You wouldn't believe that the BlazBlue fanbase can be very volatile when it comes to its contents. It's not as much as other infamous fanbases, but we try to list them.
- The story structure and presentation itself. One camp enjoy its rather complex structure, but another camp is absolutely baffled with how many terms included, decrying the writers to be unable to make stories without resorting to 'incomphrehensible jargons'. The same can be said for the concepts of Time Travel and Alternate Universe present to the game. So it boils down between "Nice and deep story" vs "Utterly confusing crap". That's about its structure.
- Presentation-wise, some camps are broken when it comes to its very Anime-heavy designs. Some are okay with it... but some instead goes anti-Japanese and then decry it with derisions like 'it's too animu!' and preferring to jump ship to the 'more manly' sister series Guilty Gear. It's like those who like both equally are rare breeds.
- There's also the fact that the series seems very heavy on All There in the Manual, with extra materials released in Japan only. One camp is fine with that, and appreciate it when it's fan-translated. Another camp see it as another ammunition to say that they can't write a story or condense them in just games, the only media reachable internationally.
- The story content itself. Fans can't seem to agree whether it's actually a deep, engrossing story, or a story that tries too hard to be deep and fail, and is better off doing Gag Reels all day. And guess what, there are also separate camps on that: One camp thinks the Gag Reels are refreshing and genuinely funny, and the other thinks otherwise, say that it's repetitive and repeating the same jokes over and over it stops being funny, etc.
- Most entries are fine, but Chronophantasma has a big one. Gameplay seems untouched and fine, but the storytelling, especially the console... is it a fine story that did justifiably feel rushed because Mori at first tried to cram everything to the end in one game, but realized that it's too big to handle for one game, and so decided to use it as a prelude? Or is it just genuinely bad you feel like the writing team got bashed in the head many times to the point of producing a story that pulls the confusing craps up to eleven, make established characters suffer Flanderization while turning the story into something of a
Mary Sue-fest? - And ooh boy, the character. You better believe this... characters that have any semblance of a solid, agreeably positive base can be counted with just one hand.
- Ragna the Bloodedge. Either a well-rounded, worthy, developing hero that is admirable and badass in the same time... Or a Memetic Loser and Failure Hero who can't seem to get things done right and being a Cosmic Plaything where he couldn't even be taken seriously. Didn't help that he took after Sol Badguy, badass extraordinary, that he fell kind of short, but the other camp see it as a more realistic take of this kind of badass. The same camp would also prefer to Woobify him to hell and back and use him as a milestone on how likable other characters are (depends on how nice they are to him and his plight), the other camp are baffled at the ignorance of his other questionable qualities (being an uncaring mass-murderer on a bad day)
- Jin Kisaragi seems like he can't escape the stigma of being a creepy murderous Yandere little brother, and his efforts to assert himself as his own person and saving the little amount of people he actually held dear is usually overwhelmed with that, or how he's overly mean to the crowd 'favorite' Noel Vermillion. Aside of that, the more positive fans of his seem to enjoy his development and think that the haters are just overblowing his negative points that he might get over one day.
- Speaking of Noel Vermillion, while one camp truly thinks that she's an utterly shy adorable girl who has gone through shit and one of the cutest characters ever, in other words, top candidate of The Woobie, she has just as much detractors that say that she's a mere moeblob who is utterly spineless and nearing Damsel in Distress levels, considering how clumsy she is. Only after asserting herself in Chronophantasma that she seemed to get better... but she's still kind of submissive to Jin instead of mouthing him off!? How dare she. Sayeth her haters.
- Dear God, Rachel Alucard... On one hand, she is a really snarky vampire girl that is very much Tsundere beneath and believes that she is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, everything she does was to secure a better future of humanity standing on their own. Unfortunately, for some, her snarking is considered going too far to the point of needless crypticism, to the point that they hate her for being a needlessly snobby brat who abuses Ragna while never having to pay for what she has done and always being considered a hero. You'll be surprised to see how many people would gladly express their hatred on her based on that.
- On large, Taokaka seems to be largely accepted as the funniest character ever. However, she has just as much people who says that she's a completely pointless addition to the roster in terms of story as her only contribution was nothing more than 'comic relief'.
- The whole subplot of Litchi Faye-Ling and Arakune is broken in so many levels it's not even funny:
- First there's the importance. Is it an actually good ongoing subplot, or is it a completely pointless subplot that the story's better without when there are bigger things at stake like world safety?
- This seeps into Litchi's character and portrayal as well. One camp believes that she's a tragic character with interesting story and development, with them hoping for the best for one of the kindest characters in the game, instead of her being deemed Too Good for This Sinful Earth, considering her an Forced into Evil Anti-Villain. On the other hand, the other camp believes that she's an utterly selfish bitch who would throw the world and everyone that cared about her under the bus for the sake of 'a world where Roy' is safe and gleefully ignoring everything else, this is not helped with her portrayal in Chronophantasma where she said exactly that, context be damned, thus considering her a full blown villain that has crossed the Moral Event Horizon because of that. Surprisingly there's another camp that are largely apathetic to Litchi, only considering her 'only good for her boobs' and nothing else.
- Arakune's portrayal overall, first there are a camp that believes that he is a result of tragedy, an experiment gone wrong and even at his worst, he still has his shades of humanity, thus Litchi was justified to try and save him. But on the other hand, the other camp believes that he's in fact a selfish Glory Seeker who wants nothing more than to upstage his superior, and his current fate was utterly deserving, and Litchi is a fool to try to save someone deemed selfish and 'wouldn't give a damn'. In the same time, there are another camp that believes NOTHING about those extra depths Arakune has for a monster like him, he's just a cannon fodder monster that no one should care about or so they believe.
- Bang Shishigami, to many, is the epitome of badassery and one of the most positive heroes the universe can get and the manliest man among men. In other words, he's the Memetic Badass that everyone worships and can do no wrong. Those who don't buy it, however, believes that he's just like the rest: Heroic, yes, but has some big flaws. And then there's the camp that thinks that Bang's over-the-topness gets annoying and the fact that regardless of how you put it, he's a rather creepy stalker to Litchi and his juvenile fantasies about her makes him completely undeserving of her.
- Carl Clover has had quite a fractured base since the beginning. Those who like him sympathize with his fucked up upbringing and hope for the best for him. The other camp that hates him... which is... large to say the least... thinks that he's not only annoying because he's a little boy, he's still using unsavory methods to get what he wants (serenely murdering other people for information), he's not manning up to his troubles, and he does not listen to others when they say his sister is driving him crazy and for his safety he better stay away.
- Hakumen was usually known as either an interesting alternate version of Jin Kisaragi, but no less badass, or to some, he's an improvement over every aspects of Jin, being 'less whiny' and 'more devoted for justice', this is while forgetting what other sees him as: An extreme Knight Templar who'll still want the world obliterated because it's too corrupted on his sight. Things go badly for him in the climax of CP: On his killing on Terumi, is he really just doing what he is expected, the badass who successfully slays evil, or has he been reduced to an unnecessary plot-device?
- Nu-13. Hoo boy. In also probably overlapping with Draco in Leather Pants, one camp believes she's just a tortured soul put through many shits that needs a genuine hug (instead of getting subjected by her hug.exe), while one camp believes that she's just a plain creepy Yandere and does not excuse how she's hating everything and wanting everything blown up because she hates them. And bases were broken further at the climax of CP where she backstabs Ragna, whether people believe things were out of control or whether she just crossed the grandest of all Moral Event Horizon.
- Lambda-11. For the most part, she seems positively received, as one of the top contender of Woobies in the game. However, there's also a camp that didn't buy it, and simply views her as a 'blank state' and excuse for people to put their OC inside her.
- Hoo boy, Tsubaki Yayoi. Again, the camp is split whether she's a legit sympathetic Woobie or not, but the haters camp are kind of fractured further on why they hate her. One camp thinks she's despicable for not sticking with Noel and striking against her in CS and CP (until the end), and another camp seems to hate her because her hatred towards Ragna, the camp is split between either how they think she's just piling up to Ragna's already big misfortunes, and the other camp were more extreme to the point of making her the biggest Scrappy of all... because she gets in the way of the Ragna/Jin ship, though this seems to be contained more in Japan.
- Hazama/Terumi himself. First, the camp is split between whether he's actually a very much worthy and refreshing villain for the genre, after a series of misunderstood villains, a blatantly evil villain is a change of pace... or whether people thinks such qualities makes him a shallow villain that his Villain Sue qualities becomes overly annoying. There's also a camp that is confused whether Hazama and Terumi are the same person or different people (they might be separated into two characters, but the fundamental characters are often confused). And there's also the fact that people argue about his strength: Truly OP to the core, or only looking OP because he has cheat sheets, take it away and he's toast?
- Makoto Nanaya. Is she truly a worthy addition to the cast with her upbeat personality and seemingly impregnable morality, or is she just an unnecessary addition of fanservice. Along with that, the parts she played as well. Is she really an antithesis of Terumi and whatever minor things she did had an effect on Terumi's downfall... or is she exactly that: A minor character that does not make any difference, harkening back to the haters' opinion of 'unnecessary additions of fanservice'?
- Platinum the Trinity. One camp believes she's hilarious and a good Shout Out to the Magical Girl Genre, another camp... well there's a reason we list her firsthand in The Scrappy section of this game.
- Relius Clover seemed like to be more than he looks. He might have greater depth as a Foil to Terumi, even if he seemed to be doing things like a completely sadistic evil shallow villain who does things For Science!. Well, the base is broken about him about whether he's actually a greater in-depth villain that can actually have a shot in redemption, or whether he has no depth, he's defined based on his amoral crimes towards others and pretty much nothing more than a Complete Monster without depth. Which camp do you believe in more about him?
- Bullet suffers similar thing with Makoto Nanaya, either a welcome addition to the roster, or an unnecessary addition to the roster in the name of fanservice, made worse that at her debut, due to the aforementioned story problems, Bullet kind of get shafted story-wise.
- Kokonoe A. Mercury. Very similarly to Rachel, one camp seems to be at awe with her Deadpan Snarker Mad Scientist persona that simply doesn't give a fuck on anything, but possesses a lot of knowledge and wisdom that they'd excuse her for planning amoral things as long as it gets Terumi killed or sabotaged and the world saved, acknowledging her pitiful past, while another camp believes that her tough, uncaring attitude only gets her nowhere and she does not deserve such praise and support, someone should kick her off her high and mighty prideful pedestal and give her a dose of Break the Haughty, and not even believing her past, considering them an inadequate Freudian Excuse.
- Kagura Mutsuki himself. On one hand, he's one of the more positive members of NOL that sheds the 'always tyrannical empire' image the NOL was infamously known for in the past. On the other hand, another camp hates his Handsome Lech status, stating it as creepy and over the top it overrides his good qualities. Tumblr really had a field day on this.
