Mori-no-Majou

Maybe they just figured it would be more in-character for Takumi to be offended by being called a jerk, than it would for him to be offended by a simple flower pattern? Granted, I'm not exactly an expert on Takumi's character, but it doesn't seem like the kind of thing he'd be bothered by (especially considering sakura motifs are EVERYWHERE on Hoshidan armour and outfits), haha. Or maybe they didn't want him to seem like the kind of guy who feels threatened by feminine things. I don't think they had any sinister motives, honestly.

Sorry if this one's been answered already (or if I'm a dummy and it's really obvious), but how do you tell which characters do and don't have A+ supports (I think they're called? like, the actual conversations) (no, I am not asking just so I can see which crossover interactions to look forward to and whether or not my OTP get one, why would you even think that :P)?

Is Mikoto a member of the Vallite royal family by birth, though? I thought it was Azura's father (otherwise Anankos's killing him wouldn't have put him in a position to usurp the throne, since the queen regnant was still alive). But yeah, Mikoto has no Manakete characteristics, so. And even if she did, Corrin ages faster than most other half-Manaketes; maybe they're going to turn out more like Roy?

Okay, first off: I am so sorry you had to wait so long for a response to this. Hoo boy. Anyway! I'll start with Kiragi. Azura's secondary class is Sky Knight, so you've got your Rally Speed and your Warding Blow if you make her a Falcon Knight (don't bother with the Kinshi Knight, since Kiragi can promote to that anyway). Foreign Princess might be useful on Birthright and Conquest runs, but it only really gives you an advantage of 2 damage, so your mileage may vary there. For Shigure, the Sniper class offers Certain Blow, which gives a decent boost to your hit rate; reclassing Takumi to Basara gets you Rend Heaven, which is always awesome. Now, Shiro. As a Villager, Mozu automatically has access to Aptitude and Underdog. Unless you're getting the kid units very early in the game (which I personally don't recommend tbh; they come out higher-level if you hold off until chapter 18 or so), Underdog's not much use, but Aptitude adds 10% to all growth rates during level ups, so that's pretty jazzy. Her secondary class is Archer, which gets you the aforementioned Certain Blow, and also Amaterasu (a personal favourite of mine, which allows all allies in a 2-tile radius to recover 20% HP at the start of each turn). Haha, sorry for the novella there ^^; hope this helps (and that I haven't missed anything obvious)! EDIT: As it happens, I did miss something obvious: namely, A+ supports. The class sets for A+ supports don't get passed down to the kids, obviously, but the parents can still pass down skills from them, so. By having Azura A+ support Sakura, she gains access to the Priestess class and the skills Renewal (which would allow Kiragi to recover a decent amount of HP at the start of each turn) and Countermagic (where, for any amount of magical damage taken, the same amount is dealt back to the enemy who inflicted it). Having Takumi A+ support Ryouma or Hinata gives him access to Astra (another excellent one). Mozu's only A+ support on Birthright is Oboro, but she has access to Rend Heaven, so there's that.

That is what a lot of people tell me, yeah :) I did watch the first episode, and it was pretty good. Again, I'm thinking maybe the fact that both Fates and the show have a team of writers, rather than just the one, working on it gives them an advantage; in which case I'm maybe being a little harsh XD

Are we just basing this on plot, or do we factor in characterisation as well? Because, if it's the latter, as someone who's 100%ed Fates and read all the ASoIaF books... I'm gonna go with Fates. I agree that GRRM's worldbuilding is marvellously detailed, and I can't really say how the plot is before it finishes (although I hope to all the Old Gods it doesn't end the way OP predicted, I agree that'd be really stupid and dissonant with the overall tone of the series); but - and, again, I've only read the books, the show may handle the characterisation better - I feel like Fates has a much better handle on how to make a wide cast of characters three-dimensional and sympathetic (probably because they had an entire team of people writing these characters instead of just one guy, but eh). Particularly its female characters; I'm told they're a lot better handled in the show, but reading the books, I kind of felt like the only ones who weren't interchangeable with each other were Arya and Brienne (i.e. the "mannish" ones); whereas in Fates, everyone - even characters who, from a narrative standpoint, are only there to get redshirted - has a unique personality, motive, outlook on life and turn of phrase. And every one of them is sympathetic: you grow to like Saizou even though he acts like a jerk at first, you grow to like Charlotte even though she's a gold-digger, you grow to like Felicia even though they could so easily have just made her a generic "moe dojikko meido". Whereas I feel like the books would have worked better if the whole thing had focussed on Tyrion: he's easily the most complex and sympathetic character in there. The others felt to me like they could be interesting characters with just a bit more thought put into them, but it was kind of obvious which one he was mainly focussing on. Again, I don't hate ASoIaF, and I feel like Fates has a lot of problems (if we're basing this on plot, I feel like GRRM would win handily unless the next book really goes off the rails), but yeah I'm going to shut up now before I infuriate the entire internet

Well, consider this: Awakening's festival DLCs didn't come out in Europe until six months after they did in Japan. Six months. And that's with half as many characters and possible parent/child combinations. Honestly, considering the workload, I'd be very surprised if the Fates ones came out before January... but yeah, I'm still pretty optimistic about our chances; Nintendo's Twitters have suddenly started talking about Fates again lately (after about three months of wall-to-wall Pokemon), so maybe they're hinting at something, idk~