three story sprites, with her 02 sprite depicting her in full Murakumo battle armor, and an additional 04 sprite showing her in the same outfit but without the petals blades.

This means that while most characters in the files have their assets end in 00, 01, and 02, Lambda's end in 01, 02, 04. It seems a little strange, doesn't it??? Unfortunately, we'll probably never learn why this was done.

See also;

[Base Costume Gameplay] | [Non-Combat Costume Gameplay]

Her usual combat outfit, as seen in the C-series fighting games, was her default form upon summoning, though it was labeled as her final outfit in the game's files. Her art was also drawn by Yuuki Kato, a pretty prolific BlazBlue artist who also did the character select artwork in Central Fiction and Continuum Shift!

Her additional outfit, labeled 01, is her non-combat form seen in the C-series Story Mode.

Though I'm not entirely sure, her card art seems to depict her death from the climax of Continuum Shift, while she and Nu were merged.

If she had been given a third costume, I wonder what it would have been... I'd like to see a full outfit version of this Mori sketch, personally!

Though it would also be a lot of fun to see her and Noel fighting in their nun garb from Central Fiction's epilogue!

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Relius Clover, BBDW

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Sechs made his first playable appearance in BlazBlue Alternative Dark War as a limited 5⭐ character! His 01 costume depicts his 'casual' outfit seen in XBlaze gag routes, his 02 costume depicts his original design from XBlaze, and his 03 costume is brand new for BBDW- and was his default form upon summoning.

See also;

[Gameplay]

Sechs was an interesting, unique character in a few different ways. One point of difference is can be seen above; the vast majority of BBDW characters have three different costumes in the files. Sechs has three costumes that appear in his card art, but only two of the costumes have talk sprites!

For whatever reason, his second costume appears with his card art...

But not with his talk sprites!

Sechs' second outfit, his 01 sprites, are also missing from the section of the files designated for battle sprites.

There are a number of other characters who are also missing assets like this; we see more and more of them as more characters were released for the game. The original available cast all appear with all assets for all three costumes, regardless of whether or not those costumes were ever made accessible while the game ran.

Over the next few months, as more characters were added, many were also added with all three costumes accounted for, but we start to see more characters who, like Sechs, are missing assets, or don't even have all their costumes in the first place!

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Sketch by Konomi Higuchi, from Es Works

I cleaned up the sketch to isolate this little doodle of Es with some ducks. If you’re interested in the full sketch page, check it out below!

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But my money’s on the snake, though!

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I'm still a little salty that we know so little about Professor Emma. If she would have made it into BBDW... Ahem.

One of the things that stumps me the most is the Estella vs Emma thing. The translation uses the word "alias" for her Emma moniker, and it's the only name any of the other characters ever use.

So the question is- is "Emma" a nickname used by her students, a sort of portmanteau of "Estella" and "McKenzie," or is it a genuine alias? Is her real name kept from the students and faculty as part of her collaboration with Kagura's rebellion, or am I totally overthinking that?

I feel like we have tons of info pointing either way. Her little bio from the Anniversary translates Emma as a "nickname," and the segway into her popularity with the kids suggests it's something they came up with.

But on the other hand, the other adult figure in the same manga IS canonically using an alias- see Chapter 20's discussion of Cypher's history with Sector Seven. So fake names are used in this specific arc. We also see Emma herself referred to as "Agent E" in Chapter 12.

Though her actual given name, Estella, also begins with an E. And why used an "agent" handle if her codename was Emma? Wouldn't the entire point be for the codename to be disconnected from her real name? So it should be safe to use?

Personally, after going on this silly deep dive on the subject, I'm inclined to believe 'Emma' is just a totally normal nickname the students gave her, and that she is on file as Estella McKenzie within the NOL and at the school. Anyone disagree???

...do any of you even know about Emma???

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