Dive Astrum

tl;dr

The Story Itself

• This event covers three things:
• The dynamics within the Seven Crowns, which I care the most about.
• The origins of Ameth, which I kinda care about.
• The motives of the Seven Crowns, which I don't care about.

Regarding Kokoro

• Sora is a stickler for names. Might be why Kokoro is well, Kokoro.
• Sora might be the one behind the 3rd anniversary event.
• Also, I found NO clue about Kokoro being an alien in this event. I may have misread, but I read this entire event twice already.

Difficulty

• Pretty much perfect comprehension, but...
• That's because I read this event twice. Because I didn't get it the first time.

A short disclaimer before we start, information that I'm not sure of will be marked with (?) due to the difficulty (at least for me) of this event.

The Story Itself

How do the Crowns feel about one another?

Long story short, Akira is the glue that is barely holding everyone together. You learn about this through the Echo episodes and the Astrum Development Transcripts. Mostly the latter.

Echo Episodes

In the Echo episodes, there's a little bit of dialogue between 2 of the crowns after/before the exposition dump inside the alpha environment. I REALLY wish it was the other way around; more interactions, less exposition dumps. Still, the amount of interactions we got in this event as a whole, in my opinion, is satisfactory. Because the Astrum Development Transcripts are doing some VERY heavy carrying here.

I'll be covering all Echo episodes except for King Leap's and Metamorregnant's due to their simple nature. In the former, Neneka is annoyed at Raj for being a musclehead, and in the latter, Christina tried to prank Neneka.

Queen Labyrinth

In Queen Labyrinth's Echo episode, Mana goes over to Akira to grab some data. Akira is surprised because it's not often Mana goes over to her personally, usually, he tells some wagie to go get it. Mana simply tells Akira that it's better that there are no middlemen when handling confidential data.

Mana takes one look at the data and immediately doubts it. Akira wonders if Mana doesn't trust her. Mana then says it's because he finds it hard to ascertain what's going in Queen Labyrinth's head. Despite his doubts, he still doesn't think Akira is the the type to lie. In the end, the two think to themselves how troublesome the other one is.

So, they kinda trust each other, although they're mostly annoyed at each other's presence.

Regina Geas

In Regina Geas' Echo episode, Sora goes over to Christina to take over since she's been working for a while. Sora hands her some sweets, Christina wonders if it was for his bastard child, before correcting herself to just child. Sora is annoyed at the fact that no one believes that he would have a child. Sora then tells Christina to do some field debugging, Christina objects because she knows she's not good at debugging. Sora simply tells her that debugging is an important job to do, much to her dismay.

So, Sora trusts Christina enough to entrust her with work that she knows she's shit at. I wonder if it's trust or it's punishment for doubting him?

Kaiser Insight

In Kaiser Insight's Echo episode, Christina goes over to chat up with Mana. Mana tells her to fuck off if she doesn't have anything important to say because time is money. Christina agrees, and turns out, Christina came to deliver some skill data from Muimi. Mana complains why it took a while, and it was because Muimi barely cooperated. She notes that Akira tried to be a mediator. The two then comment of how different Akira is from the rest of the Crowns.

So, Mana and Christina seem to be in good terms. The fact that Christina calls Mana with さま is notable. They also seem to share a mutual disdain for Akira.

Great Guidance

In Great Guidance's episode, Akira goes over to Sora, Sora tells her to fuck off because he's observing a diving Sumika. Akira seems to be aware about how the other Crowns view her and tells Sora about it, Sora seems to be understanding, and decided to listen. They talk about Sumika's condition, and the fact that she's helpless is mentioned here.

There you have it, the main takeaway here is that Akira is an outcast within the Seven Crowns, and she's aware.

Astrum Development Transcripts

Moving on, let's talk about the Astrum Development Transcripts. This part absolutely OOZES with personality. Despite my limited Japanese skills, I still managed to understand most things simply because there's just so much things to derive info from in this section.

Online Meeting Log

Let's talk about the online meeting log. This is the part where I'd say I understood nothing...but I managed to find the subtitle files for it!

https://youtu.be/_sJxouGuA5Q?si=5SczDJNpzIrQTrH7

Here is the subtitled meeting log if you wanna mine from it or something. I think I cropped the video wrong, so the subs disappear a few seconds before the line ends, but it's manageable. I'm just glad this has a subtitle file at all, this would've been completely undecipherable otherwise.

7 things (get it?) to note in this meeting include:

• Akira is the only one to have her camera turned on the entire meeting, you can tell that she's the most invested in bringing the Crowns together.
• You can tell Neneka is annoyed. In the beginning, Neneka tells Akira that her mic is too loud, and recommends turning down the volume to 0, kek.
• Christina is more concerned about looking good in the meeting than actually listening. She's constantly switching her camera on and off to adjust for lightning the entire meeting. Raj tells her to sit the fuck down and wonders why she's holding sunglasses.
• Mana thinks this meeting is pointless. Sora interjects, saying that it's important for the Crowns to be on the same page even when they're away from one another.
• Neneka is a hypocrite. She says she'd be happy if "default" would show her face, even though she's a pretty secretive person herself. Akira and Mana call her out on this.
• Sora would be 2nd if we're talking about how invested he's in listening to the meeting. He tells the Crowns to tone down the rowdiness so the meeting can go smoothly. And yet, he still turned his camera off to answer Kokoro's call. That was cute.
• "default" is the one recording the meeting. From this, we can surmise that the Astrum Development Transcript is on "default"'s PC.

As you can see, you can tell so much just from the way the Crowns use their cameras. Absolutely fantastic story presentation, seriously.

Interview Log

Another thing you can learn the Crowns' dynamic is from the interview log. You're presented with two versions, the edited version, and the raw version.

Top is edited, bottom is raw.
In the edited version, Chris and Raj are asked how do they feel about the other Crowns. Both of them more or less say the same thing, that they may have differing opinions sometimes, but they always make up at the end of the day.

In the raw version, Raj instead said something along the lines of "if you knew these guys, you'd regret living". Chris laughed and agreed, adding that they'd rather "break each other" than talking it out when there's an disagreement. I should also mention that Chris and Raj are both much more hostile here.

So, this just adds to the fuel that the Crowns despise one another. They also don't like the press in general it seems, all the Crowns seemed to complain when Akira gathered them up to take a group photo for promotional purposes. I wonder if Akira was telling the truth, or if she just wanted a photo of the Crowns together for sentimental reasons? Considering that this photo is found buried within some documents, and not published unlike the interview.

The Photo

Anyways, the reason I bring up the photo up is because, apparently, there's a supernatural sighting here. I assume that's Vision Empress. However, I don't know if I'm blind, but I can't see anything here! I even tried fucking around the brightness, saturation and whatnot, and still couldn't find anything.

See? Nothing there. I figured that there HAS to be something in there because the game allows you to zoom in to look closer. Even with outside tools, still nothing.

Group chat

And last but not least, the group chat.

Yeah, no one really gave a fuck. Took Akira 5 hours to get a response. Here, they were just fucking around. Neneka tried to crack the group chat's security, Akira told her to knock it off. Mana got kicked from the group and when he returned, his name was changed to Mana-tan. I wonder if this was Neneka's doing?

Here, Akira seemed to have given up. She said that it was foolish of her trying to bring the Crowns together. Christina said that Akira never changes, Neneka said she'd consider Akira's idea, Sora agreed with Neneka, saying that having this chat around would be helpful (?). And Raj straight up said not to expect responses from him.

In the end, the group chat got abandoned. Akira wonders if it'll be used again one day.

And that's that for the dynamics within the Seven Crowns. This isn't the main focus of the event, but this is the part I had the most fun piecing together. The game presents you with all the info in the form of the Astrum Development Transcripts, and it's up to you to dig through it.

Before we move on to the event's actual main focus, Ameth origin's, I'd like to give thanks to that mister that told me about Yomininja. It works nice, some mistakes there and there, though. Once, it interpreted 繋 as 紫. Guess OCR really wants to connect with Violet that badly huh.

Ameth's Origins

There're significantly less things I want to say from this point onwards (at least until we get to the part with Kokoro) simply because I care less about it.

Quick rundown:

Present: Fio is suddenly kicked out of Ameth's body. KSKN and Fio then walk around town and find Ameth, who is now controlled by Sumika. Turns out someone, is after Sumika's memories inside Ameth. Whoever that is, is using past versions of the Crowns to go after her through rollbacks. Chris, Neneka and Laby struggle against past Mana. Sumika grants them the data to revert to their alpha avatars.

The three defeat past Mana. Sumika doesn't want her memories to fall into the wrong hands and asks to be killed (Not sure if she specifically used the word "kill", but KSKN did pull out his sword). The three then go after the other past Crowns, until they suddenly disappear on them. Turns out, they are now fusing into that thing Alpha Regalias. The environment around them reverts back to the alpha environment. The other Crowns show up and wonder how to defeat Alpha Regalias.

They get the idea for KSKN to revert back to his past self, Mana brings up that if he was strong enough to take him down back in OG, he can take down Alpha Regalias. Sumika sends her data to Fio and Fio sends KSKN's past data (I should mention, by kissing him on the cheeks!) to the present KSKN. The Crowns then pave the way for KSKN to beat Alpha Regalias.

Echoes: Turns out, Sumika was the very first person to ever log into Astrum. After running some tests with her (and KSKN (?) ), the Crowns release Legend of Astrum and let Sumika fuck around in there for a bit. She was amazed that she can move around and look around. At one point, she ran into Minerva. Minerva asked what her wish was, and Sumika wished to guide new players through the wonders of Astrum. Her wish granted, Fio was born. Minerva told Sumika to think of Fio as her sister. In the present, Fio is just finding out about this through Sumika's memories. She cries.

Epilogue (?) : Some dude tried to steal data, the Crowns work together to stop him. Here, it's implied that Sumika is comatose/dead/whatever because her wish was granted by Minerva. Assuming that Minerva = Vision Empress, VE thanked Sumika for allowing her (VE's) wish to be fulfilled with her (Sumika's) life. Whatever that means is still left up in the air.

Oh, also, make sure to read the story yourself. Don't rely on my QRDs. As I keep saying, I usually don't make QRDs like this, but due to the lore-heavy nature of this event, I decided to make one anyways so we can on be on the same page. I could also be just straight up wrong, so feel free to correct me if I'm talking out of my ass.

So...how do I feel about this? I think it's neat, but it didn't make me go "holy shit!" like the Astrum Development Transcripts. I'm glad they're showing lore about someone who has been there since the beginning. I'm glad they're making "never-evers" playable. Although this one reason is a bit more personal: Dragalia announced EoS 6 months after releasing its "never-ever" character, Zethia, the MC's sister (sort of), the person he was trying to save since the beginning of the story. No, Zena doesn't count, that's Zethia from another world.

What does this have to do with Priconne, exactly? Ameth was thought to be a "never-ever", she got released, and the game lived on. Misora was thought to be a "never-ever", she got released, and the game lived on. Eris was thought to be a "never-ever", she got released, and the game lived on. And now, Fio will be released soon. Will the game live on? No one knows, but seeing past trends, I'm confident it will.

Anyway, the point is, I hope they keep doing this (in moderation obviously). And I hope the game keeps living.

Other than that, while I said that this part didn't wow me as hard as the Astrum Development Transcripts, there are some parts in the story that did make me go "ooohhh".

The reveal that it's not your dream, but Sumika's

The story way the story "thrusts" you into the Echo episodes is similar how the game shoves you into the IRL sections of bond stories. Blinding light, then bam, you're in the past.

At one point in the story, you're asked whether you wish to keep helping in the development of Astrum. The choices are "don't care", "don't like", "don't know". However, when you try to pick an option, the game rejects your input. Then, Sumika answers that she wishes to be there and that she wants to see the development of Astrum until the end.

This was a very neat way to recontextualize the story up until that point. The dreams have usually always been about KSKN and the girl you're dreaming with. For example, in Re:member, the IRL sections were KSKN's dream, while Peco was tagging along. Here, it's Sumika's dream, and KSKN is just tagging along. There are other places in this event where you're given options, obviously. But it's usually so inconsequential like Raj asking you what to eat. The moment the game actually gave you options that matter, the game rejects it. Because it's not your choice. It's Sumika's.

The game also cleverly used 少年 in Queen Labyrinth's Echo episode to trick you into thinking it's KSKN dream. The game only started using 彼女 after revealing it by rejecting your input. Sumika also didn't start speaking until that point.

Past KSKN handing present KSKN his data

Apparently, that's his banhammer sword from OG Priconne? I just read that off ITT, and I haven't read OG's story, so I can't really confirm this.

I like this part because of the sheer contrast to Re:member. There, Overlord Force REALLY wanted KSKN to take his powers to the point it's the main dilemma of the event whether to take it or be satisfied with the power of bonds he currently had. KSKN had to prove himself before Overlord Force let up.

Here, past KSKN just handed his sword over to present KSKN and that's it. Overlord Force was born out of KSKN's desire for more power to protect others, that desire got so strong to the point it was harmful. Past KSKN is just well, KSKN but from the past. KSKN is a simple guy, it makes sense for past KSKN to be be simple as well. Although I heard KSKN was more aggressive in OG Priconne? Again, I haven't read OG's story.

Fio's reaction to finding out that Sumika was her sister

I got misty-eyed as she cried. Yeah, I know. Feel free to call me a pussy, whatever.

The motives of the Seven Crowns

This is the one part I don't really care about the story. Let's just get this over with, I wanna talk about Kokoro already.

Akira: Hated people. Met KSKN and her views were shattered. Wanted to make use of her skills. Her dad's a doctor, and she has some medical knowledge as well. This is why she was the one doing the medical checks after diving.
Christina: Bored
Raj: Wanted a world where he can go all out
Mana: Wanted a world he can rule over
Neneka: Wanted to gather information
Sora: Met Sumika in a hospital. Doctors there had given up, but Sora thought to give it a try for the sake of the future, and because there's nothing wrong with trying.

The only ones with remotely noble motives are only Akira and Sora. I also kinda like the parallel that their wish came from someone else. Akira, from KSKN. And Sora, from Sumika.

The reason I don't like this part is because of its presentation. Yup, you know where this is going. I just dislike "solo" episodes. I've criticized stories in the past guilty of this, and just because this is an anniversary event, doesn't mean it's exempt from criticism. The only one whose motive was revealed through dialogue was Sora's. The rest, it's mostly just the Crowns blabbing with KSKN and/or Sumika giving answers once in a while.

The worst part is of is Kaiser Insight. I audibly groaned when part two was released and Kaiser Insight's Echo episode popped up. This was AGGRAVATING to read. There, he tested skills by repeatedly attacking Sumika. If the writers' goal was to piss me off by showing this, they succeeded with flying colors.

Although, this could be seen as a positive as well. Misters ITT were concerned about them trying to redeem Mana. And they did the exact opposite here by making him more of a dick.

Overall Thoughts
Phew, it's only the end of the first section it's already more than I usually write for a single event. I usually don't like dragging things out, but it can't be helped. There's so much to talk about, and that's a good thing, I suppose.

Very satisfying event to go through. Presentation on the Crown's motives could be better. I can understand it somewhat though, they were probably expecting new players and wanted to make sure they learn why the Crowns do Crowns thing by presenting it in a straightforward way.

Oh, one more thing, I think the boss doesn't feel as "personal" as the bosses of past anniversary events. 4th anniversary, you literally fight yourself. 5th anniversary sucked dick, but fighting Asura was still personal for Mira. 6th anniversary, you fight versions of Hiyori and Rei whose wish were granted instead of Yui's. 7th anniversary? Uh, it's just a bunch of weapons.

You know how in RPGs, sometimes a character gets attached to a weapon? It could be because the weapon was inherited from someone, could be because it was a rare drop or because forging it was expensive...

I think this was what they were trying to pull off. However, I don't think moments where the Crowns bond with their weapons were ever shown. They just came with it. The Crowns are developers, so obviously, they just designed a weapon they prefer the most and that's that. However, I think they could've expanded this more by showing us WHY they prefer the weapons they prefer. Why does Chris prefer using a sword? Why does Neneka use magic? I guess for Raj, it's already obvious why he uses gauntlets, but even then, all they showed was that Raj works out. I want them to show them actually designing the weapons, I want to see them try the weapon they designed. I want them to make adjustments to said weapon after trying it out. I want them to finally finish adjusting and think to themselves "I've done it, this is my weapon".

If they did it that way, it'd make the boss fight much more personal because they could go "the weapon that I painstakingly designed is now after me!?", but the way it is now, the weapons are just tools. Your tools that just so happened to fall to the opposing side. If someone took my dollar store sword and used it against me, who cares? I have plenty more. If someone took the sword that I forged for myself and only myself, I'd be pissed.

Still, fighting against your own weapon isn't a new concept. At least in Cygames games. GBF did this. I wonder if they were writing the story and forgot to include a boss, they took a look at GBF and just thought "just add that in!".

How about the 3rd anniversary boss? It's just some random rouge wind spirit. Which is correct, until you learn who's behind said wind spirit. That brings me to my next point...

Regarding Kokoro

Relation to the 3rd Anniversary event

Another disclaimer, I haven't read said event. Some Kokkfag I am, huh? Although I did read a translated tl;dr back when EN was still alive. Basically, the people around Kokkoro were forgetting her, and that was apparently caused by a rouge wind spirit.

When will I read it in the intended language? SoonTM. As of writing this, I'm reading the WAoi event, which is like 4 events away from Of Cherished Bonds and Distant Hearts.

With that out of the way, let's start talking about my wife. We're going back to the Astrum Development Transcripts for this one.

The ceremonial outfits

Raj was the one who designed those. Raj showed it to Sora, and Sora liked the design, but said that it was too bold, and the weared might catch a cold. Raj was understanding, since Sora is considered the most detached from the world among the Crowns, which may affect his opinion on things. Raj then designed a variation of the outfit for girls aged 12 and above.

So...why does Sora care about the wearer catching a cold? He's a dad, so his dad instincts probably just kicked in. However, it goes deeper than that...

Blackwind Spirit

In one of the PC folders, there lies a bunch of monster designs. As you scroll through it, Neneka and Christ drop some comments on them. What they think it, who it reminds them of, and most importantly, who's responsible in designing them.

When you get to Blackwind Spirit, the boss of the 3rd anniversary event, Christina comments that Sora supervised its creation. Neneka complained about it, because of its ability, it was hard to implement it in the game.

The text besides the thing says that it's a boss monsters that appears/will appear in an event about elven spirit users.

The text below clarifies it's a large spirit that will bring about a momentous trial for spirit users.

Putting it together

Sora was concerned about the wearer of the ceremonial outfit catching a cold, and Blackwind Spirit is specifically stated to have the purpose of testing spirit users.

So...does that mean that Sora expected Kokoro to wear the ceremonial outfit at some point, because he knew she was going to be tested? I suppose letting your child sort out her own mess sometimes IS good parenting, but isn't making the people around her forget about her...a bit too much? Still, whether it's too much or not, he did care. He wanted her daughter to be tested, not for her to catch a cold. That's cute.

The meaning of names

Talking about names, this reminds of me the mister ITT who usually says something along the lines of "names are a power seal" whenever someone got namedropped.

If you click the chameleon plushie, a story about how Gregor got its name will play. Akira noticed Neneka adding more chameleon plushie onto her desk. Akira asked if they have a name, Neneka said that they didn't need names. The rest of the crowns then throw name suggestions at her, until Sora appeared. Sora didn't give a suggestion, but he did tell Neneka to consider the group's input. Neneka decided on Gregor, much to the Crowns' surprise. Even Sora told Neneka to reconsider, but seeing how resolute Neneka was, Sora gave in.

So, you know where this is going, don't you? Seeing how Sora was concerned about names, it can be surmised that he took naming his daughter seriously as well. Let's talk about that.

The surname Natsume

棗 (Natsume) means jujube, which is this fruit.

Natsume is also the name of a tea ceremony that is done using these caddies.

Copy pasted from here, "If you’ve ever attended or watched a Japanese tea ceremony, you’ll have noticed that the matcha is kept in a small lacquered container. Called natsume (棗) or usuchaki (薄茶器) in Japanese, these tea caddies are an integral part of a host’s toriawase (取り合わせ) - the art of carefully selecting utensils to suit a particular occasion or to invoke the desired atmosphere or balance. Here we’ll take a closer look at these simple yet elegant vessels."

the art of carefully selecting

Looking at how concerned Sora was at Neneka naming her chameleon Gregor, I guess he's living up to his name. Although I don't think Gregor is a bad name, a quick Google search told me that it means "watchful" in Greek. That's not a bad meaning at all. I guess he wanted the name to fit a chameleon more. A name that has something to do with the fact that chameleons can camouflage? After all...

to suit a particular (occasion).

Sora and Kokoro

This one's more straight forward. Sora means sky, simple as. And seeing as Kokoro's real body is currently "up there" in the main story, I guess he's living up to his name again. I should mentioned that his name is using the less common kanji for sky 宙 rather than the more common one 空. Why does sky have two kanjis? Your guess is as good as mine...

Kokoro means heart. When I mean heart, think of the heart symbol and not the organ that pumps blood thorough the body. Kokoro is a kind girl, so I guess she too, is living up to her name. I should mention that her name is written in hiragana, こころ and not the kanji 心. Why? Probably just for the stylization. Whenever I wonder why a word is written in hiragana/katakana and not kanji, the answer is usually that.

I also like that both their in game names are one letter off their real names. Kokoro and Kokkoro, Sora and Zora.

Is Kokoro an alien!?

Probably not...? I swear I couldn't find anything that hints about this, and I already read this event twice.

She's undoubtedly confirmed to have a robot body(s), though. At least two. One with short hair, one with long hair. The one with short hair was revealed a loooong time ago when Kokkoro got knocked out by a monster in the concert and her soul was knocked out of her real body and into her short-haired robot body. She became the bridge that connected the group with Akira in the real world.

As for the one with long hair...I think it's quite obvious. She got shot, and survived. What would happen if a real 11-year old girl got shot? She'd be DEAD.

So, there's that. I can't tell if there's something I missed or people are just shitposting about Kokoro being an ayylien.

Difficulty

As mentioned before, I pretty much understood everything, but only because I read this event twice. In terms of Japanese learning, reading the same thing more than once isn't a problem to be concerned with. People still may recommend against because it may lead to boredom which may then lead to burnout.

As for me, it just felt wrong reading the same thing when I have a massive backlog of stories that I haven't read. Why read the same thing twice when you can read something else and make progress? I still read the event twice because there's no way I'm walking out an anniversary event without understanding everything. I don't know, maybe I'm being too harsh.

1603/1603 (100%) comprehension. Some short lines in the PC might not be counted because of tracking them is a hassle and I couldn't be bothered tracking every little things.

Here are the points that I missed the first time, but understood on the second try.

• Akira's motive
• Sora's motive
• Whether KSKN was present in the Echo episodes or not
• Whether there was hope for Sumika or not.

Not a lot (heh), but these are still very important points. If I didn't get these, it'd be as if I didn't read anything.

That is all. See ya on the next blogpost. The next one will probably take a bit to come out, though...writing this was really exhausting.

Man, this event was something else. A struggle to get through, but that made it all the more satisfying to read and understand.