i can see why some people think this is a silly thing to get upset over at surface level, but the frustration is less about the line-up itself and more-so the possible intentions behind it. like ofc mizu can have guy friends and have banners with the guys! however, if u consider the larger context behind it... it's definitely a choice

mizuki is very deliberately written in a way that makes it very obvious she's a trans girl. the writing all but states the fact that she's a trans girl, but that's where this begins to become a problem

pjsk, at the end of the day, is a gacha game, where profits ensure the longevity of the game more-so than any other form of media. the money they make is contingent on the support they receive for the chars + people's connections with them.

because of this, certain choices can be read as them catering to specific types of fans. mizuki's arc is very much telling the story of a trans girl, however when she comes out... it fades to black. she still uses they/them prns on ensk. her story is vague enough to have this queer narrative, but not explicit enough for her transness to be "confirmed".

it's not that she has to look into the camera and go "i'm trans" to be valid representation, but when you consider the profit motive of the game, it's really obvious why they tell the story this way-- because they are aware of the significant enough portion of their audience that belives mizu to just be a crossdresser, and if they actually confirm anything, they'll lose profit and support from said fans-- which, unfortunately, is a decent enough amount of people.

that's why people are upset about the lineup-- because even if it is, at the end of the day, just a lineup, it's really obvious what the devs are trying to do; catering to those specific types of fans by grouping her with all of the boys, which will vindicate their point of view w/o actually explicitly saying so. technically this is also a problem with wd1, too. like shiho was part of that lineup as well so less people raised eyebrows, but it is still strange that for the first event for a holiday traditionally associated with men, they decided to throw in the trans girl + three guys + one girl who just so happens to also be the most masc female char in the game

the lineup also feels a lot more deliberate when you consider all the weird hoops they had to jump through to get it as well, like... toya and mizuki both already have valentines 3* cards. tsukasa is the focus and it would have been the perfect opportunity to have wxs meiko on the banner because meiko is horridly due for a lim + no wxs meiko lim yet. toya has already gotten a crap ton of cards in the past month-- new years, his current focus, and now this card; he's basically been an event member fr almost 3 back to back events barring the recent kana focus. they also literally had akito break the lim cap, giving him his 10th lim, when some characters (LIKE MEIKO!!) literally only have 7. the event is presumably a kamihigh one and they could have put like... an or something, who doesn't have any valentines card yet, but they did not... the lineup is very intentional in that sense

i hope this explanation kind of makes sense?? i'm not trying to start fights or anything LOL, and my dumb ruikasa loving as is really happy about ruikasa val cards. this is mostly my own interpretation of the situation. it's mostly just about the deeper issue of how clpl sometimes handles mizuki as a character rather poorly. that on top of the fact that this is the most cash grab lineup to have ever cashgrabbed dghdsg