Knoll (クノール) is one of the crew members of the NefeloMakion. She is Playable Character 5 (PC5) in the Hajimari no Kioku game. It is unknown what her age is during the events of the game. Her crew position is listed as Record Keeper / Records Officer (記録担当) and her role is listed as Archivist.

Her short profile states that she is cheerful. Knoll is always smiling brightly. She records all sorts of information in her magic book. Maybe even your personal data…^[1]

Knoll is from the Other Dimension, but has a counterpart STAR AnimaL in this dimension. As stated in the events of Twin Crew Stars, the animal Knoll in this dimension has the memories and abilities of the humanoid Knoll from the other dimension due to a special inter-dimensional communication mechanism.

• She records various information in her book imbued with magical powers.
• No one knows Knoll's exact age, but it's said that her race lives up to 50 times longer than normal humanoid races.
• She's friendly with everyone and is the only crew member who can communicate easily with all the other crew members.
• Knoll has always been loved by the crew, but Uratty seems to be a little bit scared of her.
• Doesn't participate in actual combat. Instead, she uses past data to help formulate strategies for Astel to use in commanding the ship.
• Has a kind heart.

Aside from Merck, Knoll is a confirmed contributor to the inter-dimensional mechanisms used by Astel and his crew, seemingly in charge of unlocking features of Pollneu and receiving messages sent by the STAR AnimaLs side.

She says the following during Twin Crew Stars before Pollneu gains the ability to speak^[3]:

Ah!! That's right, listen! I can't fully unlock the functions of the vessel yet but I've unlocked a few!
I'll make sure to work on it along with the message receiving!
I'll be in your care, Astel-kun!

Basic Information

Knoll in this dimension comes in the form of a light brown squirrel-like animal. She came alone from the planet Saturn. She likes Chestnuts. Her hobby is archiving. Her hex color code is #E7C17A. She had something to tell Astel so she came alone from Saturn while the others were searching for Uratty and Stridon in Uranus and Neptune respectively. She is the fifth of the NefeloMakion crew counterpart animals to join Astel in this dimension.

Personality

Knoll is friendly and outgoing, getting along well with everyone (though Uratty is a bit scared of her)^[5]. She's cheerful, but also has a tendency to pout and scold Astel when he does things like call her small or address her formally^[6]. She's very graceful when performing in 3D, curtsying to the audience as she smiles at them^[7].

Recruitment

On November 9, 2022, Apolleon tweets a gif of a cat looking weirded out^[8]. He does not explain the gif. Later that day on an Overwatch/Valorant/Talk stream, Astel shows two transitions as teasers for Knoll^[9].

The next day, November 10, 2022, Astel mentions on an unarchived twitcast that Knoll is coming soon^[10]. On that same day, Apolleon says that there “isn't much time left.” As such, the STAR AnimaLs already with Astel at that time end up splitting into two groups to continue investigating. One group goes to Uranus and the other group goes to Neptune^[11]. Phruity, Merck, and Juke head to Neptune in order to retrieve Stridon. Apolleon, Pollneu, and Arecos, on the other hand, head to Uranus to retrieve Uratty^[12].

On November 11, 2022, Astel holds a singing stream. The thumbnail of the stream is composed of photos of the NefeloMakion crew along with the text “I have a feeling something is coming.” Sure enough, the doorbell rings during the stream and Knoll arrives. She is revealed to the viewers during the song 季節は次々死んで行く (Kisetsu wa Tsugitsugi Shindeiku) / amazarashi. Knoll opens by saying she remembers Astel and that the search party didn't find her in Saturn because she'd left ahead of time so she could tell Astel something. She'd recently found out about Astel's address from her book so she knew where to go. Knoll's book is a magic book that can only be written in using Knoll's pen. Stuff written in the book connects to a big tree akin to a data center. It seems as if there are others who can write and transmit data to the tree like Knoll, and some unknown person put Astel's address in there^[13].

The following is then overheard from Astel's conversation with Knoll when the stream ends:

どうして急いでいた？
そうだよね
僕たちもなんとか避けられないかって色々考えていたけど
難しいかも
僕は…この世界に[いってない]いけないのかもしれない

Why the hurry?
Ah, that's right.
We, too, have been trying various ways to somehow avoid it, but it might be difficult…
Maybe I'm not supposed to be in this world.

Post-Recruitment

At the end of a Marshmallow stream on December 2, 2022, Astel has a conversation with Knoll who tells him that he is responsible for the world starting to break down. It appears as if the methods they have been trying to “avoid it” (as mentioned in their previous conversation) have not been working^[14]:

うん、もう配信を切ったよ。
いやーそれにしても自分でここまで来られるなんて本当にすごいよ。
こんな に小さいのにねぇ。本当。信じられなー あ、ごめんごめん。
それで僕に伝えなきゃいけないことって？
ん。え？いやーそれ本気で言ってるの？それってつまり… 僕のせいで…この世界が壊れ始めていること…? そんなーくそ！

Yeah, I've already ended the stream.
Man, it's really amazing that you made it this far on your own.
Even for such a small person. Really. I can't belie- ah, sorry, sorry!
So, what did you have to tell me?
Eh? No, are you serious about that? Because of me… this world is starting to break down?! No! Dammit!

Twin Crew Stars to Present

Knoll in 3D during Twin Crew Stars

The day before Twin Crew Stars, a teaser video describes Astel and the STAR AnimaLs as “a certain team, striving and striving for a change in their destiny.”^[15]

During the events of Twin Crew Stars on December 7, 2022, Knoll goes with the other STAR AnimaLs and Astel to confront [The One Who Rules The Universe] Astel. Their departure is shown both in the Namae wo Yobu yo cover and in Twin Crew Stars itself.

In a flashback, it is shown that Astel is aware of Knoll's non-combatant status. She is told “just don't get hurt” and is encouraged to rely on Apolleon when things get tough. Stridon is then assigned to protect her. On the space train travelling to the battlefield, Knoll is one of the two who sit across from Astel. Later on, in the scene wherein Apolleon is downed by the enemy, she can be seen in between Juke and Stridon.

After their victory, her 3D is revealed during the song ひとりじゃない (Hitori Janai) / DEEN. Her partner in this reveal is Stridon. After the song, Knoll performs a curtsy and smiles at the audience. She turns and shows her tail which Astel calls fluffy. She also manages to scold him for calling her small.

Currently, she resides in Astel's house^[16].

Humanoid

• 「星に集う、船員たちの思惑 -始まりの記憶-」(Hoshi ni tsudou, sen'in-tachi no omowaku - Hajimari no Kioku -) - Knoll is Playable Character 5 (PC5) in this game. She is one of the crew members attempting to solve the mystery. These events are set before Astel's debut in 2019.
• Twin Crew Stars - Knoll makes an appearance in this stream along with the rest of the named NefeloMakion crew. As one of the silhouettes in the crew sequence, she is the fourth to speak. She assures Astel that it's alright, they're not running away anymore. They believe that they can definitely change the course of their destiny. Knoll also has an additional speaking line at the end before Haruto ends the communication, and that is when she says she has unlocked a few functions of the vessel and is working on unlocking more along with working on the message receiving. Pollneu speaks after this, so it seems as if Knoll is the one who unlocked his speech capability.

Animal

• 名前を呼ぶよ (Namae wo Yobu yo) - Knoll appears in the room with a couch. She is with Uratty and Stridon in the animals-only scenes. In group scenes, her position varies. This song cover is when they depart for the battle in Twin Crew Stars.
• Twin Crew Stars - Knoll participates in the planning session with Astel and is told to “just don't get hurt” and to rely on Apolleon if things get difficult. Stridon is assigned to protect her. She fights alongside the STAR AnimaLs, confronting the army of [The One Who Rules The Universe] Astel. During the song performance section after their victory, she appears with Stridon for the performance of ひとりじゃない (Hitori Janai) / DEEN.

Knoll in the Last Supper

• Knoll can float, and is often seen on top of her tail instead of on her feet^[17].
• Knoll has the capability to make people fall seriously in love with her^[18].
• Knoll found Astel through her magic book which can read and write data into a knowledge-storing tree. It was not revealed who wrote Astel's location into the tree^[19].
• Knoll prefers that Astel call her “Knoll-chan,” and she scolds him when he makes a mistake and calls her “Knoll-san.”^[20]
• In both animal and humanoid form, the crew addresses Astel in the same way. For Knoll, she calls Astel “Astel-kun.”^[21][22]
• Knoll's difficulty level in the Hajimari no Kioku game is “Hard Hard.” She shares this difficulty level with Phruity and Stridon, only being surpassed in difficulty by Juke and Haruto^[23].
• Knoll's crew title / emblem pin is located on her collar. It resembles a squirrel, akin to her animal counterpart^[24].
• The singing stream^[25] that Astel was doing when Knoll was revealed had the following setlist. The doorbell rings after Shout Baby / 緑黄色社会 and Knoll is introduced during 季節は次々死んで行く (Kisetsu wa Tsugitsugi Shindeiku) / amazarashi:
  • A.scort / アステル・レダ
  • Last Sparkle / アステル・レダ, 岸堂天真, 夕刻ロベル
  • シューティングスター (Shooting Star) / 岸堂天真
  • 阿修羅ちゃん (Ashura-chan) / Ado
  • 開花宣言 (Kaika Sengen) / 花咲みやび
  • 風といっしょに (Kaze to Issho ni) / 小林幸子
  • I Love You / 尾崎豊
  • カサブタ (Kasabuta) / 千綿偉功
  • Shout Baby / 緑黄色社会
  • 季節は次々死んで行く (Kisetsu wa Tsugitsugi Shindeiku) / amazarashi
  • 太陽系デスコ (Taiyoukei Disco) / ナユタン星人
• Astel's manager was watching the stream during Knoll's reveal and was worried about someone ringing Astel's doorbell in the middle of the night^[26].
• Animal Knoll joined the Last Supper image on November 11, 2022. She was the sixth animal in the image. She has chestnuts and lemons in front of her, as well as a Mont Blanc dessert^[27].
• Knoll seems to tidy up around Astel's home. Once, when he was looking for merchandise samples, he couldn't find them and remarked that Knoll must've packed them away^[28].
• Knoll's stamp in Astel's Membership is “QQ”^[29], which stands for crying.