#(not really an analysis this time but theres a bit lol) Tumblr posts

[burningdaybreak]

"OVER RAD SQUAD!!" Event Impressions — and then it kind of becomes a Summary and Analysis halfway through

(Disclaimer: This post contains spoilers for all of the OVER RAD SQUAD!! event, and general VBS stories spoilers.) Hello, to whoever is reading this. Last week was quite an eventful week, between the Sekai Broadcast and this event and banner's announcement. There's been many negative reactions lately, huh. Not really the place to talk about them, but I understand many of them (or more like understood, in some cases). This essay isn't like my usual one, since it'll mainly be my thoughts on the event; but I'll also summarize the event a bit and perhaps talk about the cards and my general impression. However, I wouldn't call it an analysis, and perhaps not even an essay? I'm just talking about my impressions and such. [Note after finishing the essay: It very much became both a summary and a bit of analysis lol] Warning that this isn't formally written like I did for my other posts, and it has the incoherent and perhaps even incomprehensible thoughts of a fan. So yeah, this is just a regular post. But perhaps I write an actual essay eventually because this event rocked.

1. The Event's Announcement

OVER RAD SQUAD!! had a pretty stormy announcement, not just because it was a unit limited event when VBS had already had one just two months ago (Whip the wimp girl!!), while a unit like WxS hasn't had one since 2021, but also because the story preview suddenly mentioned they're surpassing RAD WEEKEND in this very event. There was a lot of commotion on both things, but the former isn't particularly important here. People felt it was rushed, too soon, that Colorful Palette was ruining VBS's story... among other things. While I was actually pretty excited for the event, not just for the story but also the banner (new Akito lim card yay!!), and had faith they'd do the story well, the general negativity and dooming ended up getting to me and I got a bit stressed regarding the story. However, it turns out that everyone was wrong, and the event story turned out to be amazing and managed to cover pretty much all the important remaining plot threads neatly, and surpassing everyone's expectations. I'm glad everything ended well... (I demand an apology.) The outrage regarding the quick in succession unit limited events is understandable. It was especially bad not just because VBS had gotten one two months ago, but also because of WxS not getting any since 2021, and the second announced unit event for this month was WxS; so people generally assumed it'd be a permanent VBS event in early July, and WxS lims at the end of July. I really understand the rage, but I wasn't particularly surprised at VBS turning out to be the limited banner because, well... the Sekai team's decisions have been a bit erratic since the third anniversary, and VBS being the limited banner fit within my expectations. (Oh and I did kind of want VBS to be limited, since I think unit lim events are very hype... and because I wanted an Akito lim. Among other reasons. I apologize) Either way, the event turned out great, and the cards are very nice and Akito's card is very aibouyaoiful (yippee!), so all is forgiven (no it's not?). Now, getting into the event itself; first of all, I want to say, it's a very good event. And also extremely long. That's part of the reason why I'm not writing out the plot like I usually do; but also because I believe it's better to read it yourself, especially while listening to the voice acting and music. It's genuinely really good. (I was planning to write a summary at least, but I'm finding it pretty difficult and it'd be ultra long, sorry everyone...) [Post-essay addition: LOL. not editing this so everyone can laugh at me] Of course I can't expect everyone to know Japanese; I personally don't know much, and I machine TL events while reading them over at Sekai.best (along with the voices and Live2D in-game) — however, I later read sub TLs made by people, in case anyone just went "oh my god how can we rely on this guy's essays if he machine tl's things?!" I do know a bit of Japanese though! And I also get the general tone of a line by listening to it. So I can easily know if something's getting butchered by a machine. But if you don't like the machine TL method and prefer subs, then there's people on YouTube who sub events. (lozy bug usually sub VBS events pretty quickly; as of posing this, they've already subbed four chapters of the event) But yeah, read this event if you like VBS. I'd say it's one of the best VBS events. (I'm not really sure about calling it the outright best because I'm very biased towards Akito's focuses, but the fact I'm even considering it should be a sign of how good it was.)

2. Event Impressions and Thoughts

[Warning: Not very formal and may be incoherent. Also sort of becomes a summary halfway through lol. DISCLAIMER that I will mix my thoughts among the summary. AND!! I translated most quoted lines myself; I apologize if they're wrong, but they should get the general feeling of the line across.] God. It was so good. I genuinely cried and sobbed multiple times. It was very funny because it was just the very beginning of the event and I was already crying. There was a new BGM playing right at the start and it was so hype and exciting and it was like. This is it. This is the end... this is what they've been working so hard for... They're finally doing it... I was way too excited by the fact VBS would finally accomplish their goal. I'm not even a VBS fan (well, actually, I'm rethinking if that's true lol), but I'm just... ugh. It's been over three and a half years since their journey started, and they're finally achieving their dream. I'm very happy. The entirety of chapters 6 and 7 had me going crazy. I mean, that's pretty much the main part of the event, where VBS's event takes place. This was all the culmination of VBS's story, all their effort rewarded. This is it, this is what they wanted, and they finally reached it. Their dream has been accomplished. Ughhh... But let's go back to the beginning first: Kohane's task. Or tasks, rather, but the other one comes later. It was actually a quite simple task, which was strengthening her singing. For that purpose, Ken has her being coached by the other groups that participated in RAD WEEKEND: RUST and GLaP day. It was very cool to bring them back tbh, and that they were all coaching Kohane. The coaching method was also quite interesting: it was a sort of game where they take turns improvising lines. Her objective was to beat everyone at least once. She was struggling to beat them when suddenly, An sends her a message, and it was actually the scene from Whip the wimp girl!! where they meet in the morning and they have their singing duel. I really like how that happens during this. So cool. I love WTWG by the way. Her feelings of frustration from losing to not just RUST and GLaP day but also to An motivates her to give it her all and pour all she has into this. She wants to give back to An everything she has been given. Or, in my mentally ill way, she wants to give back the love she has received from An. Showing how grateful she is in her own way. Focusing on all that, fueled by her frustration, and wanting to give back to everyone, Kohane manages to beat everyone, and she's now more than strong enough to surpass RAD WEEKEND. She's curious about her second task, but Ken tells her he'll tell her on the day of the event. After that, she keeps practicing at COL, trying to grasp that feeling that allowed her to win against everyone, but she isn't quite there. COL's owner tells her that if she keeps singing like that, her voice will run out, and explains to her that perhaps she has to look into herself; find her own ego. That is, a selfish feeling, an impulse, what she's doing this for. What would make her do this even if it troubled other people. "I'll do this no matter what, no matter who I cause trouble to." Walking through Kamiyama Street and thinking about others' egos, Kohane wonders what's her own ego. Miku then appears to her, wondering what's her. Kohane explains that she doesn't know if she has an ego of her own;

🐹 For a long time, I've never been able to find a dream or something I want to do... 🐹 But I met An-chan and the others, and I was able to have the dream I have now. 🐹 ...Just like that, I was able to have dreams thanks to someone... 🐹 …If you ask me if there's something I want to do no matter what, even if it means causing trouble for everyone—

Miku then tells her that there is, but she just hasn't noticed it. And she suggests they go on a walk. She reminisces about how far she has come and her journey from the start, how she came across An and WEEKEND GARAGE. Then, she overhears a song, and following it, she comes across WEEKEND GARAGE once again, like she did back then. There, she finds her partner and teammates practicing.

🐹 (— What an amazing song...) 🐹 (My skin is tingling, my heart pounding...) 🐹 ("More"...) 🐹 (... I don't know if it's ego or not, but—) 🐹 (I like this feeling.) 🐹 (If I'm going to sing at an event bigger than RAD WEEKEND, I want it to be with this feeling.) 🐹 (I want to feel more excited.) 🐹 (I want to make you feel even more excited.) 🐹 (I want to cherish this feeling and sing it.)

Afterwards, her teammates notice she's there and she asks them to sing with her, before the flashback ends. I really liked the parallelism in this last scene, and how she finds her own ego in a similar way to how she found music back then. It was An and her teammates that allowed her to find music and herself, and now she wants to cherish this feeling, and sing for them, and do this with them. Ughh. So, yeah. The Kohane section was really good. It showed her character's development so well. She used to be shy and such, but now she's so confident in her skill and using everything she has learned and all her feelings to get stronger. She's so cool tbh. And the ego part was very good, too, and figuring out what she sings for, what she wants to do no matter what... very good. Now in the current day, there's one week left until their event (which is where the event actually starts, but chronologically, the flashback goes first). After their meeting, Kohane is worried in her room and Miku talks to her again, and that's where all of the aforementioned flashback takes place. Following the flashback, Miku tells her she'll be fine, since she has been facing her feelings all this time. Then the day before the event arrives. They left practice earlier than usual, to prepare for what's coming the next day. While talking, they reminisce about Arata, who isn't with them anymore. Touya hasn't given up on bringing back Arata, but there's nothing they can do about that anymore. They did all they could, and now all that's left is to finish it. They're doing it tomorrow — going beyond RAD WEEKEND! Chapter 6 is possibly one of the lengthiest chapters in all events in the game (I don't remember any longer one right now, at least). The chapter starts with Taiga coming back which is !!!!, because at that point I thought he wouldn't come back at all, but he did. It was a cool surprise. He talks a bit with Ken, wondering if it's fine he's here rather than backstage with them, cheering them up like a coach; but Ken replies that it's not his event — it's their event. The "next generation"'s event. By the way, their event is named RAD BLAST. Silly name tbh. But it's fun. Meanwhile, backstage, everyone's thinking about what they're feeling.

🐹 (... Amazing.) 🐹 (The atmosphere is different from previous events even before it started.) 🐹 ("I want to see the moment RAD WEEKEND is surpassed", "I want Nagi-san's wish to come true" —) 🐹 (All those strong feelings turn into heat... and I can feel them all the way here.) 🎧 (... It feels strange.) 🎧 (This time, I'm looking at the view I looked up at that day from the same perspective as Nagi-san.) 🎧 (Finally — I've come this far.) ☕ (... I've never been this nervous, even in the biggest competition I've ever participated in.) ☕ (... We only have one chance.) ☕ (We will definitely surpass it.)

But then, Akito interrupts everyone's thoughts, telling them to form a circle, since doing that before a show gets him really pumped. And then, he says he'll go first and:

🥞 I've been betting on this day! 🥞 I couldn't take anything seriously, and I couldn't forgive myself for being half-hearted. 🥞 The thing that made me realize that life was worth risking was RAD WEEKEND. 🥞 When I overcome RAD WEEKEND, I'll be proud — of myself, and everything I've ever been. 🥞 So no matter what... I'll surpass it!!

(Interrupting the summary: this part made me so emotional I started crying the first time I read it. In fact, I am sobbing again as I write this. I love Akito so much, honestly. Ugh.) Then following his partner's lead, Touya speaks up, too:

☕ — I want to know. ☕ I came to this town, met my partner, my friends, and new music. ☕ During those days, I was able to acknowledge myself. I was able to accept everything, both my past and present. ☕ ... No matter what obstacles I faced, thanks to everyone, I was able to keep going and get to this point. ☕ And then — at last, we came this far. ☕ I want to see how the songs I write will move the town, and how far I can go... ☕ For that reason, I will do my best today.

Kotaro (🍓) and Tatsuya (🏍) follow, too:

🍓 ...I!! I don't want to be such a pathetic person anymore!! 🍓 Laughing and saying there's no way I can do the things I really want to do — I don't want to be like that!! 🍓 With this — going beyond what I think is the most amazing thing, I will be able to accept myself!! 🏍 This time, I sing to believe in myself. 🏍 Even if someone ridicules me, I will pursue my dreams. 🏍 ... Even though I longed for that kind of lifestyle, somewhere along the line, I was swayed by the words of others. 🏍 There's no way it will come true, there's no way I can win, there's no way I can surpass it... I will resist such words. I will surpass RAD WEEKEND — I will believe in myself!

Kohane realizes that this is everyone's ego. They won't give in to anyone, and accomplish it no matter what... she starts to understand. She couldn't put her feelings into words, and she's beginning to understand her ego. Then, An talks, too:

🎧 I— I've always admired it; RAD WEEKEND... and Nagi-san. 🎧 I always thought that someday I'd catch up to that place, run with you, and surpass you. 🎧 ... I can no longer run with Nagi-san. 🎧 However— I can carry on the dream that Nagi-san left behind. 🎧 I can go to a world that Nagi-san couldn't go to— that she couldn't see. 🎧 If we can surpass RAD WEEKEND, I'm sure... 🎧 So we will surpass it! Absolutely!

Finally, Kohane speaks up, telling how she feels:

🐹 I— I want to go! 🐹 Beyond RAD WEEKEND, to the place beyond that...! 🐹 I'm sure it'll be exciting, like when I first heard An-chan's song... 🐹 ... No. I'm sure it'll be even more exciting! 🐹 I want to go there!! — No matter who tries to stop me, I will definitely go!! With everyone!!

Finishing the speeches off, An tells everyone to make this the best night of their life. It's time to go beyond RAD WEEKEND, and begin a new legend! (At this point, this has truly become a summary, but I still want to give my thoughts lol: this scene was REALLY good. Akito's words really hit me hard and made me cry the first time I read this part, as I mentioned earlier, but I also really liked everyone else's words. This was when I was like "Oh... I really understand these characters...", because many of the things they said are things I wrote about in my essays. I get these characters, and I'm so glad.) But going back to the event: following their speeches, Ken appears to tell Kohane her second task, before promptly leaving. And then, with the audience unable to contain their excitement, it's time to begin their final event — the one that will mark a new legend, 「RAD BLAST」. An and Kohane are the first batters. Together, they sing, hyping up the audience, and increasing the heat. The event is off to a good start, and if they grasp the feeling of "evolving together" that they learned in their duel, they can make the fire bigger. They finish off their performance, leaving the audience very excited, and so it's Akito and Touya's turn. And they give us this absolutely sickening (positive) interaction:

🥞 �� Let's go, Touya. 🥞 Hm? What are you smiling about? ☕️ You are too. Aren't you nervous? 🥞 I got over that a while ago. Now, I'm just-- 🥞 Surpassing it. That's all I'm thinking about. ☕️ Yeah. I agree. ☕️ Let's go, Akito. Let's make our dreams come true.

"Our dreams"... ugh... critical hit. It's now a shared dream... a dream he got from Akito... that now belongs to both of them... Sorry I'll stop being gay. They sing together, exciting the audience even more. They think as they sing:

🥞 (I gave top-batter to those guys, but—) 🥞 (To move upward through clashing with your partner, isn't your privilege alone!) ☕️ (We both looked toward each other—we looked at what we didn't have, and we ran upward.) ☕️ (I hope I can be a worthy partner!)

(So good... the bond with your partner is amazing... Working together, growing together, experiencing things together... argh...!) Following them it's Kotaro's turn, and then Tatsuya and EVER. Watching them perform, Taiga thinks of how he didn't expect these guys to turn into such great singers. As he thinks, he notices a guy in a wheelchair, which is tough with the crowd in the livehouse. But when he asks if he's fine, he notices who it is— Meanwhile, backstage, EVER is about to finish their performance, and it'll be time for the final performance. But suddenly, someone appears: Arata. Akito asks him why he's there, and he shows them a CD; a CD that Souma sent him, telling him "Please surpass this" in a memo, along with "I was moved by the song that Aoyagi-kun wrote.", "If you listen to it and it moves you, please listen to this one last time." He couldn't listen to it, as he felt he didn't deserve to when he couldn't carry his dream. But he had to at least listen to this song, and upon listening to it, he understood — he wants to carry Souma's dream. It doesn't matter if he can do it or not — he wants to do it. That's his ego. He's being self-centered, but he wants to carry his dreams, and his songs, regardless. He wants to sing. Despite running away and coming back at such an important time... and what he's asking for being so much... he wants to sing. Akito simply responds that he hopes he didn't get stale, and he gets permission from them to sing. EVER's performance is about to end, and Akito tells him to get ready. He thanks Akito... and Touya, too — since Souma wrote "I was able to write this song thanks to Aoyagi-kun." in his message. Touya brushes it off, telling him that the reason Souma was actually able to write this song was because he was thinking of Arata, to which he responds that he'll sing that feeling — all of his and Souma's feelings.

With EVER done, the audience is looking forward to the finale by Vivid BAD SQUAD — but instead, it's Arata who appears, which surprises everyone, especially Souma, as he wasn't in the lineup for the event. When he's about to sing, he notices Souma among the audience. Even though it should be hard for him to even stand still, he still came. Souma shouts, saying "Let's overcome this together!!", and Arata begins singing. Souma cheers for him as he sings, shouting that he's there too — with his song, next to him. Arata's performance gets the audience even more excited, and the time for Vivid BAD SQUAD to deliver the finale is getting closer. It's up to them to surpass RAD WEEKEND. While waiting for their turn, Kohane goes get some water. As she drinks, she thinks that they have to surpass it, and clearing her task too. She thinks back on it, and it's revealed what her final task is: putting all her feelings into her song, and telling Ken what she's feeling, at that moment. She thinks how she has to do it, deliver her feelings, her ego — everything. But then she realizes her hands are shaking, and her heart beating loudly. As she thinks that now's not the time to be trembling, Miku interrupts her. (Interrupting the summary again: this is where chapter 6 ends. It really was a very long chapter. I think it was super great. As I said earlier, the circle scene truly took me out, and the Arata-Souma part made me Sick (in a good way). I recommend reading this chapter with voices and Live2D; everyone gets new Live2D models! Even the NPCs!! This is the most important part of VBS's story!!!) Wondering why Miku has appeared, she tells Kohane she just wanted to check things out, since their turn is coming soon. Miku then asks her if she's feeling excited right now — feeling the same excitement she felt that day, the day she went to Vivid Street... the day she found WEEKEND GARAGE... the day she met An. Kohane responds she's feeling excited, but it's a different kind of excitement — "I have to do this" is what she's feeling. It's like she can no longer see the excitement of "I want to do this"; which isn't good, as she had finally found her feelings. Miku says it can't be helped, as this is a place where emotions swirl, and sometimes it's easy to lose sight of things. However, she has to remember —

💚 『Kohane is now standing in front of a big wall that leads to a new world.』 💚 『We don't know what's on the other side. No one knows yet.』 🐹 No one... 💚 『Let's go see it, Kohane — together with everyone.』 🐹 … Yeah. That's right. 🐹 Together with everyone in Vivid BAD SQUAD, and all of my friends who've come this far...

Miku then replies that that's not all, is it? But then says that it'll become clear on stage when Kohane's confused at her reply. They then hear the cheers from the audience — their turn is coming soon. The rest of Vivid BAD SQUAD come looking for Kohane, and they make notice of Miku. Soon after, the rest of VIRTUAL SINGERS appear too, coming to support them and wishing them luck.

💚 『Let's go see a new world together.』

And then, it's time for Vivid BAD SQUAD's performance... the time to surpass the legend has come!! ... However, this is where I'm stopping the summary for chapter 7. I'm really sorry but I really believe this is a chapter you have to read yourself; something you have to witness yourself. This chapter is probably the best chapter they've made in all events so far, and any summary I make of it won't do it any justice. They really went all out with it. I really, really recommend reading it yourself. Watch Vivid BAD SQUAD surpass RAD WEEKEND. But, as you may know already: they do it. They surpass the legend — they surpass RAD WEEKEND. And they make a legend of their own.

[Chapter 8 — To the next world] EPILOGUE

A few days later, everything's so lively on Vivid Street. There's musicians everywhere singing, a familiar scenery for the people in the town... everyone has been inspired by RAD BLAST, wanting to surpass this new and exciting legendary event. Vivid BAD SQUAD managed to even change the scenery of the town. Meanwhile, at WEEKEND GARAGE, Taiga and Ken are talking. Taiga is already heading to the airport, poking fun at Ken since he has things to do, unlike the man who closed his store. Furthermore, he has to go back and brush up his skills — he wants to be the one to achieve Nagi's dream, but now he has more rivals. Finally, he thanks Ken. But then, Ken tells him he wants to do it together again. His role as a mentor to the next generation is over, and he'll be just an artist again, so — he wants to sing with Taiga, again. His wife's fine with this, and An laughed and said they're rivals now, so it's alright. They're partners once again.

Finally, Vivid BAD SQUAD and everyone else are at the graveyard, visiting Nagi's grave. They clean up then pray to her grave, saying a few words.

🎧 ... Nagi-san, we've come this far. 🎧 From now on, I will go beyond Nagi's dream. 🎧 The scenery that Nagi wanted to see, the various places... We'll go and see them all. 🐹 Thank you very much, Nagi-san. 🐹 Thanks to Nagi-san, we have come this far. So— 🐹 From here on, leave it to me. 🥞 "Conquer the world"... We've accepted Nagi-san's big dream. ☕ The rest will be slow — please watch over us.

Following that, Kohane asks what everyone's planning to do from now on: Kotaro is planning to upload his raps online, as he wants more people to listen to them, and tells everyone to subscribe to him; meanwhile, Tatsuya and EVER are planning to go major, debutting as pro singers, since they want more people around the world to hear the music that was born in the town. As for Arata and Souma, they're planning to team up together again, with Souma as the track maker, and Arata singing his songs. They'll be a team once again. They haven't decided what they'll do exactly, but they will pursue the dream that Nagi entrusted to everyone, which means they're Vivid BAD SQUAD's rivals now. Finally, Vivid BAD SQUAD — of course, they're planning to take over the world, and going beyond Nagi's dream. Kohane thinks, while she may not know what she wants to do from now on, she's sure it'll be okay; they can move forward. Because—

Because—!

Because they will never be discouraged, no matter how big the wall!! Furthermore, just imagining what the view as they "Take over the world" will be like makes Kohane's heart race. She then calls out her teammates' names, telling them she wants to go there soon. And the event ends. Vivid BAD SQUAD has accomplished their dream — but their journey is just getting started. Run to a new world!!

2.1. My Event Impressions and Thoughts For Real After I Accidentally Summarized the Whole Event

Well, lol. Sorry, in the end I summarized most of it. (Also I may be accidentally repeating here some of the thoughts I wrote throughout the summary.) So, as I was saying earlier: it was sooo good. I genuinely cried and sobbed multiple times. This is very noteworthy because I really dislike crying, so I don't cry often (im just like akito fr), and not many Sekai events got me close to being emotional over them (there is a few, though. I'm not emotionless lol), yet this one had me emotional all throughout. In fact, even days later I still feel emotional over it. Just the thought of this being the end... what they worked so hard for... what they've been looking forward to for so long... they're finally accomplishing their dream. I'm so, so happy. Kohane's part of the event was really good. Didn't expect they'd bring back RUST and GLaP day to coach her (also, at first I thought COL's owner was gonna be the one coaching her lol!), it was so cool. I also really like how much it showed Kohane's development — how she used to be so shy and with no dream, but now she's very confident in her skill and her dream that she inherited from her partner and teammates. I also quite like how Whip the wimp girl!!'s does actually happen concurrently to this event. Very epic stuff, guys. With her feelings of frustration, after losing to Taiga, RUST, GLaP day, and now An... she uses those feelings to improve even further, with the desire of giving back to An, wanting to show her cool side too. Giving back the love she has received from An... wanting to love back, after An has provided so much love... Ughh...!! Kohane is very cool, actually. The finding your ego part was also quite cool; I had never viewed everything that way, but it makes a lot of sense. Of course, as an Akito fan, I end up naturally thinking of Akito's ego, sorry, but this isn't about him; Kohane finding what she's doing this for, what she'd do this for even if other people didn't like it, it was so good. Very cool. When you think about it, RAD WEEKEND was Nagi's selfish wish; it was her ego, and the ego of everyone else who participated; and RAD BLAST was everyone else's ego. This kind of ties it together — everyone came together for their own wants. Oh, the parallels... they make me crazy. And then there's chapters 6 and 7. Pretty much the main point of the event. To be honest, there's a few people who complained about Kohane events mostly being "plot events" rather than "character events" and — perhaps that's true, but the first half focused on her character, her task and her growth, and this is like, the big VBS event. There's no helping it. In a way, this is a plot event, but it's very closely tied to the characters, since they're reaching their ultimate goal. But as I was saying... chapters 6 and 7 were crazy. The circle scene at the beginning of chapter 6 really had me losing it. When Akito started shouting his Akito-like lines, I just... started sobbing, genuinely. The lines were the usual Akito lines but... they really hit me hard. Man. I love him so much. Honestly. Fuck!!!! (sorry for swearing) Everyone saying their ego and everything, it was so good.

Pretty much the entirety of chapter 6 was amazing. It was so nice to see the partner duos performing together to kick off the event. Also Touya's line about "Let's accomplish our dream" has been imprinted in my brain. Just... ugh. The Arata-Souma part was also really good. I like how he appeared last minute and sang Souma's song... even though Souma can't sing anymore, they were doing this together, in a way... oghh... I get emotional thinking about this. This is tragic yaoi, perhaps. (Little bit of nitpicking here) Maybe it would have been nice if they gave us a bit more about Arata, though, such as what he was doing until now, and how Souma even found him... but perhaps they'll do that in a future event. And chapter 7? Mannnnn. I didn't summarize it but I'll give my thoughts on it. Don't read this part if you didn't read the chapter or something!! Chapter 7 had me speechless. I was livetweeting my event impressions and I just couldn't keep tweeting anymore except a random screenshot because Kohane's lines hit my head hard, but yeah. It was so epic. I was sobbing, happy, laughing. This really was the greatest chapter in all Sekai events so far. (Actual chapter 7 spoilers now) All the effects and stuff were so epic. And how they used multiple BGMs of the characters singing?? And then for the finale, VBS's cheers and time stopping for Kohane??? It's just... wow... it was so incredibly shounen and perhaps even a bit corny but it was amazing. I loved it so much. I'm not even that big of a fan of shounen stuff but it was so cool. They really went all out with this chapter. A big love letter to VBS, and really delivering on their finale. Man!!! So great. I'm so, so happy. They finally did it. I didn't even really consider myself a VBS fan until recently, but WTWG really hit my head hard, and I've since reread most VBS events and reconsidered my thoughts on a lot of things. And now here we are... But even then, I've always been an Akito fan, so even if I didn't like VBS (which I do!), just seeing him accomplish his dream... makes me cry. I'm so happy for everyone, really. I'm so grateful. Chapter 8 was a pretty nice epilogue. The chapter starting just like back after RAD WEEKEND, with the musicians singing in town and aiming to surpass the new legend in town... wow... the themes of chains of inspiration and generational cycles are cool. RAD BLAST inspired and motivated everyone, and revived the scenery of the town once again. It's so nice. Ken and Taiga becoming partners again was quite an interesting development. Didn't expect that. It's pretty sad that Ken-san may be gone... between that and all the NPCs having their own plans (Kotaro becoming a YouTuber lol), it's like... VBS is by themselves, once again. I feel sad thinking about this.

Also I wanna say that I really loved how they showed the development that all the VBS characters went through. This event is like a culmination of not just their story, but also their characters. They grew a lot... It makes me so happy. It also focused a lot (more than I expected) on the partner bond; not just within VBS, but also Arata-Souma and, very surprisingly, Taiga-Ken. Not to bring "discourse" here, but some people seem to think the partner stuff is fanservice, for some reason (I beg people to Read the stories, please); but it's a very integral part of the VBS characters. The bond with your partner and growing together and helping each other grow; this event really drove the point home multiple times, including in the cards (lol). I talked about partners a few times in my past essays, and I'm glad the game really shows how important they are to each other. While they're a group, and there's a friendship between all of them, the most important person to each other is their respective partner. It's a truly inseparable bond. This did feel like an actual finale. Of course, their story is far from over, but they REALLY did make it look like an actual ending. Good job. Breaking the mood for a bit, I actually feel a bit mixed about this ending. I kind of... dread what's next? It's an odd feeling. Like, I feel super happy and satisfied, but also... it has been over three and a half years since their journey started, and now it's over? It's like when you finish a very long game that you loved and suddenly you're like "Oh... now what?" It's also weird because most of their life has been about surpassing RAD WEEKEND... it's scary to think what they're gonna do next. Of course, I support them in whatever they plan to do, they're like my kids (everyone in Sekai is, tbh), but the unknown is scary. While random to mention here, perhaps Akito may feel something similar soon. He even says it in the event, but RAD WEEKEND was all his life, what kept him alive, and he has been looking forward to this day all this time; so now that he accomplished this goal, he may feel a bit lost on what's next. While "conquering the world" is definitely VBS's next goal, he may want something... more concrete? Direct? But there is someone that has always been with him... his partner. Maybe this is me being a bit delusional but perhaps it'll be Touya that gives Akito a "new purpose" in life — they'll always be together, no matter what, just like Arata and Souma. In the end, it's all about aibou. Leaving the negative feelings aside: yeah, it was an epic event. Possibly the best VBS event? Or even in the game? However, I don't know if I can rank it higher than Akito's focuses because, well, that's my boy!! But as a group event, this is perhaps the best. There's some minor nitpicks, such as why, despite being their big event, none of their friends and loved ones were there (like, Saki and Tsukasa would want to be there for Touya; and Kohane's parents too, among other people), but perhaps they simply didn't appear physically since they didn't want to crowd the event too much? Or it was recorded (don't make the same mistake as RADder lol)? But it's a bit "hmmm" to think about. (<- guy who just said he'd leave the negativity aside) BUT! I think they really landed this event. It was quite Crazy to suddenly finish not just the arc, but their STORY so soon, and everyone doubted they could do it (June 29th was a rough day). But they did it. In a way, this is storytelling (what is he yapping about), and as my friend put it:

i do think that doomer phase was a quintessential part of the vbs experience. “there’s scenery you can only see when beaten and crawling on the asphalt” after all . they scared the shit out of us with insane balance and pacing decisions and pulled it all right back together (source)

I had faith in the writing, unlike most people, and thought they'd be able to cover, at the least, most of those plot threads that there were hanging... but they actually covered nearly everything. It was much better than I expected. They surpassed my expectations, both the writers and VBS. It was so great. A really good event. I love Akito. I love aibous. I love VBS. Truly legendary.

3. Event Cards Impressions (and Some Analysis)

[Disclaimer: Personal opinions ahead. The analysis is very minor, since I think there isn't That much to analyze here.] So epic that they gave Akito a gay bar themed card to finish off pride month 🧡💙 We truly ended pride month with a BLAST!! Okay, jokes aside. The event gacha's name is The Party Of Blast!! Gacha, and looking at the cards, it's easy to see why. They're all partying in their cards; this is pretty much the afterparty of their event. Everyone's cards take place in bar-like settings, and there's alcoholic glasses all over — however, rather than alcohol, they're filled with diamonds and various other gems, some of them colored as VBS's characters' image colors. (They're minors and can't legally drink alcohol by the way.) There's also confetti raining down on them, representing their victory. They're all dressed in military-like clothes, symbolizing how hard they've been fighting so far to reach this place. And, they also all have elements of VBS's image color (hot, bright pink) in their outfits, mainly their belts or belt straps and their shoelaces, which represent their unit and their unity as a team. (Won't mention this detail for all of them, so just adding it here.) There's also chains present in most of the cards. I did talk about chains a bit in my latest essay, and I feel they may represent a similar thing here: connection, the connection between these characters as a team, and the partners' deeper connections to each other. So overall, the theme of these cards is as I said — an afterparty, celebrating their achievement after all their hard work. Something that could be interesting to talk about before getting into the cards themselves is the fact they chose a bar setting for these cards. An often-controversial aspect of VBS is that they often cover and sing adult-themed songs; like, suggestive songs (such as PaIII.Sensation), or in their most recent cover, Yoidore Shirazu, featuring elements of drinking (As I've said in the past, I don't really condone them covering these kinds of songs and I'd rather they weren't a thing but, it is what it is). This last example is fitting since this set, too, has a drinking-related theme, which is bars. VBS are often associated with adult elements, despite being one of the younger units (all second-years, same as Leo/need), and this is another case of that: minors aren't allowed to drink alcoholic beverages, nor enter bars in general. For that reason, the content of the glasses in the cards are replaced with diamonds and other gems, but the original feeling still remains of them being in a place that is usually reserved for adults. One way to look at it is that they're more mature than expected for their age, chasing after a dream in a mainly grown-up world, and aiming to surpass an event hosted by adults, and they represent that maturity by putting them in adult situations? Or perhaps, due to the street culture, these things represent them breaking the rules and doing things that aren't fit for minors; to symbolize the underlying theme of rebellion in these characters, too, and showing everyone that they can do whatever they're chasing after. Project Sekai is, in a way, a "coming of age" game, showing all the characters' growth and development as they experience things in their teenage life, so this adult angle does make sense. Vivid BAD SQUAD are growing up...! In any case, let's get into the cards; of course, starting with a very special boy:

4☆ Shinonome Akito - "A Circle Signaling Our Determination"

"... Good. Everyone has their hands in."

This is Akito's 4☆ card from the event. This may be crazy to say but, I think this is THE gayest Akito card. Not just for the gay bar joke (sorry), but it very much gives that vibe. While I actually think "woww he looks so gay here" whenever there's a new Akito card... this time, it's for real. I'm not sure how to explain it, but he LOOKS gay. I've seen gay guys that look like this before. This is a gay guy, if I've ever seen one. His beloved partner sitting on the chair's arm next to him, so close to him, really adds to the homosexuality. It's just a great card to me. ... Anyways, getting serious. My general thoughts on the card is that it has become one of my favorite Akito lims (still below FES and Doggy though). People were being mean to his hairstyle but I think it looks really nice! It's now one of my favorite hairstyles for him.

Fun fact: Akito's hairstyle here is quite similar to Souma's hairstyle. Meanwhile, Touya's hairstyle in Whip the wimp girl!!, which I thought was a reference to his dad, does share similarities to Arata's hairstyle, too. Are they implying something?

Also, I quite like his outfit. I'd definitely wear that stuff (you're insane), he looks very handsome and attractive. It's very nice that his pants are dark pink? Grape pink? (I don't know color names lol.) Furthermore, his boots' shoelaces and his belt strap are bright, hot pink; which is VBS's image color. It's pretty nice and bold. From memory, I think this is the first time he wears these kinds of pink? Which I feel is quite bold, since he usually wears less showy colors; a recent exception being his BURN MY SOUL card's outfit, which he got in the event where he realized he has to listen to how he feels and be true to himself more, which I interpreted in the outfit as him being more confident in how he dresses. There's even a similar contrast in both of these cards' costumes, combining black / dark colors, and a showy color. Could just be reading too much into it, as usual, but the fact he's getting bolder with his fashion is quite nice and something I enjoy. He feels more confident in himself, and now wears colors he didn't use to wear (pink), which is a color usually considered "for girls"... Don't want to delve too deeply into the topic of his sexuality in here, otherwise this is gonna get extra long, but I talked about getting bolder with his fashion and how it could relate to what he learned about his feelings and feeling more confident about them, and his sexuality and my homosexuality headcanon in the BMS card section in The Gay Akito Thesis™. Similar logic would apply to this card and outfit, in my opinion. A very nice detail is the colored diamonds and gems — they're colored after VBS's image colors (Pink, Light Blue, Orange, Dark Blue). The fun part is that, even as diamonds/gems, the partners are always together (Pink+Light Blue, and Orange+Dark Blue). You can see them together on the table, and in the glasses in the card. They're inseparable, after all. Speaking of which, Touya himself is next to Akito in this card. So nice... always together... aibou4ever...

🥞 (I gave top-batter to those guys, but—) 🥞 (To move upward through clashing with your partner, isn't your privilege alone!) ☕️ (We both looked toward each other—we looked at what we didn't have, and we ran upward.) ☕️ (I hope I can be a worthy partner!)

Oh, nearly forgot to talk about the theme. Yeah, as I said earlier, they're dressed in military-like outfits, and it's a party at a bar. Out of all the set, this card is the one that is most obviously a bar because of the glasses hanging in the back. (Considering that, and the, uh, nearing-homosexual bond between Akito and Touya, the gay bar joke seems quite fitting.) Also, not that important and likely obvious; the neon sign in the back saying "Go all out" symbolizes Akito and everyone else giving it their all during their event. it also represents akito coming out of the closet (joke) In short, this card represents the afterparty and celebration after surpassing their goal, which they had been working so hard to accomplish and put all their effort into. It's quite cool. Great job, guys, you deserve it. So, overall, I think it's a great card. I really like it. The untrained illustration also features Touya next to Akito, and a neat detail is that it's the first time Touya reciprocates Akito's shoulder touch (Akito is always all over Touya's shoulders, but it was never the other way around), just... wow... sorry I'll stop being gay. Great card, everyone. Gay Akito is real. Happy pride month.

2☆ Aoyagi Touya - "Just a Little Bit More of This Atmosphere"

Touya's 2☆ card. Not much to say here, it's just a 2☆... But it looks quite nice! I like how he's Happy (both literally and the actual card attribute) and enjoying singing... such a nice development from the Touya at the start of the game... he enjoys music once again thanks to his partner and the town. So good. I like it. Touya's initial 2☆ (his very first one) was also Happy, and comparing his appearance between both cards, with his initial 2☆ him looking serious and gloomy, and now in this card him looking happy and enjoying himself as he sings and does what he enjoys... it's quite a difference. It's very nice. Perhaps this card may represent this moment in the story, too:

🥞 … Let's go, Touya. 🥞 Hm? What are you smiling about? ☕️ You are too. Aren't you nervous? 🥞 I got over that a while ago. Now, I'm just-- 🥞 Surpassing it. That's all I'm thinking about. ☕️ Yeah. I agree. ☕️ Let's go, Akito. Let's make our dreams come true.

Very good... smiling about making THEIR dream come true — it's not just Akito's dream, it's their dream now... So great. Aibous forever!!

4☆ Hatsune Miku - "Beyond the Door"

"Let's go and see it, Kohane. Together with everyone."

Now we have Miku's 4☆ card. This is a quite notable card because, up until now, Miku's lims were mainly reserved for "special occasions" (FES, collabs, and special events). Although, perhaps, this IS a special occasion — besides the fact it was the first Bloom Festival banner, it's also a special occasion for VBS. Their arc end, their final goal, the end of their story... maybe? Yeah. It's a nice card. Seeing Miku with her hair down is new and interesting, although I would've liked a different hairstyle for VBS Miku but... eh, it's alright. It's good too. Just like Akito's card, the card takes place in a bar-like setting, and she's wearing military-like clothes, with hot pink shoelaces, belt, and thigh belt (VBS's image color). The glass she's holding has four different colored gems: dark blue, yellow, light blue, and pink, which I imagine represent KAITO, Len, Miku, and Luka. It's odd that there's no red and orange for MEIKO and Rin, but you could pretend they just can't be seen from the front. There's also something else: if you zoom in, there's two glasses in the background, one with dark blue and orange diamonds, and the other with light blue and pink diamonds. Even in this card, the partner pairs are together, and in different glasses, to boot. Funny. They're truly inseparable. Also the neon signs in the card "get over" and "NEXT" are quite nice. Symbolizing surpassing their goal and, as the second sign literally says, what's next. Pretty cool card. I should also mention the card's untrained illustration: usually, the VIRTUAL SINGER holograms in the story aren't that big, but it feels more symbolic than anything; Miku being next to Kohane, supporting her and watching her back as she heads towards her dream. It's very nice.

💚 『Let's go see a new world together.』

3☆ Shiraishi An - "What I Want to Tell You"

"Nagi-san, we've come this far..."

An's 3☆ card from the event. Just like the others, the theme is a bar celebration in military-like clothes. Also, once again, the outfit has bright, hot pink elements (the shoelaces and the belt). I think it's a pretty nice card. Unlike the previous cards I've talked about, there's colored gems of many colors in this card, and there's a lot of them. You can make out the VIRTUAL SINGER's colors laying on the table, including the missing red and orange in Miku's card, and the middle glass on the table has VBS's image colors, and once again, they're together. (The light blue one is a bit hard to make out because of the glass' reflection, but it's definitely there, next to the pink one.) The other two glasses seem to be a combination of all colors, all together. And the untrained illustration is kind of insane, in my opinion: An visiting Nagi's grave... it really hit hard when I first saw it. After surpassing RAD WEEKEND, she's finally visiting the grave of the one she admired, saying a few words to her, telling her how she finally did it. It's just... argh. It makes me emotional...

🎧 ... Nagi-san, we've come this far. 🎧 From now on, I will go beyond Nagi's dream. 🎧 The scenery that Nagi wanted to see, the various places... We'll go and see them all.

4☆ Azusawa Kohane - "A World Full of Excitement"

"It's so beautiful... my heart's pounding..."

And finally we have the star of the event, Kohane, and her 4☆ card! Same theme as previous cards, her card is a celebration in a bar-like setting, featuring drinks and wearing a military-like outfit, also with hot pink elements; although, due to the artistic lighting, you can't really see them, but they can be seen better in-game: she wears a hot pink belt, shoelaces, and her top. She looks very cool and confident in this card, powerful even, which I quite like; showing off Kohane's development from the beginning. Also the hairstyle is quite nice! This card also has colored gems. At first they were hard to make out, but I think the ones in the glass are also VBS's image colors. There may be other interpretations though, since it's not as clear as the other cards. However, there is two more gems on the table, and those are definitely light blue and pink, representing An and Kohane. Very nice. Always together! The untrained illustration is the main part of the event: VBS after they give their final performance, and looking at that view they've aspired to see all along... the excited audience after their legendary event. Proud of what they accomplished. It's so good...

🐹 For a long time, I've never been able to find a dream or something I want to do... 🐹 But I met An-chan and the others, and I was able to have the dream I have now. 🐹 ...Just like that, I was able to have dreams thanks to someone...

The card section this time wasn't as deep as usual (although I waffled a lot about Akito lol, sorry. Just me being crazy about Akito and homosexuality), but I believe there isn't that much to analyze here; it's pretty much just an afterparty at a bar, celebrating their big achievement, confetti raining down on them congratulating them for their victory, and the military outfits representing how hard they fought to reach where they are. Perhaps you could analyze something like the meanings of the diamonds and gems and their colors, though, but I don't think there's any deep meaning behind these cards like, for example, WTWG's set: it mainly represents VBS, the inseparable bonds with their partners, and them enjoying themselves after all their hard work. I think it's a really nice set. I like it a lot.

4. Conclusion

This wasn't like my usual essay. It's much more informal and unserious, so I apologize for that. It did kind of become a summary halfway through, but I didn't analyze too much (although I don't think there's much to analyze this time?). I mainly wanted to voice my thoughts and impressions on this event, and I hope that's fine too. I said it multiple times throughout the essay but, it was a really good event. I've mentioned it in the past, but I'm not a VBS fan — my favorite units are Niigo and MMJ. However, ever since WTWG, I've been reconsidering whether it's true that I'm "not a VBS fan"; I mean, I like every unit, but I always thought my absolute favorites were Niigo and MMJ. This is funny though because my absolute favorite character is Akito (as you can see in The Gay Akito Thesis™ — yeah I'm linking it again), it's curious how that works. I think, after reading this event, I can certainly say it: I'm a VBS fan. But, it's a bit silly to have three favorite units out of five, so idk what I'll do about that. Though, for now, I'm a VBS fan, too. I love Akito. I love VBS. I love aibous. 𝓐𝓲𝓫𝓸𝓾𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮. This is one of the greatest events in the game, perhaps one of the best, if not the best (even though I don't know if I'd say it's better than Akito's individual focuses). I really enjoyed it, and it's absolutely a must-read if you're a VBS fan. A bit of a tangent here but, personally, I think My Footprints, Your Destination is Sekai's peak. I loved everything about that event: the song, the cards, the story, the hype leading up to it... everything was great, and I still think about it years later. No event has reached that peak, but Whip the wimp girl!! has come close; the one flaw about WTWG is that I don't like a part of the full song (silly reason), and the story is amazing, but Footprints was a different kind of amazing. However, OVER RAD SQUAD!! is getting close to that peak, with the story being extremely great, and I really like the cards even if I admit they may be the weakest point of everything I mentioned. The only thing remaining is the song... it's a bit scary, since it'll release at the end, but I hope it's good! Even if it turns out to be flop, I think it's very close to the peak I mentioned. This is one of the greatest events in the game. We truly ended pride month with a BLAST, huh? (stop with this joke bro) And that's all. This is how I feel about this event. I don't know if there's much else to add about it. I hope people enjoy this, even if it's not the usual serious essay I write. These are my thoughts and opinions, and hopefully that's enjoyable, too. The last thing to mention, which is not related to the event, is that tomorrow (July 4th) marks two months since I posted my first essay; it's a bit dumb to celebrate just two months, but it also happened to be a VBS lims event and an event that I really enjoyed. Before that, I had never written anything serious like these essays, and WTWG was good enough to make me actually write something? And with that, I started writing stuff. And just last month I wrote and posted a very long essay that I had been wanting to write for a while, which I'm so proud of. Please give it a read if you haven't!! I feel like my writing improves with each essay I make, which I'm quite happy about. To finish this off, while perhaps a bit corny, I would like to thank everyone that reads and enjoys my essays; all the likes, reblogs, retweets, and everything else (?). And also give thanks to all the friends I've met. I met a lot of people recently, when before I barely interacted with the fandom because I thought it was full of awful people; but there is good people out there, too. I'm glad. I'm much happier with my life now, having met great people and interacting with others more. I'm very grateful to everyone. Thank you so much!! And so, see you in the next essay! If I don't write anything else before then, there should be two essays at the end of this month, so look forward to that!

[todayisafridaynight]

Hahahaa he's so "bright talented young man alters himself to attain greatness and escape a life he was unhappy with but despite warnings (he ignored them) fails in the end and dies while his father lives on without him"

Secondly though I also HAD to throw on some Mother Mother. Notably, Body (tbh a disabled bitch anthem imo) and Arms Tonight (y'know. Bc the end of the game). Stg I'll send you the playlists for the Arakawa's when I'm done with them. I take my sweet ass time tho v sorry hahaha 😂

Litcherallyyyyyy thats what im sayin bro..... esp when in the story of icarus his father helps him escape the island/helps him succeed and when icarus does fail his father is left imprisoned.... does that not happen to our icarus too.... does that not happen to his father also..... wild....

And take your time with your playlists, no rush ! A dude knows what its like tryin to make it Just Right

[chrliekclly]

if you ever want to talk about your thoughts on joyce .. Peeks over the corner of your blog. i love talking and hearing ppls thoughts on joyce sooo much even if they're different from my own!! and your analysis and stuff is always so well thought out

i hope u dont mind if i answer this publicly to take advantage of th request nd get my ideas out ther (also tyvm im happy u like my insane takes on these idiots, iv ben thinking abt them for almost 10 years)

i said a lot here so gnna 'read more' it

iv ben building trans charlie n my head fr, like i said, nearly 10 years. i used to view him as cis bcuz i always try to take as much frm th source material as i can wen i craft my HCs nd i had v personal (stupid) hangups insofar as him explicitly referring to his junk multiple times nd bottom surgery simply not being on my radar as a naive littl trans idiot deep in th sauce tht transmen oftn fall into w phallo being viewed so so poorly

evn still i leaned towards transmasc charlie nd always lovd moments tht let me imagine, for a moment, it being true, like his discomfort w taking off his shirt [hundred dollar baby, charlie kelly: king of the rats, the gang exploits the mortgage crisis, young charlie and mac deleted scenes, etc etc etc], or bonnie yelling abt ppl stealing her "charlie-girl" [the waitress is getting married] which i lovd to see as her accidentally misgendering him while drunk off her ass.

having grown out of my phallo issues (nd if ur reading this and u still view phallo super poorly, please do some research and grow too), ive in recent years fully subscribed to transmasc/nb charlie, and view his timeline something like this:

baby -> elementary: charlie refers to himself as a boy, doesnt "come out," simply has no idea he's afab. bonnie lets him dress however he wants and refers to him as asked. when charlie gets confused about his genitals, bonnie says his dick will grow in later lol, makes charlie wear a dress in public restrooms and tells him its just a game

middle: puberty hits and charlie gets confused and scared. bonnie puts him on blockers w.o explaining them ("my mom used to vaccinate me like every month" [the gang gets quarantined]) charlie goes on content and oblivious. STP acquired because hes "a late bloomer" and his dicks still not growing in?? weird. confides this in mac once, but he doesn't understand.

high: charlie finally registers that he's trans after forgetting theres a health class 1 day and not being able to skip it. throws him for a loop a bit but he becomes actively invested in his goals. he gets to start T and wants to have surgeries. "what guy hasnt done some extensive research on his own genitalia?" [mac is a serial killer]

college (aged): able to surgically transition (ty medicare) and continues on with life as we kno him now

joyce, imo, fits neatly into these views.

as a transmasc nb who came out young nd prefers to be seen as just A Guy by strangers, i grew up v vehemently against anything girly that might get me misgendered, but th more i began to 'pass,' th more @ home n my body i felt, th more and more comfortable i am w femininity, th more i wdnt mind putting on a dress, as long as th general public wd see me as "a man in women's clothes." n my mind, i prescribe something not exactly th same but v similar to charlie.

i see charlie "i dont really identify" kelly as afab and nb. i see joyce as a "character" he originally created to distance himself from the dysphoria of putting on a dress as a young trans boy, but that became part of him as the hard lines he drew in the sand as a child became blurry with age and self acceptance. charlie's comfort with himself allows joyce to evolve into a more solid persona, one he enjoys embodying and allowing to become a permanent facet of who he is. he's ok with being referred to as either. they're both him.

so maybe joyce comes out a bit more outside of the bathroom now.

[showtoonzfan]

Just want to preface this by saying i love ur analysis sm- u put my exact thoughts into words when i cant verbalise whats wrong with a particular writing decision 🥲🥲

Anyway, smth ive noticed is how... little time vivzie actually spends on writing or characterizing or fleshing out her characters.

Which has to be the weirdest thing so far bc every writer and artist ive met agree that its the best part of making an oc! Its so fun to think of backstories and tie that into their current personality and generally just figuring out random details to get to know your characters!

Like, my ocs are my best friends, i know everything abt them from their trauma and childhoods, to their favourite food and music.

But time and time again she proves that her characters are at best acquaintances... the fandom fleshes out the characters so well and with so much love and care and thought that vivzie herself cant do and its just sad.

Not even mentioning the hundreds of retcons and how characters will just change personality randomly or act out of character which results in the work feeling like a fanfic of itself. (Ironic considering some fanfics have better and more consistent characterisation)

It feels like shes making it up as she goes, instead of having an actual plan. Just shoving random ideas she likes or picks up from the much more creative fandom into the 2 shows without actually stopping and thinking abt the consequences or implications.

Theres so many decisions shes made that irk me so bad... the ideas individually have potential but they either dont fit the show or have to make huge retcons and result in the plot not making any sense.

Also, ngl but she has the worst case of tell dont show ive ever seen my god 😭😭 like... you realise you have to show things instead of just fucking singing it or having a character say it??? Or is that another thing that the fandom has to do so they can convince themselves that the show has good characters??

Atp idk how to salvage the show... i keep finding more and more plotholes and unless i literally turn my brain off and only focus on haha funny dick joke or pwetty colors, these questions keep popping into my head making it a painful unenjoyable experience.

Again, if the fandom has to justify your bad nonsensical hypocritical worldbuilding then you failed. Massively.

Anyway im very sleepy rn just wanted to rant a bit bc im a writer and artist myself and it pisses me off how someone gets their show on the air and still doesnt care abt putting in effort into their plot or characters beyond aesthetics and random ideas that dont go well together...

You’re speaking facts! And it’s honestly like..kinda funny too that people who have their own OC’s can flesh them out and deep dive into their arcs/backstories ect, yet a professional showrunner who’s had these characters for YEARS can’t even give the majority of her characters flaws or quirks, or even consistency, same goes for Helluva Boss.

Viv is a really good example at letting inspired writers know what not to do when making a story and characters so at least they have that lol.

[ganondoodle]

it always feels a little weird when people call my rants/me writing about stuff in games i like "analysis" bc i never feel like im 'smart enough tm' for anything like that, like any time i write that kind of stuff i feel like im just incoherently rambling utter bullshit that spins around in my head barely more understandable than a dog imitating human speech, bc i think you have to like .. learn that sort of thinking, no? like pulling a piece of writing apart and analysing its themes and everything, really THINK about stuff- i just ramble about whatever i 'think' about in the moment with no deeper thought about themes and symbolism

at least, thats what i FEEL like, i left school without a degree(?) bc my mental health got too dangerous to continue- but i learned for .. A-levels(?? still not sure if that the right word for that in english lol) and we had literature analysis in german (bc im german .. i guess thats what 'english' classes are for english people? xD) and usually got very high grades for that despite me also feeling like i was talking utter nonsense

(though that was also about stuff i was never rly interested in, and ... to be honest i have no idea what the hell i wrote about anymore either, i dont know if could write anything like that anymore, forgotten all the rules :V)

that doesnt mean i want people to stop calling it that, it was very few anyway, its a bit of flattery (oh?? you thought my rambles were coherent enough to call it that OwO), and a bit -i dont deserve that- (uh oh theres people that think i know what im talking about)

[spear-gsun]

Damnn now i just wanna talk about some specific touhou character’s designs and why i think theyre great Like Chimata, even if you ignore the possible meaning or reason behind her design, it’s just a really well executed rainbow design imo

The actual rainbow part of her design is well organized, all the patches on her dress aren’t just randomly placed, it starts with red at her sleeves and goes through the colour spectrum in order until it reaches her magenta boots And theres very few colours outside of her dress, just dark blue and white, so you’re not overwhelmed with even more colours lol There’s also a little bit of red on the front of her cape, which is just a nice accent and makes it pop a bit more I wanna talk about it more but i dont think i have time right now but uhh yeah if any of those words made sense i hope you now know why i think chimata has a good design I’m no expert or anything but i really enjoy character design analysis and find it interesting haha

[meeks-just-wants-to-scroll]

hi. i originally followed you because you interested me like a bug would. i wanted to place you in a little plastic cage and keep an eye on what you might do. but you almost immediately (like within a day of following LOL) charmed me. you have made me become so much more of a micah liker than i ever thought i would be. ive really gotta thank you, its made me enjoy rdr so much more than i originally thought i would.

i am also absolutely addicted to the way you draw bill. hes everything to me, and such an inspiration for my own art of him. please keep up the amazing work. imagine theres a picture of a cool gator or something for you to look at as a thank you, im too nervous to send off anon rn sorry 💔

Aahhh!!! Thank youuu🥺🥺🥺💪💕💕💥💕💥 it has been a bit since I’ve gotten heartfelt asks like these. This means a lot to me.

I am honored to be such a cool big that you have me a whole terrarium to thrive with enough leaves and sticks.

!!!! I AM SO POWERFUL THAT I MAKE PEOPLE APPRECIATE MICAH!!! I think me being so eager to reblog micah bell analysis posts / my own art depicting him in a humanizing light makes it easier to see the spectacular writing in Micah Bell. I am glad my silly art and my friends/mutual’s posts have persuaded you.

♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️😭 BILL KISSERS RISE UP!!! But fr, thank youuu, I don’t draw Bill as much as I should but I love him. He is one of the few characters who actually gets a distinct unique body shape compared to everyone else in camp, and he is all around a doofy himbo whenever he isn’t being an ass. I love him so much and it shows in how I draw him. His brain is empty and half full of alcohol at all times.

I am glad my work inspires you, I am so honored and how your art grows and becomes closer to what you desire to reach.

I appreciate the cool gator/croc :)

[serfuzzypushover]

I would love to hear you explain cronkri quadrant deal in full detail

oh god youll regret this...

lets start off wwith kankri. cronus wwas someone she wouldnt b particularly interested in at the vvery start of the game imo. that is until she noticed a change in his behavvior/beliefs. she wwas the first to notice that cronus gradually lost an interest in ✨magic✨ and seemed awwkwardly trying to find anything to latch onto afterwwards. kankri wwould probably do this wwith the others too, seer of blood an wwhatnot, but cronus in particular made her feel a sort of pity she couldn explain. she probably doesn realize it but i think she wwould devvelop at least a crush lol. i dont think kankri wwould approach him about it, just observvin from afar and treating him like normal. after their deaths, she wwould try her shot at actually befriending him tho! cause hey theyr dead. they havve nothin else to do. thats howw she wwould excuse it at least

noww cronus. boy do i havve a lot to say about cronus. identity issues all around, that guy has no idea wwho he is and he wwill take on any persona that he thinks wwill make ppl like him. unfortunately rn that means: toxic masculinity, honestly really bad lackluster and obvvious manipulation tactics, objectification ect ect. take that and mix it wwith growwin up in a society thats expecting you to belittle evveryone beloww you in a caste system and yikes 😬! he wwas more than likely livving a great life on beforus. lonely but great. too great in fact. look he reads like a kid wwho really romanticizes oppression wwhen he himself has nevver dealt wwith it. taking on the role of a poor wwizard boy wwho wwas belittled and neglected but is actually the chosen one and then he wwins the day and evveryone lovves him or wwhatevver... im team he read a troll vversion of harry potter and just really wwanted to be him lol. turns out tho only aranea is at most only a tiny bit interested in his nerdy make-believve... i see him getting really attached to others wwho showw him evven the slightest hint of attention and that included aranea and maybe mituna wwhen he wwas a kid. not that either of them WWERE his actual friends, but cronus wwould havve seen them that wway. anywway back to kankri, this is a cronkri analysis lmao—he probably nevver paid attention to her during the game. shes a mutant. wwhatevver. not wworth his time. but then after they die, kankri starts to talk to him like friends and like usual he gets attached. cronus, recently havvin had his "human awwakin", is in a wway, subconsciously jealous of kankri. she has the correct blood color, she is a land dwweller and theres so many little things about her that makes her the closest a troll could be to a human. i dont think he realizes it, but somethin in him is tellin him to not fuck this one up. wwhat hes feeling probably isnt flushed, pale or evven romantic in a sense, but thats probably the only wway he could think to describe it. "ah see, this must be howv humans feel lowve!" says the aromantic, confidently.

so yeah basically cronus has stupid baka human emotions and thats wwhy his life is crumbling ofc... if they wwere to start dating in either red quadrant it wwould probably b a disaster. looking fine from the outside and evven havving some moments wwhere it is okay, but i dont think they could wwork long term as romantic. cronus' feelings are based on objectification n are probably bordering on fetishistic and kankri 100% has a sort of "i can fix him" mentality... i see them lasting 2 months. they are my otp and i lovve them and i wwill continue to draww them kissing ❤️

[exsqueezememacaroni]

HIIII IM THE ASTRO ANON YOU ASKED ABOUT HEHE. i can expand more on mikes chart!!! Every source I have seen says mikes time of birth is 2:30AM but im not too sure how accurate that is. someone should confirm but honestly, i think it lines up bc it coincides w his personality so well

here are some references for his chart: https://astro-charts.com/persons/chart/mike-patton/

https://www.astro-seek.com/birth-chart/mike-patton-horoscope

w the 2:30am time this makes him a scorpio ascendant w a night chart!!! neptune is directly on his ascendant in the 1st house of self which gives him suchhhh a dreamy quality, neptune here also amplifies his mysteriousness. it also affects how people perceive him, they either love or hate him, but either way many are still fascinated by him. with his chart ruler mars, placed in the 5th house of pleasure, under the sugn pisces (using whole sign right now but both his whole sign and placidus descriptions line up) his neptunian qualities are very amplified with his creativeness, it seems he was honestly born to excel in art and self expression.

his moon and venus are conjunct in the 3rd house of communication, showing that his strengths come from writing, talking or singing!!! The video of him being interviewed by I wanna say puffy????? he goes “im feeling pretty shitty today so im going to put on a snazzy suit to feel better” such a perfect manifestation of moon/venus conjunction lol, venus with his moon can mean his self expression and style are very reliant on his mood and how he feels & vice versa!!

his sun and mercury are in the 4th house of family, under the sign of aquarius. in astrology, the 4th house is the lowest point in the chart- the planets places here are unseen and very private. The 4th house is associated with one's roots, inner world, and personal security. with his sun and mercury here, it emphasizes his need for his privacy. under the sign of aquarius, it shows that his home life or family dynamics are very unique! his mercury is directly squared his ascendant, which could show how his thoughts and ideas that he communicates can be very easily misunderstood by others.

his chart is super interesting because most of his innerplanets are below the horizon, while his outer planets, like jupiter, pluto, and uranus are all conjunct his midheaven!!! the midheaven is the highest point of the chart and represents his career and how the world sees him. with his inner planets below the horizon, he’s extremely private and introspective but with the MC placements, theres an incredible dynamic going on with how he presents himself to the world. with jupiter, pluto, and uranus here it shows his persona is very unconventional but very powerful!!!!!

This is all i could come up with from the top of my head. i could write an actual entire analysis with all of his placements explained if anyone is actually interested HAHAHAHA but if you have any questions or need me to expand on anything (the house system is kinda wacky So very understandable) i can try my absolute best. hehehehe

🙏🙏🙏🙏

I mean....uuuhhhhhhh....I love this so much? I dunno, astrology is so strange for me, because to me it's a bit of a "story"...but I *love* the story????

And it's so fascinating, yes, that dynamic quality of being so publicly creative and expressive being conflated with that privateness, his hidden self. The most charismatic person you know who teases a secret that is somehow even more appealing.

Thank you so much for this - and honestly even though you're anon, I would 100% want to pay you for a reading of my own chart???

And I would also welcome you to come in here anytime you want to expand on Mike's chart - it really is fascinating to me....actually it's super interesting too, your note on the "love/hate" and "easily misunderstood" parts of his chart - because I think that's something people kind of skirt around but don't often directly address...that he's (for the most part) always created in a way that feels true to himself and he seeks out collaboration with a lot of different musicians to further tease out his own expression, but sometimes people dismiss it as being a workaholic and even being derivative. Or that Fantômas is stream of conscious and improvised when for him it's so meticulously mapped out and arranged to the point of *almost* smothering his fellow bandmates.

[crueldemonsthesis]

Mb someone has already asked this(IM LAZY. I DONT WANNA TRY AND FIND IT😭) but you said in your pinned comment that you hate crybaby(amen crybaby mid) and that you may or may not elaborate on it, so now I’m asking you to elaborate on it:))))))))

oh shit this is going to be so long. so like. so like. crybaby bad bites my teeth and spits everywhere with my red evil eyes.

so im actually writing bit and im soo sorry for my spelling i ahve really shaky hands and stuff blah blah so yeah. sorry if this is hard to read i tried!

devilman is a very important manga to me because of my own firsthand experiences with war so im not a fan of the weird pubety theme and focus in crybaby.

even as a pubetrty theme theres sexualization of the characters that doesnt need to be there. mikos poor poor floppy boobs. it makes me uncomfortable! also masturbation scene do i need to say anymore

crybabys characterizations of the characters also are just. mindbloggling. akiras the crybaby? ya sure??? like dude next time i go drinking or some shit ill bring my devilman pffdf and take sip everytime ryo cries. then ill die bc im not strong enough.

it just goes places with the characters that i dont understand like. where did u get this from. i do not like ryo being cold anc uncaring it couldnt be further from the original character. bitch is crying and gaying everwhere.

and with miki! i lovee miki uhm. do u see my bio. do u see my profile picture. do u see my blog title. i am lover of miki makimmuraa and supoorter of ehr so that bitch in crybaby make no sense. give miki her knife again let her chase people round with her knife let her shoot a man. let her kill.

i hfate fucking hate what they did with sirene. they made sirenes arc weird and sexual made her a pedophile and then akira rapes sirene which is literally something wthat was cut out form the origianal 1972 manga why is this a plot p oint now. like ill point u to my friend @akisatas analysis or something just go through her entire analysis tag shes smart and awesome.

just what happened to sirene makes me soo angry i could bite mhead off.

i dont like ryos weird racism backstory it feels weird i feel weird bad bad also why does demon posession make hthem sooo dark skinned. like ok maybe its trying to make them more grey. but like. sigh whatever this is real critsicm its just sus.

this is a nything against crybaby this is my fault entirely but i thought that akira was brown and bc im brown i was really excited about it. lol. like before i watched dmcb. now i know.

i am a ryokira shipper lover ryokira always in my head ryo and akira kissing pathtetically my beautiful sons. i dont like what ryokira is in dmcb its. not. good! ryos weird distant and. horrible.

thankx for th e ask mwah. ill just direct you to the analysiss to the actually good posts that are wellthoughtout here, another one, another another one, this one, another one, uhmmm this

[arsene-fixates]

Misc. SN character rambling (Gordon Byron)

I very few screenshots for whatever I’m going to ramble about on another character in seekers notes so you’re going to have to take my word for it. This is not an analysis btw i just want to talk about this guy for a bit

There’s this character, Gordon Byron, or Hyperion <- name he picked for himself I will elaborate later.

His family (made up of him, his mother, and his cousin) is a descendant of one of the founders of Darkwood (the city) and though I didn’t read too much into him, I thought his character development was quite interesting

going to be a bit long since i'm running through him as a character, spoilers under the cut

Backstory was that he had run away from home with his beloved that went missing when the curse fell upon the city but returned after realizing that he had responsibilities being the family's heir and such.

He's very quiet as a character, kept to books and nature and is a pretty big romantic but when he came back, and through the story he started getting invested in his family's history, aka. one of the founders named nostromo and his powers etc etc and also taking more initiative to help the city via. paying funds for damages and suggesting new things to keep the townspeople safe

okay to be honest theres some collecting crystal infinity stone level thing going on in the story and there's this section in the plot where gordon and i had to dive underwater to look for a stone tablet depicting one of the missing steps to getting one of the crystals

and some explosion happens and i get shot out of the water, leaving him underwater and the other characters and i are all panicking because the water breathing potion we took had some timing to it and he was about to die or something

but he emerges soon enough, with the gauntlet belonging to the founder equipped in his hand, and you can tell that this power was getting to his head

at this point, i was filling philiah in on the lore and i told her 'i think it would be really profound if he let the power get to him and influence him negatively' and lo and behold.

anyways carrying on, he started really embracing the name hyperion (a pseudonym he made up himself because if i can remember right, all the other founders also had one themselves) and having his own group of specialised guards.

then some attack happened on the city again where ghostly creatures appeared (summoned by the antagonist), and after gordon fought them off, he decided to set a curfew & interrogate all the townspeople because they could be people from a crime organisation (called the shadows) in disguise

cough cough side note, informant was telling me about how his guard kept going trying to capture him and he was frustrated that not only did he have to run from the crime organisation but he also had to run from the guard too lol.

and holy shit theres this section that especially got me where he was asking me for an update on the crystals and i told him it was going alright, letting on a little more detail than i liked and he then asks me to find more of this truth potion for him and then he says this

he slipped a truth potion !!! !! !! !!!! unknowingly!!!!!! to me!! HOLAY MOLAY!!!. and when i went to talk to charlotte, she tells me about how some of the people who took the potion were down with pretty bad illnesses and fevers. THAT IS SO WILD.

he had to be suspended of his role and his guard operations after he nearly endangered the lives of the members of the crime organisation

THERES A LOT OF STUFF THAT HAPPENS INBETWEEN BUT ITS PRETTY BIZZARE BECAUSE HIS ANGER GETS THE BETTER OF HIM (and they really did show that he gets angry easily)

holay molay this guy.

i like what they're doing here, it's really interesting ^_^ LOVE THAT THEY DID ACTUAL BUILD UP INSTEAD OF WHATEVER THEY DID WITH INFORMANT!!!!! love to see what happens to him later because currently the city is going through YET another world ending disaster and i (the seeker) have to save them.

[lakesbian]

🎭 For Aisha & Alec (that's not for a prank lol)

🎭 A headcanon about what they lie about

ough okay so like w a lot of the worm ones theres so much In The Text that this is just analysis and not headcanons. but for alec it seems like he just lies very easily out of convenience any time he wants to avoid admitting something weird that would reveal more than he wants ppl to know abt him or make a social scenario awkward. like brian tells taylor that alec dropped out of school--not true, he never went bc he was in a torment nexus 4 his entire childhood, but clearly alec didnt want brian to know that and just was like. Uhhh yeah i dropped out. dont worry about it.

aisha meanwhile is just constantly lying through her teeth all the damn time forever about how much she cares about things/ppl, as one does when one is a 14yo covering up their vulnerabilities with Shitheaded Bits. but beyond that she also 100% canonically lies about how much she wants to hurt people. she's willing to hurt people if she has to, but she doesn't really want to, and so she constantly bluffs hard as hell to get people to back down before she has to actually escalate to violence. this is why her cape style is "gang leader reports being psychologically terrorized out of their territory by a mysterious figure" and not "gang leader found eviscerated guts spilling everywhere and shit in their bedroom."

[thewandererh]

HII wait are you THE the Wanderer (like the one on yt)??? Really sorry if not and I’m mistaking you for the wrong person here

In any case! I love the way you draw iterators and slugcats SO MUCH??? Like your style is just so incredibly eye-pleasing and wonderful to look at I am in incredible awe. Anyway uhm. Yeah! Scuttles away

(- @strandedaylily)

yes!!! i am :]!! the one who animated tr on yt yeash thats me💥. and its you!! the real strandedaylily,, reposted some of ur stuff recently to show it off f4 answering this. love ur thingers :DD✨

and thanku sm 😭😭 that means??? so much??!? its been a journey finding my style and i love that u love it sm!! i have a few diff styles for iterators and slugcats, and whipped up these fast sketchy style analysis sheets last night.

observe:

Iterator Styles

I have two main styles for iterators: chibi and humanoid-ish. round head vs oval head with a cheek curve (cheek curve is a staple of my style. was actually against it when drawing iterators with it for the first time, yet it’s become such a signature now XD. I love it a lot huhu). here is an example with my lovely boy Twine (he is not the main antagonist despite his mischievous posings). also!! slim eyes for devious characters, like twine and shadows (and leaves, unwillingly /lore). the two ogs 💛 with their yellow jack-o-lantern faces. theres a phrase i made up a bit ago: you can’t spell wanderer without jack-o-lantern-faced iterator, can you?

got better with posing over the years but im still struggling with fabric and cloaks </3

Slugcat Styles

now for slugcats, its evolved a different way. rather with two stages, they have a few more. when i first discovered rainworld, i had a very simple way of drawing. u heads and 3 fingers and toes, aswell with really odd aggressively-digi legs. and then it evolved when i learned “sketching” (blotting down odd shapes with barely any sense of proportion. balls for the elbows, no line of action, eyeing it and getting anatomy wrong lol) and things got really disproportionate. theres more stages, but i made a few complex and simple examples of my style over the years :]!! maybe i put too much effort into it but it was interesting to figure out!!

theres some timeskips in the big timeline one, and some other arts of mine might showcase style changes a bit better, and this is only my digital gallery, but oh well!!! whats done is done until its undone💥 /ghibli movie reference

didn’t do iterators or general effects-and-tidbits-i’ve-learned (shading, rendering, lineart, etc) bc i’ve spent so much time already. so you get SLUGCAT BEAM BLASTED💥💥. all this art ranges from 2019-2024 (the years i’ve been a rainworld fan :])

yes i spent hours analyzing my old and new art just for fun but i think i learned something. thanks for asking this and putting a big smile on my face :]!! have a good day you (and anyone else whos reading this. thx for reading so far and so much💛✨!!)

[couchie]

Things we associate with you: Cats. Heart CCCC. Game Changer, a lil bit. Disco Elysium. Orange slices, the food, but also poetry. Moss. Honestly Chonny Jash a lil bit too (Did you know he released a new song today btw??? it's really good). Can't think of more but here you go! -Heart

HAI OMG TY FOR TELLING ME. GRIPS YOU AND GRINS.

ok analysis time LOL

is the cats bcuz of our icon? BWHAHAHAHA

why heart specifically? like is it vibes or is it bcuz we drew u or smth else?

GAME CHANGER YEAH im like two eps into season two i forgot i was watching that because i gained. pauses. five new hyperfixations since then. and like two new hobbies. ill watch the rest Eventually (ive said this about 9363927483 tjings but its ok i prommy <3)

DISCO ELYSIUM AAAAAA YEAH!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE THAT GAME GRGRGGRGRGRGRGRG.

ORANGE SLICES OMG u caught our tagging system??? 🥹🥹🥹🥹 omg. btw we call poetry n stuff orange slices bcuz of that one post about sharing orange slices n such. we also put pieces from mundane life that makes the sun's sparkles seem a bit brighter in that tag, too. it's ALSO named that because our headmate mandarine who fronts once in a blue moon LOVES poetry and wonder in the regular and stuff like that and vi uses the orange emoji as their proxy bcuz there isnt a mandarine emoji so theres also that.

moss, honestly yeah that's fair that's kind of like Our Thing. like our sysname is the patch of mosserie and there's four people in here named a variation of "moss" so like Yeah. i'd associate that w us too BWHAHAHAH

ALSO YEA CJ IN GENERAL. LOVELOVELOVE THAT GUY POKES HIM WITH A STICK. (/POS). (IGNORES TWO NEW HEADMATES THAT DEFINITELY ARENT FROM THERE). holy shit already????? how are they doin that shit that fast omg. i swear im gonna check that and his OTHER new song also out. once we can stop listening to nothing but "honey im home" (that song yall showed us) (WE HAVE A GUY FROM THERE TOO I HATE THIS PLACE THERE ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE o/--< /nsrs dramatic j) on repeat. aughhhhh.

TYSM FOR INDULGING ME OMG GRHGRGRGREBGFBDBDBFBDBE THIS WAS AWESOME. CHEWS ON YOU AFFECTIONATELY. IF UR COMFY WITH THAT.

[eleccy]

dont ask me how but i think kristophs breakdown sprite did something to my brain.

kowalski, analysis (it got too long...)

aa breakdown sprites in general are always fun because they give you a deeper look into the culprit’s true nature. you have generic examples like frank sawhit who just gets flustered and it’s revealed that he wears a hairpiece, which indicates that he’s deceptive. you have april may who just flips her shit. you have dahlia who becomes enraged. you also have examples like acro, whose tears show that he has regret for his actions.

you really have to dig deep to get to the breakdown in any aa testimony. you need to say the right things, press the right statements, show the right evidence to take these culprits off their guard. most aa villains are not stupid and will keep their facade maintained perfectly through multiple rounds of lies and perjury until you find the thread that makes it all unravel for them. once they know that they can no longer lie and that the evidence isnt on their side, they run out of places to run - they’re cornered, and with nothing else to cling to, their true nature finally comes out, which is always satisfying to see. 

aa villains (and this extends throughout the series, but is particularly well executed in takumi’s games) are almost always written well to the point where their undoing is almost always their own fault and their eternal punishment is not just jail time, but the sentence of having to be miserable, miserable people (as highlighted by mia to dahlia at the end of bridge). when you see a character’s breakdown, you learn the inner demons that they are really living and struggling with, and it makes them a rounder and more interesting character to the player.

kristoph is no exception to this, and it’s through his breakdown that we learn more about him than we have throughout the rest of the game. we learn that he is not the calm, collected man he appeared to be. we learn that his facade, while not easily broken, is ultimately a lie he tells about who he is. we learn that he is, at his core, insecure, cowardly, profoundly paranoid and a deceitful con artist.

overall, i liked kristoph as a character, but when i saw this sprite i kind of realized that i love his character? like it would’ve been very easy to just go the route of typical breakdown and allow him the dignity that gant received of being relatively normal even after being found out, but kristoph is very much not that. the sheer insanity of kristoph’s massive breakdown indicates just how much he was repressing, and also shows that he is an emotional, passionate person no matter how much he tries to keep this side of himself hidden away. seeing this vulnerability and side of kristoph makes him a bit more human and adds to his character a lot, i think, than if they had chosen a safer or less dramatic end to his story.

i also think theres something super sexy interesting about a character who is usually in a perfect state of dress being disheveled with their hair all mussed and missing their glasses and with their tie undone. its all the little details nuri throws onto this sprite that make it work so well, it definitely feels like smth you’re not supposed to see and that makes it that much more satisfying lol

[seishun-emergency]

Reading your analysis about Valk + the fact you said you were going to reread Crossroads made me think that the theme of "imperfection in art is necessary" is also present in Tsukinaga's arc, especially as explained in Next Door: a genius who wants nothing more than to see what others can do, but ending up being the only one creating, as others feel it's a waste of time. Sort of like a mirror image of Shu? I'm connecting the dots!!

YEAH holy shit you’re so right… leo’s monologue in checkmate about how in his desire to help people flourish to the top of their capabilities and write the “perfect” song he ended up overwriting their own desires and autonomy and creative capacities… it is a fun little mirror image to shu because i think shu is definitely at least somewhat aware of the costs of his perfectionism - at the very least i think shu is aware that humans arent capable of perfection, dolls are, and to turn valkyrie and mika and nazuna into his perfect view of art he must turn them from humans to dolls. with leo i think it’s a bit more uhhh…. innocent? if i can use that word… leo genuinely thinks hes helping people and thats why i think he beats himself up so much about it once he realizes after the fact

plus (and this is really uh . going places with this line of analysis) you can throw some of that - at least leo’s angle of it - onto parts of izumi and makoto’s relationship. makoto IS a modelling genius, he was really fucking good at it and a natural talent at it, compared to idol work where he has to work harder. but the difference is that he wants to be an idol! and yet izumi thinks that hes helping makoto by convincing him to come back to modelling - that its where he can achieve the most success/come closest to perfection, which izumi thinks will make him happy, etc. (theres more to it than that but for this line of analysis im focusing on this angle LOL) its like a single instance of what we see happen with leo and the people he wrote songs for during the war, interesting to see how that mindset gets echoed in different places…. id need to reread checkmate again before i say anything about how this interacts with izumi and leo’s dynamic, though. oughhh checkmate leo tsukinaga my beloved