氷の蓮, Ice Lilypads

Happy Birthday, Yukari!

For a long time Yukari was the heroine who was the “face” of Divine Gate - heck, as of this writing she’s still the face of the app icon, and for months leading up to the release of version 3.0 of the game she was the only character who appeared on the game title screen. Unfortunately, she and her rather complicated game story arc got barely any screen time in the anime. But if you’re hungry for post full of all things Yukari, including some beautiful high-res artwork and her new birthday story updates, just read on!

Happy Birthday, Hikari!!!

Hikari is by far and away one of my favorite characters in the Divine Gate game (despite being a complete non-entity so far in the anime), so here is a post to celebrate all things Hikari!!

Hikari’s Birthday Unit Profile

ハッピーバレンタイン。それは一年に一度、ヒカリにとって大切な日。そんな日をみんなで過ごそうと、チョコ作りにいそしんでいた。きっと、私は幸せなん だ。少女がこぼした一言。それは純粋な言葉であり、そして誰かに似た一言だった。私はみんなを連れて行きたい、幸せな世界へ。たとえ、絶望が待っていて も。

Valentine’s Day. A special day that only came around once per year, and an especially meaningful day for Hikari. On that day Hikari was busy making chocolate for everyone. “Now I’m finally happy. For real!” she muttered under her breath. The meaning behind her words was true, but the way she emphasized one word in particular resembled a certain someone. “I just want to make a world of happiness for everyone. Even for people who feel despair.”

Hikari’s Birthday Quest

誕生日を祝ってくれる人がいる。それはどれだけ幸せなことだろうか。少女はそれを知っていた。だからこそ、そんな少女の隣には一人の男がいたのだった。嬢ちゃん、教えてやってくれよ。生まれたときから世界の敵なヤツなんて存在しない、って。 

To have friends to celebrate one’s birthday, wouldn’t that bring anyone happiness? Of course she understood that much. And that was exactly the reason why on her birthday, a certain man ended up standing next to her and saying, “So tell me, MIssy. How are we going to get rid of That Guy who’s been the enemy of the entire world since the moment he was born?”

Vlad does not understand that “so hey let’s start plotting to murder your father” might not be an appropriate topic of conversation at a teenage girl’s birthday party. Jesus tap-dancing Christ, Vlad. Have some cake and calm down.

Anywhoo, here’s some more Hikari stuff!!!!!

Twitter birthday tag: #ヒカリ生誕祭2016 Check this tag for lots of awesome fanart and tributes!

Hikaris birthday tweet from @divine_anime

Hikari’s Official Profile Birthday: February 14th Sign: Aquarius Blood Type: O Talent: Making sweets Favorite Food: Oranges Least Favorite Food: Habanero peppers

Official Game Illustrations, in addition to the above: Congratulations illustration by UCMM | Six-Star Evolution | Birthday 2016

Official Group Illustrations: Game Key Visual 1.0 | Game Key Visual 3.0 | Christmas 2013 | Android App magazine cover | Anime Key Visual 1 | Anime Key Visual 2

Game Story Hikari’s Story Database Page Translated Year One Summary Post Translated Summer Story Post Most Recent Story Translations (chronological backwards)

As per Mr. Divine’s tweet, Japanese karaoke chain Pasela will be offering a Divine Gate-themed menu at their Akihabara and Ikebukuro locations. You can read the full menu here, but I’ve translated just the kid-themed drinks below the cut.

I dare anybody reading this to try to re-create these drinks (although good luck without knowing the proportions of any of the ingredients) and tell us if they’re any good. Also please feel free to improve upon any of these drink recipes with the addition of alcohol if you so desire.

This year’s Anniversary story event has already begun!! Rather than the Holy War, this week we’re getting the start of a big set of story updates about the Knights and Kids storming the Cult headquarters. It looks like this dungeon series is going to continue into next week, so this post will be updated again in one week.

Here we go!

Tilson’s story clarifies nothing and Morgan’s story clarifies everything.

I’m going to take advantage of the temporary lull in new content to finish up the Demon Classroom translations. Hopefully some of the more vague stories in this batch (especially the Dark stories) will make more sense once we get to read the upcoming Principal’s stories.

Another Reserve unit, another story to make your skin crawl.  Thank goodness that the Artists are a lot more fun!

Another Thursday, another batch of story updates. Make sure you have some tissues handy before you read Midori’s update….

Fatima might be playing matchmaker and we should all be very, very afraid.

From this week’s gift dungeon we get some slight forward momentum in the story!

Twitter is crying because Tokiwa’s a boy. So many delicious, delicious nerd tears in the Divine Gate fandom today….

Nothing amuses me more than the complete disconnect between Laplace’s cute character design and her incredibly sinister personality.

This whole update is even better because I just finished reading Stephen King’s Revival which is about a pastor-turned-scientist who does exactly what you think he’s going to do based on the title of the book, and it does not end well. Agony, horror, and despair indeed.

Anywhoo…

The story actually moves forward!

First of all, magazine stuff!  Divine Gate was featured in this month’s AppliStyle and FamitsuApp Android magazines. The AppliStyle article includes a HUGE new relationship chart (more about that behind the cut) and a preview of Santa’s new 7-star evo. It’s… amazing.  The FamitsuApp Android article has a meaty story section that clarifies what exactly happened during the giant melee battle that was the Twilight Judgment (posted to my twitter here), but I’d take that page with a grain of salt because it also says that Sigurd killed Undine which, uh, isn’t true. Ariton deserves the credit for that particular tragedy.