(chanting quietly) its okay to have interests

For future reference, I'm writing this on the 3rd of January 2026, so only Part 1 is out as of writing.

Ryōshū pulls a spiral lock from the chest of one of the LCE researchers. Dante watches her do this, and they remark:

DANTE (NARRATION): Ryōshū cast her gaze down, quietly eyeing her palm.

DANTE: From the cryptic words and the contemplative look on her face,

DANTE: I could easily guess that she was taking a trip through the shadows of her past...

DANTE: ...touching an invisible object with her palm and feeling its texture, in search of something that should have been there in her hands.

I don't remember this narration seeming all that remarkable to me on my first playthrough of Part 1. The spiral in Ryōshū's hand is clearly and completely visible, but Dante may have been waxing philosophical, and the 'something invisible' is more like an intangible concept from her past.

But, well, no.

Viewed from the theater menu, it's gone.

This is the first of a few blatant continuity errors in these CGs, and I'm going to try to collate them here with side-by-sides.

Next up is 9-7, 'Paradox of the Spiral.'

<IN GAME>

<THEATER>

Ishmael's expression is markedly different, and Alyssa's hair is falling freely over her shoulders, instead of being tied up in pigtails as in her talksprite and LCB Regular Check-Up appearance.

<IN GAME>

<THEATER>

The blade hovering over the Dihui Star almost seems invisible in the theater version of this CG.

...Not unlike the spiral from earlier. Like then too, Dante's narration aligns more with the theater version.

DANTE (NARRATION): In that vision of the past, Ryōshū raises her sword in an agonizingly slow motion, unsheathing the blade that we have never seen revealed before--

DANTE: --A white blade of such unfeeling purity, devoid of even a trace of mercy beneath its pale edge.

In the in-game version, Ryōshū's sword is very clearly black. I don't think the theater version is necessarily 'white' more-so than 'not there' but it's something to think about.

That's the last CG we can see in the theater, because to my eye the CGs of the Ring and Index Nursefathers with Ryōshū aren't discrepant in any way. But here's an honourable mention I'd be remiss not to point out.

In this CG, seen in-game and NOT in the theater menu, Hohenheim is not wearing his E.G.O suit. Marton is, but not Hohenheim.

He's wearing it in every talksprite this whole Canto so far,

as well as in this CG when LCB, LCD and LCE get split up, but not in the CG with the Ring manikin. It's bizarre, especially because Hohenheim has only ever been depicted in two outfits, and that's neither of them!

I saw someone online cleverly point out that Hohenheim also isn't wearing his E.G.O suit in the CG from the very beginning of this part, where he's depicted as just a shadow on the wall.

You can still tell, as there's none of the distinctive nails in his shoulder pads.

So... what does this mean?

I have absolutely no idea, I'm only collating the data! If you're only here to see the CGs and their differences, you can stop reading here. The rest is personal speculation.

What this immediately brings to mind is Ryōshū's smoking habit. I was struck very hard by the change in her talksprite this Canto, because to my memory, Dante's change from one hand in their pocket to both and Don Quixote's whole thing are the only times a Sinners have so blatantly changed pose.

It's not just that she isn't smoking. She had a pose without a cigarette in Spring Cultivation while around children, and it was very different.

The constant discussion of cigarettes from Yi Sang, Meursault and especially Gregor draw the player's attention directly towards this.

My first instinct, mid-playthrough, was that Ryōshū had somehow paradox-changed into a state where she never started smoking at all, and thus didn't have the habit of always reaching for one. Her line about wanting to 'get used to staying off [smoking]' when pressed by a friend seems to dispel that possibility, though.

...But she does associate the smell of cigarette smoke strongly with the Dihui Star, who floats indistinctly with that slightly warped and glitchy talk sprite, and a pile of cigarettes is left smouldering on the ground after she disappears.

Ryōshū's change in talksprite means something massive, as does the disappearance of the spiral, of the katana, and for some reason, of Hohenheim's E.G.O suit.

I'm definitely going to be checking the theater for CG changes in Parts 2 and 3, and I recommend you do as well!