Leiopelma

By the way, here's a higher resolution version of the cover of 4th volume of Remix Heart I found on the Amazon website:

I hope the epilogue will cover what happened between Mai and Taro. Thanks for the translation.

Thanks again.

If the protagonist is getting the "Bloodedge experience", does that mean that both his arms are cut off and that the universe conspires to make him suffer as much as possible?

Thank you very much. No worries about not sticking to a tight schedule; it's not as if you're being paid to scanlate after all.

Yes. Justr looking at the pictures it did feel rather abrupt to me. Perhaps it will seem less so when I can read the final chapters though. I would have prefered it if they had resolved Mai's and Taro's relationship. Though it feels like they'll do so in the future the way they have set things up (bringing Mai and Taro up in CP along with Mai's disappearance, as well as the fact that her family being the only one not on Kagura's side after Jin and Tsubaki allied with him). If I were to get some blackmail material on Mori, I'd probably make him show what happened between these two, what occured to Mai to make her disappear (hiding from assassins sent by her father perhaps or maybe captured by Relius as a study subject; he had said he was interested in her soul) and possibly include a subplot similar to The Return of the King, where Mai with the help of her friends manages to seize control of her House. At least the manga did complete Mai's character arc. She came to accept who she now was, she overcame the paranoia and isolationism her father tried to instill in her and she managed to accept her feelings for Taro. In this respect I think the manga wrapped things up pretty well.

Thank you for the link.

That's rather disappointing. I was hoping that plot thread would get resolved within the manga. I suppose that brings Mai's relationship with Taro in line with those of other BB characters (except for Jubei and Nine), where you have people being in love with one another without them actually shown becoming a couple. I guess we have the facts that Mai admitted to herself and her friends that she is in love with Taro and then accepted that it's alright for her to live as she now is, as well as the fact that Taro cares for Mai and finds her interesting. I'm going to assume that the two ended up together until proven otherwise.

Does the last chapter's epilogue provide any resolution to what happened between Mai and Taro?

Isn't that a matter of personal opinion? Personally I don't see how she's more boring than a number of other BB characters. If anything, the fact she was the protagonist of her own manga gave her the opportunity be more developed than many others. PS: By the way someone posted an image set on pixiv that I thought was cute: image 1, image 2, image 3, image 4, image 5, image 6.

Personally I liked Mai. This isn't Dostoyevsky of course (but to be honest we aren't here to read Dostoyevsky anyway), but I thought that her character arc was fairly well done. She started out pretty easily flustered and nervous but eventually grew used to her condition as well as coming to care for her new friends and being able to open herself to them after living a life of isolation. And despite her earlier self-doubts and worries about losing her self and her identity, she managed to come to terms with her current self as well as accept her feelings for Taro.

If you didn't like it, fair enough. I can see why you wouldn't want to have more things associated with it. Though I think I should note that even in the 'serious' story you have things like μ-12's rather unusual outfit or Litchi's and Makoto's choice of clothes that make one think they could be exotic dancers. And, if anything, Remix Heart was light on the incest or psychotic love interests similar to ν-13. Besides, I think that Mai and Taro could be worked into a serious plot as easily as any other character.

What do you mean? Everything contained in the manga is already canonical. Do you mean getting into the main games? That ship has already sailed more or less. Why the specific dislike for elements of this manga by the way? It didn't seem to me to go beyond the stuff that was already in the main game, especially some gag ends such as the Glasses of Eros.

Kagura et al. want to use the Master Unit to reverse Izanami's actions. Duodecim unity could come handy after that, assuming they pull it off. Edit: The fact that Mai's former noble house was specifically singled out as not being allied with Kagura is suggestive that she might get involved I think.

I think that Mai would be more relevant if added as a playable character than adding a random new character since she already has an established backstory and knows most of the main characters. One possibility is managing to get herself reinstated as the heir or taking over her family in order to help Kagura implement his new governing system, as the Hazuki family is one of the few noble families (or perhaps the only noble family after Tsubaki and Jin signed up) that aren't on board with his plan. I think that would be more relevant to the main storyline than say Amane's attempts to get his hands on a little boy or Bullet's quest for answers to what happened to her squad (which at best is tangentially linked to Tager). Personally I overall enjoyed it and liked Mai as a character. It wasn't a masterpiece but I liked it for what it was. If you didn't like any aspect of this manga then fair enough. For the overall story one could argue it showed what the Military Academy was like (the answer being that it functioned suspiciously similar to a late 20th century Japanese high school) and what the student years of Makoto, Noel, Tsubaki and Jin, which played a major role in their development, were like.

The ending was rather anticlimactic. I was expecting Hazama to make an appearance since he was coming over to seize that grimoire, but the way they handled it was somewhat disappointing. It would have been better to have had a chapter or two of denouement. Does this chapter touch upon Mai's relationship with Taro? Mai stayed a girl. She completed her fusion with the Nameless Grimoire in chapter 22 and accepted that she was still the same person even after the transformation in chapter 23. Besides, as CP indicates, Mai was still a girl at least when she graduated. (And since the heir to the Hazuki family is still missing in CP we can assume that Mai remained a girl since she'd have no reason not to return if she became male again.) I think it's quite possible that Mai (and possibly Taro) will be appearing in the final game. The manga didn't appear to resolve what happened between them and CP left it a mystery what happened to Mai after she graduated. It seems likely that they'll want to resolve these. Plus, the fact they retconned Mai and Taro in Noel's flashbacks in the new Blazblue manga indicates that they are seen at least as somewhat significant.

No worries. Thanks for letting us know.

Thanks for the link. Anyone heard from her? I don't want to sound entitled, just curious if or when she'll be able to resume scanlating the manga.

Even though nothing is said about Taro's fate, the fact that he and Mai are the only Remix Heart characters mentioned in the main series (also Mai and Taro are also the only original characters appearing in Noel's flashbacks in the new BlazBlue manga) does indicate that he's important. One explanation that immediately suggests itself of course is that the two of them appear because they ended up becoming a couple. Seeing as how Mai's fate was left a mystery in CP, I think it's quite possible that the two of them will be showing up in the final game.

Thanks for the image. Wasn't the beach scenario included in the Vita version of CP a contest between Ragna and Kagura about who will be the protagonist? Maybe Kagura won that.

The reason she hadn't was quite simply that she didn't have the need or opportunity. Most of the time she has been unarmed and had few chances to actually show off her skills up to that point. Mai had shown that she was highly proficient in dual-wielding weapons in chapter 3 when she easily sliced that watermelon plant apart. Also when she faced Jin unarmed in chapter 15, she was able to dodge his attacks despite the fact he's an extremely skilled and dangerous warrior who was specifically trying to kill her. Mai's father had wanted his child to be a warrior, so Mai must have received combat training. The Kirihito family serves the Hazuki family, meaning it would make perfect sense for Mai to be trained in their techniques. Her abilities against Shiori were the result of training; she tasted Shiori's blood after the battle was over after all. (The grimoire did appear to be active at that time that probably gave her the precognitive abilities she displayed against Chachakaka in chapter 18.5 rather than combat skills.)

Why would her father decide to kick Mai out and send assassins after her at this point rather than just giving away or murdering her as an infant? Grooming Mai as an heir wouldn't have made sense under this scenario. The transformation also adds the dynamic of trap series such as Otoboku to an extent, since Mai has to hide her true identity and fears that her friends will reject her if they find out about her deception. And again there is Mai's inner conflict over her transformation since on the one hand she enjoys having friends and not being her father's puppet and on the other hand she feels dispossessed and as if she has lost her identity. This wouldn't fit as much if Mai had been female from the beginning. As well as, dare I say it, an element of character development as Mai gradually gets used to her new form, to being around other girls and eventually falls in love with her senpai.

I for one welcome this ending, since the majority of genderbending manga end with the main character turning back into a man in the end. She just needs to hook up with Taro and her journey towards the female side will be complete. Are you asking why they didn't just have Mai be female to begin with? Her background (getting kicked out by her psychotic father), her inner struggles (between adapting to her current happy existence and yearning for her past position as well as worrying about the loss of her identity) and some of the plot (the attempts she made to find a way to reverse the transformation) rely on the fact she used to be a man. Remove that and you'd have to completely recreate the character.

Why would she need another story at this point? Her main story has yet to even finish. And she doesn't even need to hide from NOL at this point. Her disappearance could easily be explained by the fact her father is trying to have her assassinated and her needing to hide from that thread. Or her next appearance could introduce an alternate reason; e.g. Relius locking her in his lab to study her soul. PS: Calling it now. Mori will take a page from Zhuangzi and have Mai actually be a butterfly dreaming that she's a girl.

Taro and Mai do seem to be the two characters introduced in Remix Heart that got carried over to the main story, if the fact they were mentioned in Chronophantasma and their appearances in Noel's flashbacks in the new BlazBlue manga are anything to go by. I think it's very likely that they'll be appearing in the final BB game, though I have no idea if they'll actually be playable. Anyone care to speculate what Mai's power up in chapter 21 will turn out to be? My guess is that it will give her much greater control over her power, thus being able to eat normal food again, and also she'll be able to use people's abilities herself when she copies them.