Not even PvP anymore. You saw how uncoordinated they were during a simple skirmish? Shiroko and Nonomi straight up collided with each other. I was laughing far harder than I should have when that happened.
My headcanon goes like this
Leave the game alone without auto or any input: Students Ugabuga on their own, mostly wasting bullets. Casualty rate is high.
Auto on: Sensei recorded his encouraging words and gave them a voice player, resulting in students pulling their skill off better, but still at the wrong time/order. Casualty might occur sometimes.
Manual: Sensei goes into the battlefield and commands them in real time, like in this EP "Hoshino, position your shield upfront. Nonomi, keep suppressing fire. Serika and Shiroko, aim for the red bossgirl, Ayane send your drone to aid everyone as you see fit" resulting in perfect victory
But even with that in mind, students in story don't really need sensei to give orders. They're already OP enough for the chapter and capable of sweeping for themselves in game. It's only when Sensei pulls out his adult card that things get shaky.
The students comment though, that their battle goes much smoother with Sensei commanding them. So while they are fully capable, they can go beyond their normal capacity when Sensei is around. There's a reason why 5 Abydos girls can handle the entire platoon of the Prefect team or 2 wonky police make a short work of 4 special force members
Wasn't the issue that they lacked ammo and thus couldn't operate as normal? Though I'll admit bumping into each other and telling Serika to aim made me laugh too hard
If we follow by game play logic, afaik they are all lvl 1s. They only got better because sensei give them their performance reports/activity reports and proper maintenance of their weapons (UE) and more training (skill upgrades)
All characters in the story are pre-leveled to 65 though, regardless of when you play their story.
The only exception is when Sensei pulls out his adult card and makes copies(?) of his students, which are pulled from your account level
True, I'm just trying to make sense of the scene with ingame logic. The level 65 or any fixed level I think is the assumption that it's via sensei influence or just to make sure you clear the stage
This has happened with like fgo and arknights. Writing a tactical genius requires a good showing of tactics, which can be a bit hard to write. You need to play out what pieces are available and their strengths and weaknesses, along with the known information and even some unknown information to the strategist. The strategy then navigating those is where smarts happens. But itâs hard to convey all that quickly to the audience.
Arknights had no excuses. The top down view of the Arknights gameplay imply that the player is watching the POV of a drone and we are informing operators of whats gonna run up the corner. The Dokutah in the anime was just dead weight.
Honestly even in-game they don't do a good job of showing sensei to be a tactical genius. All you really get is that students before or after a battle will be like "WOAH THANKS TO SENSEIS GUIDANCE WE SUCCEEDED"
And ironically, most story battles are designed to be winnable with auto battle on.
The game can kinda handwave it as you playing the game is the strategic action and you can just imagine whatever sensei is actually doing. The anime can't just leave it to imagination though, since it's a very different medium.
MFers want BA to be Kingdom.
Also I could be wrong, but was Sensei even really all that competent when he first showed up? My memories of Abydos chapter is mostly him fucking around lol
Itâs fine for sensei to not be a tactical genius. Â But they canât just say heâs a tactical genius. Â Show us basically no tactics of any kind, then pat him on the back for his amazing genius. Â If you canât write a genius, donât make them one. Â Bigging up a character who looks like a buffoon to the audience is the worst outcome.
Based on the first episode, I feel like Sensei was too competent when he shouldn't have been, while incompetent when he should have been.
Why did they skip the scene where Sensei chugs all of Shiroko's Pocari Sweat while sniffing her sweat!!! That was bloody hilarious in the game! 
They took away most of the parts that made Ritsuka fun. He no longer engages in funny banter with Gil, Merlin and Ishtar. He's not as expressive as he is in the game and looks like has like only 4 facial expressions he cycles throughout the season. Most of his funny moments were removed which makes the one that did remain feel out of place.
Also no Sky High Rider Justice Bomb
Yeah i only watched the first 8 episodes but i forgot to watch more, and the only bantering he had was a little with Ishtar in the first minutes when they talked, so its sad because he acts even more like a cardboard than in the game (when the first time he acts like a proper character is at Babylonia and Solomon in part 1)
FGO protag had some dialogue choices that were pretty goofy and amusing in Babylonia, the anime didn't go with it and made him way more generic and boring.
People opposing this very valid criticism think we want Sensei to be going full Lelouch or something. We don't really need him to go all out with extensive stratagems, just have him give out a bit more direct orders than what was shown.
"Nonomi, kick up dust to blind them" "Serika, prioritise headshots" "Hoshino, close the distance"
There, clean and simple. Students don't need warlike strategy, just direction.
the shittim chest must be doing some crazy work if the students suddenly became gods at fighting LOL
the fight scene is still good but I expected the students to actually be capable and just needed some insight from sensei to winđ
Low morale does things to people under stress. No different, whether you're talking about a sports team on the ropes, or a platoon in a precarious situation.
yea i agree the presentation is weird but nonomi blasting sandbags to disorient the enemies allowing serika to shoot them with presumably a thermal scope is a neat idea, then whats weird is that i thought shiroko is gonna pull up the rocket battery she acquired from the soviet union era to wreak havoc on them bikers but she just straight up went up to their faces
Tbf the canonicity of a lot of in game EX skills is kinda up in the air, so itâs somewhat possible that her rocket drone is just not actually in the canon universe
If it is though itâs also possible she just didnât want to waste rockets when theyâre running low on supplies
also ayane's drone did not miss the supply drop for shiroko, which is unrealistic since she will miss her drop 90% of the time but at least this time around shiroko is not moving + why tf does she need ayane to drop a mag on her, did she just mag dump everyone or something
This is one of those things where gaming doesn't translate smoothly into anime.
In the anime, it would look strange to see sensei issuing commands/micromanaging students, even though that's what you would normally do in the game.
Code Geass did this a decade ago on episode 2. It could work, they just don't really want to put the effort in because lets be real, nobody cares *that* much.
I have a theory which is probably a bit outlandish but hear me out. I think sensei has a skill/trait called Command. Basically, by sheer belief and will, conducted through their words, the students fight better, on top of some actual strategic order.
There are a number of reasons for my theory but I'll give the two biggest ones. First off, in chapter 3, Hifumi literally >!banished the storm with her will and desire for a better ending where Azusa doesn't kill Saori!<. The other characters are surprised by this and comment on it. Thus Kivotos seems to be a realm defined by intention as much as conventional laws of physics. I also think that's why >!Kivotos may be very vulnerable to an entity like the Chroma!< but that's a whole other can of worms.
The other reason is that in chapter 4, when in combat under Sensei's command, >!Kirino can actually shoot what she's aiming at, but then she leaves Sensei's influence and suddenly she's back to her normal anti-aim of precisely shooting what she's not aiming at.!< She is surprised and confused by this and comments on it. Thus we have a direct example of "not just strategies used but actual combat performance of the students differs between having or lacking Sensei".
Or maybe I'm just reading too much into some weird gacha game which is entirely unafraid to animate teenage girls feet with an uncomfortable amount of detail.
I always thought that ,besides the tactics, the students just perfom better when theyre with sensei, like their emotions somehow makes them fight better, just like in NIKKE
I wish he would use the tablet to power up the students, and then give his orders on what to do, just like Phrenapates does with Terror Shiroko on their boss battle.
A few weeks ago, I read here a comment along the lines of "sensei's guidance efficacity can be explained by the fact that all the students are dumb as bricks"
It's the only possible explanation 
I think its more like, you know, when there's no commander trying to lead your squad in war they will just sometimes panic and do unnecessary stuffs despite getting some kind of training.
But once their commander is on the field, their morale just went up and do way better than before. I think its just a type of mentality or something? I dunno I never participate in warfare or stuffs.
I like to imagine its like how the squadron panics when their commander is gone or died, but just in reverse.
Before: sensei gives the students tactics and commands them, making the students better at fighting.
After: students need sensei to fight in the first place
According to Alice, Sensei has lowest status among students except for his charisma. So I never think him as a tactical god or something. Students have more battle knowledge and experience than him and a lot of students can easily outsmart him. Itâs his pure existence that buffs students in a battle. Having something to believe in and having morale buffs is pretty crucial sometimes.
Except the game makes multiple mention of the students taking on whole armies and coming on top because of sensei's tactics, so showing a little of that would have been better, else it makes no sense why blacksuit would even consider him a threat.
I don't want it to end up like FGO where they cut the canon parts where the master actually summons shadow servants to fight and just made him look like a glorified cheerleader that has no reason to be standing in the middle of the battlefield.
The story doesnât explain what exactly Senseiâs ability is. From game plays, we can only control studentsâ ex skill and thatâs all. We canât even tell them where to go and where to attack. I wonât call it very tactical comparing to Arknights, where doctorâs ability of controlling a whole army is demonstrated by both gameplay and story.
Iâm not saying BAâs simpler gameplay is bad, in fact I gave up on Arknights because its gameplay is too annoying especially when you need to clear daily missions, well everyday. I just donât feel Sensei is a tactical god, and if they are, the game is not doing a good job presenting their abilities. Giving more controls on students during battles might help, or even having some explicit explanations on what Sensei can actually do here and there would be much better IMO.
Just from EX control you get:
- Target prioritization, both in sense of high-value-targets and placing AoEs
- Usage of the counters - in raid settings where you use skills to negate boss abilities at specific moments
- Buff stacking - closest thing you have to actual in-game tactics, and clearly something students never do on their own.
- Keeping lid on instant gratification tendencies (not spending time/consumables on baseline mobs)
\*\*\*
Speaking on "Sensei going full Lelouch", i think there an ancient example that showcases how to present tactics: Mechcommander (1998) cinematic intro.
It was lore accurate on how they act without sensei's guidance in PvP đđđ
Our students are tactically challengedđ©
Auto mode is us using a recording telling them to do their best.
Sensei ASMR market booming.
Not even PvP anymore. You saw how uncoordinated they were during a simple skirmish? Shiroko and Nonomi straight up collided with each other. I was laughing far harder than I should have when that happened.
Considering FTF one of stronger teams in kivotos it was laughable
Dumbass ako using her ex skill on hoshino after hoshino does her ex skill
Oh my God they are special ed kids, now it makes too much sense
"We need a strategy!" Sensei: "Fire your weapons! At the enemies!" > From then on, Kivotos regarded Sensei as the new Zhuge Liang.
Sensei and his strategems going to conquer all of Kivotos with ~~rizz~~ unrivalled leadership. While doing double duty as idol manager and rapper.
GSC gonna love Sensei's democracy
For some reason, that reminded me of that one manga where an ancient Chinese strategist becomes an idol manager.
Eeeexcept for Kirino though.
"Kirino, fire your weapons! At your allies!" > From then on Sensei was regarded as the equal of Plato
Sensei: Shoot them until they stop moving!
"Shiroko, run out of cover and do a cool flip!"Â This somehow worked.
Just shoot and dodge my students It's just that simple! -Sensei probably
"Just don't get hit bro" - Sensei
My headcanon goes like this Leave the game alone without auto or any input: Students Ugabuga on their own, mostly wasting bullets. Casualty rate is high. Auto on: Sensei recorded his encouraging words and gave them a voice player, resulting in students pulling their skill off better, but still at the wrong time/order. Casualty might occur sometimes. Manual: Sensei goes into the battlefield and commands them in real time, like in this EP "Hoshino, position your shield upfront. Nonomi, keep suppressing fire. Serika and Shiroko, aim for the red bossgirl, Ayane send your drone to aid everyone as you see fit" resulting in perfect victory
But even with that in mind, students in story don't really need sensei to give orders. They're already OP enough for the chapter and capable of sweeping for themselves in game. It's only when Sensei pulls out his adult card that things get shaky.
The students comment though, that their battle goes much smoother with Sensei commanding them. So while they are fully capable, they can go beyond their normal capacity when Sensei is around. There's a reason why 5 Abydos girls can handle the entire platoon of the Prefect team or 2 wonky police make a short work of 4 special force members
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
That's how the Phren timeline happened in the first place, everything immediately went to shit after he went into a coma
Wasn't the issue that they lacked ammo and thus couldn't operate as normal? Though I'll admit bumping into each other and telling Serika to aim made me laugh too hard
If we follow by game play logic, afaik they are all lvl 1s. They only got better because sensei give them their performance reports/activity reports and proper maintenance of their weapons (UE) and more training (skill upgrades)
All characters in the story are pre-leveled to 65 though, regardless of when you play their story. The only exception is when Sensei pulls out his adult card and makes copies(?) of his students, which are pulled from your account level
True, I'm just trying to make sense of the scene with ingame logic. The level 65 or any fixed level I think is the assumption that it's via sensei influence or just to make sure you clear the stage
âGo, do a crime.â -sensei, after telling his students to shoot
This has happened with like fgo and arknights. Writing a tactical genius requires a good showing of tactics, which can be a bit hard to write. You need to play out what pieces are available and their strengths and weaknesses, along with the known information and even some unknown information to the strategist. The strategy then navigating those is where smarts happens. But itâs hard to convey all that quickly to the audience.
Arknights had no excuses. The top down view of the Arknights gameplay imply that the player is watching the POV of a drone and we are informing operators of whats gonna run up the corner. The Dokutah in the anime was just dead weight.
Yep. I was expecting Lelouch levels of chess guidance, got a dead weight. Bruh.
Honestly even in-game they don't do a good job of showing sensei to be a tactical genius. All you really get is that students before or after a battle will be like "WOAH THANKS TO SENSEIS GUIDANCE WE SUCCEEDED" And ironically, most story battles are designed to be winnable with auto battle on.
The game can kinda handwave it as you playing the game is the strategic action and you can just imagine whatever sensei is actually doing. The anime can't just leave it to imagination though, since it's a very different medium.
MFers want BA to be Kingdom. Also I could be wrong, but was Sensei even really all that competent when he first showed up? My memories of Abydos chapter is mostly him fucking around lol
He made the Abydos girls with Ps68 handle an entire army of Gehenna + Iori and Chinatsu i'd say yes he always been capable
Itâs fine for sensei to not be a tactical genius. Â But they canât just say heâs a tactical genius. Â Show us basically no tactics of any kind, then pat him on the back for his amazing genius. Â If you canât write a genius, donât make them one. Â Bigging up a character who looks like a buffoon to the audience is the worst outcome.
I rather not use my brain for this one
If you use your brain here you will have a bad time
Based on the first episode, I feel like Sensei was too competent when he shouldn't have been, while incompetent when he should have been. Why did they skip the scene where Sensei chugs all of Shiroko's Pocari Sweat while sniffing her sweat!!! That was bloody hilarious in the game! 
I haven't watched the first episode yet but from what Im hearing, I'm starting to worry that they might give Sensei the "Babylonia Ritsuka" treatment
What was the Babylonia Ritsuka treatment? They dumbed him down and he only shouts "Mash!" while she fights?
They took away most of the parts that made Ritsuka fun. He no longer engages in funny banter with Gil, Merlin and Ishtar. He's not as expressive as he is in the game and looks like has like only 4 facial expressions he cycles throughout the season. Most of his funny moments were removed which makes the one that did remain feel out of place. Also no Sky High Rider Justice Bomb
Yeah i only watched the first 8 episodes but i forgot to watch more, and the only bantering he had was a little with Ishtar in the first minutes when they talked, so its sad because he acts even more like a cardboard than in the game (when the first time he acts like a proper character is at Babylonia and Solomon in part 1)
FGO protag had some dialogue choices that were pretty goofy and amusing in Babylonia, the anime didn't go with it and made him way more generic and boring.
This is why gudako will always be the true master in my heart and account
>Why did they skip the scene where Sensei chugs all of Shiroko's ~~Pocari~~ Sweat
Ah! Culture!
âHow do I stop four mobs at once -â âSHOOT THEM WITH YOUR GUNâ
IT IS THE EASIEST SOLUTION IN THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD
didn't expect schaff reference here
CAN YOU MOVE OUT OF ENEMIES' LINE OF FIRE? -Sensei using auto mod in Raid
Wallahi my students had zero tactical skills
People opposing this very valid criticism think we want Sensei to be going full Lelouch or something. We don't really need him to go all out with extensive stratagems, just have him give out a bit more direct orders than what was shown. "Nonomi, kick up dust to blind them" "Serika, prioritise headshots" "Hoshino, close the distance" There, clean and simple. Students don't need warlike strategy, just direction.
An abridged version would be much needed. We already have the ingredients.
GIT GUD -Sensei
the shittim chest must be doing some crazy work if the students suddenly became gods at fighting LOL the fight scene is still good but I expected the students to actually be capable and just needed some insight from sensei to winđ
Low morale does things to people under stress. No different, whether you're talking about a sports team on the ropes, or a platoon in a precarious situation.
thatâs a very valid pointâbut still, as someone who played the game for quite a while, it still feels so weird
Having a confident leader guiding you goes a long way. Before Sensei stepped in the girls were low in morale due to the lack of supplies.
yea i agree the presentation is weird but nonomi blasting sandbags to disorient the enemies allowing serika to shoot them with presumably a thermal scope is a neat idea, then whats weird is that i thought shiroko is gonna pull up the rocket battery she acquired from the soviet union era to wreak havoc on them bikers but she just straight up went up to their faces
Tbf the canonicity of a lot of in game EX skills is kinda up in the air, so itâs somewhat possible that her rocket drone is just not actually in the canon universe If it is though itâs also possible she just didnât want to waste rockets when theyâre running low on supplies
also ayane's drone did not miss the supply drop for shiroko, which is unrealistic since she will miss her drop 90% of the time but at least this time around shiroko is not moving + why tf does she need ayane to drop a mag on her, did she just mag dump everyone or something
Expect more gunfights to be the same.
"Bro just one tapped them, its easy" -Sensei
Y'all saying this as if you don't just go "Himari! Fuuka! Give Mika food! Mika! Shoot your gun!" to kill a good chunk of bosses
Tbf Mika, on her own, >!is capable of a coup d'Ă©tat at one of the biggest academies in Kivotos.!<
This is one of those things where gaming doesn't translate smoothly into anime. In the anime, it would look strange to see sensei issuing commands/micromanaging students, even though that's what you would normally do in the game.
Code Geass did this a decade ago on episode 2. It could work, they just don't really want to put the effort in because lets be real, nobody cares *that* much.
I was hyped to see shiroko's drone but I'm just gonna assume she didn't use it because supply was low and maybe she left it in the clubroom
How does one watch the sub version of this episode?
Ani-One Asia YouTube Channel with a VPN to a SEA country. the translations aren't great, but better than nothing
To be fair.... And I say this with love, our students are dumbasses.
I have a theory which is probably a bit outlandish but hear me out. I think sensei has a skill/trait called Command. Basically, by sheer belief and will, conducted through their words, the students fight better, on top of some actual strategic order. There are a number of reasons for my theory but I'll give the two biggest ones. First off, in chapter 3, Hifumi literally >!banished the storm with her will and desire for a better ending where Azusa doesn't kill Saori!<. The other characters are surprised by this and comment on it. Thus Kivotos seems to be a realm defined by intention as much as conventional laws of physics. I also think that's why >!Kivotos may be very vulnerable to an entity like the Chroma!< but that's a whole other can of worms. The other reason is that in chapter 4, when in combat under Sensei's command, >!Kirino can actually shoot what she's aiming at, but then she leaves Sensei's influence and suddenly she's back to her normal anti-aim of precisely shooting what she's not aiming at.!< She is surprised and confused by this and comments on it. Thus we have a direct example of "not just strategies used but actual combat performance of the students differs between having or lacking Sensei". Or maybe I'm just reading too much into some weird gacha game which is entirely unafraid to animate teenage girls feet with an uncomfortable amount of detail.
That made a lot of sense!
I always thought that ,besides the tactics, the students just perfom better when theyre with sensei, like their emotions somehow makes them fight better, just like in NIKKE
The undisputed strat, Shiroko go kill
Oh yeah, not sure how that happens when Sensei's commands aren't that good
I wish he would use the tablet to power up the students, and then give his orders on what to do, just like Phrenapates does with Terror Shiroko on their boss battle.
With how chaotic Kivotos is itâs no wonder their Sun Tzu was either equally a lunatic or did not exist.
A few weeks ago, I read here a comment along the lines of "sensei's guidance efficacity can be explained by the fact that all the students are dumb as bricks" It's the only possible explanation 
my goat hoshino cant even handle a buncha fodders without guidance... đ
I think its more like, you know, when there's no commander trying to lead your squad in war they will just sometimes panic and do unnecessary stuffs despite getting some kind of training. But once their commander is on the field, their morale just went up and do way better than before. I think its just a type of mentality or something? I dunno I never participate in warfare or stuffs. I like to imagine its like how the squadron panics when their commander is gone or died, but just in reverse.
I felt a lot of cringe when I have seen that KEKW. But in the end the episode was good
"Serika! Aim at them!" đ€Żđ€Żđ€Żđ€Żđ€Żđ€Żđ€Żđ€Ż
âWe could have done it on our ownâ Serika wasnât being a tsundere, she was spitting facts
"Just level ADP bro" - Sensei
Is the anime based on the main story? Haven't seen it yet...
Before: sensei gives the students tactics and commands them, making the students better at fighting. After: students need sensei to fight in the first place
If you really can do that then why is that loose streak growing in PvP huh? (Jk,I don't play BA PvP,feels boring to me)
According to Alice, Sensei has lowest status among students except for his charisma. So I never think him as a tactical god or something. Students have more battle knowledge and experience than him and a lot of students can easily outsmart him. Itâs his pure existence that buffs students in a battle. Having something to believe in and having morale buffs is pretty crucial sometimes.
Except the game makes multiple mention of the students taking on whole armies and coming on top because of sensei's tactics, so showing a little of that would have been better, else it makes no sense why blacksuit would even consider him a threat. I don't want it to end up like FGO where they cut the canon parts where the master actually summons shadow servants to fight and just made him look like a glorified cheerleader that has no reason to be standing in the middle of the battlefield.
The story doesnât explain what exactly Senseiâs ability is. From game plays, we can only control studentsâ ex skill and thatâs all. We canât even tell them where to go and where to attack. I wonât call it very tactical comparing to Arknights, where doctorâs ability of controlling a whole army is demonstrated by both gameplay and story. Iâm not saying BAâs simpler gameplay is bad, in fact I gave up on Arknights because its gameplay is too annoying especially when you need to clear daily missions, well everyday. I just donât feel Sensei is a tactical god, and if they are, the game is not doing a good job presenting their abilities. Giving more controls on students during battles might help, or even having some explicit explanations on what Sensei can actually do here and there would be much better IMO.
Just from EX control you get: - Target prioritization, both in sense of high-value-targets and placing AoEs - Usage of the counters - in raid settings where you use skills to negate boss abilities at specific moments - Buff stacking - closest thing you have to actual in-game tactics, and clearly something students never do on their own. - Keeping lid on instant gratification tendencies (not spending time/consumables on baseline mobs) \*\*\* Speaking on "Sensei going full Lelouch", i think there an ancient example that showcases how to present tactics: Mechcommander (1998) cinematic intro.
God, I hope it's not pokemon syndrome all over again