"Never gaze upon it's surface on a starless night." is a warning. Without the stars to forewarn you of the impending danger even the most prepared individual can drown. As Black Swan found out.
Its Acheron's dinner now... Sparkle in the distant "It should have been me!" Fun fact - Sparkle clearly state in game that she wants to dominated or be dominated by Black Swan lmao!
I think Acheron might really be the emanator of IX. The first thing Nihility takes is memories. That also makes her the antithesis to memokeepers which would explain the violent reaction to Black Swan peeking into her memories and her feeling like she was being devoured. It also makes me wonder if this more violent side is a split personality or something similar. Acheron was completely oblivious to what Black Swan was doing as well as what happened in the memories and the words of the one within was "excuse me, are you asking me?" as if it was a different person talking. Why would that need to be asked if Acheron was the only one there.
Just to add onto this is that we clearly see a black hole at 14:00 I ended up looking at the wiki real quick because I've been skipping the Sim Uni lore and apparently The Annihilation Gang attempted to kill IX with the help of Aha. This might mean Sparkle is in trouble too 👀
There is certainly a lot to be said for the theory of Acheron being an emenator of IX. Her ult and even this video, shows IX at some point. That giant blob. Love the point of her being the antithesis to Black Swan. Cannot wait to find out more about Acheron.
This is incredible. Like you, I've expected it to go in a different direction. Holy shit, that was good. I'm from India, and Kalpa is something that someone at Hoyo has enjoyed getting into recently. Kalpa-vriksha is basically the tree of life, and a tree that grants wishes. It is synonymous with the god of creation in Hindu mythology, Brahma. Genshin had it as well in Sumeru. The burning of Irminsul was titled " Akasha Pulses, Kalpa flame rises". It signifies the end of an age. The world burning and being born anew. In HSR, countless Kalpas would imply trillions of years. I'm not a religious man, but it is fascinating how Hoyo seems to take a lot of influences from various religions across the world in building their own world. Top notch world building! The art, the animation, and the music. I'm absolutely stunned this time around. Initially, all I could think of was the actual dance and Black Swan rizzing up Acheron (and it was HOT), but then it all changed in hues of red. There was the Aeon IX shown in there a couple of times, and in my head cannon, she is undoubtedly the emenator of Nihility. I'm saving every last pull I have for Acheron, despite being terrified of her. The same VA as Beidou from Genshin, but the tone couldn't be more different. Kudos to you for the way you go about reacting to these. Could be so easy to just focus on the actual dance and nothing else. There are so many layers to it, and glad you've taken the time and effort to look into it!
Yes, I love how dark this got hehe I also think it's great how Hoyo seems to pull inspo from so many different sources. It makes the worlds feel very immersive :D I also think the emanator of Nihility theory seems pretty solid! Gosh, what a cool character! Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed
The dance choreo and music was ~chef's kiss~ (did some ballroom dance back in college as a timekiller/credit fill) Probably used a lot of references for that, maybe rotoscoping or mocap as well? That's not even getting into the animation itself and the thematic parts 10/10
@@FlipTheBardit's rotoscope most likely. It's impossible to capture the consistence motions and accuracy. So it's rotoscop or rotoscope 3d. Just look how awful is this part 3:41 if we compare to the dance scene, if it wasn't rotoscop then the animators would be able to create this scene as good as the dance scene but in reality they don't have either skilled animators nor specialized animators.
Remembrance and Nihility are the opposite. As a representative of Remembrance - Black Swan is a memetic creature that lives on memories (no memories around = she will dissapear), at same time as Emanator of Nihility - Acheron consumes memories. Black Swan got deep into memories of Acheron and met there IX (the black hole in the end of red flashback), which made her terrified and possibly even endangered.
@@quietguyjosh4643 i cant even emember when the last time we get a normal and mentally sane person, starting from huo2, argenti, ruan mei, ratio, swan, sparkle and next we get acheron and aventurine, all of them is fcked up in some ways
I love how the 2.1 livestream said her concept was summed up by "Fade". At the beginning, she is partially faded or vacant. In the dance, Blackswan is holding and guiding all her movements, like she isn't really "present" in the world. But then Blackswan goes past surface reality and into the memories and... awakens... whatever it is that can become an actual Emanator of Nihility. And it terrifies her. She becomes passive in the dance instead. Also, starting full of confidence with "this will be our first engagement" only to end with "this will be our last engagement". Like, lol nope. EDIT: also, not just confident, she's cocky. Really cocky. They are in her domain, by her own choice, dealing with memories, and what "I want to know". Despite both being tall women she is deliberately looking down her nose at Acheron as they dance.
Here's a little thirsty TMI and sorry in advance 🌹 A "dance" during a play or song is sometimes a code for sex, explaining the intense cutscenes Besides Black panting in the end😅
Acheron might not have done anything on purpose to Black Swan; it seems like just glimpsing into Acheron's memories caused the terror. The question "Excuse me, are you asking me?" seems to be said by Acheron, but also by her "other form". Acheron also says later that she had a nice time dancing with Black Swan. Not only is there Hunt imagery (with the predator/prey scenes), there's also Nihility imagery (the black hole absorbing a star, Black Swan being torn apart as she's falling into a black hole)
hasnt there also been a debate on why nihility and finality are still seperate aeons while being so closely connected. wouldnt be surprised if we get to see them get combined at some point or whether there is some key difference that maintains seperate paths
@@Arthera0 Haven't heard of that. The Paths aren't really similar. Nihility is basically the same as Nihilism: "Everything is meaningless". It even has 2 factions representing positive (Doctors of Chaos) and negative (Self Annihilators) nihilism. Not much is known about Finality; just that the Aeon supposedly moves backwards through time, and the factions are all about prophecies.
@@Arthera0 Just b/c there is a definite end to all things, doesn't mean that "everything is meaningless" like Nihility believes. They're somewhat related in their focus on "ending", but that's about it. "Everything is meaningless" means that there is no inherent or intrinsic meaning to life; the point is that since there is no meaning given from an external source, meaning must come from within, and you can make it whatever you want.
@@ubermenschen01 your probably not wrong but both IX and Finality are still too mysterious to just blindly discard their connection. i think is is eventually going to matter.
Fun thing to note, along with what you pointed out. At the end of the dance, Black Swan has gone completely limp. Meaning that, even though she survived, and seemingly got away from Acheron's mind, the only reason that she hasn't collapsed is because Acheron STILL has a grip on her. So even though Black Swan gave absolutely everything that she had, just to get away from Acheron and survive, she actually failed. Since Acheron still hunted her down and caught her, even out of the mind scape. Which only makes Black Swan's terror at the end even more valid, since a character that was introduced to seem almost untouchable, literally couldn't even get away from Acheron, without Acheron just letting her.
0:43 Kalpa is essentially a cycle of the universe. End every time the universe ends and is reborn again is another Kalpa, basically reincarnation not on a universal scale. Basically the title is a cute way of summing up some lore around IX/Nihility that is even mentioned in the description of the video: “Because everything that had happened will one day regress to the end, and everything that had ended is guaranteed to happen again. The universe undergoes an eternal recurrence under THEIR shadow…” So Rondo(repetition) Across Countless Kalpas(an iteration of the universe)- kind of codeword for everything repeats infinitely throughout every iteration/cycle of the universe, both reflecting how every iteration of Raiden Mei seems to go trough similar tragedies in their lives no matter which universe they are in, and reflecting one of the fundamental principles of IX the Eon of Nihility. Very cool subtext IMO
"it's like a tango"... Well, it is a tango, lmao- I stand on the side that says Acheron did nothing wrong here. In fact, she doesn't even know what happened because she was just dancing unaware BS was looking insided her and almost being killed for her Nihility powers. Some people says she has a split personality or she has some weird Tsukiyomi power but I think none of that is true (they just don't go with Star Rail style)-
Great analysis as always! Wonder what it all means...I initially thought Acheron just didn't have her memories due to how the story quest seems to tell us but she does seem to remember them, though just in passing. Interested to see how the annihilation gang might come into play here - I can't imagine they gave us a video of all the members and talked about Duke Inferno this much just for them to not do anything in game...
So the stars of acheron above someone seems to be a reference to Raiden mei standing over Kiana from impact 3rd And one thing I found super interesting was the smoke like effects that black swan used on acheron like when she was running her hands up her arms or kissing the back of her hand Is this a representation of black swan charm and her trying to lower acheron gaurd so she can enter her memories Or is this some power the garden has like a spell
The look on Swan's face after the dance is the existential dread of realizing she made a lethal mistake and couldn't have done anything if Acheron actually wanted her dead. Suddenly we're faced with the realization that the only reason we walked away from the Phantylia fight in one piece is because Phantylia was just playing around. Until now, we just had nothing to compare against. Now that we have a glimpse of something to compare against, we are forced to reach one conclusion: Emanators are terrifying.
One of the BIGGEST "fuck around and find out" moments in Honkai Star Rail history
Man, I already liked Acheron's design, but she's just flat out gorgeous in this art style.
That dance was straight up erotic, dear lord. 😂
She is SO FINE! Oh my goshhhh. That dance was so hot lol 🥵
11:19 "the annihilation gang you can say is, annihilated "
I hate that i actually laughed at this. Its so simple yet so accurate
When you laugh at your own jokes that’s when it’s truly funny
"Never gaze upon it's surface on a starless night." is a warning. Without the stars to forewarn you of the impending danger even the most prepared individual can drown. As Black Swan found out.
That 'bird' is specifically a swan
"was", that bird *was* a swan. Now its plucked meat.
Its Acheron's dinner now...
Sparkle in the distant "It should have been me!"
Fun fact - Sparkle clearly state in game that she wants to dominated or be dominated by Black Swan lmao!
I think Acheron might really be the emanator of IX. The first thing Nihility takes is memories. That also makes her the antithesis to memokeepers which would explain the violent reaction to Black Swan peeking into her memories and her feeling like she was being devoured.
It also makes me wonder if this more violent side is a split personality or something similar. Acheron was completely oblivious to what Black Swan was doing as well as what happened in the memories and the words of the one within was "excuse me, are you asking me?" as if it was a different person talking. Why would that need to be asked if Acheron was the only one there.
Just to add onto this is that we clearly see a black hole at 14:00 I ended up looking at the wiki real quick because I've been skipping the Sim Uni lore and apparently The Annihilation Gang attempted to kill IX with the help of Aha. This might mean Sparkle is in trouble too 👀
There is certainly a lot to be said for the theory of Acheron being an emenator of IX. Her ult and even this video, shows IX at some point. That giant blob. Love the point of her being the antithesis to Black Swan. Cannot wait to find out more about Acheron.
After 2.2: this aged well
3:20 "Many were drawn to this feast."
OH IT'S A FEAST ALRIGHT
Even I got rizzed up by Swan. Holy, she is too good
This is incredible. Like you, I've expected it to go in a different direction. Holy shit, that was good.
I'm from India, and Kalpa is something that someone at Hoyo has enjoyed getting into recently. Kalpa-vriksha is basically the tree of life, and a tree that grants wishes. It is synonymous with the god of creation in Hindu mythology, Brahma. Genshin had it as well in Sumeru. The burning of Irminsul was titled " Akasha Pulses, Kalpa flame rises". It signifies the end of an age. The world burning and being born anew. In HSR, countless Kalpas would imply trillions of years. I'm not a religious man, but it is fascinating how Hoyo seems to take a lot of influences from various religions across the world in building their own world. Top notch world building!
The art, the animation, and the music. I'm absolutely stunned this time around. Initially, all I could think of was the actual dance and Black Swan rizzing up Acheron (and it was HOT), but then it all changed in hues of red. There was the Aeon IX shown in there a couple of times, and in my head cannon, she is undoubtedly the emenator of Nihility. I'm saving every last pull I have for Acheron, despite being terrified of her. The same VA as Beidou from Genshin, but the tone couldn't be more different.
Kudos to you for the way you go about reacting to these. Could be so easy to just focus on the actual dance and nothing else. There are so many layers to it, and glad you've taken the time and effort to look into it!
Yes, I love how dark this got hehe
I also think it's great how Hoyo seems to pull inspo from so many different sources. It makes the worlds feel very immersive :D I also think the emanator of Nihility theory seems pretty solid! Gosh, what a cool character!
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed
The dance choreo and music was ~chef's kiss~ (did some ballroom dance back in college as a timekiller/credit fill)
Probably used a lot of references for that, maybe rotoscoping or mocap as well?
That's not even getting into the animation itself and the thematic parts
10/10
yeah they definitely mocaped two people dancing tango, this was crazy good
I thought the same.
No way they did that dancing animation freehanded.
It was either mocap or rotoscope, my bet is on the latter.
@@FlipTheBardit's rotoscope most likely.
It's impossible to capture the consistence motions and accuracy.
So it's rotoscop or rotoscope 3d.
Just look how awful is this part 3:41 if we compare to the dance scene, if it wasn't rotoscop then the animators would be able to create this scene as good as the dance scene but in reality they don't have either skilled animators nor specialized animators.
Remembrance and Nihility are the opposite. As a representative of Remembrance - Black Swan is a memetic creature that lives on memories (no memories around = she will dissapear), at same time as Emanator of Nihility - Acheron consumes memories. Black Swan got deep into memories of Acheron and met there IX (the black hole in the end of red flashback), which made her terrified and possibly even endangered.
The fact that apparently Archeon stated that she liked the dance, and would like another is just 😍
tsuki back again with the educational introduction THANK YOU FOR SEARCHING THOSE TERMS UP
Well she's terrifying
And hot. You forgot about hot.
And thats how I love my female characters
*Fucking badass*
Black swan manipulator
Sparkle unhinged
Acheron devours
Mentally unwell women coming for your wallets lol
@@quietguyjosh4643 i cant even emember when the last time we get a normal and mentally sane person, starting from huo2, argenti, ruan mei, ratio, swan, sparkle and next we get acheron and aventurine, all of them is fcked up in some ways
@@jabermogwai5996 Gallagher
Acheron Feeling: They are no good people, only good prey
Kalpas is also an Hi3 reference, which in case it's spoilers I will leave for anyone curious and reading this to look up and figure out.
both are a Sanskrit reference.
this vid was just crazy it was so cool
I freaking loved this ahhhhh! It was AMAZING 😭
Acheron shadowrealmed the Duke so easily she nearly forgot she did that xD
I didn’t expect them going so hard in this short especially the kiss scene
I love how the 2.1 livestream said her concept was summed up by "Fade". At the beginning, she is partially faded or vacant. In the dance, Blackswan is holding and guiding all her movements, like she isn't really "present" in the world. But then Blackswan goes past surface reality and into the memories and... awakens... whatever it is that can become an actual Emanator of Nihility. And it terrifies her. She becomes passive in the dance instead.
Also, starting full of confidence with "this will be our first engagement" only to end with "this will be our last engagement". Like, lol nope.
EDIT: also, not just confident, she's cocky. Really cocky. They are in her domain, by her own choice, dealing with memories, and what "I want to know". Despite both being tall women she is deliberately looking down her nose at Acheron as they dance.
Here's a little thirsty TMI and sorry in advance 🌹 A "dance" during a play or song is sometimes a code for sex, explaining the intense cutscenes Besides Black panting in the end😅
There were definitely some undertones in this hehe Honkai knows what they're doing 😏 thank you again for the tip! Very appreciated, as always
@@himetsukich your very welcome
Acheron might not have done anything on purpose to Black Swan; it seems like just glimpsing into Acheron's memories caused the terror. The question "Excuse me, are you asking me?" seems to be said by Acheron, but also by her "other form". Acheron also says later that she had a nice time dancing with Black Swan.
Not only is there Hunt imagery (with the predator/prey scenes), there's also Nihility imagery (the black hole absorbing a star, Black Swan being torn apart as she's falling into a black hole)
hasnt there also been a debate on why nihility and finality are still seperate aeons while being so closely connected. wouldnt be surprised if we get to see them get combined at some point or whether there is some key difference that maintains seperate paths
@@Arthera0 Haven't heard of that. The Paths aren't really similar. Nihility is basically the same as Nihilism: "Everything is meaningless". It even has 2 factions representing positive (Doctors of Chaos) and negative (Self Annihilators) nihilism. Not much is known about Finality; just that the Aeon supposedly moves backwards through time, and the factions are all about prophecies.
@@ubermenschen01 But why is everything meaningless? could it be cause of finality. These 2 are far more linked than you might be aware.
@@Arthera0 Just b/c there is a definite end to all things, doesn't mean that "everything is meaningless" like Nihility believes. They're somewhat related in their focus on "ending", but that's about it.
"Everything is meaningless" means that there is no inherent or intrinsic meaning to life; the point is that since there is no meaning given from an external source, meaning must come from within, and you can make it whatever you want.
@@ubermenschen01 your probably not wrong but both IX and Finality are still too mysterious to just blindly discard their connection. i think is is eventually going to matter.
guys this trailer turned me straight LMAOOOOOO
You could say you were… scared straight.
@@gmoney9469 fr
Fun thing to note, along with what you pointed out. At the end of the dance, Black Swan has gone completely limp. Meaning that, even though she survived, and seemingly got away from Acheron's mind, the only reason that she hasn't collapsed is because Acheron STILL has a grip on her. So even though Black Swan gave absolutely everything that she had, just to get away from Acheron and survive, she actually failed. Since Acheron still hunted her down and caught her, even out of the mind scape.
Which only makes Black Swan's terror at the end even more valid, since a character that was introduced to seem almost untouchable, literally couldn't even get away from Acheron, without Acheron just letting her.
0:43 Kalpa is essentially a cycle of the universe. End every time the universe ends and is reborn again is another Kalpa, basically reincarnation not on a universal scale. Basically the title is a cute way of summing up some lore around IX/Nihility that is even mentioned in the description of the video: “Because everything that had happened will one day regress to the end, and everything that had ended is guaranteed to happen again. The universe undergoes an eternal recurrence under THEIR shadow…”
So Rondo(repetition) Across Countless Kalpas(an iteration of the universe)- kind of codeword for everything repeats infinitely throughout every iteration/cycle of the universe, both reflecting how every iteration of Raiden Mei seems to go trough similar tragedies in their lives no matter which universe they are in, and reflecting one of the fundamental principles of IX the Eon of Nihility. Very cool subtext IMO
As a man, why am i enjoying this so bad😂?
Because it's SO GOOD
Cuz they're hot? (it's also top tier animation and production)
Perhaps you want to be one of them?
"it's like a tango"... Well, it is a tango, lmao-
I stand on the side that says Acheron did nothing wrong here. In fact, she doesn't even know what happened because she was just dancing unaware BS was looking insided her and almost being killed for her Nihility powers. Some people says she has a split personality or she has some weird Tsukiyomi power but I think none of that is true (they just don't go with Star Rail style)-
Also hime im so proud of u fr youve grown so much fr i remeber finding u from when u watched a nijisanji livestream for the iluna wave
Thank you so much! I don't think I've ever watched a Nijisanji livestream tbh haha but either way, thank you 🤩
@@himetsukich hmm really ig I must be thinking of someone else I'm sry but still ur doing great 😸
the music.... phenomenal
I loved your analysis!!!
Great analysis as always! Wonder what it all means...I initially thought Acheron just didn't have her memories due to how the story quest seems to tell us but she does seem to remember them, though just in passing. Interested to see how the annihilation gang might come into play here - I can't imagine they gave us a video of all the members and talked about Duke Inferno this much just for them to not do anything in game...
9:39 that is not what a waltz looks like. This is all Tango baby
the animation is amazing
Great reaction
Thank you so much for the tip! Much appreciated
Ngl Black swan looking finer than kafka and acheron,which speaks itself how pretty she's.
So the stars of acheron above someone seems to be a reference to Raiden mei standing over Kiana from impact 3rd
And one thing I found super interesting was the smoke like effects that black swan used on acheron like when she was running her hands up her arms or kissing the back of her hand
Is this a representation of black swan charm and her trying to lower acheron gaurd so she can enter her memories
Or is this some power the garden has like a spell
damn... Black swan got roughed up. 😏
Now you know who's getting fixed🤣
Wahhh! Thank you so much for the tip! I appreciate it
They were so weak against her she doesn't remember them😂
What a gigachad. Asserts her dominance to the rememberance by forgetting 🤣
Imagine killing an immortal and then just going, "Wow, that was uneventful."
2:38 so like… regular tango? 😂
The look on Swan's face after the dance is the existential dread of realizing she made a lethal mistake and couldn't have done anything if Acheron actually wanted her dead.
Suddenly we're faced with the realization that the only reason we walked away from the Phantylia fight in one piece is because Phantylia was just playing around. Until now, we just had nothing to compare against.
Now that we have a glimpse of something to compare against, we are forced to reach one conclusion: Emanators are terrifying.
More specifically it's an Argentinian Tango
THIS PART IS UNDERRATED 2:29
so you’re saying rondo across countless kalpas could be synonymous for dance across multiple universes? (pls i need more hi3 references)
Yes! That's what I got out of it at least hehe a very interesting title
This too is yuri. Tango? Yuri. Hand kisses? Yuri. Violent dismemberment? Also yuri.
Yuri to domestic violence is wild 😭😭😭😭
YURI!!!!
Such a primitive and lazy way to attract attention. Get players to draw a bunch of lesbian content to promote their characters.
So surprising, so original! Another yuri ship from Chinese company 🗿
to quote a great character... for US and Black Swan the Annihilation Gang were a BIG deal, but for Acheron.... It was only a tuesday
Love ur reactions❤