mobage_manual | Recommending Characters #3: Kanade Yoisaki (Project SEKAI) (Reply)

Introduction:

Welcome to Recommending Characters! In this section of the blog, I’ll be making an overview of a certain character from one of the franchises I’m into once every two weeks, as well as highlighting their best and most important moments in canon, in hopes that it’ll make the readers interested both in the character and in the game itself!

Today, I’m going to introduce a character from yet another franchise (although it’s the last one I’ll tackle regularly from the three already introduced): Kanade Yoisaki from Project SEKAI! This game is my favorite mobage right behind Mahoyaku, as anything with Vocaloid in it always pulls me in, so I was excited to finally introduce it here! And yet again, we’re starting with my favorite character – but don’t worry, because thanks to the polls, readers will start seeing the characters they’ve voted for from now on!

Member of Nightcord at 25:00 (also known as 25ji, Nightcord de, or even Nightchord or Nightcode before the official English translation of the game came out) in charge of the music composition, Kanade Yoisaki is a 16-year-old girl whose main priority became creating music that can ‘save someone’ after an incident which hurt the most important person in her life. Because of this, she attends online classes, and doesn’t leave her home unless absolutely necessary, having Honami Mochizuki as a part-time housekeeper to help her out with cooking or other housework. So far, things have been going well with her music circle, but maybe not for long after a strange song called ‘Untitled’ showed up on her computer desktop… With all that said, let’s begin!

Profile and general overview:

"... I must write more songs..."

Out of the five units in-game, Kanade (alias ‘K’) is a member of Nightcord at 25:00, a four-member music circle who meet and work through an app called ‘Nightcord’, without knowing each other’s names or faces. She was born on February 10th, making her an Aquarius, and she’s 1,54m tall, placing her as one of the shortest characters of the game, only beating Emu out of its original characters. Her voice actress is Tomori Kusunoki, whose other roles in mobage include characters like Tamao Tomoe (Revue Starlight: Relive) and, formerly, Setsuna Yuuki (Love Live). Kanade is also the only character to be homeschooled, though it’s been stated she’d be a 2nd year student if enrolled on a regular course. Other data in her profile includes a good amount of hobbies, a few likes and dislikes, and something she’s good at (keeping track of time without a clock).

It’s finally revealed in Nightcord at 25:00’s Main Story that Kanade’s trauma regarding music comes from when she was still living with her father – a musician by work who had been struggling to come up with songs for his clients lately. In sight of that, Kanade, also proficient at music, decided to help him out by composing songs herself, which ended up being endlessly praised by her father, to the point Kanade’s songs were the only ones being chosen by his clients. This stressed Kanade’s father to the point of overworking, ending up hospitalized and with memory loss as a result, and ever since then, Kanade swore to only make music that could make others happy to the point of saving them, composing non-stop. This continues to this day with Nightcord at 25:00, focusing on songs that can help save their fellow circle member, Mafuyu Asahina (alias ‘Yuki’), which is what we’ll dive into next.

Stories:

Main Story Highlight:

Unlike the two other franchises I’ve covered so far, Project SEKAI features a separate Main Story for each of its groups instead of an unified Main Story switching focus between characters. This is where the different groups are introduced, as well as their main conflict and the start of their story arc, which is followed later in the unit’s song events.

In Nightcord at 25:00’s Main Story, Kanade takes one of its main roles alongside her groupmate Mafuyu. After the shocking reveal of Mafuyu being the person behind OWN, a new composer in the scene with songs that follow in N25’s vein, and declaring that just like her, the rest of N25 also wants to disappear, including Ena and Mizuki. The story progresses revealing Kanade’s previously discussed backstory, and ends with her declaring that despite how hopeless everything might seem, she’ll never give up in making songs that can save someone, including Mafuyu. This is pivotal to her character, and is an on-going conflict that even now, almost three years since the game’s release, remains sort of unresolved, although she’s slowly starting to do more things for fun as time passes in-game.

Similarly, and despite being the unit’s leader, a lot of Kanade’s motivations aren’t revealed until the release of her song events. Let’s take a look at their summaries and associated songs!

Song Events:

Carnation Recollection

“(She thinks what happened to her dad is all her fault and is making songs like this as some sort of punishment.)

(I want to tell her that it's not her fault and she doesn't have to do this...)

(But I doubt that'll make her stop. It probably doesn't matter who tells her.)

(So at the very least...)”

Kanade’s very first focus event (which was one of the later ones, as she was one of the characters featured the most in the unit’s Main Story) comes in the form of one of her usual writer’s blocks, which is only accentuated as her father’s health deteriorates. During this time, Mizuki and Kanade have an encounter, which might inspire a few revelations about Kanade’s past.... As a “fun” note, I cried rivers when I read this back in 2021, so take that as you will as to how this event might touch at your heartstrings!

Associated song: Kanade Tomosu Sora (tl.: Music Illuminating the Sky) by sasanomaly.

Someday, from the Depths of Despair

“(She understands what it's like to be alone in the depths of despair.)

(Which means if Yuki and I keep working together, maybe someday...)

(I just might be able to...)

(Compose a song that can save someone.)”

This event is not the first time Kanade and Nightcord at 25:00’s past is referenced. However, it was the first time the anecdote of “Kanade and Mafuyu joined N25 first” is developed more through actual flashbacks depicting those events, as well as some scenes related to Kanade’s family that directly tie in with the Main Story. It offers a pretty raw side of Kanade in comparison to the present, which is an interesting contrast that shows both a growth and healing in her character.

Associated song: Tricologe by Niru Kajitsu.

Inmiscible Discord

“(Yes, because she's her parent… Because this person is Mafuyu's parent, I thought I could find some kind of warmth from her.)

(But… I was wrong… Even if she's her parent… she doesn't necessarily have to be like her.)

(It's not good to stay this way. If things go on like this, Mafuyu will be tortured by this person.)

(She will kill her feelings and try to fulfill her mom's wishes…)

(In that case, she will—)”

Kanade’s most recent song event takes N25’s story further when Mafuyu’s mom, suspicious of her daughter, starts inspecting her computer which leads her to contact Kanade, asking to meet in person… This story navigates what might be the calm before the storm that follows in the next events, so it’s not as character heavy as it could have been, however it’s still a must-read as it will become relevant much later – The set of cards that accompanied the event as well as its associated song are also inspired by The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, which offers interesting symbolism, very obviously placing Mafuyu as Gregor Samsa, though other characters’ roles aren’t strictly defined.

Associated song: Samsa by Teniwoha.

Other Events:

Everyone, enjoy! SpoJoy Park

Like most other mixed events, this event is lighter compared to the previous ones (not without its tiny pinch of angst, however), as it follows Kanade taking measures to keep being able to compose by staying in shape and starting out to exercise, helped and joined by Ena, Minori and Ichika in her endeavors thanks to the newly opened SpoJoy park, somewhere they can keep active without being exposed to summer’s scorching heat. A very funny event that serves as a breather from N25’s storyline!

Other non-song events including Kanade that stand out to me are Scramble Fan Festa (for Kanade interacting with characters from different units) and The Warmth of Intersecting Melodies (for Kanade bonding over music with other characters).

Fun-facts:

Kanade’s hair is so long that sometimes she trips on it when standing up, but refuses to cut it because it would be more of a hassle for her.
She enjoys any kind of music, including video game soundtracks. However, because of this, she’s not good with videogames themselves, as she gets absorbed in their music instead of playing them.
Her surname, Yoisaki, is not a real Japanese surname, and it was made up by the creators to fit the thematic naming in every unit, which in N25’s case, is related to different times of the day.

Closing thoughts

This was probably the most challenging entry so far, due to the sheer amount of events Project SEKAI has compared to the franchises I’ve tackled in previous entries, and how it required me to catch up a bit with the game to have all the information up-to-date, as much as possible at least! Which will probably be harder than ever once the game’s story moves a year forward after its 3rd Anniversary in less than a month, haha…

Like I stated at the beginning of this entry, every character from now onwards will be decided via almost-monthly polls, and, in case of a tie, the character will then be chosen at random, which was the case for the next Project SEKAI character who will be featured… In around a month! But please look forward to other franchises’ entries too. With that, we’ve reached the end! Thank you for reading this far!

Credits: