In my opinion, number 2 will be far more useful - minerva has more uses than sophie (and she is both situational, and need a lot of investment to max her skill), bernice is great tank, and cuterie gives small bonus chance for affection gifts drop, when on team (which is nice), julian, well is good fodder for awakening :P I have sophie and she is rotting most of the time, strong ranged and all-around unit is generally better (makes game a lot easier).