Funny / The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak

Warning: Spoilers Off applies to Funny pages.

In General

• Van's reaction any time one of the party members ends up joining the Arkride Solutions Office. His look of utter shock never gets old.
• The Running Gag that only Judith seems to think no one knows her alternate identity while the party's already figured it out the moment he sees Judith at the theater, having fought her earlier in the sewers. Only Agnès took awhile to notice and even then she notices it pretty quickly.
• Van knowing almost everyone garners a chuckle or two from fans due to his vast amount of connections.
• The downside to Van being the first arc protagonist to start his story as an adult is having to deal with being called an "old man." It's one thing when it comes from Aaron, but when random people start doing it, you almost feel bad for the guy.
• Pretty much any scene from Kuro II in which Shizuna pulls a Stealth Hi/Bye. She may fight like a samurai, but she might be more of a ninja than Kurogane.

Daybreak

Prologue

• Van's over-the-top reaction to the tarts Agnès brings, completely destroying any attempts to present himself as hard-boiled.

Chapter 1

• Van finally decides to inform Agnès and Feri about his beef with Walter. But as the screen turns dark while transitioning into a flashback...
  Agnès: No, really, you don't need to go into detail.
  • Of course, Van continues anyway: during the war, Van accepted a request from Walter and gave him a lift, when suddenly they're faced with a Panzer Soldat, forcing them to get and deal with the situation. How does Walter deal with it? By lifting Van's truck and hurling it at the Soldat.

Chapter 2

• Van, Agnès, and Feri's first meeting with Grimmcats. The trio can't see the latter all that well (due to some form of cloaking technology), but there's one thing that they can tell:
  Feri: Her outfit shows off her body's lines so clearly. Is this what it means to be an adult? Will I be like that?
  Agnès: N-No, Feri! You can't copy her!
  Van: Geez, you're setting a bad example for the kids.
  Grimmcats: Sh-Shut up! This is Grimmcat's style!
  Van: So you ARE Grimmcats.
  Grimmcats: Ah...Beat Yes, I am Grimmcats. What, you got a problem?
  Van: Honestly, I couldn't care less.
  Grimmcats: Well, you should!
• Van, Agnès, and Feri then go to the movie theater to watch Judith's movie and when Judith appears in person, Van and Feri put two and two together right away. Van's Seen It All face really says it all.
• Cao invites the gang to one of Heiyue's restaurants and when Van nearly wants to refuse, Cao gives the gang some food. Immediately Van chows down only to realize that he got duped to work for Heiyue for free food.
• Agnès is noticably blushing when she thinks Van is upset at Maxim for supposedly hitting on her and Feri...only to be disappointed when she finds out that he's just mad about the racer banging his truck.
• After getting out of a traffic jam, Van ends up racing Maxim with his pick up truck. He even makes his truck drift in a curve.
• After Van quietly comments about Ashen's bad taste in men (due to Cao being her type), she mentions that Van isn't so bad himself. Cue Agnès reminding Van of his comment with the smuggest look on her face.
• Aaron makes a grand speech and nearly ends it by calling Elaine an "aunt" only for Elaine to draw her sword and point it at Aaron's face. He then retracts it and meekly calls her "big sis" instead.

Chapter 3

• Van is unsure whether to accept Nina's sudden request to come to Tharbad, so she decides to follow Dingo's advice: bribe him with sweets. She even goes into detail on the experience of eating them, before Van decides he's heard enough and accepts. Needless to say, his assistants are less than impressed with their boss.
• Agnès feeling like her position in the group is being threatened by Risette's presence can definitely be chuckle-worthy.
• After the boys finish visiting the nightclub and comforts Sarah for the troubles she's gone through, Grimmcats suddenly attacks both Van and Aaron due to mistakenly believing that the boys made Sarah cry. Once the misunderstanding's resolved, Judith excuses herself.
• During the optional quest to find ingredients for Bermotti's cocktail, the party is forced to come up with a way to convince the shop-owner to give them a black pomegranate. Van's suggestion? The office gives a review on the shop-owner's ice cream. Naturally, Aaron jumps to the obvious conclusion:
  Aaron: This is just an excuse so you can eat ice cream, isn't it?
  Van: *averting his eyes* Of course not.
• Agnès finally figures out that Judith is actually Grimmcats but kept it to herself. And even the game joins in the fun as it doesn't finish Judith's name but instead keeps it as Grimmcats.

Chapter 4

• Van manages to trick his employees and pull a disappearing act on them when he figured out that they were following him.
• Van gets unwittingly volunteered to participate in a 2-on-2 match between him and Zin versus Walter and Cao with Zin and Walter flaring their Battle Aura around.
  • When both Zin and Walter are about to go all out at Dark-light Town, Kilika shows up and puts a stop to their antics with both Zin and Walter blaming the other for starting a fight. Despite all these years, it's hilarious that the two are still whipped by Kilika.
• When Walter provokes Ceris with a fight, Walter assumes that she's still a kid, only for Ceris to retort that she's 27 years old. Walter can only let out a Flat "What".
  • There's also something very surreal and hilarious with the entire event in general where an A Rank Bracer who is qualified to become a S-Rank Bracer, an Enforcer, a CID agent, two Dominions, someone from Heiyue, and a Spriggan all in a bar at the dark side of the city, just hanging out and about to brawl.
• Visit the Bracer Guild and talk to Fie twice and on the second conversation, Fie asks if Van could help her out with the paperwork and Van calls her out on her laziness. Some things just never change.
• Agnès panicking at the sight of Renne wrapping her arms around Van's arm is always worth a chuckle or two.

Intermission

• Maxim starts telling the party about his ex-girlfriend, only for The Reveal to be that said ex is Paulette, who literally works right below Van's office. And when Maxim finally reunites with her for the first time in years, she just asks "who the new guest is," a statement that leaves Maxim with a negative filter.
• While the party goes through Longlai's famous waterfall to hunt for a monster, they come across Judith who is struggling to meditate underneath the waterfall, a sight that causes Aaron to burst out laughing.
  • Almost immediately after, Judith suddenly looks up and lets out a surprisingly hilarious scream as she nearly gets eaten by a Cryptid-level Nue monster. Thankfully, she manages to transform into Grimmcats and soon kicks the crap out of the monster.
• After the boss fight, Judith as Grimmcats still insists that she's not Judith only for Van to tell her to knock it off already and the Grimmcats transformation timer runs out. Judith unfortunately gives Van an eyeful when her robe has a Wardrobe Malfunction.
  • This will always lead to Aaron having a Hell Yes moment, with additional reactions including Quatre freaking out and/or Agnès pleading for the boy(s) not to look.
• While the group is eating dinner, Aaron suggests that Judith should pitch the concept for a Grimcats movie to Director Gotch. Somehow, both Van and Risette think it's a good idea. Judith's response?
  Judith: Hmm...yeah, I can see him bringing out the appeal of the catsuit to its fullest...wait, don't even joke about that! What'll you do if it really ends up happening?!
• After Shizuna reveals that she knows Spirit Unification, Judith has had enough and calls Shizuna and the party out as their mission was to retrieve Mare possessing Yume and that they really have no business fighting against Shizuna whatsoever. Shizuna's actually surprised that Judith's more than just a woman wearing a Stripperific costume, only for Judith to retort at that part.
• Arioch then crashes the party, and while everything is serious, he briefly switches topics and reveals to Judith that he's a fan of her movie. Judith is less than flattered by this revelation.
• On their way home back from Longlai, Aaron has made so many sexual innuendos that Agnès has had enough and shuts him up with an unsmile. Aaron ends up being meekly subdued with a quiet "yes".

Chapter 5

• Renne notices that the Office has another new member, and can clearly tell who it is, to Judith's discomfort. In any case, the "disguised" actress claims to be more of a secretary than an assistant, which leads to this:
  Agnès: Um...if anyone's the secretary, it'd be Risette.
  Van: You won't be getting a salary from me.
  Judith: Aagh, just play along, will you?!
• When Ellroy first introduces himself, he starts smoking in Van's office, prompting Van to tell him that it's a no-smoking zone. Ellroy then tells Van he's the "Oathbreaker" and he has a reputation to live up to and smokes anyway. Only for Lucrezia to note that Ellroy just wants to smoke which he doesn't deny.
• If you choose to partner up with Heiyue, the scene where Judith hugs Rixia has a follow-up scene in which the latter mentions other people who helped her grow, leaving the former shocked:
  Judith: Don't tell me...do you have a boyfriend?!
  Rixia: Ahaha, that's not what I meant...now that I'm thinking about it, don't you have a junior that get along well with, Judith?
  Judith: DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT!!!!!
• If you choose to partner up with Ikaruga, Kurogane will explain that the two copies of him you fought were actually his triplet brothers, much to the shock of Feri and Aaron. That would've been funny enough...but then Kurogane reveals that it was just a joke. Who would've thought that the big scary ninja dude had a sense of humor?
  Shizuna: *chuckles* Well, you'll get used to it soon enough.
  Van: Like hell we will!
• Judith is less than enthused upon finding out that Arioch hasn't seen any of her movies, causing Feri and Quatre to question her priorities.
• Just when it looks like Ellroy is about to fight...he casually admits defeat and hands over his access cards.
  Aaron: WHAAAAAAAAT?!
  Walter: Seriously, old man?

Final Chapter

• When Sarah and Shahina reveal that they'll be in Edith for the entirety of the Revolution Festival, Agnès mentions that she'll offer the two some sweets whenever they come visit the office, leading to this:
  Van: Wait a minute. Those wouldn't be the ones I was saving for later, would they...?
  Aaron: I doubt it. I already ate those.
  Van: ...YOU SON OF A-!
• Director Gotch tries to recruit Kaela and Esmeray, only to get rejected by both in the most casual way.
• If you take Agnès to see "Midnight Memories," she'll try to keep her composure after the film ends...only to end up fainting. Clearly, she doesn't do horror.
• While on the search for Almata remnants, this Active Voice dialogue starts playing:
  Judith: So, does anybody have anything interesting to talk about?
  Quatre: You mean, more so than a certain somebody's past with his old friends?
  Risette: In that case, how about we discuss Van's time training at Marduk?
  Van: And you know this how?!
• Despite Agnès trying to discourage Feri and Aaron from prying into Van's life as a student at Aramis, when René offers to let her fall behind so she doesn't have to hear it, a blushing Agnès relents and keeps up with the group. Aaron is not surprised in the slightest.
• Daswani and Viktor have silent moment of comradery (complete with visible sparkles), which Van attributes to both being overly doting of their families.
• Esmeray is absolutely devastated to learn that Risette, Kaela, and Naje are all younger than her.
• At the start of the second half of the final chapter, Van's driving casually when he has a noisy passenger beside him, acting like a tourist. Turns out, Shizuna called out to him in the passenger window before he could drive off from his place.
  • Her motivations for this? She wanted to kill some time away from Kurogane. Van is not amused.
  • This was made even funnier after the game's update added some pictures to the scene, giving players a glimpse at how adorably quirky the resident Divine Blade is, from her child-like interest in race cars, to her munching on tacos, to her getting on Van's nerves with her attempts◊ to take pictures with her Xipha.

Kuro II

Prologue

• Going by the climbing wall at the Grand Circuit leads to this Active Voice exchange:
  Elaine: Couldn't they make it just a bit taller?
  Van: It's plenty tall as-is! Don't use yourself as a measuring stick for the norm.

Prelude

• Van gets triggered upon hearing that Nadia apparently ate the sweets he had been saving for later, forcing Agnès to try and reassure him that this is probably a joke.

Chapter 1 A

• Rosaly acts awfully smug when she successfully gets behind her impenetrable wall...up until the heroes decide to take the opportunity to erase all the data she's gathered. She's left begging them to stop, while being unable to leave her secure area.

Chapter 1 B

• Apparently, Van warned Swin and Nadia to be careful around Elaine, as she can be quite scary. Nadia flat-out says this to Elaine's face, to the bafflement of Swin. Her reasoning for this?
  Nadia: I side with all maidens in the world.
  Swin: This is the first time I'm hearing this.
  • Elaine assures the two not to worry, as she intends to get the details from Van. She then says that she'll serve as their guide around Edith while wearing an angelic smile that strikes fear into Swin's heart.
• Catching a glimpse of the Mishy show will have Elaine go on a tangent on the "localization" of her beloved mascot.
• If you visit the top of Trion Tower, an Active Voice conversation will feature Nadia quoting a fan-favorite line from a certain Studio Ghibli movie:
  Nadia: Look, S! The people are like garbage! Ha-hahahaha!
  Swin: What kind of bad-guy line is that?
• If you talk to Rinze in Dark-light Town, she'll mention how she hasn't seen Van in over a week and is worried that he's forgotten her, but convinces herself that love will prevail. Having heard all of this, Elaine is once again seen hiding how displeased she is behind a beautiful smile.
• Speaking of Dark-light Town, if you stop by a certain nightclub, this Active Voice conversation will start playing:
  Elaine: ...you two probably aren't old enough to visit this place.
  Nadia: I don't think S should ever visit this place, regardless of age!
  Swin: Why do you sound so desperate?
• In yet another hilarious Active Voice conversation, Nadia isn't all that happy with Swin's growth:
  Nadia: If you get any taller, we'll look even more like brother and sister!
  Swin: And this is a problem how?
  Nadia: Oh, come on!

Chapter 2 A

• Shizuna suddenly appears and shamelessly joins Van and Aaron in the bath, leaving the guys in shock.

Chapter 3 B / 3 C

• During the route focused on Maxim, one Active Voice Message has Shizuna look over at the Ferris Wheel...and express an interest in climbing into it from the outside, adding to Van's anxiety.

Final Chapter

• Swin asking Nadia out on a date was apparently so out-of-left-field that Nadia, who's been wanting this date for the entire game, can't take it at face value:
  Nadia: Wh-wh-what should I do?! Su-chan's gone crazy!
• In a repeat of an Ash and Musse moment from Cold Steel III, Aaron looks hilariously uncomfortable dancing with Shizuna during the final scene.
• During the credits, Shizuna eyes the cake on a bag with arrows pointing to what she's looking at. When Van comes back only to find that his cake is missing, XEROS points out that Shizuna stole it. Van doesn't take it well and hunts her down. The next scene shows that Shizuna bought him another bag while Van berates her.

Meta

• While Swin's section on Kuro II's official site lists him as being part of the "Reborn Imperial Liberation Front," Nadia's says she's part of the "Imperial Picnicking Front." It's funny enough that the Running Gag continued into the Calvard arc, but the two pages going out of their way to call the group by different names makes it hilarious.