Nora Kisaragi

Huh, for some reason I thought I remembered Rachel's house existing outside of the timeloop, which is why Rachel has to summon people to her house and why her house seemingly still exists in Ikaruga. I was pretty sure that since Rachel was an observer, she didn't play a part in any timeloop, she just watched. Maybe i'm wrong there. And do you have a source to Rachel being surprised about Hakumen not knowing Noel? I don't remember that ever happening.

It shows only Noel's uniform, NOT her face. That's a pretty telling sign it's Tsubaki if the shadow is only the uniform, and since we already established that characters can recall events of other timelines, it's very much possible he is remembering the original timeline. Please re-watch the scene I posted, the scene makes a lot more sense now that you look back at the game now. And I don't think Hakumen existed in multiple timelines in CT. I was pretty sure that, since Rachel pulled one of the Jin's from his respective timeline, Hakumen was made "outside of" the timeloop, in observer land or whatever they're calling it. The only time Hakumen exists in multiple timelines is in Continuum Shift was because of the nature of the Continuum Shift. (Something, might I add, that Hakumen himself realizes when he cuts apart time when he fights Arakune) All in all, i'm pretty 100% damn sure Rachel made Hakumen ONCE, and only ONCE. Anything else is a result of the continuum shift. btw, one last thing, I still think it's quite possible that Rachel removed Jin's memories of Noel when he became Hakumen as a way of "protecting" Noel. It's pretty clear that's what she's been doing in CT and bits of CS. It wouldn't be the first time someone played with Jin's memories (lolzama)

The Jin in CT is clearly the same Jin that becomes Hakumen, the true ending of that story has Jin jumping into the caludron after Ragna then Rachel warps him out and makes him Hakumen. The story's fricken title is "False Hero". I think that's enough evidence he's the Jin that becomes Hakumen. As you mentioned, Noel is the only hitch. However, let's keep in mind that Rachel was trying to protect Noel in Calamity Trigger, Jin clearly hated Noel, and that Rachel is the one who made Jin Hakumen, yes? I wouldn't be surprised if Rachel stripped his memory of Noel when he became Hakumen to "protect" Noel and guide Hakumen towards stopping Terumi or something like that.

Oh my GOD. I finally understand something that has been bugging me for a while. This franchise's story is confusing as hell if you haven't noticed already. I noticed that the seeds for Hakumen's character and his regret for Tsubaki were planted in Calamity Trigger, not Continuum Shift. To understand this, you must first understand a couple of concepts that were present in CT (they were present in CS too, but more often in CT) 1.) The characters can recall events from other timelines at certain points but they don't understand/comprehend it. It happens to Ragna and Jin mostly but happens to other characters as well. Usually, when it happens, the screen goes monochrome, something mysterious happens, then everything returns to normal and the character goes "WHuT JUST HAPPENED". This happened a LOT in calamity trigger, but also happens sometines in continuum shift but nowhere near as often as CT. 2.) In the original timeline, Tsubaki was dressed like Noel. The standard NOL Attire. (pictured above in that guy's post) 3.) In Calamity Trigger's Jin storymode, you are playing as the Jin that ultimately becomes Hakumen. NOT the Jin you see in Continuum Shift! The only exception to this, as far as I know, is the True Ending, which is the exact same Jin you see in CS I believe. I think it was done like this to build up to the "omg jin is hakumen!!" plot twist. Okay, we got that much. Now I finally understand just what's going on in THIS scene of Calamity Trigger http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSPSZdKMogo#t=2m45s (Notice the Shadow standing in front of him where Noel used to be and how it doesn't have a face, only the uniform) When Jin defeats Noel, he was recalling/remembering Tsubaki, and this regret becomes a large part of Hakumen's character in CS. It's funny how it took me this long just to get it. Note: The only hole in this theory, though, is that it would mean Noel would have to have been present in not one, but two timelines in CT. I don't think this is a problem as I think Noel exists in multiple timelines but i'm not 100% sure. Unless some creepy shit happened and it turned out that Jin was fighting Tsubaki that entire time. That would be trippy.

Holy shit, Rachel is actually helping Jin out? Hahah. Never woulda thought. She's most likely referring to Tsubaki and Jin's childhood promise. But who knows. Maybe Izayoi forges some new promise in CP or something. Her promise to Jin was the backbone of their story in CS: ""Cross my heart and hope to die, I promise that I will never lie, And if my promise ever does go, I give to you my eternal soul".(Side note: I HOPE THIS ISNT FORESHADOWING TSUBAKI'S DEATH) I'm teh jin story expert here guyz i gawt dis. /shot Ragna being artifically created is pretty much a fact awaiting official confirmation at this point. Jin? It's very possible. Saya? Your guess is as good as mine. Jin has a birthplace listed in England, though, so...

Come on now. It's pretty obvious Mori's been going for the whole 'Magic vs Science' theme with this franchise since day 1. Jubei being a smart science type and Nine being the magic type would only further support that theme Mori is trying to convey. Ragna's magic arm and science arm is another example of that.

Well it obviously wasn't Kokonoe who was just a child at the time. Think about this: Kokonoe got her smarts from somewhere in the gene pool and it sure as hell wasn't Nine, she got her magic from Nine. So, I don't think it's that unbelievable that Jubei could have done it. And if it holds true, it would make Jubei's decision to take ragna in as his own that much more believable. Who knows really. God knows Mori is just improvising the plot as he goes along anyway. That's weird. Doesn't Jin have a fetish with "killing him again", or did he stop using that phrasing after CT? I mean, i can't think of a way for Jin to have killed him the first time if he wasn't vampirized. These alternate timelines man. At least they're gone with CP. things will be a bit more comphrehensible now.

So, at this point, I am pretty much 90% convinced that Ragna the Bloodedge is a Sector Seven creation. Stay with me for a second. I ran this theory through a couple of people and they're pretty swayed by the facts, but perhaps someone here better versed than I in the plot can weigh on. First off, what started this all is the unexplained tattoo on Ragna's neck that says "E5". Could it be that Ragna is Epsilon 5? However, his tattoo does not use Kanji, the standard murakumo unit tattoo uses Kanji, nay, Ragna's uses Latin. Latin. Not Kanji, which seems to stray away from the theory that Ragna is a Murakumo Unit. So let's look at the facts for a second: *Kokonoe's aunt was at the church where Jin/Ragna/Saya grew up *The black beast remains were buried at the church *Kokonoe hates her father for some reason *Kokonoe has the ability to speak inside of Ragna's head, telepathically, as evidenced by the True End of Calamity Trigger, when Ragna fights Hakumen ""Ragna: How are you speaking inside my head?"" ""Kokonoe: Don't worry about it."" *Kokonoe was able to easily replace Ragna's arm using the remains of Lambda. I'm going to go with the theory that Kokonoe's father, or someone in her family, used the remains of the black beast to create Ragna, perhaps as a "Sector Seven Alternative" to the Murakumo Units. Their own personal version of the, "prime field devices", as it were, continuing the science vs magic theme even more. So let's talk a bit about some of the less subtle aspects. Namely, Color. Color plays a big part of BlazBlue, as you know. I mean, at Calamity Trigger, the NOL was portrayed as blue people, and they were evil. So blue = bad, thus, the Character Select theme was called BLUE Beating, Ragna's color was made Red and his themesong was made Rebellion to contrast with the red vs blue theme (yet he has a blazblue power. go fig'). Tager, who is also against the NOL, is also Red, so much so that he is called the 'Red Devil'. Huh? Both Ragna and Tager have red themes going on with their pursuit of the NOL? Somehow, it seems less bizarre that tager and ragna had special battle quotes in CT. So there's that too. However, if Ragna is a sector seven creation, I don't believe that Tager is in on the know. It would probably only be Kokonoe that knows. And of all the theories I heard so far, nobody has a 100% positive explanation for how Kokonoe was able to talk to Ragna's head in CT's ending. Nobody has an explanation to that. Nobody. So here's mine. Ragna was a creation of Kokonoe's family. Hell, maybe Ragna himself knows. He'd be stupid not to know. He even admits in CS's true ending that "God knows whose soul this really is". *On a side note...if this is true. Ragna is completely fucked as a character. I mean think about it. He lost both of his arms, he would be a creation of the black beast or whatever, he got bit by a vampire and became a half vampire half whatever the fawk he is. Now all he needs is to die and then be re--wait that already happened.* However...I have not seen the wheel of fortune because it isn't released over here, so I haven't seen phase shift or any of the other side materials so maybe those weigh in on this issue a bit. Anyone got anythin'?

Oh okay. That's a little less confusing then. For some reason I saw it as 2100. So Makoto only went a year in the past? OK, that's a little less confusing. So the explosion that destroyed Ibukido in that timeline in Makoto's video was the tampering of Mu-12, correct?

Makoto's story mode in Extend. Somehow the timeline where Tsubaki dies is 2199, whereas the plot we know it takes place in 2100. Here you go. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33n4NYagQxQ It's confused me like all hell. it's like I kind of understood the plot, watched Makoto's storyline and watched the years go by and i'm like "wat" trying to comprehend it.

So is there a clear answer to why Noel Vermillion exists yet? And why the "real" storyline takes place in 2199 while the game storyline takes place in 2100, and how all the characters/events are the same as in 99 years in the future, and such like that?

Sigh. So if I'm understanding this correctly from Jin's arcade story, they threw away every single bit of character development Jin had in CS and he's back to acting like a clueless dumbass in Chronophantasma? They threw away his monologue with Hakumen, trashed his yukianesa training with Jubei, he's back to being "NIIISAAN" even though he managed to get over it in CS's ending, and he is still dumb as hell when it comes to Tsubaki. Am I understanding that right? Oh and to top it all off, in-game wise Jin got nerfed while Ragna got buffed. Greeatt. Feels great to be a Jin main!...not. Oh and Jin got cockblocked that his new "DD" is something he had in CS (in unlimited form, granted)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BEh78YWR-nk At the end. Right before they tease Izayoi. It clearly says "Number Zero...AND..." Implying that a number zero will be playable in Chronophantasma? ...Who the hell can be number zero? Can't be Saya...can it..? well, if the murakumo units are all saya clones, then maybe saya is number zero.. Quite honestly, comes as a surprise to me, I really don't think Saya will be in this game but seeems like we're being teased to the contrary...I can't see what else a number zero could possibly be...

Do we really need a 2.5th vampire in the blazblue cast? I really hope he isn't, but if he was, it would explain his teleport dash thing

...They redrew Noel. The odds are in your favor of her having a new astral. inb4 noel turns into mu12 and does mu12 astral