and with that, I have enough suggestions to start my run!
final team: Rinnousuke, Patchouli, Komachi, Yuyuko, Yuuka, Meiling, Iku, Renko, Rumia, and Sanae from audience votes.

I only used the first people selected to prevent bias on my part.
The two I'll add in are Aya and Utsuho. Our loveable ditzy hellraven will be like youmu early on, only having one nuke or so per fight, but as things progress she'll be able to add fire coverage where needed. I have better choices, but these two birdies will make things more interesting. Preferably, I'd rather use Chen and Nitori. Both of which can act as reliable nukes. But, I want this playthrough to be as fun as possible for the viewers as well, rather than a simple playthrough that they've already done themselves.
This will give me coverage in Spi, Mys, Fire, Earth, water, wind, piercing, debuffs, and healing. I lack reliable nukes or party buffs, but the massive amount of solo buffs and debuffs I have at my disposal will work well.
As special challenges, I will avoid thundercloud stickleback at all costs, but I may break this promise later on when things get more hairy. Rumia will most definitely play a good healer role when buffed. As an added bonus, made by myself, I will reduce the amount of characters I use when I start out, only introducing more as I progress. This way, the game will be just as difficult to me, at least for the most part, as it would normally be for most other players starting out. Once I introduce a character to my team, I may not replace them with another character.
Sanae vs Minoriko
Sanae is more of a trash-cleaner on some floors, and can buff all stats as well as heal. Minoriko has a very inexpensive and fast heal, can buff defenses by 50% on a single character, but only has very weak attacks against foes. She's a dedicated white mage, whereas Sanae is more versatile.
Yuuka healer
I'm loaded with healers. Yuuka will likely be a situational healer, focusing more on nature spam.
wish me luck guys, the runthrough will begin tomorrow!