This year’s summer event was the epitome of lazy writing—though expecting anything serious from non-story-specific events is setting yourself up for disappointment. This event did have a bit of foreshadowing for next year’s Summer Event—we return to Luluhawa for the next run of ServantFes, and we get Aesc, ‘Serker Castoria, and an emo version of Oberon as well.
I also never finished the extra quests. Oops…
Table of Contents
Story Elements & Highlights
Continuity is always problematic when dealing with event stories, and this year’s summer event isn’t any different. Even though the Novum Chaldea base was destroyed at the end of Tunguska, for this event, we’re back at the base, and Holmes is still alive—he’s mentioned but doesn’t appear. It makes me wonder how the planning for the seasonal events is handled and what determines the story direction.
That being said, there were some elements I absolutely liked about the story. Case-in-point, Caenis and Cu Chulain (Caster) hanging out together is a mental image I didn’t know I needed.
Of course, I keep forgetting that Caenis and Asclepius have history together. “Geeky little shit”…
Story Characters
Gareth
Girl is always adorable, regardless of the story. She was cute in Lostbelt 6, and she’s even more cute here with a Summer form—even if her swimsuit looks like something I’d expect Strawberry Shortcake to wear 😉 Gacha-luck smiled on me and I ended up with five copies of Saber Gareth.
Ashiya Douman
Douman is always suss—nothing new there so how things ended up shouldn’t be a surprise. I mean, c’mon—it was the same story last year, too. Not sure why Nasu thinks the user (MC) is going to just automatically trust Douman because they’re one of the MC’s Servants, I mean c’mon already, bro is about as trustworthy as Pennywise in a storm-sewer going “psst, hey kid.”
His Spiritron Dress was—to put it mildly—ass. There were two other versions in the story that would have been far better than the one we got.
I rolled for him when he was initially released and to be honest, I’m trying to figure out why I rolled for him. Something about his whole clown appearance makes me want to napalm his ass into next year.
Ibuki-Douji (Berserker)
We do need to talk about ‘Serker Ibuki’s Noble Phantasm. Long story short, does anyone remember the Jacko-pose meme that was popular back in 2021/22? That’s what her meme is referencing. I think we’ve all suspected that Raita is a horn-dog (or a Guilty Gear fan—or both) but I don’ think we need this to confirm it 😀
There’s a meme floating around on Tumblr about Ibuki is being a joke Servant and I can totally see that. She was originally introduced as a near-Beast-level threat in Heian-Kyo and was supposed to be a serious opponent. However, during the down-time between 7th Anni and the Summer Event, I did Ibuki’s Interlude and concluded that she is indeed a joke Servant.
Yup, definitely a gag Servant.
Lady Avalon
Was about what I would have expected for a genderbent Merlin. I honestly don’t have anything bad to say about her. She is a solid Arts support, though. And yes, gacha-luck smiled again 🙂
Upcoming Events
We currently have the 21 Million Downloads campaign (featuring 5-star Avenger Space Ishtar), the Fate/Stay night 20th Anniversary release event, and the 2600 Days Anniversary event going on. Other than that, August is going to be a dead month.
Early September will bring us the next GUDAGUDA event, which is a sequel to the 2022 Yamataikoku event but this time around, we get a new welfare Servant, 4-star Ruler Iyo, who was hinted at in the original event two years ago. September should also bring us another set of Advanced Quests (I still need to do the ones that are currently out), as well the Road to 7 campaigns featuring Lostbelts 4 and 5.
Till next time!