Welcome back to another Heaven Burns Thread, where main story is all we get!

5.3 on JP, 5.2 on EN. It's about to go down.

The truth event was quite impactful and surprisingly funny and gay and people are now looking forward to the status quo change of a lifetime.

Hopefully HBR will get even better in the new year!

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>>4508717

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>>4508718

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>>4508719

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpYczrVgOWE
Christmas stream which is also a new chapter update stream.
Well we are starting strong. Admiral Yuina and white suit Ruka. Now that is a one-two combo.

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The new cover art is... I dont even know whose death flags are worse. Tezuka or Yuina.

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I will be honest, I was the least excited waiting for white suit Ruka, but FUCK she is too cool. This is a protagonist style and what she deserves.

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This is the one time Yuina should absolutely get a style. The knight motif is also very obviously perfect what with the whole Jeanne d'arc angle.

>>4508721
So we get a new battle mechanic, a elemental gauge you fill over time. And when it hits 100% it gives bonus stats?

100 free pulls nice~

>>4508726
She literally has a homescreen voiceline where she says during their wedding Yukki will have to wear the dress, because she wears the suit hahahahah

>>4508723
Tezuka looks like she has space aids and is fighting because her time limit is up (does that mean every character has a time limit)

And Yuina... Is confirmed as Jeanne and she remembers getting burnt to death. I don't know how to feel about that if the Jeanne thing is true. There's some ways they can explain it but I don't know if I like any of them

>>4508741
The Jeanne d'Arc thing doesnt seem that hard to justify. If her corpse has somehow been preserved, then they could have had access to her DNA. And if her soul never went to heaven, because of her death, it's even easier to see how it could have been implanted in the narby.
But yeah, the fact that they managed to brainwash a completely new personality and past into her seems very crazy. Maybe it's something weirder... maybe there really is a Yuina Shirakawa and that girl is Jeanne d'Arc's reincarnation? So they just narby's Yuina, but Yuina is still connected to her past life as Jeanne.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZDCLseRbqU
Here is the 5.3 trailer at least. If you pay attention it seems Tezuka is reverting into her narby state, so that either implies a general hito-narby time limit or something specific to Tezuka.
Note that she uses three different Seraphs, which just opens up so many questions. Either she is using her fallen comrades weapons or she actually got reincarneted into several narbies repeatedly somehow...

>>4508745
That boss Cancer honestly doesn't look like the Mother Cancer, does it? That rail gun like move that basically works as mini meteor impact is insanely cool, but it somehow does not feel like the final boss anyway.
Some people speculated that the entire landmass they fight on is just the Mother Cancer, which could imply that anything growing from it is like its defense system. In that case it could actually be true.

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>>4508709
Reminder to all JP anons that when the chapter drops tomorrow we need to use spoilers for all 5.3 talk at least for a month. Please give everyone the time to play it at their own pace without spoilers.
Also Merry Christmas

>>4508748
Are you still expecting anything worth putting in a spoiler to happen?

>>4508755
I am shocked someone as stupid as you still wastes your time coming here to shitpost about a game you never played. Go back to whatever dumpster board you crawled out of.
You will just get deleted and banned again like every year, so let's cut to the chase and get to end result.

>>4508726
>>4508727
>>4508728
Ok in some more detail, both of these are actually Admiral styles which is insane. And the elemental gauge seems to be specific to them.
When the elemental gauge and the OD bar are both full, there will be insane elemental burst damage apparently.

They have been trying really hard to make elemental style relevant ever since crit pierce kinda blew the meta out of it hinges last year and I think by now there are actually enough incentives to play elemental teams again, even if we ignore the e-shields.

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Plot and gameplay are fine and well, but can we acknowledge how insanely the animation has improved over time. I still remember JP forums dissing chapter 3's animations for being "ugly". Now it's all smooth and amazing. The fight choreography also vastly improved.

>>4508774
Pretty sure this pic related is made by Graphinica because it looks like their Ruka model.

>>4508828
Yes, all the cutscenes seem to be done by them. It's quite an interesting jump from music videos to battle choreography though.

>>4508830
Graphinica only does one or two cutscenes by chapter (Megumin bus scene, Ruka diving scene, 5.2 intro scene).
Stealth Works does all the big Cancer boss with insane amount of particles.
WFS handle all the other ones (in-engine cutscenes).

>>4508848
Uh sure whatever you say, but this is very clearly the entire climax, animated by them and even a much earlier combat scene also completely animated by them.
Unless you imply this was all done by Stealth Works?

Any chance we will be getting a Tezuka SS as a story reward like we did Karerin? This seems like the most obvious time to give us a style for her... but I find it hard to believe they wouldn't want to make money on it.

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The new assets are gonna put my mega drive over the 20GB limit, so I'll have to make some space. Between gacha banners and backgrounds, which would you mind less for me to delete? If there's another update like this one, it may have to be both eventually.

>>4509177
I think the gacha banners have less potential use than backgrounds do, so I would get rid of that first.

>>4509177
Could you not just like... make a second account?

Prologue of 5.3
Starting off really strong. Railgun Cancer is keeping the entire coast of Kyushu under surveillance and nuking anything that comes close. The crators on Shikoku were actually is fake metero attacks, not Cancer meteor drop ship like in 5.2... Going the sneaky route between Skullfeather's crystals and the ocean is an interesting move.
Then there is Tezuka... I can't believe they just start out right away with telling us she is going to die in just days or weeks. Fuck. This is the first time I heard of "hito-narby purity", but I guess it makes sense. Tezuka just being another experiment and being able to summon three seraphs oin exchange for being nearly unable to recharge deflector and having a short lifespan is totally in line with what the military would do. 19A though... that means she has been around for 12 Seraph generations. And Nanami joined like 7 years ago. They spend a lot of Tezuka's time together. Zuka-chan acknowledging Nanami has grown more human and emotional was a nice touch.

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Megumin with the meta comments as usual lol

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It's starting to sound like Akarin wants to go the full poly route now.

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DAY 1
What a dense freaking day.
So everything we thought we knew about Seraph was apparently wrong. Not only does it seem like pure narby can summon more than one, they might not even be personalized. It's more like you need to know the codes to summon each one. Maybe the whole seraphim code assignment really was just about summoning the weapon that the human personality can handle best or suits it the most. Ruka(PomPom) is the only pure narby around, which makes sense as she naturally transformed while still having a mind.
The whole angle that Ruka needs to train so she can also summon multiple seraph beyond her twin swords is something I did not expect. So when she could only summon 1, she basically lost focus or something?
A new forward base seems standard by now. It's a little annoying that after 5.2's Shikoku route, it turns out they cant even get to kyushu from there anyway and going through Honshu regardless. Skullfeather's crystals are the most lasting consequence we had yet.

On another note, most of 31A have lesbian breakdowns from bathing with Tezuka had me chuckling. Aside from Yukki who is a Ruka loyalist, all of these girls are horny lesbos.

Thne whole unison bangle angle is... interesting. That's one way to connect a game term to the story. I wonder what actually triggers it. For now it seems the misunderstanding will lead to Tezuka doing some "exicting" things with Ruka.

Base watch:
-Tama still gets eaten by byakko
-MisaAkaFubu being in a tacit poly ship as usual
-Duelo and bond episodes now exist side by side. I did Karerin's bond and it was a bunch of incomprehensible jokes full of references I didnt get...
-Yotsuha has nightmares about her girlfriend pouring curry into her cola
-Cant go to the arena because apparently nobody but Nanamin can run it?? Sounds like a staff issue
-Wakki seems to be a little softer when she is around Bungo at least. But Adel's comment still implies she is steeled Wakki

>>4509449
As an addendum, the character and SL levels were raised by 5 just for beating DAY 1.

>>4509228
I'd rather not risk getting myself banned. This is already my second account.

>>4509466
How could they ban you for that? But oh well. It can be annoying to set up more accounts, i know.

>>4509471
I'm sure I could automate it. They have pretty good command line tools, so that's not the problem. They can just easily detect that the same IP accessed multiple free accounts, which is against their ToS. And then I read that if they ban you, any new one you create will also be instantly closed.

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After finishing 5.3, I think the best part
was Tezuka's backstory and how it mirrored her current state. The whole anguish with having to retire from the frontlines and becoming the mentor of a new generation was great. The final revelation that she has the 'tism was... a choice. There certainly was a lot of signs like her training exercises being focus oriented. (and how her methods ultimately failed to produce an unison with Ruka due to them being on different wavelengths). I guess it's just so rare that a character is formally diagnosed in nip media. Her mutual appreciation of each other's presence with Nanami was nice. Overall I don't know enough about the 'tism to say too much about it, but I don't think it should matter.

When it comes to Yuina and Ruka It feels like they are in a race to become the mary sue of mary sues. On one side we have John Heaven Burn who IS Jeanne and gets compared to Noah, Abraham, etc. On the other side we have the stated savior of humanity who just got her new ult. There's less to say about Ruka, I hope she only gets to use her ult with the sufficient sacrifices. As for Yuina's trial, I feel like the whole ordeal was bit too jovial when she literally gets orbed / sent to Guantanamo Bay. But that's whatever. I just feel a little uneasy about the outcome where she accepts the idea of Tezuka's death because she knows her soul will live on in a higher dimension. I guess it fits her religious connection, but there's also the predeterminism and not being able to change fate. But Maeda always gets messy when it comes to the higher self aspects so it's to be expected.

Some other thoughts they really are sticking with this pattern of dungeon->main chara focus->sub focus each chapter. That one morning where Karen and 31A just hang out makes me miss those SoL filler segments from the earlier chapters. Also I guess we're finally going to meet those datamined characters.

>>4510743
Whoa you finished it already? I got held up by work obligations so I am still lagging behind. Hope to catch up soon!

>>4510743
Since it's like 100% sure the voice Yuina hear is not actually God but Megumi and how she basically groomed Jeanne into truly believing in the soul shit they maybe found a way to bring those souls back in the future

Oh boy, they just released a new Snap Event. It's about Mari. Who got time for this in the middle of a new chapter release?! I can't keep up.

>>4511220
It's really short, unless you want to go for every possible route. And personally I can't play the main story chapters without breaks.

>>4511223
>unless you want to go for every possible route
I am a completionist so I definitely will. I literally replayed the Yukki one 20+ times to find every permutation of every choice.
>I can't play the main story chapters without breaks
My breaks are literally going to work and doing chores, which is why I can't keep up lol

>>4511223
I do one day of main story per day as Maeda intended! All jokes aside though I find it a comfy way to play, and if there's hangouts and optional stuff then you won't ever fall behind on those either without even having to use lifestones.

Ok... Admiral Ruka is absolutely insane. She got Yuina's frontline extra turn, but hers also gives +3SP, she got the ice boost bar, which gives you OD if you fill it and boost ice damage absurdly (and it never goes down after hitting 100% once). She gives your party the same Superbreak property as the Karen unisons where you can go beyond 999% devastation...
I don't know if the fire Yuina style does the same thing, but this is without a doubt the most broken shit that nobody talks about. I guess it's because she is limited to 1 element.
I went from struggling against Skullfeather SA +36 to beating it easily with nearly 2 million just by switching in Admiral Ruka.

>>4511329
Admiral Yuina does the same thing for fire, except her frontline extra turn skill gives Adel funnels to the whole party if they're fire element instead of the +3SP for the frontline. Admiral Yuina can be paired with Swimsuit Miya to give a lot of passive fire buffs so the damage ceiling seems higher there.

>>4511401
I guess that's a YuiMiya win

>>4511329
>boost ice damage absurdly
This is in addition to existing ice fields, or overrides them like any other field would?

>>4511425
It works without any field.

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This should have been canon.

I just realized that the OD pips you use up in dungeons always come back after battle. So they at least dont make you lose all your OD there. Basically the OD limit just makes it so you cant use it more than those 10 times in one fight, which is hardly ever going to happen outside of the hardest high end content... This really was never as bad as people pretended.

>>4511608
That's because their original plan was that they did not recover between battles. That was one of the few decisions the devs walked back on before releasing the update due to the blacklash they received from the playerbase. Same with the turn cooldown for using OD that thankfully doesn't exist.

>>4511608
>This really was never as bad as people pretended
You never understood what the issue was and I'm surprised it took you that long to notice the dungeon aspect. Limiting OD to 10 per fight was never the issue because 90% of the playerbase would never use the entire limit. The issue is that they only limited it to prevent situations where you can essentially loop an enemy forever and beat any fight by never letting the enemy have a turn. But that was only possible because they decided to give unison Bungo infinite uses on her EX skill aka eliminating resource management entirely. I'm not saying that the OD limit was a bad change, but it did punish a small minority of the playerbase who found enjoyment in making janky looping teams to show off the capabilities of OD. Most often those teams wouldn't even score higher than standard comps, but it was an aspect of playing the game that was fun for a few. Overall the OD change was a buff because of the new 30% power mod you get at OD 3, but it eliminated a side of creative team building that can only be appreciated at the highest levels. It signaled the further homogenization of the standard buff and debuff team comp. Subjectively I do think it was a necessary evil in future proofing powercreep, but it did kill off OD looping comps which in turn made OD focused styles like Muua 3 way less powerful

>>4511618
I absolutely hate OD looping, it's a really stupid way to play the game. I'm sorry if some minority thought that was fun, but there is really no point in having battles where the enemy can't act. The training mode added a battle dummy like a year ago where you can just dish out as much damage as you possibly want without being in danger of retaliation. I feel like that's the only kind of place where you really should go ape and unga-bunga those numbers. Maybe they could remove the OD limit there.

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What do you mean Game Over??! This is literally what's supposed to happen. She's gonna die either way! What, she didn't die in the right way?

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DAY 2
That was a dense day. So the actual mission is irrelevant for now. More crystals like in 5.2 Got it.

Tezuka:
No wonder she dunks her spear on 31A like that in chapter 1, she is actually a basketball ace. That explains everything! Her backstory about that car accident that made her half-paraylzed on her right body half is surely going to become more meaningful later. But right now I predict she wanted to join the hito-narby project so she could use her body properly again. This is why she said she continued on for her "pride" when she was confronted with the truth.
I absolutely did not expect the game to become so raunchy and creepy about Ruka's training with Tezuka. The ball maze game thing was kinda funny, but that hypnosis drug stuff in the evening was a bit much. I can't read Japanese backwards, so I am actually just picking the options at random... Ruka sniffed Teuka's hair and neck and somehow that improved the unison rate. I can only hope it's more about getting closer to Tezuka as a person that makes it improve and not Ruka's horniness!
Can you believe some idiots still doubted Ruka is a lesbian even up to the most recent chapter?

Yuina:
Honestly did not expect Tezuka to just tell her that she is a narby and that she is Jeanne d'arc in like one convo. Also the fact that Tezuka considered making her the next commander is interesting. Honestly a better pick than Nanami.
That voice of "god" sure is freaking casual and kind of a goof. This was what Yuina heard this entire time? And of course he only shows her a tiny part of th her flashback so you can spread it out over days for no reason. I don't understand the purpose of going through the trial Jeanne is going to be burned regardless and the voice told her she will die and be reincarnated from the start...
I hope she confides in Miya. Can't let the loyal wife worry.

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>>4511627
I really like Karerin being super clingy with Dumbkasa and constantly encouraging/teasing her. Dumbkasa kinda being at a loss on how to react makes it even funnier.

Megumin really pulls new psychic powers out of her ass as usual. Now she can transfer her clairvoyance for some reason. I'm not even going to question it anymore...

Oh yeah, when Tezuka talked about who knows the narby secret she mentioned Irene. It's cool that they acknowledge the recent story event. And just like I thought Irene intentionally pretended to have figured it out on her own to protect Maru, Isuzu and Miko.

Base watch:
-Sharo and Isuzu are doing a scary team-up and WILL lock Ruka in a room soon
-Inori gets sweets for her master. Adorable
-A-san's bond episode is about learning the art of "Bedroom Jutsu". She is too innocent to understand what it is and even Ruka is for some reason a cinnamon roll this time, so they go around the base and try their own idea of what a bedroom art jutsu is and tell everyone afterwards that they did that... obviously now half the base believes Ruka and Adel are fucking. I love Mari's absolute shock when they tell her about doing the Bedroom jutsu. Too bad they immediately made clear that they didnt know what it was. Mari explaining that to them was really funny at least.

I feel like daily-login Nanamin should wear her commander outfit now.

>>4511627
The fuck did I just read? Did Maeda read too many ero doujins? It's Ruka so its fine?

The Tezuka Ruka stuff actually serves a greater purpose. It's to drive home Tezuka's rift from every other person. Even without the sleep medication later on she feels nothing. Her asexuality is an aspect of her developmental disorder. That's why she never achieves full unison with Ruka. I thought that routine was some pervert stuff at first, but some of the later choices are so absurd that it becomes comedic too.

>>4511923
Ok, but couldnt this have been displayed in any other way? Even in the first two days Maeda already shows this trait off in several other ways. This just feels like an excuse to do fetish content.
I mean, it's very yuri, so I can bear with it, but I still feel a bit creeped out.

Now that non-elemental has been outclassed, which element is actually the strongest now on JP? Ice and fire just got ridiculous stuff, but last I remember Lightning still had the biggest damage output. Not anymore I guess?

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Ichigo's second recollection was cute. Massive onee-chan energay in this one! Ichigo is the best character in this game no contest.

I play the game with a translator since my japanese is not remotely enough, could anyone explain exactly what was revealed in the Kura scene in 5.3?

Do all the human navi who die end up in that higher dimension?
Is it revealed who the voice actually is? An unknown person of that dimension? Kura? Megumi's higher self (since the voice sometimes sound like her)? Or it's not always the same person?

>>4513638
It seems ice is now the top dog. Though fire Yuina is close competition.

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This is why I love HBR. None of that coward bitch subtext BS. Just sisters having undeniably crushes on their sisters.
I wish HisaIno or Amari could be as explicit as this sometimes, but nonetheless, this game is super yuri.

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If I had a nickel for every time a girl orgasmed on screen in this game, I would have 3 goddamn nickels, which is insane for a game that isnt rated 18+!
I love Sharo and I wish there was an AU where Ruka returned her feelings.

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>>4514233
Tama definitely did when she asked Megu to zap her.

>>4514237
>Tama doing electrocuation play with Megumin
Exactly, that's the second example. And the final time was Muua orgasming, which is literally a plot point in one of her memory episodes. They arent even skirting around it, she literally goes into sage mode from coming after being verbally abused.
>KareTsuka pic
Not sure how that's related...

>>4514246
Pic wasn't related I just had it left in the file selection for some reason, it's cute though. Muua is probably into electrocution too since her sisters express concern about her looking at electricity outlets..(I'm not surprised)

WTF anons, the Mari Snap Event is literally just one big Adel/Mari DATE! We are eating insanely good this month!!

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This was absolutely incredible. Call me Sakuraba Seira, because I just died from yuri overload!

This snap event took all the best parts of Swimsuit 3 and just expanded on them. A-mari having the best date, having both cute and deep moments and leveling up their relationship like crazy.
They got matching keychains where they can keep the picture they took in the print cabin at the arcade... Gosh it's the best.

Also they pic even takes into consideration which date spots you visited (e.g. for me it was romance movie/crepe stand/clocktower).
It also seems like their final conversation about who "Satsuki Mari" truly is changes depending on your choices. In my case I went to all the most girly date spots, so they talk about how Mari became more feminine to honor her mother's wishes of Mari being able to live like a normal girl.
I gotta try the other options for sure!

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Romance movie is a great option. Mari thinks her precious popular ojou-sama Adel should have romanctic experience because she is cute and honest... but Adel is super embarassed by even a normal romance movie lol

Shiki the madlass said "I have two arms" and brought two harem girls to the movie... Mari immediately imitates the girls and hugs Adel's arm. And when Adel gets flustered Mari just sweetly says that they need to be quiet during a movie, not letting her escape.

GAH. I am taking so much psychic damage. This is the best!

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The option to walk around while eating leads to them getting crepes, with Mari picking a sweet one and Adel a savory one.
I absolutely adore how this German dork can make Mari genuinely love with her silly antics. It's really rare to see Mari so defenseless and happy.

Going to the clocktower leads to Adel showing Mari the view of the entire base where you can watch everyone's peaceful lives (lots of other couple cameos). Cute banter aside, Mari was clearly deeply moved because she never would see this kind of sight when always overworking herself at the stores.

Afterwards they come across Saku-chan who is literally dying and collapses repeatedly. I understand her completely. Miko has to drag her back to their room, apparently used to this lol

I really thought this "snapshot" CG would be taken by Saku's camera, but that made the surprise in the end even better.

>>4514541
>can make her genuinely love
*laugh

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There is a short mandatory interlude where the couple takes care of Bungo for Wakki. Honestly that whole scene gave off maximum "gay moms" energy. No wonder Saku-chan's eyes awakened again.

They also will always go to a store in the end. Mari is there as a customer and looks for cute accessories, which surprises Adel, but then she gets mistaken for a clerk by Shiki. When she learns that Mari is off work today she instead hit ons her of course...
It's crazy that Adel actually jumps between them and claims Mari for herself for the whole day (while blushing). Just kiss already!

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>>4514548
Thank you for your hard work cataloguing all this, anon. Even though I play global, it is greatly appreciated since I don't mind spoilers but am always curious about how the game is gonna go.

>>4514560
I just wanna talk about the stuiff that interests me, though unfortunately people rarely engage with it. But yeah, I figure a lot of people cant read Japanese and probably would like to have some more context.

>>4514565
Honestly, I mostly lurk, but I really do appreciate people like you that share this stuff. Even if it seems like nobody's engaging, just know someone like me is likely reading quietly and being very grateful.

>>4514191
It's ambiguous on whether every person in this higher dimension is a human narby, but human narby souls do get stuck in this dimension and cannot reincarnate in the 3rd dimension because a part of them is still stuck as a lost narby. The voice this time was Kura but it's not the same person every time

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Finally finished the chapter. I tried my best to make that final boss rush with a 31A team, but they just picked the worst element weaknesses for my 31A units and it just never worked. At least it was Karen that landed most killing blows.

>>4514793
Playing story accurate is the way to go. Respect.

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Y'know in the stream they showed off that Yukki wedding dress quote and that was hella gay and cute, but somehow I missed that white suit Ruka is literally an escort?? As in she gets paid to take girls on dates.
Remember that one line on SS0 Ruka's homescreen where she hits on a girl? Yeah this style goes absolutely fucking ballistic with that theme! This must have been the same writer who did the YuiRuka unison dialogue. I legit had my heart stop several times.

"Hey, wanna go on a date with me? Take advantage of my escort service and I guarantee you will ascend to heaven."

"Now now, I won't let you take the last train home. I will escort you all night long."

"Why are you staring at me like that? If you keep acting so defenseless I will make your lips mine."

"This white color cannot hide lies. So I will tell you the truth: I am attracted to you."

"This feels like a wedding outfit. C'mon Yukki you try on a wedding dress too!"

Nobody can tell me Ruka isnt the best gacha protagonist of all time.

Sad that last Fubuki socialization confirm Ruka isn't sexually attracted to women...

>this latest global update
>Perseus part 2
>Aina's event
>Chapter 5 part 2 (and Duelo)
That's a lot of things to do.

>>4514939
Wow, the level of bait oozing from this is impressive, but nobody is gonna bite still.

>>4514940
New clock tower levels too. I have been waiting for Isuzu's upgrade for ages.

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>>4514942

>>4514953
...how do you think this screenshot supports your claim exactly?

>>4514954
I would tell you to read it yourself to find out but I forgot that you're an EOPig

>>4514955
No, I can understand it just fine. I am trying to make you actually say what you believe this says so I can pinpoint exactly why you are so incredibly wrong.

But to throw you a bone, Fubuki is saying that it's common for a base without men to have women fool around with each other more, as there is no real other sexual outlet.
Now tell me again how this says that Ruka isn't attracted to women.

But nah, I remember you. You are a troll from /v/. The one who always makes bait posts about "EOPs", who doesn't actually play the game. So my guess is someone told you this bond episode said Ruka isnt attracted to women and you just believed it and wanted to bait here lol

>>4514956
>/v/
/vmg/ actually. Sorry, two different kinds of subhuman apes.

>>4514956
To add to this, none of the two members of the squadron who had access to men (Megumin and Wakki) showed interest in any of them

>>4514958
I mean even if there were bisexual girls at the Seraph base, that wouldn't change anything about their same-sex attraction.
And we have hundreds of hours of Ruka being openly sexually attracted to girls and several instances of her straight up saying she has no interest in guys.

It's such a strange angle to try to bait with by that troll desu. Like nobody who plays HBR could possibly fall for it.

>>4514956
Fubuki: Maybe getting sexually aroused is what awakens a new power.
Ruka (with a doubtful look): We’re both girls, though?
Fubuki: There aren’t any men on this base, so getting excited with another girl is our only option.
Ruka (with a disappointed look): I guess so.

>>4514961
lmao, you are adding random things in there, like a "disappointed look". You are trying to project your own interpretation on the sprites.
Ruka looks troubled, because of the whole sexual angle, not because there are no men to be excited about. You just ripped the whole context out. Ruka is not comfortable with the fact that the unison bangle reacts to her sexual excitement, which may I remind you, is 100% confirmed by her being sexually excited by Tezuka in the first place.

>>4514962
Except that if you actually read the chapter it's straight up said that it doesn't react to sexual excitement.

>>4514963
You missed my point. I wasn't saying the bangle actually reacts to her sexual excitement, I was saying Ruka BELIEVES it does and that troubles her. My point was that she IS sexually excited by Tezuka, which is why this whole exchange can even happen. The fact that Ruka shows sexual excitement to Tezuka by default contradicts your bait.

Honestly, there is no way you are arguing in good faith. You are intentionally using every method to twist the context, which can only be because you are trying to troll. I would be surprised if you actually played the chapter at all.

>>4514967
It's the 5.2 Wakki thing all over again. Some rando takes a scene out of context to ragebait.

>>4514967
>Fubuki: There aren’t any men on this base, so getting excited with another girl is our only option.
>Ruka: I guess so.

Why didn't you adress this part?

>>4514968
Tbf in Wakki's socialization with Seika she literally say she can't imagine falling in love with someone on the base because there's no men.

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>>4514970
What's there to address? Fubuki states a fact and Ruka just confirms it. Nothing about this implies that Ruka is into guys nor that she isn't into girls.

Also I should point out that the way you translated that is deceptive. Fubuki is just saying that as there are no men on the base, naturally they would have to go for same-sex attraction. She isn't saying it like it's a bad thing or that they are desperate.

>>4514971
You mean the same bond episode where her heart flutters for Yuina and Tezuka, because Higumin is literally forcing her to drop her heteronormative worldview?
How did you read that bond and somehow only retained half of it?

>on Fubuki
How does she know it's normal that girls go for other girls in the absence of men? It can't be just from being in the base, the sample size is too small.

>>4514973
It's a pretty well known phenomenon. Though the actual science on it is a bit dubious, basically in a same-sex environment, the amount of same-sex romance/sexual acts will sharply increase. This is why the whole "all-girls school are full of lesbians" trope is actually rooted in some grain of truth.
However, the rate is only above the standard on mixed sample sizes. Like from 5% to sometimes 30%. But what is often ignored is that by default having a much larger sample size of girls will mean there is a higher chance of a sexual minority to both appear and express that sexual attraction. A bisexual girl who may have dated a guy at a mixed school will be more likely to understand her attraction to girls or follow up on it at an all-girls school. If you have 50 girls in the mixed sample and 500 girls in the same-sex sample, then obviously statistically the latter should have more lesbians and bisexual girls than the former... because there are more girls to begin with.

But as any girls from an all-girls school can tell you, there are plenty of hetsluts at all-girls schools still. It's just more common to see same-sex couples, but the girls who get boyfriends outside of school are just as common.

>>4514972
I mean what Fubuki says implies that if there were men in the base things would be different which is definitely not very yuri.
Also I didn't say Ruka was interested by men either since she already said she wasn't interested in them either, it feels more like she's asexual than anything.

>>4514973
something dropping soap in prison

>>4514976
I am sorry, but you really are just moving goalposts because you can't get anywhere with your bad arguments.
Fubuki acknowledging that if men were around then attraction to men could be an option is just completely irrelevant to your original claim. And there is nothing particularly wrong with that view. I am sure some of the women at the base really are bisexual. Ruka isn't though, so it doesn't matter.
>Ruka is asexual
You are basing this on literally nothing, while ignoring hundreds of hours of Ruka showing explicit attraction to girls. Once again, this is not a claim someone who plays HBR could possibly make. Nobody gets into a random bond episode 300 hours into the game and suddenly changes their entire perspective on a dime because of some extremely dubious misinterpretation of a single exchange. In the same chapter in which she actively shows sexual attraction to another woman no less!

For fucks sake, I hope I diverted your bait now and we can move on from this brainless topic.

>>4514979
>In the same chapter in which she actively shows sexual attraction to another woman no less!
If your takeaway from the chapter after finishing it is that Ruka was feeling horny when she was doing all those shit to Tezuka then I can't do anything for you because you clearly don't have the cognitive capacities to understand very basic narrative.

>>4514983
Oh now I get your game. You are just gonna pretend absolutely any moment of her being sexually attracted to girls is just a joke. This is the same old homophobic shit that's always used to descredit yuri. For fucks sake.
But lets pretend you werent a dishonest piece of shit.
-In the early chapters Ruka has internal monologue about how she wants to kiss and lick Karerin's face while she is sleeping, because she is attracted to her. There is nobody to make a joke to, this is her internal thoughts
-Swimsuit 2: Literally hitting and oggling Yukki the entire time, staring at her asscrack etc.
-Ichigo's and Yunyun's early bond episodes where she stares at their tits and even wants to touch them (says she finds Yunyun sexier with the Chinese dress on, which is pretty funny though)
-Yunyun memory episode where her and Yunyun go around discussing which girls are the sexiest at the base and Ruka points to Yukki that she is a sexy beast without even trying (Yukki is literally the least lewd person around, Ruka is just attracted to her)
-Ruka being flustered when Koju tells her to undress her body in Koju's event
-Ruka molesting Yuina in Swimsuit 2
-Ruka getting swooning for Aoi in her memory episodes and having her heart race from her acting girly
-Ruka wanting to kiss Yukki in several scenarios
-Ruka licking Isuzu's ear in her bond episode and being flustered by being hit on by Isuzu
-The sexual scenario with Tezuka exciting her in 5.3
-Ruka admitting she wanted to make Higumin more feminine just to serve her own preferences in her memory episode

That's not even bringing up homescreen lines from styles like the RukaYui unison or the new white suit Ruka, because we can pretend those are AUs that might not be completely accurate.

>>4514987
>Ruka having her heartbeat increase as Tezuka is lying defenselessly in front of her and thinking about sniffing her hair and neck and touching her
Yeah however could one interpret this as sexual attraction? It's truly a mystery.

>>4514867
When I saw the suit group art I thought Ruka had the most boring design but they really turned my opinion around on Ruka.

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That free New Years SS ticket just gave me Admiral Aoi. That's neat.

>Awakened Tsukasa: "I want to fuck the shit out of Karerin"
>Karen-chan: "go ahead, fuck her brains out"
>Karerin: "where should we begin?"
5-3 sure is loaded with subplots already. and I haven't even gotten to Wakki

>>4515265
You mean 5.2?

>>4515267
Yeah, a typo on my part.

>>4515269
KareTsuka are the main plot of 5.2, so I wouldn't call that a subplot. It all revolves around them.
Also you should probably temper your expectatiosn for the Wakki side plot and enjoy the chapter while it still doesn't get there.... It starts in Act 2.

>>4515298
Council of Tamas... their solution to everything is Megumi-san.

Can someone explain to me what the purple resonance SS style pieces are for? Even with all the resonance SS styles I've pulled so far, the game always made me use the regular yellow pieces to level them up.

>>4515370
There are supposedly resonance styles that can only be upgraded with those pieces. I think they are careful about implementing that because they got major backlash for it.

>>4515370
The only SSR that uses them currently is Swimsuit Aoi. The original plan was for all SSR to require them, but as >>4515374 said, backlash led to the devs allowing gold SS style pieces to upgrade all new SSRs with the one exception. Supposedly, that ends starting this year and each new SSR will start requiring the SSR style pieces for upgrading. The devs added some methods of getting SSR style pieces and you can still use the Delimiter to upgrade those future SSR styles.

>>4515271
>temper your expectatiosn for the Wakki side plot
I wish. I'm going in knowing it's the worst part of the game, by far.

>>4515400
Honestly, probably not. It's just kinda boring and extremely unnecessary. The worst thing in the game is still the first AB collab.

>>4515649
>31-A's commanding officer
So who commands the other squads?

>>4515650
She's everyone's commanding officer.

>early days of 5-2 call for a 18k 31-B, 31-E or 30-G squad
Damn. I sure hope it doesn't keep climbing because 18k it's already a bit over what I can do

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Whoa whoa whoa... this is the first time I have ever seen that crying sprite for Adel. Did they seriously add this for a gag scene?! This looks like it would be used in something more substantial!

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Alright I did some clean-up on Mari's Snap event, doing all the choices variations... and I just realized that there are 27 versions of the event CG! One for every permutation of the three date spots combinations... What is this insanity?

Something major I forgot to mention last time was the scene where Mari offers Adel to teach her new ninja secrets to make up for side-tracking their date with the Bungo situation, but Adel refuses despite really wanting to hear them, because what matters today is to learn more about Satsuki Mari, the person, not any ninja stuff. Amazing.

Now for the alternate choices.
So if you pick and animal documentary Adel cries and Mari gently wipes her tears. If you go to the cafeteria they feed each other Crackers. If you got to the Miemie hot springs Adel collapses in the sauna and Mari gives her a lap pillow.
If you pick a Splatter movie, Adel will be scared out of her mind. It's adorable how Mari pretedns to be scared so she can hold Adel's hand to calm her down. If you got to Popotan Mari will be shocked by how much ojou-sama table manners Adel has and be happy when she returns to her goofy self. She also wipes sauce from her face. If you go to the gym, Adel and Mari will do yoga with Vrittika and do pair excercises. Vuri-chan will point out that they must really love partner yoga, because Mari was beaming a smile the entire time, but Mari deflects that she just found Adel's silly reactions funny. Also Asami/Niina are also there as part of the yoga group.

Really this snap even is all I ever wanted. Entirely couple focused date content. There is that HisaIno memory episode where Hisame drag Inori on a date, but this is much more explicit and meaty.

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>>4508709
Some of the updated sprites have broken cropping. Please fix.

>>4515806
Looks like there was an unnecessary cropping step left over from a previous version. I checked all the way back to August and found only default Ruka and two Tezuka files that were affected. I uploaded new ones. If you find any others, let me know.

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Official 4koma already caught up to the current Ruka style, huh?
Escort Ruka is singlehandedly destroying 31A.

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>>4515806
Testing something. If this works with transparency intact, then it really wasn't as hard as I thought 4 years ago and I'll upload a new version where you can save the image to the clipboard.

>Awakened Tsukasa is looking for someone that can predict the future
If only there was a fortune teller or something around.

>>4516149
A 53% accuracy rate isnt that much better than flipping a coin.

>>4516185
It's better than what she's working with, which is a whole bunch of nothing

>>4516142
too lazy to printscreen, i prefer using my snipping tool

anywhos, thank you for updating.

also, the link for the FLEreverse is wrong, it's https://www.youtube.com/@flereverse

fucking cancer captcha

>>4516513
The link used to work, so it wasnt wrong. It's just outdated. Also not sure why you are telling this to the CG anon.

>the girls start using The MV
Aw yeah, road trip!
>torn in a torn-ado
Welp, that didn't last long.

And the new Snap Event iiiiis... about Karen. Huh. They are doing this instead of the Karen story tie-in we have all been waiting for? Interesting...

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Reminder that the entire Silhouette at Summer Light Square event is centered on A-san and Mari doing pin-up swimsuit photoshoots for the all-female military base lmao
Wakki even acknowledges it's an adult thing. All these bitches gay. Hot women increase morale for these lesbian disasters. Good for them!

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I finished the Karen-chan SAnap Event.
It's pretty fun, because it is just the song matching game from the AB2 collab again. Though it lacks a little bit of the oomph that one had because it's just 31A and you dont get the contrasting teams fighting each other.

After the lyrics matching fails repeatedly 31A will create their own full song without player input. "I'll change the world"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOq-V2I-iiM
Summarizing this absolute fever dream is impossible... But I couldnt stop laughing at the "Let's all join Aichi prefecture" and "Baby Star Ramen" lyrics. None of this makes any sense, but it sure is 31A style!
Having all of 31A's VAs sing together was also really nice. Like actually singing, not just speaking lines.

I also laughed at Karen-chan asking Yukki to make a AAA video-game on the dencho for her lol

Well, the conclusion actually implies this takes place before 5.2, but ends after 5.2. Making this the first ever event that takes place after 5.2!
I'll have to try all the lyrics choices at least to hear Xai sing more insane bullshit.