Originally Posted by hypo

Is that cheaper than upgrading a girl with the same basic batch of manyus?

The crafting does not cost any gold, all you need is the items you use as materials for crafting and you can craft them straight away.

Originally Posted by maotd

It's a bit off topic but speaking of that, how thoses new equipement works? They seems... so weak compared to the mid ones. Is there any secret behind them? Or are them just better material for something?

They start out weaker then mid grade, but have better lvl up stats so once maxed out they are stronger.
But you do the High grade equp. gacha to see if you`ll get lucky and get an item with "EX" in its name. those give one of 4 (I believe) passive bonuses like Bonus crit damage, bonus def when Guarding, and something else.