#I love talking drakenier

[bioswear]

As someone that likes to see your thoughts with DrakeNieR stuff, what are your thoughts about SINoALICE recently being confirmed canon to Drakenier due to The Library existing within The Cage in Reincarnation?

Ooh I haven’t actually played SINoALICE and I’m not caught up personally on reincarnation (but I don’t care about spoilers bc I have no context for them and I care more about the lore pieces anyway)

But I’m not surprised - the drakengard 3 crossover event that it had already made it canon in my mind lol. Yoko taro has certain MOs as a creator, and not that I think I’m on his level, but as someone who is also super into big expansive timelines and whatnot, I kinda figured it was connected. It seemed too deliberate to just be a fun crossover Easter egg. Too much effort went into it; same with the FFXIV YoRHa dlc

(On the other hand, the collabs with just skins like for that awful Nikke or whatever is just for money and building revenue, IMO. There’s no substantial lore there in my mind)

Since the whole Schtick is saving timelines and multiverses and alternate dimensions, this does not surprise me in the slightest. And in fact, completely excites me. 😂

I also think Voice of Cards is completely part of DrakeNieR canon too even tho he says it isn’t (Forsaken maiden I’m looking at you 👀👀👀 the maiden sacrifice and the Goddess system from Drakengard 1 are too similar to be a coincidence and I always interpreted it as a folktale that came about after the Intoners died)

ALSO, it 100% leads me to believe he is working on something HUGE for the next project.

Everyone is always bitching about “oh when is the next game coming out” but like 1) game dev takes time and 2) he’s probably already working on it otherwise why would he be dropping so much lore at such a rapid pace 👀

I’m wondering if something will be revealed at the orchestra concerts too - there’s a new story and the nier anime is now a Divergent timeline

[st-hedge]

*wheezing and heaving* *shoves metal gear solid and nier automata into a blender* *slams the shitass smoothie into pint glass* *hysterically throws it back* i finished the line up. im at peace now

[queseraphita]

i need to do like low effort doodles to organize my thoughts on the Things

like how do i eloquently elaborate that the "God" and watchers from Drakenier would absolutely send a plague or disease that turns people into stone and then inadvertently have said humans discover and use the energy from the human soul "ergo" to advance the speed of their own destruction.

What I like about both said games and stories of that world is that its a story about pain, misery, hope, secrets and lies are all such human things. I often think about the protagonists in Yoko Taro's works and how you don't necessarily have to be good or bad you just have to think you're right. I feel so excited thinking upon these scenarios that can be applied to P and his own dilemma on being "good" and the choices the player can make telling lies or the truth in any given scenario, I feel like what makes this really effective in the setting of Krat is that all of the cast and characters have a secret, withheld information is kept away from the player to be discovered. An end to justify the means. Meanwhile the whole world seems to be falling apart.

[astrxealis]

did you know i love my friends so much.

[noxtivagus]

i've been listening to more of arknights' ost n i love it so much

[squeaky-potat]

Other intoners incoming!

Intoners Two and Three with plushie Cent and Octa!

Sometimes when art block hits it’s best to draw your favorite dragon girls ✨

I’m probably gonna do the rest of the intoners too.

[astralartefact]

NieR Reincarnation The People and the World Amber Spoiler Post & Theory Hour

Mama on Mama on Mama on Mama in this one. And I'm going to look a little bit too deep into that. Far too deep actually.

What can I say. They did a good job with the shitty gacha game. I'm so sorry, but I am once again validated in my opinion that this is the best NieR writing right behind YoRHa:Dark Apocalypse. It's just. Chef's Kiss.

And sure, I still prefer Sun/Moon over People/World as a story since that one just managed to weave the themes so well with the stories and everything whereas this one has certain moments where it doesn't really line up with stuff it has already established (some/many of the stories kind of seem to disregard parts of their hidden/ex stories which feels weird, also where are hina and yuzuki in all of this as rogue cage wanderers, i have a feeling they're not going to address them at all (which imo would be fine but kind of disappointing)), but we're finally getting the lore payoff we know to expect from Drakenier and it feels so good.

And you know, I did notice that all the seasons so far were in two distinct parts that lined up with their name - and as this was obviously the The People part I was wondering before playing this morning what the The World part would be about. But it didn't even occur to me that we could be going to the "Real World"... (Put a Pin in that)

But let's get into it.

Mama meets Accord (who I'm sure somebody has called mommy before)

I mean at this point we know she's coming - we just don't know when and how. I do wonder if these more and more overt mentions of her might be setup for the next NieR/DoD4 because I feel like Accord as a character would be prime real estate for the new big game, but of course it would also make perfect sense for her to show up here, she already has an established presence in the Cage - and I mean she could just do both!

It's interesting to note btw that the coffer that Yudil's story explicitly points out has recently appeared in the most recent Bakuken stage play (the one that's called Finale even though it's not the final one) where a portuguese merchant (The Cathedral City is on the Iberian Peninsula) called Michael (you know, like the Dragon) had it. Of course, they might also just have reused the prop since they made one for the YoRHa stage play Accord appeared in...

Mama meets Mother

She's giving Mother and she's back with a vengeance rhythm game. Amazing. Tens across the board. I love her fascinator head piece.

As the Mother Expert that I call myself I have to point out some things here:

a) What exactly is Mother Mourning? The Watchers have up until now only been described as motivated by a fervent hate of Humanity and anger - the Gods want to claw themselves free of their humanity-imposed seals and devour the world - so why is this version explicitly shown as sad? Her battle dialogue also kind of sounds... betrayed in a way? "Why Protect People? Destroy" and "Our objective. Why?" seem to hint that maybe Mama (points right at the name) was in with Mother this whole time but has now turned against her. And it makes me wonder if the Cage is a way for humanity to enslave the gods they sealed for profit...

But also, given recent Developments in SinoAlice JP's Ending Arc, there's likely something else in the Cage that the Mourning Mother could be talking to. Maybe the thing we saw in that one cutscene is actually protecting humanity?

b) With some of that already in mind I was thinking about her pose and was trying to find some connection to the dance of her Intoner version in the DoD3 Final Boss when it occured to me in a one-two punch: She's shackled. The Cage is for Her. She's what is Caged. And doesn't that sound like a seal that keeps a certain Round Egg at bay that I have an exciting theory for-

Tangent: Mama meets my Round Egg Theory

okay so strap in because it's time to bring up the thing I bring up every chance I get!

We know there's a connection between the Memory Tree and the Moon Server Data through two things:

a) In the Replicant Remaster's new Ending Kainé goes into the Memory Tree's Data to bring Nier back - which of course means that the Memory Tree contains Nier's data. This is important because

b) In YoRHa:Dark Apocalypse (My Love <3) the Red Girls have a Seed (we'll get back to that in a second) - and out of that Seed grows a Tower that contains "Ego Collectives" of People, which is basically the collection of memories that makes up one person.

Now I know that everyone just handwaved that away as a way to have cheap Replicant references as the first two bosses with the Remaster coming up but lol wouldn't that be easy, did you forget who you're dealing with? Because the exact two bosses used (Knave of Hearts and Hänsel and Gretel) means there's only one person this Ego Collective could belong to: Nier, because only he fought Hänsel and Gretel. (let's ignore that Weiss was there too bc that would be a dumb!!! this is much more fun bc of the implications!!!)

And I'm positive that this was intentional because in the remaster ending - in a scene that's eerily similar to the fight in Tower at Paradigm's Breach - Kainé only fights her memory of Gretel without Hänsel, so they knew.

Why does that matter? It doesn't really, I just wanted to bring it up as a little fun fact, but what does matter is that Y:DA establishes that whatever that Seed the Red Girls have recreated is, it also contains all the memories from the Memory Tree, because that's where those memories were recorded. And they were recreating it, which implies there was a basis to recreate. And that was always the big future overarching NieR plot thread that Y:DA left me with - sure, we know this is where it all ends, the Watchers are over now and this time forever through collaboration and power of friendship - but how did we even get here? How did the Red Girls get a Seed to recreate?

And now it fits right in with what's happening, especially now that we know what exactly the Moon Server can do:

The Moon Server/The Cage can peer into different universes - we know that since at least Hina and Yuzuki (Yuzuki knows Reinkane exists as a game but also their EX stories) - but as far as we know the Seeds only exist in Drakengard's Universe. So why do the Red Girls/The Watchers/The Mourning Mother want to get into the Moon Server/Cage so Bad? (It was even sort of highlighted in the Automata Anime where Adam transformed into a giant Reincarnation Mob - implying really hard that the Red Girls/Logic Virus is indeed behind the attacks on the Cage) Well, maybe it's because they want the Round Egg, because they have been separated ever since DoD1's Final Boss and they need it to Dark Apocalypse.

Before this chapter I thought that the entire Memory Tree might have been built from Seeds in the first place and that's why the Red Girls want into the Moon Server to get a basis to copy - I thought it would make sense that humanity somehow got that dimension-crossing technology needed for it out of a Seed - but that would require the NieR world to have Seeds to use for that and we know next to nothing about them so I just kept it in the back of my mind until something else comes along to strengthen it. I also didn't want to base too much on the cross-over one, even if I personally really don't understand why people are so hesitant to call it canon, it's definitely canon, it's one of the few things Yoko Taro is directly credited to have written the past few years and he literally always writes stuff that right away retcons things, so even if it changes details with Automata he has done the exact same thing multiple times now. ("It's not DoD3's Ending A that leads to DoD1, it's the version of Ending A in this specific novella that's basically the same except for one small thing.")

But you know what other tangentially related thing I can bring up that you won't believe I will stuff into this theory? Why yes, It's Yuki Wada's Breakout Hit Voice of Cards: Forsaken Maiden. And fair warning, this is where it gets entirely unfounded. And also spoilers for that game's ending.

I have the long and well-documented theory that the Spirits from VoC:FM might be the Watchers. In that game Maidens need to sacrifice themselves to the Gods so they 'keep humanity save' in return - but it ends with Laty (the female MC) going into an eternal slumber to sort of 'trap' the gods in her everlasting dream so humanity is save without them. And because I always found that very reminiscent of Drakengard 1's Goddesses I theorized that VoC:FM might have been the folkloric 'inception story' of that system, humanity just reiterated on the mechanics of it so it's spread over multiple people instead of one so nobody has to go to sleep forever.

So with that as an foundational thought, what if humanity did that again? What if they extended it again on more people so fewer people have the sort of responsibility Laty or Furiae had? What if they didn't only extend it to a finite number of people - what if they extended it to every human in every dimension that ever experienced any form of prolonged misery (or whatever else the requirements are to end up in the cage lol)

So what if the Cage is the Seal? What if keeping the Seeds locked up is the purpose of the Cage? What if the Cage is a Cage?

And if the Cage is just NieR's Goddess Seals then the Watchers have a really good reason to get in there: The exact same reason as in Drakengard 1.

But I'm not done. Because what if Mama didn't know that. What if Mama just knew there's a server on the moon and basically every single person ever is trapped in it, eternally doomed to relive the most horrible pain and suffering imaginable for some reason - and some figure, a mother figure if you will, told her she could fix their suffering. That she could change the system for the better by giving them hope and respite by giving them an afterlife. But that was a lie. The figure just wanted her to weaken the system built on sin and suffering so she could break through it and reach the Seeds.

What if Mama (points at the name) realised she was tricked by Mother and is now trying to fix her mistakes? And that's why Mother is Mourning, because she betrayed her?

Don't think so. Mama didn't seem all that "remorseful". But maybe something along those lines though.

Depending on SinoAlice JP's ending whatever other being the Library turns out to be might also be involved - maybe the Library is a god that turned away from the Watchers to help humanity and the Cage is instead a way to protect the being that is the Library which in turn protects humanity... That would be a full circle moment to VoC:FM too...

Either way I'm so stoked to find out what's really happening!!!

Mama meets Mama in the Real World

Already talked alot about Mama, but let's just all applaud ourselves for reading the room! We did it! We knew!

Just as theorized she was 10H all along! Probably should go reread her story to see if it still lines up with what I theorized above... And she's pretty. And has almost the same haircut as Hina and Marie. Hmm. Maybe they should have chosen one of the other Marie designs.

(Small correction: I read that last scene wrong, seems like Mama isn't 10H but Pod 006 - but since the character we're getting is 10H I'll still say we were right :3 ...and yeah, we do control the pod in that scene, makes sense, don't know why I went straight to Mama has to be 10H)

What I'm actually more interested in though is where we're going with this. Like what can she even do in the "Real World", doesn't 10H die constantly in her story for disobedience? So she can't be allowed to do all of this, right? I do think a "We rebuild the Cage on Hopes and Dreams" is in order, but the way to get there... ah! Look, it's the Pin I made you keep in mind!

What if they don't go to that Real World. What if they go to our Real World? Hina & Yuzuki - who came from our or at least another Real World - are notably absent from this arc. And that could just be because the true ending being optional makes things harder for the devs to write around and they want the spotlight off of them bc they were the main characters, but still: I would love a chapter or even just a scene of their perspective of what happens to the Cage. I mean what happens to them now that the Cage falls apart? Could Dark Mama and Papa save them just like Mama did with the others? Do we maybe even meet Dark Mama's and Papa's real forms?

But there's another character that immediately comes to my mind when we talk about "the Real World". And it's because of a throwaway line that I never see anybody bring up... mainly because nobody likes Y:DA.

In her final letter to Konogg, Anogg explains that at some point she visited another world (likely when she fell into the Pseudo-Seed) and in doing so she learned that both her and the world are constructs - which implies she knows that a Real World exists from which this world was created. And sure, that could have been a meta-joke about haha video game. But her constructed self also displays several similarities to moments in Noelle's Chapter - which came out vaguely around the same time - and now all of this lines up with what's happening in the Cage. So yeah. What if the ending scene is her emerging from the Cage to save Konogg just like these characters have done this entire arc? All I have to say is #AnoggForReincarnation. She would be perfect. Do it.

[luvendrawingonthemoon]

Luvenctober day 2 : Flowers

TW : Blood

It's time...to put an end to the Intoners.

I never talked to much about how I love the whole DrakeNieR universe here, but it's a lot, like a Looooot. So have a Zero and the flower (the revival scene always disturbed me) for the day 2

Hope you like it!

[dracanboys]

pinned instead of a page bc its nicer :) prev @dracanboys-m

i'm ky/kyda! 22, he/him only please ★ blk, nb, system cohost! new sorta-main + artblog - i kept wanting to follow people but my old artblog was attached to a more personal acc </3

my current big fixations are ff (7, 10, 14) & dbz which you'll probably see the most of here... my other (notable) interests are sth, castlevania (games), monhun, drakenier & fe (13, 16/3h). i'm also really into bladed weapons, languages, & all things technology!

here is my art tag, oc tag, & talk tag! i love tags on my art i will read all of them :) <3 no byf, but i'm uncomfortable with self identified end•s and people who proclaim themselves 'problematic' (a la "n•ncon" enjoyers, minor/adult shipping, etc). thank you!

[blindedguilt]

something I thought you might find interesting: the scripts that come in the drag-on dragoon 10th anniversary box are slightly different from the game. I think they're the pre-censored version, because they're a lot more overt about things like leonard's pedophilia and arioch's cannibalism

//YO????

//Okay anon I have a LOT of questions okay so to start

I DO have a translation blog @drakengardtranslations which would be the best place to post things like this, if you can PLEASE PLEASE PLEASEEEE get in touch either there or my Discord (Barnabism#5350) because I'd really like to talk more about this anon, just to be sure because I believe you're talking about censorship to the Japanese version of the game that was released to the public: This isn't about the English localisation, right? In which case I do have a post coming along on my TL blog tackling those issues!

Assuming you know Japanese as well do you happen to know about Accord's Library? It's a little Drakenier materials collection site that gathers and translates side content from across the series! If you're interested in doing translations there let me know, we're in desperate need of a few more DOD translators

//This news is actually HUGE because if it's referring to the Japanese game version of Drakengard/DOD, this is like

//Not ONLY the first documented insight into potential censorship of the JPN version (Which makes SENSE! I never understood Leonard's last scene at the end of his chapter) but also a look into pre-production ideas and concepts which is actually huge this is insane

//Thank you SO SO much and if you're comfortable, I cannot stress this enough, please reach out to either my TL blog, my Discord, hell, even my DMs here because I'd love to investigate further into this and see what's cooking. If you WANT to stay anonymous I can promise I won't let others know or you can continue sending these in on anon and let me know if you want them answered or not, all in all if you could get in touch in any way I would appreciate it a lot ❤️

//With Magnitude Negative almost near completion, this could not have come at a better time. Thank you so much for this news anon omg

[bioswear]

The older I get the more appreciative I am of subtle fandom merch bc, while it floats some peoples boats and is ultimately harmless, I personally can’t fathom walking around with a Shirt that has Bakugo’s face on my tits

[lnights]

Can't remember, if I showed you this, so I'm sending it (maybe once again, if I already did). I think you might like it. ^^

(yes, this is exactly how it looks like, when babe tries to explain me KH lore. I stg, this series can rival DrakeNier in terms of plot fuckery and we're talking about games, where, to get a full picture, you have to watch anime, dig through several books and mangas, watch Japanese-only stage plays, attend concerts and just be on a lookout for whatever the fuck Yoko Taro is saying. Probably more, but I can't remember. Oh, and there was a suggestion of an AU visual novel to "Drakengard 2" with characters in high school, but turned out to be a joke... Although, given all this multiple timelines shit, it probably is canonical. Somehow).

I love KH but the plot fuckery is thick 😂 it's the definition of this

[ihearasong]

🌸🍵🍡 — ABOUT ME — 🍡🍵🌸

hey there! my name is mochi. I'm a 31-year old trans boy with a perfectly healthy obsession with NieR. I'm autistic, so you're probably going to see me go through phases of hyperfocusing on different media, and I also have special interests I will always reblog. I have two cats I love more than life itself, and I love playing video games.

I've finally given in to my obsession and I'm currently in the process of becoming a DrakeNieR blog full time. My other biggest interests are Dungeon Meshi, YuYu Hakusho, Final Fantasy XIV, and Hellsing, so there's gonna be tons of that on my blog, too. You'll see me post tons of other stuff, of course, but these are my primary interests. Oh, and cats of course. I reblog lots of cats.

🌸🍵🍡 — MY STUFF — 🍡🍵🌸

Personally I'm currently working on an original project featuring an original fictional world and characters, and in addition to this I'm trying to get back into writing fanfiction. I do draw on the rare occasion, but it's a rare occurrence these days due to my health. I love talking about my world and my OCs, so please ask me questions about them. ; v ; You're probably going to see a lot of art about my 'sona~ Sorry in advance!

🌸🍵🍡 — INTERESTS — 🍡🍵🌸

→ ANIMATION ←

Dungeon Meshi YuYu Hakusho Yu-Gi-Oh! Hellsing: Ultimate Bee & Puppycat Arcane Avatar/LoK

→ GAMES ←

NieR Final Fantasy (vii, xiii, xiv, xv) Bloodborne Stray Resident Evil Ghostwire: Tokyo Ghost of Tsushima Devil May Cry Hades Monster Hunter Lies of P

→ OTHER STUFF ←

The Mandalorian (and Star Wars in general, but to a lesser degree) Loki (the Marvel character; I'm not fond of the MCU as a whole) The Akatsuki (I haven't actually watched all of Naruto, sorry) Cats Bunnies (especially moon bunnies) Foxes ✨ Space Stuff ✨ 🐚 Ocean Things 🐚 🌿 Botany 🌿 🍄 Mycology 🍄

[satohqbanana]

I posted 3,532 times in 2022

That's 31 more posts than 2021!

772 posts created (22%)

2,760 posts reblogged (78%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

hospitaliers

annelaurant

pastrytown

herecomesremi

iztopher

I tagged 3,468 of my posts in 2022

Only 2% of my posts had no tags

#people - 271 posts

#aveyond - 262 posts

#av1 - 203 posts

#fashion - 188 posts

#nier - 167 posts

#life - 156 posts

#annelaurant stuff - 146 posts

#tumblr - 127 posts

#comics - 119 posts

#relationships - 118 posts

Longest Tag: 133 characters

#and i guess being a conduit through which others gained the power to wield song magic to raise verforlea to the sky and keep it there

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I guess we really got inspired by that forehead touch thing, huh? Thank you @skania for the lovely fic. I’m melting. I can’t even respond to your response to my comment. I even forgot to post this.

38 notes - Posted July 24, 2022

#4

I think it's cute to imagine that Irumyuui one time insisted on spending the night with both Vueko and Belaf (much to the two's hesitance and awkwardness) since she considers them both as parental figures. And as Irumyuui sleeps, Vueko and Belaf get to talk about their role as sages in the Ganja corps, share a bit about their respective traumatic pasts, and swear about watching over Irumyuui, before getting comfortable enough to sleep.

...and in the morning Belaf gets the jitters for assuming this whole setup ruins his and Vueko's images, tries and fails to act cool, gets some assurance from Vueko, before getting distracted/comforted by Irumyuui's own perspective on the situation.

40 notes - Posted September 3, 2022

#3

I think what makes Drakenier so effective as tragedies is that despite all that sorrow and rage, despite all that darkness, perverseness, and ugliness, there's still that beautiful raw humanity that evokes much emotion and thought in its players/viewers.

63 notes - Posted April 30, 2022

#2

Before Drakenier: Wow, bells are amazing! I love hearing songs that have bells in them.

After Drakenier: I hear bells, I fear.

72 notes - Posted April 18, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Get you a squad who will all get a personal derogatory nickname from the cranky boss of your age group.

217 notes - Posted February 22, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[gu6chan]

Hello, I saw your rant on Drakenier lore and honestly I agree. While I do enjoy the occasional "oh those line up really well" lore, I choose to stay away from the fandom because they love to make it connections where there doesn't seem to be any. I don't enjoy a lot of those theory posts because they are way off Taro's vibes, intentions, and style.

Also I'm sorry you experienced such bad things in the community. Thank you for the translations, nonetheless, and I will cherish what memory I have of them should they be pulled completely off the net.

Okay, so I got this ask on March 16th of this year not long after I kickstarted this little blog and I VOWED not to come back to it till I actually was able to privatise my works and!!! The day's finally come!!! Accord's Library is shut down!!!!! I honestly cannot believe it's happened, I wish I could put into proper words how emotional the news was for me 😭 I was honestly scared they'd be stuck up there for years and I'd have to live with that paranoia and weight in my chest forever, but just??? Waking up? Knowing I'm finally free is such an unbelievable feeling, I honestly don't know how to put it into words. I've never woken up with a smile on my face so many days in a row before!!! I didn't even have an idea that it was weighing on me that heavily. I can go dark, shut down and take some time for myself, and who knows? I might even be able to get into translation again by 2025!!! I'm so excited aaaaaaa!!! I've been trying AGES to get my works back under my belt for even a moment of peace, i was beginning to think it might never be possible :,) Honestly, I get a lot of people might not be thrilled at the whole "I'm HAPPY your favourite fan archive got shut down so I can do my silly little hobby again :)))))" thing but honestly, I've realised I don't do it for them so much as for myself and the other silly little perverts who just want to see what's out there and see every iteration of their blorbo and whatever "Oh, that's what x was about" The Drakenier fanbase is small, so I might not exactly have the same small circle to share these things to like I used to and that can be demotivating at times, but again!! Just from what I've done here, my whole method of "breathe wrong about drakenier in an even slightly questionable way and i block you" has been working better than I thought it would, so it might be controversial, but I think I'll start applying that to my translation blog as well!!! For the longest time, I know I had even mentioned it in the post I assume this is referring to, I've been kinda "split" between "Oh my god this fanbase is filled with IDIOTS, stop talking about """the lore""" and stop to smell the characters, I wish I never shared ANYTHING with you stupid motherfuckers >:(" and "But I love translation, I don't want to give that up just because a few people made stupid assertions using the material i tled for them" And then the splendid realisation hit: It SHOULDN'T be for them!!! I'm doing this for me, ofc I always thought I had been based off the pretense "I enjoy doing it" but I never took it into account to apply that to my boundaries as well. So I think in the future, if anyone says or posts anything I don't want to see or just find annoying, it doesn't matter whether it's my personal blog or translation blog or what, I'll just block them!!! If their lore is really that precious to them then they can just make an alt and snoop lol Anyways, getting to the point I wanted to make is that it makes me so happy I can reply to this after so long, thank you so much for your kind words!!!! It actually makes my whole day that you actually enjoy my translations, even if they were pretty shoddy at times 😭 all that said, I don't know if you're still around to see this, anon (Maybe you're deactivated, maybe you're even one of the 200+ people I've blocked... its nothing personal if so, promise!!!) but rest assured these translations will not be going anywhere in the long-run 🫡 I'll just keep them to myself for a bit and stay on the down-low before coming back!! Hopefully with a new project to start~ Even knowing AL's demise was inevitable, I thought it would be a matter of years, not months since I came to that resolution it'd be the only way I could safely come back to translation - I thought by then, I'd probably be so budy with personal affairs I wouldn't even have the passion for translation like I do now!! So I'm really excited at the thought of getting back into translation again, I really never thought it would be possible!!!

[astralartefact]

I'm raising my Voice (of Cards) Divine Yurie Analysis Post

Part 1: Akeha // Part 2: 063y

Voice of Cards: Forsaken Maiden Spoilers below!

If this ends up being true Voice of Cards will eventually be the second most referenced Drakenier game despite never having an actual crossover event... and don't worry, I also don't really know if I believe any of this, but I will get into that shortly.

If we follow along what is potentially Yuki Wada's crazy reference to that other game he wrote, Yurie's costume is likely inspired by the [Black] Spirit (I don't know the correct english VoC localization terms, I only know that White is Ivory) (for a better picture of the spirit see 063y's post)

Notable Details include:

She has claws, like the Black Spirit Serpent

The colors of the outfit are predominantly black and a golden brown and it features a lot of draping fabrics, like the fabrics hanging off the Black Spirit Serpent

The design on her cowl is 100% supposed to look like a crown (which all of the Spirits in FM have)

But is that enough? Am I ready to say "Three times is a pattern, this is a thing"? Well... My current position is that I do think it makes more sense if this is what's going on, but I'm still not 100% sold on it. It does seem to me like the draft was "Make these costumes inspired by the gods in VoC:FM but feel free to make it as vague as you want we don't really want people to notice it too much."

But there are just enough little details that I don't think they would have gone for without these references as a basis to the designs. Like why does Yurie have claws? What about monster claws is "Divine"? I know there are cultures where long nails are religiously significant, but if that was what they were going for I feel like they would look different. And why is Akeha's outfit so grey? I would assume if it wasn't for Lac they would have chosen a different color instead of a 70% grey, that's really not a particularly "Divine" Color, is it?

I will probably make my final verdict with the next design though, since if these costumes are actually based on VoC then it should be obvious with the next one. With only the blue and red spirits still missing the usage of those colors should be noticeable, especially since this outfit line hasn't been particularly colorful yet.

Anyways, even if they aren't based on VoC, I really love these outfits, Yurie's especially. I love the use of white in this one and I'm always a sucker for medieval-ish puff sleeves combined with modern aesthetics. (Also can we talk about how the design sheet says "The circular object [...] was designed with symbolism in mind" and it's just a halo, which is like... duh. A lovely meaningless phrase that will 100% enter my every-day vocabulary.)

Stories Divine Ruler

She gives form to her people's hopes and dreams. She presses on with her duties, that she might fulfill her life's purpose. ────────────────────────────── She cannot understand her people's pain and sadness. How, then, could she give life to their wishes?

Pious Soulgun

If we obey it, we will never be wrong. If we believe in it, we will never have to worry. If it orders us to die, we will obey without question, for we trust in its judgment. The order it gave me is essentially a death sentence. It is never wrong. It can never be wrong. Which means… It is undoubtedly a fake in its current form, for it would never order its pious followers to die. I will strike it down!

The Weapon story reminds me of something one of my favorite video essayists Biz Barclay talked about (I think in her video about Midnight Mass? But I'm not sure and it's too long to "check real quick") in reference to the Binding of Isaac (not the game, the thing from the bible) - but I haven't watched that video in a while and I don't want to put words in her mouth so I will just encourage you to watch her stuff, she's great!

From a Voice of Cards perspective the stories (as with the other ones) don't really interact with VoC at all so we can just ignore them, I just wanted to put them here in case you want to read them.