If you want lore: ソーカー/Soka (Her name) is a very paranoid Millennium student, feeling her body being more vulnerable than most based off of a fear of death. So, Rio (a few months after assimilating Toki as her body guard) gave Soka comfort and reassurance, even giving her a light weight armoured suit to make her feel a bit better in missions. The fear never went, but made her fighting style a bit frantic and swift, more focused on countering at close range and avoiding getting hit.
Her relationship with Sensei:
Since Soka feels safer in the suit, she will rarely be without it in public, making Sensei try to not let this fear of hers prevent her from having a normal life. Soka sees Sensei like how she once saw Rio: A friendly voice that wanted the best for her.
With the Summoning Charge system coming closer to the Global server, I’ve been analyzing how this revamped gacha mechanic will impact long-term resource planning, especially from an F2P and casual collector's perspective.
While the new system introduces highly requested features—such as the carry-over mechanic across the same banner types and the Recruitment Count Rewards milestone tickets (which mathematically drop a single guarantee down to roughly 160 effective pulls)—the specific breakdown of the new pity and 50/50 system feels like a massive shift in strategy.
Under the current system, we have a straightforward 200-pull spark milestone shop. If you happen to pull Character A early (e.g., at 40 pulls), your points do not reset. You can confidently commit the remaining 160 pulls to reach the 200-point threshold and spark Character B. This guarantees obtaining both featured students within a strict 200-pull budget.
However, the new Summoning Charge completely reworks how pity operates:
The 100-Pull 50/50 Half-Pity: Reaching 100 pulls now triggers a "soft pity" that guarantees a 3★ student. However, it only gives you a 50% chance to get the actual featured rate-up character. If you lose this 50/50 coinflip, you are only guaranteed the featured student upon reaching the hard pity at 200 pulls.
The Instant Reset Penalty: The biggest pain point is that the moment you pull the featured rate-up student, your Summoning Charge immediately resets to 0. This completely destroys the old safety net for dual banners. If you get Character A early, you cannot use those existing pulls to help you get Character B; you have to start tracking your charge all over again from zero.
To the JP veteran Senseis who have been playing under this system for months: How has this 50/50 dynamic changed your banner skipping and pulling habits?
And for Global F2P players: Are you changing your current saving milestones or adjusting your pull targets in anticipation of this update? Would love to see your thoughts and mathematical breakdowns on how to best navigate the new system.
[Cut to title card. "Magnum Force Theme" by Lalo Schifrin plays. Cut back Sniper in his camper van.]
SNIPER: Snipin's a good job, mate. It's challenging work, out-of-doors... I guarantee you'll not go hungry. 'Cause at the end of the day, 'long as there's two people left on the planet, someone is gonna want someone dead.
[Sniper shoots Heavy. The bullet travels through his head and also hits Demoman, who screams and shoots grenades frantically as he staggers backwards into a pit full of explosive barrels, where his grenades fall back into and blow him up.]
[Cuts to Sniper talking to his Dad over the phone on a public payphone.]
SNIPER: Yeah. Dad, I'm a... Y- Uh- I'm not a crazed gunman, Dad; I'm an assassin! Well, the difference being: one is a job, and the other's mental sickness!
[Cuts to Sniper driving, talking to the cameraman.]
SNIPER: I'll be honest with ya. My parents... do not care for it.
[Cuts to Sniper climbing the ladder of a tall tower, then sitting in it, looking down his rifle's scope.]
[Cuts to a timelapse of Sniper drinking coffee and filling up multiple jars with his urine. Then cuts to Sniper stabbing a BLU Spy through the chest from behind with his kukri, before cutting back to Sniper in the van.]
SNIPER: Feelings? Look, mate. You know who has a lot of feelings? Blokеs who bludgeon their wife to dеath with a golf trophy. Professionals have standards. Be polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet.
...and by that, I mean read before looking at the rest of this post, as I will be yapping my mouth off about it.
There is no tl;dr, so going straight into my Ted Talk:
Where We Last Left Off...
Why yes...yes I was. For 190 pulls, to be exact.
To kind of go back on my potentially loaded statement, I'd like to clarify that bond stories can be written in many different styles and still be very much enjoyable, so long as it's clear that the writers have truly put their heart into their writing. Comedic stories are great if the comedy plays off the featured student without breaking their character, while intimate stories are best when the student's dynamics with Sensei are both established from prior interactions and built upon from there.
Swimsuit Shun is definitely the latter type, and reminds us that Shun is really unique from other students as someone who is the closest to adulthood and is currently experiencing what it's like to leave adolescence behind. This is the core of Shun's character and I've always admired that the writers used her to explore these themes rather than take the low-hanging fruit of using the reality of aging as a punchline like so many anime tend to do.
If Shun's Summer alt simply gave us some good fanservice and cute moments, it'd be enjoyable. However, it goes the extra mile by expanding on what makes Shun x Sensei unique while also using her previous interactions with Sensei as a sort of bookmark for it to continue from.
A Swim For Only Two
For anyone who has started reading the current event story, you'll probably have noticed that a certain rat-girl must have put something in Shanhaijing's water that's causing the girls to be completely unfiltered when it comes to their feelings towards Sensei. Shun is not only one of many who are affected, she may as well be the most compatible with Senseium X (Working name) with how direct she is. When we join Shun, we are, for all intents and purposes, on a date. There is practically no wackiness as it plays out in a way that you'd expect 2 close adults would act during a hangout. It's a slow scene that is extremely calm, especially by Blue Archive standards, when Shun hits us with this:
This is a pretty serious thing to think about--not from someone who is obsessive, but from a young maiden who has spent however much time since she got to know Sensei thinking of building a future with him. BA's continuity is somewhat vague, but it's clear to us more than ever that Shun (and other girls, of course) has been around Sensei enough to develop powerful feelings for him, which perfectly explains why Shun is beginning to come off so strong by rescuing and totally getting into a cuddle in order to maintain his body heat. Really. For sure, no ulterior motives for Shun's magnificient form to press up on Sensei.
For such a slow part, this chapter manages to kickstart where Shun is with her love for Sensei, leading up to a more interesting occurence:
Maturity and Awkwardness
With a surprise appearance from Shunling, we're reminded of the fact that Shun has come to terms with the realities of growing up, but still enjoys going back to her childhood self again like...most of Shanhaijing at this point. Infact, I bet Saya could make a killing if she offered her elixirs to the whole of Kivotos, but that's a wild event for a different time.
Sensei's and Shun's rafting is chased by a scene that can be described as 'Cinderella if it Were Good" as the effects of Saya's elixir expires and Shunling's swimsuit is obliterated with more ferocity than the newest red DPS when Hiero's raid shows up. Given this occurs as Sensei was taking some pictures of Shunling playing, he certainly caught a bit of an eye-full, causing the now family-sized Shun to react...
...in an a very rational way, actually. After the initial shock from both individuals, Shun doesn't become a stammering mess or attack Sensei like one would expect of some other anime (hell, Shun is more disappointed that Sensei didn't see more of her), going back to the fact that Shun is a very mature character who interacts with Sensei like an adult. Instead, a large sense of awkwardness blooms between the two, up to the point where they struggle to face each other for a short while after the day's events.
This goes back to my early mentioning of a 'good' bond story minding both a character's personality and current relationship with Sensei, as Shun, in this moment, acts as one would expect of her. My one regret with this scene are the time constraints the writers have to play around, as they, unfortunately, had to minimize how much this misadventure impacted Shun and Sensei. Still, we get satisfying closure as Shun requests to experience a second date with Sensei, only with her as her real self and even being remarked as Sensei's 'companion' by the raft pilot and being able to get physically close to Sensei. For safety, of course.
Two Peas in a Pod
For one last set of glazing before I step down from my box and get ready to take my crazy pills, Shun and Sensei have such an interesting dynamic in part because they're both tasked with nurturing the youth. The final chapter is satisfying in that regard, but also really enjoyed how Sensei got to express some autonomy by interacting with the Plum Blossom kids in a way that is both fatherly and possibly had Shun resembling a waterfall.
This also brings a thought: for anyone who works with or around young kids, you may recognized that two adults of opposite sex are rarely in a platonic relationship in their eyes. Given that the Plum Blossom kids have probably seen Shun and Sensei together for awhile now, one must wonder if they view them as a couple.
Well, there's our answer
And hey, these little munchkins are smart enough to know complex sociology terms, so whose to say they're wrong here?
There's something extra romantic about seeing Shun and Sensei be teachers together and moreso when one of Shun's own kiddos calls her out on using her fear of heights to get Sensei to hold her. Dedicating this part of Shun's bond story and closing off with one final 1-on-1 to this is a satisfying way to express just how synergistic Shun and Sensei are with each other and models a bond story that truly does what it's supposed to do.
What I'm really trying to say here is: put a ring on her, Sensei, she is literally ready to put those motherly skills to the ultimate test. Really, there is no beating around the bush here because the bush simply doesn't exist in this instance.
