harmless kitten

I'm sorry, this is kind of a stupid question so I didn't think it was appropriate for the story thread. In this picture, are the red arrows pointing to Jubei's hair? Because to me...it looks a lot like long hair worthy of a L'oreal commercial. I know Tomonori and the Kakas had long hair, but it just seems strange to imagine Jubei like that.

I don't think Tsukuyomi is like the Susano'o Unit, or even that it's something actually physical at all. Both Rachel and Takamagahara act like it's her tool, and they get pretty mad about her using it. For Amaterasu, who knows? It's been stuck in the Boundary. We might see it in CP given all the increased importance of Amaterasu and the references to Ama-no-Iwato. Maybe it's that golden thing with the Azure casket that appears in the arcade opening, maybe it's not. Technically Noel was its inheritor/"owner", but it seemed like Amaterasu was pulling the real strings.

What's it made of? Not more hihiirokane, right? IIRC I thought Relius called the core of a Nox Nyctores its soul. He tells Ignis to grab the core in S7 sidestory and that it's her soul. Are they not one and the same? @psycofang2: Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu are all Sankishin Core Units. Amaterasu, at least, seems to exhibit a will of its own and it's pretty damn broken. The title emblem for CP is Amaterasu's crest. The Murakumo Units are anti-Sankishin weapons and were originally meant to destroy Amaterasu. Susano'o - cuts time Tsukuyomi - protects time Amaterasu - (likely administrates) time

They'll be posted here when they're done and not a moment before.

I think so, yes. Even without that tidbit, it sounds like an older brother scolding his younger one. Ragna calls him a loser and a stupid jerk. Fairly typical of Ragna, but with the forehead bit and their expressions it's funnier.

Ha, is Ragna really saying that Jin headbutted him? That's pretty funny.

I dunno, Ragna looks pretty awkward with his super angular face. However, it IS dwarfed by Noel. The anatomy looks really off. I thought her right breast was supposed to be her left.

Nah, Rachel is still an observer. She's just not the Observer of the Boundary anymore. She continually describes herself as a spectator, so I don't think it's not so much she can't as so much she won't. She doesn't want to see things go to hell, but she also wants to keep her touch light when trying to guide people. Clavis seems to take a similar approach and scoffs when Ragna asks if he's a protector of mankind, and Rachel is trying to follow in her father's footsteps. Wheel tracks. Whatever.

Oh, that's not from pixiv. That's Valkenhayn's '11 bday pic.

Well, I said maybe because I don't really want Rachel to just be Rachel and be like "wow you're dumb" and give out cryptic hints without actually telling Ragna anything. After 2.5 games it's gotten old. It also leads to Ragna doing things that are even worse and could've been resolved by just telling him stuff. I think I remember Mori saying that he replayed Continuum Shift and wasn't satisfied with some of the explanations (or lack thereof) so Rachel and others might explain more.

Haha I bet "that" was just referring to the Black Beast. Maybe Rachel will tell him he's being dumb and actually explain things when he tells her that.

The difference is that Ragna is an important character and Jubei is just a cat that no one likes. No one take that seriously.

It looks like Jubei's exact portrait from the tiiiny bit that is shown, and IIRC they already released one picture of the Phase 0 section with current Jubei as opposed to Mitsuyoshi. Admittedly, that could've been Ragna superimposing Jubei's image upon Mitsuyoshi but I'll laugh if they keep it the same. Dark War Jubei also looked leaner, although that might be attributed to Katou's art style. @Juno_LK: Sector 7 sidestory and Academy flashbacks had no fights in them. They could just be for show/talk, yeah. Doesn't mean a whole lot that they show up as icons.

I think Jubei just kind of winged it with Ragna. I'm guessing that each episode has a POV character and it shows that character's icon on the story mode screen. I doubt it'll stick to one character. Might be like Calamity Trigger Reconstruction where you have Ragna, Jin, Rachel, and Noel as POV characters, and how Kokonoe was the POV character for S7 sidestory. ...Are they really gonna use Jubei's current sprite for Mitsuyoshi and Dark War Jubei? Ahaha.

No. Different Kusanagi. Xblaze takes place like 50 years before the start of the Dark War too and Ayatsuki is described as looking in his early forties. Read his logs. Terumi approached Relius and Ayatsuki and requested that they create a special prime field device. Ayatsuki wanted to refuse, but Relius accepted it and Ayatsuki ended up reluctantly going along. They wanted to create the Kusanagi to contact (read: destroy) the Master Unit. "A blade meant to cut God" in Hakumen's words, or "a blade to sever the entrance to the Boundary" in Ayatsuki's. Ayatsuki was terrified of what their research may unleash, so he created Kushinada's Lynchpin as a safeguard. Ayatsuki, Terumi, and Relius all had a hand in the Kusanagi's creation. However, it's unlikely that it's the same Kusanagi from Xblaze. At most it's just a recreation of the Kusanagi that Sechs used or incorporates it, since the failed Kusanagi was still created as a prime field device. Like how Mu is called the reincarnation of Kusanagi because she's a Murakumo Unit that has the power of the Azure and didn't go sploosh like the original Kusanagi. XB Kusanagi and BB Kusanagi are meant to do different things, and I've never heard of BB Kusanagi having the ability to shut down dimensional interference.

I talked with someone once who claimed to have read the second novel, and IIRC they said that Hazama killed Celica. Celica approached Jin after the fire started and he seemed almost catatonic and only capable of crying out for her. Then she noticed Yukianesa and was pretty shocked to see it. Hazama used Ouroboros killed her from behind. She tried to wrest Yukianesa away from Jin in her last moments but failed. I think there was a barrier involved to keep spirits like Terumi out but someone--whether Jin, Relius, whoever--dismantled it. Hazama was also able to heft Jin or Saya over his shoulder--yeah, despite not having a body. Take this all with a grain of salt! I don't remember whether it was Hazama or Jin who cut off Ragna's arm, but Hazama's ghost form does seem to be capable of interacting to a limited extent with things. He's not fully incorporeal. The anime will probably go with the scenes in the first or second novels, or just did a fragmentary version of it.

She's American. Her profile says she's from America and she speaks American English and Japanese. Given BARRET and other names though (as well as past voices), I suspect they tell the announcers to deliberately ham it up and make it sound kind of Engrishy haha.

There was no Orient Town during the Dark War. All of the Hierarchical Cities came AFTER the Dark War. http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=BlazBlue I doubt that we're going to lose Hazama entirely, no more than we're losing Noel because Mu exists or Tsubaki because Izayoi exists.

Well, there's been a previous (CT-CS) Noel figure, but it kind of looked bad. This one looks a better even though her clothing looks wet judging by the way it's sticking to her body. Personally, I want to know what has become of that Hakumen prototype that was shown...although I think that one was gonna be a figma.

It was originally posted on pixiv, but I don't recall the ID. Looks like it was reposted to tumblr (or danbooru then tumblr) which is where Yukianesa got it from.

Tao has cat paws in her electrocuted sprites. They're present in both the TMML/HMPK sprites and battle sprites. Guess Kakas grow up extremely fast since it's only been about 4-5 years since Tao was a tiny kitten. Or Sumeragi and Aoko just don't care hahaha

Basically yes.

Not quite. CS actually starts maybe two to three days after CT (on 1/3 or 1/4), and ends on 1/7 (Mu's "birth"). Having all that happen within a day would be ridiculously and seems to contradict Jin's story mode (he's taken care of for a couple days at Ronin-Gai then runs off) and Ragna's (falls into the Kaka village and spends a few days recuperating). The epilogue to the True End probably takes place a couple days later (1/8-1/10). The bulk of CP seems to take place from very late January to very early February. Earliest date is Bullet's flashback/ending/rewind (1/29), latest is Rachel's (2/4). Most take place on 2/3.

There were no soldiers in the Kagutsuchi base, yes, but Ragna himself notices the strangeness. The lock was dismantled too. Still, fighting his way to the Cauldron seems to be the standard procedure for him--or at least, that's what he did at Akitsu. Ragna says he's destroyed countless bases in his CT story, but the NOL doesn't seem to truly freak out until the destruction of Akitsu so maybe he was more covert.

Eh, Ragna is pretty damn good at "infiltrating" all on his own. Hike his way into a Hierarchical City, wait until night, walk up to the base, dismantle the locking ars magus, fight his way to the elevator and take it to the bottom, destroy the Cauldron (and Nu if she's there). ezpz. Plus he says that all the Hierarchical Cities (except probably Torifune) use the same basic design.