Fenris

1. Yeah, the end of the prologue is definitely what prompted my suspicions about a Alpha-01, otherwise there was nothing else to build from. I was never a fan of the whole idea behind Alpha-01 becoming a thing just because she appeared in some artwork on Mori's Twitter, lol. At any rate, though, I've considered it worth noting that we're still unsure about the time that passed following the part where Nu is seen lying in bed and the sword's disappearance. My thoughts are that the two events having been shown in a sequence has nothing to do with the time in which they occur in respect to each other, but have more to do with symbolism. Based on what little we know, Nu could've recovered to full health sometime before the sword disappearing scene. 2. Does bring up an interesting point, though. It wouldn't make much sense at all for the 13th PFD to become what's strongly hinted to be the very first PFD. However, with the world having "restarted," it might still be possible. However STILL, the details behind what the actual hell happened to the world and the extent to which it has changed are left vague as hell. The ideas that Alpha-01 is its own thing and Ragna is still out there do indeed seem to be the strongest possibilities. Mori sure likes to dick us around with dubious hints and crap.

Didn't bother reading the entirety of this thread on the grounds that I really shouldn't be here due to the fact that I have a 20-page research paper to complete, so pardon me if the following questions seem redundant. Does anyone suspect that Alpha-01 will become a thing in the next game/series? Also, judging from the clips shown in the epilogue, does anyone think that Nu might be involved with the disappearance of Ragna's sword in the scene following the the part where she's shown recovering in bed? Might this suggest her awakening as Alpha-01 upon obtaining Ragna's sword and perhaps fusing with it somehow? (for lack of better wording)

Ragna, Jin, and Saya all appear to have inherited a number of character traits from their "parent" aka Prime Field no.5, if the assertion of it being their mother is to be believed. That might suggest that they inherited several traits from Saya Terumi by proxy. In Ragna's case, it's Soul Eater. In Jin's case, it could be a number of things, though I think it's the obsession with their brother (amplified by Yukianesa). Lastly, for Saya it could be the godlike Seither amplification abilities (and perhaps the frail body?) as well as the name.

This is what I've had in mind for months now. Saya's seithr amplification abilities are said to be insane, but I feel as though that comes with a price when it's overused at high levels. I once theorized that Relius' enhancements made it so that Saya's body could better withstand massive seither usage. It now seems like Sayanami's power is becoming too much even for the enhancements and/or the strength of the enhancements is generally getting weaker.

Haha. No one truly dies in Blazblue; they just hang out in the Boundary Lounge awaiting their turn to appear in the story. This is a shounen-based series, and chances are incredibly low that anyone of importance--namely, the main heroine--will die. Mori wouldn't close the story like that. If that hypothetically were to happen, however, it would probably end with Ragna kicking the bucket, and even that's a stretch. I theorize that the game will end with the wielder of the A. Unit (or some other asspull) doing one massive, final reset. The world will likely be born anew with some notable changes such as a lack of the need for seithr or something, similar to the end of Final Fantasy 13: Lightning Returns (for those of you who've played that game). If this were to happen, I imagine it will be a world that's similar to Naoto's, whose world seems to be most similar to the real world.

Tsubaki just seems to have been an all-around flawed character from the get-go, in my opinion. I mean, she seems pretty cool for the reserved and conservative type whenever she's with Noel and the gang, but outside of that she's a mess. I can't seem to pinpoint a modicum of character development from her thus far. There have been instances where it appeared she improved as a person, but then she'd fall right back into her Mary Sue blind justice shtick. It's almost as if Mori is afraid to change this aspect of hers out of fear that she'd lose the one thing that makes her Tsubaki. Either that, or he's been saving all of her development until the very end when/where it would shine at its best? I don't know.

This is kind of random but still relevant: Was the ball-and-chain connected to Jack-O's shackle ever confirmed to be a Lucifero at some point in the story, or...?

Most people assume you mean BB Saya whenever you say "Saya," as that is the game we're discussing in this CF thread. "Saya Terumi is just a side character whose name barely comes up, and if/when it does, it's easier to just say "BE Saya" or "Saya T." Although, I personally like to refer to BB Saya as "Sayanami" unless I'm referring to Saya pre-possession.

I wonder if Relius' eye covering somehow plays(/ed) a part in his seeing the true nature of souls. Could his eyes have been "damaged" by that? Or could the mask somehow grant the ability to do so? Aside from these, an exhaustive list of even more questions are popping up in my head right now.

Gasp... Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that. The Imperator's identity was known to only a very few people. Welp.

Bingo. The crucified girl is shown to have what appears to be blonde hair, but I suspect that is just a basic placeholder image to avoid spoilers or something like that. You and I think alike. I had the same line of thought while I was typing the second paragraph in my last post, but I decided to leave it out because reasons. However, my thoughts are a tad different insofar as I thought that perhaps Izanami resembled her drive user and/or its soul, which might explain part of Saya's appearance after the possession. I suspected Saya's enhancement only went so far is making her "doll-like" and strengthening her in various ways, and the Amanohokosaka-like traits were influenced by Izanami herself. I really, REALLY like your theory, though, especially the last few sentences. You're probably right.

I think you mean that implies they were normal humans. Saya was said to have had remarkably high armagus aptitudes, which might imply something off about her. This is probably, if not stated somewhere, to be the reason as to why Relius took interest in her. The only enhancements she might've had were probably just to make her body strong enough to put up with her own ability (I don't think a frail little girl could put up with that, even in the BB universe) and, like you said, Izanami. Not to mention this was said to have happened some time AFTER the whole "saved from a lab event," which is still largely a mystery. In other words, she might've had just as odd a 'birth' as Ragna. I am more inclined to believe that Jin was the only 'normal' one, though, since no strange or otherworldly things have been hinted about his 'birth' as far as I know. I mean, he may not have been entirely 'normal' either but not as odd a case as Ragna and Saya are hinted to be. The game seems to make his power of order abilities seem godlike, though, so that could mean something. I dunno. ---------------- Something odd came to me earlier: I wonder if manifested drives like Izanami resemble their original drive users at all. If so, then wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that Izanami might resemble "the girl" to some degree? Now, a glimpse of "the girl" was shown in which she appeared to have blonde hair, but that could've been a sort of 'placeholder' used so as not to spoil her true appearance--sort of like the glimpse of Es during Naoto's acts.

It almost sounds as though your theory (guess) could imply that Ragna, Jin, and/or Saya's bodies were experimented on and/or created for the purpose of being vessels for the souls of others (although there might've been other reasons as well). I would add that they were probably meant to be vessels for the souls of some pretty powerful, unique, and/or not-so-random entities. These entities might somehow indeed be related--by simply having known each other, or were siblings, friends (etc.)in the distant past. And lastly, these souls would hypothetically have all been extracted from the boundary. Either that, or R, J, and S somehow gained souls while their bodies were being held up in that lab. (Doubtful, just throwing in other possibilities out there.) Now I can't seem to find a whole lot to support for this at all ATM. And that's not to say the clues aren't there; I mean, the amount of hints in this series is astounding. It's just, sometimes it's hard to tell if/what they are hinting at without hindsight. You might be onto something, though. At this rate, Centralfiction is going to need an entire dedicated story arc to explain Ragna, Jin, and especially Saya's origins and everything pre-Church incident, including the lab they were saved from.

Yeah, I think your example is correct. One probable exception is an extremely strong soul like Tenjou's. Like, a soul with the potential of several dozen souls or something. Either that, or [at least] some Noxes have a sort of "soul gauge" in which their strength increases with the amount of souls; the fewer souls, the weaker. The former is more probable, though, IMO.

I wager it's a compatibility thing, yeah. Saya was stated to have high seithr aptitudes, so perhaps Relius added tuners onto her body to help with that (?). While Saya might have had godlike levels of seithr control--amplification or whatever--it may have been a case in which her body was simply too fragile to support all of it, let alone a 'death goddess' whose powers are said to be immense in their own right. For all we know, Saya could've had a terminal illness that weakened her with too much seithr usage. She was said to be a sickly youth. Relius might've strengthened her body to allow her to use her powerful seithr amplification ability without it having a detrimental effect on her body. The skeleton/bone shit is more than likely just an Izanami influence thing, though.

You know, now that you guys mention it, this is something that has bothered me ever since I read into the Phase Shift stories. From that point on, I had always wished that Jin were given the Yukianesa after having been adopted into the Kisaragi household instead. It would've made much more sense considering the weapon was said to be in Seven's possession. (For reference, Seven was the head of the Kisaragi household [at some point during that time].) It is likely, however, that Seven, the origins of the Kisaragi household, and other stuff from the Phase Shift novels were neither thought up yet, nor can my wish in the second sentence be 'retconned into' that part, since Jin receiving the blade from Saya seems like way to big a plot point to go back and change now. The whole idea of it is pretty awkward plotwise, in my opinion.

About Izanami's skeletal appearance during certain scenes or whatever: I don't think there is much to it aside from it's just a thematic representation of her design, abilities, and personality. Most depictions of Izanami tend to involve skeletons, ghosts, and things of that nature. I cannot think of a single time--in anime or video games--when this hasn't been the case. I doubt Relius' modifications went as far as turning Saya's body into...that, though. It'd definitely be a weird 'style/design' choice on Relius' behalf if that's indeed the case, but you never know. On that note, I think "defeating" Izanami is simply a matter of putting a stop to whatever "the girl" is doing. There might be a way to do this without having to kill her. Nah, scratch that, Mori WILL come up with a scenario where she isn't killed. After all, death is a joke and new bodies can be purchased for discount prices at the local BlueMart in this game. Anyway, yeah, it's probably all a matter of somehow having "the girl" hit the off switch on her drive (Izanami). (Also, to the guy that keeps bringing up the double-post thing, it's likely a part of a site-related issue that's been happening for a while now. It likely isn't the poster's fault. Happened to me a few times on here as well, and having been a mod on other forums before, I know better than to double-post intentionally. Just speaking from experience.)

This question has been floating around for quite a while now. Nothing is concrete, but given that he was once the wielder of the Sankishin unit Susano'o at some point, I've theorized that his existence goes a long ways back, probably since the 'very beginning' (take from that what you wish). And given his former status as the "black Susano'o," something tells me that he has dealt with Amaterasu before, and for some reason or another, 'she' appears to have pissed him off. If Shinto myth--from which much of the series plot elements are believed to derive--is any indication, I think it is likely that his [former] role loosely mirrored that of the Susano'o of legend. The legend says that Susano'o (the storm god) and his sister Amaterasu (the sun goddess) were often at odds with one another. Susano'o was said to have behaved poorly, and he destroyed Amaterasu's precious rice fields and killed one of her attendants in a fit of rage.This caused Amaterasu to retreat into a cave, from which she was later drawn out from by Amane Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto. Although, given what has been revealed, the same parallels could be drawn from Jin/Hakumen and Saya/clones/the girl, so heh. If the former parallels prove even remotely true, though, then a lot of things would make sense, such as Terumi's (I'm comparing him with Susano'o of legend again) belief that the world is "all lies," almost as if he knew all along that it's all just a fabricated mess created by Amaterasu. This would hint at more similarities to the strained brother-sister relationship Susano'o and Amaterasu of legend shared.

For starters, we don't know if that particular death was random. There actually seems to be evidence to suggest that the death was anything but random, but I digress. (I wager you may not have meant to use "random" in a literal sense anyway.) Secondly (bold): That kind of directness is actually the total opposite of what I meant to imply. It's far too simple and straightforward, something this series doesn't do very well. I didn't mean that there would be some kind of reincarnation thing involved in which Naoto's soul would somehow be transferred to Ragna or anything of the sort (Don't assume. :P), although I won't go as far as to dismiss such an idea. What I was trying to suggest is that Naoto's death might have played a role in Ragna's existence--whether it's a case of his death setting off a chain of events leading up to Ragna's existence or whatever the case may be. In short, I have a feeling that Naoto may have been "meant to die" in the proper BB timeline. His appearance in Centralfiction might be going against the "rules" (for lack of a better word) of this particular chain of events, which for some reason is threatening what little time Ragna is suggested to have left.

I wonder if whatever happened to BB Naoto played a part in Ragna's existence. Now, I admit, I haven't quite put too much thought into it yet, but I think it would make sense that Ragna's existence would be threatened due Naoto screwing up something that was supposed to occur in order for Ragna to live. Could it be that BB Naoto's death by the hands of Clavis Alucard somehow resulted in Ragna's existence? Can Ragna not exist if Naoto lives?

Geez, some of you guys sure take up a lot of unnecessary room in your posts. lol Three sentences shouldn't fill a space the size of one of Ogiga's novels. On topic, though: I have a gut feeling that the only characters that are not going to make it (i.e., die) are the ones that should never have existed to begin with. Hakumen, Nu, Lambda, and a couple others come to mind. The information thus far suggests the BB world might very well start over from scratch at least one last time by the end of the plot. And chances are it's going to return to a time or a "reality" in which the aforesaid characters never existed, which would be akin to their "dying for good" in a sense. Although, given Mori's track record, you never know what ass-pulls are in store. Hell, the current reality might even be "Madoka-fied" in such a way that characters like Nu and Lambda are 'reborn' as normal human girls with normal lives. We shall see.

I've always seen the Black Beast as an amorphous figure with the ability to manifest different forms at will--be they appendages, Dead Spikes, serpentine heads. Any Digimon fans here? Well, the Black Beast's base "form" reminds me of the D-reaper from Digimon Tamers. Its main form, or at least the form it tends to be shown as most often, seems to have been inspired by Yamata-no-Orochi, which was slain by Susano'o in Japanese mythos. Makes sense given the many Shinto parallels the Blazblue series has.

All the fanservice pandering and such just comes across as shounen as fuck, but this is Blazblue we're talking about here, so... It's just, not everyone that plays this game is some horny twelve year old. Not to mention the fact that one can still have a sizable bust and dress conservatively--case in point: Es. But them outta orbit-ass boobs, though, were on a whole other level. Variety is key here as well. But I digress--another topic, another thread. On topic, though: The fact that she appeared in Naoto's visions seems to lend more to a connection between Ragna and him. Could Ragna have been getting the same visions as Naoto (and for some reason this wasn't shown)?

Phew, thank the gods, Es is dressed conservatively. I was starting to get a bit annoyed by all the boobs going out of orbit, denim panties, and skintight latex t-shirts and such. Huh, it's funny... Something that neither of us took into consideration in our little debate over Es' appearance is the possibility that she may not even be wielding the Murakumo. The idea was that having the Murakumo and the Azure Eyes simultaneously would not have worked out for a number of reasons. Although, I guess there was no getting around that when she did appear to have them both in the brief image we saw of her. Still, I facepalm at my lack of critical thinking a few pages back.

You know... I think that one of the biggest problems with Blazblue's plot, especially now, is that Mori has a problem with just letting characters go (i.e., die). As such, he interweaves weird, twisty-turny reasons for their being there into the plot, which mucks things up. Huge, unnecessary game/plot-changing elements are created out of nowhere--weird shit like "self-observation"--just because Mori wanted a reason for why characters like Terumi, Celica, Lambda are still playable. Naoto is another weird case where it would've been more simple to just have him be a character from the past--simple as that--, but Mori probably ran into some contradictions or plot holes during his hours of brainstorming, so he came up the current convoluted explanation for Naoto's inclusion instead. I'm really starting to feel as though most of the plot was written around the gameplay.