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Making Blue Archive In Blue Archive
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Making Blue Archive In Blue Archive (Fanfic)
Click to see alternate logo by Kyosuke Assate
Secrets are like your asshole.
You don't go around showing it to other people, right?

Making Blue Archive In Blue Archive is a Blue Archive fanfiction by NekoNekoBoy, where a person from the real world finds themselves in Kivotos...as an average female student with no ID or money in her name. To get herself a steady income - and possibly to spite the academy city, she and a group of dropout students establish a game studio named Studio MX and create the Blue Archive mobile game in Kivotos, before the GSC President's disappearance, for that sweet, sweet gacha money.

This fic can be found in Archive of Our Own (hereImage) and Questionable Questing (hereImage). A Japanese translation of the fic is available on Syosetu and can be read hereImage.

On 11 April 2026, Making Blue Archive in Blue Archive is adapted into a video format, made by CakeTown (or Basalt Floor which is their YouTube name), that can be watched hereImage.

Beware of Spoilers!

Making Blue Archive In Blue Archive has the following tropes:

    open/close all folders 
    A-E 
  • Accidental Misnaming: Happens in an Epic Fail when Arata calls MX Blade, Em Ex Breido.
    MX Blade: You failed your Global lessons, didn't you? It's MX Blade, Moronyo.
  • Accidental Public Confession: When Serika reads the Blue Archive's story about her, she loudly expresses surprise at the accuracy as she just got hired at the Shiba Seki Ramen a day ago...in front of the rest of the Foreclosure Task Force, rendering her unable to deny it.
  • Actually Pretty Funny: MX Blade learns that her studio's legal team has been giving the same response to every injunction Kaiser Corporation's been sending their way: 'All of the students are above the age of 18, and it's totally okay to feel a certain kind of way towards them'. She thinks it's hilarious.
  • Adaptational Explanation: In Blue Archive: The Grand Adventure of the Game Development Department, it is left ambiguous on what the 'Art of Throwing Away' was and how it ended up in the Game Development Department's possession. The "Screaming Down The Rabbit Hole" arc has the members of Veritas explaining that the book is actually a supernatural item on the same caliber as the Ghost Stories of Hyakkiyakou, and would actively seek out its victims to take over.
  • Adaptational Intelligence: The Foreclosure Task Force enacts a far more effective plan to rob Stygian Bank compared to their in-game counterparts: They hire Problem Solver 68 to be the main perpetrators, while they put on better disguises, which is them wearing Gehenna uniforms.
  • Adaptational Early Appearance: Hoshino becomes Student Council President following this fic's version of Volume 1, Chapters 1 & 2 when in canon, she gains the title at the end of Volume 1, Chapter 3.
  • Adaptational Wealth: Abydos High School has been receiving significant donations thanks to Blue Archive putting it in the spotlight. That said, the money provided is still isn't enough to make up for the colossal debt, so the Foreclosure Task Force still need to work.
  • Adaptation Expansion:
    • The fic adds context on the circumstances behind the previous Madam of Shanhaijing, Kisaki's predecessor; she resigned from her position in shame after her executive officer was tricked by Kaiser into breaking one of Shanhaijing's laws. This incident causes many of the hardliners to double down on appealing to tradition, Kisaki resolving to seek out change in the system to prevent the same tragedy, and the former executive officer becoming a delinquent to avenge her Madam.
    • "Oath Under the Plum Blossoms" expands upon how the academies, outside of Gehenna and Trinity, reacted to the existence the Eden Treaty; The academies felt threatened by it and believed that if Trinity and Gehenna were able to work together, the two schools might possibly turn their sights on them. The Eden Treaty has also worsened the General Student Council's already shaky reputation because the GSC President was the one responsible for creating the treaty.
  • All for Nothing: All the blood and sweat the Foreclosure Task Force have poured into working to collect enough money to repay the debt and reclaim their district from Kaiser Corporation ends up being moot once they are informed by MX Blade and Kisaki that Kaiser has been deceiving them all along; the corporation only owns the rights to use the district, not the land, meaning the Foreclosure Task Force still owns Abydos High School.
  • Alliance of Revenge: The Masked Swimsuit Gang's membership are composed of thousands of students from schools all over Kivotos, who had their lives ruined by Kaiser Corporation and desire to bring down the company.
  • All Part of the Show: The people that attended the Blue Archive festival thought the fighting between Mouryo and Studio MX was part of the act.
  • Arbitrary Skepticism: There have been a few individuals, among them being Kisaki and Chihiro, are not on the same boat with everyone else that Blue Archive can predict the future even though many of Kivotos' denizens have performed at least one zany and outlandish feat. To their credit, they are actually right as the game isn't predicting future and MX Blade, the maker of the game, genuinely wants people to not think that the game can tell the future.
  • Arc Hero: While MX Blade is the central character of the fic, the other characters that make up Blue Archive's cast get their own focus.
    • "Total Assault" and "Flower of the Masked Swimsuit Gang" focuses on the Foreclosure Task Force, though the latter arc is where they share focus with Ajitani Hifumi.
    • "Screaming Down The Rabbit Hole" and "Set Your Heart Ablaze" respectively focuses on the Game Development Department and Chidori Michiru.
  • Are You Sure You Can Drive This Thing?: Miyako inquires Hifumi if she has a driver's license when she commandeered their car. The answer is not what they wanted to hear.
    Miyako: You do have a driver's license, correct?
    Hifumi: I have a moped license! But it's alright! This feels just like driving a tank!
    Saki and Moe: Obviously not!
    Miyu: We're all going to die!
  • Armor-Piercing Question:
    • After Hifumi vehemently denies about going into the Black Market, Hasumi prods her about whether she'd do so if she learned a very rare Peroro merchandise is being sold there, causing Hifumi to immediately ponder about going there.
    • Hoshino is deeply upset with MX Blade because Abydos' debt hasn't being erased as the latter had promised but instead, the ownership of the debt has been divided amongst the academies who buy out Kaiser Corporation. To her credit, MX Blade acknowledges that but also brings up a good point that the academies are honorable and they would not resort to the cruel actions that Kaiser has done to them. The redhead asks Hoshino if she can trust them, especially when Hoshino has worked alongside one of them. Hoshino relents and agrees with MX Blade.
    • When Rio coldly lays out her plans to the shareholders that she intends to use Kaiser's resources to protect Kivotos from future threats, Kisaki, the one who is the least caring about Rio's self-righteous lecture, critiques about the lack of morality behind the plan, then giving one damning inquiry to her: "Are you worthy of protecting Paradise?".
  • Armor-Piercing Response: After unashamedly admitting her plans to form an alliance with the other academies, basically going against the General Student Council, Niya asks Nonomi what kind of monster that she is. Nonomi smiles and says this:
    Niya: After gathering all these powerful academies, what do you think my scheme is? In your eyes, what kind of monster do you think I am?]]
    Nonomi: Isn't it obvious? You're a kind one~! ☆
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Mina lists down why Genryuumon is far superior over Valkyrie Academy while doing a dramatic pose.
    Mina: We have tradition! Honor! And… our uniforms are cooler!
  • Atrocious Alias: Shiroko becomes the indomitable player of Blue Archive, mercilessly shredding through other rivals under the name... ShirokoKawaii.
  • Batman Gambit:
    • MX Blade figures out that the reason Decagrammaton has added the Proof of Remembrance system into Blue Archive is to encourage players to take part in Tactical Assault in smaller groups, allowing the Prophets to whittle down the academies' forces little by little.
    • On the surface, MX Blade's way of helping Abydos is to get Kaiser sued for tax evasion and property abuse. Or at least, that is what she wants Kaiser to believe; her real plan is to form a coalition of academies to buy out much of Kaiser's stocks and cutting the company's directors off from the resources which they so frequently used to escape prosecution in the past.
    • Then, there is Professor Niyaniya's plan; creating the Masked Swimsuit Gang to incite chaos to distract everyone from her objective in freeing the Seven Prisoners.
  • Berserk Button:
    • MX Blade does not react well whenever someone gives her another nickname or title, especially "Sensei".
    • Apparently, Yuuka hates being reminded that she didn't roll Iori.
    • For Gehenna, it is making Ibuki cry. And when Kaiser ends up doing just that, it causes the entire school to start waging war against them.
  • Big Damn Heroes:
    • Just as Izuna is about to sign a contract to fully submit her services to Date Meoru and leave Hyakkiyako forever, MX Blade comes in to expose Date Meoru's treachery to Izuna.
    • MX Blade and the Ninjutsu Research Department are outnumbered and outgunned by Kaiser PMC posing as Mouryo. Then, the Foreclosure Task Force comes barreling in to support them.
    • Suzumi is able to recover in time to save Hifumi from being captured by Panther Head.
  • Body-Count Competition: Shiroko, Eimi, and Akane compete with one another on who could take out the most of Decagrammaton's drones.
  • Breather Episode:
    • "The Time Between" has two chapters, first showcasing Millennium's state following Decagrammaton's attack on their school, then Gehenna's Prefect Team reeling from the damage on their reputation thanks to Blue Archive. The second chapter, however, ends with the Stygian Bank being attacked by Problem Solver 68.
    • "Oath Under Plum Blossoms" is a mostly lighter story arc though it still deals with the shift in the status quo following the fall of Kaiser Corporation.
  • Brick Joke: When the Foreclosure Task Force visited Studio MX, MX Blade inquires Nonomi on when would she'd be rich enough to afford a symbol to her dialogue. Cut to several chapters later, when a drunken Nonomi tells MX Blade that "(She) is late~", the latter snarkily replies with "You dropped this. ┌(;￣◇￣)/ ☆".
    MX Blade: Huh. That does just show up once you're rich enough.
  • Bullying the Dragon: Quite a few people view the way Studio MX continually reveals secrets about academies and corporations to the entirety of Kivotos as this. Rin theorizes that if any of the Studio MX's staff were to venture out of Hyakkiyako, they will be targeted on sight. Kaiser Corporation would have enough of Studio MX slandering them (exposing their evil plans) and would send out a hit squad to covertly invade Hyakkiyako and drag MX Blade out to be prosecuted.
  • Butt-Monkey:
    • This fic loves to pick on Serika; the cat girl gets repeatedly tricked into signing shady documents, having to clean up vomit every night at her job, having her uniform get messed up by Maki, and forced to eat a plate of hot food that caused her to pass out.
    • Iori's life gets upturned following the game's release. She is relegated to paperwork duty, gets Dope Slapped by Chinatsu, having to deal with people selling obscene pictures of her in the black market and dealing with the fallout of Blue Archive showing a scene of Sensei kissing her feet.
    • Yuuka can't ever catch a break whenever someone makes remarks about her thighs. Especially when Maki decides to repeatedly post lewd fanart of her during her livestreaming.
  • Buxom Beauty Standard:
    • In a comical scene, Eimi was sweating from the desert heat and thus, she stripped herself down and showed present company her huge breasts. While most of the students reacted to the sight in either awe, horror, or envy, Nonomi however took that as a challenge against Abydos, resulting in the girl to strip down as well and showed her school's pride.
    • The one noticeable aspect of Kaede is her enormous assets attached to her small frame. MX Blade would refer to her as "Little Miss Big Tits".
    • Many Blue Archive players note about Hasumi's bust size.
  • Can't Hold His Liquor: Niya holds a toast with her fellow shareholders to officialize their agreement to become a united force. However, despite the drinks having low-alcohol, they somehow cause a drunken escape which MX Blade got to witness.
  • Celebrity Endorsement: All the students who got 'archived' by the game, would wind up being used as spokeswomen to promote items and products.
    • One of Yuuka's tasks, as the newly appointed idol of Millennium Science School, is to promote her school's products to the masses. She also does this for Studio MX, though their merchandise leans more on the Fanservice, specifically Yuuka's thighs.
    • A delinquent begs Problem Solver 68 to invest in her bakery, which grows massively popular, with their best product being "Aru's Buns".
    • After unwittingly signing a shady contract, Serika is forced to wear thick layers of Studio MX's merchandise to promote them. She only got out of it after she and her friends accepted MX Blade's deal to venture to Shanhaijing.
  • Celebrity is Overrated: Downplayed; The Foreclosure Task Force is glad that other students start donating to help them, but this causes tourists to come to Abydos territory to see them, many of which are dressed as gang members, causing many friendly fire incidents.
  • Cerebus Call-Back: When Hifumi and the Vigilante Crew infiltrated the Masked Swimsuit Gang's headquarters, they noticed several members sewing an endless supply of balaclava masks. While that may at first have been Kivotos' typical zany antics, it was actually foreshadowing the true scope of the Masked Swimsuit Gang's membership.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: MX Blade learned how to fight from her experiences fighting students.
    Izuna: I-Izuna's super-secret technique failed? How did you know?!
    MX Blade: I am the only swordswoman in this city of gun-wielding maniacs. You learn to react quickly.
  • Chronoscope: Many residents of Kivotos regard Blue Archive to be this as it continues to accurately predict future events.
  • Combination Attack:
    • Hifumi and Suzumi have somehow able to perform a feat that even MX Blade wouldn't have thought was possible - combining their EX Skills into one. The two end up summoning a giant angelic version of Peroro, who not only blasts away the Pyroxene Bullet fired by Panther Head but then delivers the final knockout against Panther Head with a Kamen Rider-esque Diving Kick.
    • The Saiba sisters would accidentally trigger this while they were ironically trying to active one of their Ex Skills.
  • Contrived Coincidence:
    • Mashiro suspects Ichika has something to do with the former getting "Archived" because Ichika had tried to convince Mashiro to have her image to be put into Blue Archive a few days ago. Ichika denies it but Mashiro keeps a cautious eye on her.
    • One of the non-Abydos students who wants to see the Foreclosure Task Force gets shot by Shiroko, only for her to get the wolf-girl in-game soon after. This leads to the birth of a Urban Legend that being shot by a student would guarantee getting them in-game.
      • So much so, that students visiting Abydos have started to treat getting shot by Ayane as a 'curse'.
      Unnamed Student: NO! Not before the newest update! Hurry up and load dammit! I don't need another two star! If I don't get rid of the curse before the next banner- MAINTENANCE IS ALREADY HERE?!
      • Eventually, it's every student archived as a two-star who gets this treatment.
  • Cool Teacher: Depending on the student playing Blue Archive and becoming Sensei, they can be this. Either they are like Nonomi who prioritizes her students' happiness, Shiroko who wants to lead hers in trampling Kaiser or Hifumi who protects her students.
  • "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Hifumi, Suzumi and Reisa acknowledge that giving Stream Leaping Tiger a small donation would have saved the trouble of Hifumi having to battle dozens of Masked Swimsuit Gang members.
  • Crapsaccharine World: As a person mistaken for an Academy-less student, MX Blade experiences the "crap" part early on, with student supplies costing ludicrous amounts of money (especially ammo for their guns), while most students are none the wiser due to their expenses being covered by their respective academies.
  • Crazy Workplace: To say that Studio MX is a chaotic workplace would be a royally gross understatement: the Marketing Department are performing rituals in front of plushies, the Development Department's head has no problems with - ahem - initiating excessively intimate forms of unwanted physical contact in order to better design said plushies, and the R&D Department is empty save for stacks of pudding boxes and words left scribbled on the walls. Said words are quite possibly the result of the studio's employees trying to write koans and ending up with Ice Cream Koans.
    WHAT IS THE SOUL OF A COOKIE?!
  • Curb-Stomp Battle:
    • Several Earthly Fiends try to overwhelm Hina but are laughably beaten and sent crashing into the pavement.
    • Panther Head is leagues above Hifumi in terms of strength and martial prowess, and the fight the two have is severely one-sided.
  • Deal with the Devil: The Kaiser President tries to enact a deal with MX Blade, providing money, manpower and other opportunities to convert her and Studio MX to his side. MX Blade turns them all down, knowing full well that whatever offer the President makes will always end up benefitting only himself and screwing everyone else over.
  • Debating Names: Both Rio and Himari proceed to quarrel over on what to call Himari's group while Seminar and the other presidents watch on.
    Yuuka: Okay enough! (Yuuka gives the two women the stink eye) Honestly, what do you two think you're doing?! We have important things to do, remember?! Don't waste our time bickering like elementary schoolers!
    Rio: Yes, wasting our time is pointless. Which is why I can't understand why someone keeps trying to get rid of a perfectly good name.
    Himari: Do you truly not understand? (Himari screams as best her frail body is capable of) Your name sucks!
  • Defeat by Modesty:
    • MX Blade is experienced in instantly defeating her foes by shredding their outfits with her sword.
    • Izuna would later follow in her teacher's footsteps, much to her fellow clubmates and her opponents' collective horror.
  • Destroy the Villain's Weapon: Arata and the rest of the Street Ghosts got their weapons wrecked by MX Blade. Arata is able to repair her assault rifle afterward, but it still ends up held together by duct tape and spot welds.
  • The Determinator: Despite not having gone outside for who knows how long, the students of Millennium are incredibly persistent about going up against the blockade surrounding the Game Development Department's clubroom, which includes Neru, in order to see the club members.
  • Deus ex Machina: Hifumi and Suzumi are somehow able to combine both of their EX Skills to bring forth a large angelic-like Peroro construct to not only deflect Panther Head's Pyroxene bullet but finally take down Panther Head for good with a powerful divekick.
  • Did Not See That Coming: MX Blade tries to negotiate with Hyakkiyako's Festival Operations Department for the right to use the group's likeness for the game's first event. What she didn't expect was for Shizuko to be so into the idea that she takes over the marketing side of the event and goes overboard on promoting it, which drains a lot of MX Blade's money on advertising expenses.
  • Didn't Think This Through:
    • Assembling a team composed of students who are meta units in the game sounds mostly good on paper. However, none of them have actually worked together in real-life, leading to various internal problems.
    • The Game Development Department produces what is mostly a cut-and-paste version of Blue Archive, but unfortunately, the features they have added to their game to make it distinct from the source game is anything but pleasant:
      • They added a negative Karma Meter, which causes character units to not be playable if they are upset enough.
      • They removed the auto-battle feature, which forces players to manually order every individual unit.
      • They have the Engineering Club to perform Equipment Upgrade, right down to having their Bungling Inventor habits meaning it is a 100 to 1.
      • Finally, they based their boss characters off of the members of Seminar and expect that Seminar won't be pissed off how they are portrayed.
  • Diplomatic Impunity: Despite the blatant and possibly illegal use of students' likenesses in the game, GSC cannot investigate Studio MX as their base is located in Hyakkiyako Alliance Academy's district, meaning the company is protected by said district's "Free Culture" law. This would end up being Deconstructed though as the studio's continued recklessness and antagonizing the other academies makes it hard for the academy to bear.
  • Disgusting Public Toilet: Hoshino spots a bathroom which she and the Foreclosure Task Force can enter to change out of their Gehenna uniforms though Hoshino lampshades that it might not be sanitary.
  • The Dreaded: Played for Laughs. Any archived student who are under the "Two-Stars" category are considered living death sentences for Blue Archive players, due to the urban legend about their ability to screw up the game's gacha rolls.
  • Dressing as the Enemy: Suzumi, Hifumi and Reisa infiltrate the Masked Swimsuit Gang by wearing masks belonging to the group's commanders. After a couple of scuffles, they seemingly are able to enter their ranks only for it to be revealed that the Masked Swimsuit Gang had figured it out and were using the three girls to divert the Justice Task Force away, allowing the gang to enact their plans.
  • Drunk with Power:
    • Subverted. Hoshino seemingly starts to abuse her authority as the newly titled student council president of Abydos High School, but her first order ends up being to rename the student council to the Foreclosure Task Force, and then her next order is to have the now humanized-Kaiser Director humiliated - which is incredibly tame given the number of things they could have decided to do to the person who had made their lives miserable.
    • Played for Laughs. After finding a doodle of Sensei and having some other students easily accept 'Yuuka-sensei's' instructions to not bother the GDD, Yuuka loses to temptation and decides to use her newfound power to 'correct these rotten students' and bring order to Millennium. As a result, a law is codified within a day that bans any attempt to impersonate Sensei.
    • Then, there is Cherino who is well,....Cherino.
  • Eating Contest: Serika and Mina are pitted against each other in order to determine if Genryumon should help the Foreclosure Task Force in bringing Kaiser Corporation to justice. They both have to eat Hell-Flavored Sichuan Mapo Tofu; whoever finishes their plate faster wins, but fainting is an instant loss. Serika wins the contest when her opponent passes out after finishing a couple bites faster.
  • Eccentric Artist: Blue Archive has a notable affect towards students who are creatively inclined, causing inspiration overload that drives them into madness. This became the rumor dubbed "Archive Mania".
  • Empathic Weapon:
    • MX Blade's weapon, Mutou has shown to possess a high degree of sentience. When it was originally the Dragon's Eyes artifact, it responded to Blade and chose her to wield it.
    • To help Michiru developed her Mystics, MX Blade gives her an Artifact Spirit that is shaped like an old lantern to help hone them. The spirit seems to respond to Michiru's resolve. It is also implied to have directed Michiru towards Kosaka Wakamo to stop her.
  • Enemy Mine:
    • Both the Helmet Gang and the Sukeban decide to hold off their long standing rivalry towards one another and join forces in capturing Hifumi to prevent her from stopping the Masked Swimsuit Gang's assault on Kaiser Corporation's headquarters.
    • The Mouryo join up with MX Blade to drive off Kaiser from Hyakkiyakou after they discovered that the company has impersonated them.
    • All of the various academies banded together to help in MX Blade's plan to ruin Kaiser Corporation. That said though, once the company has fallen, it didn't take long before their own agendas rise to surface and they start arguing over on what to do with the company's resources.
  • Even Evil Has Standards:
    • According to MX Blade, Kaiser would never attacked an innocent school. Though given this is Kaiser, it is most likely not about moral standards and more on how utterly reckless and stupid the act is.
    • Despite wanting to keep Beatrice on Gematria's side because she has her uses, Black Suit subtly acknowledges that she might be too much of a detriment and has planned to have her replaced, possibly with MX Blade.
  • Everyone Has Standards:
    • Every student from Gehenna instantly turns against the Prefect Team when Blue Archive shows their in-game counterparts attacking Abydos. Not even the excuse that the district is no longer owned by Abydos is considered to be a justification.
    • Wearing a student uniform belonging to another school is deemed a major taboo. However due to their circumstances, the Foreclosure Task Force have to cross it and disguise themselves as Gehenna students.
    • Both Rumi and Reijo reluctantly agree with Genryumon on how messed up it was for MX Blade to pose as a Plum Blossom Garden student, given how it apparently ended up traumatizing Kokona.
    • The academies' ruling councils (or at least Gehenna's) so completely abhor how Kaiser is planning to commit a hostile takeover of Abydos, that they've started considering the corporation to be a threat to them.
    • Yuuka claims that Millennium has a policy of ensuring that any image used on products has to require the permission of the student in question.
    • Not even the most insane members of Blue Archive's fan community would dare play Tales of the Chronicle Saga, even when Momoi promises that she would shoot them as a reward.
  • Evil Pays Better: Inverted. MX Blade tosses Izuna her credit card, offering the girl three times what Date Meowru pays her, to turn against the cat.
  • Exposed to the Elements: Many of the Millennium students wear jackets and baggy clothes, which unsurprisingly doesn't work well when traveling around a hot desert like Abydos. They take off the offending articles almost to a one (the single Cleaning & Clearing maid there leaves her uniform on and somehow doesn't show any signs of it being hot), and either store them inside their bags, or have them tied around their waists.
  • Eye Scream: Hoshino leaps onto the side of Binah's head before staring at the mechanical beast's eye and shotgunning it point-blank. One blast is sufficient to knock Binah out and destroy their eye.

    F-L 
  • Fan Convention: While tracking the elusive Wakamo, the Ninjutsu Research Club head to the dubious "Otaku Alley", now "Otaku City", where various Blue Archive merch and products are being sold to eager fans.
  • Fangirl: Anyone who has been "Archived" ends up receiving a number of followers, ranging from a hundred to a million.
  • Fan of Underdog: After Blue Archive features the Foreclosure Task Force as protagonists of the first volume, many residents of Kivotos are so moved by the task force's determination to save their school, that they start trying to help out - providing donations, manning barricades to keep Kaiser employees from collecting Abydos' interest payments, and so on.
  • ImageFollow the Leader: Momoi claims that the creation of "Millennium Story" is the result of her and her club picking up on the trend of Student Raising Games. Yuuka rebuts them that Blue Archive is the only game that have come out.
  • Flaw Exploitation: Competitiveness. With Kivotos being a city composed of mainly schools, there is no shortage of young and impressionable students who would do anything to climb up the social hierarchy, something that Decagrammaton takes advantage of and deliberately sets up the remembrance system in Blue Archive to entice students into confronting the Prophets in small groups to claim rewards and notoriety.
  • From Bad to Worse: The Masked Swimsuit Gang rampaging across Kivotos is already a serious problem, but then it escalates even more; Makoto has the entirety of Gehenna join forces with the gang in trying to raze Kaiser to the ground, after discovering the numerous crimes the corporation has committed against Ibuki.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation: MX Blade learns from her experience battling students that Skills in real life have no cooldown, allowing them to be constantly or rapidly used in battles, to her frustration.
  • Gender Bender:
    • MX Blade is formerly a male human, but whatever phenomenon transported him to Kivotos ended up turning him into a 'short flatty', with bushy red hair that the new girl isn't used to taking care of.
    • MX Blade helps the former Kaiser PMC Director escape from the bloodthirsty folks that want to end him. Her solution being to have the Director undergo "experimental surgery", which turns him into a petite, silver-haired gynoid, and then ship her off to Abydos to hide out as a 'student' there.
  • Glamour: It is revealed that anyone who wears a doodle of Sensei can make people into believing that they are the mythical teacher. Based on Chihiro's horror towards Koyuki pulling out the doodle, this might be some form of Anomaly.
  • Haunted Technology: Following her time at Hyakkiyakou, where she learnt about the supernatural that have occurred at the school, Rio orders Himari and the Super Phenomenon Task Force to investigate Millennium and uncover any similar occurrences. The task force discovered dozens of these, most of them having been hidden within Millennium's technology such as a pair of speakers that plays Blue Archive music, which might either be the work of the supernatural or just a really persistent glitch.
  • Heroic Second Wind: Despite having been severely beaten to the ground by Panther Head, Hifumi gets back up to resume fighting after recounting her playthrough of Blue Archive and all the good she had done as Sensei.
  • Hidden Depths: Discussed. Hifumi is shocked just how intense Hasumi is in person, as she have played through MomoTalk to learn more about the latter. Just because Hasumi has her sensitive moments, doesn't means it completely washes away the fact that she is a dedicated JTF Officer who won't let crimes happening in Trinity lying down.
  • History Repeats: Kuzunoha reveals that the threat of the Masked Swimsuit Gang is not a rare occurrence; in fact, the gang is part of a long line of vigilante groups dating back to Shanhaijing's ancient days, each of which rises to stand up against corruption and becomes blessed by the mystics of the Stars of Destiny to aid the vigilantes in carrying out their will.
  • Hoist by Their Own Petard: Hifumi uses the Masked Swimsuit Gang's laws and rules to force Panther Head into a confrontation, pointing out that as Faust, Hifumi would be one rank above Panther Head, meaning the latter can't defy Hifumi's orders without challenging her properly.
  • Host Club: Mimori takes the Ninjutsu Research Club to a host club where customers can have the opportunity in seeing the staff cosplaying as Blue Archive archived students.
  • Human Mail: Studio MX has the humanized Director be shoved into a box and shipping her off to Abydos. To say, the Abydos students were shocked when they opened the box's contents would be an understatement.
    Serika: Oh my god. They finally did it. (Horror appearing on her face) They finally moved to real human trafficking.
  • Hypocrite:
    • Decagrammaton scoffs at the idea of Kivotos being Paradise, thinking that all of its denizens commit the sin of self-righteousness and lash out at others to justify their beliefs. MX Blade proceeds to call out Decagrammaton as having done exactly that themself.
    • A Clerk-bot is revealed to be a player of Blue Archive who treats his fictional students kindly and pampers them excessively, which is egregious different from the way he treats the real-life students, hardly showing a shred of sympathy for them and unilaterally refusing to have the Kaiser-owned bank he works at fund any student-led ventures he deems unprofitable.
    • Mimori calls out Date "Meowjima" on how he made fun of Izuna's dream of becoming ninja, despite he himself has a similar dream on becoming a gangster.
  • I Have Many Names: This is a Running Gag for MX Blade, who winds up acquiring many different titles or aliases, including Blade, Bladie, Sword Sage, Char Siu, Kaiten Blade, Ronin, and more.
  • In Spite of a Nail:
    • Hifumi ends up meeting the Foreclosure Task Force despite the bank robbery being done differently, when both parties have to work together in stopping the Masked Swimsuit Gang.
    • Despite the GSC having enforced security measures to prevent the Seven Prisoners' escape, Niyaniya topples everything by orchestrating a war between the Masked Swimsuit Gang, the academies and Kaiser Corporation, then giving the prisoners the means to free themselves during the chaos.
  • Insult Backfire: Stream Leaping Tiger attempts to taunt Hifumi by calling her a 'normie'. Except Hifumi is happy to be called that.
  • Internal Reformist: MX Blade directs Hifumi to start resolving all of the underlying problems within Trinity General School, as the events shown in the 2nd Promotional Video is the end result of those issues. Hifumi is strongly reminded of Panther Head's Confucian philosophy, which the delinquent told her about in the leadup to their battle, as a result.
    Hifumi: Cultivate yourself, put your household in order, govern the state, and bring peace to all under heaven.
  • Ironic Echo Cut: It happens at Millennium where Yuuka flips out after realizing that her IRL Binah raid team consists nigh entirely of Millenium's troublemakers, wondering what the developers of Studio MX are thinking. Cut to Hyakkiyakou, where MX Blade mumbles she had no idea what she was thinking.
  • Irony:
    • A GSC member proposes a theory that MX Blade might be related to the Sixth Ranger of the Kaitengers, Kaiten Blade, due to their similar choice of weaponry. The rest of the council scoffs that theory off. Turns out....MX Blade IS Kaiten Blade.
    • Other characters have tried to prevent Hifumi from becoming Faust, with Hifumi herself being surprisingly the most determined to stay away from that route. However, had Hifumi assumed her alter ego, she could have easily ordered the Masked Swimsuit Gang to stand down, preventing their rampage across Kivotos.
    • MX Blade brags to the Kaiser President that her plan to have the academies buy up his company's shares is inspired from one of those kids shows he derided.
    • Red Winter Academy is notorious for its multiple revolutions that occur on a weekly basis. However, they end up being the only district to not suffer from the Masked Swimsuit Gang's uprising, due to Kaiser not having much business in their territory - the few students who do try to take part in the Grand Assembly there are quickly subdued like any other Red Winter coup.
  • It's Personal:
    • The students from Millennium are so completely peeved at Decagrammaton after its forces attacked their school, that tons of them downloaded Blue Archive just to take their frustrations out on the rogue A.I.'s in-game counterpart.
    • MX Blade and the group of students learning mystic arts from her end up desperately trying to defend themselves from an attack seemingly perpetrated by the Mouryo, who've long had beef with the swordswoman for beating them up and humiliating them. Though, it is later revealed that the attackers were only wearing the generic Mouryo outfits without any factional customization, meaning they were actually Kaiser PMC disguising themselves while trying to silence MX Blade in an attempt to keep her from exposing any more of their shady activities.
    Nonomi: What did you do to make them so mad?
    MX Blade: A lot more than you think!
    • Kaiser has no shortage of enemies after years of them screwing everyone over, culminating in the Foreclosure Task Force, Genryuumon, Gehenna and the Masked Swimsuit Gang all going after them. Even their invasion of Hyakkiyakou ends up uniting all of the students against them, as the girls fight to defend their home.
  • Karma Houdini:
    • Subverted with Kaiser Corporation. In canon, the corporation's vast resources and riches means that they can't be brought to justice without tanking Kivotos' economy, or stop them from reforming under a separate entity anyway. Here, between the release of part 2 of Volume 1 Chapter 2, Abydos' lawsuit against Kaiser, and the streaming of Kaiser's heavy-handed failed attempts to silence MX Blade, Kaiser Corporation's stock price tanks, allowing a coalition of schools and other companies formed by MX Blade to buy up Kaiser's stock in a hostile takeover. With the change in company ownership, Kaiser President is fired, meaning that he can now face legal repercussions for his crimes since he no longer has the company to shield him.
    • Played Straight with the Masked Swimsuit Gang. There are several factors as to why the General Student Council would not be able to investigate them, let alone arrest them: First, many of the members have sworn to anonymity and wear masks to hide their identities making it hard for any law enforcement to identity them. Second, the gang's membership included students from hundreds of schools, and the GSC are powerless to handle that without causing a massive political uproar.
    • The courts were unable to prosecute Date Meowru due to the technicality that he had yet to commit his infamous crimes before he got arrested. This is downplayed though, as he is loathed by the populace of Hyakkiyakou and is under supervision by the Inner Discipline Club.
  • Karma Meter: The GDD add this into the definitely not a Blue Archive copycat, "Millenium Story" where upsetting a classmate too much can lead to them refusing to help out Senpai.
    Senpai: Hey there! Are you lost kid? Do you need help finding your parents?
    Neru: Hah?! Fuck off! [Affection Levels has dropped to negative five!]
  • Kick the Dog: From what the Pandemonium Society have uncovered, the Kaiser Corporation had committed a lot of this towards poor Ibuki. It's mentioned that the company popped a balloon Ibuki bought because she hadn't paid an additional keeper's fee, and then hoarded a store's entire stock of cakes to themselves while refusing to give even one to the girl.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: The former Kaiser Director gets an extremely appropriate comeuppance: He is tricked by MX Blade into undergoing experimental surgery that disguises him as a robot girl, and then he gets shipped off to Abydos to become a student there directly under the Foreclosure Task Force, who the Director had repeatedly undermined to take over their district.
  • Leg Focus:
    • Unfortunately for poor Iori, many people have been staring at her toned, dark legs, with her feet being the most prominent, even taking pictures of them to sell them to the highest bidder.
    • Yuuka would get this treatment as well, with Studio MX advertising their manufacture and sale of "thigh-pads". Yuuka is ''not happy" about this.
  • Leitmotif: Invoked by the characters.
    • The Foreclosure Task Force and Millennium students are surprised when Binah starts playing Endless CarnivalImage during their fight.
    • Played for Laughs when Aru tries to invoke this by having Haruka carry speakers to play music that she had selected. Unfortunately, the music got switched to Unwelcome SchoolImage, which continues to play throughout the getaway.
    Aru: Why this song?!
    Nonomi: Ahahaha! I think it fits! ☆
    • Noa tells Yuuka that during the stream, Arona read a letter, which was written by a "concerned rabbit", that inquired if SRT Academy would appear in Blue Archive. Arona merely closed her eyes and hummed a specific tuneImage, leading everyone to believe this is the school's theme song.
    • Apparently, Black Suit has taken a shine to his theme songImage, and proceeds to blare it over loudspeakers in the leadup to his visit to Studio MX.
  • Let No Crisis Go to Waste:
    • Makoto orders all students of Gehenna to join forces with the Masked Swimsuit Gang in marching towards D.U. to eliminate Kaiser Corporation, after discovering the numerous offenses the company committed against poor Ibuki when the girl started crying due to it all.
    • As it turns out, Niyaniya has been taking advantage of the chaos caused by Blue Archive to form the Masked Swimsuit Gang, and planned their attack against Kaiser to provide a big enough distraction to allow her to free the Seven Prisoners.
  • "Let's Watch Our Show" Plot: A unique case amongst the standard use of that trope. While characters do react to how the story of Blue Archive goes, they also have to deal with the fallout as the game is completely accessible to everyone from all over Kivotos.
  • List of Transgressions: The Foreclosure Task Force inquires Genryuumon on what exactly did MX Blade do to Shanhaijing that caused the school to put the girl in their most wanted list. Genryuumon, through Mina, lists them down: The offenses start off minor, then escalated into far worse crimes...
    • MX Blade illegally trespassed into Shanhaijing.
    • She operated as an underground mercenary without a license.
    • She worked at Angel 24 without the proper visa (Reijo claims that Genryuumon never handed those visas)
    • She interfered with Genryuumon's duties on multiple occasions.
    • She crashed a Peking Opera Club's performance.
    • She caused public indecency in both directions.
    • For an unknown reason, MX Blade posed as a Plum Blossom Academy student and traumatized an instructor (Kokona).
    • She blew up an auction house.
    • She is reportedly tied to the disappearance of several ancient books that belonged to Shanhaijing's archives.
    • Finally, she stole an artifact, the Dragon's Eyes which is Blade's worst offense.
  • Loony Fan:
    • Most of the Blue Archive Fangirls play this straight, to the point of they are happy to be shot by the students if that means performing a successful gacha roll for them.
    • The Masked Swimsuit Gang, who other than being a Vigilante Militia, are also basically a Cult who worship Momo Friends only slightly less than Hifumi does.
  • Loophole Abuse: A Running Gag with MX Blade is that she somehow keeps finding ways to escape Shanhaijing's prosecution by citing their own laws and traditions to preempt their attempts to arrest her. This is a big part of why the Genryumon hate her, especially the hardliners who unfortunately can't refute MX Blade and keep having to stand down when faced with her rules-lawyering.
  • Love at First Sight: Chihiro admits that she has fallen for Sensei and upon seeing them (Koyuki in disguise), she wants to have the chance to kiss them.
  • Luminescent Blush: A common reaction from any student who has been "Archived".
    • Kaho sports this a couple times when Niya and MX Blade teases her about Chise.
    • When Hifumi meets with Nagisa, she quickly pleads innocence under the assumption that the meeting is to discuss about the Bank Robbery committed by Problem Solver 68 at the Black Market. When Nagisa confirms that isn't the case, Hifumi immediately becomes embarrassed and tries to cover up her face.
    • Several Prefect Team members' cheeks are turning beet red after witnessing V1C2 showing the infamous scene of Sensei licking Iori's feet. Said girl herself has her face described to be "hotter than the infernal abyss".

    M-R 
  • Madness Mantra: After pulling her gun at Momoi who has the 'Art of Throwing Away' in her hands, Kotama mutters this repeatedly:
    Kotama: Put it down, put it down, put it down, put it down.
  • Majority-Share Dictator: The combination of Blue Archive exposing Kaiser's heinous actions and the complete decimation of Kaiser PMC allows MX Blade and her alliance of academies to buy much of the corporation's stocks. With the company under their control, they drive the former President and his inner circle out to be viciously prosecuted. MX Blade herself revealed she got that idea from a certain anime about card games.
  • Make It Look Like an Accident: MX Blade grimly warns the former Kaiser Director that some of the angered citizens would try to hide their assassination attempts towards him under the guise of accidents.
  • Malevolent Architecture: MX Blade has a difficult time escaping Hyakkiyako's main campus during the Grand Assembly, because Niya rigged the entire building with tricks and traps (that MX Blade thinks might have been ripped off from other shows) in an attempt to detain or delay her. MX Blade only manages to escape by smashing a hole in the wall and jumping out.
  • The Man Behind the Man: While the Heavenly and Earthly Fiends are the Masked Swimsuit Gang's commanders, they are ultimately following the directions of someone they call their Boss who is revealed to be Professor Niyaniya.
  • Mass "Oh, Crap!":
    • Arata and her Mouryo comrades have this when MX Blade uses her mystic art 'Mu' to deflect all of their bullets.
    • Both the Abydos and Millennium students have this after learning that Millennium is under attack.
    • Hifumi, the Vigilante Crew and the Justice Task Force are horrified to witness the actual scale of the Masked Swimsuit Gang's forces.
    • People from all over Kivotos are losing their minds after Studio MX released Blue Archive's 2nd Promotional VideoImage.
    • Usually, the Millennium students react like this whenever Yuuka is around, but they are now even more terrified of her due to her being a 'The Dreaded' Two-Star that will ruin their gacha pulls if she shoots them.
    • Kisaki and the rest of Genryuumon are panicking upon hearing from Niya that Shintani Kai has broken out from the Correction Bureau.
    • The Ninjutsu Research Department are horrified to discover that Kosaka Wakamo has returned to Hyakkiyako.
  • Master Swordsman: MX Blade is known as the only student proficient with a sword, in a city where the students solely use guns as their protection otherwise.
  • Mega Meal Challenge: Master Shiba decides to turn the huge bowl of ramen his in-game counterpart serves to the Problem Solver 68 into one of these, to Serika's chagrin, as most students who order the 4-portions-in-one bowl intend to eat it alone, which leads them to either not finish it or puke their guts out.
  • Moby Schtick: Following Decagrammaton inviting students to battle their Prophets under the promise of free pyroxene, various groups are formed to locate them. The most notable of them being the Prophet Hunters, a band of the most insane fans in the Blue Archive gaming community. Their leader, the Captain is obviously inspired by Captain Ahab and the Prophets, having white-colored appearances, makes them the counterparts to the White Whale.
  • Mood Whiplash: When Rin asks the GSC President if she is really going to disappear from Kivotos in the middle of a crisis, the latter tells the former of how she learned the true meaning of responsibility and how the consequences of her decision are catching up to her...before asking her if she did well in re-enacting her in-game counterpart's speech.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Despite Hoshino insisting that she would never comply with Black Suit's demands to resign from Abydos in return for forgiveness of the debt, Blue Archive reveals that she indeed would have done so, and Hoshino is horrified by the results.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • MX Blade's appearance is that of the character Ashiharatsumori Koito from Project KV, a cancelled game developed by former staff members who also developed Blue Archive. In fact, her name is based on Project KV's original title, MX Blade.
    • Iori's fans lusting over her legs is based on the notorious meme in regards to said legs.
    • Suzumi reciting "Vanitas Vanitatum, et Omnia Vanitas" is based on the rumor that Suzumi was a former Arius studentnote .
    • Yuuka notes that the pile of documents fostered upon her lap weighs more than a 100kg, which relates to a notorious meme in regards to the Seminar member's prominent thighs.
    • The "Art of Throwing Away"'s designation, AGD-C-09 is an acronym for the Spin-Off manga and chapter it is derived from, The Adventure of Game Development Department Chapter 9.
  • Naked People Are Funny: Discussed by MX Blade who suddenly realizes in disgust that unlike the rest of the robotic citizens, the soldiers of Kaiser PMC aren't actually wearing any clothes at all (and no camouflage doesn't count). In an instant, the students back away in disgust as well while the Kaiser soldiers immediately try covering themselves out of horrified realization that they have been streaking.
  • No Name Given: The protagonist's name has not been mentioned, with her PoV always done from a first-person perspective, and the dropout students only address her as "Aneki", which is an informal and friendly way of saying "big sister" in Japanese. Later chapters reveal an alias, which turns out to be "MX Blade". Her actual name is still unknown - in fact, she implies in the first chapter that she might not have a name at all, at least administratively speaking. "Oath Under Plum Blossoms" reveals that Kivotos took her name entirely as its price to let her enter the city.
    Hell, most of the actual dropouts were better off than I was. At least they had a middle school on file. I might as well not have existed until I arrived, which made living any kind of decent life basically impossible.
    • NekoNekoBoy explains that "MX Blade" is actually her name - or at least, it's the name she's been putting on her resume back before she created MX Studios to recreate Blue Archive, when she was still applying for jobs at places. So, if nothing else, it's the name she's decided to take - the name that she wants to be known by.
  • Noodle Incident:
    • When Himari first contacted the Foreclosure Task Force, Ayane warns her that their conversation is being recorded for possible signs of criminal conduct and would be handed as evidence to Valkyrie Police Academy. An amused Himari inquires if this has happened before, which a tired Ayane acknowledges; apparently, the Foreclosure Task Force have received multiple calls to hire them to commit bank robberies, and every time it happens, the group has to shut Shiroko up to keep her from accepting the requests.
    • The Engineering Club reveals that Maki had once tried to install BOOM onto the club's robo-dog, Laika. Maki retorts that it is due to them having hotwired a smartphone onto their robot in order to activate a laser gun system.
    • Apparently, Studio MX's Security Team have caused a couple incidents whenever they "clear the A.I.R." resulting in the Inner Discipline Club coming over to reprimand the studio.
  • No Sympathy: Kisaki explains to the Foreclosure Task Force that many of Shanhaijing's students are not moved towards what happened at Abydos, instead using the school's dire situation as a Scare 'Em Straight cautionary tale and implying that it was the loss of the once prestigious school's traditions and customs which caused it to fall prey to Kaiser's shady felons, instead of it being almost entirely Kaiser's fault.
  • Not Helping Your Case: Hifumi constantly tries convincing people that there is no way an ordinary school girl like her would ever become the bank robbing crime lord, Faust. Although, Hifumi doesn't do herself any favors when she goes through absurd lengths to satiate her love for Peroro, including doing extensive research on the black market and instantly becoming friendly with gangsters when she discovers they share her love for the fictional chicken.
  • Not Me This Time: After Niya proposes an alliance between Hyakkiyakou, Shanhaijing, Millennium and Saint Nephthys, Kisaki inquires if MX Blade is the one responsible for concocting this scheme. Niya chortles and admits that MX Blade doesn't have any hand on the proposal. In fact, Blade was against it.
  • "Not So Different" Remark:
    • MX Blade tells Niya that they are similar in regards to the fact that they are schemers with their own agendas and have a habit of messing with others for their own amusement.
    • Cornered by the Masked Swimsuit Gang, Hifumi tries desperately to deny that she is Faust and that she is just a normal girl to which Panther Head replies back that she and the rest of the gang were once normal girls as well.
    • Hoshino makes one towards Shanhaijing and Serika.
    Hoshino: An entire school run by stubborn idiots. No wonder Serika fit right in.
    Serika: I AM RIGHT HERE YOU KNOW?!
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • After Izuna performs her Smoke Out technique in front of the festivalgoers, MX Blade can only say "Oh Shi-" before a riot breaks out.
    • Mina visibly freaks out a little when Nonomi is about to introduce more of MX Blade's infamous rules-lawyering.
    • Whatever is in those documents the Pandemonium Society gave to Hina that causes her to react this way. The documents reveal that Kaiser had been messing with Ibuki, resulting in Hina and the Prefect Team becoming desperate to contain the Masked Swimsuit Gang rampaging in their district before Makoto and the rest of Gehenna decide to use the chaos caused by the gang to enact revenge on the corporation.
    • Both Hifumi and Suzumi are terrified when Panther Head reveals her final trick; a Pyroxene Bullet that would most likely lead to incredibly dangerous results if fired.
    • Rin becomes increasingly unsettled as the GSC President slowly unravels the Masked Swimsuit Gang plot and reveals the mastermind's hidden objective.
  • Oh, No... Not Again!: Arata shouts this as she and the Mouryo scrambled away so as to not be hit by MX Blade's EX-Skill.
  • Original Character: Making Blue Archive in Blue Archive introduces a number of new characters that are completely original to this fic, mainly them being students of Kivotos.
    • MX Blade's staff are composed of dropouts and delinquents who left their schools for various reasons; heavy hints that at least a few of them are from Trinity and Wild Hunt.
    • The (not Foreclosure Task Force) Masked Swimsuit Gang membership includes a couple of disgraced Shanhaijing students.
    • The Prophet Hunters has a Trinity student and their Captain who is from Odyssey Maritime.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise:
    • Nonomi and Shiroko consider wearing their Masked Swimsuit Gang guises to possibly escape Shanhaijing if things go south. Serika insists that it won't work, believing everyone in Kivotos already knows who they are under those balaclava masks. Turns out the whole city still can't tell that the Foreclosure Task Force are the original Masked Swimsuit Gang.
    • During the Blue Archive livestream, Shiroko tapes Arona's doodle of Sensei onto her face to become ShirokoKawaii-Sensei and streamers can't figure out it is actually the wolf girl. This is later repeated again with Yuuka, but this time people do find out, resulting in the GSC making impersonation of Sensei a federal offense.
    • As she is cornered by Veritas and the GDD, Koyuki uses the Sensei doodle to try and fool them. Surprisingly, they actually bought it, implying that the doodle is an "Anomaly" that somehow alters people's perceptions. Thankfully, Chihiro is able to resists the effects to pull the doodle from Koyuki's face.
  • Paperwork Punishment: Following Blue Archive showing their in-game selves attacking Abydos, the Prefect Team suffers a massive backlash from the Gehenna student body that forces them to remain in the office to deal with paperwork. Iori is especially hit hard with this due to being the face of the META, meaning that even a hint of her appearing outside would undoubtedly cause a massive riot to break out.
  • Persona Non Grata: MX Blade is extremely reluctant to go back to Shanhaijing due to a crime she committed there. Turns out it is a whole list of crimes, with her theft of a priceless artifact called the Dragon's Eyes being the worst offense, causing the Genryumon to place a bounty on MX Blade's head in order to reclaim it. Unfortunately for them, MX Blade had the Dragon's Eyes reforged into her sword, Mutou meaning Shanhaijing might not be able to get the artifact back at all.
  • Plot Parallel: In the Masked Swimsuit Gang arc, the main plot focuses on various students and other schools forming the titular group to bring down Kaiser Corporation. Behind the scenes though, MX Blade has been secretly forming alliances with other schools in her own pursuit of defeating Kaiser. At the end of the arc, while the Masked Swimsuit Gang have been stopped, MX Blade becomes the one to succeed in performing a takeover of Kaiser, making sure its executives would face justice for their crimes.
  • Point of Divergence: The release of Blue Archive and its mind-blowing content has significantly shaken up the status quo of Kivotos and its inhabitants.
    • After playing through Blue Archive's prologue, Seminar chooses to have their wind generators independent from Sanctum Tower to prevent potential blackouts, and they illegalize the use of JHP rounds. Meanwhile, the GSC would attempt to fortify security to prevent the Seven Prisoners from escaping.
    • Instead of being hired by Kaiser Corporation to attack Abydos like in canon, Problem Solver 68 is hired by the Foreclosure Task Force to mount a robbery at Stygian Bank.
    • Hifumi never encountered the Foreclosure Task Force at the Black Market, having discovered that the limited edition Peroro merchandise she wanted got destroyed from the explosion caused by the Bank Robbery. She does eventually meet the group during the Masked Swimsuit Gang's Grand Assembly, in order to use the authority conveyed by the 'low numbers' on their in-game masks to influence the gang, telling the rank and file to not destroy Kaiser-affiliated businesses outright and thus saving Kivotos from all-out revolution.
    • The Gehenna Prefect Team's invasion of Abydos is averted thanks to the game exposing their scheme to the public. Not only has the entirety of Gehenna turned on them, Makoto has docked a significant portion of the Prefect Team's budget.
    • MX Blade secretly leads a massive takeover of Kaiser and irreversibly removes its members as major threats for the foreseeable future.
    • As Student Council President, Hoshino renames the Abydos Student Council to the Foreclosure Task Force.
  • Police Are Useless: Valkyrie Police Academy tried to help in slowing down the Masked Swimsuit Gang only to fail miserably.
    Neru: WHY ARE WE EVEN LETTING THEM IN OUR DISTRICT IF ALL THEY DO IS CAUSE PROBLEMS?!
  • Ramp-rovisation: After their route to the GSC Headquarters gets blocked, Hifumi drives the car up a fallen billboard and across the side of a building to bypass the debris.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: MX Blade has the fortune of knowing people who are incredibly lenient towards her various antics like Niya. Kisaki is included too as she holds no animosity towards MX Blade for all the troubles she has committed at Shanhaijing and is honestly gleeful that Kaiser is MX Blade's next victim.
  • Recursive Canon: Inverted; What makes the Blue Archive mobile game alarming to the academies is how accurate the in-game students' personalities and lives are to their real-life counterparts.
  • Red Herring: Or ''Redhair''ing. Rin suspects that MX Blade is the culprit behind the Masked Swimsuit Gang as she has all the knowledge about Blue Archive to tell the group what is about to happen. However, the GSC President (the one who provided that lame pun) counters that MX Blade has an alibi that makes its unlikely she has ever contacted the Masked Swimsuit Gang at all, then eventually deduces that Niyaniya is the true culprit.
  • The Reveal:
    • The letter MX Blade gives to the Foreclosure Taskforce reveals an astounding amount of evidence for how Kaiser are the ones in debt with Abydos instead of it being the other way around, meaning that the Foreclosure Taskforce has EVERY right to sue them.
    • Black Suit reveals that Kapilah has once existed only to have fallen in the same manner as Project KV with its controversy.
  • Revenge Is Not Justice: As pointed out by characters like Hasumi, Suzumi and Hifumi, what the Masked Swimsuit Gang are doing has little to nothing to do with justice and it is just them taking out their wrath onto anything that is remotely connected to Kaiser who has hurt them.
  • Right for the Wrong Reasons: Nonomi tells her fellow shareholders that she believes MX Blade has acquired the ability to see into the future by giving up a chance to grow height. Nonomi did hit the mark that MX Blade has paid the price, just not what she theorized.
  • Running Gag:
    • Whenever someone complains about Blue Archive, MX Blade counters them with her statement, "All of the students are above the age of 18, and it's totally okay to feel a certain kind of way towards them", which is then followed up with, "Everything in the game is fictional, and all resemblance to real people is pure coincidence''.
    • MX Blade has a habit in finishing the sentences spoken by other characters, which has the effect in creeping them out on how the girl knew at all. Kisaki reveals that MX Blade has done that during her time in Shanhaijing.
    • Various characters would give MX Blade a new nickname, which leads Blade into getting triggered.

    S-Z 
  • School Idol: Noticing the popularity she is garnering as an Archived student, Rio has Yuuka into becoming an idol to represent Millennium, including promoting the school's products and streaming. Ironically, only people outside of Millennium fawned over her, while all of her school's faculty constantly avoid her like a plague.
  • Secret Underground Passage: MX Blade has a secret entrance that connects between her studio and a card game shop which allows her to avoid the reporters and hitmen. She reveals it was built by someone who wanted to avoid tax evasion.
    MX Blade: Pro real estate tip! If you're looking for security, go for buildings known to have been owned by scummy adults. They tend to leave all kinds of things behind.
  • Shoddy Knockoff Product:
    • Combined with Bland-Name Product. MX Blade notes that Kivotos' media scene is strictly worse than that of the real world, being filled with strictly inferior imitations.
    You would think that a city run by kids would have god-tier entertainment, but no. What wasn't a watered-down parody of things back on Earth was about as deep as a puddle on a sunny day. Except for the masterpiece that was Tales Chronicle Saga (lololol), everything else here was basically shit. To my taste, it was like I had gone from the spiciest Indian restaurant around to spending a week in England. You know that shit was dire when the best anime on TV was fucking Momo Friends. As the only one who had seen Peak, all I could do was pitifully look down on these poor children who had to make do with this copyright-safe hellscape.
    • Even Black Suit gets in on the complaining.
    Black Suit: Did you know that they call it 'The Goddaddy' in Kivotos?
    MX Blade: I am so sorry.
    • It is revealed that the game the Game Development Department have been working on is basically a bootleg version of Blue Archive, "Millennium Story" (the game's assets are taken from another game called Maple Saga) where gamers play as an upperclassman who is taking part in a Saving the Orphanage plot. When Yuuka played Millennium Story, she learns the hard way that the game is not as fun as the source material it is inspired from due to its many "original" featuresnote .
  • Shout-Out:
    MX Blade: "51%! The magic number is 51%! Whoever has the most shares owns the company and mister president, that's not going to be you for much longer."
    • Maki unleashes her horde of alt accounts to spam Yuuka's stream with risque fanart of the Seminar treasurer. 70, to be exact.
    Maki: "Hehehe! Go! My 70 alternate accounts! Let's see you try to be a pure idol after this!"
    • Michiro quotes a line that is said by Kakashi Hatake from Naruto.
    You need to see underneath the underneath!
  • Sorry to Interrupt: Hifumi is taken to the GSC Headquarters and heads to the waiting room. When she opens the door though, inside the room, Shiroko is pinning a half-naked Ayane with her hands on the latter's chest. The two girls freeze in place when they realize they are being seen by Hifumi, who promptly slams the door shut.
  • Source Music: One of the supernatural objects the Super Phenomenon Task Force acquired are a pair of speakers that plays the Blue Archive OST to match the mood and tone of the situation. Maki remarks that these might be the same speakers Problem Solver 68 used during their raid on Stygian Bank.
  • Sunk Cost Fallacy: Lampshaded. MX Blade is fully aware that releasing a game that possesses future knowledge into a world that is chaotic as Kivotos would lead to irrevocable damage and consequences. She still goes through with it though.
  • Take Care of the Kids: Downplayed. Master Shiba requests Rumi to look after Serika at Shanhaijing and make sure she stays out of trouble.
    Master Shiba: I'd rather not have to wait because she caused a diplomatic incident.
    Serika: What are you, my dad?!
  • Teacher/Student Romance:
    • Discussed. Nonomi muses on the idea of herself having a romantic relationship with her in-game counterpart and MX Blade quickly supports that idea.
    • Despite being on the fence about and being standoffish about Blue Archive, Chihiro does want to romance Sensei, with the description makes it abundantly clear that this is her deepest wish.
  • Tempting Fate:
    • When she first started playing Blue Archive, Yuuka was annoyed that Millennium Science School was not mentioned during the introduction sequence, while Trinity, Gehenna and a school Yuuka didn't know (Abydos) had. It was only a couple of scenes later in the game that a student from Millennium was featured and is revealed to be a starter character. Who was that student? Yuuka.
    Yuuka: WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?!
    • Mashiro ponders on whether or not she should download Blue Archive until she finally decides not to, thinking it has nothing to do with her. A few days later, the game features their next banner, with the newly 'archived' Mashiro as the focus.
    • After dealing with the whole lawsuit against Kaiser and the revolution caused by the Masked Swimsuit Gang, Serika muses that nothing dramatic will ever happen. Cue something dramatic happening in the form of Black Suit.
    • When the rest of her team are wary that something bad is about to happen, Chihiro dismisses it and claims that they are safe. Suddenly, a high-pitched scream occurs. Momoi calls Chihiro out for raising the red flag.
  • The Nameless: MX Blade is known by a variety of nicknames, but never uses her actual name... because Kivotos took away her name as its price for entering the city.
  • This Is Gonna Suck:
    • Kayoko has one when she inquires Aru on where she got the extra equipment for their heist on Stygian Bank, to which Aru ignorantly replies that the equipment they bought were from Millennium who promoted that said equipment also acted as bombs.
    • Pretty much the remaining employees that haven't fled when Kaiser got bought realize that any chances to climb up the ranks is nigh impossible because the new shareholders are the schools thet they have repeatedly tried to overthrow.
  • Title Drop: As Hifumi affirms her conviction in holding onto her ideals to unite the schools to bring Kaiser to justice, the description unveils that she has become the Flower of the Masked Swimsuit Gang.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Two Trinity students openly mock Suzumi for her in-game appearance in Blue Archive without even thinking that the leader of Vigilante Crew might violently retaliate against them. Hasumi is able to scare the girls away before it could lead to that.
  • Trapped in Another World: Deconstructed. MX Blade initially expected that when she got transported to Kivotos, she would get to become the Sensei and form relationships with the students, just like the game. Instead however, she becomes a student and is thrown into the city's darker underbelly, where she constantly struggles to survive and can't use guns properly unlike the other students who are naturally taught for their whole life.
  • Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Discussed by MX Blade, though it is mainly Played for Laughs. MX Blade notes that it is realistically unfeasible for a normal human being to suffer amnesia based from head trauma but the same cannot be said for the far more durable Kivotos student. She decides to test that theory out by beating the crap out of the Ninjustu Research Club, to make them forget about seeing her polka-dotted panties when she missed that her mystic art 'Mu' shredded the back of her skirt.
  • Tricked into Signing: Serika is an unfortunate victim of this; First, she got so distracted by Nonomi in her "Mega Rich Light-Bending Gal" form that she unknowingly signs the digital envelope from Blue Archive to perform a gacha roll. Later, Serika gets tricked by a Studio MX staff member into signing what are claimed to be non-disclosure-agreement forms, only for them to be revealed as a contract to become a promoter for Blue Archive merchandise.
  • Vigilante Militia: Following the release of Blue Archive, a new criminal faction has risen, calling themselves the Masked Swimsuit Gang. Being inspired by the in-game Masked Swimsuit Gang, they are anti-Kaiser radicals who are reported to have attacked multiple venues that are owned by the corporation. The group also have a Cult mindset that reveres the Masked Swimsuit Gang from the game, especially Hifumi (aka Faust), and Hifumi's favorite media Momo Friends by extension.
  • Villainous Breakdown: The Kaiser President immediately loses his cool after he discovers that his company's shares are being bought up by the academies.
  • Villain Takes an Interest: Gematria have prioritized observing MX Blade when they realized that she is an outsider like they are.
  • We Need a Distraction: Chihiro tells the Captain to distract the Valkyrie officers while she and Veritas hacked into Valkyrie's defense systems. After Valkyrie is distracted by the Captain's hammy performance, Veritas succeeds in causing disarray to allow an assault towards the ruins.
  • Wham Episode:
    • Total Assault // Dancing Through Cherry Blossoms has Decagrammaton's existence being revealed to Kivotos, after the investigation team encounters Binah and the Prophets attack Millennium Science School, removing any shred of doubt to everyone that Blue Archive is more than just a game.
    • The Flower of the Masked Swimsuit Gang has MX Blade succeeding in getting Kaiser bought out by a coalition of school councils and other companies, removing them from the equation in the future forward. Unfortunately, Professor Niyaniya took advantage of the situation: by creating the Masked Swimsuit Gang and aggravating Kaiser's troubles by arranging a massive riot, she got the opportunity to free the Seven Prisoners.
  • Wham Episode Fallout: The next arc, "Oath Under Plum Blossoms" deals with the aftermath of the events of the "Flower of the Masked Swimsuit Gang", with Volume One of Blue Archive being finished and everyone is readying themselves to play Volume Two which focuses on Millennium Science School, and the academies (Abydos, Millennium, Hyakkiyakou, and Shanhaijing), who bought out Kaiser Corporation, having a meeting to discuss on how to utilize the company's wealth and resources.
  • Wham Line:
    • After choosing to wait for the next part of V1C2 to be released, Ayane tries to turn off the game only for the screen to freeze. Then, Arona appears to talk to them.
    Arona: Good afternoon, Abydos!
    • Kisaki explains to the Foreclosure Task Force about MX Blade's letter that it contains insurmountable evidence of Kaiser failing to uphold their civic duties following their "ownership" of Abydos, particularly paying property taxes.
    Kisaki: Or to put it simply: They owe you money.
    • Hina has the Masked Swimsuit Gang commanders on the backfoot and is about to violently force them to call off their army only for Ako to frantically call Hina to report to her of dire news.
    Ako: They've got reinforcements, Head Prefect! It's the - It's the Pandemonium Society! The Pandemonium Society has chosen to side with the Masked Swimsuit Gang!
    Correction Bureau Warden: PRESIDENT! BAD NEWS! There's been a prison break! All the top-class prisoners! They! They've all escaped!
    GSC President: Tell me Rinny. Have you ever heard of… The Smiling Professor?
    • "Oath Under Plum Blossoms" has dropped some major bombshells.
    Black Suit: But I suppose such wonderful knowledge is only to be expected from a student of Great Kapila.
    (Then)
    MX Blade: Kivotos took my goddamn name.
  • Wham Shot:
    • MX Blade retreats back into her office and turns off all of the lights except the computer. She performs a ritual, instigating Decagrammaton to reveal its presence in the studio's systems, and resulting in Decagrammaton's halo being displayed on her computer's screen.
    • When the Stygian Bank suddenly gets attacked by robbers, it is immediately shown that the ones leading them are Aru and the rest of Problem Solver 68.
  • What Does This Button Do?: During the Bank Robbery, the Problem Solvers and Foreclosure Task Force try to find the button to turn off the music leading the bank's enforcers right to them, only to keep triggering the dozens of groups of bombs they prepared before the robbery and forcing them to go Hot Potato over the bombs they were still carrying. Ironically, Mutsuki is the one to find the music-off button, when she wanted to trigger another set of explosions.
    Mutsuki: Oh. Well that's boring. I was hoping for a 10x explosion event.
    Serika: What do you think this is?! A gacha?!
  • What the Hell, Hero?:
    • There is a long line of people that want to chew out MX Blade for her antics, especially her using their images in Blue Archive.
    • Rin is heartbroken that the GSC President could be leaving Kivotos, angrily demanding answers from her long-time friend.
    • Neru and Utaha are shocked and outraged that Rio is merging their clubs into Himari's "Super Phenomenon Task Force".
    • Like in the game, the Abydos girls call Hoshino out for thinking about giving herself up to Black Suit.
    • The Masked Swimsuit Gang calls out the academies' councils and law-enforcements for trying to stop their movement which to them makes them complicit in Kaiser's continued thriving.
  • Who Would Be Stupid Enough?:
    • When Noa proposes that Blue Archive would become a great money maker for Millennium, Yuuka scoffs at that and states that no one would throw away a lot of money for the game. Cut to Abydos High School where the Foreclosure Task Force have downloaded the game after Nonomi found it on the App store.
    • A clerk-bot arrogantly thinks that no one would be stupid enough to attack the Stygian Bank. Cue explosions blasting at the entrance as Problem Solver 68 and a group of 'Gehenna students' enter the building.
  • Wingding Eyes:
    • Serika's eyes are described to be swirling with madness as she recalls the nightmares she had to endure every night whenever customers puke from overeating and she had to clean it all up.
    • Happens on a frequent basis for Michiru whose eyes would spin whenever MX Blade rants about something.
  • With Friends Like These...: MX Blade warns Hifumi that her friendship with Nagisa isn't as solid as she thinks it is. Sure, Nagisa sees Hifumi as a friend, but when politics come into play, everything else is irrelevant.
  • Worthy Opponent: After being defeated, Binah acknowledges Hoshino as this.
  • You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Panther Head tells Hifumi that her being plain and ordinary isn't a weakness but is actually a strength; Hifumi's innocence is what helps her develop a true sense of right and wrong.
  • "You!" Exclamation:
    • Hasumi says this when she slams Stream Leaping Tiger to the wall after the reveal that the MSG successfully kept the Trinity infiltrators in the dark about their real plans.
    • The Kaiser President snarls this at MX Blade after discovering who is behind the hostile takeover of his company.
  • You Have Failed Me: The Kaiser President has the Director fired for failing to deal with Studio MX; the only reason the Director wasn't outright executed was MX Blade's intervention.
  • You Monster!: Played for Laughs. Michiru says this after her and her friends' clothes are destroyed by MX Blade.
  • Zerg Rush: The Masked Swimsuit Gang's real plan: Sending in their thousands of members all at once, to rush straight to D.U. and destroy Kaiser Corporation's headquarters. A good deal of the schools' elites who try to defend are not taken down by the tactic, but there are so many girls attacking simultaneously that a lot of them get past the defenders to wreak havoc.

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