Local man tries to figure out a convoluted fighting game plot, breaking his sanity multiple times in the process.
Originally this was going to be a list of questions I had about the story, with me poking fun at it for the sake of comedy. Over time though, I started thinking more about the questions and began answering them. Before I knew it, I had theory crafted how the story made sense as best as I could.
So, to show the fruits of my labour, here's my explanation of the story of "BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger." Expect spoilers for the entirety of "Calamity Trigger."
I also want to be clear that I haven't gone through every ending, however I've gone through most of them, especially with the six characters that are important to the story of "Calamity Trigger."
As mentioned in my non-spoiler review, Arc System Works developed "BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger." The blaz in the title is still pronounced blaze.
What I Understand
Firstly, the story of "BlazBlue" begins with the defeat of the Black Beast in AD 2110. The events of "Calamity Trigger" start in AD 2199, 89 years later. Also, worth noting, the opening of Story Mode takes place in AD 2194, five years before "Calamity Trigger."
[Credit: SHOOTER 57 (First image) and Rainfall (Third image)]
Time Loop
During the events of "BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger," a time loop takes place, with Rachel Alucard being the only one immune to it. As a result, nearly every ending in Story Mode is canon as its own timeline. The trigger for the time loop? The Cauldron, V-13's stage.
Please ignore Rachel just drinking tea in front of it, it's just a... Quirk? A wacky quirk.
Cauldrons seem to have the capability to manipulate time. What triggers this is unknown, but the answer lies in V-13 and Hakumen. When both are defeated, time stops looping.
This... Oh my money, it makes getting the full picture of Story Mode harder to do since nearly every ending is canon and behind trial-and-error. However, I digress. Rachel copes with the situation by seeing the whole thing like a play, standing in the sidelines to be entertained.
Fortunately, when the conditions are finally met for the time loop to stop, she directly stops the destruction of Katsuguchi, where time loops no more. What's this destruction? I'll explain in a bit.
Ragna the Bloodedge is Half-Vampire
This is a bit off-topic, but I do want to note that Ragna is potentially half-vampire. In Rachel's Arcade ending, she says she has only bitten one person, full of regret from doing so. While she's saying it, specifically that last part, Ragna shows up.
You think Ragna is there to do grocery shopping? No! It's a white void, there are no groceries. Although, this does highlight that Rachel genuinely cares about Ragna and only acts coldly to hide that fact.
Ragna the Bloodedge's eye colour backs this up too given he has one green eye and one red eye. Green for his humanity, red for his vampire side. Green shows his connection to Jin Kisaragi and Saya, the red showshis connection to Rachel.
It's not explained why Rachel bit Ragna, but I theorize it took place after Ragna lost his arm. Perhaps a young Rachel happened upon Ragna and gave into her vampiric impulses. It'd also explain why she watches over Noel (which I'll... sigh, also explain later), due to her guilt.
Library's Destruction
When Ragna fails in his first true ending, a voice says Katsuguchi has been destroyed. This is the Library, the government of "BlazBlue." They destroy the city shortly after V-13 enters the Cauldron, likely to erase any threat V-13 could propose.
While it's never directly explained, this does answer why the Library's headquarters in Katsuguchi is empty. No one in that base was killed, they evacuated.
This is something the Library has done before during the Ikaruga war, as they destroyed the city of Ikaruga. We see this happen in the opening of Story Mode; the research facility was in Ikaruga.
They used the black goopy thing, which shoots a laser- L-Look, it's never given a name so I'm naming it for what it is, a black goopy thing.
This is the same laser beam Rachel later shields Katsuguchi from in the True Ending Story. It's a twisted sense of damage control as they kill thousands of people to stop one threat.
However, there was one person who survived this laser in Ikaruga... Noel Vermillion.
Who is Noel Vermillion
Noel appears in the opening of Story Mode, however, that's not her name. It's subject 12. Noel is a clone.
This is the same case for V-13 too, she's subject 13. Both are clones of Ragna's childhood friend Saya, who Terumi kidnapped with Jin's help. Jin Kisaragi seems to have hated Saya and wanted to kill Ragna, because brotherly love is tight, so he agreed to Terumi's plan.
I'd explain who Terumi is, but I don't even know who he is. The opening has the scientists trying to make Noel powerful and useful by using the Cauldron.
Noel Vermillion's only memories of the past are of the research facility, meaning she was there since her existence until Ikaruga was destroyed. It's possible the shock of the laser or shock of the explosion caused Noel to forget her memories of the facility or bury them deep inside her mind, hence why they resurface in small fragments.
Ragna the Bloodedge even says to himself how V-13 and Noel share similar features to Saya, even calling V-13 Saya in one timeline. Ragna the Bloodedge acts remorseful to V-13 because it's like killing his childhood friend.
This is also why V-13 acts so differently towards Ragna. Ragna the Bloodedge likely unlocks Saya's memories in V-13, but V-13 can't handle it properly, hence her yandere nature towards Ragna.
The same thing happens to Noel where Saya's memories unlock for her too, without the obsessive aspect. However, this is brief and seems to be because her body was close to V-13.
I believe V-13 is an artificial intelligence, able to transfer her consciousness to other bodies, given she has been killed two times before by Ragna. I can't see any other way for V-13 to be able to have died twice before, I mean, she also hates humanity like an evil A.I. in a movie, so...
Now you're probably thinking, "wow, this is complicated, but at least it makes a bit of sense." WELL, THAT'S BECAUSE YOU HAVEN'T HEARD THE WORST PART!
I Can't Make This Up Even If I Tried
In Hakumen's normal ending route, he fights two individuals inside of his will: his brother and his past incarnation. Problem, these are Ragna and Jin respectively, which is physically impossible given Ragna was born after the Black Beast was defeated and Jin is younger than Hakumen. Hakumen is at least over 100 years old.
It's easy to call this a plot hole, but we're in too deep to call something a plot hole, so... What if Ragna and Jin represent Hakumen's brother and past incarnation?
Jin Kisaragi is easy to explain as this Jin is darkened and never speaks. While Jin is Hakumen's incarnation given they both use the same sword, the Jin that Hakumen fights symbolizes who Hakumen was like in the past—a flawed man who was anything but justice.
As for the Ragna inside of Hakumen's will, I believe he symbolizes Hakumen's brother who ended up becoming the Black Beast in Hakumen's time. I can't confirm Hakumen even has a brother, but I can't see why else he'd call Ragna a brother.
Given Ragna's Azure Grimoire, his Nox Nyctore, seems to tap into the power of the Black Beast when used. In fact, when Ragna and V-13 fall into the Cauldron, together they become the Black Beast (this part I found out on the "BlazBlue" wiki). This explains why the Black Beast appears in Tager's first normal ending as they had already fused.
This is also why Arakune in the same ending goes towards the Black Beast despite that being suicide. He goes towards him because he's obsessed with Azure... Ragna's Nox Nyctore even has the word Azure in it.
It's possible Hakumen's brother was in the same shoes as Ragna. Perhaps Hakumen's brother had the Azure Grimoire himself, but something humanity created, likely identical to V-13, fused with Hakumen's brother, creating the Black Beast in Hakumen's time.
This would explain why Hakumen swears to vanquish evil and tells humanity to "amend their evil ways," because the Black Beast was created by humanity. The fact the people who were afraid of the Black Beast locked up Hakumen in a Cauldron when he told them this, which only further proves Hakumen's point.
For Hakumen, the evil of humanity is when they use science to create the unnatural or use entities such as Nirvana for personal gain. This would explain why Hakumen tries to kill Taokaka, believes Carl is evil for making Nirvana fight, and more. Humanity caused the death of his brother, and theory crafting aside, the creation of the Black Beast.
To us, he's crazy for trying to kill Taokaka who wouldn't hurt a fly- Wouldn't kill any- Has good intentions! To Hakumen, he's weeding out the evil of humanity.
By extension, Saya is an incarnation of the individual Hakumen's brother fused with to create the Black Beast back in Hakumen's time. Hakumen even recognizes V-13.
If Saya is an incarnation, this would explain why Terumi kidnapped Saya to make clones. It seems Terumi wanted the Black Beast to be resurrected. However, only Saya seems to be necessary for it, given he almost killed Ragna. Either that or Terumi didn't plan that far ahead.
What I Understand, Explained
With that, that's everything I understand from everything in "Calamity Trigger..." So, before I rant about this mess, here's a simplified version for anyone lost, which would be perfectly natural given how convoluted this all is.
Doesn't this look like it was made by a madman? I only know I'm not insane yet because I still have the common sense to see how unbelievably insane all this is. Despite my theory crafting, there are some questions I couldn't answer for the life of me.
My Questions
Rachel Alucard
Why is Rachel not affected by the time loop?
Black Goopy Thing
What is the black goopy thing in the satellite? It's a living thing so... What is it species-wise?
Terumi/Hazama
What is Hazama? Is he a real person or is Hazama a nickname?
What is Terumi species-wise? He's unlike anything else, he's sort of like the physical embodiment of a glitch appearance-wise.
Noel Vermillion
Why does Noel lose control of herself when using Bolverk, her Nox Nyctore?
The above question assumes there are mental downsides to Nox Nyctores given Nirvana is implied to strain the mental stability of its user. What are the downsides of Ragna's, Bang's, and Jin's Nox Nyctores? If there are none, then why do Bolverk and Nirvana have downsides?
Why does Noel act like V-13 when she's next to her? Not so much why she acts like V-13 next to her, but why she acts like V-13 at all.
Why does Rachel tell Noel to not look at Terumi in the True Ending Story?
Ragna
Why did Ragna betray the library?
Why did Ragna join the library in the first place?
Wix won't let me number every question correctly, but there are 10 questions in total. Which is a massive improvement from the 35 questions I originally had in my first draft of this spoiler review.
There are other things that are unanswered, but I don't mind those ones. The deal with Nirvana or why Kokonoe acts weird in Tager's true ending feel like things that are either left up to interpretation or that I don't have to know to understand these characters/the main story.
It helps that the latter half of the cast—Arakune, Tager, Carl, Taokaka, Litchi, and Bang—are far, FAR simpler to understand in terms of their motives and personalities. Meanwhile I need to figure out akin to quantum physics to understand the other half of the cast.
The Problems of being Too Convoluted
While it's not as bad as before, some of these plot elements do feel like things I should know by the time I get to the True Ending Story. H*ck, I only knew about the time loop and cloning vaguely, but not the full picture until after the fact.
It's a pain to figure out most of this stuff since a lot of it must be pieced together with vague remarks. It just left me confused and frustrated having no idea what was going on in most cases. The True Ending Story is the worst offender as a lot of stuff happens, but with no explanation, which ruins any impact the story could've had.
Everything just felt weightless. I was constantly asking myself, "why should I care?"
While piecing everything together is satisfying, it isn't rewarding. For example, in something like "Godzilla: Singular Point," it's hard to follow along but it's rewarding to piece things together... Or read other people's explanations.
Everything is explained, it's just that the scientific terms themselves are advanced. However, you feel smart for figuring them out and it leads to greater payoffs, rewarding the time invested into figuring them out. You even learn a few things too, like what MD5 Hashes are.
"BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger" doesn't feel rewarding since I'm putting in extra work to make up for the game's faulty storytelling. There's a difference between something being complex and something being convoluted. Something complex usually results in a satisfying payoff, something convoluted just leaves you disappointed.
Furthermore, the payoffs are either weak or non-existent. The clones? Ragna the Bloodedge being half-vampire? Time loops? Incarnations? None of these have satisfying payoffs, nor lead to satisfying story moments, nor do they even lead to character growth. Rachel Alucard isn't even relieved when the time loop finally stops, just slightly amused.
I used a jigsaw puzzle for comparison in my non-spoiler review of "Calamity Trigger," and it applies here too. However, instead of only being given three or four pieces, you get every piece and can complete the jigsaw puzzle. Only to reveal a fist that just comes out of the jigsaw puzzle to punch you straight in the jaw.
The game feels like it's confusing on purpose to make it look complex. However, it just gives information haphazardly to create that illusion. All the information about clones and whatnot is easy to explain. I've seen this stuff in other stories and it was explained in simple manners multiple times before.
It's just bad storytelling that makes me question what the point of figuring out everything was since I'm right back where I was before I understood everything, still deeply bored and uninterested by the story. Figuring things out did make me appreciate Hakumen at least.
He only sees things as black and white, never seeing the moral gray area. His reasoning for why is also interesting as the Black Beast was created by humanity messing with the unnatural. While I've seen this done better in stories like "Akame a Kill!" it's still neat to see. I just wish the game was clearer on why.
Unfortunately, it isn't worth investing hours into figuring out the story of "Calamity Trigger" to find out about. I like Hakumen now, but I don't feel strongly towards the guy.
H*ck, this is even assuming I didn't miss or misinterpret anything, which I'd be surprised if I didn't. I wouldn't blame myself if I did miss anything, I'm shocked I could muster this much from so little being conveyed.
Overall (F+)
The story is too convoluted to get invested in casually, while not being compelling enough to invest the time to figure things out, which I learned the hard way. It's also not stupidly convoluted enough for me to enjoy ironically.
"BlazBlue: Calamity Triggers" story is just the result of poor storytelling that tries to be more than it is, which just results in a weak cast of characters and a convoluted plot. It's been a long time since I've felt this bitter about a game's story.
I'm just hoping for improvement in "Continuum Shift." This is still just the first entry in the series, and first entries make mistakes since they're still getting their footing. This doesn't excuse the flaws of a first entry, but it's still an important hurdle to cross.
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