#<- same with kitaro for makoto

[kumakuma-circus]

one thing i think is really neat about persona fanfics is that like. everyone characterizes the mcs slightly differently. tbf everyone is gonna characterize every character differently but it's most noticeable with the mcs. and yet they're all accurate, i don't think i've ever seen an interpretation of any of the mcs that mischaracterizes them, even if it's not how i'd personally write them. i just think it's neat. :3

[theoneprecioustome]

Aikoto PQ2 Moments (Long Version, Spoilers)

Spoilers for some events and for bits of the AIGIS dungeon!

No plot-related spoilers, though. Since the post focuses on the Aikoto interactions, there are zero spoilers about the game’s main plot or its ending.

Image-heavy!

Warning: I based this list on what I could see on the playthroughs and the game’s dialogues, but I may still be missing some stuff.

For now, I know for sure that I’m missing their dialogues when they fight in the same team and the images that go alongside one of the moments I mention here (#12). So if anyone comes across any of these or anything new, please do let me know!

00.

As you all know, he and Aigis are the first ones to show up and Aigis turns to look at him after looking at the player.

01.

So basically, when they get sucked into the movie theather, Makoto and Aigis get separated from the group. So when the Phantom Thieves et al run into SEES, they make finding Makoto and Aigis their priority.

Throughout the ordeal, we see Aikoto once broadcasted on a monitor. Turns out they have been fighting an evil robot.

This is when we see Aigis protecting Makoto and telling him "Do not worry. No matter what happens... I will protect you."

The reason why Aigis seemed out of it when they run into FeMC is because she had gone into Orgia mode to fight off the robot and protect Makoto, who had lost his Evoker. So when Aigis goes on her cool-off period, Makoto holds her in his arms and manages to protect them both armed only with his sword.

Since people don’t understand what’s wrong with Aigis, Makoto explains that she's okay but temporarily overheated. He also says that they ran into the robot as soon as they got there, and Mitsuru comments that they must have held on this long because Aigis was with him. Later, she praises them both for their strength and says only them could have held on for that long.

ALSO, the game displays "Makoto and Aigis have joined!" when they join, but in the code it calls them "KitaAi" as short for "Kitaro" and "Aigis". So this is pretty much their official couple name inside of Atlus lol

02.

A little after, Makoto (known at that point as "The boy with the earphones") goes to check on Aigis. They reassure him that she's safe but tell him she will need to stay with them for a bit longer. And Makoto thanks them twice, once on his behalf and once on Aigis’s behalf.

03. 

When Aigis wakes up, they have an event with Hikari. Aigis thanks Hikari for looking after her and says that she's going off to join everyone.

Hikari: Aigis-san... you're going with everyone? Aigis: Of course. I will also fight alongside everyone. Hikari: Bu-but... what if you get hurt again...?

And then Makoto chimes in with this beauty of a dialogue:

Makoto: You're worried about Aigis, aren't you? Thank you.

Aigis then reassures them both that since it's her, her current state means she has done a full recovery and she's ready to go out at any minute.

Makoto: In that case, you can go prepare with everyone. I'll join you in a bit.

04.

Another event where Ribbon (mini Aigis) says that she hasn't been able to understand why everyone recognizes Aigis as an individual. Yukari can't muster a response, and Ribbon continues saying that Aigis is a lifeless robot, an existence different from their own.

And lo and behold who jumps in with a huge smile on his face:

Makoto: The answer is simple. Aigis is our nakama. That's all there is to it.

05.

Eventually, Aigis accepts to accomplish a dangerous mission and Makoto is immediately concerned.

Aigis: In that case, I'll do it. Makoto: … Aigis?

Aigis reassures him, explaining that she’s most suited for it. 

06.

Event with Ribbon. They both welcome her when she wakes up after being unconscious.

Aigis: Have you awaken? Makoto: Ribbon... I'm glad, you booted up.

Then we have this wonderful exchange. Ribbon marvels about Aigis, saying that Aigis is special because while she’s a robot as well, she's more free than Ribbon is. So Ribbon is very confused.

And Makoto simply says:

Makoto:  There you have it, Aigis.

Look at that cute smile he has when he says so ;A;

Aigis explains that she's not special. Those who are special are those who accept her as she is. And you will see it when you play it, but this shows that Makoto and Aigis are extremely in-sync, mindset-wise.

07.

They have a Mission together!

08.

During their mission, Aigis is updating the data she had on someone/something, and Makoto gets concerned that she may not have completely recovered yet.

Aigis reassures him that she is but that fighting inside a movie deviates from her calculations, so she needs more battle experience.

Then she says that as a shadow weapon, it's her mission to protect everyone and that she expects there will be hard battles ahead. Joker tells her that everyone will fight with her, and Makoto goes:

Makoto: Aigis, it's just as Ren said. There are lots of reliable nakama around you. Don't be impatient, you don't have to carry the burden on your own. Let's face this Special Projection together with everyone.

Which ties perfectly with his dialogue from P3D, where he tells her that she's always helping him/them and that she has to let herself be helped from time to time, too. So basically, Makoto canonically worries that Aigis takes on too much on her plate instead of sharing the burden.

09.

After the mission, Makoto thanks everyone for their hard work but singles out Aigis by name, going: "Aigis, everyone, thank you for the hard work." 

10.

After coming back from the Mission, they get into a discussion about Aigis's origins and Naoto says that Aigis is practically a human being, so she can't imagine the technology that is behind her creation.

Aigis goes "..." and Futaba tells her not to sweat it, because she's "Moe" as a robot so it’s “OK”.

Aigis doesn't understand what "Moe" means because it's not in her database, so none other than Makoto goes:

Makoto: Haha... I think she was just praising you and saying you are amazing, Aigis.

And honestly, that might as well be their cutest exchange in the game. Because something “moe” is simply something endearing, and yet Makoto goes all the way to call Aigis amazing.

11.

Right after, Makoto thanks people for Aigis, again.

Makoto: In any case, I'm indebted to you all again. Thank you for listening to Aigis’s request.

12.

Later at another event, Aigis jokingly suggest they tear down the wall to move further. The PT freaks out because it may be completely unsafe and Ribbon confirms that they could die if they do it.

And Makoto just goes like: 

Makoto: Aigis, since they can’t tell you’re joking, it’s best not to do it for now. Aigis: Yes, that seems to be the case. This requires some reflection...

And I love it, because it's just like in the Drama CD where Makoto was the one to immediately recognize Aigis's handwriting and the only one to figure out what was going through Aigis's mind and what she meant by the letter she left.

So basically, Makoto knows Aigis best.

PLUS, at the same time, it’s just like in the movies where Makoto joins in on Aigis’s deadpan jokes haha

13.

Makoto also has a mission with Yuu where they have an eating competition. When they talk about how much they eat, Aigis praises the fact that Makoto can eat more than it’s humanly possible without his vitals or his expression changing at all LOL

Then you can see her cheering him on with varying degrees of intensity hahah

14.

They have a super short cutscene together pre-final Boss battle and theirs is the one that gets featured in one of the ending montages.

15.

They’re talking to each other in one of the Menu.

16.

Aigis’s profile in the PQ2 Artbook has an Aikoto section:

The Mechanical Maiden who courageously risks everything for Makoto

Her strong feelings for Makoto: Ever since meeting Makoto, Aigis has longed to be together with him.  Her feelings are so strong that she unlocked the door to his room and entered it of her own accord. In the same vein, she then transferred to his school. At this point in time, Aigis herself does not understand the real reason behind her desire to stick to Makoto (the accident where Makoto lost his parents 10 years ago). When they were blown away into the Movie World, Aigis was the one by Makoto’s side, perhaps thanks to her strong will to protect him.

Scans HERE.

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 1/4/20

Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, Vol. 7 | By Inio Asano | Viz Media – Every time a new volume of this fantastic series comes out I avoid reading it, possibly as I still expect it to end with everyone depressed or dead, because Asano. Despite that, things trundle along in this volume. Oran’s starting to have ominous feelings that she’s seen some of this before, and even the main cast heading to the beach, with lots of silly beach comedy, can’t quite stop you thinking things aren’t going to be the same anymore, especially after that cliffhanger. Makoto is on the cover, and gets a fair number of scenes as well, something you can’t always say about the covers. Most of all, this continues to examine the nature of conspiracies and media frenzies. Great stuff. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia, Vol. 22 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – What I remember about this volume’s chapters when they came out weekly was the fandom going ballistic attacking Momo after her loss. Possibly because the main cast praised her abilities regardless, possibly as she lost another fight and Jump fans are all secret wrestling fans complaining about “Jobbers.” It’s an excellent battle, though. The other fights are good as well. You’d expect Todoroki to clean up, but that battle too does not go as expected. Bakugo shows off that he can be kind and heroic while STILL being a loud asshole, and Izuku shows that the fact that he’s trying to learn his powers on the fly is leading to bad things. Fortunately, Uraraka and Shinso are there. Excellent. – Sean Gaffney

Queen Bee, Vol. 3 | By Shizuru Seino | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – In Queen Bee’s second volume, Toma realized he had feelings for Hirata while on a forest field trip, during which she displayed extreme competence (and fought off a bear). Now, they’ve become an official couple, but Hirata’s insecurity, coupled with the reveal of a junior high ex-girlfriend that Toma might still have feelings for, makes her worry that he’s just trying to make himself love her. Ordinarily, the emergence of a love rival in the latter half of the final volume of a short series would irritate me a great deal, but I actually liked that it gave Hirata one more opportunity to show that Toma’s happiness is her top priority. She may look scary, but she’s pure and valiant, and in the end, this series kind of gave me gender-flipped My Love Story!! feels. Truly delightful. – Michelle Smith

Queen’s Quality, Vol. 8 | By Kyousuke Motomi | Viz Media – Answers are here, with extended flashbacks showing us what actually happened years ago, and who Fumi is. It’s helpful to have Kyutaro’s late mother explaining things to them, admittedly, and she’s super cool—I’d be OK with more adventures of her. Meanwhile, as Fumi tries to take this all in, Kyutaro adds to things by confessing to her, something which is perhaps not timely but is at least heartfelt. That said, it may be relatively irrelevant, as the cliffhanger suggests that we may be seeing some memory loss/destruction of alternate selves going on. Still, as far as dream-laden fantasy shoujo with comedic undertones go, QQ is tops. And love that they still have Dengeki Daisy cameos in them. – Sean Gaffney

Saint Young Men, Vol. 1 | By Hikaru Nakamura | Kodansha Comics – The premise of Saint Young Men is both simple and kooky. Jesus and Buddha have rented an apartment in Japan to enjoy some well-earned time off, where they enjoy a sort of odd-couple existence, with Buddha being the serious guy who does all the chores and Jesus being the carefree guy who has a popular TV review blog. The situations are pretty fun—the guys go to an amusement park and ride a roller coaster, they experience a packed commuter train, Jesus buys a Shinsengumi costume to wear as pajamas, Buddha wins a statue of himself while trying to win a trip to Okinawa…—but I’m sad to report that I never actually laughed at anything. Perhaps that will change with later volumes, as I did think this one got more amusing as it went along. We shall see! – Michelle Smith

Species Domain, Vol. 7 | By Shunsuke Noro | Seven Seas – The bulk of this volume is based around the school athletics festival, which gives us a chance to revisit several ongoing issues: Kazamori trying to live up to the “elf” standard everyone sees in her, ship tease between Hanei and Mikasagi, and the usual athletic festival cliches. The most interesting part of the book was showing us that Mizuno, who is frustrated at the mermaid classmate who’s going to put the swimming competition out of reach, also is a mermaid. That said, the reason they’ve been hiding it is fascinating, getting into both monster cliches and the sort of thing that LGBTQ people deal with daily, and I thought the reaction of the class was great. All in all, another solid volume. – Sean Gaffney

Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization, Vol. 5 | By Tomo Hirokawa, based on the story by Reki Kawahara | Yen Press – Despite Genesis being a clear bad guy, one who’s even taking drugs to enhance his gaming “performance,” he’s still able to make a huge impression on Tia. Sadly, when he is then “killed,” that proves the impetus for her to pick up where he left off, and she’s now out to remove humans from this MMORPG. As always with SAO lately, there’s some good discussion of what constitutes an NPC, and Premiere also goes through some emotional crises, especially given Tia is her dark twin. The next volume is the final one, so we’ll see if Kirito and the cast of every other video game spinoff can help. Despite the high entry level of this series, it’s pretty decent. – Sean Gaffney

The Trial of Kitaro | By Shigeru Mizuki | Drawn & Quarterly – Collecting five short manga originally published in shonen magazines between 1968 and 1971, The Trial of Kitaro brings to a close Drawn & Quarterly’s delightful seven-volume compilation of selections from Mizuki’s influential series GeGeGe no Kitaro. Combining creepiness with comedy (including some literal potty humor—beware haunted mountainside toilets), the stories in this volume are tremendous fun. As with previous installments, the episodic chapters were in part chosen specifically to be kid-friendly, so there’s a certain amount of grossness and just plain strangeness to them. But, regardless of intended audience, I’m enamored with these yokai tales of horror. I love how Mizuki has taken traditional Japanese folklore and incorporated his own ideas and even some Western legends to create something truly special. Along with the other volumes, I will treasure The Trial of Kitaro. I am sad that this is the series’ end, but I am so incredibly happy that these stories were translated. – Ash Brown

By: Ash Brown

[theoneprecioustome]

Aikoto PQ2 Spoilers (Short Version)

Okay! I’ve written a long version of everything I’ve gathered so far, but I figured a short one might be useful for those who don’t want too many spoilers.

So, this one only mentions the kind of interaction they have through the game, without going into details. As such, there’s only mild spoilers inside! Except for the beginning of the AIGIS dungeon.

From what I’ve seen, the game picks up on the Aikoto dynamic from the Drama CD, the movies and P3D. It’s wonderful. Not to mention, 90% of it is from Makoto’s side instead of Aigis’s.

Aikoto are separated from the rest of SEES during the start of the AIGIS dungeon. So they join the team as an unit (in the game controls, they’re called ‘KitaAi’ - ‘Kita’ for ‘Kitaro’, the way he’s known in the Japanese fandom. The image above is the one shown when they join the team).

Aigis protects Makoto from an enemy because Makoto had lost his Evoker. Then, when she goes into overheat from Orgia mode, Makoto holds her in his arms and protects her with his sword.

They have a couple of events together in the game, and Makoto worries about her multiple times. Like when she’s down from Orgia Mode or when she offers to take on a dangerous mission.

He also thanks others whenever they show concern for Aigis or help her in any way. He literally buts in simply to say “Thank you for helping Aigis/being worried about Aigis” more than once. And I honestly can’t remember seeing him do the same for anyone else. It’s like, whenever someone showed appreciation for Aigis, it made him happy. It’s really adorable.

Just like in P3D, Makoto shows utmost belief in Aigis. For example, Ribbon marvels about Aigis and the differences between them a few times. During one of them, Ribbon says that Aigis is “special” and “freer” than Ribbon is. Makoto says “You heard that, Aigis?” while looking at Aigis with a smile.

Like in FES, Makoto and Aigis’s development is extremely in sync. The views they express through the game and the conclusions they arrive to are pretty much the same (that they are themselves and no one else but themselves, and there will always be someone to accept them as they are).

Again, just like in P3D, Makoto praises her. At one point Futaba says that Aigis is “moe” because she’s a robot and Aigis doesn’t get it, so Makoto takes it upon himself to translate it as “She’s praising you and saying you’re awesome [as you are], Aigis.”

THE BEST THOUGH, just like in the movies, Makoto plays along Aigis’s sense of humor. Aigis makes a joke that literally no one but Makoto gets. This also plays into the Drama CD, where Makoto was the one to recognize Aigis’s hand-writing at first sight and the only one to be able to tell what she was thinking. So basically, he seriously knows her best.

Lastly, just like in P3D, Makoto worries that Aigis takes too much on her plate. At one point he reminds her that they’re all there for her and that she doesn’t need to do everything on her own.

So to summarize, in a surprising turn of events, the game gives more focus to Makoto’s care for Aigis than to Aigis’s for him, which is honestly a First. It’s also extremely consistent with the dynamic that the games, movies and Drama CD have built through all these years, which is a huge relief.

And in all in all, Makoto is just ridiculously sweet. All the times he chimes in just to thank people for worrying for Aigis or helping her… it’s just too cute for words.

Special thanks to @big-tees-and-short-skirts for their help with the dialogues!

[recentanimenews]

4 Anime Films Submitted For the Academy Awards ‘Best Animated Feature’

  After the announcement that Weathering with You would be submitted to the 92nd Academy Awards as Japan’s entry to the 'Best International Feature Film,' Makoto Shinkai’s masterpiece, alongside three other anime films from the last year, will be submitted for the ‘Best Animated Feature’ award.

  The four films up for the nominations are:

Weathering with You (Makoto Shinkai at Comix Wave Films)

Promare (Hiroyuki Imaishi at TRIGGER)

Children of the Sea (Ayumu Watanabe at Studio 4°C)

Okko’s Inn (Kitaro Kousaka a Madhouse and DLE)

    Weathering with You will be the first time ever that an anime film has been submitted for two categories at the same Academy Awards. The film follows in the footsteps of Studio Ghibli titles, Pom Poko and Princess Mononoke, as the first non-Studio Ghibli film to be nominated for 'Best International Feature Film.' This will also be Makoto Shinkai’s second time his film been submitted to the awards, with Your Name. being submitted for 'Best Animated Feature' by Funimation Films in 2016, but was ultimately not nominated.

  Only five films from the full list will be nominated for 'Best Animated Feature.' The Hollywood Reporter confirms that Disney’s The Lion King remake would not be submitted for the award, but this year's Toy Story 4 and Frozen II would be. Other films on the list include The Secret Life of Pets 2, The Angry Birds Movie 2, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, and the popular Chinese animated film Ne Zha.

    You can read the full list of submitted films over on The Hollywood Reporter. Out of all the films on the list, which animated film would you chose to win the award? Let us know in the comments!

  Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  ----

Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs the YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza and posts photo of his travels on Instagram.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com