Yuki Yuna wa Yusha de Aru (Yuki Yuna is a Hero)

I was meaning to reply to what you posted but I never got a chance till now...

Anyway, wow. What you posted was completely different from what I thought it was gonna be about. About the bit about Yuuna not being human, I would be kinda sad if that really is true. However, that reaction you say she had to that picture might lend credence to that theory...I think. But still, why would she have such a reaction? From the new characters that were mentioned, why do I have a feeling that she might be one of them, more specifically the one with her first name name, Yuuna Takashima. I haven't read that chapter yet. I'll read it when I can.

On a side note, I think there was a Yuki Yuna panel at Anime Expo yesterday. Just wondering if anything worthwhile came from it.

edited 6th Jul '15 12:13:21 AM by Diamite

Either Wakaba or Takashima influencing or possessing the current Yuna is a popular theory right now. Either that, or the Leo Vertex is somehow possessing her and is instinctively reacting to Wakaba's picture. In the Yuki Yuna 24 Hours event in the second VN, Togo also wonders if the things that they got back after Episode 12 are really the things that they lost, or if something else is replacing them.

As for Anime Expo I don't think that there was anything really revealed there, there was a preview of the dub of Episode 11 and 12 and Itsuki's Japanese VA was there answer some questions. I'm personally kinda interested in how the dub will handle a certain awesome fight.

In the meantime, trying to edit the YuYuYu wikia is suffering.

edited 5th Jul '15 7:33:53 PM by MoreThanBored

Looks like a new character's been revealed on the Nogi Wakaba site, her name is Kouri Chikage.◊ Apparently she's a bullied girl who gets along well with Takashima Yuna. Her flower is a red spider lily.

Wait a second...

• bullied
• long black hair
• spider lilies

This can't mean anything good.

edited 26th Jul '15 1:47:00 PM by MoreThanBored

As if we need more Madoka comparisons.

To get this right, the current project is the story of the first Heroes?

That's correct, it's about the very first team in the year 2015 AD, a.k.a. when everything began going to crap and the gods decided to end this wretched world.

Has reincarnation been brought up as a thing?

Not yet, but a popular theory is that Yuna Yuki is either a reincarnation of Yuna Takashima or Takashima sent 300 years into the future somehow, or is being possessed by Takashima somehow, given how modern-day (in-series) Yuna seemed to react strangely to seeing Wakaba's picture.

Either way, there's no way that there being two Yunas is a coincidence.

edited 27th Jul '15 12:47:08 PM by MoreThanBored

First cover of the No Wa Yu novel is up on Dengeki G's website. http://gs.dengeki.com/news/34451/

Wakaba sure is stylish. I wonder what kind of personality she's going to have.

I hope that she's secretly kind of an idiot so that people can call her Wabaka

Chapter 1 of Nogi Wakaba wa Yusha de aru is out. It takes place when Wakaba is a fifth-grader. There are two main characters introduced:

Wakaba Nogi is an honor student and class president with a serious personality, yet she's also naive and not very good at interacting with people.

Hinata Uesato is Wakaba's best friend, and the two have been friends since childhood. She has a more playful personality and flirts a lot with Wakaba. She's also surprisingly well-endowed for a fifth grader. Sound familiar?

Anyway, the chapter goes something like:

• The date is 30 July, 2015 (today, to be precise), and Wakaba and Hinata's class are on a field trip to Shimane Prefecture when a series of earthquakes strike. Their class is forced to take shelter in a nearby shrine.

• Despite this, many of their classmates don't seem too worried, and are chatting amongst themselves. Hinata helps Wakaba to introduce herself to a group of girls who had been a bit intimidated by her.

• Afterwards, Wakaba goes out to the shrine's kagura-den to keep watch while the other students sleep, and Hinata joins her. Suddenly, there's an incredibly strong tremor, and Hinata suddenly begins acting extremely strangely.

• Suddenly, what looked like stars in the night sky fall to the earth as faceless white monsters (what we know as Stardust) and they begin destroying the shrine and eating people. The girls that Wakaba had just befriended were "reduced to unspeakable remains." Enraged, Wakaba picks up a wooden beam and rushes one of the creatures, only for it to effortlessly knock her back.

• Hinata suddenly seems filled with an odd authority, and yells for the injured Wakaba to reach out and grasp something near her. It's the shrine's treasure, a katana of the gods, and grasping it fills Wakaba with a strange energy.

EDIT:

• When Wakaba draws the sword from its scabbard, it is bathed in light. Wakaba, who had trained in Iai from childhood, is able to cut down each Stardust in a single blow, as if the sword itself was an extension of her will.

• As Wakaba makes her way outside, the multitudes of Stardust outside begin to fuse into Vertex. Wakaba realizes that she cannot win, but Hinata suddenly calls out to the survivors and has them all follow her to escape, with Wakaba cutting down any enemy in their way. They make their way to the shrine's honden, a place where the Stardust cannot enter for some reason; afterwards, Hinata and Wakaba lead the survivors southeast and walk for days and days, passing by the ruins of what had once been Japan.

• The survivors manage to cross the great bridge between Honshu and Shikoku and manage to make their way back home to Shikoku. After that, there's a time skip of three years; while some small areas such as Shikoku and Nagano were able to survive the Vertex onslaught, the rest of humanity has perished and most of the world is in control of the Vertex.

• The chapter ends with Wakaba vowing revenge on the Vertex for killing her friends and vowing to take back their world. Now, Wakaba is a "Hero," one who wields divine power, while Hinata is a "Miko," one who hears divine voices.

Furthermore, since the girls were in Shimane Prefecture it's very likely that the shrine they were visiting was Izumo Shrine, the site of the fabled war between Amaterasu and the gods of the earth.

edited 29th Jul '15 3:28:17 PM by MoreThanBored

Also here's an image of Hinata and Wakaba before and after the time-skip.◊

Also, according to a Q&A section that was shown after the chapter:

• Not all of the named girls will become Heroes; for example, Hinata is a Miko instead of a Hero. The number of girls who will become Heroes is a secret.
• Not all of the girls may be quite as cohesive as the girls of YuYuYu, in terms of morality and even location.
• Although the girls do not have fairies, the Heroes of this age have a unique trump card.
• Wakaba loves it when Hinata cleans her ears.

Also, the writer stated that Wakaba is a kinda like Sumi in her personality, but while Sumi was vulnerable in her own ways Wakaba is actually as strong as she appears. She's a bit of an airhead who'll believe anyone, though.

Also, you get three guesses as to what Wakaba's and Hinata's favorite food is, and the first two don't count.

edited 30th Jul '15 2:31:55 AM by MoreThanBored

Where did you read the chapter?

Pre-time skip Wakaba's clothes look cool.

From what you said, I'm assuming that the Heroes of that time weren't all good buddies and had more arguments than the Heroes of today. It's also understandable that hey would come from different locations seeing as the world hasn't ended yet. Also, I wonder what kind of trump card they have?

Just to clarify; Wakaba and Sumi have a serious personality but Wakaba doesn't show any visible weaknesses, aside from being a bit gullible?

Wow. So Heroes loving udon really is a tradition passed down from generation to generation.

It was translated over the course of an /a/ thread, the translator uploaded it on a certain site that's mega-illegal to link to here, you can either search there or check the /a/ archives.

I think the main difference between Wakaba and Sumi is that Wakaba is both physically and mentally strong, whereas Sumi (and Tougou) are emotionally vulnerable. Also, preceding the chapter is a quote from Wakaba's diary, which mentions that "A proactive stance like Yuna's is hard to find."

Also, apparently both Wakaba and Hinata both really love chicken with the bone in. Absolutely disgusting.

The Nogi Wakaba is a Hero 4koma came out today. Noggin and Wakabaka interact pretty much the way people thought they would. Poor Wakabaka. http://yushadearu.jp/nogiwakaba/comic/1/

I can't read moon but I'm gonna assume that that's adorable.

Also Sonoko is a fucking pimp

So apparently somebody on /a/ did a translation of the 4komas;

• Wakaba mistakenly believes that Togo is her descendant and is incredibly disappointed when Sonoko corrects her.

• Apparently Sonoko "smells" like Hinata (?)

edited 21st Aug '15 12:21:17 PM by MoreThanBored

Only a day to go until the next chapter is out and all of the character profiles/pictures are now revealed. Here's a high quality picture of Doi Tamako.

http://gs.dengeki.com/news/38789/

And here's (low quality) pictures of the whole cast someone posted on Twitter. They show Takashima Yuna's appearance, so click at your own risk.

https://twitter.com/ilTomlink/status/636898556255817728

edited 27th Aug '15 4:49:17 PM by erebuskioku

Well, I can't say that I'm surprised about Takashima.

Also Tamako's hair looks ridiculous, I love it. She's gonna die first, isn't she?

Also, apparently there's another Hero over in Nagano named Shiratori who Wakaba keeps in contact with. They constantly argue because Shiratori believes that soba is better than udon, and vice versa.

edited 28th Aug '15 2:41:22 AM by MoreThanBored

Some translated character information:

Anzu Iyojima:◊

• A bookworm who loves romance novels in particular and can't help but sob when reading them. Although she's physically the weakest of the heroes, she possesses great knowledge. She is extremely close to her senpai Tamako.

Tamako Doi:◊

• A mischievous, hyperactive girl who loves the outdoors. She likes her name and often makes puns with it (good luck translators). She's emotionally charged and laughs and gets angry easily. Her best friend is Anzu.

Chikage Koori◊

• A shy girl who had been bullied in the past. Her parents had always fought and she had no friends, but everything changed when she became a Hero; thus, her powers are extremely important to her. She was captivated by Yuna Takashima's bright personality and opened up to her, but she does not trust Anzu or Tamako. She also enjoys video games.

Looks like Chapter 3 of Nogi Wakaba is out, I haven't read it yet myself but other people have so I'll probably edit this post with new info as it comes out.

It looks like we know everybody's weapons now;

• Wakaba of course has her katana, and her flower is Japanese Bellflower.
• Yuna uses Tekko, which are basically Okinawan knuckle weapons designed to increase the mass of your fist. Her flower is, of course, Wild Cherry.
• Tamako has some sort of weird bladed halberd yo-yo thingy, and her flower is Morning Star Lily
• Anzu has a repeating crossbow, and her flower is Stock.
• Chikage has a scythe, and her flower is Red Spider Lily.

Also apparently the Heroes of this era also have their own "trump card," although it's not Mankai; rather, it seems that they can access a sort of spiritual database of various concept across Japan gathered by the Taisha. Yuna activates this to channel an avatar of storms, allowing her to unleash a 1,000-fold Yuusha Punch with each punch stated to have the power of a nuclear weapon.

Also damn Yuna you scary.◊

Also also apparently while Taisha in the anime was written with the characters meaning "Amnesty," Taisha in this light novel are written with the characters for "Great Shrine." I wonder what happened to make them change that.

edited 30th Sep '15 4:10:32 AM by MoreThanBored

Fourth post in a row! How amazingly sad! Anyway this is the full chapter: http://pastebin.com/jfpw4aHL

General plot summary for anyone who cares:

• With the Forestization in effect, the girls get into battle positions. However, Chikage is mistrustful of Wakaba and airs her misgivings about her being the leader, leading to some internal strife.

• What's more, Anzu seems to be afraid to fight, and Chikage calls her out on this. Yuna is able to temporarily defuse the situation and her, Wakaba, Tamako and Chikage all transform, but Anzu is unable to transform due to her mental state.

• Wakaba rushes headfirst into the Stardust horde (here called "Vertex"), and the rest of the girls split up into two pairs: Chikage/Yuna and Tamako/Anzu. Tamako resolves to protect Anzu and fight enough for the two of them, but she grows reckless and finds herself open to an attack... until Anzu suddenly finds the courage to transform out of her desire to protect Tamako.

• Meanwhile, although Chikage has transformed, she finds herself unable to fight; it turns out her anger at Anzu was her projecting her own fears. However, Yuna guides her and is able to give her confidence, and Chikage is able to fight alongside her. Yuna then asks Chikage to consider apologizing to the rest of the girls.

• Then, several Vertex merge into an "Evolved Vertex" (aka the Vertex as we know them from the anime), in this case the Cancer Vertex that has reflective shields. Anzu's attack bounces off of its shields and nearly kills her; Yuna hits its shield with a Yuusha Punch but to no avail. She then channels Ichimonkuren, a fairy of storms, and uses its powers to fire a 1,000 Consecutive Yuusha Punch, which pulverizes Cancer into dust.

• In the meantime Wakaba was fighting alone, and with her incredible power slew over 2/3 of the invading Vertex on her own. At one point she even bites a chunk out of one of them (it doesn't taste good). The Forestization then ends and Hinata scolds Wakaba for fighting recklessly. Afterwards, Chikage apologizes to the group and they all decide to call each other by their first names, and take a group photo.

Wakaba taking a bite out of a Vertex. So hardcore.. Also, Y.Takashima is kinda like Yuna, what with being able to clear the tension and being a good martial artist. If those theories are true, then Yuna being possessed by Takashima looks more plausible by the minute, to me.

The way the Heroes can activate their trump cards is interesting. However, I was thinking that, with such a concept at their disposal, during Sonoko's first stint as a Hero, why didn't she and the others use that system to fight back those Zodiac Vertexes? Heck, when Yuna tapped into that power, she pulverized the Cancer Vertex meaning Sonoko and pals could've defeated them outright instead of just pushing them back. I guess the Shinju was so weak at the time that it was unavailable to them?

edited 5th Oct '15 9:40:18 AM by Diamite

I'm guessing that something will happen over the course of the story that will show why that option was unavailable centuries later. Remember, Wasshi and Sonoko didn't have access to Mankai or fairies until their final battle, and Gin never did ;_;. They were pretty weaksauce compared to the Hero Team in the anime. Wakaba also noted that she was planning on being the one to use her trump card if the team was in trouble, and seemed to be concerned when Takashima used hers so eagerly.

I wonder if a similar system would be present in a Season 2. And there is definitely something up with Takashima; not only does she look the same besides her hairclip and Idiot Hair, her past is also completely unknown. The prevailing theory is some sort of Stable Time Loop that happened during Yuna Yuki's coma.

edited 5th Oct '15 10:16:29 AM by MoreThanBored

That would be crazy.

I want to know more about the Shinju and why their policies are the way they are.

It's that time of the month again. Chapter 4 comes out today, so I'll update soon with details.

Also you're looking awfully creepy there, Chikage.◊

EDIT: The chapter introduction is from Yuna this time:

Using that technique pretty much wears you out. It's incredibly strong, but I learned firsthand that it's not something you can use over and over again in battle. We were told beforehand... that the risk of the technique would exhaust stamina and cause fatigue, but it was on a completely different level than when I actually experienced it.

I got Ichimokuren to help me this time, but... I kinda want to get stronger myself. I want to try "○○○○" some time.

Note that "○○○○" indicates space for 4 characters and Mankai only uses 2 kanji, so it must be something else (unless Yuna is writing in hiragana, which she might just be)

edited 29th Oct '15 12:34:52 PM by MoreThanBored