shay's primer for black panther (2018)

the movie starts by telling the story of wakanda. five african tribes were made on a mound of earth that had a special metal, vibranium, in it. one warrior eats a heart shaped herb, which is blessed by the panther goddess bast and gives him superhuman powers, making him the first black panther. he unites four of the five tribes, but the fifth tribe isolates itself. wakanda isolates itself from the rest of the world and their problems, protecting their special vibranium by posing as a third world country.

flash forward to 1992, oakland, california. king t'chaka visits his brother, n'jobu, who has become an arms dealer in america instead of staying in wakanda. t'chaka accuses n'jobu of helping an arms dealer, ulysses klaue, steal vibranium and kill wakandans. n'jobu finds out that his partner, james, is actually zuri, a wakandan spy, who told t'chaka about n'jobu's betrayal. t'chaka kills n'jobu once he refuses to go back home to wakanda.

in 2016, a week after the events of civil war, t'challa is about to be crowned. he intercepts a mission to save nigerian prisoners to ask nakia, his ex-girlfriend, to come to his coronation. she returns with him and okoye, the leader of his royal guard, the dora milaje.

at the coronation, the four tribes unite. they each get a chance to challenge t'challa's kingship, but none do. the jabari, the fifth tribe, show up, though, and their leader, m'baku, challenges him. t'challa gets the power of the black panther stripped from him, and they battle. even without his extra strength, t'challa wins, telling m'baku to back down and stay with his people rather than die.

after, t'challa's sister, shuri, shows him new armor she made him — his entire suit can fit into one necklace.

meanwhile, in london, erik stevens and ulysses klaue steal vibranium from a museum. t'challa, okoye, and nakia plan to go to south korea, where they hear that klaue is doing a deal. t'challa promises okoye's husband, w'kabi, that he'll bring klaue to justice, as klaue killed his parents.

in south korea, they find out that klaue is selling to the cia — everett ross is there, and t'challa remembers him. a fight breaks out, and it ends in t'challa almost killing klaue as the black panther, but there were too many people around. instead, they bring klaue to the cia building in south korea.

there, ross questions klaue. klaue tells ross that wakandan isn't a third world country — they have tons of vibranium and just pretend that klaue stole all they had. it's true, but t'challa deflects when ross asks him. before t'challa gets to question klaue and take him back to wakanda for justice, erik breaks klaue out. t'challa goes after them, but is startled to see a royal ring around erik's neck.

from the bomb, ross gets hurt jumping in front of nakia to protect her. t'challa decides to bring him back to wakanda to help him.

shuri heals ross and t'challa confronts zuri about erik. erik tells him the story about n'jobu, and tells t'challa that he had a son that they left behind. t'challa gets really upset at zuri, but zuri says that it was to cover up n'jobu's death as a disappearance.

meanwhile, erik grew up to be killmonger, a us special ops. he shows up in wakanda, with klaue's dead body as a peace offering. since he's of royal blood, he challenges t'challa for the crown. in their challenge, erik is about to win. zuri steps in, asking erik to spare t'challa's life. erik kills zuri and then launches a weak and distraught t'challa off of a cliff.

erik consumes the heart shaped herb and becomes the new black panther and the new king. as he's taking the herb, he goes into the ancestral plane. there, he sees his father again, and when he wakes up he's freaked and orders for the rest of the heart shaped herbs to be burned. before they are, though, nakia sneaks in and steals one.

with ross, shuri, and the queen, nakia escapes to the jabari tribe. okoye decides to stay loyal to the throne, despite who sits on it. at the jabari tribe, nakia presents m'baku with the heart shaped herb, hoping he can defeat erik. m'baku refuses, instead telling them that his fishers found t'challa. he's still alive, but barely. they feed his unconscious body, frozen in ice, the heart shaped herb, and t'challa goes to the ancestral plane. he sees his dad there, and calls him out for leaving erik alone. his father says that t'challa will be a better ruler than him — that he was wrong. healed by herb, t'challa makes a stand against erik. shuri had sneaked him his black panther necklace, and he returns, just in time for erik to start launching out ships of vibranium weapons — weapons to help other black people fight back against oppressors.

t'challa, reuniting with his dora milaje, and with the help of the jabari, shuri, and nakia, fight against erik and the wakandans loyal to him. in the end, erik and t'challa fight with their vibranium suits disabled. t'challa is able to stab erik. erik tells t'challa how his father told him about the magic-like wakandan sunsets, and how he feels stupid for believing in his fairytales. t'challa brings him to watch the sunset, offering heal in healing erik's stab wound. erik refuses, not wanting to be just put in jail, and dies.

t'challa decides that wakanda has been in the shadows for too long, and they need to help the rest of the world. he buys the building his father killed his uncle in, planning on turning it into a wakandan outreach center, run by nakia, his now girlfriend.

in a mid-credits scene, t'challa announces to the un that wakanda will no longer be closed, and him and ross share a smile when someone asks what a third world country can do for the world.

in an end-credits scene, bucky is recovering nicely from being the winter soldier.

shay's primer for avengers: infinity war (2018)

the movie opens to asgardian genocide. the titan thanos intercepted the asgardian ship and slaughtered half of the people using his power stone, one of the infinity stones. he gives some speech about destiny and shit, and then asks loki for the tesseract. thor, chained up, tells him that the tesseract was burned with asgard. loki, however, had took the tesseract, and he summons it. he's about to give it to thanos, but instead the hulk comes and fights thanos. thanos overpowers the hulk, though, and then tortures loki until he gets the tesseract. he also kills heimdall, whose last act is to send the hulk to earth. he gets the space stone from the tesseract, and sends his minions to earth for two other infinity stones. loki tries to join thanos to double cross him, but thanos snaps his neck before leaving.

the hulk, turned into bruce, crashes into doctor stephen strange's sanctum, telling them that thanos is coming. stephen, bruce, and wong go and get tony, pulling him away from pepper, his now fiancee. two of thanos' henchmen appear, ready to fight for stephen's time stone. they fight them, peter joining the fight, and tony, peter, and stephen are eventually sucked up into the henchmen's spaceship, only successfully getting rid of one of the minions.

meanwhile, bruce calls steve because tony refused to earlier.

in edinburgh, wanda and vision are on the downlow, trying to lead a normal life. that doesn't work out, though, when one of thanos' other henchmen intercepts them to get vision's mind stone. steve, natasha, and sam appear, saving them, and they all go to the avengers tower in new york. there, they meet up with james rhodes, or rhodey, and bruce to discuss strategy. bruce tells them that thanos wants to kill half of the population to bring balance. vision offers to sacrifice himself and the mind stone, but steve refuses. bruce says that if they could just remove the stone and destroy it, vision still has ultron and jarvis making him up. steve agrees with this plan, and they go to wakanda to use shuri's tech to carry it out.

meanwhile, thor gets rescued by the guardians of the galaxy. he tells them about thanos, and he tells them two places they need to go: knowhere, to get the reality stone before thanos, and nidavellir so that thor can make a new weapon to fight thanos with. they decide to split up, thor, rocket, and groot going to nidavellir and gamora, quill, drax, and mantis going to knowhere. before they go, gamora makes quill promise to kill her if thanos gets to her, because she's the only one who knows where the soul stone is.

on nidavellir, thor takes the force of a dying star to create an ax named stormbreaker.

meanwhile, on knowhere, the other guardians aren't able to prevent thanos from getting the reality stone. thanos gets gamora, and quill tries to kill her, just like she said, but thanos shifts reality so quill's deadly blast turns into bubbles.

thanos takes gamora, and tortures her adoptive sister, nebula, until gamora gives up the location of vormir. thanos and gamora go to vormir, where the red skull tells them that a sacrifice is required to get the soul stone. thanos kills gamora, and gets his fourth stone.

meanwhile, nebula escapes thanos' ship and gets quill, mantis, and drax to go to titan, thanos' home planet, with her. back on the ship with tony, peter, and stephen, they kill thanos' remaining henchman and bring the ship to titan to fight thanos there. the group of guardians and avengers meet up and form a plan to fight thanos and remove his infinity gauntlet, which is holding all of the stones. stephen looks into the future and only sees one possible situation where they win. thanos arrives and they fight him, nearly winning. quill finds out that thanos killed gamora, though, and rashly attacks him out of anger. thanos then fights tony one on one, and stephen gives up the time stone to spare tony's life.

meanwhile, in wakanda, shuri starts to remove the stone out of vision's head while wanda, the only one powerful enough to destroy it, stands guard. steve reunites with bucky, and t'challa has his army at steve's disposal. thanos' henchman that attacked vision and wanda brings an army of alien monsters, and they have a battle. thor joins the battle and wanda need to leave her post. eventually, thanos shows up, and they don't have enough time to get the stone out of vision's head. vision asks wanda to kill him and destroy the stone, and she does, holding back thanos at the same time. thanos, however, uses the time stone to reverse vision's death and get the mind stone.

thor tries to make one last stand against thanos, but he fails and thanos snaps his fingers and leaves.

right away, people start to turn to dust. notable figures include: bucky, sam, wanda, t'challa, groot, peter, quill, stephen, drax, and mantis.

meanwhile, on a planet far away, thanos watches a beautiful sunrise.

in a credits scene, maria hill and nick fury both turn to dust, but fury is able to send a message on his pager (remember those?! i dont.) and it shows the symbol of captain marvel.

shay's primer for ant-man and the wasp (2018)

two years after civil war, scott lang is placed on house arrest for breaking the sokovia accords. while taking a nap, scott sees a message from janet van dyne. even though they're mad at him for stealing the ant-man suit and fighting with captain america, scott calls janet's husband and daughter, hank pym and hope van dyne. they break him out of house arrest, finding out that janet and scott were entangled when scott went into the quantum realm. they plan to make a tunnel to the quantum realm to rescue her, and they need scott to help find her.

hope, donning her new wasp suit, and scott with the ant-man suit he hid, fight against sonny burch to get a piece they need for the tunnel. they nearly win, but they're attacked by a ghost-like person, who glitches through walls and disappears. the ghost also makes off with hank's shrunken down lab.

hank seeks out the help of his friend bill foster to track down the lab, but foster crosses them and ghost captures the three of them. ghost reveals herself to be ava starr. her father had been working on experiments for shield that killed him and messed up her molecules. shield weaponized her, and foster practically rose her. ava lives in constant pain, but she plans to use janet's "quantum energy" to heal her. hank refuses, and they fight.

getting the lab back temporarily, they're able to find a secure location on janet, but several things happen: sonny burch tries to thwart them, wanting to sell the lab for money, scott needs to rush home before the fbi checks on his house arrest status, and then the fbi arrest hope and hank for their involvement by association in the fight with captain america and iron man.

scott breaks hank and hope out, and they distract ava and foster while they open the quantum tunnel to find janet. in the end, they rescue her, and janet is able to use her quantum energy to sooth ava.

scott gets out of house arrest, and him and hope start dating.

in a credits scene, scott prepares to go into the quantum realm to collect energy for ava, but while he's in there, hope, hank, and janet all turn to dust, leaving him trapped.

shay's primer for captain marvel (2019)

in 1995, vers is a member of the kree's starforce. she suffers from amnesia, and her mentor, yon-rogg, tries to get her to force down her emotions. she doesn't know how to control these powers she has, shooting photon blasts out of her hands, and yon-rogg thinks she shouldn't use them. the supreme intelligence, the government of the kree, also urges vers to push down her emotions.

during a mission to rescue a fellow starforce member who's undercover, vers is captured by a skrull named talos. skrulls are shape-shifting aliens that are at war with the kree. they hack into vers' memories, which leads them to earth, but vers escapes. she crashlands in los angeles, where she meets shield agents nick fury and phil coulson. they're interrupted by a skrull attack and fury kills a skrull who shapeshifts into coulson. talos, disguised as fury's boss, orders fury to keep watch on vers.

vers starts to remember some of her past, and nick and her go to the project pegasus site at a us air force base. there, they discover that vers was a pilot that supposedly died in 1989 while testing a jet engine designed by wendy lawson. their investigation is interrupted by talos coming, called by fury. fury, vers, and lawson's old cat goose escape to louisiana to meet carol's old best friend, maria rambeau.

maria tells vers that she's carol danvers, who was family to her and her daughter, monica. talos arrives at maria's house and explains to them that skrulls are actually refugees. he tells them that he needed to find lawson because she was actually a kree named mar-vell who was helping the skrulls. talos plays a recording from lawson's jet that jobs carol's memory. she recalls that lawson was killed by yon-rogg because she was going to destroy the engine of her jet, the tesseract, before he could get it. carol destroys it instead, and she absorbs the energy, gaining her photon blast powers, but losing her memory and being taken by the kree.

carol, nick, maria, talos, and goose head to lawson's space lab, and there they find a small community of skrulls. talos reunites with his family, and they also find the tesseract there. unfortunately, the starforce comes to fight them. carol is taken by the kree, and she meets with the supreme intelligence, where she realizes that the kree were holding back her powers.

meanwhile, goose reveals himself to be an alien called a flerken. he swallows the tesseract and also scratches and blinds fury's left eye.

carol destroys a kree bomber and defeats yon-rogg. instead of killing him, she sends him back to the supreme intelligence, with a warning for them.

carol decides to help the skrulls find a new home planet and gives fury a modified pager to reach her.

fury starts an idea called the avenger initiative, to find heroes like carol to protect the earth. he names the idea after carol's air force nickname.

in a mid-credits scene, the pager carol gave fury is being tested by the avengers. they question who's on the other side, just as carol arrives.

in a post-credits scene, goose throws up the tesseract onto fury's desk.

Lamia's Abridged* Primer for Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse

*only includes information relevant to understanding my MOC fic

Storyline basics: Takes place in alternate dimension from the main continuity of Spiderman, where several Spiderpersons from other dimensions end up being dragged into this dimension. (Spider-Gwen, Peni Parker & SP//DR, Spiderman Noir, Spider-Ham, and Peter B. Parker) Main plot is these people trying to get back to their own universes. (Spoiler: they do.)

notable differences: Coca-Cola is Koca-Soda in this universe. Peter Parker was blond in this universe. Doc Ock is female in this universe.

Characters:

Miles Morales - main character of the movie, which takes place in his dimension. Takes up the mantle of Spiderman after the Peter Parker of his universe dies.

blond Peter Parker - the original Spiderman from Miles's dimension. Killed trying to stop the villains' experiment with the interdimensional machine thingy.

Peter B. Parker - middle-aged, chubby, depressed Spiderman, who comes from the universe most closely resembling the real world. (Coca-Cola is Coca-Cola there.) Teaches Miles about how to be a Spiderman.

Olivia Octavius/Doc Ock - one of the villains, the head scientist responsible for creating/operating the machine that caused the dimensional rift.

Primer for High School Musical: only what you need to know for my fic. A lot of it is intentionally confusing, though, because I'm like that.

Troy Bolton is the star basketball player of East High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Gabriella Montez is the brainy new kid who moves around a ton with her mom. On New Year's Eve during their junior year, they sing perfect karaoke together somehow and then fall in love (of course). Then Gabriella shows up at East High. With the convincing of the eccentric drama teacher Ms. Darbus, both Troy and Gabriella end up auditioning together for the spring musical. But here's the kicker: Sharpay Evans and her brother Ryan have starred in every theater products as the leads since Kindergarten. They gotta stick to the status quo. The first movie revolves around this and ends at the callbacks. You never see the actual musical. Troy and Gabriella are officially together now.

The second movie takes place the next summer. They all work at the same country club that Sharpay's family is a member of. Sharpay is suddenly in love with Troy and tries to manipulate the staff to get Troy fired and have Gabriella break up with him. Sharpay kidnaps Troy and brings him to a cave to sing the very insensitive caricature "Humuhumunukunukuapua'a." There's no shortage of those in HSM, alas. Anyway, Troy bets on it and gets v angsty on the golf course. The movie is way too saturated, colorwise. Troy and Gabriella get back together.

The third movie takes place at the end of their senior year. It's the only one with actually good production quality but the plot is the worst. Troy's been working towards playing college basketball at the University of Albuquerque for a while and it seems like the only possibility. But Gabriella got into Stanford and Troy is v conflicted. He gets angsty again and screams. Sharpay goes to New York for college. After a lot of angst, Troy reveals that he was accepted into UC Berkeley and goes there to be close to Gabriella.

The movies are usually at the level of so bad it's good. I would recommend listening to the soundtrack, if you have time, just cause it's legitimately amazing.

Katie's primer for Good Omens.

I'm just gonna put the necessary information.

So Crowley is a demon, and Aziraphale is an angel. They're friends, which isn't allowed, so they pretty much keep it a secret. A bigger problem is the impending apocalypse, where the armies of heaven and hell are going to come together in the final battle. The Antichrist is on earth, and Crowley and Azi come together to try to find him, since he's the thing that's supposed to start the war. However, the Antichrist is just a kid, and he doesn't actually want to start a war. He and his human friends defeat the four horsemen of the apocalypse, effectively putting an end to it.

However, Crowley and Azi weren't very secretive while trying to find the antichrist, and their friendship was discovered, as well as their attempts to stop the apocalypse. They are both labeled traitors to their respective sides, and in the end (after switching bodies to avoid being executed) they decide to form their own side.

Oh, and they're ineffable husbands. Not actually, but it's a very popular pairing. Because they're cute.

(And God is the narrator of the show.)

ana's primer for bbc merlin (i'm not writing a fic, i just want an excuse to talk about merlin lmao). spoilers

introduction: so. the main character of merlin is a boy called merlin (who would've thought?), and he is an extraordinarily gifted wizard and my absolute fav. unable to be at peace with his gifts in his small village, his mother sends him to her old friend gaius in the kingdom of camelot to take care of him. when merlin arrives in camelot, the first thing he witnesses was its king, uther, callously executing a man because he performed magic, quickly learning that sorcery is viewed as utmost evil in the kingdom. (should've stayed in your village, kid). merlin then goes to gaius' house, and gaius is discovered to be a nice old man who only wants the best for merlin. he then meets characters such as guinevere, who instantly becomes friends with merlin, as well as the lady morgana. throughout, he also gets acquainted with the knights of camelot. he meets arthur too, but arthur is getting his own paragraph.

arthur pendragon and destiny:

anyone who knows me even a little bit knows merthur is my everything! anyways. merlin meets arthur pendragon, standing up to him when he sees arthur and friends being arrogant and bullying a servant. at the time, merlin did not know arthur was royalty. merlin was like "that's enough" and arthur was all "do you know who i am" and also my absolute favorite quote in the whole show: "tell me, merlin, do you know how to walk on your knees?" i mean,, tension sksksks. ignore me, my mind has now fully been corrupted and has issues. so anyways. arthur put merlin in the stocks for talking back to the king's son (c'mon, arthur, we don't do this). they have a second showdown and merlin fiRES back "how long have you been training to be a prat my lord?" god i love you. anyways. arthur at the end of the fight says how there's something different about merlin. merlin visits the great dragon, kilgharrah, who tells him that it is his and arthur's destiny to unite albion (and merlin is like "is this the right arthur????")

when merlin saves arthur from a magical force, uther makes merlin arthur's manservant. arthur is like "i have to be near him???" but eventually they learn to trust each other and be around each other and grow close through various quests and adventures, despite arthur's tendency to have trouble showing any sort of feeling whatsoever (his father's fault, tbh). basically, the whole show is: evil people trying to kill arthur and merlin saving his ass the entire time with his magic. while arthur does not know about merlin's magic for most of the show, it's fanon that he does know, but is in denial since his father told him magic is evil. merlin often goes to the great dragon for advice. merlin and arthur, while not canon, are the love story of the era. i will not be spoiling anything super important, you'll have to watch the show for that :p

I hope necro'ing the thread is okay? I've been in a new fandom recently.

Bio's Primer for A3! Act! Addict! Actors!

There will be spoilers down here!

BACKGROUND

Act, Addict, Actors!, or commonly referred and shortened as A3!, is a mobile game created by Liber Entertainment. It has been out on Japan since 2017, and on October 2019, it got the EN version and was globally released by Cybird. It recently received an anime adaptation and would be split into two parts: Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter.

You play as Izumi Tachibana, a young woman who receives a letter from Mankai Company, a theater that is said to be her father's theater company. When you arrive there, not only is the theater itself in shambles, the troupe is also shackled in debt. As the daughter of the previous director of said troupe, you are now the director, and your job is to revive the theater with the help of the incompetent manager Isuke Matsukawa. Hijinks and shenanigans ensue.

The gameplay is like a typical gacha game; you use in-game currency to pull actor cards and train them. Then you can have them act in shows. A fun feature in this game is that you can switch up the original casts for a certain play. However, its main charm is in its story and fun characters, and thus "enjoy the story, skip the game."

There are four troupes for you to manage, and as per the tradition, they consist of all males. When there is a play that requires a female actor, either the playwright modifies the script so that the cast is all-male (in this case, romance tends to be modified to friendship or bromance) or a male crossdresses as a female.

Note that majority of the characters undergoes character development throughout the story.

SPRING TROUPE

The first troupe formed in the story, consisting of mainly newbies to theater. This troupe specializes in general appeal and often performs fantasy and/or fairy tale-esque plays and plays inspired by popular classic works. Led by Sakuya Sakuma.

Actors:

• Sakuya Sakuma: An energetic boy who is very enthusiastic about theater. Naive, pure, and gullible. Lost his parents at very young age and had been living with his indifferent relatives.
• Masumi Usui: A quiet, aloof boy who has a crush on the director. Cold and reserved, but gradually warms up throughout the story and is especially nice to the director.
• Tsuzuru Minagi: The theater's young and aspiring playwright. Hardworking and responsible, a trait comes from his poor background and the many siblings in his house. He is the big brother figure and "only sane man" of Spring Troupe. He always pulls an all-nighter to write a play script and when he is done, he will pass out after handing the script.
• Itaru Chigasaki: A salaryman at a trading company. He can be as gentlemanly as a prince, but it actually hides his competitive gaming whale and otaku persona. He was once betrayed by his friend, causing him to develop trust issues.
• Citron: A mysterious foreigner who, at the second part of the story, turns out to be a runaway prince from the Kingdom of Zahra. He is the Spring Troupe's moodmaker who often slips up with his words and causes unintentional innuendos.
• Chikage Utsuki: A mysterious man who is Itaru's senior at work. Has a habit of lying and a penchant in sleight of hands. He turns out to be a former spy for an organization along with Hisoka. Makes a few cameos from the end of the first part and throughout various events and eventually joins during the second part.

Plays:

• Romeo and Julius: A lighthearted rehash of Romeo and Juliet that focuses on friendship. Lead: Sakuya Sakuma (Romeo). Co-Lead: Masumi Usui (Julius).
• Alex in Wonderland: A play based on Alice in Wonderland. Lead: Masumi Usui (Alex). Co-Lead: Itaru Chigasaki (The Mad Hatter)
• A Clockwork Heart: A bittersweet steampunk play. Lead: Tsuzuru Minagi (Luke). Co-Lead: Citron (S).
• The Wonderful Charlatan of Oz: A play based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, set before Dorothy's arrival. Lead: Chikage Utsuki (Oswald). Co-Lead: Sakuya Sakuma (Rick).
• Knight of Round IV - The Stage: A play based on the in-universe game series KniRoun, which is inspired by Arthurian legend. Lead: Itaru Chigasaki (Lancelot). Co-Lead: Chikage Utsuki (Gawain).
• Harugaoka Quartet: A slice-of-life play about a music school. Lead: Citron (Ennis). Co-Lead: Masumi Usui (Youta).
• Immortal Crow (Summer/Spring Mixed Play): A lighthearted take on the story of Benkei. Lead: Tenma Sumeragi (Kurou). Co-Lead: Tsuzuru Minagi (Benkei).

SUMMER TROUPE

The second troupe formed in the story. This troupe has the youngest (and generally loudest and most energetic) members and specializes in comedy. Led by Tenma Sumeragi.

Actors:

• Tenma Sumeragi: A child movie actor. Proud and can be harsh, but actually has a sweet side deep down with no sense of direction. Often seen tending to his bonsai, or rather "grandpa hobby" as his troupe mates would call it.
• Yuki Rurikawa: A tailor boy who manages the play costumes and has a habit of dressing like girls. Is not afraid to snark at and insult anyone (including a 30 yo yakuza), which is likely a defense mechanism developed against bullies who like to pick on his crossdressing habit, but hides a vulnerable interior.
• Misumi Ikaruga: An energetic guy with a mysterious obsession with triangles. Very athletic and silly, with an ability to communicate with animals, but is surprisingly a great actor. However, because of his obsession and unnatural athleticism, he is shunned by his family. Only his grandfather never gives up on him.
• Muku Sakisaka: A kind, timid boy who loves shoujo manga and aspires to be like a prince. Easily flustered and can ramble a lot, and as a former member of a track team, he is surprisingly very strong.
• Kazunari Miyoshi: A friendly, extroverted guy who is the theater's graphic designer. A phoneaholic teenager who often peppers his speech with Internet slangs like, "Heya, fam!", "Totes adorbs!", "That's lit af!", etc. He used to be a studious, introverted guy.
• Kumon Hyodo: An energetic baseball player who adores his big brother, Juza Hyodo, a lot and is a cousin to Muku. He has a condition that causes him to get sick when pressured, which greatly affects his self-esteem. Joins during the second part.

Plays:

• Water Me!: A parody of Arabian Nights. Lead: Tenma Sumeragi (Alibaba). Co-Lead: Yuki Rurikawa (Scheherazade).
• The Great Sardine Search: A comedic adventure of cats. Lead: Yuki Rurikawa (Shiro). Co-Lead: Kazunari Miyoshi (Kuro).
• Captain Sky's Pirates: A lighthearted pirate tale. Lead: Misumi Ikaruga (Sky). Co-Lead: Muku Sakisaka (Henry).
• First Crush Baseball: A sports romcom. Lead: Kumon Hyodo (Akiyama). Co-Lead: Tenma Sumeragi (Inoue).
• Shinobi Misadventuring: An action/comedy about ninja. Lead: Kazunari Miyoshi (Kiichi). Co-Lead: Misumi Ikaruga (Yoshimaru).
• The Floral Prince: A lighthearted tale of princes trying to save a princess. Lead: Muku Sakisaka (Florence). Co-Lead: Kumon Hyodo (Broto).
• Immortal Crow (Summer/Spring Mixed Play): A lighthearted take on the story of Benkei. Lead: Tenma Sumeragi (Kurou). Co-Lead: Tsuzuru Minagi (Benkei).

AUTUMN TROUPE

The third troupe formed in the story. This troupe consists of a lot of literal bad boys (even yakuza) and specializes in action. Led by Banri Settsu.

Actors:

• Banri Settsu: An aimless delinquent who claims his life to be in "Super Ultra Easy Mode" because he is apparently good at everything. Arrogant and a bit of a jerk and never takes things seriously, but changes for the better after getting fed a humble pie.
• Juza Hyodo: A delinquent who is well-known for his feat in brawls. Despite his scary appearance and initial lack of skills in acting, he is gentle, earnest, and hardworking, but will be truly scary if you provoke him or pick on his little brother and/or cousin.
• Taichi Nanao: A guy who loves being popular, especially with girls, and is actually sent by the rival God Troupe to sabotage the theater. Cheerful and energetic, and tries to act and look strong although he is the tiniest member in the troupe.
• Omi Fushimi: A former delinquent who is haunted by the past and in a photography club. A gentle, motherly figure who cooks and sews well.
• Sakyo Furuichi: A yakuza who is actually Izumi's childhood friend and knows the theater company better than anyone does. Very fussy and strict, especially when it comes to budgets and expenses, and may come across as a grumpy old man.
• Azami Izumida: The rebellious child of a yakuza boss, raised by Sakyo. Intended to be a heir to the yakuza organization Sakyo works for, but he aspires to be a makeup artist to honor his deceased mother. Has a very old-fashioned view on marriage and love. Joins during the second part.

Plays:

• The Roman Episode: A mafia play. Lead: Banri Settsu (Luciano). Co-Lead: Juza Hyodo (Lansky).
• Stranger: A post-apocalyptic sci-fi play. Lead: Omi Fushimi (Wolf). Co-Lead: Taichi Nanao (Zero).
• Tale of Chivalry - Ginji the Wanderer: A yakuza play. Lead: Sakyo Furuichi (Ginji Kazama). Co-Lead: Juza Hyodo (Ken Tatsuta).
• DEAD/UNDEAD: A zombie apocalypse play. Lead: Azami Izumida (Abel). Co-Lead: Banri Settsu (Ivan).
• Fire Up, Mantou Fist!: A kung fu play. Lead: Taichi Nanao (Chan). Co-Lead: Azami Izumida (Yun).
• Fallen Blood: An action play about an ideal hero and a misunderstood hero. Lead: Juza Hyodo (Blood). Co-Lead: Omi Fushimi (Huey).
• Stray Devil Blues (Winter/Autumn Mixed Play): A "Deal with the Devil" action/tragedy play. Lead: Tsumugi Tsukioka (Lucifer). Co-Lead: Taichi Nanao (Mark).

WINTER TROUPE

The last troupe formed in the story. This troupe consists of adults (only age-wise; they are potentially the most chaotic troupe and as said in the official fanbook, the only thing "adult" about Winter Troupe is their average age) and specializes in drama, tragedy, and mystery. Led by Tsumugi Tsukioka.

Actors:

• Tsumugi Tsukioka: A gentle young man who majors in psychology, loves gardening, and bad with tech. Very kind and is often compared to an angel, but lacks confidence, has a mischievous streak, and can be awkward and obliviously smooth. He develops confidence as the story goes, can be very passionate about a subject, and as said by Guy, is surprisingly aggressive. Tasuku's childhood friend.
• Tasuku Takato: A muscular young man who loves theater and sports a lot. Stoic, blunt, and emotionally awkward, which causes him to be prone to miscommunication, but gradually grows out of it and cares for fellow troupe members in his own way. The in-universe running gag for him usually involves Tasuku not wanting to do something, only to end up doing it because his troupe mates say that "It's for acting." Tsumugi's childhood friend.
• Homare Arisugawa: An eccentric published poet who loves reciting poems and claiming himself as genius and awesome in a grandiose way. Despite his hilarious antics, he always compares himself to a broken cyborg as he cannot understand emotions. He is often careless with words, but always means well. Very rich and generous.
• Hisoka Mikage: A mysterious young man who sleeps a lot, anywhere (including in a washing machine) and anytime. Literally, unless Homare is being noisy or someone baits him with marshmallows (similar to Tasuku, if Hisoka refuses to do something, give him marshmallows and he will do it). Has no memories of his past, but gradually regains it throughout the story. He turns out to be a former spy for an organization along with Chikage. Selfish and unfriendly, but actually cares about his troupe mates.
• Azuma Yukishiro: A man best known for his ageless beauty. Loves messing around with others with innuendos and looks carefree, but deep down he hates being alone. His family died in a car accident when he was in elementary, and he had been having nightmares about his family leaving and never coming back.
• Guy (Nishiki Gai): A self-proclaimed android who is Citron's servant. Has trouble expressing emotions, but is actually a nice, rather awkward guy. It turns out that he is a human, and as revealed later, his parents were divorced, and Guy was taken by his mother. He was verbally abused by his stepfather, trained to be a child soldier, and had been believing himself to be an android all this long. Joins during the second part.

Plays:

• Sympathy for the Angel: A tragedy about an angel falling in love with human. Lead: Tsumugi Tsukioka (Michael). Co-Lead: Tasuku Takato (Raphael).
• My Master's Mesmerized by Mystery: A mystery play set in Taisho era. Lead: Homare Arisugawa (Tooru Sagishima). Co-Lead: Hisoka Mikage (Shiki Tojo).
• Nocturnality: A vampire-human drama play. Lead: Azuma Yukishiro (Reo Kuto). Co-Lead: Tasuku Takato (Kota Seo).
• Le Fantôme de l'Opéra: A play based on The Phantom of the Opera. Lead: Guy (Erik/The Phantom). Co-Lead: Tsumugi Tsukioka (Chris Daaé).
• Die by the Sword: A samurai play. Lead: Tasuku Takato (Miyamoto Musashi). Co-Lead: Guy (Sasaki Kojiro).
• Risky Game: A casino drama play. Lead: Hisoka Mikage (Liam). Co-Lead: Azuma Yukishiro (Norman).
• Stray Devil Blues (Winter/Autumn Mixed Play): A "Deal with the Devil" action/tragedy play. Lead: Tsumugi Tsukioka (Lucifer). Co-Lead: Taichi Nanao (Mark).

Mixed Troupe Plays

These plays involve members from multiple troupes. Unlike regular plays, they only have four casts instead of five or six. The first Mixed Troupe play is I Come With the Night, in which the casts are determined by in-game popularity poll.

• I Come With the Night: A school play about a two-faced teacher. Lead: Itaru Chigasaki (Shigehito Futami). Co-Lead: Banri Settsu (Arata Shinbashi).
• Run Around the Field: A soccer play. Lead: Tsuzuru Minagi (Kubota). Co-Lead: Tasuku Takato (Miyagi).
• The Luminous Circus: A supernatural circus play. Lead: Homare Arisugawa (George). Co-Lead: Kazunari Miyoshi (Tim).
• The Last Runway: A play about fashion designers and modelling. Lead: Yuki Rurikawa (Kikukawa). Co-Lead: Taichi Nanao (Minami).
• Yin Yang Midnight: An onmyoji play. Lead: Sakyo Furuichi (Abe Seimei). Co-Lead: Azuma Yukishiro (Kou).
• Scarlet Mirror: A play based on Sherlock Holmes. Lead: Hisoka Mikage (Holmes). Co-Lead: Chikage Utsuki (Moriarty).

OTHER CHARACTERS

MANKAI COMPANY

• Izumi Tachibana (Director/Kantoku): The daughter of the missing Yukio Tachibana. She is in charge of the theater and serves as the actors' big sis or motherly figure. Best known for her fondness of curry.
• Isuke Matsukawa: The manager of the theater. Cowardly, incompetent, and is often involved in silly situations, but is very faithful to the theater.
• Kamekichi: The theater's mascot, a pink cockatoo. Has a foul mouth.
• Yuzo Kashima: Known as the "Demon Coach" for his ruthlessness in ripping apart the actors' performances. One of the members of the theater back in its glorious days.
• Tetsuro Iwai: The theater's carpenter who manages the props. A quiet gentle giant who loves visiting zoos and small fluffy critters.
• Yukio Tachibana: Izumi's missing father who started Mankai Company. He had superb acting skills, but chose to train actors instead of standing on stage.

GOD TROUPE

• Reni Kamikizaka: The president of God Troupe. Has a grudge towards Mankai Company and does whatever he can, including dirty ways, to bring it down. It is later revealed that he was once affiliated with Mankai Company.
• Haruto Asuka (Genta Yamada): A hotheaded actor who often takes a jab at Mankai Company's performances whenever he sees the chance.
• Shifuto Arakawa: A boisterous, friendly actor who recently joined God Troupe. Azami's childhood friend.
• Madoka Ikaruga: God Troupe's ghostwriter. He is Misumi's little brother; even though he has been taught to avoid Misumi, he secretly cares about his big brother.