Schools: Abydos High School | Arius Satellite School | Gehenna Academy | Highlander Railway Academy | Hyakkiyako Alliance Academy | Kronos School of Journalism | Millennium Science School | Red Winter Federal Academy | Shanhaijing Senior Secondary School | SRT Special Academy | Trinity General School | Valkyrie Police Academy | Others
Organizations: General Student Council | SCHALE | Other organizations & characters
Enemies: Decagrammaton | Gematria | Others
One of the playable schools of Blue Archive, though unlike all the other schools, this one is a clandestine organization hidden in the underground, ever-shifting, ancient catacombs of Trinity's district. Its students ascribe to a nihilistic philosophy, learning how to fight like soldiers rather than learning conventional lessons the aboveground schools do, all under the thumb of their headmistress, Beatrice.
In history, Arius was once a faction that went against the first formation of Trinity's alliance and so was purged for it. The current district arose from the remnants, their hate against Trinity stoked by Beatrice for her own purposes.
In vanity they demonstrate these tropes:
- Broken Bird: All of them are some form of this thanks to both their rough upbringing in the impoverished Arius district and Beatrice's abusive leadership.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: They've both backstabbed, and have been backstabbed.
- They colluded with Makoto of Gehenna's Pandemonium Society for supplies and intel, only to try and kill her by shooting down her zeppelin. They even go so far as to collude with Mika of Trinity's Tea Party for further resources, only to make her take the fall for Seia getting trapped in a dream by Beatrice and being labeled as a witch.
- As an inversion, they end up being backstabbed by the Arius Squad once the latter sides with Sensei to rescue Atsuko from Beatrice.
- Going even further, they're subservient to Gematria, whom have already backstabbed Hoshino with promising to spare Abydos.
- Elite Mooks: Up until Chapter 10 and throughout story Volumes 1 and 2, enemies encountered were often thugs, mercenaries, and robots, all falling under either the light or heavy armor categories. Then come Chapter 10 and Volume 3 and Arius comes along with elite units with Special-class armor, requiring the use of less-common Mystic-type students to deal with them effectively.
- From Bad to Worse: Kivotos was already in dire straits with the disappearance of the General Student Council President. Then Arius showed up at the Eden Treaty ceremony to make things worse.
- Gas Mask Mook: The basic students that appear in gameplay look fairly normal, save for wearing gas masks. Units with Special-class armor up the ante with glowing blue visors and black armor.
- Home Base: Arius' students lived their whole life in Trinity's ancient catacombs. Wondered where those gas mask mooks you fought in Chapter 10 came from? Here it is. Also doubles as a Supervillain Lair for Gematria as a whole, given Beatrice runs the place. For Maestro, it's a Mad Scientist Laboratory where he created the Justina Saints. As of the events of Volume 3, Chapter 4 however, Trinity raided the Arius district to stop them for good.
- Meaningful Name: The school gets its name from Arianism, an infamous heresy that denies the divinity of Christ, fitting for a school that split off from the religious Trinity. To make the connection clear, its students like to quote their motto, "vanitas vanitatum, et omnia vanitas"meaning, which is based off Ecclesiastes 12:8.
- Mystery Cult: Possibly passes given Atsuko was planned to be sacrificed for a ritual.
- Renegade Splinter Faction: They were originally part of Trinity before splitting off and becoming the antagonist for most of Volume 3.
- Taught to Hate: Beatrice uses the school's age-old vendetta against Trinity to control her students. As pointed out by Atsuko and Azusa, this hate isn't even theirs to begin with, just rhetoric from history that didn't directly affect the current crop of students.
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Arius Squad
Due to their late appearance in the main story, unmarked spoilers for events before Volume 3 Chapter 3!
L - R: Misaki, Saori, Atsuko, Hiyori
Four students trained by Beatrice with hatred in order to interfere and wreak havoc in the events related to Eden Treaty.However, they have failed and thus fled away from fellow Arius members targeting them, especially Atsuko who is scheduled to be sacrificed by Beatrice to summon the Chroma.
And so, Saori ask help from Sensei, who she shot back then in the Eden Treaty crisis, to save Atsuko from Beatrice as well as gathering her fellow squad members who are in despair.
They are the main focus club in the fourth chapter of Main Scenario Volume 3: Kyrie of the Forgotten Gods.
Associated Tropes
- Always a Bigger Fish: Mika was put behind bars by the end of Volume 3 Chapter 2. And then Arius Squad shows up to cause more trouble than she ever did.
- Anachronic Order: The squad's Relationship Stories are set after the events of Volume 3 Chapter 4, where they're now on the run from Arius and the other schools they attacked.
- Awesome, but Impractical: The full squad is basically perfect to fight Hieronymus in the highest Insane difficulty, but that's pretty much all they're good for and you have to use all of them at once, which not only limits team building away from other potentially stronger units like Swimsuit Hoshino and Swimsuit Nonomi, but also forces any prospective players intent on using the Arius Squad to spent the equivalent of 96,000 pyroxenes (worst case scenario) just to not even be the ideal setup for one singular raid.
- Childhood Friends: A CG from the 4th PV and the events of V3C4 shows they've known each other since they were children.
- Crippling Overspecialization: All four playable Arius girls have Explosive damage and all but Hiyori have Special armor (who is in a Specialist slot and therefore doesn't take damage). Coupled with Misaki's skill being perfect for giant enemies that don't move, Atsuko's healing, Hiyori's defense debuffs, and Saori's powerful critical hits, they're basically tailor-made for the highest difficulty of Hieronymus. The problem is that's pretty much all they're good for as a result, and having to deploy all of them at once hampers team building.
- A Day in the Limelight: They become the focus of Volume 3 Chapter 4, deciding to work with Sensei to rescue Atsuko from Beatrice.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Though defeated by the end of Volume 3 Chapter 3, they are ultimately not the Big Bad of Volume 3, but rather Beatrice and Gematria.
- Hunting the Rogue: Crosses into You Have Outlived Your Usefulness. After Volume 3 Chapter 3, the Squad decided not to return to the school. Beatrice ordered other Arius students to capture Atsuko and dispose of the rest.
- Protectorate: The entire Squad is this to Atsuko, their “princess”, to the point that they fight all of Arius and its headmistress despite their slim chances in Vol. 3 Ch. 4.
- Ironically in gameplay, Atsuko is a Tank Striker, which means being on the frontlines where her squadmates would very much want her away from.
- No Social Skills: None of Arius Squad has the capacity to function in society thanks to their upbringing, which heavily hampers their ability to even try and integrate into Kivotos at large.
- Saori repeatedly fails to Read the Fine Print on various contracts that would make use of her skills, which gets her into trouble repeatedly.
- Hiyori meanwhile nearly attempts to use expired digestion medicine as an excuse to be able to eat expired food and constantly steals Wi-Fi signals to contact Sensei.
- Atsuko doesn't even know what regular school life is like, and so resorts to breaking into another school to try and have Sensei help her simulate a normal class.
- True Companions: As early as their debut in Volume 3 Chapter 3, it’s already clear that they’re a tightly-knit group.
- In V3C4 Ep. 8, when the Squad gets split up, each of them were offered to return to Arius so long as they hunted Sensei; all of them refused. Though Saori sought out Sensei, she begs them to save Atsuko instead; Hiyori turned it down in favor of staying with the Squad and helping Atsuko too; and Misaki was more in favor of taking her own life, but Saori forced her to back down by stating she’ll save her from every attempt.
- Azusa used to be a part of the Squad and was close with them until the day she stopped Seia’s assassination. Even after coming to deadly blows in V3C3 though, Azusa still requests Sakurako to take care of the Squad in Ch. 4, saying that despite everything, they were still her family once. The Squad likewise feels the same in spirit by the last episode, especially Saori after her Heel Realization.
- You Can't Go Home Again: After the events of V3C4, the Squad is ultimately forced to go on the run to keep clear of any bad players looking for them. Atsuko even mentions the group has to constantly stay on the move to avoid detection, and Hiyori has to hunt for Wi-Fi hotspots to contact Sensei.
Joumae Saori
Meaningless...Everything is meaningless.
Affiliation: Arius Squad
Age: 17
Birthday: September 3rd
Height: 5'5" (167cm)
Hobbies: None
Illustrator: 9ml
Voiced by: Shizuka Ishigami
Member of the Arius Branch School, and the leader of the Arius Squad, an elite special force unit within the school.
Saori is typically cool-headed and does not hesitate to use any means necessary to achieve her goals, though a passionate personality that sometimes reveals itself. An unrivaled expert in guerrilla tactics, the daily life sometimes shows a somewhat naive side of hers. The combat prowess of the Arius Squad is the result of her watchful oversight of their training.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When meeting with Sensei in V3C4, Saori is so desperate for their help in getting Atsuko back that she quite literally throws herself on her hands and knees and begs for their aid, even being willing to let them attach an explosive collar to her neck to keep her in line. Fortunately, Sensei smashes the detonator and offers their help no strings attached.
- Arch-Enemy: Quickly grows to regard Azusa as this for betraying the Arius Squad and battling them to both protect her new friends in Trinity and foil their plans, angry at her for not carrying on with their grudge against Trinity for the school's past transgressions against Arius. It only gets worse after Azusa tries to kill her in V3C3, injuring Atsuko in the process and causing a thoroughly enraged Saori to swear that she'll hunt Azusa down and break her completely.
- Berserk Button: Hurting Atsuko, who Arius refers to as Hime or Princess will immediately make Saori become Not So Stoic. As shown when Azusa's Anti Halo Bomb ended up hurting Atsuko, she immediately goes from letting Azusa go with the humiliation of defeat to wanting to hunt her down to finish the job, angrily calling out her name.
- Breaking Speech: Delivers these regularly to Azusa, lambasting her for trying to move past Arius' hatred and grudge against Trinity and build a new life with her Make-Up Work Club friends, insisting that it's pointless to try and be a better person and stop the Cycle of Revenge. [[spoiler:Her admission of her own guilt late in Chapter 4 hints that these were actually a coping mechanism to try and deal with the fact that Azusa had managed to find genuine happiness at Trinity with her new friends, while she and the rest of the group were as miserable as ever, since allowing her to be happy would mean accepting that the Arius Squad were keeping themselves miserable when there were better options available.]]
- The Comically Serious: Her no-nonsense attitude combined with her ignorance of the surface world's common sense has given her plenty of moments where she misunderstands things while taking them overly seriously.
- Her first canonical example would be when at the end of V3C4, she takes a contract for underground work only to find out the terms are against her. Then fellow interviewee Aru cuts in to say some cool-sounding hardboiled drivel and Haruka to misinterpret it once again as her boss wanting the place blown up—which she did. Taking in the aftermath, Saori expresses her awe of this "experienced" criminal.
- In her Valentine story, she takes a job that got her injured to get an extremely expensive box of chocolates for Sensei because a salesperson told her the more luxurious, the better she conveys her feelings. Setting aside her gullibility, it's a bit funny but heartwarming to see her mean all that with a straight face.Saori: In fact, doing it half-hearted is basically "cutting ties" with the other. I mean, by giving them cheap chocolate, it's basically declaring war. The rules of "society" are complicated...
- Critical Hit: Her EX and Basic skills always deal with critical hits, no matter how much immune the enemy is against them.
- The Corrupter: Admits late in V3C4 to have been this for Mika, turning her for a genuinely idealistic girl into the hate-filled "Witch" she is in the present.
- Enemy Mine: Allies with and is willing to work under the orders of Sensei, whom Saori had previously shot and tried to kill back in V3C3, to retrieve Atsuko before she's sacrificed in Beatrice's ritual.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Saori is outraged that Azusa is willing to forget what Trinity did to their school in the past and try to integrate with their enemies, even though they were both brought up on Arius' hatred and vengeance-filled stories about Trinity.
- Following in Their Rescuer's Footsteps: Potentially; in V3C4 Episode 25, the Squad lists off the good traits Saori has, like her sense of responsibility, her drive to work, teaching, planning, leadership—all of which Sensei attributes to being a fine teacher, much to Saori's bafflement.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Despite how antagonistic she may act towards Azusa for her betrayal, it's later revealed that underneath all that anger, she is also driven by an equal or perhaps stronger sense of envy. Azusa despite being raised in the horrible environment of Arius like her, was able to hold firm to her beliefs and never give up hope no matter how bad things got. Seeing Azusa find happiness and a place of her own, caused her to develop a strong sense of jealousy. The beatdown she later gave to Azusa in their first fight was partially driven by a sense of envy. However, in the end just when she was defeated by Mika in their duel and had prepared for her death, she manages to have one last talk regarding Azusa with her. It was there did she finally admit that she was envious of her the whole time.Saori: Tell me, Azusa... will I... Will I ever be able to find happiness? What do I have to do to become like you?
- Humiliation Conga: Most of V3C4 is Saori dealing with the failure of Arius Squad to hijack the Eden Treaty. First, she's defeated in battle by Azusa and forced to limp away in shame. Then, she tries to desert Arius with her squad, only to be caught by Beatrice and forced to witness Atsuko trade herself for the squad's freedom. She has no other choice but to literally prostrate herself before Sensei to beg for their help to rescue Atsuko. Then she faces off against a vengeance-fueled Mika and is handily defeated, where she finally comes to the realization that she made a lot of bad choices in her life.
- It's All My Fault: V3C4 has Saori blaming herself for everything that went wrong in the prior Chapters, accepting responsibility for twisting Mika into the person she is at present, as well as being the cause of the Arius Squad's continued misery, to the point that she's willing to just let Mika kill her after she's beaten.Saori: I was the cause of everything. Azusa was able to find happiness because she left me.
- The Leader: Of the Arius Squad, being the one who typically issues orders and rallies the group towards their next goal. Also serves as this to Arius' forces in general throughout V3C3, being the field commander in charge of the assault on the Eden Treaty signing. This is reflected in her Sub Skill, "Leader's responsibility", where she gets stronger the more Arius units in the party, including her nemesis, Azusa.
- Pimped-Out Dress: Makes an appearance in 0068: From Opera with Love on a bodyguard mission, wearing a pure white dress baring the shoulders and fabric spilling across the floor, accentuated by a big black ribbon and grey gossamer on her back, with long gloves to complete the look; it's likely that Saori gained inspiration from Beatrice's own dress. The resemblance gets closer when she tears her dress for combat and her sprite changes with her back facing the camera; should one put Saori's and Beatrice's poses side-by-side, they'll find them very similar.
- Protectorate: She's very protective and concerned for the health of Atsuko, whom she refers to as "Princess", making sure she stays out of danger and gets angry whenever she's injured.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Tries to flee along with the rest of the Arius Squad after they're beaten and their plans are foiled, with Saori herself losing a one-on-one fight against Azusa at the end of Chapter 3. Unfortunately, Arius quickly catches up to them in Chapter 4.
- Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred!: After she's beaten by Mika in their Duel to the Death in V3C4, Saori pretty much accepts whatever Mika wants to do to her, seeing it as penance for all of her previous mistakes. Fortunately, Mika can't go through with it and spares her.Saori: I don't have any fight left in me. Do with me as you, please. Steal as much as was stolen from you. I've stolen far too much from others... at least this will even things out...
- Super Gullible: You wouldn't expect a vicious terrorist leader to have something in common with Serika (well, besides committing crimes even on different scales), but her first independent job after breaking off from Arius Squad by the end of V3C4 and her Relationship Stories have her get into trouble by thoughtlessly signing contracts without reading the fine print and negotiating secure deals.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Part of her Heel Realization in V3C4 has Saori believing herself to be this to the Arius Squad since her drive to obey Beatrice (to stop her from sacrificing Atsuko in her ritual) and internalization of her pessimistic worldview has kept the Arius Squad miserable, while Azusa was able to break out of her shell and find happiness when away from them and around her new Trinity friends.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: The episode Another Me in V3C4 reveals that Saori used to be, while not quite sweet, more hopeful about the group's future and willing to step in and help other kids being attacked by security officers. Unfortunately, this ended once she and her group were apprehended by Beatrice's faction during the Arius Civil War, with the Gematria member quickly breaking Saori into following along with her worldview and obeying her without question, leading her to become the nihilistic and rage-filled Saori of the present day.
- Vanity Is Feminine:
- For gifts, she likes the Military Camo Foundation Trio and Samuela "The Beyond", and her favorites are Cherry-Rose Lip Gloss and Glassy Glow BB Cream. The fact that she has an interest in cosmetics is something of an Irony since she espouses the pointlessness and transience of everything (or at least used to before her Heel Realization), yet likes something that is purely vain and temporary; after all, cosmetics lack obvious applications in combat and they have to be applied on a daily basis. This shows that Saori has moved past the despair Arius and Beatrice induced in her.
- Exemplified when she appears in a dress outfit for her appearance in 0068: From Opera with Love event, even telling that she only does this for her job despite the dress being chosen by herself.
- What If?: After coming to respect Sensei, Saori begins to wonder whether her life would have been different if she had met an adult as kindhearted as them earlier in her life rather than the power hungry Beatrice.
Hakari Atsuko
This hatred we've carried for as long as we can remember... it's not ours.
Affiliation: Arius Squad
Age: 15
Birthday: January 20th
Height: 5'2" (158cm)
Hobbies: Tending to flowers
Illustrator: 9ml
Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa
A mysterious Arius Squad girl who belongs to the Arius Branch School and always wears a gas mask.
While Atsuko doesn't use the gas mask expressly for the purpose of hiding her face, she lives mostly wearing the mask, except when eating or sleeping.
She is called "princess" by the squad leader Saori, but her background is a mystery as Atsuko doesn't share much about herself.
- The Baby of the Bunch: She is the youngest member in the group and it's more like being protective of Atsuko because of how important and kind she is.
- Caring Gardener: Her Relationship Stories gradually has her learn to care for flowers, becoming saddened when her first patch of flowers died from her failure to take care of them, and happy in her Memorial Lobby receiving flowers from Sensei.
- The Chosen One: Considered as such by Arius, which ties into why she's called "Princess" by her Squadmates, who believe Atsuko has 'royal blood' due to being the blood descendant of the old student council presidents who administrated the Arius district. Plus, she should have been the one in charge of Arius Satellite School until Beatrice took over.
- Dodge the Bullet: Her basic, enhanced, and sub-skills increase her dodge rate to make most attacks miss. On top of having a high dodge rate added with a tier 7+ badge and healing EX Skill (which is also staple for Kurokage raid boss), she is probably one of the best tank units in the game.
- The Heart: Of Arius Squad, being the most outwardly empathetic and caring despite her aloofness.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Once the Arius Squad is cornered by their schoolmates in Chapter 4, Atsuko bargains for their freedom by giving herself up, knowing that she's the one their headmistress Beatrice is after to use her as a sacrifice in a ritual.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Was this until she fell from grace and befriended the Arius Squad.
- Morality Pet: To the Arius Squad. While it doesn't downplay their actions in Chapter 3, she's the reason the Arius Squad are trying to take over Trinity to save her from being sacrificed to Beatrice. Then they make a Heel–Face Turn when they ask Sensei for help to rescue her from being sacrificed to their cruel headmistress.
- The Quiet One: She never speaks but uses sign language to talk. It's because Beatrice won't allow her to talk. The only times she has spoken is when she's with Sensei by herself and when Azusa defeats Saori. In Chapter 4, she speaks to thank the Arius Squad and Sensei for rescuing her.
- Riches to Rags: She came from a wealthy, reputable family of student council presidents and wore tailor-made dresses. Until Beatrice took over the school, leading Atsuko to live in the slums of Arius with her new friends.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After their hijacked Justina Saints are dispelled by the Make-Up Work Club creating a new Eden Treaty and their assault forces are defeated by the combined might of Gehenna, Trinity, and the Foreclosure Task Force, Atsuko convinces them all to withdraw and try to flee from Arius, since she's done with her friends fighting for the sake of a grudge that isn't their own.
- Ship Tease: There are several moments with Atsuko showing she has certain feelings for Sensei.
- During her last relationship story chapter, she wanted to say something to them after they cheered her up from the destruction of her flowers but stops because it would complicate their relationship.
- During her voice lines, she does the same thing.
- The Talk: The Ironic variety, and what Atsuko uses to tease Sensei during her 2nd Relationship Story.
- Targeted Human Sacrifice: She was selected at some point to be the sacrifice in a ritual planned by Arius' new headteacher, Beatrice. This, combined with Saori's protectiveness towards her, was even exploited by Beatrice to pressure the rest of the Arius Squad into doing her bidding, promising that she would call the ritual off if the squad did as she asked.
- Tuck and Cover: She does it to protect Saori from Azusa's bomb.
Tsuchinaga Hiyori
Th-this is painful. This hurts... why does life have to be like this...
Affiliation: Arius Squad
Age: 16
Birthday: January 8th
Height: 5'1" (155cm)
Hobbies: Collecting magazines
Illustrator: 9ml
Voiced by: Mai Nakahara
Hiyori is a petulant and melancholic member of the Arius Squad. She has low self-esteem, usually sees things in a negative light and is often self-deprecating when it comes to herself. She is occasionally seen carrying a heavy luggage on her back and following slightly behind everyone else.
- BFG: Her EX Skill has her pulling an anti-materiel rifle from the case on her backpack, which she uses to devastating effect.
- The Cynic: She often voices her view on bad situations in a negative way or complains in resignation, followed by chuckles that mark her obvious despair.
- Hiding Behind Your Bangs: She's a timid and pessimistic girl whose hair is always covering the left side of her face.
- Human Pack Mule: Arius squad tends to travel light... except for Hiyori, who lugs around the team's extra supplies and her rifle. Though judging by her run during her EX skill animation, it hardly slows her down.
- Guilty Pleasures: Reading magazines, namely fashion magazines.
- Prone to Tears: A lot of the time. Whether it's over the Squad's dire finances, not getting to read her favorite magazines, or her belly-button looking different from normal ones (which is her Memorial Lobby no less!) there's always something she has to lament over.
- Shrinking Violet: Her timid nature and tendency to cry over everything make her stand out compared to the apathetic Saori and Misaki.
Imashino Misaki
Towards vanity, there lies no answer. But even so...
Affiliation: Arius Squad
Age: 16
Birthday: January 13th
Height: 5'4" (163cm)
Hobbies: Spending time alone
Illustrator: 9ml
Voiced by: Rio Tsuchiya
Misaki belongs to Arius Branch School. She is an Arius Squad girl of few words and strikes others as unsociable.
Misaki has little interest in others or herself, and sometimes acts out of desperation. Her wrists and neck are covered with thick bandages as if to hide something.
- BFG: She wields an FIM-92 Stinger man-portable air defense system (MANPADS) dubbed "Saint Predator", even when pitted against primarily ground-based targets.
- Bath Suicide: Subverted, but based on her Recollection Lobby and dialogue before that,
it's heavily implied she attempted to drown herself, as when Sensei left briefly to get medicine and came back, he found her a little soaked and you can hear water running in the background. - Delicate and Sickly: She's hardly delicate given that she's a trained fighter, but her Relationship Stories show that she suffers from a number of conditions, including Claustrophobia and hay fever, which explains why she wears a face mask. She resents being born with such a weak body, which likely contributed to her nihilistic views.
- Driven to Suicide: She tends to harbor suicidal tendencies, which are only kept in check due to her bond with the other Arius Squad members. Her Establishing Character Moment when Sensei first meets her is her standing on the edge of a bridge and considering jumping off after Atsuko was captured by Beatrice. Considering Saori's reaction to this very much suggests this is not Misaki's first time and that Saori has stopped her attempts multiple times. And in her memorial lobby, it's heavily implied she attempted to drown herself. A CG from the 4th PV that shows a Bad Future heavily implies that if not for the Sensei's intervention, Misaki would have actually committed suicide.
- Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: She has dull red eyes devoid of emotion, which only ever literally light up when she watches her rockets bloom in the air in her EX Skill animated cut-in.
- The Eeyore: She shows little in the way of motivation or energy especially with her weak body, unless when it comes to her friends, when she gets very annoyed, or has something to be glad about.
- Emotionless Girl: She displays very little outward interest in anything or anyone, though she displays light emotions from time to time. This gets subverted in all her Relationship Stories, like panicking out of being trapped in an elevator that lost power, or scrambling for tissues to wipe away her pollen allergy-induced snot.
- Splash Damage: Using a rocket launcher, her basic attacks fire rockets that explode and hit small clusters of enemies.
Former Member (Spoilers)
See Azusa's folder here.
