Spoilers for BlazBlue: Remix Heart and Spiral Shift will be left unmarked. And due to being a prequel to the BlazBlue series as a whole, starting with Calamity Trigger, expect Late Arrival Spoilers for said game and subsequent entries in the franchise. You Have Been Warned!
BlazBlue: Variable Heart is the sequel of the BlazBlue: Remix Heart manga and takes taking place immediately after the Second War of Ars Magus,note i.e., two and a half years before the BlazBlue games. It is drawn by Sumeragi, who also illustrated Remix Heart, and authored by the producer of BlazBlue, Toshimichi Mori. The story centers around Mai Natsume, who is being hunted by the Wings of Justice because its head wants to make use of Mai's grimoire body. The series is currently being serialized in a digital only magazine.
For characters introduced or appearing in this series, see here.
This series provides examples of
- Battle Amongst the Flames: The final battle with Meifang takes place in a "scenery of her beginning", where several burning corpses are scattered around. It's explained as a "Phantom Field", a world born out of her memories.
- Big Damn Heroes: Just before our heroes are about to get swarmed by Meifang and her Zero Squadron, Rachel teleported them to another place.
- Big Fancy House: The Hazuki House is huge, as expected for a Duodecim family house.
- Call-Back:
- In Remix Heart ch. 11, Ragna gets thrown out of the scene in a rather undignified way. Here, also in ch. 11, same thing happens to him.
- In Spiral Shift novel, in the end, the Imperator is revealed to be held in a coffin that Relius maintains. Here, it's implied that the "Coffin no. 00" that Meifang looks towards is the same coffin, as she says "Everything is for the Imperator's sake".
- In Central Fiction, Ragna manages to defeat and mortally wound his opponent Nine because she was distracted by an image of her loved one. Here, Mai does the same with the main villain Meifang. Relatedly, Meifang wanted to create something similar to Take-Mikazuchi while Nine already has one - Corpus Sepulcro: Requiem, which is potentially even more powerful.
- The Cameo: Hibiki appears in the 1st and 3rd chapter, Kagura in the 1st and 2nd, Jubei in the 3rd, 4th and 11th, Hazama and Terumi in the 4th and 18th, Ragna in the 6th through the 11th, Platinum, Rachel, Valkenhayn and Trinity in the 11th and Relius in the 15th through the 18th. Jubei and Trinity in Bell's body also reappear in the last chapter, as does Phantom.
- Cliffhanger: Chapter 9 ends with Mai charging up her spear as she's about to throw it towards Fuzzy and his bone dragon.
- Clothing Damage: Mai's clothes get torn during fights on more than one occasion.
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Using the Outseal's charged power will be taxing on one's soul as Mai and Kajun found out. The latter thinks that it lacks a "limiter" and urges the former not to use it so often.
- Deadly Dodging: In ch. 9, when Taro and Ragna fight Fuzzy's summoned bone dragon, the two dodge its stomp attack, which makes it stomp Fuzzy' ghouls.
- Demoted to Extra: Noel, Makoto and Tsubaki appear to have secondary roles in this series.
- Fastball Special: in ch. 11, Taro and Shiori take turns tossing Mai at Fuzzy to attack the latter; the last attempt is successful and Fuzzy is downed.
- Gender Bender: Mai used to be a boy until she was transformed into a girl by a grimoire. However by the time of Variable Heart she has fully accepted herself as a woman and has lived as one for years so she behaves like a normal girl.
- I Am Who?: Kajun reveals to Mai that, as a result of the events during the climax of Remix Heart, Mai has become a grimoire. Mai is shocked and starts worrying about no longer being human.
- Internal Reveal: Kajun reveals to Mai that she had been a Sector Seven agent all along. Mai demands an explanation from her but then surprises Kajun by her willingness to trust her after learning the truth.
- Living Macguffin: The fact Mai is The Blank Grimoire means that the Wings of Justice are after her.
- Magic Enhancement: Mai has become The Blank Grimoire. It's an empty grimoire, but putting in "Codes" to it can give it new powers related to that code, which can also include turning her into another Azure Grimoire. Mai shows superhuman resilience as a result of her transformation and it's possible that her other physical abilities are also enhanced.
- Mysterious Waif: Mai meets one she called "Bell" (due to her wearing a large cowbell) when she gets lost after the train she and Kajun were in got wrecked. She's implied to be an Artificial Human with code name "-Es- No. 28". She's a little girl who does not know much of the world and at first tried to run away from Mai before the latter manages to bond with her. She apparently happens to be an "emergency programming" that becomes active to prevent her real programming - Luna-Sena - to fall onto the wrong hands, and her body later becomes a vessel for Trinity.
- Stripperiffic: Mai's new outfit given to her by Kajun. It not only bares her back and midriff, it also shows her hips from the sides, with her posterior only barely covered. They also make clear she's not wearing any undies. Mai does feel embarrassed by it and says it shows too much skin. At least it comes with a nice cape.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Ragna reluctantly has to team up with Taro in ch. 9 against Fuzzy.
- Unprovoked Pervert Payback: In the first chapter Kagura shows up in Iwatsuchi branch of the NOL and tries to flirt with the girls, but Makoto swiftly punches him in the gut.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Meifang tells Mai that since Mai's body has turned into a grimoire she's now just a thing instead of a person and considers Mai to be nothing but an object to be used. Mai emphatically rejects that.
