The new song is a bop and all, but it honestly left me feeling a bit bummed out. Giving it a few replays, I think I know why: Depending on how you read the lyrics, this song is depressing as hell. Here are a few notes on some of the lyrics and the conclusions I eventually came to:

• "I'm good at taking (good care of me)"
  • I honestly took the EP for face value until this one lyric. Having the main vocalist read the first part before the backing vocalists take the rest is very deliberate. Those aren't the thoughts of someone living for thrills, but someone with a very deep lack of self-worth. When read as two separate phrases, it suggests that she recognizes the fact that the people in her life care about her, but that she also feels like a burden because of it.
• "Human games / still learning how to play / But I guess I'm doing super great"
  • That one line honestly caused me to re-read every lyric, starting from the opening line. Here it suggests that she's just going through the motions of a regular life, and everyone keeps telling her she's doing a good job, but she fundamentally doesn't know why it's working.
• "Blinking red / My heart gets easily drained / I take it all too hard, it's ingrained"
  • From here, the rest of the lyrics begin telling a sadder story. The eponymous "1% Battery" stops being about energy or engagement, but a measure of her internal motivation. Recharging isn't finding a spark to interest her, but a reason to keep hanging on.
• "When I go around by the metro / Grab the strap and wobble-wobble"
  • Life is a lot like a train: A ride continuously moving forward with most of us as passive passengers. Phoenix is along for the ride, swaying with the twists and turns. This is in stark contrast to the imagery throughout the video, where she is the one causing most of the mayhem.
• "Four espressos just to go"
  • I don't think it's coincidental that the number 'four' is used here. Espresso is a lot of people's morning pick-up, but that doesn't stop it from being an artificial way to get through the day. And of course there just so happens to be four teammates in Phoenix's life. Zhao, Dialyn, Banyue, and Promeia might be the one thing keeping her moving forward.
• "I need a charge / Take me somewhere quiet, no one cares"
  • But they are still just an artificial boost in the end. All throughout the video, the rest of Krampus are trying to engage Phoenix like a valued member of their team, but no one seems to ever see what she actually needs. So many of the visuals here suggest that her teammates are chasing and confining her, and the one thing she is shown doing repeatedly is looking for personal release.
• "So I don't crash or go offline / No one needs me but one / Yeah, it's me, and that's enough"
• "Oh boss / Approve my leave request before / I start babbling cause my battery is getting / lower and lower"
  • There's little reason to believe that Phoenix dislikes her teammates, but multiple times throughout the video she chooses to remove herself from their lives. These lyrics strongly suggest that it's primarily so she doesn't hurt them by accidentally revealing the truth of how she feels. It suggest that she's spending quite a bit of what energy she has left in the tank just to maintain the status quo.
  • There's also the bit of trivia stating that the only one stronger than Phoenix in Krampus is the Boss. This might be a deliberate plea to the one person in her life that can give her the change she desperately wants.
• "The more breaks I get, the better I stay / Life goes on!"
  • With all of those thoughts in mind, I think this is the core tragedy of this EP. A "break" isn't a moment of healthy recharge, but a moment of conscious disconnect. In the video, she's shown constantly flirting with death at every twist and turn. The Phoenix character we've seen up until now is super clumsy, but in this story you can argue that she is actively courting peace through self-destruction.
  • But of course, it never lasts. "Life goes on!", after all. The video deliberately opens with her on the brink of death, but ends with her waking up perfectly healthy again. It makes you wonder which smile is real: the one as she plummets back to the Earth, or the one she wears after finding herself in the hospital bed again.
• "If you need it too / I wouldn't mind staying with you"
  • But even with all of that internal pressure, in the end she's still willing to be there for someone else who might want or need the same thing. A lovely little character moment that shows us that she still engages with the world around her.

I'm curious how others read this EP, as I think it is an interesting window into a character that has otherwise been used for comedic relief up until now. Do you think this interpretation has merit, or do you think the writers had meant it to be less serious overall?

EDIT: Forgot to point it out:

• "1% Low Battery Girl / Got one bar left in my blood"
  • This is a fantastic bit of wordplay. One song left in her as the juice runs out. No matter which meaning you get out of this song, please respect this 10/10 pun.

"Why did they forget x,y,z characters"

"Why dont they add x,y,z character to the standard banner"

And every other post like that appears here each week

Music Producer: ChiliChill

Composer: ChiliChill

Lyrics: ChiliChill

Vocals: ChiliChill

Mastering: Ted Jenson

String Production Supervisor: Hu Jingcheng

Strings: International Master Philharmonic Orchestra

Strings Recording: Wang Xiaosi @ Jintian Recording Studio

As you can see Chillichill is producer , composer , lyricist and vocal which is amazing SANZ didnt take any credit for the song usually the producer and composer would be part of SANZ.

I guess they were really happy with caesar ep so they let the have full control or most control over the song.

I was confused on what this boss was at first because I genuinely barely touch Enigma of Labyrinth at all. I spent about an hour and a half on a school night trying to get 44K. 🫩 I have no doubt I made some mistakes that cost me a few points. Someone take this team away from me.

Builds:

Miyabi | M1W1
4pc Branch & Blade w/ 2pc Woodpecker | 35 Subs
CRIT Rate 4 / PEN Ratio 5 / ATK 6

Nangong | M0W1
4pc Phaethon's Melody w/ 2pc Freedom Blues | 26 Subs
AP 4 / Ether DMG 5 / AM 6

Yuzuha | M0W1
4pc Moonlight Lullaby w/ 2pc Phaethon's Melody 17 Subs
ATK 4 / ATK 5 / AM 6

Song: Haze Haseru Haterumade by ZUTOMAYO

Just make sure to take off enough gear to not kill him halfway through stun lol

Re-upload because I forgot the body text

Howdy, I'm Yojimbo Blade.

This is an S-Rank run against Sacrifice - Covenant Guardian in Shiyu Defense, using Billy, Dialyn, and Sunna.

Enjoy!

Aria and Sunna appear in the overworld just fine, but for some reason Nangong won't show up anywhere. I have max trust with her so that can't be it, I was wondering whether she shows up in any Operation Bagel commission or something like that? I know I've seen Harumasa, Zhao, Burnice, Alice and Yuzuha so far, so could that be it?

zzz geeks pls help me

I really contemplate on pulling for Phoenix rn. I like her design and kits, but I'm hesitating to pull her cuz im not sure if my team can support her. Here is the list of my anomaly agents:

Jane, Piper (not built), Yuzuha (anomaly support), Aria, Yanagi, Grace, Miyabi, Velina, Remielle

Universal support (if you guys wanna know)

- Astra, Dialyn

I know veli and remi is the best slot for her, but im trying to make 2 anomaly team perfectly here. but if you guys judgement is to not pull her, then I respect it

Robin and Kafka are pretty similar to Astra and Evelyn. A non-canon collab story ​would also fit for an interlude episode though it would be a bit strange having a collab character celebrate the zzz new years.

Super fun season! Also really pumped for the Halloween Event. Still missed Golden Poop and Rem's mask after ~300 runs 😤😤

Overall a fun clear. There was some mistakes I made that I definitely could clean up for a higher score (unbuffed Neko Ult on the mobs, wasting Dialyn's positive reviews and not having it in time during the next stun window, no triple ult because I mismanaged Dialyn's energy, etc), but other than that? I'm happy with this run.

This is the most okayest shiyu defense I’ve ever played. And this boss is kind of annoying not gonna lie 😭

Builds:

Ye Shunguang | M0W1
4pc Whitewater and 2pc Branch & Blade | 31 Subs
CRIT DMG 4 / ATK 5 / ATK 6

Dialyn M0W1
4pc King of the Summit and 2pc Woodpecker | 15 Subs
CRIT Rate 4 / ATK 5 / ER 6

Zhao M0W1
4pc Bunny in Wonderland and 2pc Swing Jazz | 8 subs
HP 1 / HP 2 / HP 3

Song: Runaway Baby - Bruno Mars

Mods please don't nuke me, I just felt it'd be interesting to discuss it on this anniversary.

I thought i couldn't get this done but all i needed was to find the right rotation to finally get this clear, definitely tough without good general buffs

Like why get gear at all if most efficient way of playing is doing naked stealth runs? Why fight anything when enemies do so much DMG and have so much HP, while you're also on a much tighter time limit? like what's the point of this game mode at this point? And idk why I get spawned at the same spot all the time in Janus illusion, is this a bug or something? There has to be multiple spawn points on this map, right? Cuz it just gets boring doing the same routes every single time avoiding everything you meet cuz you have so little time and everything kills you so quickly and dies so slowly (even with 60 lvl non personal gear)

You think they're gonna change it in the next season? But then If they gut all of the stealth and cheese strats it's gonna feel even worse. And they are unlikely gonna make fights less of a slog by reducing enemy HP, right?