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*Zonda's special move against Gunvolt is named "Paradise Lost", after a 17th century epic poem detailing the Biblical "Fall of Man". |
*Zonda's special move against Gunvolt is named "Paradise Lost", after a 17th century epic poem detailing the Biblical "Fall of Man". |
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**The move also shares the same name with the one used by the second form of Lumine, the main antagonist of ''Mega Man X8'' when he's reduced to about 20-25% of his health. However, both attacks function differently. |
**The move also shares the same name with the one used by the second form of Lumine, the main antagonist of ''Mega Man X8'' when he's reduced to about 20-25% of his health. However, both attacks function differently. |
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| − | *Just as how [[Nova_Tsukuyomi_"The_Mighty"|Nova]] possesses several similarities with [[w:c:megaMan:Copy_X|Copy X]], the main antagonist of [[w:c:megaman:Mega_Man_Zero_(video_game)|the first Megaman Zero]], Zonda in ''Azure Striker Gunvolt 2'' can come off as overly similar to [[w:c:megaman:Elpizo|Elpizo]], the main antagonist of ''[[w:c:megaman:Mega_Man_Zero_2|Megaman Zero 2]] |
+ | *Just as how [[Nova_Tsukuyomi_"The_Mighty"|Nova]] possesses several similarities with [[w:c:megaMan:Copy_X|Copy X]], the main antagonist of [[w:c:megaman:Mega_Man_Zero_(video_game)|the first Megaman Zero]], Zonda in ''Azure Striker Gunvolt 2'' can come off as overly similar to [[w:c:megaman:Elpizo|Elpizo]], the main antagonist of ''[[w:c:megaman:Mega_Man_Zero_2|Megaman Zero 2]]''; both games were developed by Inti Creates, both are respected amongst their individual group, and both are associated with pink/purple clothing as well as blond hair. The cornerstone of their plans involve fairy-esque beings – the Muse for Zonda, and the [[w:c:megaman:Dark_Elf|Dark Elf]] for Elpizo – and both have genocidal plans for humanity by using the fairy-esque being in order to amplify power and thus create a paradise for their race whom constantly face discrimination. Additionally, their final boss forms both resemble twisted versions of fairies and come after absorbing the power of the McGuffin of the story. |
*Fake Zonda is similar to several ''Mega Man ZX'' characters: |
*Fake Zonda is similar to several ''Mega Man ZX'' characters: |
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| − | **[https://megaman.fandom.com/wiki/Rospark_the_Floroid Rospark], both are pink in color scheme, have campy and flamboyant personalities, and use 2 forms. In addition both the |
+ | **[https://megaman.fandom.com/wiki/Rospark_the_Floroid Rospark], both are pink in color scheme, have campy and flamboyant personalities, and use 2 forms. In addition, both the male form of Fake Zonda and Rospark's humanoid form have phallic spikes on their crotches. |
**[https://megaman.fandom.com/wiki/Argoyle_%26_Ugoyle_the_Shisaroids Argoyle and Urgoyle], both them and Fake Zonda are fought as dual bosses that block the player's advancement their stage. |
**[https://megaman.fandom.com/wiki/Argoyle_%26_Ugoyle_the_Shisaroids Argoyle and Urgoyle], both them and Fake Zonda are fought as dual bosses that block the player's advancement their stage. |
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**[https://megaman.fandom.com/wiki/Prometheus Prometheus] and [https://megaman.fandom.com/wiki/Pandora Pandora] who in ''ZX Advent'' appear in intro stages and eventually become the penultimate boss as a dual encounter, just like Fake Zonda. |
**[https://megaman.fandom.com/wiki/Prometheus Prometheus] and [https://megaman.fandom.com/wiki/Pandora Pandora] who in ''ZX Advent'' appear in intro stages and eventually become the penultimate boss as a dual encounter, just like Fake Zonda. |
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Revision as of 19:54, 23 August 2020
| Main |
"Very well. I leave this in your capable hands."
—Zonda
, Azure Striker Gunvolt 2
"I feel your hatred, yet it and Love are the same."
—Fake Zonda
, Azure Striker Gunvolt 2
Zonda, also known as the "Maiden of Eden", or "The Lustful Mirage" under her Sumeragi Swordsman guise, and advertised as The Mysterious Girl before the release of Azure Striker Gunvolt 2, is a minor antagonist in the original Azure Striker Gunvolt and the main antagonist of Azure Striker Gunvolt 2.
Zonda is initially introduced as an enigmatic high-ranking member of the Sumeragi Group and part of The Sumeragi Seven who works under Nova, as well as a member of the Adept Hunter Unit; in reality, this version of Zonda was naught but an illusion generated through her Septima to infiltrate the group and steal valuable information on both Glaives and the Muse – once said goal was completed, she allowed this mirror version of herself to be slain by Copen so that she could focus on her true motive.
In reality, Zonda leads the multinational adept union known as Eden, guiding them with their shared dream of creating a paradise only for Adepts, Zonda herself serving as an oracle for the oppressed. Her endgame plan is to reboot Sumeragi's Diva Project, using the Muse to amplify her power so that she could exterminate humanity and bring about peace for her kind.
Zonda is known to possess an affinity for the Septima Phantasm Mirror, which allows her to craft intricate and life-like illusions. Upon gaining the power of The Muse, it becomes the Septima Reverie Mirror, which allows her to make her illusions real.
Website Description
Azure Striker Gunvolt
Zonda is a very formidable adept in Sumeragi’s Adept Hunter Unit who utilizes a septimal power known as "Mirror."
Not much is known about this septimal power at this point in time, only that it is thought to be some kind of illusion-based power.
Zonda’s age, gender, and background are all shrouded in mystery, and much about this individual remains unknown, even among Sumeragi’s top officials. Despite this, Zonda’s power as an adept is quite impressive, rivaling the likes of even Sumeragi’s top dog, Nova.
The Glaive which holds Zonda’s septimal power is known as the "Crow Child."
Azure Striker Gunvolt 2
A young girl who appeared before Gunvolt and Copen, she expresses herself with a level of poise and order that does not befit her childish appearance.
She is an Adept, but her abilities are unknown. What could she be after……?
Appearance
Zonda is a young girl with long, cream white hair with pink highlights with curls and dark pink eyes. She wears a smart, sleeveless black and white double breasted dress with magenta tights and black shoes with gold buckles. She also has a black bow tied around her head.
Zonda's Sumeragi disguise is an older, somewhat androgynous version of her regular form. In this form, Zonda wears a unique Sumeragi officer uniform consisting of a black jacket with gold highlights and the Sumeragi emblem on the left sleeve, a matching dress with a slit up the side, and a white bodysuit. Zonda also wears white shoes with gold soles.
Unlike any other Swordsmen, there are two different variations to Zonda's Weaponized form: a male and a female version. Both have black eyes with pink irises, long pale pink hair, and black and white armour with pink highlights.
Zonda's male Weaponized form has spikier hair, a noticeably more muscular build, large pieces of armour on "his" shoulders, and a large, pink, crystal-like spike in "his" crotch.
Zonda's female Weaponized form has smoother hair, large armour around "her" hips, and a black armoured tail with a large spike at the end.
Personality
The leader of the adept union Eden, Zonda has proven to be a dark, cold and sinister person, unbefitting of her young age. She is always eerily calm, and rarely shows any true enthusiasm.
Zonda is also rather deceptive, changing her entire appearance and personality in order to infiltrate Sumeragi, and even took part in the hunting of adepts to keep her cover. Despite this, she does show some compassion from time to time. Zonda genuinely cares about her underlings, in particular The Seven, calling them her "friends". She also is very close to her adoptive brother Tenjian, calling out to him in her moments of death, and has a strange fascination with the subject of "love".
However, at her heart, Zonda is a cruel person who is focused only on achieving her own goals and is willing to kill anyone who stands her way. As a result of the treatment she and her fellow adepts suffered, she has vowed to wipe out the entire population without a septima, and build a utopia full of her own twisted version of love. She is also sadistic, mocking Copen over the fact that his sister Mytyl is an Adept, the very thing he despises.
In contrast to this, Zonda's fake form is much more eccentric and flamboyant. Representing the sin lust in this form, Zonda is shown to be an incredibly cheerful and loud person, yet still showing the same disturbing level of ruthlessness and eloquent, theatrical speech. Zonda's admiration for love is increased in this form to become more of an obsession, screaming the word in almost every sentence, and claiming that all things, even hatred and death, are the same as love. Both Zonda's male and female variants can exist at the same time and act independently of each other, yet seem to speak and think as if they were a single person.
It's unknown as to why Zonda experiences this drastic change in personality after transforming, though given Sumeragi Zonda is nearly always seen post-Glaive, this may be linked to the psychological side effects of the Glaives.
Zonda's eccentrics made them a controversial figure in Sumeragi, however, mysteriously enough, those who joined the battle unit don’t seem to mind it; there even seem to be unit members who worshiped Zonda. There were rumors of a hidden faction fight between the men that Zonda commanded during the Sumeragi infiltration: it was said that this division is a result of differing preference of either Zonda's male or female form.
Plot Role
Zonda's early background largely is shrouded in mystery. It is known that she was orphaned in China, and grew up in an orphanage alongside Tenjian, whom she came to see as her big brother.
Eventually, the orphanage closed due to the owner's passing, leaving the group of orphans on the streets. Tenjian's attempts to get them adopted failed, largely due to his Septimal powers, and the children died one by one until Zonda and Tenjian were the only ones left. The two were then approached by a kindly man, who gave them apples to eat. They readily accepted, unaware the man had poisoned the food.
Barely surviving, Tenjian, in a rampage, froze the entire area and its inhabitants, bar himself and Zonda. Their hatred for humanity solidified, the two siblings founded Eden, with Zonda as it's "king", with the goal of destroying mankind and building a new world for Adepts, and Adepts alone.
A year before the events of Azure Striker Gunvolt, Eden launched a massive attack on Japan, home of the powerful Sumeragi Group. Sumeragi fought them off, however, the attack was merely a diversion to allow Zonda to sneak into the country and gain information.
Under the guise of an androgynous 17-year-old, Zonda joined the Sumeragi Group, and gained respect as one of it's most powerful members, rivaling the likes of her commanding officer, Nova. During her time at Sumeragi, Zonda also repeatedly tried to kidnap The Muse, but failed each time.
Zonda's mysterious character resulted in a type of infamy across the Sumeragi Group, some employees claiming that, before they knew it, someone had registered them into Sumeragi's databases as official employees (apparently by Zonda). Several accounts of his/her origins began to spread but if one tried to piece them together they would end up finding that they contradicted each other.
Azure Striker Gunvolt
Sinner's Row (Kaleidoscape)
At some point after the protagonist Gunvolt has resigned from the resistance group QUILL, QUILL begins tracking Zonda. On the night after Gunvolt has defeated his third Sumeragi adept opponent, QUILL member Zeno encounters Zonda. The two engage each other in combat, and Zeno is defeated and left in a critical condition as Zonda flees to the ghetto district, Sinner's Row.
Soon after, Gunvolt is sent in to take care of Zonda for good. With help from Moniqa, he is quickly able to track down and face Zonda, who is currently in "his" male septimal form. Gunvolt correctly identifies Zonda, much to the latter's enthusiasm, calling it a display of love. Deciding to toy with Gunvolt, Zonda flees, leaving multiple mirrors in "his" wake as Gunvolt pursues. Zonda then watches Gunvolt's progress with amusement, giving "his" own commentary as "he" gleefully awaits Gunvolt's arrival.
However, unbeknownst to anyone, a third party is on the playing field - Copen, who, taking Zonda by surprise, successfully defeats "him" using the powers he obtained from the previously defeated three Swordsmen. Gunvolt arrives just in time to watch Copen kill Zonda, who is deriving immense pleasure from "his" own death, and absorb "his" septima into his shield.
Azure Striker Gunvolt 2
Prologue
With the death of Nova and the failure of the Diva Project, Sumeragi is thrown into chaos. Taking advantage of this, Zonda and The Seven enact their plan to seize the power of The Muse. She orders Tenjian and Teseo to hijack Sumeragi's airship, The Seraph, and have it crash into a Sumeragi skyscraper. She also orders Asroc to kidnap Mytyl, Copen's sister and bring her onboard The Seraph. All of this was a ruse to lure Gunvolt to them so they can steal the power of The Muse.
Zonda first appears in Copen's prologue, disguised in her female form. Copen at first doesn't recognize Zonda until "she" shifts into male form and reveals that the Zonda he fought in the past was a fragment of the Phantasm Mirror Septima and that they were the ones who kidnapped Mytyl. Copen demands Zonda return Mytyl, but The Lustful Mirage leaves with a taunt.
After Gunvolt and Copen rescue Mytyl and stop The Seraph from crashing, Tenjian freezes the two rivals in place. Zonda appears and takes advantage of Gunvolt's weakened link with Joule to trap her in mirror shards which are promptly shattered by Tenjian. Zonda then sheds her disguise, revealing her true form and that she is the leader of the Adept supremacist group Eden, whose goal is to create a paradise for all Adepts. Copen spitefully dismisses them as a pack of terrorists and radical extremists. Tenjian urges Zonda to leave out of fear for her safety and she reluctantly does so, leaving Tenjian to deal with Gunvolt while proclaiming that she does all for the sake of love.
Mourning The Dead
After three of The Seven are killed by Gunvolt and Copen, Zonda is seen holding a prayer vigil for them along with some Eden soldiers. The soldiers are visibly panicked at the loss of three of their best warriors, but Zonda urges them to remain calm, claiming that their sacrifices are necessary for the "Normalization" process to continue running smoothly and that soon her Adept utopia will be a reality. For now, she tells them to offer a prayer for the fallen.
The Garden (Eden)
After four of The Seven are defeated, Zonda orders all of her troops to return to The Garden in Tashkent, Asia and orders Ghauri to use his powers to destroy the highway and cover their retreat. She also orders Asroc (or Teseo and Gibril in Copen's story) to kidnap Mytyl once again to initiate the final stages of her plan.
After Ghauri and Gibril are defeated, Gunvolt and Copen arrive at Tashkent and began to fight their way through the Garden. Zonda and a mirror copy of the now deceased Tenjian observe the two heroes. Tenjian sends Desna and Milas respectfully to deal with them while Zonda prays that The Seven need not make any further sacrifices.
The Garden 3 (Savior)
When Gunvolt and Copen reach the heart of the Garden, Zonda uses her Septima to create Mirror copies of The Seven to slow them down, each of them having the powers and memories of the original. After they are defeated, Zonda bids them welcome. The encounters with both characters differ slightly.
Final Battle with Copen
Copen demands that Zonda return Mytyl to him, but she refuses, saying that Mytyl is the key to obtaining the power of The Muse. Copen asks what Mytyl has to do with The Muse and Zonda reveals that Mytyl is actually an Adept who was the original bearer of the power of The Muse. She reveals that during her tenure at Sumeragi, she came across interesting data about Mytyl, how her father performed an operation to save Mytyl's life by cutting her Septima out as her Septima was too powerful to be contained in Mytyl's body. When Sumeragi discovered this, they transplanted her Septima into another young girl, Joule, who would eventually lose her physical body and merge with Gunvolt.
Copen is appalled by the revelation and denies every word, believing it all to be lies. Zonda transforms into her Sumeragi disguise and engages Copen in battle to retake the other mirror shards, taunting him about his sister being an Adept throughout the fight. Copen defeats Zonda, but it's revealed to be another illusion and the real Zonda awaits in the heart of the Garden.
Copen races inside and finds Mytyl levitating in a green barrier. Zonda uses Mytyl to steal the mirror shards from Lola and absorb them into herself, transforming into a dark and twisted version of The Muse and amplifying her Septima into the Reverie Mirror, granting her the power to control reality itself. Copen asks if she plans to become a god, and Zonda replies that she's "strongly considering it", saying she plans to be a guide for all Adepts and relishes the chance to battle Copen again. Copen proclaims that humanity always finds a way to defeat the monster and faces off against Zonda for the final time. After an arduous battle, Zonda is defeated once and for all. Shocked and horrified at the demise of her paradise, Zonda desperately calls out for Tenjian as she, and with her, Eden, dies.
Final Battle With Gunvolt
Gunvolt demands to know what Zonda plans to do with the Mirror Shards. Zonda reveals that her ultimate goal is to reboot Sumeragi's Diva Project and use the power of The Muse to amplify the Septimas of Adepts worldwide, creating an army of powerful Adepts to subjugate humanity. She then transforms into her Sumeragi disguise and fights Gunvolt to retake the other mirror shards. During the fight, she also explains that she used the power of The Muse to create Grimores to allow The Seven to transform and use their full power. Gunvolt defeats Zonda, but it's revealed to be another copy created by her Septima. The true Zonda awaited in the heart of the Garden.
Gunvolt races inside and finds both Zonda and Mytyl levitating in a green barrier. Zonda uses Mytyl to steal the mirror shards from Gunvolt and absorb them into herself, transforming into a dark and twisted version of The Muse and amplifying her Septima into the Reverie Mirror and granting her the power to control reality itself. Gunvolt desperately calls out to Joule, but Zonda claims it won't work, saying that unlike Nova, who used Sumeragi technology to merely control Joule's power, Zonda used the data obtained from Gunvolt's battles with The Seven to normalize the shards and perform a perfect fusion with The Muse, absorbing her power completely and erasing Joule's consciousness.
She then engages Gunvolt in a grand final battle, with Gunvolt trying his best to survive without Joule's powers. Having had enough of Gunvolt's persistence, Zonda unleashes her Paradise Lost Special Skill, singing a song of despair that begins to tear at Gunvolt's mind and body. Gunvolt is slowly dying under the assault, but soon remembers Joule's final words to him that her song is always inside her. He begins to sing Reincarnation, cancelling out Zonda's Paradise Lost and giving him the strength to fight back against Zonda. After a brutal fight, Zonda is finally defeated and is in complete shock that she could've been defeated with the power of The Muse. Gunvolt bluntly tells her that Joule is a person and not a tool and that she would never help her. Zonda tearfully calls out to her brother Tenjian before dying, ending the threat of Eden forever.
Azure Striker Gunvolt: The Anime
Zonda makes a cameo at the end of the OVA with Nova's other Swordsmen (minus Merak) surrounding Gunvolt
Armed Blue Gunvolt
Track 9 - Dark Trysts
After Eden's attack on Japan, Zonda, having used the battle as cover to sneak into the country, watches a press conference hosted by Nova, who uses the attack as propaganda to allow Sumeragi to assume command of the nation's defenses.
Zonda remarks the move is rather smart, before she is contacted by Tenjian, who is glad that she made it safely. Zonda replies that it was thanks to the love that they put in that attack. She also informs Tenjian that a strange couple also managed to infiltrate the barrier, telling him that she sensed no love from them. Tenjian realizes that they are not the only ones involved in this.Other appearances
Mighty Gunvolt
Zonda appears as the final boss in the 8-bit spin-off game Mighty Gunvolt, replacing Copen in a reversal of their roles in Azure Striker Gunvolt.
Mighty Gunvolt Burst
Zonda has four pixel stickers.
Zonda appears as a collectible pixel sticker that can be obtained by completing the Paradox challenge by clearing a stage without using any Bursts. This is for the male version that is a pixel sticker.
The Female version appears as a random drop from an enemy.
True Zonda's pixel sticker can be picked up in the Cyberspace Coliseum stage.
Her Reverie form is a pixel sticker and is a random drop from an enemy.
Powers and Abilities
As a human whom is attuned to the Septimal stage of the Lifewave, and the leader of Eden, Zonda is known to possess a level of power considered to be almost otherworldly in nature, her Septima being Phantasm Mirror known in Japan as Mirror (夢幻鏡（ミラー), Mirā lit. Phantom Mirror), and while it involves the utilization of mirrors, it is a mysterious power with not much documented about its functions; even amongst the top brass of the Sumeragi Group, a powerful conglomerate whom focus around detaining and controlling Adepts, very little information about Zonda is known, which enabled her to infiltrate the group and become one of their Seven Swordsmen.
Around the time of the illusionary form's induction into Sumeragi and under Nova's payroll, nothing was certain about them, other than the fact that they were as powerful as both Nova and Gunvolt, with the power Zonda wields displaying a level of creativity and power equivalent to the former's Psychokinesis and the latter's Azure Striker.
Even then, the true might of Zonda can be perhaps be displayed by the fact that even though the form known as "Zonda, the Lustful Mirage" was slain, said form was naught but a mere fragment of the actual Zonda's power.
In the first game of the series, other than opening up portals to another area and flipping the world around so that the sky becomes where the floor would normally be, overall distorting the area known as Kaleidoscape in accordance to their whims, not much is displayed of Zonda's abilities, as the Sumeragi Zonda is slain by Copen before a proper fight with them could occur.
Even so, the fact that Copen himself could develop a very powerful Skill using the illusionary Zonda's sepitomosome which has also been utilized as his signature attack as a boss in both games could help exemplify how strong even a mere fragment of Zonda's Septima is.
Zonda went on changing their personality and outward appearance at will: and it’d seem that they changed their sex every day, even when there was no real need to do so.
That was surprising since Zonda supposedly couldn't use their Septima without transforming with the "Glaive". But Zonda could pull it off nevertheless.
However, it should be noted that the "true" Zonda has never really been shown doing battle until the final battle of Azure Striker Gunvolt 2, but instead, the Sumeragi Zonda seems to display the most uses with Phantasm Mirror. Additionally, considering all three forms that she does battle in, Zonda has the most offensive skills displayed by a boss-only character in the series, with three at her disposal.
Phantasm Mirror seems to mainly revolve around "mirroring" things so to speak, with Zonda, once again, mirroring the world so that the enemy is forced to tread across an area where everything is upside down – the Phantasma Mirror copies seem to be high-quality illusions that can properly interact with all forms of matter, as displayed in the prologue of Azure Striker Gunvolt 2, where Zonda manages to trap Joule's projection in a mirror, supposedly mirroring ensnaring Joule herself.
The details and mechanics of this incredible Septima aren't known very well other than showing virtual images to anything Zonda deems to be suitable, but the potential it possesses is supposedly infinite. As displayed in both the second game and the spin-off game, Mighty Gunvolt, Zonda mainly does battle by creating mirror panes to flip between their male and female forms on the fly using a skill known as "Over Gender", and duplicate themselves to the point that Zonda was able to fool everyone into thinking she was dead.
In some ways, Phantasm Mirror can be seen as an opposite to Psychokinesis, Nova's septima. Whereas Psychokinesis is openly offensive and destructive, Phantasm Mirror is more subtle and less confrontational. Psychokinesis is ironically simplistic, almost primitive in a sense, but Mirror is so complex and creative, it's hard to wrap one's head around the full extent of its power.
The Glaive that Sumeragi Zonda uses to transform is referred to as Crow Child, which itself is known as Kogarasumaru (小烏丸（コガラスマル), Kogarasumaru lit. Little Crow).
The Kogarasumaru is named after, well, the Kogarasu Maru, a legendary tachi that was rumoured to have been forged by the fabled swordsmith known as Amakuni in the eighth century CE. The Kogarasumaru is what enables Sumeragi Zonda's power to terraform the vicinity by exerting their Septima upon the environment.
However, like most of the Swordsmen of Sumeragi under Nova as well as the Seven of the multinational adept group known as Eden, by using a specially designed device, in this case, a Glaive, which artificially augments and boosts their abilities to higher levels when transformed, it appears that several abilities Sumeragi Zonda displays in their battle against Gunvolt and Copen are actually skills, the Skill Point cost required for each completely removed as a result of weaponization.
Several potential skills Sumeragi Zonda displays is dropping triangular projectiles from above, hiding while firing energy shots, firing energy balls and mirror shards, and creating mirror versions of anyone she wants, whether it be the other members of The Seven or perhaps even the Swordsmen in the Sumeragi Group, including potentially the strongest Adept in Sumeragi, Nova.
In the climax of Azure Striker Gunvolt 2, after Zonda steals the fragments of the Muse from both Joule and Lola before integrating them into Mytyl Kamizono and from there absorbing the complete version of the Muse through her mirror shards, her Septima combines with the Muse, thus amplifying her power a hundredfold and causing her body to trigger a monstrous physiological change, transforming into a monstrous-looking fairy with black sclera along with burning crimson pupils, her hair lengthening dramatically to the point that it seems to float upwards as it becomes stark-white with pink tips, her head adorned with a black crown as befitting her status as the Oracle of Eden.
Clad in something that vaguely resembles a small amount of armour and exposes her stomach along with constructs that appear to be jet engines draping her sides, Zonda now possesses a pair of enormous, demonic wings that resemble a suit of cards – these wings switch between the suit of hearts, the suit of clubs, the suit of spades, and the suit of diamonds in accordance to the power displayed by her in this form; in this form, Zonda's body is altered to resemble a distorted version of the Muse.
Now, the tone she speaks with has a noticeable electronic echoing effect to it – this form is known as Wonderland Pantera (夢想境（ワンダーランド, パンテーラ, Wandārando Pantēra; Wonderland literally meaning "Reverie Mirror"), in Japan, and her Septima, Phantasma Mirror evolves into Reverie Mirror, also known as Wonderland in Japan, an "almighty" Septima with which she compares herself to a god, evolving the illusions crafted by her ordinary Septima to the point that those fantasies become reality, achieving a high level of reality warping and enabling Zonda to alter the very fabric of reality itself.
Watching her comrades use the Muse-imbued mirror shards to achieve septimal output beyond what they could ordinarily achieve, Zonda used all the intelligence she had gathered from the Seven's usage of the Muse shards to "normalize" (普遍化（ノーマライズ), nōmaraizu lit. Universalization) them as to trigger this monstrous transformation.
According to Zonda, her assimilation of Joule is on a completely different level from when Nova performed such a feat as the final boss of the original game, with Joule's consciousness becoming consumed by Zonda's own, resulting in not even Gunvolt being able to call to her in spite of their souls merging prior to the sequel.
With Reverie Mirror, Zonda has displayed that she was capable of creating an entire dimension from scratch through thought alone, craft cards that all transform into different forms and fire said cards at her opponent, warp around the battlefield, encase herself in a barrier that nullifies all attacks, and drop a multitude of azurite blades down from the skies on her opponents. Going up against the dreaded Adept Hunter, she summons copies of the Seven to perform a combination attack.
The Anthem, Joule/Lumen's song of revival vanishing from Gunvolt's grasp, all that remained was the dirge of despair that resounded from Zonda's heart which was known to tear apart the body and soul of her enemies, draining the life and septimal energy from her opponent while placing her own existence in a state of temporary invincibility. Even so, somehow, both Copen and Gunvolt were still able to prevail over this demonic form. With Zonda's macrocosm vanishing before her eyes, Eden collapsing with her death.
Skills
Azure Striker Gunvolt 2
Fake Zonda
| Skill | Description |
|---|---|
| Invoking the power of "Over Gender", a skill of the Phantasma Mirror, Sumeragi Zonda can switch between both genders on a whim by projecting a mirror pane above the current form which leaps through it, thus inducing a transformation into the opposite gender. Aside from the obvious aesthetic effects in not only physiology, but also in terms of the weaponized form, with Sumeragi Zonda's armour manifested by their Glaive rearranging itself to suit the current form, doing so seems to additionally remove any forms of tags that have been superimposed upon Sumeragi Zonda's body as the opposite gender form of Sumeragi Zonda ascends to the sky while using Phantasma Mirror to turn intangible with a pink-ish hue, making them impervious to damage.
As it's very commonplace to see Zonda rapidly switch between both male and female forms in the heat of battle, this makes fighting, let alone defeating, Zonda rather a tricky feat to accomplish. Not only this, shifting between both genders has the effect of changing the skills used by Sumeragi Zonda, with the male form being more focused on close-to-mid-range combat and the female form centered around long-range combat. Interestingly, the appearance of the mirrors used by both forms seems to have different characteristics – the mirrors projected by "Sumeragi Zonda♀" are more ovular in nature, whereas the mirrors of "Sumeragi Zonda♂" are rectangular. This plays into the basic artistic expression that males are square-bodied and females are prominently curvaceous – which itself makes sense, as the original Zonda whom created the illusionary copy is a girl around Joule's age.
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| Male Zonda tosses several mirrors in the air. Should the player walk under a mirror that is flashing, a spike will rain down. The player will meet spikes that rain down should they move by the line of mirrors that are flashing. "He" finishes the move off with a pelvic thrust.
| |
| Male Zonda summons four mirrors, two on each side of the screen, and proceeds to bounce off each mirror, leaving a reflection of "him" on it. The reflections then leap out of their mirrors one by one and thrust themselves at the player.
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| Female Zonda jumps into an oval shaped mirror and flies around the area, shooting energy balls as "she" goes. Avoid using well timed jumps.
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| Female Zonda jumps from one side of the screen to the other, leaving several pink and purple balls in "her" wake, which then bounce around the screen. The pink balls disappear after the first bounce, but the purple ones bounce around the screen several times before disappearing. As the balls fly around, she will launch a spinning attack along the floor.
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| "Love's kaleidoscope / Shows flickers of what is dear / Mirrors without end! Phantasmagoria!"
Zonda's special attack and the only one both male and female forms perform together. First, they use Mirror to flip the screen upside. Then, Zonda's male form will dash out of a mirror twice in a row while Zonda's female form performs Orb Valley. After that, the male form, alongside a copy, dash at the player twice, whilst the female form shoots pink energy. Finally, the female form will shoot bubble-like balls at the player (which can be blocked with the Flashfield). At the same time, the male form will shoot out beams of light that can't be blocked and forced the player to the other side of the screen. When this happens, the screen is reversed, and this phase happens again before the screen returns to normal and the fight resumes.
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Reverie Zonda
| Skill | Description |
|---|---|
| Zonda creates five tarot cards and sends them flying away from her in five different directions.
A variant of the attack has the cards home in on the player. This attack ends only after all five cards attempt to home in on you, whether they hit or miss. | |
Second phase onward, Zonda can create a yellow, diamond-shaped barrier made of light. around herself. You must destroy this barrier before you can damage Zonda. Similar to Ghauri's prisms, they redirect any of Copen's regular shooting and Zonda must be tagged in order to be damaged.
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| Zonda will drop two sets of swords from the sky in alternating patterns. The hitboxes are pretty big, so you'll probably trigger Prevasion unless you have needle-threading control skill. | |
| Zonda will drop a pink orb that generates a field with a vacuum effect. Touching this field harms you and bypasses Prevasion. Attacking the orb can end this attack early.
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| Zonda throws two green cards to the sides of the screen. Half a second later, a pair of GIANT green thorn pillars start grinding along the upper and lower portions of the screen, leaving only a small space at each end safe. Near the attack's end, the pillars briefly edge forwards, hitting in the "safe" spot. | |
| "May this song do right / And grant the lonely soldier / Death's most sweet release. Paradise Lost!"
Zonda's Special Skill when fighting Gunvolt. Zonda begins to sing a song of despair that rends GV's body and mind. This skill is unavoidable, but can be Prevaded. During this skill, Zonda is completely invincible. The only way to cancel this skill's activation is to sing Reincarnation into the mic when prompted.
Regardless, this move eventually returns in the Steam version, works just as what the original should if a microphone device is attached in your PC, but If you disabled microphone device in your PC's control panel then open the game and enter Garden 3, Zonda's Special Skill changes to Eden's Presence. | |
| "Heed me, O fallen / Heed this love, deep, pure and true / And return to us. Eden's Presence!"
Zonda's Special Skill when fighting Copen. She throws seven cards outwards before disappearing. Then, a projection of each of The Seven appears to perform an attack. The pattern goes;
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Mighty Gunvolt
Fake Zonda appears as the surprise final boss of Mighty Gunvolt, two years before their first main-series boss fight in Azure Striker Gunvolt 2. Many of Zonda's attacks in the former game were thus based on their Mighty Gunvolt appearance and patterns rather than the other way around.
| Skill | Description |
|---|---|
| Invoking the power of "Over Gender", Zonda jumps into a mirror to change their form from male to female or vice versa. The form Zonda takes dictates what selection of attacks they'll use next. | |
| Male Zonda tosses several mirrors in the air, and crystal spikes rain down from them in a seemingly random pattern. Less spikes rain down here compared to the fight in Azure Striker Gunvolt 2. | |
| Male Zonda summons four mirrors, two on each side of the screen, and proceeds to bounce off each mirror, leaving a reflection of "him" on it. The reflections then leap out of their mirrors one by one and thrust themselves at the player. | |
Orb Valley |
Female Zonda jumps into an oval shaped mirror and flies around the arena, shooting energy orbs in sets of 3. The orbs fly in a fixed spread, stop, then all home in on the player's current location. |
| Zonda summons four mirrors similar to Mirrored Assault before leaping into one of them. The mirrors then one by one, shot three way energy balls at the player. If any miss, the remaining balls then hover for a second, before flying towards the player.
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Battle Lines
False Zonda
| Event | Japanese | English |
|---|---|---|
| Warp | ♂ ハッハッハ！ ここだよ？ ♀ ンッフフフフ… ここよ！ |
♂ Hahaha! I'm over here, you know? ♀ Fufufufu... over here! |
| Carnal Downpour | ♂ フォール・イン・ラブ！ 行くぞ！ | ♂ Fall in love! Here I come! |
| Doppler Desire | ♂ 愛の衝動！美しい！ッハァ！ 麗しき！ 我が！愛の！鏡像！ |
♂ Love's impulses! Are beautiful! Hah! And heartwarming! Behold! The mirror images! Of our love! |
| Orb Valley | ♀ たまらなぁ〜い！ | ♀ I can't take it~! |
| Leap of Faith | ♀ はっ！惑いなさ〜い！ 抱きとめて！ |
♀ Hah! Now, scatter! Catch me in your arms~! |
| 1st Phase Down | ♂ 愛を…感じるよ… ♀ これが…貴方の愛…！ |
♂ I'm... feeling the love! ♀ So this is... your love...! |
| 2nd Phase Down | ♂ 苦しみは…愛だ！ ♀ 痛みもまた…愛の形…！ |
♂ Anguish too... is love! ♀ Pain... is still a form of love..! |
| Phantasmagoria | ♂ めくるめく！ ♀ 愛の宴！ ♂ ファンタズマゴリア！ ♀ ♂ いざ…愛の庭へ！ ｢♂ 行くぞ！♀ 惑いなさい！｣x2 ♀ ｢ンッフフフフ…｣ ｢ハッハッハ！｣ ♂ ♀ 感じなさい！ 終わりなき愛よ！ ♂ 乱れたまえ！ 我が愛よ！ |
♂ Behold, this is our dazzling... ♀ ... banquet of love! ♂ Phantasmagoria! ♀ ♂ Come, to the garden of love! "♂ Here I come!" "♀ Now, scatter!" x2 ♀ Fufufufu... Hahaha!! ♂ ♀ Feel our everlasting love! ♂ And be entranced by it! |
| Upon Defeat | ♂ だぁっ！ ワタシの……愛が！ ♀ あぁっ！ 愛は…散りゆく…… |
♂ Ouch--! My... love...! ♀ Aah! The petals of love... are scattering... |
Reverie Zonda
| Event | Japanese | English |
|---|---|---|
| Sancte Expande | 散りなさい！ | Now, scatter! |
| Sancte Expande: Homing | 受け取りなさい！ | Take this and suffer! |
| 1st Phase Down | わたしが…導に…！ | I ... will be their leader...! |
| Obice Adamas | 光の守護よ… | Light, be my protector... |
| Gladiis Caelum | 剣よ、舞い上がりなさい！ | Rise up, fallen blades! |
| Cactus Hastas | 潰えなさい、この鉄槌で…！ | Lay waste to him, with this iron fist...! |
| Magnencij In Tractu | 聖杯の導きを… | Guided by the Holy Grail... |
| 2nd Phase Down | 今こそ…楽園へ至る時…！ | The time has come... for me to lead us to paradise! |
| Eden's Presence | 皆さん、わたしに力を… レジデントオブエデン！ |
Everyone, grant me your power... Eden's Presence! |
| Paradise Lost | チェックメイトです… 楽園幻奏！ | This is checkmate! Paradise Lost! |
| Upon Defeat | 消える…わたし達の… 楽園が… お兄様っ…！ |
Our utopia... it's... falling apart... Brother...! |
Quotes
Azure Striker Gunvolt
"Hehehe, that makes me happy... the fact that you know my beautiful name... I really feel the love! So, shall we begin this lovely adventure? Let's show some love till our hearts' content, OK?!"
—Zonda
, meeting Gunvolt
"Mwahahahaha!!! That's the power of love!"
—Zonda
, showing off the "Mirror" Septima
"Ooh, looks like you chose the correct route! It's a victory of Love!! Now, our lovely adventure continues... let's feel the love!"
—Zonda
, observing Gunvolt
"It must be the string of Love! That way, you can just wrap me in that wire there, right?! Therefore, it's Love!"
—Zonda
, reacting to Gunvolt's discovery of wires
"My Love can overturn Heaven and Earth itself! Infinite Love, baby! It's my secret Love technique!"
—Zonda
, turning the world upside down
"What's that, you feel dizzy? From all of my Love? Love is like the finest wine... how~e~ver... you'll be in an eternal stupor from MY Love! Lovedrunk forever!"
—Zonda
, talking to Moniqa
"It can't be... my Love... in a place like this... aah... but... this pain... it's... yes... death too is... love... -ly..."
—Zonda
, being "killed" by Copen
Azure Striker Gunvolt 2
"Brother..."
—Zonda
, True Zonda being killed by Gunvolt
Designer Comments
When developing the 1st installment of “Gunvolt”... We’d progressed until the stage where Pantera’s post-transformation design and specifications were done and we were only pending making it (into the game) yet we didn’t have enough time and we had to give it a send-off. As a result, the pre-transformation design wasn’t drawn and it ended up being shelved off in that state. However, we reached the stage of press releases and marketing: we now hurriedly needed a pre-transformation design. I remember that I made the design in a rush (and finished) some days before the deadline. My goal while designing was “someone whose gender you can’t tell at a first glance”.
(Hatakeyama Yoshitaka)
The first draft by Hatakeyama-san, which had that “drill” in the crotch, was liked by a lot of the development staff so that factor remained unchanged all the way until the final version. The motif is the animal corresponding “lust”, the scorpion, but… On the other hand, he couldn’t find any other factors apart from a scorpion, the design was stuck and he was troubled… So I thought of trying to add something (to the design) and I thought “if they use mirrors then it’s gotta be (Trump) cards! (seen too many live-action films)”... I submitted a draft of a “dealer” inside of the mirror with the cards and it fit perfectly. And thus I was very glad of it. I didn’t expect the fact that you don’t actually get to battle them, though...
(Araki Munehiro)
This installment has fairy tales as motifs and Pantera’s ability is mirrors so it has to be the “Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There”! I remember that that was the overall mood when we decided that. But Pantera originally came from the image of a “dealer” throwing cards. She perfectly fit with “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” factors and the way they miraculously linked together made me shiver, even. As a result, the boss draft of her using attacks based on a suit of Trump (cards) was settled pretty quickly. Unlike in the prequel, she by herself is a girl so, to add fanciness to her and make it easier to understand in-game I had her carry giant wings imitating a suit (of cards). The “joker form” imitating a clown were added posteriorly, though.
(Araki Munehiro)Trivia
- According to an official height chart, Zonda is 130cm (4'3") tall, making her the shortest character in the series, tied with Joule and Mytyl.
- Ironically, her fake form stands at 185cm (6'0") tall, making her the tallest female character in the series, tied with Desna.
- The members of Eden are based off classical fairy tales and represent the pieces on a chessboard. Zonda is based off Alice in Wonderland and represents the king.
- Zonda's special move against Gunvolt is named "Paradise Lost", after a 17th century epic poem detailing the Biblical "Fall of Man".
- The move also shares the same name with the one used by the second form of Lumine, the main antagonist of Mega Man X8 when he's reduced to about 20-25% of his health. However, both attacks function differently.
- Just as how Nova possesses several similarities with Copy X, the main antagonist of the first Megaman Zero, Zonda in Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 can come off as overly similar to Elpizo, the main antagonist of Megaman Zero 2; both games were developed by Inti Creates, both are respected amongst their individual group, and both are associated with pink/purple clothing as well as blond hair. The cornerstone of their plans involve fairy-esque beings – the Muse for Zonda, and the Dark Elf for Elpizo – and both have genocidal plans for humanity by using the fairy-esque being in order to amplify power and thus create a paradise for their race whom constantly face discrimination. Additionally, their final boss forms both resemble twisted versions of fairies and come after absorbing the power of the McGuffin of the story.
- Fake Zonda is similar to several Mega Man ZX characters:
- Rospark, both are pink in color scheme, have campy and flamboyant personalities, and use 2 forms. In addition, both the male form of Fake Zonda and Rospark's humanoid form have phallic spikes on their crotches.
- Argoyle and Urgoyle, both them and Fake Zonda are fought as dual bosses that block the player's advancement their stage.
- Prometheus and Pandora who in ZX Advent appear in intro stages and eventually become the penultimate boss as a dual encounter, just like Fake Zonda.
- Before the release of Azure Striker Gunvolt 2, Zonda was widely speculated to be the true identity of the "Mysterious Girl".
- Zonda's Eden's Presence is a homage of Mega Man Zero 4's Dr. Weil's Enemy Inferno Neo, as both skills are made to temporarily summon bosses for following-up attacks.
- In the Japanese and Steam versions, Zonda's gender is never revealed, and the game avoids using pronouns like "he" or "she". In the English 3DS version of the game, however, Zonda is called bigender, and is referred to by the gender-neutral pronouns "xe" and "xem." This was corrected in the updated script.
- It was later revealed in Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 that Zonda is indeed female since her true form is a small female child.
- Zonda is one of two known members of Sumeragi's Adept Hunter Unit. The other is Carrera.
- Zonda and Copen have been paired twice as bait-and-switch bosses. In Azure Striker Gunvolt, Zonda is the bait at Sinner's Row (Kaleidoscape) and Copen is the switch; their roles are reversed in Mighty Gunvolt's Mirror stage.
- Zonda's Azure Striker Gunvolt concept art depicts several attack illustrations.
- Zonda appears in the least amount of stages out of all the Sumeragi adepts, appearing in only one.
- The seven Sumeragi Swordsmen are based on the seven deadly sins and an animal that represents it on it. Zonda represents lust and is based on the scorpion.
- Copen's special moves "Doppler Desire" and "Doppler Destroyer" are likely derived from Zonda's Septimosome. Their association with illusions and lust enforces this speculation.
- Zonda is the only one of the Sumeragi Seven who never faces Gunvolt in Azure Striker Gunvolt, due to being dispatched by Copen before such a confrontation could happen.
- The names for Nova and The Sumeragi Seven are taken from luxury cars. Zonda's English and Japanese names are from the Pagani Zonda and the De Tomaso Pantera.
- The music that plays when Zonda uses Paradise Lost is listed as "SNG_Pantera" in the game's files. SNG is the same audio file prefix that's used for Joule and Lola's songs.
- True Zonda is the only boss in the series to whom Gunvolt does not say his battle cry "Oversurge! Azure Striker! ____!" when fighting against. Likewise, Fake Zonda is the only boss to whom Copen doesn't use his own phrase "It's time to ____" when fighting.
- True Zonda's use of Paradise Lost and Eden's Presence against Gunvolt and Copen respectively is symbolic:
- Paradise Lost is Zonda using the Muse's power against Gunvolt, which is fitting for someone who had a deep bond with Joule, its main host.
- Eden's Presence is Zonda relying on her fallen comrades to attack Copen, a retribution to how Copen used The Seven's powers against Eden throughout the game.
References
- English Website Dossier (GV1)
- Japanese Website Dossier (GV1)
- Official Japanese Twitter regarding Zonda (GV1)
- English Website Dossier (GV2)
- Japanese Website Dossier (GV2)