The character sheet for Arcaea.

WARNING: All main story spoilers released prior to Final Verdict^note will be unmarked.

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Shared Tropes

Ambiguously Human: Most characters are copies of an already dead person. Even in the origin story of some characters like Vita or Lethe, they're stated to be not quite human.
Another Dimension: It is heavily implied that the characters all came from different universes, given their different stories and powers. Final Verdict and Silent Answer reveal that the world of Arcaea was (unintentionally) created by the original version of Hikari, where she then transferred copied souls into.
Art Evolution: When a character is awakened, you unlock flashier/more stylized art of them, sometimes with a new outfit.
Art Shift: While most of the partner artworks were done by cierra, some like Lethe and Sia have their artwork done by someone else.
Break the Cutie: Usually, it's Go Mad from the Revelation instead of this, but if it does, expect it occur to a gleefully sadistic degree. Look no further to Tairitsu and especially Hikari and Maya.
Costume Evolution:
- Hikari and Tairitsu's outfits change over the course of the story. In their final forms, their outfits match each other, but with reversed colorations and minor differences.
- Lethe's dress and scythe also get a whole new look in her awakened art, and Ilith's awakened art appropriately makes her look as sinister as she's described as with sharper outlines.
- In addition, the CHUNITHM partners get new outfits upon awakening.
Identity Amnesia: Every character who wakes up in the world of Arcaea has no memory of who they are, including their name.
Go Mad from the Revelation: Usually the stories will have girls trying to find out what they are or something more and losing their composure to some extent. They often get over it within a single story though.
Laser-Guided Amnesia:
- All of the characters except for Lethe, and even then she has trouble remembering, as well as Eto and Luna, have no memory of anything from before they woke up in the world of Arcaea. The only way to recover these memories is for a character to view that shard of Arcaea that contains them.
- Discussed in Shirabe’s story where she questions why her amnesia does not affect her knowledge of what things are or how to do things.
Meaningful Name: Most characters' names have a meaning that relates to their story/overall theme.
- Hikari means light, referring to the lighthearted memories within the Arcaea that follow her. Can also become an Ironic Name in the alternate ending, where she succumbs to guilt and nihilism.
- Tairitsu means conflict, referring to the negativity stirring within the Arcaea that surround her, as well as her eventual conflict against Hikari when they meet in the Adverse Prelude story.
- Kou means "crimson", referring to her song pack (Crimson Solace) and the color of her outfit.
- Eto is short for "étoile", star in French, while Luna is Latin for moon.
- Shirabe means "melody", and she carries a musical instrument (more specifically, a guitar) with her.
- Shirahime means "white princess", referring to her presumed nobility.
- Lagrange is named after the mathematician and astronomer Joseph-Louis Lagrange, referring to the overall space theme of her song pack (Esoteric Order).
- Ayu means "colorful dream", which refers to the name of her short story.
- In Classical Mythology, "Lethe" is a river in the underworld that causes those who drink from it to lose all their memories. Lethe herself has memories of a past life, yet does not remember a key part of them.
Noodle Incident: Despite most of the characters died and were cloned into Arcaea, save for Alice, Tairitsu and Vita, we don't know how did they die.
Pimped-Out Dress: Many of the characters wear a heavily detailed dress which change throughout Art Evolution.

Main Story

Characters that are part of the main story of Arcaea. They get special focus in the game, with multiple song packs dedicated to their respective narratives.

Hikari

^{Click to see awakened art.}

^{Hikari (Zero)}

^{Hikari (Fracture)}

^{Hikari (Fatalis)}

"A pleasant, simple world like this need only be pleasant. Nothing more."

-Eternal Core, 1-3

The Hero Protagonist of the main story. A girl who first wakes up surrounded by light Arcaea. Enjoying the sweet memories the Arcaea has to offer, she begins to collect them for fun without questioning the existence of the world or herself. Unbeknown to her, what awaits her at the end of her tale is a horrible tragedy...

Hikari is one of two partners unlocked for free at the start of the game.

Almighty Idiot: Becomes one in the "Accept Arcaea" ending. After Hikari kills Tairitsu and chooses not to revive her, the world of Arcaea continues to exist as a Lotus-Eater Machine for thousands of years with Hikari watching over it while its inhabitants wander aimlessly forever. While many of the girls eventually lose their minds and come to rest, Hikari still believes she has done the right thing by giving them eternal happiness.
Ambiguously Human: While all characters are this, her case is noticably special — not only she was copied into Arcaea while the original was alive, said original was an actual Physical God (albeit one that isn't aware of what she can do) whose abilities were seemingly inherited by the copy.
Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: In the "Accept Arcaea" ending, she turns into the Goddess of Arcaea proper and passively watches over the world for the rest of eternity.
The Atoner: By the end of Silent Answer, Hikari realizes that her self-centered decisions had led to morally disastrous consequences, so she revives Tairitsu at the cost of destroying the world, and by extension also freeing the souls of everyone else. It's a huge step forward when she actually does something for the sake of another person instead of for self-preservation.
Badass Adorable: She might be a naive and sweet girl (at least initially), but she's still the copy of Arcaea's creator with all the reality-warping abilities that seemingly came out from the real thing. Tairitsu learnt the hard way that she won't hesistate in showing business when pressed.
Batman Grabs a Gun: Initially, Hikari only wanted to end her fight with Tairitsu peacefully and find common ground, and the most she did was to try to forceully restrain her. However, when it's made clear that Tairitsu will go out of her way to kill her and comes close to doing so multiple times, she instincively plunges a sword to her chest and kills her instantly. It doesn't do anything good to her sanity at all.
Befriending the Enemy: Subverted initially — Hikari describes Tairitsu as the girl she wished she befriended. After she feels guilt over killing her, she revives her and makes this real.
Beware the Nice Ones: Deconstructed — she legitimately wants to play nice with Tairitsu, but after finding out she literally can't, the nastier aspects of her personality begin to expose themselves, eventually leading to her losing the moral high ground by killing the other girl. She's perfectly aware of the consequences of her actions and breaks down upon realizing what she had done, and either gets better by destroying Arcaea to revive her or render herself insane out of guilt and self-servitude depending on the ending.
Break the Cutie: The main story post-Adverse Prelude goes beyond inflicting the standard Go Mad from the Revelation most characters suffer from and basically tears this innocent cinnamon roll apart.
Cleavage Window: Her Fatalis form has a window that exposes her cleavage.
The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: Despite being the God who created Arcaea as her own Lotus-Eater Machine, the real Hikari found no solace within the realm she inadvertently created and was never even aware of its existence, being replaced by a copy instead. And despite the world being intended as a sanctuary of eternal happiness for the dead, some characters eventually waste away, unable to wander forever. It's also implied that no matter the ending, the real Hikari is never able to save herself despite her power to wish almost anything into existence.
Cool Sword: Wields one made of glass in Final Verdict, which fills up with Tairitsu's blood when impaled through her.
The Cutie: The happier and more wistful counterpart of Tairitsu. She initially watches the Arcaea in awe and enjoys their happy memories. This quickly falls apart and degenerates into Break the Cutie.
Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: She might just look and act like a sweetheart that wants to bask in light Arcaea and doesn't want to fight anyone, but she's still the God of Arcaea and she's a very powerful Reality Warper. Take it far enough, and she will show you no mercy and she won't care if you're dead.
Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: If she ends up catatonic, angry or depressed, her eyes dull out. The eyes for her Fatalis variant are also dulled out on default.
Empty Shell: In both of her bad endings, she loses all will to do anything and becomes nothing.
- In Entry 1-ZR of Luminous Sky, she loses herself to the light Arcaea as the happiness she is surrounded by loses meaning.
- In the secret Downer Ending, she becomes a mad goddess who no longer wants to do anything save for watching the world below her, with every side character either suffering from a similar fate as she did in 1-ZR or wandering aimlessly forever, looking for meaning when there is none.
Expy: Of Madoka Kaname of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Both of them start out as a stock example of The Cutie with Incorruptible Pure Pureness, but quickly fall over the Despair Event Horizon and becomes a Physical God at the very end. In the normal ending, she defies fate to revive Tairitsu and destroy Arcaea, then departs to worlds unknown, just like the original Madoka who does so to become a goddess that puts the witch cycle in check. In the other ending, she leaves Tairitsu for dead and continues to rule over Arcaea as a nihilistic, mindless force of a World of Silence in a bid to free all souls within from their suffering, akin to Madoka's transformation into Kriemhild Gretchen after the destruction of Walpurgisnacht.
Flower Motifs: Carnations. Hikari's Zero and Fracture variants feature carnations on their outfits, and while this motif is replaced by roses on her Fatalis form, the carnation returns in her Reunion form. Carnation flowers were said to bloom from the tears of Mary when she was mourning Jesus christ, and its name is thought to derived from the Latin word of "Incarnation", forshadowing that Hikari is an incarnation of the Physical God who created Arcaea. Also, while carnations do not have thorns, roses do. This might represent how in her Fatalis form, she drops her pacifist personality completely and shows what she can actually do when Tairitsu pushes her over the edge physically and mentally.
Foil:
- To Tairitsu. Whereas Tairitsu wants to learn about and destroy the negative Arcaea she attracts, Hikari would rather bask in the happy memories she attracts without question. Later on, while Tairitsu is motivated by her anger for the suffering that Hikari has put herself and countless others through, most of Hikari's actions are done out of self-preservation.
- Also to Saya. When Hikari first wakes up, she naively accepts the existence of the Arcaea, and does not suspect or question her own identity. In contrast, Saya questions everything upon her awakening, and stops at nothing in order to find out how the world was created.
Gaining the Will to Kill: Initially, Hikari did not want to kill Tairitsu and wanted to settle matters by talking, but it eventually becomes clear that Tairitsu will stop at nothing to kill Hikari and destroy the world due to what she knows. As a result, Hikari's emotions compel her to strike back and kill the other girl with a sword through the chest.
Glass Weapon: Both Tairitsu and Hikari engage in a fight using shards of glass during Black Fate. And then in Final Verdict, she manages to kill Tairitsu with a sword of glass.
God Is Inept: The real Hikari is a Physical God, but she definitely can't save herself from depression. Justified since she's not aware what she is and what she can actually do.
Gold and White Are Divine: Hikari, in her Fracture and to a lesser extent Fatalis design features gold embellishments across her white clothes. The colors are perfectly fitting considering how Hikari is revealed to be a copy of the god who created the world of Arcaea.
Gone Horribly Wrong: The original Hikari intended for the Arcaea realm to be a place where she can be happy, which is why the copied Hikari is surrounded by light Arcaea when she first wakes up. However, the constant barrage of light Arcaea is what causes her to become numb to happiness itself and become an Empty Shell.
Good Wears White: Zigzagged. Her outfits consist of white dresses and she collects happy and good Arcaea, but when Tairitsu manages to push her into a corner, her indifference begins to expose itself. Depending on the ending, she may become aware of the consequences of her actions, or continue to believe that she is doing the right thing.
Heroic BSoD: After killing Tairitsu in self-defense, Hikari falls into a guilt-induced breakdown loathing herself for her selfishness and apathy that caused her to become the villain she didn't want to be.
Innocence Lost: Her entire story deals with her slowly but steadily losing all of her innocence and purity and cumulates with her suffering from the guilt of being forced to kill Tairitsu in self defense. If she gets better depends on the ending, but even after reviving Tairitsu, she's still not the naive sweetheart she once was.
Irony: She's one of the nicer girls of Arcaea unlike several others who are morally ambiguous at best and downright malicious at worst, yet is one of the two characters to ever achieve a body count. She's also the only one who explictly killed an actual character rather than an image in a memory like Saya did.
Light Is Good: Initially seems to be a cheery girl who enjoys watching the happy memories she attracts. When meeting Tairitsu, she tries her best to work together past their differences, but...
Light Is Not Good: After she found she had no choice but to kill the other girl, she views herself as this, that there is no justification or excuse for having Tairitsu's blood stained in her hands. She defies this herself when she decides to defy fate, destroy Arcaea and revive Tairitsu, but she could also play this completely straight in the "Accept Arcaea" ending, where she ascends into becoming a Mad God that ensnares every other character within the very world she created and reigns over.
Martial Pacifist: She's reluctant to use lethal force against Tairitsu when the latter goes for her life, but she's pretty much still willing to pin her down for things to end peacefully. This backfired horribly and ended up with her impulsively driving a sword straight through Tairitsu's chest. To say that she feels guilty over the kill is an understatement.
Meaningful Appearance: Her Fatalis outfit resembles Tairitsu's Tempest outfit with reversed coloration, and her default expression in this form is a blank stare as opposed to Tempest Tairitsu's menacing Death Glare. In addition, she has a red Butterfly of Death and Rebirth as opposed to Tairitsu's blue ones. All of these show that she could be just as ruthless as Tairitsu, especially when pressed hard enough.
Murder Makes You Crazy: It's clear that killing Tairitsu in self defense has taken a toll on her sanity, especially she initially just wanted to befriend her and wasn't expecting to get her killed. It gets better in the "One Last Dream" ending, but in the "A Perfect Wish" ending she degenerates into a Straw Nihilist who has no qualms leaving other side characters catatonic as long as she lives.
My God, What Have I Done?: She killed Tairitsu out of self-defense, but then she came to regret having blood stained on her hands and is disgusted for herself over it. It went so bad that at the end her only desire is for the other girl to be revived.
A girl is dead, and you were the one who took her life. You killed her."
"You can't just move on. You want to pick yourself up, continue your journey? This world already remembers what you did."
Physical God: The alternate ending reveals that the real Hikari is a God who unintentionally created Arcaea when she made a wish to grant a solace for herself. However, she is unaware of her godhood and by extension, Arcaea's existence. The copy Hikari can also warp the logic of Arcaea to her liking, up to destroying it to revive Tairitsu. Furthermore, in the game's secret Downer Ending, she becomes an actual Goddess of Arcaea.
Power Makes Your Hair Grow: As of the ending, her hair is now longer once she uses her god-like powers.
Quest for Identity: Embarks on one after breaking free from the cage of light Arcaea. Unfortunately, it was quickly cut short when Tairitsu arrives, and at this point it's a matter if she gets away alive...or not.
Reality Warper: As the copy of its creator, she can seemingly do anything she wants to within Arcaea, although being a clone devoid of memories, she's generally unaware of what she can actually do. This was until Tairitsu comes with killing intent, that she starts to use this ability to its maximum potential.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: In her Fatalis form, her eyes take a reddish-pink tint. When she takes this form she instantly kills Taritsu off-bat, showing that she can be as ruthless as her conflict counterpart.
Secretly Selfish: The real Hikari did not create Arcaea to create a place of solace for the dead. She created it for herself. And killing Tairitsu was for the sake of simple self-preservation. And she thoroughly hates herself for this especially over the latter.
"Does that justify it? Does that make things better? "Justification"? ...Is something wrong with you? Even now, You're only thinking about yourself."
Signature Headgear: In over half of her variants, she wears a beret.
Small Role, Big Impact: Not her, but the the girl whom she was based on. Despite she was only mentioned by Tairitsu and is only shown in "A Perfect Wish", her desire for a Lotus-Eater Machine for herself is what caused nearly everything that happened in the game.
Stepford Smiler: Her cheerful personality conceals a apathetic and indifferent side that only cares about her continued survival.
Straw Nihilist: In the "A Perfect Wish" ending, after Arcaea seals its denizens from other worlds and Hikari ascends into becoming its goddess, she succumbs to existential nihilism, beliving that people should be living for the sake of loving being alive and taking everything they could from life, no matter how meaningless or fleeting it would be.
Superior Successor: Post-mortem, Tairitsu tells the copy Hikari that her heart was stronger than the girl that she was based on.
Your Mind Makes It Real: She could wish almost anything into existence within Arcaea. This isn't just limited to the copy Hikari, but the real one too, who manifested the whole Arcaea realm into being.

Tairitsu

^{Click to see awakened art.}

^{Tairitsu (Axium)}

^{Tairitsu (Grievous Lady)}

^{Tairitsu (Tempest)}

"If I can be rid of this trash, or even better the places it represents..."

-Eternal Core, 2-3

The Villain Protagonist of the main story. A girl who first wakes up in a ruined tower, surrounded by dark Arcaea. Disgusted by the negative memories within the Arcaea, she makes it her mission to collect all of them and destroy them permanently.

Tairitsu is one of two partners unlocked for free at the start of the game.

Animal Motifs: Save for the butterflies in her Tempest form, she also has crow familiars built out of glass in her Grevious Lady form, and crows are often associated with ill-omen. Her encounter with Hikari proved to be a harbinger of tragedy and demise.
Alas, Poor Villain: In spite of all her unhinged sadism against Hikari in her Tempest form, her motivations are revealed to be somewhat justified as she learns of the truth that the original Hikari had created the world that had put her through so much suffering, and her death is treated as a senseless tragedy by the narrative. After Hikari kills her impulsively, she breaks down in tears as she has killed the only other person she has encountered.
All of the Other Reindeer: Post-mortem, she reveals that she was feared, hated and scorned by other people because of her powers in her first life.
Back from the Dead: In Silent Answer, Hikari revives the real Tairitsu by infusing her soul and the copy's body, at the price of destroying Arcaea once and for all.
Big Bad: She might be the Villain Protagonist, but she's the closest to one in the game by driving its minimalist conflict forward.
Brutal Honesty: After Hikari kills her, she talks to the soul of the original Tairitsu, admitting that she does not pity the creator of the world despite her circumstances due to the continued suffering she has caused.
Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: In her tempest form, a handful of blue butterflies are seen around Tairitsu. The symbolism’s meaning becomes clear when she dies at Hikari’s hands not too long after the transformation. In addition, when Hikari resurrects her, the two of them are shown surrounded by a swarm of the same butterflies.
Dark Is Not Evil: Zigzagged.
- It's played straight in the Eternal Core story, in which she vows to purge all of the negative Arcaea to rid the world of misery. Eventually inverted during the events of Black Fate when she attempts to kill Hikari with what can be summed up as sadistic glee. It's also discussed in the Black Fate story.
"'I’m a good person,' she tells herself. 'I am not these dark clothes I was born with. I am not these dark memories I am tormented by.'"
-Black Fate, VS-6
- However, after Hikari kills her, she makes it clear that she regrets what she attempted to do against Hikari and wishes for a second chance if she could. After being revived, the real Tairitsu does quickly become friends with Hikari; in the end, she's just a traumatized girl who just wants to be happy.
Dead All Along: The real Tairitsu is dead before the events of the story began.
Death Seeker: It's later revealed that part of Tairitsu's motives for attempting to kill the first person she runs into (in this case, Hikari) is for them to put her out from her suffering. She got what she wanted, all right...
Despair Event Horizon: Eventually realizes that she cannot destroy the negative Arcaea and gives up on this goal, instead looking for something to let out her frustration on.
Devilish Hair Horns: Her Tempest variant has two tornado-like buns that resemble horns, fitting a villain like her.
The End of the World as We Know It: The original Tairitsu's world was destroyed by a god, with everyone having been wiped out by a planet-wide cataclysm. Tairitsu is the last survivor before she is swiftly killed as well.
Elegant Gothic Lolita: Her main outfit style. Paired with a Parasol of Prettiness in her Grievous Lady and Tempest variants.
Evil Costume Switch: Her Tempest variant switches her usual Elegant Gothic Lolita outfit with a more revealing dress, with her thighs exposed and Navel-Deep Neckline, and she takes this form when she was attempting to kill Hikari.
Flechette Storm: When she attempts for Hikari's life, she summons raining shards of glass as her anomaly.
Glass Weapon: Tairitsu has mastery over glass in Arcaea, which she utilizes to brutalize Hikari in their deathmatch. It's implied that this is because she was trained to fight by controlling glass in her first life.
Gone Horribly Right: Tairitsu attempts to kill Hikari partially because she was asking someone to put her out of her misery. Sure, she got what she wanted...under the cost of destroying whatever is left of Hikari's fleeting sanity and she still regrets of not being able to treasure her second life in Arcaea despite her wish is fulfilled. It went to the point that she was begging to be revived. In "A Perfect Wish", her death is cemented, and it comes with the end of everyone else's sanity too.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: At the end of Final Verdict, Hikari kills Tairitsu with a sword through her chest.
Jerkass Has a Point: Tairitsu is aware that there's a real Hikari out there still living in another world. She thinks that she is an awful person that didn't think throughly of the consequences she unleashed by creating Arcaea, and gave her the second chance in life she wanted only to take it away. The way she talks about it is blunt, but no matter how powerful the real Hikari is, at the very end she couldn't save herself from her anguish.
Copy Tairitsu (asking the real one if she's right about the real Hikari): "That when she made this world, she didn't think about a single part of it. If you're...if the life I had here was...She's...awful."
"...And that's what I got: another go, because that's what she wanted, and in her stupidity she gave that to everyone else, too. So... dumb. It's dumb, right? You have to laugh. Come on! Laugh!"
"...Yeah. ...Hikari... Honestly, I'm sorry. I don't have any regrets, but... the hate I felt wasn't even... for you. The other... you... She's still out... there. Still a...live... I still... hate her. But you... You should know that... you're stronger than her. That's why, Hikari... ...I know you'll stand up again."
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: For all the unhinged, murderous tendencies in her deathmatch with Hikari, after she gets killed by the other girl and gets sent into the afterlife, she told her real self that she can't bring herself to hate her and will give her an apology if she could. She also sympathizes with her plight and views her as another victim of the real one.
"Pff...! Hah. Okay, but... I don't think I did anything wrong. I'd apologize to her. I mean... Why wouldn't I? We're real. And if she's real... then she's just another fool ghost, punished for nothing and knowing nothing. This is really it, huh...?"
Killed Off for Real:
- In the bonus Downer Ending, Tairitsu was confirmed to remain in stasis, as Hikari ascends into becoming a mad goddess.
- The copy Tairitsu remains dead in "One Last Dream", since Hikari revived the real Tairitsu inside her body.
Navel-Deep Neckline: In her Tempest form, she has a plunging neckline that goes down to her stomach.
Never Bareheaded: Always has two bows in her hair.
Omnicidal Maniac: What she becomes during the Black Fate story. After realizing that there was no point in destroying the dark Arcaea, she decides to destroy the entire world, taking herself and Hikari with it.
Parasol of Pain: Along with the negative Arcaea she has accumulated, she uses her parasol as a weapon to kill Hikari in the Black Fate story.
Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Later variations of Tairitsu gain longer hair, as well as equally advantageous partner stats.
Sadist: Hikari notes that in her Tempest form, she was taking much pleasure trying to brutalize her and it gone way too far off for her motive to be simply taking her life. Although in Vicious Labyrinth, it's stated she just wanted to lash out by killing someone and Hikari just happened to be the first person she met, meaning that she had traces of this from the get-go.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Comes to kill Hikari in Black Fate after a piece of Arcaea showed the former attacking her. It turns out that Hikari was fighting Tairitsu in self-defense.
Straw Nihilist: After wandering in her tower and find out that there's nothing but despair in the dark Arcaea, she began to believe that there's nothing left in this world for her — no more hope, no more joy and no more people to accompany her. And even if there will be hope, it's just a Hope Spot.
Unperson: When completing Final Verdict, all partner variants of Tairitsu are gone and the player cannot use them, and her collaboration variants have her name garbled-up, representing her death at the end of the story. This comes undone when you clear the Silent Answer epilogue for the first time.

Reunion (Unmarked Spoilers)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reunion.png

If you've chosen life, then choose to live. Live in this world. See this world. Feel it and truly accept every last moment.

In the "One Last Dream" ending, Hikari, upon realizing the grave moral consequences of killing Tairitsu, decides to undo her death in exchange for Arcaea's destruction. She revives the real Tairitsu's soul within the body of the other Tairitsu, and the two become close partners traveling to parts unknown.

They are released with the "Silent Answer" sub-pack and is unlocked after viewing "One Last Dream" for the first time.

Anti-Frustration Features: Their skill doesn't directly affect gameplay, but it does reduce eye strains from playing light charts and makes identifying notes easier.
Laser-Guided Amnesia: Both Hikari and Tairitsu lost their memories of the worst parts of their tragedies, and the shards that represent their alignment lost interest on them.
Light/Darkness Juxtaposition: Their skill is described as being able to "rewrite the paradigms of Light and Conflict". In-game, it allows you to change a Light background into a Conflict background and vice versa through a toggle.
Obvious Rule Patch: Their skill doesn't affect songs with unique backgrounds or colorless songs. Most of the hardest songs have unique backgrounds, preventing you from making them easier to read or react.
Replacement Goldfish: The Tairitsu in this duo technically isn't the same one that attempted to kill Hikari. She has the body of that Tairitsu, but her soul is mostly of the real one.
The Sacred Darkness: Reunion Tairitsu is the Allegorical Character of how you can't understand the importance of happiness without understanding pain as well.
Secret Level: Toggling their skill to Light mode is required to play "Last|Eternity" after you unlock it.
Tears of Joy: Hikari is seen shedding tears in their sprite, likely being happy that Tairitsu has returned.

Ascendant - 8th Seeker Insight (Unmarked spoilers)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/partner_insight.png

A mysterious woman that is not from Arcaea who suddenly shown up in front of Maya and abducted her, and may or may not have plans with the other girl.

Condescending Compassion: Tends to treat Maya in a very condescending, patronizing manner akin to a Stalker without a Crush.
A God Am I: Near the end of Severed Eden, she calls herself a "God" who will set Arcaea right.
Hidden Agenda Villain: She's not from this world, vanishes Maya at the end of the story and rambles about her being some sort of God who will set things right, but nobody knows what she's exactly planning to do with all of this.
Outside-Context Problem: She's not a native denizen of Arcaea and seems to know a lot about Maya, someone that she's not supposed to have been ran into prior. She also references Shapers in her dialogue, a class of people previously only referenced in Tairitsu's story.
Non-Standard Character Design: Her design is pretty odd for an Arcaea character, wearing what appears to be a military garb and having a more mature, intimidating appearance than most of them, further emphasizing her as an Outside-Context Problem that isn't native to Arcaea.
Reality Warper: Her appearance alone changed a lot of things within Arcaea, including introducing weather.

Side Story

Characters that are part of Arcaea's side stories. Each of these characters have a song pack and a dedicated story written for them.

Kou

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arcaea_kou.png

^{Click to see awakened art.}

“...two things have always remained consistent: both her heart and the sky have always been shining.”

-Crimson Solace, 4-1

A cheerful girl who, ever since waking up in the world of Arcaea, has been living under an Endless Daytime.

Kou was released with the Crimson Solace song pack, and was the first side story partner to receive an awakening.

Animal Motifs: Her outfit and ribbon almost resemble a typical bunny suit, and she has incredible jumping skills. Kou is also associated with happiness, much like bunnies are.
Construction Is Awesome: Uses telekinesis to build structures in the world of Arcaea.
Cool House: An old beach house in the world of Arcaea. Occasionally she picks apart other old buildings to make additions to her home, such as making a racetrack and staircase.
The Cutie: As she describes herself, her heart has always been shining. Unlike some other characters, she also never explicitly suffers from a Break the Cutie moment.
Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Carries a teddy bear with her.
Jump Physics: Can jump really far. She uses this ability to parkour and reach the sky.
Never Bareheaded: Always seen with a ribbon in her hair, which resembles bunny ears.
Pink Means Feminine: Has pink hair, a teddy bear with pink ears, is depicted on a swing with light pink flowers in her awakened art, and her song backgrounds are all pink too.
Plucky Girl: In her story, she is determined to live the best she can in the new world. She also aims to see the sky above there and uses her power to achieve this.
Rose-Haired Sweetie: Has pink hair and she's one of the nicest and most optimistic people in the Arcaea world.

Lethe

^{Click to see awakened art.}

"The world and life she once knew is now only a shapeless memory."

-Ambivalent Vision, 5-1

A Psychopomp with foggy memories of a past life.

Lethe was released with the Ambivalent Vision song pack, and was the second side story partner to receive an awakening.

Berserk Button: Don't try to enter the memories she's tending, ever. Saya did it and she instantly snaps and goes out of her way trying to kill her.
Creepy Crosses: Lethe wears two affixed to the bottom of her dress and as earings in her unawakened and awakened art respectively. Their presence are as symbols of death, considering Lethe's former occupation.
Collector of the Strange: She collects Arcaea shards trying to find out if one of these had anything about her.
Everything's Better with Sparkles: Star-like ones that ring around her awakened form.
Foreshadowing: Lethe's story climaxes with her finding a memory where she talks to a fellow colleague, leading to her breakdown because she finds out that she's not herself. Final Verdict reveals that most of Arcaea's residents, including Lethe, were clones copied from dead people.
God Job: Her position of tending to souls after death is one she chose.
Horned Humanoid: One of the only characters in Arcaea who has horns, other than Sia. Justified, since she's not quite human even before arriving to Arcaea.
Interface Screw: Her Awakened Skill is described as "sense of incompleteness". In other words, it hides several gameplay interface elements like the score and combo counter.
Our Spirits Are Different: She's supposedly a reaper, but she's never shown collecting souls, instead only shown tending to them. Unlike what you'd expect from an ethereal being like her, it's implied that she landed to Arcaea because she died.
Psychopomp: While she is referred to as "the reaper" in text, her memories from before waking up in Arcaea were only of tending to departed souls, rather than also collecting them.
Quest for Identity: Her story arc has her embarking a journey to relieve the memory of who she actually is. It led to her breaking down after she manages to find a memory of her past life, but couldn't remember a key part about it.
Sinister Scythe: Carries one around, which she can use to fly like a broomstick.

Saya

“In a word, she is 'curious'.”

-Absolute Reason, 3-2

An inquisitive girl, and the first to demonstrate the ability to assimilate the memories of the Arcaea and inhabit them, reenacting the events that occurred within said memories. Her sole goal is to understand everything about the world of Arcaea, from the memories that inhabit it to the world's origin.

She was released with the Absolute Reason song pack, and was the first side story partner to come with a written story on release.

Balance Buff: She gained a massive Step buff in the Switch port, with 110 Step at level 1, when her mobile counterpart doesn't even reach 100 at level 20. Justified in that she's unlocked late into the game, whereas in the mobile version she can be unlocked much sooner.
Boring, but Practical: She tops out at 90 Step and while it's still lower than that of many other Partners, she does have the highest Step stat of any Partner who doesn't have a Hard gauge, allowing for reasonable risk-free grinding if one wishes to play charts that they are not sure they can Hard clear. She's made less boring in the Switch port due to her heavily buffed Step stat, although it's offset by her being a late-game partner.
Duel to the Death: At some point, in a similar vein as what Hikari and Tairitsu did prior, she entered one of the memories Lethe is collecting, enraging the reaper enough to try killing her.
Early-Bird Cameo: Appeared in the cover art for Alexandrite before she was officially released as a partner with the Absolute Reason song pack.
Exact Words: Her Skill is described as increasing the amount of Recollection Rate change per note, except for Far notes which do not increase or decrease the gauge. While getting a Pure will now give you twice as much gauge gain, the unexpected part of her skill is that a Lost will cause three times as much damage. After all, the skill description never stated that it only applies to positive gauge change.
Fashionable Asymmetry: Has a flower in her right eye, and only wears a stocking on her right leg.
Fighting a Shadow: She slits Donovan's throat just to see what would happen. There is no blood, and Saya is revealed to have been inside a memory.
Foil: To Hikari. When Saya first wakes up, she questions everything upon her awakening, and stops at nothing in order to find out what created the Arcaea, as well as the world they currently inhabit. In contrast, Hikari naively accepts the existence of the Arcaea after waking up, and does not suspect or question her own identity. Saya and Hikari are also the only two characters in the game to commit murder, which caused the crumbling of the worlds they created. In Saya's case, she didn't have any reactions over the murder, because her world was only a dream world created within Arcaea where she takes Lavina's place, and everyone there are mere dummies. In the other hand, Hikari's case is way more disastrous, since she killed the copy of Tairitsu, a soul Arcaea "saved" and goes full blown Heroic BSoD over the murder, until she decides to atone by reviving Tairitsu and destroying Arcaea.
For Science!: She's determined to understand the world of Arcaea no matter what, so much that she commits murder to see what will actually happen. In her case, she only killed a glass figure, but still.
Infinity -1 Sword: In the Switch port, she begins with 110 Step and tops out at 170, making her the second best Partner in the game for World Mode stat-wise. Only Ilith and Tempest Tairitsu outclass her at 185 and 235 Step, respectively), but they have Hard gauges (with Ilith additionally carrying a 100-Fragment penalty on failing the song and Tempest Tairitsu having a harder variant that brutally punishes consecutive misses) whereas Saya does not and therefore carries no risk of a mid-track Track Lost.
Last Disc Magic: In the Switch port, she's gained a ridiculous buff to her Step stat, starting at 110 and reaching 170 at level 20, and this isn't counteracted with a Hard gauge that can end the song early (her skill does make misses more punishing, but will never end the song early and a Track Lost does nothing to World Mode calculations). However, this is offset by the fact that she is unlocked in Chapter 4, very late into the game's progression.
Seeker Archetype: Her motivation for her existence in Arcaea is to understand the world and its origins.
Slashed Throat: She slashes Donovan's throat to see what will happen, but the memory she is inside dissipates and kicks her out.

Shirahime

Shirahime was released with the Divided Heart song pack and is originally exclusive for the Nintendo Switch version, before being imported to the mobile version. She is a noble...or at least she thinks she is one.

Canon Immigrant: She was an original partner from the Switch port, but was integrated into the mobile version.
Duality Motif: Her right eye is blue in color and her left eye is blue in color. The rest of her appearance also follows this blue-and-red color scheme.
Go Mad from the Revelation: Enters a brief breakdown when she realizes the pointlessness and nihlism of the world she's in. She would had been lost her mind if not for a chance meeting with Kou.
The High Queen: Believes that she's one of these. Unfortunately, she isn't.
Meaningful Appearance: Her asymmetrical, red and blue design is similar to the coloration of the Nintendo Switch, fitting for a partner that first appeared in the Switch port of Arcaea.
Money Multiplier: When her partner skill is active, specific songs will be marked and you'll get an extra 10 fragments for clearing them.
Nerf: In the Switch version, her stats were incredibly high, possessing a FRAG and STEP stat of 100 at level 20. This is later halved.
Quest for Identity: The first half of her personal story consists of her trying to find out who she actually is. It didn't work out, and she was almost driven insane because of it.
Token Human: In a game full of girls who are Ambiguously Human — as many have supernatural traits and abilities — Shirahime explicitly tells Kou that she herself is human. She cannot learn how to perform Kou's telekinesis ability.
You Are Not Alone: In her lowest point in Arcaea where she was about to lose her mind after realizing the pointlessness of the world she was in, she ran into Kou by chance, saving her from her breakdown and the two girls quickly become friends with each other.

Alice and Tenniel

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alice_tenniel_8.png

Alice and Tenniel were released with the Ephemeral Page song pack, with Tenniel being the first male partner available in Arcaea (though he is paired with Alice as one partner).

Alice travels through the world, accompanied by a mysterious man named Tenniel. She demonstrates the ability to project the memories of Arcaea into the world rather than entering them herself.

Tropes applicable to both:

Awful Truth: For Alice, discovering that Tenniel was never real and that she is dead. Alice eventually gets Tenniel to tell her the truth, before he vanishes and leaves her all alone.
Alice Allusion: The two are respectively based on the titular character of Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter. Tenniel is named after John Tenniel, who illustrated the original book.
Expy: Of Hans and Alice in Deemo. Just like Hans is to the Deemo Alice, Tenniel acts as the enigmatic, protective big brother figure for the Arcaea Alice, and both Alice find themselves in another world with their memories wiped. Both of them also suffered from a traumatic situation that led them to this world with no memories of their lives. The difference is that in Hans' case, it's the brother that died and the sister alive, while in Arcaea it is vice versa.
Foreshadowing: There's a couple of things that foreshadows Alice and Tenniel's true identity.
- Both Tenniel and Alice had noted that they have no need to eat or drink, and Tenniel doesn't need to breathe, either. In Alice's case it's because she was Dead All Along, but in Tenniel's case it's because he's an illusion of her brother.
- It's strange that in an universe where only young girls can be found, a lone male character appears. It isn't a coincidence; it turns out Tenniel isn't real.
- In their Minuet form, Tenniel is seen giving Alice a bundle of Dame's Rocket flowers. On top of symbolizing deceit, the flower is a wild flower that is considered invasive in some places. Tenniel knows that he is an illusion, but refuses to tell the truth to Alice just to not make her feel bad, and the later parts of Alice's story consists of her feeling more and more uncomfortable towards him until he tells her the truth and is cast away.
Interface Screw: Their Skill, in addition to mirroring the chart, also hides Far judgments including whether they were early or late hits. (Early/Late for slightly-off Pures are still shown, however.)

Tropes exclusive to Alice:

Delicate and Sickly: In the last chapter of her story, it's revealed that she died because of an undisclosed terminal illness.
Empty Shell: In the ''Accept Arcaea'' ending, she loses her mind and is partially frozen by glass.
Four Is Death: She dies four days after she sees Cedric for the last time.
In the End, You Are on Your Own: In the last chapter of her story, after revealing the truth to her, Tenniel vanishes from existence, leaving her to wander Arcaea looking for her real brother Cedric.
Walking the Earth: After The Reveal, Alice sets her path to endlessly wander Arcaea to find a way back to Cedric.

Tropes exclusive to Tenniel:

Identical Stranger: He is described to resemble Alice's real brother Cedric, but with jet black hair and red eyes instead of the real one's brown hair and blue eyes.
Imaginary Friend: In reality, he is merely a false image that resembled Alice's brother. Alice's real brother is implied to be still alive and his real name is Cedric.
Meaningful Name: Named after Sir John Tenniel, the illustrator of the 1865 version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Secret-Keeper: Tenniel is fully aware that he is an illusion, but he keeps this away from her just to not make Alice feel bad. Alice's story climaxes with her pushing him into revealing what actually happened before she woke up in Arcaea.
Sharp-Dressed Man: Tenniel wears a snazzy black suit, fitting for his character being based on the Mad Hatter.
That One Guy: The only male partner in the entire game. Unfortunately, he's just an illusion accompanying Alice, and vanishes at the end of the story.
Will Not Tell a Lie: It's explicitly noted that he will never tell a lie. This makes the reveal that he's actually an Imaginary Friend of Alice all the distressing to her.

Lagrange

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/45_3.png

Left: Lagrange Right: Charon

"As said, that is why she walks: to find this god.

And so she faces it: the world of black. The void."

-Esoteric Order trailer

A wise astronomer siding with a companion satellite named "Charon". She wanders through the edges of the world to understand its purpose and its creator.

Lagrange was released with the Esoteric Order song pack, which commemorated the winners of the Arcaea Song Contest 2020. Her design was derived from the Grand Prize winning song, Aegleseeker.

Brutal Honesty: She isn't afraid of criticizing the creator of Arcaea, flat-out calling them weak-hearted, and the world fundamentally senseless. In addition, she says that if she had been the creator of the world, she would have done a better job. Her complaints are extremely justified considering the real Hikari unwittingly created this place from a simple wish.
"What am I meant to take from being trapped in this thing that you manifested for yourself? It was for you, wasn’t it? A paradise... an escape, maybe. How did you do it? Does it matter?"
"I am not the weak-hearted person who created this refuge. And if I had created it, I would have done it better... Charon showed... shows that."
Hell of a Heaven: She finds out that Arcaea was intended to be a heaven, but failed to fulfill its purpose.
Foreshadowing: Oh boy...
- In Entry 9-5, she figures out the world of Arcaea was made as a sanctuary for a weak heart. It's revealed in a secret ending that the creator of this world is actually the real Hikari, who created this place for her own sake, not knowing that it also mindlessly dragged the souls of the dead into it.
- She believes that as a sanctuary for the weak, Arcaea isn't working as intended. Despite being created for the her comfort, the original Hikari doesn't even know the world exists.
- When she observes Hikari and Tairitsu's clash from afar, she sees that it will progress into a tragedy. Her assumptions are correct when Hikari fatally stabs Tairitsu at the end of the fight and suffers from a heavy breakdown.
Meaningful Name:
- Named after Joseph-Louis Lagrange, an Italian mathematician and philosopher. His name is printed on the right sleeve of her shirt.
- Charon is most likely named after the moon of Pluto with the same name.
Not So Stoic: Despite being an intelligent and stoic woman, she suffers from a breakdown when she realizes the pointlessness and nihilism of the world she's in.
The Philosopher: She's an intelligent and philosophical woman who explores Arcaea to understand its mechanics and its creator.
Seeker Archetype: In a way more pronounced than Saya, she researches and is more than willing to question the existence of Arcaea and its creator.
Small Role, Big Impact: Despite being a minor character, her research of Arcaea gives away many hints of what it is to come in the main story.
The Watcher: At Entry 9-6, she observes what was implied to be Hikari and Tairitsu's Duel to the Death.

Eto & Luna

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eto_full.png

Eto

^{Click to see awakened Eto}

Luna

^{Click to see awakened Luna}

A pair of siblings who liked to compete with each other. Eto is the snarky, talented twin in white, while Luna is the gentle, brooding twin in black. Their story consists of them reminiscing happier days before they wounded up in Arcaea.

Deadpan Snarker: Eto is very snarky in front of Luna and may say some pretty harsh things against her, but she's a friendly person.
Death of a Child: They're the youngest-looking residents of Arcaea. Since most of Arcaea's denizens are Dead All Along, they're of this trope.
Experience Booster: Their awakened skills increase the number of steps by 7 in World Mode every time you fulfill certain conditions. Obtaining a fragment reward for Eto, and playing a song on a Restriction Tile for Luna.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: Eto mentioned that she and Luna tend to go into competitions with each other prior to ending up in Arcaea. Hence the challenge in "Singularity" where the player must use Eto in its unlock event where they cannot miss more than an amount of notes in the dropkick section that follows after Luna shows up on-screen and the voice sample "If you can?" is heard.
Interface Screw: Luna's unawakened skill obscures the Recollection Gauge.
Money Multiplier: Eto's unawakened skill increases your Fragment count by 5 after you clear a Light side song.
The Watcher: In Side Story 10-6, they bear witness to an event implied to be the destruction of Arcaea in the "One Last Dream" ending.
Wise Beyond Their Years: Despite her young age, Luna is suprisingly eloquent.

Maya

One of the denizens of Arcaea overwhelmed by grief and despair. Unlike other characters, she remembers everything about her past after she's thrown in.

Bittersweet Ending: The story logs indicate Arcaea has not been kind towards Maya at all. However, at the end after being persuaded by what seems to be the will of Arcaea, she still breaks free from her sorrow and guilt, and ditches all the negative Arcaea surrounding her to walk a path uncertain.
Break the Cutie: Poor girl can't catch a break. Her world was destroyed, she got transferred to Arcaea with all of her memories intact (including all the horrible ones), and the section she got transferred to is a bleak area filled with all sorts of horrible memories about her past and of people suffering and crying alone. At the end of her Side Story, she just wanted to die until Arcaea itself persuaded her.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: Her story has her get deported into another world where nothing but suffering and misery awaits, being surrounded by Arcaea shards with visions of people suffering alone with nobody understanding them, and plunged straight into the Despair Event Horizon just wanting to die. Remove all the fantastic elements from her story, and you'll get a pretty realistic portrayal of a girl dealing with horrible depression.
Despair Event Horizon: Her transferring to Arcaea is pretty much one, big despair event horizon for her. She's not only still remembering what happened before she ended up there, the environment she's set foot at is a horrific hellhole consisted of agonizing sounds, visions of her former world's death and visions of people suffering and crying alone reflected through Arcaea shards. She does not take this well.
The End of the World as We Know It: It's stated that her world was destroyed in some form or way, and it's implied she either destroyed it herself or something else destroyed it but she failed to save it.
Identity Amnesia: Averted. Unlike other characters, she remembers fully about what happened prior to her summoning to Arcaea, something that became the main source of her depression. We only know vague details, however.
Stance System: Her skill alternates between not triggering random tiles and forcing them in exchange for increasing progress in World Mode.
Survivor Guilt: She's reeling from whatever caused the end of her world. The text makes it rather ambiguous if she ended it herself, or something else ended it.

Short Story

These characters have Memory Archive songs dedicated to them, as well as a short written story.

Shirabe

"And so, dressed in black and scarlet, she sang—in this world of white: this colorless and seemingly infinite cage."

-Scarlet Cage, 6-2

Shirabe is a wandering musician who ended up in Arcaea. She dreads being trapped inside it and fears her Identity Amnesia.

Shirabe was released with the song carmine:scythe, and her awakening was released with the song Scarlet Cage.

Dark Is Not Evil: Shirabe might look sinister and won't look too far off from being a villain in some other anime, but she's just a guitarist wandering over Arcaea.
Go Mad from the Isolation: She's one of the very few characters who's actually troubled being alone in Arcaea with her memories lost.
Elegant Gothic Lolita: Wears a pretty elaborate red and black gothic lolita outfit.
Wandering Minstrel: Wanders all over the world of Arcaea to look for an audience. At the end, she finds several footprints implied to be from Mir's, meaning that her efforts could pay off.

Mir

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mir_8.png

A young woman who wields a massive sword, going around memories of war to enjoy a good fight. Despite her Blood Knight tendencies, she protects innocents from their oppressors in these memories.

BFS: Wields a blunt and short great sword in her default attire.
Blood Knight: She enjoys the thrill of slaughtering her enemies in memories. Doesn't mean she enjoys an all-out war that she can't differ the good from the bad, though.
Diminishing Returns for Balance: Her skill greatly increases your recollection rate at the start of a song, but slowly decreases it over its course. Therefore, your recollection rate drops by the last note, and you cannot get a 100 recollection rate at the end.
Face of a Thug: She might look like a villain from a High Fantasy story and is a merciless Blood Knight, but she makes clear she's protecting innocents in the memories and she outright falls into despair knowing the last memory she entered is those of an all-out war.
Heroic BSoD: The third part of her side story has her deal with a memory of all-out war; one that she can't find a side to protect within such a short amount of time. It got her breaking down and she lost her will to fight. The story ends with her questioning her convictions, at which it's implied her footprints are found by Shirabe.

Ayu

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ayu_large.png

^{Click to see awakened art.}

A cheerful girl who loves eating. A lot. She is accomapnied by a pair of bat familiars named Drem and Fans.

Ascended Meme: The meme community explenation for negative fragment "rewards" has long since been that the selecgted partner eats them. As a result, the meme was instantly applied to Ayu, and her charecter designer even made art of her eating fragments. Years later, when Ayu finally got an ingame story, it not only canonised, but focused on Ayu's consumption of the glass memories.
Big Eater: She loves to eat a lot, to the point that the whole story is about her trying to eat anything she comes across in Arcaea.
The Cutie: She's an energetic and cheerful girl who goes around Arcaea collecting its shards as food. Just like Kou, she also never suffers from Break the Cutie.
Extreme Omnivore: She can eat glass shards from Arcaea.
Familiar: Ayu is always seen with a pair of bat familiars named Drem and Fans. It's unclear which is which.
Random Drop:
- Her unawakened skill randomizes the number of Fragments you can get per play when you complete a song, giving you either a 10 - 100x Fragment multiplier, deducting the number of Fragments you have by 10 to 20, and even very rarely, gives you 616 or 9999 Fragments.
- Her awakened skill randomizes the steps you take in World Mode instead, although she can't make you go backwards and it's affected by other factors that calculate into your Steps.

Vita

A young girl from an unnamed world/country, her planet was razed by an almighty Galactic Conqueror alliance known as the "Imperium". Her planet was neutral amidst a galactic war and she herself was an operator of the NMPGM. She found herself ending up in Arcaea after she realized that her "neutral planet" was had committed genocide against a forgotten planetoid named Petorh, and her naive actions led to her opening a path for the Imperium to send fleets of warships that decimated her people.

Vita was released with the song NEO WINGS.

Child Soldiers: Vita was stated to be a child and she operates the "peace-keeping" weapon NMPGM through her psychic powers.
Genocide Survivor: In a sense, as she "survived" her planet's destruction by being brought into Arcaea. Subverted however in that she doesn't remember those events.
How We Got Here: Her side story explains the events that led to her ending up in Arcaea.
Human Aliens: Vita is a psychic from an unnamed planet. Despite this, she looks exactly like a human girl.
Foreshadowing: For such a minor character, Vita's story can be considered foreshadowing about a few major revelations at the end of story mode: A) everyone in Arcaea is actually a copy of a dead person, and B) the first few lines of text in her story describes children awakening supreme talents that allows them to create whatever they wish. Hikari was later revealed to be given the ability to turn anything she subconsciously wishes into reality.
Psychic Powers: Vita is a psychic and thus can control the NMPGM, a "peace-keeping" weapon that operates with the power of psychics and can obliterate entire planets.
She Knows Too Much: She dug a bit too deep into the history of Petorh. It's not supposed to be a problem, but their base's communications was already compromised and spyed upon by the Imperium. It led to her kind being annihilated.

Ilith

^{Click to see awakened art.}

A ruthless girl who was born from the void and has the power to manipulate it. She seeks to destroy Arcaea just to see what happens if she did.

Art Shift: Her un-awakened form doesn't look too evil despite what her description suggests. Once awakened however, she has six black wings, bloodsoaked red eyes and and a Psychotic Smirk, fitting for her ruthless and malicious nature.
Chekhov's Gunman: It's implied that she was the one who turned the sky into half-day and half-night in Shirahime's story.
Dark Is Evil: Is born in the void and is implied to be actively malicious unlike the other girls.
For the Evulz: There's no reason behind her desire to destroy Arcaea unlike the main duo. She just wants to see what happens and that's it.
Number of the Beast: Awakened Ilith's skill has a 6% chance to decrease recollection rate by 6 times the usual amount. If you clear a song in World Mode, you also gain 6 more steps.
Omnicidal Maniac: She wants to destroy Arcaea out of malicious intent, but unlike Tairitsu, she only does it for the sake of.
Outside-Context Problem: Unlike the other partners, she was manifested within the void rather than right inside Arcaea, then smashed the sky to drop into the world below.
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Despite being heavily implied to be actively malicious and seeks to destroy Arcaea to see what happens, she doesn't actually get a chance to do that (Hikari got to there first) or actively hurt other characters unlike Tairitsu or Saya. Justified considering nobody is in a close proximity for her to hurt — at the most, she sighted Lagrange and her actions were implied to be seen by Shirahime and Kou, but they never get any chance to actively interact with each other, so she doesn't really have a chance to do anything.
Power of the Void: Is spawned in the void surrounding Arcaea and has the ability to manipulate it. She could create a crack on it to drop into the inner world.
Pride: Is outright stated to do everything for herself in the story.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: Her primary color motif in her awakened form is red and black alongside some white. And she an arrogant and prideful girl who believes all of the girls are fools and wants to destroy Arcaea — not because of any altruistic reasons, but for the sake of.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: She has red eyes and she's not a very nice person to begin with.
Token Evil Teammate: Most of the denizens of Arcaea are either just adorable sweethearts, knowledge seekers, or finding a purpose. Even Tairitsu, who seeks to destroy Arcaea and exhibits sadism, is a Tragic Villain who really doesn't want to be here. In the other hand, Ilith desires to destroy Arcaea just to see what happens.
Villains Out Shopping: In one of the official LINE stickers, she's seen eating chocolate and raspberry cakes together with Kou.
White Hair, Black Heart: Has white, long hair and is one of the very few denizens of Arcaea who are said to be truly evil.

Nami (Twilight)

A Canon Immigrant from HARDCORE TANO*C who was suddenly departed to Arcaea and believed that everything was a dream.

All Just a Dream: Subverted in our viewpoint. Nami believes that Arcaea was a dream. For all we know, it isn't and she's dead.
Canon Immigrant: Nami was the cover character of "IZANA", a popular song from HARDCORE TANO*C. With a change of attire, she becomes a canon character for Arcaea (the game).
Ordinary High-School Student: By her accounts, she was just a high school student who "somehow" got in (read:she died.)
Passed in Their Sleep: If her accounts were anything to go by, she likely died when sleeping during class and was spirited to Arcaea.
Useless Useful Spell: Her skill isn't that useful when she slows your entire recollection gauge to a crawl even if you don't lose recollection rate when you're missing notes. In harder charts, this can easily mean you'll get a track loss easily without any way to recover.

Kanae

^{Click to see awakened art.}

A girl who watches and wishes. Initially lacking a story, she gets her own storyline and her own awakened form during January 12, 2024. The story involves her running into a blizzard heavily implied to be caused by Insight's meddling and Ayu's bats.

Braving the Blizzard: Most of her story involves her trying to get past a blizzard that's heavily implied to be caused by Insight.

Storyless Characters

These characters presently do not have a corresponding Story.

AI-Chan

Initially an April Fools joke in 2023 as a Take That! against ChatGPT and other chatbots, due to the sheer popularity of the character, she became a partner character on the next year. She was designed by an independent artist from Korea known as MiyU

April Fools' Day: She was initially introduced as an April Fool's joke taking the form of an AI-powered chat interface that recommends a song for you. Push the interface for too many recommendations however, and it will kick you directly to playing "0xe0e1ccull".
Breakout Character: She was initially just a simple April Fool's joke. However, due to the character's high popularity, she became a playable character on the next year.
Meaningful Appearance: Her design incorporates significant usage of belts, especially in areas that would not work in real life. Fitting for a character based on AI, as AI oftentimes generate character art with odd belts.

Minor/Memory Characters

Characters that have never appeared in-the-flesh. Instead, they have only appeared within the memories in Arcaea.

Cedric (Unmarked Spoilers)

She knows his face. This man is a man who looks like Tenniel. “His” name, however, is... “...Cedric.”

-Ephemeral Page, 7-6

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cedric_3.jpg

A man who was Alice's brother while she was alive.

Cool Big Bro: He's this to Alice, always visiting her and going through her writings together.
Identical Stranger: Was this to the Alice in Arcaea. He looks exactly like Tenniel, but has brown hair and blue eyes.
Never Got to Say Goodbye: Cedric last saw Alice four days before she died.
Nice Guy: Seems to be an all-around good and genuine person.
Promotion to Parent: Implied. In Tenniel and Alice's argument before The Reveal, the former remarks that he could have been her parent. This implies that Cedric might have looked after her to a greater degree.
Sequential Artist: Implied. He is an artist and mentions having three pages done.

Donovan

A man who was Lavinia's (played by Saya in the memory) fiancé. When Saya failed to find Arcaea's origin in the memory, she opted to attack and see his reaction to it.

Nice Guy: Appeared to love Lavinia very much.
Slashed Throat: In an attempt to provoke a reaction, Saya killed him this way.

Characters / Arcaea

Main Story