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.

What's the situation with Akirose channel? I saw a sub video about her talking about low subscriber counts, where she was still talking about herself as the half-elf avatar?

Well I guess either way my point was that if this is partially fiction, it doesn't make sense to me at least to be treating their actions as fully real or indicative of any real personality traits like having boundary issues.

It is ironic though because the way they typically present it is that they can show their true selves as a Vtuber.

That is really nice art, with an interesting composition and dynamic coloring.

C-AF-8 cleared. Needed micromanagement every moment, because if the placement of certain operators was delayed even half a second in-game time or the order mixed up, leaks would happen. Used Platinum for most of the spiders, Silverash for one specific spider, and needed maxed out Blaze support to prevent one row from being overrun.

Don't think I have the plans or sanity to figure out a strat for C-AF-7 before event ends but going to try.

...are we sure they're not just acting with the kisses and stuff? Since you know, they're all avatars and we can't actually see what they're doing or if they're even in the same room.

^Same. Recently found out that the stage play exists, and I'm very excited to watch it for my birthday.

True. It’s one thing if one says they dislike it in manga, but to say it’s a “Japan thing” is assumptive. Especially how we always coin Japan as “weird.” If I see international foreigners talking about my country in a general sense like that just purely based mangas, I would be pissed

But it's something I happen to notice more in manga and anime because Japanese society is more conservative than American society and social hierarchies just matter a lot more there. I'm not trying to like, make Japan feel bad by saying I think they could be better about some stuff, I'm just saying I think it could be better about some stuff. For what it's worth, I still really love Japan. But I think I'm allowed to criticize it sometimes too.

The point is that characterizing a culture and its people purely by its media, with no other real-life evidence to back it up, is something I would be personally skeptical of doing. It amounts to mistaken stereotyping, as media is a product of not just contemporary social values but also the history of that medium, the specific community it originates from, messaging or lack thereof that the authors are trying to spread, what the author personally enjoys creating, and etc.

It's like saying "the glorification of violence and guns in movies and video games is pretty yikes, why is America always so weird about that kind of thing". You could try to draw the conclusion that the reason such violence is present in media is because of American society. But the actual truth is likely to be far more complex than that, so saying that "[an entire country] could be better about some stuff", through a conclusion reached by consuming fictional media, does not come off well. The argument and conclusion don't really match up.

AF-8 (normal mode), the bane of my existence, has finally been conquered. I'm so happy cause it took so many practice runs. Upwards of thirty I'm sure. In the end E1, lvl 1 Gravel was the one who saved the day.

Now I'm stuck on AF-8's challenge mode, which I've already tried twenty times. I'm so close, it's usually the last wave where my defenders get overrun, but if I can just figure out a way to kill the spiders a bit quicker, prevent my operators from being frozen at the last minute by mages, and basically do everything perfectly, that should do it.

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.

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.

There was a random update in April of this year, but it was just another gag two-pager. I don't think he's made any Weibo posts on why the updates have slowed down so much.

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

Because whenever operator deals arts damage it's highlighted in blue, I associated text in blue as arts damage.

Oh I never knew that. We all learn new things every day. XD

After trying a lot of setups I finally figured out how to beat AK-7. Who would have guessed, it involved starting with 2 vanguards stares.

Highly recommend two vanguard starting set-up, since it really can make life much easier in my experience. AK-7 can for sure be beaten with only E1s, and the Chinese anniversary stream showed the staff(?) clearing it with only 3*s.

So it drops Kohl. It says rare, but is it any better than regular quest?

If you look at Penguin Stats and sort by ascending sanity per drop, AK-7 seems to have better drop rates than the best permanent stage farming location, 6-11.

Regarding the event, I am happy they made it so easy to complete, but I wonder why they didn't extend the number of rewards. They must have known most players would be done with the current amount within a few days to a week. Wouldn't have minded getting something more, even if it was low tier materials.

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

It seems the middle part was released during Comiket 97. Preview looks fun.

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

I looked it up - apparently Vouivre is a reference/another name for Guivre, a medieval French word for creatures with serpentine bodies and dragon heads, with the word itself being the origin of “wyvern”.

That's fascinating, I've never seen that mythical creature in any other work of fiction. Arknights developers must have been pulling from every source they could find for their taxonomy names.

I'm really taken with the dorm furniture sets right now. They're technically useless since max ambience can be reached with any random collection of furniture, but this Lungmen dumpling house one looks so good. I stopped farming LMD to farm for furniture parts and my operators are finally living in a fashionable residence.

I really like the way soratto draws Yachiyo, she looks so pretty

Wow you're so right. This art collection and this one are great. Not just for how Yachiyo is drawn, but the general feeling of each picture plus there's Harry Potter AU drawings in there!

last edited at Aug 4, 2020 6:38AM

We also have a full week for this event, so the double grind isn't too bad. The story's been shaping up to be very fun.

One of the best chapters so far. Have never seen that type of dedication before; it surpasses Homura's. Well either way, there actually has been progress. Hino was actually embarrassed and apologized multiple times before leaving for class with no fuss. Koguma just hasn't understood why Hino did that nor has Hino bothered to explain.

This is Texas we're talking about. Something is terribly, terribly wrong if she doesn't look like someone peed in her cereals. For the entirety of the past week. it was probably Lappland anyway o3o

I now also have doubts concerning your skills at visual and context interpretation.

I'm not really sure what point is being made since my main claim was just that it's rare for Texas to look happy around Lappland on this site, which makes a fan artwork depicting her actively smiling at Lappland interesting. That seems pretty factual to me.

And either way there's really no need to be making claims about interpretative abilities or lack thereof in that way, when there's been a grand total of not much real discussion on this topic, so I'm respectfully out.

I finally got around to watching Ancient Forge's story. That was fun, if a bit confusing, though I'll chalk that up to me being unfamiliar with the myths and legends it was based on/referencing.

The set up does make it confusing, but you're not actually missing much in the way of referenced myths or legends. Most of the stories being told in the movie and stuff like the Nian being a collective entity were made up for the Arknights universe. Real life myths about the Nian are really simple and boil down to something like this: On New Year's Eve, at the very beginning of a new year, a monster with animal features shows up to eat people and wreck havoc. Firecrackers, loud noises, or the color red can scare it away, which led to those elements becoming part of Chinese New Year traditions.

You get some flourishes added to that basic set-up, like the people cowering in fear each year, a sacrifice being left for it, or some 'hero' figuring out firecrackers deter it, but it's a simple legend at its core.

Also I ship Lava x Nian for real now.

The ship is real.

Most of the fanart I see on here actually seems to reflect that discomfort. It's rare for Texas to look happy around Lappland.

*parses*

...I think you need to take a second look.

On this site? Texas only looks happy in one image while the rest are frowns, scowls, or blank looks. I'm not talking about the entirety of the internet.

Texas actually looks happy to see Lappland here? The world must be ending.

Tex's substantial discomfort with Lapp is a part of the canon fanartists routinely and willfully elect to ignore, so.

Most of the fanart I see on here actually seems to reflect that discomfort. It's rare for Texas to look happy around Lappland.

Finished Ancient Forge story. I'm sure the translation had something to do with it not making complete sense, but the original story clearly plays fast and loose with what's going on too. I wonder just what is the truth with Nian? Lava's outfit looks awesome and I hope there's a way to get it for her.

The fanarts of these two are rarely to be seen nowadays

If it seems rare, you haven't been looking in the right places. The fandom is still very much alive.

Here's a picture of Lappland and Texas:

https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/83390594

Texas actually looks happy to see Lappland here? The world must be ending.

There will be a Nian banner rerun.