Kozue Event Cleared:

Heaven Burns Red finally released an actual new event, so of course it was so good it made me cry.  Whenever the game puts in the slightest effort it instantly surpasses all other games.  This time around, Squad 31-B all donned swimsuits and visited an island resort.  There Kozue accidentally worked her magic and snatched Erika Aoi from the past to the present.  Erika died in the regular timeline, but of course she was alive before she died, so it was possible to interact with this past Erika who hadn't yet met Kozue.  Kozue got the chance to have all the conversations with Erika she wished she could have had if Erika hadn't died.  She didn't want to let Erika go back to the past, but the time travel was causing paradoxes so she had to let her go.  But getting to say goodbye to someone is very different from that person suddenly dropping dead, so this really lifted a burden from Kozue's heart that she'd borne all this time.

The moment Kozue bared her heart to past-Erika about what was going to happen in Erika's future was incredibly moving, helped along by the school swimsuit she was wearing and the beautiful beach setting.  Erika, being the stoic hero we know her to be, accepted all that was to come and insisted she be sent back to the proper timeline all the same.

At the same time, Kozue proved to Seika that the occult was real, gaining Seika's grudging respect.  And Ichigo and Sumomo were as charming as ever in their swimsuits.  I'd give this event a 10 out of 10.  I sure spent enough money on it.  $230 to get all the SS Memorias and limit breaks I could.  I ended up one short of a perfect collection -- I'm still missing light Ichiko -- but I got every single SS Memoria in the game other than her.  Swimsuit Kozue, swimsuit Seika, and wedding dress Iroha all became mine.  I also got wedding dress Charlotta up to limit break level 2, swimsuit Kozue to level 2.5, schoolgirl Inori to level 2, ninja Monaka to level 2, sheep Yotsuha to level 3, rocket Risa to level 3, and gave every seraph in a combat squad a full strength memento.

Ichigo got a swimsuit version which is only S-class, but you can always use her swimsuit model as fashion wear while playing as an SS Memoria, so this still works out fine.

$230 is a little steep even for three swimsuit clad girls, but I really wanted swimsuit Kozue for my dark squad, because she gets stronger with high morale, and doctor Seika, who was already in my dark squad, gives all dark memorias extra morale each time she uses her ex move.  That synergy meant I needed them both for my dark squad to work.  And these days, if you aren't limit break level 3, you aren't good enough to replace someone already in one of my combat squads, so not only did I need to acquire swimsuit Kozue, I also needed to get enough copies of her to reach limit break level 3, so the purchases were continuously necessary to achieve my dream.

The new score challenge gave me another chance at a higher score with my critical penetration squad, and this time I scored over 1.8 million points.  This gave the title badges I needed for Yingxia to reach title rank level 10, which gave her an extra skill slot.  Realistically power ups to my strongest squad are more important than power ups to my fun side projects.  I also got the skill evolution item I needed to power up Byakko's base ex skill.  I need a couple weeks to gather the nordstrom crystals before I can actually skill evolve, but the hard part is done.

Since the score challenge boss was weak to fire, I tried out all my fire squads against it.  The imp Yayoi-based fire squad did the best, with 1.7 million points, which was enough to raise the title level of Adelheid to 10 and a few others to 9.  The idol Erika based fire squad did about as well as squad 31-E and squad 31-A, but they were all weak compared to imp Yayoi, scoring somewhere around 1.4 million.  Hitting a weak to fire boss with four different types of fire squads wasn't as effective as my critical penetration squad just doing its thing.

I should be able to complete some more power-ups with the coming monthly refresh, like getting swimsuit Kozue from limit break 2.5 to the 3 I'm aiming for.  I'm also happy that Japan and America have made it to the next round of the World Cup, so I have something to look forward to in July on that side as well.

I've finished my rewatch of Isekai Nonbiri Nouka S2 and Fate/Strange Fake, officially ensconcing them into my anime hall of fame.  I'm halfway through my rewatch of Oshi no Ko S3.  But with all these different things going on it's hard to find time even for the best anime.  >.<.