空の軌跡SC // Trails in the Sky SC ⚔ Story Club・Week 33

RebBlue · April 19, 2026, 9:57pm

Week 33	20th April 2026
Last Week	Week 32
Next Week	Week 34
Home Threads	空の軌跡 // SC

Content Warnings: (moderate) democide, attempted rape

Details of CW

Both warnings are for things that happen in flashbacks.

The democide refers to the massacre of a village. Images aren’t explicit, text doesn’t go into explicit detail but does make it clear that innocent people were murdered for selfish reasons.

The attempted rape has no visuals just text, and is stopped by the rapist being shot.

This week’s stopping point is at the end of the chapter.

Side Quests and Missable Content

The fight on the deck you can either win, or hold out for a certain amount of time, or lose. All progress the story.

Screenshot

Vocabulary

Vocab Sheet, thank you to everyone who helps with this.

Please read the guidelines on the first page before adding any words.

Discussion Guidelines

Everybody should feel free to post and ask questions–it’s what makes book clubs fun! But please do not post until you are familiar with Spoiler Courtesy!

Spoiler Courtesy

Please follow these rules to avoid inadvertent ネタバレ. If you’re unsure whether something should have a spoiler tag, err on the side of using one.

Any potential spoiler for the current week’s reading need only be covered by a spoiler tag. Predictions and conjecture made by somebody who has not read ahead still falls into this category.
Any potential spoilers for external sources need to be covered by a spoiler tag and include a label (outside of the spoiler tag) of what might be spoiled. These include but are not limited to: other book club picks, other books, games, movies, anime, etc. I recommend also tagging the severity of the spoiler (for example, I may still look at minor spoilers for something that I don’t intend to read soon).
Any information from later in the book than the current week’s reading (including trigger warnings that haven’t yet manifested) needs to be hidden by spoiler tags and labeled as coming from later sections.

Instructions for Spoiler Tags

Click the cog above the text box and use either the “Hide Details” or “Blur Spoiler” options. The text which says “This text will be hidden” should be replaced with what you are wishing to write. In the case of “Hide Details”, the section in the brackets that is labelled “Summary” can be replaced with whatever you like also (i.e, [details=”Chapter 1, Pg. 1”]).

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Example

This is an example of the “Hide Details” option.

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This is an example of the “Blur Spoiler” option.

Posting Advice

When asking for help, please mention the page number, and check before posting that your question hasn’t already been asked. As the threads get longer, it becomes more convenient to use the Search function, which is located in the upper right corner of the forum. It is the magnifying glass which is near your profile picture! The best way to search is usually to type part of the sentence you are confused about, and select “in this topic”. This will show you all posts within the current thread which has that string of text.
Be sure to join the conversation! It’s fun, and it’s what keeps these book clubs lively! There’s no such thing as a stupid question! We are all learning here, and if the question has crossed your mind, there’s a very good chance it has crossed somebody else’s also! Asking and answering questions is a great learning opportunity for everyone involved, so never hesitate to do so!

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Example

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Discussion Questions

What sentence/passage gave you the most difficulty? Feel free to request some help, or if you figured it out on your own break it down for the rest of us!
What was your favorite new vocab word from this week’s reading?
Was there any passage that you found particularly intriguing? Did it resonate with you (either positively or negatively)? Was it surprising? Offer any insight or new perspective? Was it just beautifully written?
What are your thoughts on Löwe and Joshua’s backstory?
Did you have any difficulty navigating the airship?
How are you feeling about the reunion?

Participation

Will you be playing along with us this week?

I’m playing along
I have finished this part
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Party Members Poll

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Don’t forget to set this thread to Watching in order to stay abreast of discussion!

Daisoujou · April 20, 2026, 6:12pm

Snakes on a Plane (2006)

I like the maximum aura farming of this guy setting up to be playing the organ as Estelle approaches. Real flair for showmanship. The Wiseman thing in his name makes me think of the wise men from Star Ocean: The Second Story and that’s always nice to be reminded of.

邂逅 is a word I always forget the reading on but luckily I saw it recently (reading Soseki’s こころ heh) so hopefully this is my chance to learn it better, remembered it today.

So… did the guy promising to answer all of our questions tell us anything at all? Estelle herself points out he’s dodging every question. She learned a little about Joshua but that was it, and then he asks her to join their group, which yeah obviously isn’t happening, but based on the premise of… we’re doing a secret plan I can’t tell you about. “How dare you ask what our organization does! How about joining us?” There’s the Joshua reason they say but I don’t think that one even makes sense, at least based on what we as the player know about how Joshua feels about this group. Maybe you can say Estelle doesn’t know all that? I dunno, the way Estelle even takes it as a likely fact that it would work just doesn’t feel right to me.

Joshua’s past, while we couldn’t know the details, fits the general vibe I had imagined so hearing it was just kinda like “Yep, it was like that, eh?” I do appreciate the worldbuilding detail of the war being started through a faked attack. I think we already knew he had a tragic past so filling in the details, well, is only that. I’m not quite sure what it is but I think this game/series, when it gets more serious and dark like this, something about how it’s written and presented doesn’t really give me an emotional reaction. I can’t tell you exactly why right now but this isn’t where their strengths lie, to me. And I’m not unmovable, partially because I DO think that every time they’re playing around at the lake or having onsen adventures I think it’s really sweet and I get those little pangs of “aww I like this whacky little group.” Just feels to me like these devs’ talents are so heavily weighted in that direction that I preferred FC, but you can’t sit around with low stakes forever I suppose.

The guy on the bridge got really mad that I didn’t remember him lol. Those enemies got SO many turns though, with my current setup that was absolutely not possible. I was given a single action, to use a craft and do a bit of damage to a couple of them, then used the S break since it heals Estelle back up and did at least one shot the main guy. Then I watched like 10 turns go off and take me from near max HP where I healed up to to dead.

I get why they don’t want Joshua to be all chipper like he was in FC, but every time I see him on the menu with his newly frowning face or hear how his delivery of lines is flat now, all I can think of is this.

This area’s traversal gimmick of zig zagging is fine enough, but when we hit the 3rd time to do it I was kind of over it. Also the devs put a second chest with absurdly strong level 95 monsters (I know you all don’t have the same exact thing outside Evo but bear with me) in a room that looked the exact same as the previous one and made me start wondering if I somehow went in a loop. I didn’t, but it felt bad til I got through the hall, heh.

New CG for you all. Nice sky colors. So there’s our big Joshua and Estelle reunion. So ok let’s take this in two parts. The scene itself is nice enough I think. I’ve never been like truly attached to this relationship so I’m not totally feeling it in the emotional release way they want but I don’t think they’re really fumbling the way they talk to each other or anything. It’ll be nice to have Joshua back, it’s nice to have accomplished something that wasn’t us being jerked around by some incomprehensible test, and if Joshua’s menu picture changes to a smile I’m going to have such a good laugh next week.

But also… so what’s he been doing this whole time? Him running off with the pirates and making plans was a whole lot of mystique and setup for, well, who knows. Was it all for the sake of bombing the plane that he didn’t bomb? Because in the end it was chapters of us seeing that he’s working in the shadows on his own plan, for that plan to ultimately end up being just helping Estelle get out of danger. Might as well have stayed together, eh? And it does weaken the idea that he’s leaving to keep her our of danger because it is highly established that Estelle is going to rush straight into the danger for the foreseeable future, and Joshua being around is what saves her. I get that his reasoning is supposed to be flawed but it’s inching a little too far out there, maybe.

I dunno I guess in all of it I just can’t help feeling underwhelmed when I look around and… yeah, Joshua being back is a big development and I don’t want to downplay it but otherwise we’re off the ship, back away from the league of evil trauma victims, having learned absolutely nothing about them in our “answering all of your questions” conversation. I think it’s the reset to zero that bugs me. Let us get Joshua AND stay around them or at least learn something bigger so that we’re set up for the ever approaching climax. Does Joshua have some idea what they’re up to? Maybe we’ll hear that stuff early next week… but I mean more likely no given the patterns here, right?

Sasabonsam · April 26, 2026, 1:48pm

Week 33

@Daisoujou’s pretty much summed up everything I felt about the meeting with 教授. The drama of playing the organ and the whole rogue gallery coming out to say hi was cool enough, but he didn’t answer any questions and barely tried to win Estelle over

Ok so we’ve finally got the full picture on Joshua’s trauma. I think the only really surprising thing of the reveal for me was that the war was a setup. Well, and the attempted rape, which, yikes. I feel like this opens up the possibility that some villain will eventually show up to admit to hiring the ‘bandits’, if it wasn’t 教授 himself. Other than that, Josh’s trauma isn’t incredibly surprising considering that deaths of loved ones seems to be the origin story of, well, everybody except Tita. Olivier’s still up in the air because we don’t really know his deal yet.

Totally forgotten Gilbert was a character before his scene. It took me a few tries and looking up strategy tips, but I managed to beat him! It was rough, the fight must be much worse in EVO and/or hard mode. I was able to pull it off thanks to a bit of luck, the right accessories, and the アトラスハンマー spell. But gosh, it irks me that whenever Estelle pulls off something impressive somebody has to say “That’s Cassius’s daughter all right! S-rank Cassius is so cool!” Even the guys she just beat up! Just before the flashbacks Levie goes on about he thinks she sucks, too. Poor Estelle, give the girl some credit.

Joshua is finally back yay. I echo the sentiment that the way things went down was a little anti-climactic, but did like that the writers had Josh abandon his plans against oroboros to save Estelle (who won that fight btw >:/). That was a good decision for the reunion.

The scene on the beach was also sweet, although I found myself thinking… girl you can’t just call someone a liar and tell them how they’re feeling like that, it’s rude Also does this mean goodbye pirates for foreseeable future? boo.

YES. I was lost for so long that I looked up a map, and even then it took me longer than I’d like to admit to find a landmark to locate myself. Though Estelle angrily bouncing off barrier walls the first few times was cute.

RebBlue · April 26, 2026, 9:23pm

into chapter 7

simias · April 29, 2026, 5:13pm

You want to hear me ramble way too long about this week? Well good news!

w33

lmao. This is peak JRPG nonsense and I’m here for it. The organ, the absurdly ornate throne room in a flying military ship, the bad guy monologue. 10/10, no notes.

S-rank btw.

Wowowowowowo hold on, is it actually happening? Are we finally going to learn what this is about?

Ha ha! You absolute fool! You naive child! Did you really think you would get basic antagonist motivation after only two entire games? We’re merely supposed to gesture at grand yet completely elusive things happening in the background, and you’re supposed to imagine that it’s a good story!

I’m not even mad at this point. It’s just kind of funny to me.

(S-rank btw)

The ensuing development where he tries to recruit Estelle was genuinely unexpected, but it also shows why refusing to give us answers completely weakens these interactions: why on earth would Estelle ever accept this? She doesn’t even know what the Ouroboros is about.

“Hey we have this organization that has only done evil things so far, falling short of murdering hundreds of innocent people through mere plot contrivances, and I absolutely refuse to tell you why we’re doing any of it. Anyway wanna join us?”

The Joshua carrot is not even particularly convincing. If it was Joshua himself pleading for her to join it would make some amount of sense, but she has absolutely no reason to trust any of this. And surely the baddies must have known that? So what’s the point of this entire thing. Just add it to the pile of mysterious things mysteriously happening for mysterious reasons I guess.

At least I like that Estelle doesn’t really entertain the idea of genuinely switching camp, instead considering that she could become a spy embedded in the organization. That makes sense, but also it makes so much sense that, once again, why wouldn’t Weissmanたち come to the same conclusion?

At least we get details on Joshua’s tragic backstory. Sisters don’t have a good survival rate in this universe, I see why Estelle wants to graduate to girlfriend after all.

The contrast between the wanton violence of the backstory and the teletubbies vibes of the main plot is really jarring at this point. I think I know why it’s happening: the writers want the Ouroboros members to be seen as complex shade-of-grey characters, not outright villains, and I expect that some of them will even get a redemption arc eventually.

But am I supposed to ignore that Leonhart collapsed the roof of the Bose market and torched Raven’s fields just because, through incredible happenstance, nobody died? Did he know that his actions would have virtually no consequences? Why would he expect that? How about the part where some dude triggered a series of ever stronger earthquakes in Zeiss, and seemingly only stopped because we confronted him? Or the tank thing in the capital firing at soldiers in the docks that we barely managed to stop on time before it plowed through the city?

In the end the Ouroboros is still objectively evil and obviously needs to be stopped, and refusing to have their actions have any consequences just weakens the storyteling by removing all stakes and making all threats entirely toothless. It’s series of “OMG WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE oh nvm it’s fine actually lmao”.

Same.

S-rank btw

I do like Estelle’s characterization through all this though. She remains poised and doesn’t let herself be bullied around by these idiots. Her increasingly annoyed reactions to the fences blocking her way are a nice touch:

Aaah, here it is:

S-RANK BY THE WAY

I also like the game expecting us to have forgotten about this minor character and then having him throw a tantrum:

I actually did identify him correctly but admittedly mainly by process of elimination…

I managed to survive the fight but not defeat the baddies in time. I think it would have been cool if Joshua actually entered the fight while it was taking place, becoming a 2nd party member mid-fight. It would have been a cool way to unite gameplay and story, and it would have felt cathartic to beat the bullies with the dream team back together.

I wondered how the reunion would play out, I guess putting them in crisis mode with no time to really address the situation makes sense, they’re immediately back to their usual selves.

The dungeon on the ship is pretty bad. Same rooms and corridors copy-pasted. All the budget went to the organ room I guess. Worth it.

The Jester roasting Joshua was pretty funny. I want him to meet Olivier.

In the end the meetup with Joshua is somewhat anti-climactic but I don’t really mind it, I don’t think dragging that for hours would make it better. It does make me wonder what was even the point of him leaving like that though, besides having a cliffhanger at the end of FC. I expected that he would become an antagonist or something like that, a “dark knight” arc, but no, he just needed some alone time.

I didn’t know the meaning but I managed to guess the reading from 解 and 后. It’s a cool word and two more kanji whose meaning is “meet”. We didn’t have enough of those…

I don’t have voice acting and his avatar is not much different from before in this version as far as I can tell, so I didn’t notice a massive personality change myself. For the best, probably. He even has a bit of a shit-eating grin at times:

I don’t have an issue with it to be honest, I think it’s an important piece of information. More seriously I think it’s especially weird coming from people who already have encountered her several times and know what she’s capable off, like the Ouroboros members. I can imagine that a random foot soldier would know Cassius and not his daughter, but we spent a bunch of time with Weissman in FC, even escorted him around a few dungeons, there’s no reason for him to invoke the name of her father at this point IMO.

At this point we should have made a name for ourselves, but the game likes to maintain the idea that we’re some rookie Bracers. I guess you need to save the kingdom at least 5 times before you’re taken seriously in this universe.

RebBlue · April 29, 2026, 5:43pm

Trying to give her a complex over it.

Daisoujou · April 29, 2026, 6:07pm

They’re doing the hard inverse of most RPGs picking up literal children off the street, looking at them once, and proclaiming “You are the heroes of light who will solve every problem in the world!”

simias · April 29, 2026, 6:15pm

I didn’t see it that way, I suppose it makes sense as a way to belittle her but so many people also bring it up earnestly that I didn’t even consider it.

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