Besides refurbishing the annual Halloween event of North America’s version of “Fate/Grand Order” with even more silliness, the developers introduced a brand-new, often overlooked servant — Osakabehime. For the confused masses, “Fate/Grand Order” is a mobile game developed by Delightworks. It’s best described as part visual novel and part turn-based role-playing game with gacha mechanics — gacha being elements largely defined with a player “rolling” in a lottery system to get random characters and materials  

Since then, she has been added to the story summon, meaning that she could spook you at any time from the depths of the Saint Quartz Summon. While dubbed as the game’s first quick card support, she is somewhat lacking in that role. Frankly, she is quite selfish in her gameplay. Fear not, for she has an overwhelmingly cute personality and well-executed designs and animations.

Osakabehime made her debut as the true lord of the Himeji Castle. From legend, she was a reclusive yokai, a Japanese monster, who lurked in the walls of the Himeji Castle. Thus, she has been depicted in “Fate/Grand Order” as a shut-in, playing games and spending all day in her room in Himeji Castle. In the Japanese version of “Fate/Grand Order,” her outward personality is that of a pristine princess which masks the gloomy, lazy shut-in that lies beneath. While the English translators stay true to this depiction, she has been changed to fit the American localization a little more. 

To be plain, she is now a weeaboo — a western person obsessed with Japanese culture. For example, she mixes her language with Japanese phrases such as sorrymasen, gomenasorry and daijokay. Or she just downright replaces I for watashi. At this point, I don’t know whether to laugh, cringe or just close the game and delete it from my mobile device. It gets somewhat better over time, but it still bothers me that she was depicted this way. Overall, it distracts from her cute hikikomori personality and makes her annoying — if anything at all. 

On the other hand, Osakabehime’s Noble Phantasm, in which she summons the Himeji Castle to support her teammates, reminds you of blissful, halcyon memories. Himeji Castle is often known to be extremely beautiful, as its curving roofs resemble that of a white egret taking off for flight. Her Noble Phantasm is animated beautifully in the game: Osakabehime dances on the moonlit roofs of Himeji Castle as a calm yet powerful soundtrack plays in the background. It’s one of the most charming Noble Phantasms in the game and truly captures the essence of Himeji Castle.

Osakabehime is somewhat the game’s first support for quick cards, but fails to bolster quick teams to do high amounts of damage. Her two ways of increasing damage are through her Noble Phantasm and her third skill: Castle Ghost EX. Her Noble Phantasm provides the team with a 30% to 50 % increase in quick card effectiveness depending on overcharge. While a solid quick boost for the team, it lacks the flexibility of having it as a skill. Since skills are activated based on set cooldowns, a player can plan when they will be able to use the skill. But her Noble Phantasm is charged based on whether she will be able to attack or not, making it much harder to perfectly activate her Noble Phantasm at specific times. 

Her third skill removes the buffs of a single enemy and decreases their defense by 40% for one turn. This is a great skill that offers a lot of utility due to its buff removal. 

As of right now, Osakabehime lacks the necessary resources to bring a quick team to another level of gameplay. Perhaps Osakabehime’s true calling is that of a solo-er. She is unbelievably good when it comes to doing challenge quests alone. This is because her first skill, Shapeshift A+, provides a 60% defense buff at level 10. This skill alone allows her to survive plenty of enemy Noble Phantasms. 

And when she’s solo, you’ll be able to activate her Noble Phantasm a lot more. Along with a quick card buff, her Noble Phantasm provides a 20% increase in defense and a 1,000 HP increase at level one. This heal increases to 2,000 after she receives a strengthening quest in a year. With these factors, once you really get her going, she is an absolute monster. Tanking enemy Noble Phantasms have never been easier — seriously. With the right amount of love and planning, Osakabehime can be just as good a solo-er as Cú Chulainn.

In the end, Osakabehime isn’t that quick card support everyone wanted. Her mostly selfish skills and inflexibility prevents her from providing reliable offensive support for her team. Her two upgrades (that will come in about a year) will make her more versatile and supportive. But for now, her shut-in personality and heavenly, autumn-themed art will have to do.