In case.I said start with Honoka because of high stats, but yes, it's actually ok to start with anyone else because you can get Rares through regular play and both gachas. In fact, I started with Kotori because kotoridesu. You'll probably (read: definitely) need every little edge you can get for events, though.
Speaking of which, if the English version starts from scratch, the first event will be sweet&sweet holiday for a SR Pure Kotori, so stock up on Kayochins.
The devs give out 5 loveca on each main girl's birthday, at least 5 loveca total for daily login bonuses every month, and at least 3 loveca per event if you choose to just get the SR and run, or 10~13 total if you really want to evolve. If you happen to get duplicates of SRs from events/gacha or URs from gacha, don't evolve them immediately; save copies until your entire team is composed entirely of at least SRs, then evolve them.
One doesn't - they are "events" that only run during certain periods, from what I understand. Think rotational dragon dungeons and such in PAD.
This. A few patches ago on the JP server, however, the three daily songs (Mermaid Festa vol.2, soldier game, Otome Shiki Renai Juku) were given EX charts, and the LP costs adjusted accordingly (5/10/15/25, instead of 5/10/25), but these are too hard to be released on the English server when no one even has any SRs.
