Except this happens to be at the same time FGO is doing the Summer Servant Festival a very grindy event (although in the case of FGO it's twenty days instead of seven) with NO Autobattle. I may end up just doing the story and nothing else unless I get the time to do the event.

Frankly I am already done with the bulk of the farming for this event, got all my essentials off the shop, hit the 1000 farmed currency mission for the pink rocks, I will just keep burning my AP for daily missions and that's it, so it hardly gets in the way.

You know, seeing Kyouko interact with kids (how old is Karin again?) has made me wonder... Where on Earth is Yuma at this juncture? I read hers and Oriko's MSS but from what I recall those didn't exactly clear things up.

last edited at Aug 4, 2020 6:46PM

You know, seeing Kyouko interact with kids (how old is Karin again?)

Karin is 14... the exact same age as Kyoko, in fact Kyoko might be younger than Karin depending on when their birthday dates fall, since we don't know as much for either of them, the only holy quintet member we know the birthday date for is Madoka.

Where on Earth is Yuma at this juncture?

She should still be living with Kyoko, but Oriko Magica characters are weird in general and they are not allowed to exist outside their own personal stories, outside of Oriko's, Kirika's and Yuma's Personal Stories, those three never appeared in anything, it's actually kind of a problem because Oriko and Kirika are way too close to action to not get involved in anything, and Kirika canonically attends to Mitakihara Middle School in the same grade(but not necessarily same classroom) as Mami, you cannot convince me they don't come across each other in the hallways on occasion...

last edited at Aug 4, 2020 7:57PM

Karin is 14... the exact same age as Kyoko, in fact Kyoko might be younger than Karin depending on when their birthday dates fall

Well, she is a kid compared to Kyouko, at least in terms of avoiding falling in pitfalls after witnessing Ui do it.

it's actually kind of a problem because Oriko and Kirika are way too close to action to not get involved in anything

I assume the approval of their original creator is needed for them to appear in stories? They could have had a prominent role in Another Story, for one. Or perhaps, an event where they conveniently end up killed off (possibly showing Moemura's budding ruthlessness) would have solved the problem better than just having them Unlimited.
I guess I could also see a scenario where they hold the fort against invading forces in Mitakihara while the Quintet deals with stuff in Kamihama... But still, an explanation for their absence, even handwaved, would be better than nothing.

at least in terms of avoiding falling in pitfalls after witnessing Ui do it.

Which is something I still don't get... Karin can fly, not directly but she can use her scythe as a broomstick going off her witch(lower case W, of couse) theme, which she does very frequently anyway, in fact she is one of the very few megucas in the entire franchise who can fly in any way, shape or form, why did she even need to wait Kyoko find something to pull the two of them up when she could've transformed and got out in a moment's notice...

But still, an explanation for their absence, even handwaved, would be better than nothing.

The absolute closest we get is Oriko's personal story with Oriko deciding that Kamihama is too crazy to fuck with towards the end, but that still doesn't explain Yuma's absence, since they went with the OG Oriko Magica route(meets Kyoko, becomes a meguca to save Kyoko's life), instead of the Extra Story route(never meets Kyoko, never contracts, builds up courage to contact her grandparents and moves away from her abusive mother), and you can't just handwave away as "Kyoko decided that she'd be better off living with her grandparents" route, because you already had her contracting, and there is a legitimate argument she'd be better off with Kyoko in this scenario and sending her off to her grandparents could potentially doom her.

Rights issues regarding the characters is the most likely explanation but I still hate the mess around the Oriko Magica characters, since they are way too close to the holy quintet, specially Yuma, to simply ignore their existence...

The absolute closest we get is Oriko's personal story with Oriko deciding that Kamihama is too crazy to fuck with towards the end

That doesn't change Oriko's problem though, namely the danger of Madoka turning into Gretchen. Even without further confirmation from her visions she's paranoid enough to try assassinating Madoka just to be safe. Especially considering that Magical Girls still turn into Witches outside of Kamihama (honestly, that alone would make Oriko, Kirika and a theoretical Coolmura prime candidates for the Wings of Magius, at least at first), and Madoka & co. still live in Mitakihara.

You are not wrong though one point to consider is that Kamihama is close enough to Mitakihara(suggested under an hour by train), that the holy quintet could safely rely on the Doppel system as-is, the system is based on geographical location and any meguca who walks within the area can use it just fine, after all, so all they'd really need to do is keep good track of their soul gems, the only reason to still hunt witches is that Madoka genuinely takes the job of protecting people serious, and expresses feeling pride in being a meguca due to that.

And again, the Oriko Magica stuff is a mess and I hate it, I mean, not the characters, the characters are actually cool and I don't think it would take too much to get Oriko to see reason, but the situation behind them is so bad that if it really is a rights issue, they should've worked a better rights deal ahead of time when MagiReco was being produced and only actually release them once something had been worked out, instead of having all three as launch characters...

Kamihama is close enough to Mitakihara(suggested under an hour by train), that the holy quintet could safely rely on the Doppel system as-is

I can just see Homura checking Madoka's Gem every five minutes and keeping a stash of train tickets inside her shield.

they should've worked a better rights deal ahead of time when MagiReco was being produced and only actually release them once something had been worked out

Or this might be the best compromise they could reach. Who knows how this things work, maybe they just haven't figured out yet the best way to employ the characters in the narrative.
Let's hope Kazumi Magica doesn't follow suit. At least there seem to be no issues with Suzune and Tart.

Anybody feel like translating this? These relationship charts just keep getting crazier and crazier. Except for the top left corner and this one girl right next to the turtle, NA seems pretty much caught up. (That's right, the turtle is in here.)

The artist has some great art in this collection.

Nobody told me Studio Zombie did so much cute slice of life IroYachi.

last edited at Aug 6, 2020 4:12AM

That first link triggers a 403 error for me. You'll need to post the Pixiv page, not hotlink the image.

If it is a relationship chart, it most definitely is 5tb's since I don't know another artist that makes them, and the 2nd anniversary chart has a fairly cohesive TL over at Danbooru, though it is not complete and considering you complained before about Sudachi's backstory as spoiler, you should probably avoid it as well, jokey as it may be it reveals a ton of details from not-yet-released-in-NA characters.

Also, Studio Zombie updates their twitter on a daily basis, most commonly YachIro, but also on occasion Zombieland Saga(originally entirely Zombieland before they picked up YachIro stuff, it's where their name comes from...), PriConne, and that one otome villainess anime that I avoided because I hate harems with a burning passion, they always upload around the same time of the day(11:30AM-ish for me), so you know when to check.

Finally got my first doppel. Sure it's welfare girl Melissa but hey, I'll take it. Plus she's from tart Magica -huge plus for me!

If it is a relationship chart, it most definitely is 5tb's since I don't know another artist that makes them, and the 2nd anniversary chart has a fairly cohesive TL over at Danbooru, though it is not complete and considering you complained before about Sudachi's backstory as spoiler, you should probably avoid it as well, jokey as it may be it reveals a ton of details from not-yet-released-in-NA characters.

Updated the link, and yep it is that one. I'll check it out and skip the JP-only characters.

Also, Studio Zombie updates their twitter on a daily basis

Skimmed through their twitter, don't understand how they're able to upload a colored drawing every day. These are high-quality, colored, properly lined, properly detailed, etc. I'm no artist but I know those take time. Is this their job? As in are they are a professional artist. Or are they just that experienced?

last edited at Aug 6, 2020 4:41AM

I couldn't tell you the specifics and I don't draw either, but I could tell you that while "art takes time" is a true statement, it isn't as simple as "the process of drawing takes time", it can be deciding on what to draw, deciding posing and composition, spending 5 hours redrawing one corner of a massive drawing over and over because it didn't feel right, so on, if you can get over your worst personal hurdles, keeping a consistent stream of content becomes easier.

Anyway, timelock opened up, and I decided to focus on the EX quests before doing the story, EX5 was almost hard this time...

I struggled with EX more this time. Had to redo EX 2 and 3 once because of the wrong blast gorilla element. Redid EX 4 twice because I was focusing on Madoka and Homura before Mami. Am stuck on EX 5 at four tries so far, but I think I just need Madokami and stat resist memoria. Or dark element character to get rid of Kanagi.

Regarding EX 5 it's amusing how Kyouko has the least synergy with the rest of them, because her skill activates the least often, and it doesn't match what the rest of them do. Ui, Mitama, and Karin all inflict status effects while Kyouko provides blast up like every three or four turns. Meanwhile Kanagi has guard and follow-up chance for all of them, which befits her leader position.

Edit: EX 5 cleared. This one was fun. The welfare 4* memo was quite helpful, and then I just had to switch in a second Mito Rain and one Dependable Negotiator. Dependable Negotiator's massive status ailment resist saved my Iroha. I swear, I will clear every EX quest with her.

last edited at Aug 7, 2020 6:19PM

Well I ended up naming my animals in the new-ish Story of Seasons game after characters from the game. Right now I have Alina (she has the highest affinity right now) and Tsukuyo the chickens. I might add Rika the angora rabbit and Sana the cow later on.

Finished story, it was decent. Got some laughs out of me. I'm really surprised Kyouko's so paranoid and that she took Mitama so seriously. I thought, she was made of cooler stuff than that maybe? But here she was legitimately panicking over the others finding out something as innocuous as her having accidentally burned one of the clues and significantly magnifying their disappointment in her mind. Like I know Mitama's threat is hanging over her, but chill dude. People aren't that terrible they're going to be devastated by a little mistake. Have never seen this side of her before.

Also Mitama really abused her power here lol. I'm sure she just wanted to make things more fun and get Kyouko to enjoy herself too, but considering how that backfired for Kyouko, could not be said to be completely successful.

If Rena and Momoko ever find out about this island, they're going to be incensed the others treated a SayuSayu original sword design as "a piece of paper" and charge over there.

Finished story, it was decent. Got some laughs out of me. I'm really surprised Kyouko's so paranoid and that she took Mitama so seriously. I thought, she was made of cooler stuff than that maybe? But here she was legitimately panicking over the others finding out something as innocuous as her having accidentally burned one of the clues and significantly magnifying their disappointment in her mind.

Frankly Kyoko felt like a kid who is trying to cover something up from her parents in that part of the story, which really got me thinking... Kyoko's father was a Catholic priest and religious people tend to be more strict as parents since it usually connects to their doctrine... maybe she was used to acting like this, before her tragedy befell her? always being overly concerned about covering things up from her father and so on, she is still just a 14 year old girl, after all, hardened as she may be from her harsh life.

If Rena and Momoko ever find out about this island, they're going to be incensed the others treated a SayuSayu original sword design as "a piece of paper" and charge over there.

That got me too, if nothing else it sounded like something that'd be worth a decent amount of money, which certainly sounds appealing for someone who is constantly struggling with being able to get food like Kyoko, and as the OG series points out, steals to get by...

At least it is still there, Kyoko closed up the box so it is unlikely to get damaged, it could feasibly be recovered if someone knows what to look for...

last edited at Aug 9, 2020 11:19AM

Frankly Kyoko felt like a kid who is trying to cover something up from her parents in that part of the story, which really got me thinking... Kyoko's father was a Catholic priest and religious people tend to be more strict as parents since it usually connects to their doctrine... maybe she was used to acting like this, before her tragedy befell her? always being overly concerned about covering things up from her father and so on, she is still just a 14 year old girl, after all, hardened as she may be from her harsh life.

Maybe, I wouldn't be too surprised if that is the case. Although she seemed pretty optimistic before her tragedy, and the main thing she was covering up, being a magical girl, she was happy to keep a secret. Here, it's not just that she seems really used to keeping secrets, but the extent of her distrust of others, in the sense of not trusting that they'll react positively. If anything I would attribute this mindset to after her tragedy, given what happened when she told her father her secret and her ensuring loner lifestyle.

Yeah but I have actually not seen much of Kyouko outside of the main series, where she's a hardened, acts like she doesn't gives a shit about anything but actually soft-hearted type of person, so this event was surprising but humanizing in how it treated her.

That got me too, if nothing else it sounded like something that'd be worth a decent amount of money, which certainly sounds appealing for someone who is constantly struggling with being able to get food like Kyoko, and as the OG series points out, steals to get by...

At least it is still there, Kyoko closed up the box so it is unlikely to get damaged, it could feasibly be recovered if someone knows what to look for...

I doubt Kyouko knows who Sayuki is lol, so it really was just a piece of paper to her. It's unlikely but I hope this gets brought up again somehow, even if it's the briefest of mentions in an event or costume voice line.

Kyouko bought into Mitama's threat 100%, so it makes sense she'd overreact if she thought Mitama might blame her for destroying a valuable clue, even if she had no way of knowing it was anything but random flotsam at the time.

It was interesting seeing how Kyoko was overreacting to the thoughts of Mitama, Ui, Karin, and Kanagi "reactions" to her unknowingly burning of a clue for and admittedly worthless treasure despite the fact that except for maybe Kanagi I couldn't really see any of them reacting the way Kyoko imagined them to.

Have we ever been told how popular Sayuki is outside of Kamihama? If she's relatively speaking unknown to people outside the town it would make sense why Kyoko hasn't heard about her. Just like how some real life people are well known in a small or limited area but relatively unknown outside that area.

It's... unclear other than her being stated as "local idol", but Ria and Yachiyo are also local celebrities, and both Madoka knew of Ria(in Homura's personal story), and Iroha's parents knew of Yachiyo, so it is clear "local" doesn't necessarily means "within the city", most likely it means "within the prefecture", but that's only guessing... I still feel Kyoko should've known because... the paper literally stated it, she wouldn't have to know who Sayuki is to know it's from a popular idol, and that it would be something that fans of hers would've wanted.

Either way, next event announced, and it's YachIro, good luck to whoever is rolling.

I still feel Kyoko should've known because... the paper literally stated it, she wouldn't have to know who Sayuki is to know it's from a popular idol, and that it would be something that fans of hers would've wanted.

Kyouko seems pretty detached from society, and I don't think she would deal extensively with anybody who's not a magical girl, which finding a buyer for this piece of paper would require her to do. It's true regardless that leaving it there isn't the most pragmatic action, but Kyouko also seems too occupied with keeping them from being disappointed at the treasure to be thinking about monetary value.

Either way, next event announced, and it's YachIro, good luck to whoever is rolling.

Regret those 100 rolls spent on Ashley banner without getting her so much. There will be salt and tears if I don't 2s YachIro or even worse, if I don't roll them at all. Good luck you all.

I don't think she would deal extensively with anybody who's not a magical girl, which finding a buyer for this piece of paper would require her to do.

Kyoko knows Rena, who is arguably the biggest Sayuki fan out there, she'd just have to go "Hey, you like idols and stuff right? do you think this is worth anything?"... and then watch Rena have an emotional breakdown for like 30 minutes to an hour before getting an answer.

last edited at Aug 11, 2020 9:30PM