Reviews from

in the past


I don't know how to feel about Blue Archive.

On one hand, Blue Archive's lax gameplay provides me some comfort. It's neither frustrating nor too limiting. Its also chockful of QOL, but is somewhat ruined by the fact that its client isn't the best. Music does go hard, and the game seems to be generous enough.

Obviously, there's another side to that coin, and that is Blue Archive's writing and aesthetic is loudly perversive. It's overly sexual, and is made even worse by the game's high-school setting.

Do I recommend this game? I don't know. If you get satisfaction from Blue Archive through its character-design, I'd rather not talk about it.

JOGO MARAVILHOSO, JOGO MUITO BOM, único defeito dele é que ele é um gacha

This review contains spoilers

(Played up to Volume 4 Chapter 2 with Volume 5 on the horizon)

Mid gameplay. Really dislike how much it heats my phone up. The app feels like it's about to break the moment i take my eyes off of it and makes interacting with it a bigger chore than it needs to be. Got that? good.

Blue archive is concerned about our youth from the perspective of someone who's out of it but still hasn't gotten pounded out by the world. It presents a generally idyllic world of cute girls and guns and cool clothes and fun times and contrasts it with the seriousness it takes itself when those elements are taken away from the characters. The player takes on the role of someone who respects the agency of the girls as people and contrasts it with a world that seeks to take away their carefreeness through different elements: debt, security managment, politics, ideology and grief all threaten the daily lives of the students of Kivotos and the game explores the ways these ideas are entrusted to these kids and who's liable for what.

What i found most interesting in this aspect is how the main player character, Sensei, plays into this. As the only human adult in Kivotos, they've been entrusted with the role of an advisor to these girls. Not someone who can manage their lives, but someone they can rely on when the need arises. Sensei is explicitely someone who's against the removal of agency from the characters in the story, someone who's there to help guide the girls into finding and protecting what they personally want but can't bring themselves to admit they want to do. So you get this back and forward with a lot of characters who find their resolve by themselves without needing to be saved by Main Character Man who can save everyone. In a lot of chapters it's very easy to forget they're even in the story as the girls take center stage and do stuff for themselves. It finds this really interesting balance between semi self-insertness and giving them a voice that i found really compelling after years of playing gacha games with no real character to their name.

And this all culminates in Volume Final: a four chapter-long story about Sensei's role in the stories of these characters and how they respond to crises. It's an extremely satisfying end to this part of the story that ties up a lot of loose ends thematically and opens the way for the more mystic elements of the setting to take place in the future.

The real joy of blue archive is set within that framework. It's always bright and poppy and idealistic and always willing to stand up for the kids who don't deserve any of the horrors of the world; and in a real world where it's hard to see that happening to people all over, it feels...reassuring, i'd say, to see someone believe with their whole heart and soul that no, a better world is possible, and it's up to the adults of the world to pave it for the next generation.

do not trust people who play this

unlike other mobile games this one actually respects your time.

additional points for having a great story, great music and great characters.


Peak story peak characters peak art peak soundtrack

anyone trying to shit on this game without reading Vol 3 don't know what they're talking about

Funny, I finished Volume F on the day the first episode aired for the anime.

It is still kinda crazy to me that this game could have ended at Volume F. There is much to take from the themes and music, characters and the world building, I love it all. I thoroughly enjoyed all the stories and how they all lead to one satisfying conclusion. Obviously, there is way more on the horizon, but I will be continuing to support this game and see where it goes with it's stories and characters.

I couldn't fathom how the game about schoolgirls with guns could possibly have a "peak" story until I actually experienced it. Yeah, it's peak. (gameplay is a bit lacking though)

Forgot to log again after finishing Volume F

Peak fiction, peak fiction!! Thank you, isakusan!!

fifa if it's main demographic was pedophiles instead of ishowspeed

I followed this for the first year if you count retweeting art of girls as following. And then they came out with track mari and I decided I had to lock in for at least 6 months. I got my spark and my track mari but I also received peak fiction. I think hifumi "I love cliches" speech enjoyers should be giving out less 1 stars and more "hooooooly moly" ratings to games with soul but arent really good. I dont like the gameplay very much but its a gacha and you cant convince me they can be anything but reloads and micromanaging rng (and macromanaging rng by getting good rolls).

the author of subahibi approved this as kamige

This review contains spoilers

(Played up to Volume 4 Chapter 2 with Volume 5 on the horizon)

Mid gameplay. Really dislike how much it heats my phone up. The app feels like it's about to break the moment i take my eyes off of it and makes interacting with it a bigger chore than it needs to be. Got that? good.

Blue archive is concerned about our youth from the perspective of someone who's out of it but still hasn't gotten pounded out by the world. It presents a generally idyllic world of cute girls and guns and cool clothes and fun times and contrasts it with the seriousness it takes itself when those elements are taken away from the characters. The player takes on the role of someone who respects the agency of the girls as people and contrasts it with a world that seeks to take away their carefreeness through different elements: debt, security managment, politics, ideology and grief all threaten the daily lives of the students of Kivotos and the game explores the ways these ideas are entrusted to these kids and who's liable for what.

What i found most interesting in this aspect is how the main player character, Sensei, plays into this. As the only human adult in Kivotos, they've been entrusted with the role of an advisor to these girls. Not someone who can manage their lives, but someone they can rely on when the need arises. Sensei is explicitely someone who's against the removal of agency from the characters in the story, someone who's there to help guide the girls into finding and protecting what they personally want but can't bring themselves to admit they want to do. So you get this back and forward with a lot of characters who find their resolve by themselves without needing to be saved by Main Character Man who can save everyone. In a lot of chapters it's very easy to forget they're even in the story as the girls take center stage and do stuff for themselves. It finds this really interesting balance between semi self-insertness and giving them a voice that i found really compelling after years of playing gacha games with no real character to their name.

And this all culminates in Volume Final: a four chapter-long story about Sensei's role in the stories of these characters and how they respond to crises. It's an extremely satisfying end to this part of the story that ties up a lot of loose ends thematically and opens the way for the more mystic elements of the setting to take place in the future.

The real joy of blue archive is set within that framework. It's always bright and poppy and idealistic and always willing to stand up for the kids who don't deserve any of the horrors of the world; and in a real world where it's hard to see that happening to people all over, it feels...reassuring, i'd say, to see someone believe with their whole heart and soul that no, a better world is possible, and it's up to the adults of the world to pave it for the next generation.

One of the best stories I readed

As I sat down and watched the credits roll after finishing a 12 hour reading session for Volume F, I might have relearned a lesson I learned many years ago. That I should never judge a book by its cover, or in Blue Archive's case, a book by its degeneracy. Blue Archive is truly a fantastic heart-warming story that is so earnest with how it portrays its themes via the multiple stories it provides.

Based on the stuff I've seen online, I expected this to be a pretty safe slice of life-ish gacha story, that would be good, but ultimately forgettable. The first two volumes exceeded that expectation, with the underlying message about an adult's role to guide young adolescents into growing and understanding what their goals are and how to achieve them elevating the pretty fun slice of life scenes and the serious moments when the plots get more involved with more stakes. Kivotos as a setting for Blue Archive expands the limits of what Blue Archive can do. It is both a very exaggerated and silly place that seems almost like a parody of slice of life series with how nonsensical many aspects of Kivotos work and are taken as the norm. But at the same time, these oddities are sometimes questioned and are used to expand the world, with raid monsters being these weird eldritch creatures, the main villain group Gematria having surprisingly cool and abstract character design, which makes the world mysterious in a way that makes you want to learn more about it while being vague enough that the writers can do pretty much anything for stories (kind of similar to Touhou now that I think about it).

The overall writing is very sharp and to the point, emphasizing lines that give situations more impact, both for levity and for serious moments, while having very little bloat (aka Arknights) present. There was a scene involving a bridge that takes place late in Volume 3 that conveyed a lot about two characters relationship with few lines of text, which really impressed me, especially coming from reading many Arknights events. Pivotal story moments near the ends of each Volume are voiced too, which greatly enhances the emotional impact of certain scenes.

Eden's Treaty surprised me though, with it ending up as one of the best stories I've read in a gacha (only behind FGO's Avalon le Fae as an absolute favorite). The entire conflict between Trinity and Gehenna and how the narrative explored the themes of communication via the irrational hatred both groups both hold for each other, the inherent flaw in trying to understand others, and the futility of living for a purpose, but to pursue a happy ending for everyone despite those logical fallacies was just so incredibly well executed and explored that it got me to really appreciate how uplifting and positive Blue Archive's story ultimately is, despite all the hardships and despair that can occur. Hifumi's "I love clichés" speech encapsulates everything about the optimistic themes of Blue Archive so well and made me tear up with how genuine and earnest it felt. Volume F continued the bar for high quality story-telling, delving more into choosing to live, despite all the bad circumstances in your life, and the role of an adult shouldering the mistakes a youth can make when they can rely on no one. The entire ending sequence of Volume F though was fantastic and captivated me from start to finish, making up for some bloated pacing during the battle scenes near the middle.

The characters are all very fun to see interact and do shenanigans with, which makes it very easy to be invested in them when the stakes raise and the students have to go through some real hardships. The group dynamics with each student in their specific club and school really allow some of these characters, despite not being the deepest, to just be really fun to watch act on screen (Make-Up Work Club my beloved). Not every character is the most complex or fleshed out, but the characters that are especially focused on (Mika, Saori, Terror Shiroko, etc.) are wonderfully explored and have lots of catharsis tied to their flawed ideologies, yet are guided to hope and grow through their Sensei.

Sensei, while being a self-insert, is a pretty damn good one, being a symbol of an adult just trying to lead their beloved students to a brighter future, despite the influence of corrupt deceitful adults that exist in the world (Gematria, Kaiser Corp, etc.). There is some degeneracy to the character, but the gigantic positive influence Sensei has on the students lives and struggles made me like Sensei as something much more than just a simple gacha self-insert protagonist. The students all get a lot of love too when pulled for, with each character having a unique Live2D lobby animation, and a support chain of events you can perform. These events range from very nice resolutions to story events, very silly but overall fun reads, to completely degenerate. There is LOTS to love about Blue Archive's cast and how the game treats them.

The music is fantastic, with it leaning very heavily into EDM style tracks. Story themes are very memorable and catchy listens, and the core battle themes and important songs in big moments being amazing (RE Aoharu, Alkaline Tears, Defective Pixel, Usagi Flop, too many more to count). It elevates a great story even more and makes the atmosphere very unique compared to other gacha stories.

If this was just a visual novel, I would probably come out loving Blue Archive, but unfortunately, this game is a gacha. To be fair, the game does use the fact that its a gacha for its story extremely well, with each Volume being very distinct from each other and exploring the multitude of students that exist in Kivotos rather than focusing on one centralized cast. But the gacha means that the actual gameplay is kind of bad... It's harmless auto battler stuff, with you selecting skills at the right times and timing skills for good positioning, but I just find that style of gameplay tedious and boring to deal with. The rates look great on paper (3% for a max rarity unit, 6% during certain limited banners), but the focus only being 0.7% means you'll have to spark most of the time (200 pulls) to get the desired unit you'd want. This is actually not the worst, as the average time to get enough currency to spark is 2 months, but the rates do look better than they actually are in terms of getting a focus.

Something that is greatly appreciated is how much this game respects your time, at least once the ball gets going with mission progress on your account. You can skip almost every daily task in the game with a simple sweep command, reaping all the rewards while skipping the tedium of the combat completely once you beat the node with a 3 star rating at least once. This significantly boosted my attention rate in this game, making it possible for me to focus entirely on the story without worrying too much about the gacha and being optimal, just sweeping dailies and completing missions effortlessly to idly progress. Story progression is rarely locked behind the gacha as well (with a few very notable exceptions), meaning that your story progress is moreso locked behind your account level rather than having the most optimal students and building a meta team. This again focuses the attention of the game less on meta and pulling for broken students, and more on just pulling for your favorites, to get their Live2D's, to see more of their characters in their Momotalk. The focus of Blue Archive is always on the students, no matter what.

Despite the actual game portion of Blue Archive being underwhelming to me, Blue Archive as a whole is a great time if taken as a visual novel, and is also so easy to maintain. Dailies take at most 3-5 minutes (unless raid events are happening), and all previous nodes can be swept at no additional stamina cost (unlike something like Limbus). One of my favorite gachas, and I'll definitely stick around for Arc 2.

UUUOOOOGGGHHHH (story is actually quite amazing surpisingly and character designs are quite nice)

Relogging this after finishing Vol F

Fucking Peak, it hit so fucking hard. Never have I thought I would have spent almost 16 hours straight on this one volume hooked and kept on playing even If I was tired. This game lets on more than what it actually is, and some people will actually give their honest opinion making it this far into this game which is Blue Archive actually being peak storytelling.

"Your life matters. Don't regret living.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to be happy.

Thinking the only way to end your suffering is through death is terrible.

You weren't born to suffer.

And you shouldn't.

No child should ever feel that way.

If your world is filled with more pain than happiness...

If you're wandering the world feeling like you don't belong in it...

That's not your fault.

It's the fault of the world you live in and the people responsible for it.

No one person should ever carry the entire weight of the world on their shoulders... especially not a child.

No matter how many horrible things you've done, no matter how many unforgivable offenses you've committed...

It should NEVER be that way.

It's not your responsibility.

That duty should fall to the adults in your life.

...I'll be the one to take responsibility."

RE Aoharu changed me. Thank You Blue Archive.


It's surprisingly easy to make men happy.

the cunny couldnt carry

the best gacha game ever made.