Introduction
Sunrider is pretty much exactly what it looks like: an anime sci-fi visual novel featuring teenage girls piloting giant robots made with Renpy. It’s also a fairly complicated strategy game ala Advance Wars. And, if you dig a bit under all of the anime, a pretty decent military sci-fi story.
We’re actually going to be playing through all three games that have been released: First Arrival, Mask of Arcadius, and Liberation Day. Think of these more as “seasons” of an anime series rather than distinct games, though. The first two are bundled together in such a way that I’m not even a hundred percent sure where one ends and the other begins. There’s also a DLC that acts as a sort of sequel to the third game but let’s just say it’s of dubious canon status since there is a fourth game currently in development. We’ll talk about it when we get there.
A note on format: I’ll be doing some editing of the dialogue, both to correct some typos and grammar errors, and to tone down some of the more overt, obnoxious, or borderline offensive anime tropes. I will not necessarily be pointing out what I change, but it won’t be a significant amount.
After all, anime is blood.
Table of Contents
Episode 1: First ArrivalChapter 1: Reminiscent, but Vastly Different
Chapter 2: Welcome Aboard
Chapter 3: The First Battle of Cera
Episode 2: Picking Up The Pieces
Chapter 1: In Exile
Chapter 2: A Pirates Life Not For Me
Chapter 3: Ryde or Die
Chapter 4: New Friends
Episode 3: A New Purpose
Chapter 1: Trafficking Violations
Chapter 2: Base Desires
Episode 4: The Versta Incident
Chapter 1: Shades of Grey
Chapter 2: The Die is Cast
Chapter 3: Escort Mission
Episode 5: Medical Emergence
Chapter 1: Crew Check
Chapter 2: History Lesson
Chapter 3: The Doctor is In
Chapter 4: The Graveyard
Chapter 5: The Wrong Princess
Episode 6: You Are Cordially Invited ...
Chapter 1: Wedding Plans
Chapter 2: OUTATIME
Chapter 3: Operation Wedding Crash
Chapter 4: Asaga's Big Day
Chapter 5: War
Episode 7: A Port Too Far
Chapter 1: Captaining
Chapter 2: Shenanigans, Assorted
Chapter 3: Strategery
Chapter 4: The Battle of Far Port
Episode 8: The Beach Episode
Chapter 1: Ava's Lament
Chapter 2: Never Go Full Anime
Episode 9: Attack at Ongess
Chapter 1: Election
Chapter 2: Meetings
Chapter 3: Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
Chapter 4: Captured
Chapter 4b
Chapter 5: Setting the Stage
Episode 10: The Second Battle of Ongess
Chapter 1: Veniczar Fabulous
Chapter 2: Knockoffs
Chapter 3: Look What You Almost Made Me Do
Episode 11: What's Past is Prologue
Chapter 1: Schemes and Memories
Chapter 2: Run Silent, Run Deep
Chapter 3: The Line Must Be Drawn Here
Chapter 4: This Far, No Further
Episode 12: The Mask of Arcadius
Chapter 1: From Hell's Heart ...
Chapter 2: ... I Stab at Thee
Chapter 3: Legion
Episode 13: Paradox
Episode 14: Core Values
Chapter 1: Assessment
Chapter 2: Götterdämmerung
Episode 15: Turning and Turning
Chapter 1: Cry Havoc
Chapter 2: ... And Reign In The Dogs of War
Chapter 3: Peace In Our Time
Episode 16: Things Fall Apart
Chapter 1: It Was a Dark and Stormy Night
Chapter 2: Any Port in a Storm
Chapter 3: And They Have A Plan
Episode 17: The Centre Cannot Hold
Chapter 1: We Few
Chapter 2: We Happy Few
Chapter 3: The Second Battle of Cera
Chapter 4: Out, Damned Spot
Episode 18: Mere Anarchy
Chapter 1: The Second Day
Chapter 2: Blue on Blue
Chapter 3: Nightmare
Episode 19: Blood-Dimmed Tide
Chapter 1: Si Vis Pacem, Fac Bellum
Chapter 2: Cera's Last Gleaming
Chapter 3: Sine Qua Non
Episode 20: Blank and Pitiless as the Sun
Chapter 1: The Paradox Contingency
Chapter 2: The Last Flight of the Sunrider
Chapter 3: Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
Episode 21: Vexed to Nightmare
Chapter 1: Adrift
Chapter 2: You Can Never Go Home Again
Chapter 3: The Gang's All Here
Chapter 4: It's Only When We Fall We Learn To Fly
Coda: What Rough Beast, Its Hour Come Round At Last