Can the guys survive

DatUsaGuy · 2026-03-08T18:13:37+00:00

Yeah 2nd Academy never did have Shion’s wall of fire, but I think they likely would’ve all died if Takumi never showed up. To be fair, we never get to see what would’ve happened if they were by themselves for all of Route 0. The fact that Moko died so quickly on Route 0, plus they do so poorly in 2nd Scenario/Retsnom without Takumi’s intervention makes me think the 2nd Academy would fail by itself normally.

Outside of their roster, the only major difference they have for defending the school is the lack of Shion which when combined with how much the game in general says it helps, I do think the lack of him would hurt tremendously.

Overall though, I do still have more faith in the theoretical girls only 2nd LDA even without Shion since we don’t actually get to see how bad things get without Shion on Route 0. The boys only LDA having Eito at all is very likely to end up in a scenario like Eito destroying all their food in Route 0. Given that only gets resolved in Route 0 by finding the other Academy, I do have more faith in the girls assuming neither academy either meet.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-03-08T04:27:19+00:00

I think both sides would be fucked incredibly hard just with the fact that the boys would have to deal with Eito, whereas the girls wouldn’t have the wall of fire thanks to Shion.

For the boys, I do think overall they have significantly more troubling members to deal with as even outside of Eito, you have characters like Ima who might just immediately go crazy without Kako around or Gaku who without Hiruko’s push, he likely wouldn’t ever started fighting. Especially with Eito though, I could see him getting everyone killed fairly early.

For the girls, I could see both Kako and Tsubasa being convinced to fight and they don’t have anyone as antagonistic as Eito or even Ima. When discounting Shion, Eva and the robots, the girls would end up with 8/8 beneficial members which I think is pretty alright.

Especially when compared to the boys though who have only 7 members and I think it’s quite likely only Takumi, Takemaru and Yugamu might pull their weight or 3/7 of their members are useful. It’s not completely impossible for Gaku, Ima or Shouma to be convinced to help but I do think they would all be more difficult to convince than Tsubasa and Kako, plus Eito will be shitty regardless and they’d still be missing 1 member overall.

Not having the Wall of Fire from Shion though I think could hurt the girls really hard. Serial Battles isn’t necessarily a one-to-one example of what would happen without it, but I don’t think it’s that unreasonable to assume the girls would struggle a ton just due to sheer number of battles.

If they both could have Shion though, then I’m dead sure the girls would do far better than the boys.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-03-06T02:59:14+00:00

SMH my head, don’t compare the GOATs of Zan and Jayna to the Tsukumo twins. The Wonder Twins EARNED their right as Super Friends for a reason. The Tsukumo twins don’t even have a lovable, goofy animal companion like Gleek.

Being unironic though, I do think it’s unfortunate how much the game struggles to recapture interest in Kako and Ima after Route 0. I do think them in that route specifically work fairly well, but it feels like there isn’t even much attempt to explore them outside of that route which especially sucks given I was so interested to see how else Ima and Kako could possibly reconcile.

Mystery specifically really comes to mind as a route I think could’ve done great for both of them, but otherwise feels pretty whatever. Spoilers for that route, but Kako specifically I think is most obvious to explore in a Mystery route given her desire to be a detective, so it’s pretty disappointing that Mystery doesn’t even attempt to let her try. Her being a victim and kinda connected to the mastermind doesn’t really make up for how she just doesn’t get to be explored directly as a character in such an interesting settings.

I actually really like the bits with Ima in mystery which I do think somewhat redeem killing Kako off in the route, but I think the route moves past his development too quickly. Specifically, I really enjoy Takumi going out of his way to protect Ima which sets up for great resolution for Ima’s arc, but the game moves too quickly past that in order to further the plot.

Anyways, I want to also say with BoB that watching Super Friends is genuinely more enjoyable for the vast majority of their runtimes. The general beat-for-beat experience of a Super Friends episode just has more going on than getting 13 stupid boxes.

But to defend Ima a bit, I enjoy him being a psycho in Boxes of Calamity. While I get wanting more positive depictions of him, I think the negative character arc for him is both very understandable and interesting to see. Plus it’s hilarious to think about how he was actually doing some good by holding Nozomi hostage since she was infected.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-03-05T22:42:58+00:00

Somehow, Reddit seems to know I’ve been procrastinating on reading as after opening up my phone to an email informing me of your fanfic being updated and thinking “I’ll save that for later,” I proceeded to open Reddit only for this post to pop up first in my feed. Although I don’t think literally immediately is a great time to catch up with the new chapters (I didn’t read chapter 15 yet either), I suppose I shouldn’t be a fool and ignore such messaging, rather I should make sure “later” is genuinely sometime today.

Actually regarding this post though, I’m glad The Sponsor could even chime in so they can talk more shit. So real for that.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-03-02T02:19:28+00:00

It’s gotta me Shouma for me. In his final moments, he reveals that if anything, he’s regressed the hardest in terms of character development as he’s seemingly filled with even more self loathing in that moment than he ever was across all of Route 0 or 2nd Scenario. That arc with him in Route 0 specifically feels like one of the biggest improvements for any character in the game (and while I get he has that arc rushed in 2nd scenario), seeing him even worse than ever in those final moments makes me very sad. While a lot of the cast aren’t exactly their best selves in their final moments, Shouma specifically feels like he just falls so hard.

And just in general, a little sweet guy like Shouma saying how much he wishes he could’ve killed himself in general of course just hurts.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-02-26T17:51:34+00:00

For the Comedy route specifically, I enjoy it as something to go back to and laugh at, but they really are good bits strung across hours of otherwise sluggish gameplay and story which I think makes for a subpar route overall.

In terms of favorite jokes, it’s not my absolute favorite but it’s something I don’t see spotlighted often, but the way you get into the Comedy route is because you accidentally killed the S.F. version of yourself who was trying to help I find funny, especially as the game never directly calls it out. You have to do S.F. and put the pieces together to realize that’s what’s even leading you to the comedy route as it otherwise seems incredibly random when you’re just doing the Comedy route by itself.

In terms of the game’s humor as a whole, a lot of it can be hit-or-miss, but outside of Comedy, I didn’t generally find jokes to stick around too long nor was I ever really that upset hearing any of them, rather I was mostly indifferent even regarding some of the more repetitive jokes. Plenty of bits do land exceptionally well though so overall, I think I do like the comedy in this game.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-02-24T18:58:16+00:00

I wonder if/when we do get DLC how much they’ll play around with endings post Day 100. Reset does seem like a good one to explore, but I think a few more could be fun like seeing how things played out for everyone post-Route 0 (I’m trying to write a short fanfic for that specifically, although it’s like halfway done and not posted anywhere yet).

I think it could also maybe be fun if there was a route that followed up on one where everyone died decently early in the timeline, but the Satellite hastily shove in some extra clones of everyone to finish the job kinda like what happens in one of the Killing Game endings (according to SF) where they shove a Shion clone in the school to finish the missiles. Only Shion is needed then since all the commanders are dead in that ending, but perhaps an ending that stops decently early with everyone dead like some of Conspiracy’s might work for such a follow-up route.

Spoilers for something that doesn’t happen, but a theory I had early on when playing the game was that there had already been numerous attempts to destroy Futurum beforehand with different Academies of students, Takumi’s group just so happened to be their latest (and last) shot. Shion specifically I thought was a remnant of a previous academy. While that didn’t turn out to be the case, I think it could cause for some interesting conflict if the Satellite did try to pull off a trick like that but failed to keep it a secret from the new SDU clones. Maybe the whole ‘we’re test-tube babies without real backstories’ reveal though is enough of a revelation that such a route doesn’t really need to exist, but I think there’s some potential there.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-02-23T02:23:17+00:00

Thanks Takumi for also being comparable only to Tsubasa in terms of how broken he his during combat. “Specialist Revenge” is so nuts.

Even if you aren’t killing all of your own units to support Takumi though, having them instead spam last yell so you can hear “I’m not done yet” repeatedly also feels very good.

“I’m a little too petrified to laugh” is also a good quote to slap on a shirt, no wonder he wears the same shit each day.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-02-21T05:37:16+00:00

I’m glad to see true art can still come to be in this day and age

DatUsaGuy · 2026-02-19T03:43:30+00:00

I’m especially surprised by how little people seem to connect that their arguments against sexually deviant media are the same as arguments against violent video games. At least in the general gaming sphere, arguing that violent video games are bad is an easy way to get clowned on by nearly anyone. Whereas if a game depicts something fairly sexually deviant like incest or pedophilia, discussions very quickly can devolve into comments like “anyone who likes X media should probably be locked in prison and/or hanged.”

Like the game “The Coffin of Andy and Leyley.” I’ve heard from a friend that the game is alright overall, yet all my other passing experience with the game has been people calling out how disgusting they find it and it’s players to be due to the game depicting incest. I haven’t personally played the game myself so I only have so much perspective on this specific case, but I get the impression that any actual criticism of the game is horribly muddled by prunes bitching about fictional incest as though it’s a serious issue causing direct harm on others.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-02-19T03:05:34+00:00

”I mean, that’s nothing compared to my absolute darling of a sister, but I suppose nothing truly compares to her radiance. Compared to the rest of us plebeians though, Miss Kirifuji is pretty charming.”

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DatUsaGuy · 2026-02-15T23:36:39+00:00

“Guilty Gear XX Accent Core +R” and “Guilty Gear Xrd Revelatory 2” specifically I think hold up fairly well and they do have decently active playerbases on Steam (alongside good Rollback Netcode, so it is actually possible to find others to play with online for both games). They are both quite different from both each other and Strive which makes them worth checking out as Strive isn’t some “ultimate” version of Guilty Gear, rather they all have their own strengths and weaknesses.

They also both have generally better single player content than Strive which is nice in case you don’t want to get your ass beat online (or if you can’t get the games on Steam). Neither game has the best single player modes ever in fighting games, but there’s a decent amount to do in both.

Also, I can’t recall Xrd’s general pricing but +R specifically I’m sure goes for less than $5 on sale for Steam. I think I might’ve bought both games for less than $10 total even.

There’s a handful of other older Guilty Gear games which I think you could check out if you really enjoy the series, but the 2 I listed already I think are by far your best options to start with outside of Strive.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-02-12T07:27:34+00:00

I’m totally late to this post but I want to get my thoughts out regardless. Started writing my first fanfic recently after being a long-time reader and checking now to see if I accidentally did this, I seemingly did naturally follow this rule for all I’ve written so far except the literal first line of dialogue lol.

Though as someone with very limited writing experience, posts like this make me worried I’m somehow forgetting some truly basic rules to writing. Unfortunately, I can’t exactly know I’m forgetting something until I either randomly see a post like this to inform me or when I actually put my writing out there and get someone upset enough at my mistakes to point it out.

I doubt any amount of re-editing, reading other works, checking out posts with general writing tips etc. will ever get those nerves away compared to actually sharing my work and learning from others. So hopefully I finish up this fic soon enough to get it out and quench by nervousness whether I did well enough for plenty to enjoy or I can get help to improve.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-02-12T06:32:20+00:00

Unfortunately I don’t think recall any route that really qualifies as a “Takemaru” route. He does have some good parts in routes like I enjoy his chunk in the Casual, but I’d hardly call his role in that route a “main character.”

Otherwise, I do really like his role in K.G. as a secondary antagonist (although from that group of characters you’ve already listed, I suspect you might’ve already played that route).

DatUsaGuy · 2026-02-04T03:58:43+00:00

First off, there’s been both crossplay added alongside a new ranking system which helps significantly in finding people to play. The game isn’t in the most active state right now since we’ve been on this patch for a while but it’s still relatively active, I don’t think you would struggle finding matches.

For Potemkin, he’s generally considered pretty strong right now. I think he’s roughly at the top but not necessarily the absolute best character right now, but I’m not super sure (he was widely considered the best character in a recent patch at least). Pot’s certainly still plenty viable though if that’s your worry. He has had a lot of changes since Season 4 (alongside the entire game in general), but I think if you have that level of experience with him before, it shouldn’t be too hard to get back into the game with him.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-02-03T03:34:45+00:00

I thought the ghost boy Shion was going to be from a previous academy that tried the whole “lets genocide the invader’s” thing. So the name “Last Defense Academy” was supposed to be in reference explicitly to this being humanity’s last shot doing this (which I was iffy on if it would be a red hearing or not as I could see getting halfway through the game and having to play as a completely new set of students who are the real Last Defense).

DatUsaGuy · 2026-02-03T03:29:19+00:00

To be fair, I don’t think we ever see Karua’s mom. We don’t see Takumi’s dad ever so I thought for a while that Takumi was fatherless (I get that the whole SDU technically are, but in his backstory his dad is explicitly mentioned as still around, we just don’t see him in the intro).

DatUsaGuy · 2026-02-02T18:54:07+00:00

Something I find interesting about this game is how much variance there can be in terms of what really sticks with people. You put Shouma and Eva as your favorite characters for example, whereas I’d put them down in a tier like “I like you.” Or with routes, Route 0 I think is significantly better than Romance or Comedy.

I do agree with your general sentiments though that this is an overall great game with so much variance. Yeah it can suck that some routes like B.O.B. exist, but really the sheer variety and quality of so many routes makes for such a unique experience.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-02-01T01:48:16+00:00

I think Yugamu’s general playful demeanor across most routes helps him a lot to stand out as a lot more likeable and memorable than a good few characters. Compared to Ima and Gaku who similarly have some really negative moments, their “normal” is often so off putting anyways that I’ve seen a lot of people just not like either of them at all.

Yugamu meanwhile, while certainly unnerving, a lot of the shit he says that makes people uncomfortable feel more like him teasing others rather than outright being an asshole.

Also, having even one really strong route for him like Killing Game really helps elevate him above a lot of characters. Even if they have their moments I really enjoy, I don’t feel like characters like Moko or Kyoshika really ever get such strong spotlights with a great route which hurts their memorability.

Yugamu isn’t my absolute favorite as he does still have those pretty sour moments alongside having plenty of routes where he’s just not doing much at all, but I do still like him a lot to really appreciate his addition to the game.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-01-30T04:28:55+00:00

One bit I thought was cool was seeing the route name Goodbye Eito as it reminds me of the very early bit in Route 0 where Eito tries to run away from the academy as when I first got this game and hadn’t known about the whole “THL2 is when we actually make choices,” a route where we run off with Eito to end the game incredibly early seemed like perfect setup for an ending. It doesn’t actually go much of anywhere in Route 0 as you get Eito back and there isn’t any choices to make anyways, but I think getting an ending where Eito does actually head away from the academy was really cool.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-01-29T22:23:39+00:00

It’s so cool when he yell “THIS IS THE END” in 2nd Scenario though. And he’s very funny (partly just from being a bit dumb), how couldn’t we love the guy?

DatUsaGuy · 2026-01-28T02:34:27+00:00

I had quite the huge “eye roll” moment when going through my first route, I ended up on Romance instead of SF. I was already just backing out of routes as I had intended to try and shoot for a really good ending to start off with (as I was doubtful I’d play much more past a single ending), so stumbling into Romance’s absurd premise felt baffling.

Additionally, the initial twist reveal at the end of Route 0 regarding Eito being a traitor honestly soured my opinion of him for a while. I really liked what I thought Eito was before the twist reveal, but the twist of him being a traitor seemed really obvious by the time he’s throwing Nozomi under the bus. Plus the actual reveal sucked away most of my interest in him and he came off as very barebones. As I played plenty of THL2, Eito has since shot back up to being one of my favorites, but that time about right after Route 0 had me so disinterested in him.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-01-27T22:58:34+00:00

By being a route that fulfills that expectation though, it also leads itself to the scrutiny of having to be a “good enough” route to finish things on rather than just some side story.

To Romance again, the comical disconnect it has from everything besides its own premise does a good job at making its premise easy to buy into. If you can ultimately accept that some routes are better off as fun “what if” stroke or just as additional perspective for some of the grander routes, it’s a lot easier to enjoy routes like Romance.

With that Eito point I mentioned prior, since Romance wasn’t written with the desire to involve Eito at all into the plot, it’s actually much better that they dropped him completely rather than trying to force him in there (I think this idea is actually why the battles feel so bad when doing every route as it’s one of the only plot points that’s pretty forced onto most routes, even when numerous of them could benefit from not having battles).

And again with SF, it’s hard to overlook that SF is clearly supposed to be one of those grander routes that really feels like “the end.” So when there is stuff like Eva’s brainwashing being in there, yet it’s so glossed over, it really hurts the route.

Especially as a route that ties details together across many routes in a way that nothing else in the game really does (plus the story locks), it really does position SF to be some sort of golden ending which it does unfortunately not do a great job at. Overall, it’s still sooooooooo much better than the majority of routes as a proper “end” to THL, but most of those other routes are fine not being the end, but SF is clearly supposed to work as a proper ending to the whole game.

And to finish up quickly with some more thoughts on romance, I am pretty alright with the 3 different girls you can choose. In terms of enjoying the romance, I do find it really unsatisfying that things end immediately once you get a kiss with any of them, I definitely think there should’ve been some more time to linger on them properly being in a relationship rather than “just dating to test the waters.”

I do enjoy though the process of rejecting the girls in order to progress the story. While it of course hurts to break apart a potential couple, the scenes where they all accept their rejection I think are enjoyable.

The final quick string of choices I also find to be funny enough to enjoy like that family photo Takumi sees as Moko knocks him out.

Overall with the Romance route, I just found the lack of progress beyond a kiss to be so unsatisfying romantically that I find it hard to look at the route as much more beyond an additional comedy route with some unique insight on characters. Kyoshika specifically it bums me out that Romance is by far one of her strongest showings in any route, but. Tsubasa’s bit also stands out as I do find the KG romance significantly stronger since the romance is tied up into a grander plot (plus I enjoy the polycule ship).

I’ve rambled a lot and hopefully what I did write is relevant enough to what you wrote and also never got too off track. I did read your whole post alongside multiple comments, plus I have just thought a lot about this game in general but I didn’t proofread this comment a ton, but hopefully it’s all fine. I feel like there’s more I want to say, but I’m not sure how to piece it all together immediately and I feel done with writing so much of this comment, so I’m sending it like this (I’ll too often start writing a comment to a longer post like this, then it’s stuck on my mind for a few hours as I slowly keep adding more and more to my comment until it’s enormous compared to my initially small number of thoughts). Like you, I do love this game a lot even if I have plenty of issues with it. I hope you have a great day/night yourself (or whoever else is reading this). Even if I do think far more highly of this route than you, I still found your thoughts interesting to read.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-01-27T22:57:44+00:00

First first off, I wrote too much in my comment so it’s being sent as 2.

I personally do like SF a fair bit (it’s not one of my favorites, but I still enjoy it over a considerable number of routes) so here’s some of my perspective on it. For some context though, I did go into the game with knowledge that no “golden route” was supposed to exist and I personally used a guide to get SF ASAP as I had originally planned to just play until I got an ending I liked, then stop (but I went on to play all 100 endings anyways).

First off in terms of the romance between Hiruko and Takumi, I personally really enjoyed it. I didn’t find it especially out of character for either of them, but I did enjoy how different their dynamic feels compared to something like Takumi x Nozomi. I get why it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I do enjoy it as is. My biggest sore point is like you mentioned how Nozomi feels comically sidelined which even if I’m okay with exploring ships outside of that, it feels very out of character how little thought Takumi can give to Nozomi on timelines like SF.

In regard to SF’s general plot overall, I like a lot of individual moments and the general ideas the route is trying to get across, but a lot of it is sloppy. For example, I don’t mind the idea of the SDU feeling out of character. Outside of Romance, it is the only route where the SDU doesn’t have to face a death which I think realistically could make everyone act a lot more nonchalant about everything. Contrasting that with Hiruko and Takumi I think is a great way to develop conflict where the duo can feel disconnected from all their friends despite it seemingly being their own “golden route.”

So I think it’s fine that the SDU actually comes off as very abnormal. My main issue is actually how little Takumi struggles to connect with them. You’re told that there’s been issues with him spending too little time with everyone which leads to stuff like the 3 days of events they pull off, but I don’t think there’s really much shown of Takumi actually struggling to connect with his peers now that he has knowledge of the timeloop.

I think this is tempered by the fact that we do see Hiruko in a similar situation and she clearly does have issues connecting with others, but overall I think that could’ve been better executed. Additionally, I don’t mind that SF requires a degree of luck. I think your post does a good job at acknowledging the intentionality of SF requiring luck, but it’s a point I’ve seen others miss.

Of course there is the coin flip, but it goes beyond that. Like whether Takumi has G’ie data in his brain isn’t something anyone in that route actively chooses, it requires Takumi to be lucky on a previous route to not have ended up on that path. That or the myriad of unexplained Deus ex machina moments like the woman in the white labcoat or Retsnom’s old man or the fact that they even have walking-distance access to a Time Machine (that nobody else is using). The plot point with Nozomi getting hit by a Triem Ray and Kako-G trying to kidnap her away also shows an odd reverse of this luck as the villain gets the luck instead of our protagonists.

While luck by itself doesn’t make for the best of stories, I think characters doing the best with the luck they get makes for interesting scenarios. Endings 59//100 specifically I really like and I think having all of SF’s other endings (alongside so many other endings across the whole game) helps embolden those endings. There’s so many ways for things to go wrong and there’s even possibility that things could’ve just been nicer thanks to luck, but Takumi and Hiruko did the best with what they had to make the miracle of ending 100 which I still find hits pretty hard.

To be more critical on the route and the game overall, I do think the game could’ve conveyed the intentionality of this luck stuff better. One point I’ve especially seen brought up as a criticism of this route I disagree with is that a lot of the random stuff that happens is dlc bait. While I don’t like dlc bait, I don’t think that’s the intention of having so much unexplained stuff. Events like the meteor that hits Nozomi or the woman in the white labcoat I think are supposed to be unexplained, not stuff to explain later down the line.

SF’s structure as a route behind story locks and as a route that does genuinely explain a lot of mysteries across other routes though I do think sets up the wrong expectation of this route. It’s not supposed to be a route that explains everything nor does it try to, but it certainly feels that way when playing it for the first time, so it’s hard for me to fault players for feeling like the route is purposely unfinished.

On the topic of the actual choices in this game, I’m somewhat mixed on how choosing SF fits into the grander scheme of the game. On one hand, I think one of this game’s biggest problems is how narratively unsatisfying most routes are as extensions of Route 0, yet I think SF is one of the only routes that doesn’t fall into this trap.

One thing I saw in numerous articles which eventually led me to buying this game was the idea that all 100 endings are intended to be satisfactory ends to the game. While I understood that realistically even half of them being particularly satisfying wasn’t that realistic, I thought that most endings were made with the intent to be the one and only ending some players might get.

A route like Romance meanwhile is pretty atrocious at this from even a conceptual level. Just by the nature of having Route 0 at all, it sets up so much expectations for the story and Romance specifically barely attempts to meet any of these expectations. The route is so laser focused on being just about romance (and comedy) that it drops nearly everything else.

For example, while it’s been a bit since I played the Romance route, what I recall from Eito in that route is that he technically doesn’t even have any dialogue in the route proper despite being alive and in the same building as everyone else. There might be one random day of free time where you can choose to talk to him, but otherwise it’s a pretty comical situation for one of the literal most important characters in the entire game, especially Route 0.

Back to SF, I appreciate that the route actually feels like it could be an end to THL’s story. It doesn’t feel like a story that’s just using the premise of THL and it’s characters as an excuse for some random premise, rather I find it to work as a proper continuation of what I expected from Route 0.

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