so I’ve been thinking about this and I think before I get into anything
-opinions are subjective. My take is not the end all be all and others may think something else. There is also inherent bias in answers as I’ve definitely reread some events way more than I’ve reread others, so they stick with me and mean a lot more
-every unit has weaker moments and every unit has stronger moments. Deciding overall is difficult because of this, as I could believe a storyline sucks rn but is really good 2 years ago for example lol
-a unit’s specific appeal might mean more to one or another person. For example, I’m actually not that into idols, so MMJ’s story has to work a bit harder for me to be into it. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, or that I don’t like it, it just means that some typical idol tropes don’t really hit me or mean much. Shizuku is one of my favorite characters and among the best written IMO.
-As stated this is based on story. I’m not factoring in card sets, covers, commissions, or anything else into my thinking here

Judging specifically within the last year or so ish (so since anni4)
1. WxS
2. MMJ
3. Leo/need
4. Niigo
5. VBS
(You can swap Niigo and Leo/need depending on the day tbh)

Judging overall is really difficult, and I’m genuinely kindof struggling to come up with a ranking for that. I’ve tried like 5 times and I’m just not satisfied with the results I get. The constant ebb and flows every unit gets makes it so that some years are way better for certain units. Again, I wouldn’t say any unit has a “bad” storyline that I don’t look forward to reading more into though

(oh vs attributes. i've never thought about these bc speccing vs attris is always annoying these days.. hmm)
if kaito isn't pure this game is genuinely cooked that's the one thing i believe absolutely must happen LMFAO
the problem is there isn't much deficit outside of that for vs. i think myst miku is a fairly OK bet, but her tamagotchi card could also just be myst lmao.
nobody really wants cute as much as luka really, but it's also her first WL card. though thats not something they seem to GAF about considering thats happened already
cool rin, happy meiko, pure len? shrugs
note: i didn't particularly bother checking what attris subunitless vs already had since i don't think they seem to care that much about it iirc? i saw a decent # of repeats when i skimmed

story predictions.. it's probably going to be just whatever lore they haven't busted out yet. i assume there will be something related to the sekais connecting and the giant world tree. so like your prediction pretty much honestly but a little more virtual singer connected. i don't know how they intend to like pull this off overall or what the implications of each sekai being connected will be. will we start seeing random vs in other events ?? more interesting things done with cross-unit vs at the world tree? ocs interacting more in each other's sekai???? will it just be like one of those microphone things at playgrounds where you say something in one side and it comes out the other? that one to me feels like the most realistic but also most boring and pointless

lol yeah it's a little bit true in a way. i know what you mean at any rate

though i actually think haruka5 (rise and strive) fits the moment very well because this event is easily the most uncomfortable we've ever seen haruka in any story at all. her voice delivery in that chapter is very awkward, outright shaky at points, and her expressions shift a lot more negative. the context too additionally is similar to haruka's main story struggles with "i can't move" but now "no words came out". it's probably one of the most uncomfortable scenes they've put into the game in recent memory IMO, and i think it's fair the untrained is a bit more intense to match that
i definitely agree that the other two untraineds are very dramatic. i think minori5 had a better moment more emblematic of the event (the conversation with arisawa right after was a lot stronger narratively imo) and i think saki5 just kindof needed a big rework overall lol
in turn i'd like to propose rui4 (backlight lens flare) where rui looks like he just heard gunshots or something really crazy or horrible but instead the dialogue in the scene is literally "you should try utilizing your star actor some more". the expression feels like it doesn't match the realization made for him

i kindof like every unit really. i would say my favorite is wondasho though (nene icon go figure), it's just my friends tend to be mostly vbs fans. and i end up getting involved in vbs related projects. so they're often on my mind. though i do think their story is sometimes a little more "digestible" sometimes for me because i can enjoy a bit of shonen

as for favorite npcs, i'm going to do 2 per unit because i'm really annoying and i don't like making big choices

leoni (it's kindof criminal that leoni is tied with niigo for npc numbers when niigo exists as largely family based conflicts and leoni are literally like. people out there in the world doing things)
saku: i mostly just like her personality. she's a cool rival character who goes with her whims and i think she fulfills a Slightly but not really dickrish rival. she's funny as fuck. you're good, but i'm better type deal
iori - i really like her design, this is mostly it tbh. she's chill, i don't have much to comment on her personality wise but she has a few fun moments. and i'm interested in seeing if she'll be involved further in this leoni arc or if she just kickstarts it a bit and bails

mmj (i'm gonna be honest and say most of their npcs i do not really care about. they don't really stick with me)
arisa - fun personality and good narrative. i like that she enhances shizuku's narrative greatly and she's like. actually a huge dick to shizuku. trying to publicly embarrass her on television is insane levels of hating
saito - i think she's really cute and i like that she has a bit of an arc going on in the background. it's sweet, and i'm glad she's made her dreams come true

vbs
nagi - if you dont answer nagi in your top3 you are stupid i'm sorry. everything we see with nagi and her dream and how it influences vbs is amazing, the cycle of generations and passing the torch kicks my brain the right way. light up the fire's extended nagi flashback portion has made me cry multiple times and a lot of her story hits me a bit personally as i've lost a family member from cancer as well
arata - i like his arc. i think his backstory is kindof stupid but he has a really good personality and arc and i enjoy seeing his growth and how much of a foil he is to akito. i wish his ending wasn't kindof cobbled together and i hope they do more with him in the future
honorable mentions: ken and taiga sorry i would like to say all three of radder are very good

wxs
shosuke - i like his personality and he has a lot of fun interactions with emu. i like his involvement in island panic. there's not too much to say about him on a greater scale though
sakurako - probably the most narratively involved wxs npc in that she has relevant roles in four different events, in which she has a good role in all of them. her laugh is iconic AF too and she can MAYBE be nene's rival. only MAYBE though, you know?

niigo
yuuki - this is largely self explanatory. she's easily the most pleasant of the niigo npcs and she's really supportive. also she's very cute and i love how kind she is
mafuyu's dad - i dunno. i like reeling in the lights quite a bit. i think his role there is very sweet and i'm glad he's gentle and supportive of mafuyu. i think shinei may be more interesting to me narratively though

leoni has the ominous saki plotline that's going ... somewhere. i do think we're inevitably going to get into a conflict of interests probably related to saki and honami is going to have to resolve it. but this is kindof taking a weirdly long amount of time for clpl foreshadowing IMO. generally either they chekhov's gun a plot and let it sit for awhile (see stuff like arisawa for mmj) or they tease it/build off on it for like 2-3 times before they do it within that year (see how wxs/niigo arcs ramped up after anni2). the biggest exception i can think of is nagi where there was weird shit with her literally every single vbs event for over 1.5 years lol. but it hasn't been a year yet but they've also been putting it literally everywhere. hona bfes. every single unit event. what could they be plotting that would take so much screentime?

mmj we're going to be doing this grand prix thing until it's done. i don't really know where we're going after this because it's kindof not something i really expected them to do in the first place. the budokan is kindof a relic of the past i guess, or they'll bring that up again after we're done. they also mention some kind of prize reward ... so like whatever that is. maybe MMJ will get it! maybe they won't. i think shizuku will have a big moment in this grand prix thing especially with arisa coming back, it feels like the natural foreshadowing.

vbs has a very easy narrative to predict because ultimately it's a shonen and they spell out their goals every 5 seconds. next is rush beats, after that is lasting echo fes. i assume they're going to have some sort of training arc in japan/solve some emotional stuff here. the problems is that like... kohane/an/akito all kindof don't have as much obvious stuff to tackle with their arcs now. kohane effectively capped at over rad squad, akito they kindof immediately solved the burnout, and an i think they've just kinda introduced a new rivalry and idk what they're gonna do with vivids in the future bc of that. i do think toya-harumichi round 3 is going to be toya's next unit event though. kindof built off of that with toya5+the recent side story. get ready for some more harumichi backstory that (probably) won't be very good. vivid backstory squad please calm down man

wxs i think we're pretty much done training once we leave arcland. the question is "what next" and i think they have to go actually do independent shows now instead of just dicking around. but the logistics of this escape my mind. i don't really know how they're going to do this or what they're going to do. tsukasa kindof needs an "up" moment again for his arc to work. phoenix was the low point where he realizes he's mid and star of your story+detective tenma were where he hones the mind of an actor + the body of an actor. so realistically with these skills he should be like. cool now or whatever. give us a moment where he wows the audience. i think emu business/management stuff is the natural next step especially if they're independent. nene/rui i have less ideas on.

niigo i honestly don't really know what they're gonna do with mizuki anymore. kanade is glued to mafuyu but she always has the chekhov's gun of her father whenever they feel like touching on him again, mafuyu's plotline is pretty much eternal, ena has art school whenever we're closer to next age up/college.