To celebrate the 100th edition of its monthly Granblue Fantasy spread “GraTsu”, Famitsu hosted a conversation between Katou Emiri (Sierokarte) and Takagi Miyu (Mirin), the former hosts of Famitsu’s weekly “Issho ni Granblue” stream. We’ve translated their conversation while we wait for Unite and Fight to start.
This article originally appeared in weekly Famitsu magazine, and was posted in its entirety on their website on June 17th, 2025. The translation is ours, and any errors are vibratingsheep’s.
They don’t have to join us?! Two perspectives on favorite characters
Famitsu: The two of you ran the Famitsu-produced show “Granblue with Emiri and Miyu!”. The show unfortunately ended its run, but how do you remember it?
Katou: That show started pretty soon after GBF launched, right? I didn’t know that much about the game back then.
Takagi: It was about a year after the game launched, I think?
Katou: And you barely knew anything about the game, Miyu (laughs)
Takagi: Yeah. Unlike you, I didn’t have a role in the game (laughs).
Katou: When I was confirmed as the host of that show, they asked me “If you had your pick of another host, what kind of person would you pick?”. And I told them “I want a girl who plays games.” That’s how they got a gamer like you, Miyu, and that was awesome!
These days you’ve easily surpassed me as a skyfarer, and it’s been amazing to have a partner who can talk about GBF with me on equal footing.
Takagi: Until we started, I only played single player games, so it was a new experience to play with a crew. I was surprised seeing things like “Emiri-san is farming so much meat for Unite and Fight!” (laughs). I bet you and the show’s viewers felt the same, there was so much we got to do as a community.
Famitsu: On the show, we didn’t just talk about in-game content, we talked about your love for various characters, went behind the scenes of the live events, and so much more.
Takagi: Even if you only count the story events, there are so many updates each month, and on top of that we had Granblue Fantasy Fes and the Grandcypher Kitchen, it was never dull. We really got deep into how much everyone loved their favorite characters.
Famitsu: This is the 7th year of your column “Takagi Miyu’s Granblue journey”, too. How do you feel looking back on it all?
Takagi: I was just looking up what I wrote 7 years ago, and I saw “I’ll be able to take on the Magna 2 raids soon”.
Everyone: Wow, you were so new!
Takagi: These days you can use Pro to skip all of those raids, but back then I was really having trouble (laughs). Part of it is me getting stronger, sure, but the game systems have also gotten a lot smoother and easier, including the pro skips and all.
Katou: These days, new players who do Sierokarte’s Knickknack Academy get a grid full of Magna 2 weapons as their reward for the tutorial.
Takagi: Yeah, you get all of them up front now! It really makes you realize how much has changed over the years. I was thinking about the Luminiera Omega raids we did on the show, where we had to make absolutely sure that people brought Dispel with them.
Katou: Wow, that really brings me back! (laughs) Back then, it was a little uncommon for people to bring dispel, so some of those raids didn’t clear.
Famitsu: We’ve looked back at the beginning to start this conversation, but could you two tell us some more recent stories in your GBF journey?
Katou: So in Rise of the Beasts, once you recruit the Cardinal Saint you can let time pass and let the yupei level on itself, so I’ve been pretty lax about farming. But the most recent one, I maxed out the yupei for Pijiu while the event was running. That was the first time I’ve done that.
Takagi: Wow, the first time?
Katou: This is the first time I’ve been so relaxed about farming in GBF. All of the saints are cuties, but the first male Cardinal Saint really motivated me. Oh, and for a story outside of the game, I’ve built a GBF cabinet.
Famitsu: A GBF cabinet?!
Katou: Yeah. I’ve wanted a special place to put the GBF merchandise I pick up, of Lobelia and of other characters. It’s the kind with a sliding glass door, and I can look at all of my acrylic stands on display and feel good about myself.
Famitsu: Some of the acrylics are really big, do they fit in there too?
Katou: They fit, just barely but they fit!
Takagi: While we’re talking about merchandise, my Belial pillow cover arrived, and it’s amazing! The design has so much detail on every drop of sweat.
Katou: The front and the back of the Belial pillow are different levels of sweaty, aren’t they (laughs).
Takagi: The attention on every single detail is unbelievable. I was so hype, I put the Belial perfume I got in 2018 on it and held it in my arms while listening to the CD. I felt like a queen.
Katou: I know that feeling!
Takagi: I limit myself to Belial merchandise, but GBF has such a wide selection of merch that if you don’t stick to your favorite character your wallet will get so light. It’s tough…
Katou: I think sticking to a character you love might be the best way to go about it.
Takagi: We say this but there is so much merchandise related to Belial with the Primarchs, and it’s so tempting to get the whole collection. So tempting (laughs)
Famitsu: Just listening to you talk tells us how much you love Belial, Takagi-san.
Takagi: I’m so fed all the time. I want to see a sequel to What Makes the Sky Blue Part 3: 000 some day, but it has such a good ending that I think it’d be hard to do… so maybe it’d be great if he showed up in the main story, or maybe I want to see him in a flashback story… I think about this a lot.
Katou: Belial and the characters around him are such power players in the world, I feel like they would fit in well with the main story quest. I have to ask, Miyu, do you want Belial to be playable? I always want to know how people who love the villain think.
Takagi: I’m on the side that thinks it’ll be better if he doesn’t join the Grandcypher. I want him to stay close to me forever as an enemy (laughs)
Katou: I know, right? I want the villains to stick to their villainous ways!
And before we knew it, Loki had his own story! We’d like him to join some day
Famitsu: Have you achieved any of your in-game GBF goals lately?
Takagi: The biggest sense of achievement I got lately was finishing the transcendence on all of my Eternals. The patch earlier this year that buffed the Eternals really made me feel like the work had paid off.
Katou: I saw a lot of people who were happy on social media that the characters do a lot of work in Unite and Fight and in hard raids now, that was a great update!
Takagi: One of GBF’s most prominent goals is the recruitment and empowering of the Eternals, so that update was great. Oh, and I’m down to two Evoker skill 4s left to unlock.
Katou: What do you need before you’re done?
Takagi: Sunlight Stones.
Katou: Sunlight stones… I have 10 lying around right now, is that because I don’t use them on my summons?
Takagi: Maybe. When I was a new player, I threw them into a lot of summons like they were candy, so now I’m paying for that (laughs).
Famitsu: Another thing that happened this year was when Valentine’s Lobelia came out, you went so wild on social media that all the skyfarers heard it.
Katou: I think the whole dev team watched my YouTube stream (laughs).
Famitsu: (laughs) Has there been an especially shocking thing that you remember in your skyfaring career?
Katou: When I had just started GBF, the Wings of Terror raid was considered popular endgame content, but getting 30 people in a coop room and clearing everyone’s host took 3 hours and that was wild to me. Some of it was that some players were weaker than others, but the fights took so long that some players fell asleep and were removed from the room (laughs)
Takagi: Wow… these days it’s so easy to find and provide backup [for Proto Bahamut], that’s the main way to do raids.
Katou: Exactly. Back then you had to prep, and join coop, and some of the raids didn’t clear. I remember thanking every player who had Tweyen and was able to paralyze Baha.
Takagi: That reminds me of a story from that same kind of era. I think the 6-person raids still do some things like this, but I remember throwing an “okay!” sticker after every Phalanx (laughs). For me, I think the biggest recent shock was what happened in main story.
Katou: That was huge!
Takagi: I couldn’t believe they’d let that happen to the crew of the Grandcypher.
Katou: I was so happy when I heard that Hirata Hiroaki (Rackam) was going to be on stage at Granblue Fantasy Extra Fes 2025! But then I thought “wait, is it really just going to be Rackam?” I know with story where it is right now, it’s hard to bring on more members of the main cast, but… it’s kind of a sad realization.
Takagi: It’s so sad… although I can’t wait now that we know that more main story is coming in June.
(Famitsu’s note: this conversation took place at the end of April 2025)
Katou: And now that I’ve mentioned GBF Fes, I’ll never forget the first Granblue Fantasy Fes in 2017. The level of immersion was incredible, and seeing the level of effort and craft in the official cast was moving. GBF as a game is wonderful, but that’s what really made me think that Granblue Fantasy could be truly amazing going forward.
Takagi: The official cast stage shows at Granblue Fes are great, of course, but it’s amazing how every single cast member so perfectly captures their character with every movement. And with the 3D CG character concerts at Fes, you can be immersed in so many different ways.
Famitsu: Going back to the topic of the main story, is there a character from the main story that you’re particularly fond of?
Katou: Loki, for me.
Takagi: Loki is a great pick! I like his design, and his role in the story too (laughs)
Katou: Before he appeared in the main story, Loki showed up in the Christmas event “Winter Nights, Stardust Memories”. I thought he was a fun character back then, and I never expected him to have this much impact on the main story. His relationship with Fenrir and their carefully maintained distance is exactly my kind of thing.
Takagi: Their relationship is so good.
Katou: You can say that about his relationship with everyone else around him too, and I never expected him to build his own crew of skyfarers. I have no idea how he collected such a band of unique characters (laughs)
Takagi: Necesaria is just the right level of suspicious, right? I was shocked when I saw him, I was like “We got a live one here!” (laughs)
Famitsu: They’re giving off some anti-hero vibes now.
Katou: Yeah! They were enemies once, but Loki himself isn’t a malicious person, it was much more like two different ways of thinking clashing. I don’t think it would be that weird for him to join up at some point, and I honestly kind of expect it.
Takagi: And he would bring Fenrir along, right?
Katou: Of course! But the main story hasn’t been kind to her recently, so I’m secretly hoping they find a way to get her back.
Famitsu: Is there any character who you’ve turned around on in main story?
Takagi: That’s basically the Pommern question (laughs). I thought he was just a nasty old man when the story started!
Katou: He’s turned into a very nice man, but when we were just starting out he was definitely the biggest, nastiest obstacle for the main character. He’s such a cool character now, but his refusal to get on the Grandcypher to stay in Erste really makes you feel his loyalty. And don’t forget another Erste Empire character, Apollo the Black Knight!
Takagi: We can’t forget Apollo!
Katou: The Luminary Knights have been pretty central in the main story, but ever since The Girl in Blue ended, Apollo hasn’t really been acting as the Black Knight. I want to see her back in the spotlight. Also, the Grand version of her character has been pretty hard to fit in teams for a while, so I’m hoping she gets a good rebalance.
Takagi: It’s gotten pretty hard to find spots for the original Grand series characters.
Katou: Katalina, Io, all of our old friends… they’re easy to forget about once they’re not on the front lines of battle anymore, and that feels kind of sad. I hope they find a place to shine.
Takagi: It would be so awesome if we hit a climax in the main story and then the crew got something… maybe the characters who’re already uncappable to 5 stars can get Transcendence!
Katou: I know how you feel!
Famitsu: That story update can’t come soon enough.
Katou: Yeah! Will they make it to Estalucia? Will they meet the MC’s father? I have so many questions.
Takagi: I want to know so much about dad…
Katou: We’ve learned so many bits and pieces about how the world of Granblue Fantasy works, and when “The Romance of the Divine Generals” mentioned the primal beast Angra Mainyu from Granblue Fantasy Relink, it felt like connecting two previously separated worlds.
Takagi: I wonder if we’ll see Id, Maglielle, or Gallanza in the main game some time…
Katou: A good part of Mom’s story was in Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising (GBVSR), but the possibility of it coming to main story is exciting too! It feels like so many mysteries and questions will come together soon.
Famitsu: Out of the characters we haven’t talked about yet, who are you hoping we’ll see more of in the future?
Katou: This is a character who hasn’t joined up yet, but I’d like to see more of the White Knight. We fought against him, but I’d like to learn more about him.
Takagi: I want to know more about Mikaboshi. She was really memorable to me.
Katou: Ahhh, her design plus her really complicated back story, it’s all so good! Looking back, there are so many great characters that haven’t joined us yet in GBF and that’s one of the neat things about the game. I’d love Mapra from “Romance of the Divine Generals” to join, and maybe this is just me, but I love the design of the Farbigrabe. I think it’s cute, and I want it to come home as a summon some day.
Takagi: Wait, the Farbigrabe? That bug thing? You think it’s cute?
Famitsu: You seem bothered, Takagi-san.
Katou: It’s not that surprising that the insect designs are really polarizing (laughs). As a group, the Diviners have been joining at a pretty steady pace, and it’s fun to think about which of them is coming this summer. Bennu in a swimsuit wouldn’t be that different from how he looks normally, though, so maybe he’ll have a Halloween outfit instead (laughs)
Takagi: The Diviners have a lot of scantily clad characters in general, but somehow Summer Horus came in showing even more skin than that. Maybe they’ll surprise us like that again.
Famitsu: Like Summer Beelzebub…
Katou: I don’t think that’ll be possible on a playable character (laughs)
Takagi: Less isn’t always better when it comes to clothes, there are great ways to dress characters up more. Like, I think Atum would look good in a yukata version.
Katou: Oh, yeah! Yukata Atum would be nice… and I think Bennu would look good in a yukata too.
A lot of fun characters who don’t have to come as SSRs
Famitsu: GBF has become synonymous with its live events. Tell us some of your stories from being on stage.
Katou: My personal favorite was when we got to do a live reading on the 10th anniversary GBF Fes stage. A lot of our guests on Granblue TV Channel! have asked for a live reading, and as a voice actor, being able to do a voice play on stage for such a momentous occasion was great. Skyfarers don’t have that many opportunities to hear GBF characters’ voices live, so I was really happy to have the opportunity.
Takagi: GBF Fes’ attractions are so fun. This is an older story, but there was a festival game where you could get a Mirin sticker. All of the prizes are so cute, and you can only get them at Fes, I almost didn’t know what to do.
Katou: Yeah, they’re all so good!
Takagi: Thanks to the Satellite Stage I got to go to each of the games, but you can’t do all of them in one day. My time with Belial in the VR Primarchs experience was indescribable, and the present you get from him at the end was a surprise to me. I’ve never seen another VR experience that gives you a gift at the end (laughs)
Famitsu: He left behind a little present before he left (laughs)
Takagi: Yeah! Everything at Fes is done to make the fans happy, and once you’ve gone once you’ll want to go back every year. I hope I get to do a tour of the games and attractions for the Satellite Stage again.
Katou: We’re on stage, so we don’t get to experience much of the rest of the show…
Takagi: I’ve never gotten to watch the 3D character concerts live in person before.
Katou: What?!
Takagi: I always have to watch from the TV on the Satellite Stage set. I’d love to watch it live some time! (laughs)
Katou: You really need to push them to let you do it! (laughs)
Katou: One of the biggest draws of Granblue Fes is the official cast. Their performances on stage are wonderful, but seeing them walk around Fes and perfectly embody their characters is incredible. When I heard that San-chan (Sandalphon) was serving drinks at the counter of Cafe Millennia I nearly ran out and shouted “Serve me tooooo!” (laughs)
Takagi: All of the fan service is so well done. I don’t think you can get that anywhere else.
Katou: When Faa-san (Lucilius) showed up behind the audience, you could really tell how everyone felt by the screams and shouts of the fans. Seeing the characters so close to you gives a huge amount of immersion, and every year they add more amazing characters to the cast.
Last year I was shocked that the main character finally made it on stage. They were billed as “the singularity” but as I was watching the feed I shouted “That’s me! I’m on stage!” There were definitely some tears of joy in that audience, I’m sure.
(Translator’s note: we were there in that audience and she’s absolutely right)
Takagi: The characters we play haven’t been added to the official cast yet, but I really wonder how that will feel if and when it happens.
Katou: The characters I play would be a little hard to pull off, but I think Mirin would be a great addition to the cast!
Famitsu: Now we’re hoping to see Mirin and Shion come out together! Okay, let’s talk about some of the events outside of GBF Fes. Do you have any stories about those>?
Takagi: The Granblue Museum exhibit they ran in 2022 had so many great galleries. Especially the 4DX theater at the end where you could watch Sandalphon versus Lucilius! I’d love to watch that again!
Katou: That was such a wild ride! It’s kind of sad that you can’t see it outside of that art exhibit. It would be great to put on a video streaming site, or to bring it back at GBF Fes using the Grandcypher Ride technology.
Takagi: The exhibits at the events are always so wonderful.
Katou: Pyet-A and the other exhibits were great too. I think one of the big draws of Granblue Fantasy is being able to experience the characters and immersion in person. That includes the Valentine’s chocolate campaigns too.
Famitsu: So many skyfarers look forward to each character’s responses every year. It makes you feel how even in a huge cast like GBF’s, a lot of love and care is put into each character.
Katou: That’s right. It’s nice when a character who hasn’t gotten much spotlight in the last 10 years gets to be in the story events. There are so many characters I want to learn more about, like I want to see La Coiffe in more stories.
Takagi: La Coiffe is the one with the giant shears, right?
Katou: That’s the one. She’s really cute, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she got an SSR some day. Aside from her, Rosine the cracker-baking granny is a really unique character, and I am so curious what would happen if she were to get an SSR character. What would she do, how would she do it?
Famitsu: The SR version of Rosine gives crackers both to your party and to your enemies, it’s really unique and really makes you wonder (laughs)
Katou: It would be so fun to preserve that personality! Rosine appears pretty often in the Grand Blues! comics, and I want to see her in more of the game.
Takagi: My pick is Barawa. He has an SSR, but his R version is really famous, I remember when we used to try firing the Barawa Cannon on our stream.
Katou: That’s right, that was a fun one!
Takagi: That’s one of the most fun things you can do, and it’s on the R version of Barawa (laughs)
Katou: When I look, there are so many fun characters who don’t have SSR versions yet. I want Walder to get an SSR version some day. Not counting Katalina, he’s the first character who joins and so many skyfarers have good memories of him.
Takagi: Wait, he doesn’t have an SSR version yet?
Katou: No, not yet… “Ranger Sign Bravo!” was such a great event, and I hope he gets an SSR at the same time we get a sequel to that story. GBF has so many great characters, including the guest characters in its stories who don’t join the crew. If we sat here talking about all the characters we wanted, we’d never stop (laughs)
Heart of the Conqueror, and other great updates
Famitsu: When we think about surprising announcements, I remember how big of a shock it was when you got cast as Mirin, Takagi-san.
Takagi: It was really surprising and I was so happy! (laughs). GBF has a lot of characters with tragic pasts and lots of baggage, and meanwhile Mirin is an upbeat and cheerful character. I’m so proud to be her.
And in 2024, she got her first story spotlight in “Samurai Trails: The Harbinger’s Lament”. It felt like a samurai movie, and I remember it fondly. With Sato added to her friend group, we now have sugar (Sato), salt (Shion) and wine (Mirin) so now we’re waiting on vinegar, miso, and soy sauce. I hope we get them soon.
Katou: I want her to be in more.
Takagi: I want them to meet up with Lowain’s group, that would be fun!
Famitsu: The new outfit for Mirin that we got in the event and released as wind SSR Mirin was cute.
Takagi: The color palette she uses is so nice, it’s great at expressing Mirin’s personality and looks amazing too.
Katou: Plus, she’s really strong and unique! Mirin’s been simple to use and fun to play since she was an SR, that’s part of her charm.
Takagi: She’s apparently doing a lot of work in high difficulty battles, I feel oddly proud of her. It reminds me of when I would put her in Mechanic parties and she would do a lot of work
Katou: Wow, Mechanic, that’s a throwback (laughs)
Takagi: We had to gather up materials to make parts for the robot (laughs)
Famitsu: What story event had the biggest shocks and surprises for you?
Takagi: “Heart of the Sun” really impressed me. I didn’t think we’d see the Phoenix come back 10 years after it appeared in the first event, Festival of Falling Flame. And more than anything else, Fenie is a brave and cute little girl.
Katou: I think everyone would say this, but you can’t ask this question without mentioning the “What Makes the Sky Blue” trilogy. There are parts of it that are very complicated and need rereading to get, but there are so many skyfarers who have videos and other content out that analyze and summarize it that it’s great to see.
Takagi: It feels like an epic movie, so having explanations and analyses available is really useful.
Famitsu: A lot of people hope for that trilogy to get animated.
Takagi and Katou: Do it! (loudly)
Takagi: Belial food, please!
Katou: The only Fallen Angels food we’ve gotten recently has been merchandise… Anyway, the other story that really came out of nowhere was “Robomi”. Up until then, GBF hadn’t had any stories about robots. They really upped their game on the special effects and animations. It’s one of the big watersheds in GBF history, between the extra animation style and the Mizuki Ichiro theme song.
Famitsu: GBF has lots of dramatic and serious events, but there are also a good number of comedy events. Which ones of those do you remember the most?
Katou: It all comes down to the L.E.T.S. H.A.N.G. series, doesn’t it!
Takagi: I love that series too!
Katou: GBF started out with a lot of very heavy stories, so when they went with a different feel and leaned into the delusions and daydreams, it was kind of surprising (laughs)
Because everything is allowed in that series, each time we get a new installment in the series we get excited and wonder what new angle they’re going to come from. Now, every time there’s a big downer of an event I think to myself “Lowain! We need you!” (laughs)
Takagi: Precisely because GBF has so many serious and dramatic events, we value the cheerful “waheyyyy!” events that much more.
Katou: There are so many shocking twists and turns… like the bad endings shown in “…and you”. My personal opinion is that 2 serious events in a row makes me want a comedic break (laughs)
Famitsu: We do remember that the old days felt like a long chain of very serious events.
Katou: Something like that. When I look back at those, I get surprised at how heavy they were. I feel so bad for Sara in “Tears in the Sand”…
Takagi: GBF has so many characters burdened by their past.
Katou: The Feendrache stories with the Dragon Knights all have very high stakes with the fate of the nation on their shoulders, outside of “Welcome to Bistro Feendrache”. The end of the most recent event, with the news “Wales has fallen” made me shout out loud (laughs)
And up to now, the members of Team Chickadee were our relief from the heavier parts of the story, but the story has put them in a position where their stories also weigh heavily on the heart. The story of Lan-chan (Lancelot) and his family was tough, and makes you wonder how he’ll grow from here. There are so many things like that in the story.
Takagi: There are so many things that I wonder about in that story. My first impression of the Dragon Knights story was “They’re all so hot”, and I didn’t expect them to carry so much on their shoulders over their stories.
Katou: That’s what makes it so fun at Granblue Fes when they’re on stage dancing and singing like idols (laughs)
Takagi: It really hits home when Siegfried does his Super Skybound Art in GBVSR and you see all of the Dragon Knights.
Katou: That’s such a great touch… it’s like seeing his life flash before his eyes. Oh, and by the way, I want Lamorak to join up (laughs)
Takagi: Wait, he hasn’t joined up yet?
Katou: Not yet… I thought he would join us so long ago, but he’s been like this for years now (laughs)
Famitsu: In GBF, even popular characters can die in stories. Like one of my favorite characters, Polaris…
Katou: I think there would be riots if Lamorak died (laughs). We just got fed so well by that Valentine’s card, I don’t think they would do that to the fans.
I don’t want any more tragedy to strike the Dragon Knights, and letting Lamorak on the Grandcypher would make them happy and would make us happy, that’s why I want it (laughs).
Oh, while we’re talking about characters we want to be happy, I want to put Azrael and Israfel out there! I want to see them as themselves, without having to put on a costume!
Takagi: I want Az-Is to be happy too…
Famitsu: I feel like we could talk forever about what’s happened in GBF over the years (laughs). This is the last question for you two: what are you looking forward to in GBF?
Katou: For me, I really liked when they added the Heart of the Conqueror solo version of Hexachromatic Hierarch. It drops less than the raid does, but it also let you know that the dev team wants all players to be able to do the content, so I hope we’ll get more like that.
I know that the raids have their own joy to them, but for those of us who don’t have the time to do them or are afraid of doing the high difficulty raids, it’s a huge lifeline.
Takagi: I haven’t fought the solo version of Hexachromatic Hierarch yet, but since I just started to solo Super Ultimate Bahamut, I’ll probably take it on soon…
Katou: I think your Super Baha solos are more difficult than this (laughs). You can get good loot from it, so you should try it!
I think it’s a good change when I can recommend it this casually. Overall, the barriers in GBF have lowered and it’s easier for new players and returning skyfarers to play. I hope they keep doing this!
Takagi: We mentioned this at the beginning, but Sierokarte’s Knickknack Academy gives you so many Magna 2 weapons!
I’m pretty happy with the current balance, but personally I still need to get more Eternity Sand to transcend the Lucifer summon, so I’d like them to give us more ways to get Sand. Oh, and make the Celestial weapons easier to get…
Katou: We ask for the little things a lot, don’t we (laughs)
Takagi: Yes, we do (laughs). There are big things I’d like too, of course. I love Granblue Fantasy Relink, because being able to walk freely around the world myself and listen to the characters chat and banter comfortably with each other was super fun. I’d love more of that.