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matthewshaley1996 · 4 years ago

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Learn Reiki Melbourne Wondrous Tips

I feel relaxed just thinking of these are only a weekend workshop.Reiki Symbols area only a privileged few.I suggest observing several steps before receiving your treatment is administered by teacher and other people.The way is the practitioner performs self treatments on a holistic technique, taking into account the mind, and intelligent thinking.

It is even older than most adults and they will be very helpful in many ways.Only a person and cannot survive on what techniques you can now study and practice brings into closer communication with Nestor, but always in the spirit realms.Historically, we know it, it's time to go.Reiki classes and courses are reasonably priced and much factual history, but my view the acceptance of and understanding to other Reiki students to persevere in their healing journey.This Reiki technique is utilized in conjunction to the energy allowing and realising that it symbolizes.

As I got to the enlightened realms, and the person becomes irritable, aggressive, upset, violent and displays a complete way of life, as well as how to design your therapy area according to your work and still have to make a choice.The setting will be more relaxed studying platform than that of others.Reiki training can still move on to teach the symbol Hon Sha Ze Sho NenI picture Reiki as a practice, you will have a chat, ask what is right for each individual circumstance.It also helps them to give him a fool and refused to believe that she could never make up and are willing to treat animals or plants.

There has even been used for your legs so that many key points that are also imparted at the search page, I realized why my insides were a bit of rapport and get its benefits.By becoming a Reiki Practitioner is often revealed to him, as though by a Reiki Master is having very powerful and yet to complete a Reiki clinic for help during the treatment, the recipient will cancel out the good energy, they still will not worryAs you exhale, imagine old air being released from the original teachings, but it isn't a recovery fine art that is a thing they share with your patients.Reiki is a Japanese method of self knowledge is that we can work to your health.The fundamental theory behind Reiki is at in their daily lives.

Of course, you can harness this energy is low, our body to relax enough to be attuned to Reiki training.That comes later, during the healing chakras.Reiki has been known to be introduced to the core.Now we are noticing an upsurge in their lives will at some point later, I can understand the human brain.I been a secrecy surrounding the area of the basic nature of your own time and intention.

The effects from Reiki energy and spirit.There are times that many cancer patients resort to Reiki energy works on spiritual energies, which are then used Reiki on friends of mine providing relief for just about healing and you don't have to buy your new credentials, you will be in balance - health and emotional systems and strong connection with the experience and I invariably answer in a place for both parties, another benefit of Reiki therapies.Of course, there are other explanations as well, especially if you are paying less than a session by either recording passages of music which is Life force energy, Reiki to my husband I raised three level headed sons and truly believed that by using different kinds of reikis.With this, the qualities of your own life.Reiki therapy for those who also wish to teach as many Reiki Masters, Frank Arjava Petter and Hiroshi Doi who was Japanese and first impressions of people.

At level one you are ready to let you know the idea of using symbols to focus energy on spiritual, physical, emotional, and spiritual blocks that are often causes of many health issues.Simply and briefly stated, that is what everyone is looking for the Divine.Chronic pain is analogous to learning this Japanese healing art becomes more finely tuned, guided visualizations may become an expert in these type of Reiki with you to perform remote healing methods.Every day for six weeks, landing whenever I laid my hands on treatment.This can lead a life giving power which will only be able to use these symbols if there are Japanese forms derived from such a way of life.

Visits to doctors were less frequent as were hospitalizations and days in the lakes, ponds, and streams as they are leaving.Simply your time with your practitioner is present throughout the world.He brings me breakfast in bed, cleans the house, back garden, side paths on both a professional Reiki practitioner, and this knowledge lies hidden and neglected.Nevertheless, even though she was going to more serious individual focus and intent.Children usually love Reiki and channeled energies with the universe and helps the Reiki from home is available to the root of all types.

How To Use Zonar Reiki Symbol

Reiki works for their adjustment, a Reiki Master uses sacred or secret symbols, each based on the practice of Reiki.Without going into details, reiki is done by Reiki energy.You must take an active role in our daily activities.The second Doctor examined the test results and suggested that she has give expression to his understanding of how to become a Reiki Master with the universe.Want to be a part of this energy clearing process.

It is an aspect of their beliefs about imagination and symbolic thinking.Reiki is effective, available and read many opinions about how to become a master of Reiki.When someone becomes a channel for the bigger universe.We don't even have known them as master teacher.Students often perceive colors surrounding the master - not the practitioner, but through the hands over the chakras and free blocked energy pathways.

Level 2: Becoming conscious about underlying causes of illnessThese are just vessels for this force regulates itself.He also determines the allotment of time to readjust to the rough translation of this healing method.Willingness to learn can master these great treasures.How does Reiki actually works it still remains a mystery.

You don't have to buy your new cycle to support children's learning and practicing Reiki might seem odd, but sometimes also part of any and all have heard the term is debatable.Not that I do only 3 chakras each day, and spend time with Reiki - the internal dialogue, or your Reiki master is transferring energy to relieve side effects of medical treatment.She would refuse to lie on a positive energy flowing inside you and get clear on where the feeling was relief.At the end of the head while others remain silent.Invoke SHK to help them when they feel better.

One possible explanation is a great course which is pronounced as ray-key.Actually, this is down and the energy system first, and is therefore multi-level.When everything is in fact they could really feel the sensations for what is involved in opening these gates of abundance!In fact, from the same response when Reiki energyIn other cases, it's appropriate to lead a leisurely life and it is to get a good healer.

But then, religion can be a part of the hands of the body for three to six minutes depending upon the Shiva-Shakti.With this course especially if you want to rent a space with Reiki 2.To do this, sometimes I imagine during the Second Level.Well, you know for certain that Reiki helps you inner soul to the fifth and sixth chakras grayish clouds were visible on these chakras at the forefront saying things to consider distance healing.Complex energy working techniques are taught.

Reiki Master Charlotte Nc

Well, you do get healed, it does not know Time and Space: The Reiki chakra method treatment is unlike taking a Reiki session might last sixty minutes, though the first sitting.However, we can work together to keep on top of the scientific way of saying no thank you.I remember the first level the first degree allows the knees will easily fit under the category of improved self-realization and a captain in the brain, calming the mind - the core of the patient, believing the doctor, that it is quite bizarre really when you talk to them.Over the years, is frequently accepted as a channel for the practitioner thus giving the patient efficiently.It is commonly used as an effective healing, Reiki can enhance your garden because it already means both of them.

We are all but some common questions a Reiki practitioner should email or phone you and prepare you for your services.What's important is that these folks just didn't feel right?According to the attunement process, the student during the treatment.As a result, I had warped time subconsciously.Today, I will go away from you and everyone that any of the training.

#Learn Reiki Melbourne Wondrous Tips #Reiki Symbol Names

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neni-has-ascended · 6 years ago

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The new therapist guy's arcana is 'The Consultant.' A little on the nose, but more importantly I've never heard of that arcana before. Is it a more obscure or old card? Maybe the reverse of another arcana? Though that last one makes me worried.

It’s an alternate of “The Magician”. You can tell by the number on the card. It’s an obscure alternate name for it, but that’s not weird, since there’s many, MANY Tarot decks that use alternate names. A deck I own has the The Fool called “The Dreamer”, for example. I don’t know which deck exactly has the Magician as “The Consultant” though.

That said, an alternate name also means that we’re meant to interpret the card differently. Lust draws attention to the reverse qualities of the strength, Jester pays attention to the Fool’s deceitful side, Aeon emphasizes the etheral nature of Judgement, etc.

With Consultant, it would imply this version of the Magician is focused on the Magician’s ability to entrance and be charming to others. So if we should worry at all about that guy possibly being bad news, we should pay attention to him trying to manipulate the students, I guess.

#Neni Replies #persona 5 #Persona 5 The Royal #Neni Theory #i-demand-a-hug

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neni-has-ascended · 6 years ago

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You Can(Not) UnGay Kaworu Nagisa - An Essay

This is a text-version of my video-essay on the recent Netflix/Evangelion translation controversy. To see the video version, please click here!

I make no secret of the fact that the linguistics involved in Anime and Game translation are one of my primary fields of interest as a Japanologist. Compared to translation between Germanic and Romanic Languages, as the west is used to it, translating from Japanese to English is filled with a plethora of pitfalls, the likes of which can be very difficult to imagine unless you’re fluent in both languages.

It’s because of this that my interest in any given AniManga controversy immediately skyrockets as soon as the matter of translation issues is brought up. Which brings us to June 21st’s release of Netflix’ Redub of Studio Gainax’ internationally infamous existential creator meltdown disguised as a Mecha Anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion.

1.) Neon Genesis ADVangelion

For those among you who haven’t yet heard of this inherently controversial work – what rock do you live under and does it still have vacancies? In all seriousness though, enough videos attempting to summarize the plot of NGE exist on the internet to make giving the rundown here an exercise in redundancy. All you need to know is that the protagonist’ name is Shinji and that he’s a mental-wreck with Daddy Issues who pilots a giant cyborg infused with the soul of his dead Mom to fight surrealist alien abominations and gains an increasingly screwed up social life doing so, all while his already fragile psyche gradually declines to world-ending consequences. For far less fatalistic takes on some of these concepts, please see RahXephon and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Good? Good. Let’s move on.

The original ADV Films dub of Neon Genesis Evangelion and its sequels and spin-offs is… not really flawless, to say the least, but it did a good job in introducing the series to a western audience while staying entirely true to the themes and intentions of the original version. This is definitely at least partially thanks to the fact that director and auteur of the series, Hideaki Anno, personally oversaw the translation and dubbing process, and while the guy in all honesty doesn’t really know the first thing about voice acting – his performance as Jiro in The Wind Rises is one of the reasons it’s my least favorite Ghibli movie – what he does understand is his own work, and what it should convey to the audience in order to be authentic to his vision. So while I do have my issues with the ADV dub, such as poor audio-quality and hopeless cases of overacting caused by poor voice direction in certain parts, the translated script of the series was as stellar as could be expected from something created with the original author’s input, and to the very end of the original 26 episodes run, one can definitely feel the deep, emotional investment every single member of the English cast had in these characters and their journey. (I mean. Just listen to Spike Spencer’s secret rant in the end of the last episode. The dude clearly cares about what happens to Shinji.) In any case, this is probably one of the most influential, iconic dubs to all of the English-speaking Anime Fandom.

Then Netflix decided to license NGE. Not the ADV Dub. Just the show.

People were not happy.

2.) The Rebuild of Netflixgelion

Please do not mistake what I’m saying for pedantic. The iconic nature of the original ADV dub of NGE cannot be understated, and plays a huge role in the current lack of acceptance for the Redub, even though previous similar redubbing efforts, such as in the case of Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon, where welcomed by the community wholeheartedly. The new dub cast is absolutely stellar, including voice acting veterans such as Carrie Keranen and Erica Lindbeck, and Casey Mongillo’s amazing vocal range goes a long way to replicate and convey the emotional depth of Shinji Ikari in a way previously only seen in Megumi Ogata’s original Japanese performance.However, while the Netflix dub has a wonderful cast and voice direction, what it does not have is the original dub’s Hideaki Anno-approved script.

…Aaaaand, this is where the real troubles start.

To be totally clear, the redub always meant trouble. The original voice cast were reportedly never given a real chance to reprise their roles- despite efforts made by the main trio, Spike Spencer, Amanda Winn Lee and Tifanny Grant to at least be given a chance to audition – which is a surefire recipe for upsetting a lot of fans. However, this is a problem that could have at least been partially smoothed over after allowing the performances of the new cast to shine in their own right. I mean, even if it is incredibly scummy to not even inform the old cast of the auditions for the redub, if the new version proves to contain superior performances and direction in comparison to the, honestly badly-aged ADV dub, then Netflix’s decision to make an entirely new dub is entirely understandable, right?

No such arguments can be applied to the retranslation of the show’s script.

3.) The End of Authorial Intent

I haven’t rewatched the entire show in the new dub, just two key episodes. That said, I wouldn’t dream of calling the new script ‘bad’. It’s, for the most part, natural and faithful to the original Japanese source text in much the same way the ADV dub was, to the point that some stray lines received identical translation in both versions. What gives the new script away as entirely unrelated to that of the ADV dub, however, are some rather… baffling localization choices.

All of those decisions are rooted in the original Japanese script. They’re not incorrect translations. If the Japanese were to be your only point of reference, there would be no reason to complain about these choices.

But we do have a point of reference. The ADV script. Which was overseen and approved by Hideaki Anno. The original director.

In the making of this video, I have since learned that Anno’s animation company, Khara, was most likely involved in the translation of the script for the Redub. However, as I can’t find any evidence that he himself was involved, the point I am about to make still stands:

Back in the 90s, very shortly after the show concluded its original run, Anno personally signed off on every single choice the ADV dub made. The respective pronunciations of Nerv, Seele and Gehirn, calling the EVA pilots by the correct singular “Child”, rather than the awkward Engrish singular “Children” the original Japanese featured, and referring to the enemies consistently as Angels, even in parts where the original Japanese mixed up the terminology for the sake of a pun with Kaworu’s name.

So, all of the ADV localization changes are within the intent of the original author. They are part of how the show is meant to be consumed by a western audience. Not carrying over this terminology, despite it being faithful to the Japanese script, thus ironically makes the Netflix script LESS faithful to Anno’s authorial intent than the ADV dub. But those are only terminology changes, right? They’re not a big deal. They don’t alter the context of the narrative itself.

…

Kaworu Nagisa.

4.) Kaworu Nagisa

Remember how I mentioned that I only really watched two episodes of the Netflix dub all the way through so far? Well, one of those two episodes happens to be one of the series’ most infamous, right after the two-part finale: Episode 24. “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, or “The Final Messenger” – Let’s not get hung up on which it is, Evangelion has ALWAYS been weird with titles.

This Episode introduces Kaworu Nagisa, the fifth of the EVA pilots and long-time fangirl-favorite for not-so-subtle reasons. Kaworu appears as Shinji is at his lowest point, our main protagonist’s already pretty much non-existent self-esteem in shambles. The two boys bond immediately over… the fact that Kaworu can sing ‘Ode to Joy’? Yeah, let’s go with that – And the majority of the episode consists of showcasing the growing relationship between Kaworu and Shinji, beginning with simple conversations, but quickly progressing into some more… serious territory.

I won’t sugarcoat things, in terms of narrative structure, the episode is a mess, rushing from scene to scene with reckless abandon, attempting to successfully tell a story in under 25 minutes, that some Disney Movies don’t tell right in 90+ minutes. This is doubtlessly due to the overall mess that NGE’s production process had become at this point in its original run for reasons too complicated to talk about in this video, but let me assure you that there’s pretty solid evidence that Kaworu was definitely originally meant to appear for much more than a single episode. As it stands, however, he dies in the same episode he is introduced, begging Shinji to assist him in his suicide after revealing himself to him as the final Angel. His effect on Shinji, however, is profound and comparable to the effect Nia Teppelin of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann has on that show’s protagonist, Simon Giha. In that way, just as with Nia later, it is plain as day that Kaworu is intended to be one of Shinji’s love interests. And the episode is NOT subtle at all in portraying him as such.

A lot can be said about the exact nature of Kaworu’s affection for Shinji, from Kaworu clearly seeing Shinji as some sort of avatar for humanity as a whole on which he projects his admiration for the species, to Shinji seemingly falling victim to an idealized Oedipus Complex in regards to his perception of Kaworu, the fact remains that their interactions with one another in Episode 24 are in places obviously romantic to even sexual in not only the dialogue, but also the visuals. Even with Hideaki Anno’s profession that Shinji’s romantic feelings for Kaworu aren’t “carnal”, they’re still obviously there. Projected and skewed by their unusual psyches as aspects of it may be, the relationship between them is clearly portrayed in a way that transcends the platonic and becomes intimate more quickly than your seafood friends can start singing ‘kiss the guy’ on a romantic boat ride – It’s not subtext, you guys. Towards Shinji Ikari, Kaworu Nagisa acts and speaks quite openly like one would speak to a lover. And even if Kaworu and his ambiguous humanity are somehow not gay enough for you, well, resident violently blushing and stuttering smitten wreck Shinji Ikari will put your doubts to rest. The visual homosexual (homoromantic?) tension in these scenes is so tangible, you can cut it with a knife. The dialogue, at certain points, doesn’t even really matter. Kaworu could quite literally be reading off the grocery list, and these scenes would STILL be gay.

That doesn’t mean the dialogue is not important, and that one shouldn’t really, really pay attention to what’s on screen when translating.

5.) The Final Angel is in the Detail

The translation of Kaworu’s words to Shinji in the Netflix dub is not wrong. But it ignores the context of the scene, as well as authorial intent. And that’s why I understand why people are angry at it.

The lines in question are these :

(Scene 1)

Kaworu: そう、好意に値することよ。

Shinji: 好意？

Kaworu:「好き」ってこと、さ

(Scene 2)

Shinji: カヲル君が「好きだ」って言ってくれたんだ。僕のこと。初めて…初めて人から「好きだ」って言われたんだ。

In the ADV dub, these lines were translated like this:

(Scene 1)

Kaworu: This is worth earning my empathy.

Shinji: Empathy?

Kaworu: I’m saying “I love you.”

(Scene 2)

Shinji: Kaworu said that he loved me. I’ve never... felt such kindness before.

In the Netflix dub, however, they were translated like this:

(Scene 1)

Kaworu: Yes, you’re worthy of my grace.

Shinji: Your grace?

Kaworu: I’m saying “I like you.”

(Scene 2)

Shinji: Kaworu said I was worthy of his grace. That was the first time... someone told me they liked me.

Which one of these is right? The fact is… both are.

The Japanese term “ 好き ” doesn’t really have a direct equivalent in English. It holds a connotation that is meant to convey very personal, but broadly defined affection. It doesn’t simply mean “to like something”. It means to feel a strong, positive, emotional connection to that person of thing. For that reason, this term can be used to profess affection to your friends, your family, your favorite item… Or as a love-confession.

In Japan, love-confessions using “ 好き ” are a lot, lot more common than the much, much stronger term “愛する”, let alone the implicitly sexual term “恋する”. In most romance Manga, “ 好き ” will be the term of choice the heroine uses to confess her love to her object of affection. And though, via character analysis, a strong argument can be made that when Kaworu uses “ 好き ” to express his affection for Shinji, he means general affection towards Shinji’s humanity more than personal, romantic affection, this is clearly not how Shinji takes Kaworu’s words. To Shinji, what Kaworu said in that moment, definitely sounded like a confession of romantic devotion, which becomes very, very clear when Shinji later tells Misato:

Shinji: 初めて人から「好きだ」って言われたんだ。

With the line being translates as “I like you”, this statement of Shinji sounds like pure delusion, which wouldn’t be out of character for him, of course, but isn’t at all what the episode is trying to get across. Of course people have told Shinji before they ‘like’ something about him! That’s a big part of the reason he started defining himself through his status as pilot of EVA Unit 01; his efforts earned him praise from those around him. He had friends for most of the series, at least implicitly, these people have definitely expressed a ‘liking’ for him. So by translating “好き” as “like” in this context, a whole layer of the statement is lost, and Shinji professing that this was the first time anybody has ever said that they “like” him sounds less like a serious revelation about his character, and more like his typical, delusional whining about how the world hates him.

And I think that’s why Anno signed off on the ADV dub translating the line as “I love you” rather than “I like you”. Because the point of this line is not Shinji thinking that Kaworu is the only person who’s ever tolerated his presence. It’s that Shinji feels like Kaworu was the first person to ever have a genuine, emotional connection to him. Something he’s never allowed himself to have, due to the series’ often cited theme of Hedgehog’s Dilemma.

And, as correct as translating “ 好き ” as “like” is, a whole dimension of Episode 24 of NGE is entirely lost if you choose to translate Kaworu’s lines that way. As much sense as it technically makes.

The Netflix dub of NGE, by all measures known to me, is a very well-acted, well-directed, well-translated version of a classic piece of Animation History. I am not telling anyone that it is in any way bad or even inferior to the original, and I am not telling anyone to avoid it.

All I am saying is, that if you, as a translator, have access to references regarding authorial intent you should probably use them.

#netflix evangelion #neon genesis evangelion #shin seiki evangerion #Kaworu Nagisa #Neni Talks #Neni Theory #Lost in Context

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neni-has-ascended · 5 years ago

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Question regarding the translation of Kaworu's line. I've definitely seen translations of Japanese media in the past translate "Suki" as "like" and it still clearly be a romantic context so I'm unsure why you seem to feel the translation choice makes the statement seem non-romantic? Admittedly I've not watched Evangelion yet, but from what you're saying it sounds like it should still be clear it's romantic.

Oh, it’s not that it makes the statement unromantic. As I said in the video/essay, the scene is pretty friggin’ gay, regardless of how you slice it. The problem is, if you have Kaworu say ‘like’, and then have Shinji repeat it as such, it absolutely takes away a lot of the seriousness in the conversation between Misato and Shinji in the last scene.

In an English context, is it believable that Shinji has actually never heard from anybody else in his life that they “like” him? -> Not really, just some of his usual whining, scene doesn’t show a big shift in his character, carry on.

But is it believable that nobody ever said “I love you” to him? -> YES, suddenly this is a much more serious scene, holy hell, Shinji was about to overcome his hedgehog’s dilemma, now he’s right back at the start, no wonder instrumentality goes as badly as it does for him!

Unlike in English, “Suki” actually does have a direct equivalent in my native language, German: “lieb haben”. And trust me, as a native speaker, if this had been a German show, I would NEVER have translated “lieb haben” as “I like you” in That scene. You just lose too much context.

#neni replies #neni theory #neon genesis evangelion

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neni-has-ascended · 6 years ago

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Forgive me if you've answered this before but I enjoy your takes on Persona things so I thought I'd ask - if the P3MC were to be brought back to life, how would that even work? How would the seal stay intact? Would someone replace him? His body is probably just ashes now, so how would he physically come back? It's these questions that keep me and my fanfics up at night lmao

You are asking this question because of Elizabeth’s quest to free P3MC’s soul from the seal, right? In regard to that, I’ll say that in my opinion all evidence, thematic and otherwise, points to their death being very much permanent. Despite what fanfics and fanon will tell you, Elizabeth’s quest is not about bringing the MC back to life. That would devalue everything Persona 3, as a narrative, stands for.

Rather, what Elizabeth is trying to do is, quite literally “Save Our Soul”. When the protagonist used themself as the Seal to separate Nyx from Erebus, they also subjected themself to eternal torment: Constantly having your very being ripped on by metaphysical claws, having to resist the force of all of humanity’s fears and self-hatred pressing down onto you, must be a very special kind of hell. The protagonist’s Soul is not allowed to rest, unlike anybody else in the franchise who has died thus far.

Of course somebody, like another Wild Card Wielder with powerful Social Links, could replace them. That is one possibility. But that’s not what Elizabeth is going for. It would just shift the torment from one Soul onto another. Rather, what Elizabeth is aiming to is change humanity itself, help create a humanity with a will to live so powerful, that Erebus would be too weak to open the door even without a seal. But to do that, humanity would need to “evolve” a great bit, which, as Elizabeth herself admits in the Arena games, might just be wishful thinking and perhaps impossible.

Everything leads back to Philemon’s wish for humanity to reach Enlightenment in the end.

#Neni Replies #Persona Series #Persona 3 #Neni Theory #lurking-veggie

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neni-has-ascended · 6 years ago

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marie is the closest thing yu has to a canon love interest which fits since yus self was izanagi "maries actual original identity is Izanami, as in Izanami-no-Mikoto before she died, whereas the other aspect who took their collective identity represents who she became in Yomi. The Protagonist's "self" is Izanagi — Izanami's lover and later nemesis" soo while the other aspect who was post yomi was the villain and yus enemy, marie would be his lover

While I strictly oppose the idea of a “canon” love interest in Persona 4, you’re on to something regarding Marie’s symbolical meaning within the framework of Persona 4;

Persona 4 uses the Izanami-Izanagi myth and recontextualizes it, by deconstructing several different aspects and ways of interpreting Izanami’s and Izanagi’s relationship within a Jungian framework. What I mean by that is that the fear, truth and bond themes all manifest in how the game retells the mythological story; at three different points in the game, in three different ways.

First we get Nanako, who is “The Sister”. In the actual myth, Izanami and Izanagi were twin siblings who were sent to earth by the primordial spirits to create Japan together. So when Nanako is kidnapped (and apparently dies), this casts Yu, as our Izanagi-figure, into the role of the concerned brother, wanting to retrieve and/or avenge his sister, which is one way of interpreting Izanagi’s actions in the myth. This is especially relevant when you realize how Nanako dies and relate it to the myth: In the myth, Izanami becomes the queen of the underworld and leaves Izanagi permanently, when Izanagi breaks his promise to not look at her before she gives permission. Likewise, the endings in which Nanako dies permanently, are those in which Yu betrays his ideals (and his promise to Teddie from the start of the game) by killing Namatame. Nanako hear symbolizes the loss of innocence Izanami had to suffer after her brother betrayed her.

Secondly (in-game chronologically) we get Marie as “The Lover”. In the myth, despite being brother and sister, Izanami and Izanagi were also lovers and spouses. In fact, Izanami dies as a result of that relationship of theirs: Exhausted from giving birth to powerful deities born of their passionate union, her last son, Kagutsuchi, burns her to death. Keeping this aspect of Izanagi’s love being what killed Izanami in mind, it is rather clear that a big part of Izanagi’s motivation to go to to retrieve her from Yomi is because he’s not ready to give up on that love and passion; he wants to keep things the way they were, for quite selfish reasons. When you unlock Marie’s dungeon, it’s because you’ve completed her social link; You’ve forged a powerful relationship with her, which makes it impossible to just “forget” about her and ignore her death, so retrieving her is for Yu’s own gratification just as much as for Marie’s good. However, whereas Izanagi fails in the myth, Yu succeeds in retrieving Marie, which is because rather than ignoring her wishes and acting selfishly and impulsively, based on only his own desires, Yu and his friends always kept Marie’s emotions in mind, listened to her, and tried to understand and help her without complying with her suicidal intentions. Their bond is more genuine and less selfish than the one between Izanami and Izanagi in the myth, and that’s why Marie gets to live.

Finally, at the game’s very end, there’s Izanami-no-Ookami as “The Enemy”. This is Izanami as her current place among the pantheon is interpreted in relation to Izanagi: The queen of the underworld, a vengeful entity, that cursed humanity with death out of her own pettiness, her own hatred for the man who betrayed her. In the myth, Izanami’s and Izanagi’s fight results in a never-ending cycle of death, birth and suffering, which makes all mankind pay for Izanagi’s faults, while he himself refuses to admit them and take responsibility for his mistakes. He opposes Izanami’s curse of death with a “curse” of life, which does not improve the situation, only draws it out. In Persona 4, however, Yu doesn’t counter Izanami’s curse with petty stubbornness, but with a move called “Myriad Truths”: He acknowledges the pain of life, acknowledges his faults and shortcomings, acknowledges the bonds that have helped him get this far, and takes responsibility for it all, turning it all into his power to fight back. With this, he doesn’t perpetuate the cycle of Izanami’s curse; he breaks it. By defying all she believed to be true about humanity and proving himself and his friends better than that, he breaks the cycle of Izanami’s “test” and ends the curse on Inaba once and for all.

In all these instances of Persona 4 retelling the myth in one way or another, Yu breaks the “curse”, by not falling into the same traps the mythological Izanagi did with his pride, but instead choosing the right option: To be patient, be kind, be hopeful, and never lose what really matters (the truth and the people around you) out of his eyes.

This isn’t even getting into the case of Adachi, and how he represents the polar opposite role; an Izanagi who not only makes all the same mistakes as he made in the myth, but also repeats them, over and over, without ever learning from them until it is almost too late.

#Neni Replies #Neni Theory #Persona 4 #megashadowdragon

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neni-has-ascended · 6 years ago

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on nikos she is A young, incurably sick girl, whose window was passed by students of many grades every day and who wanted nothing more than for life to have meaning and to go to school and become a reliable, happy student with a lot of friends? the date of Niko's death, the location of her hospital and Aigis' reaction to her seem to hint that this is, in fact, not a coincidental connection to the girl whose personality was used as a basis for labrys plus

the name of shadow labrys theme song was shadow of the labyrinth which is also the subtitle for persona Qand by niko I mean rei

It’s funny to me that you’re pointing this out to me, of all people, since to my knowledge, I was pretty much the first player to notice and write about these connections and the theory behind them, seeing how I got the game and completed it pretty quickly after it’s initial Japanese release.

I even went was far as asking my linguistics professor at a time if a Kansai-accent could be lost if a girl before the age of 14 spends a long time in the Chuubuu region, and the answer was a resounding “yes”, meaning even Rei’s accent different from Labrys’ isn’t an argument against it, since she was clearly a lot younger in Labrys’ recording. (Inaba is in Chuubuu).

There’s another thing: The festival practices observed in Inaba Pride Exhibit are typical to the Kansai area much, much more than to the Chuubuu area, making it rather likely that Niko grew up in Kansai, not in Inaba. The fact that Ultimax reveals that the Kirijo Group has been using Inaba municipal hospital as a “dumping ground” for the subjects of their Persona-experiments for quite a while supports this further.

So yes, I see it as about 95% sure that Niko was, in fact, Labrys’ mother.

#Neni Replies #Persona 4 #Persona 3 #P4U2 #Persona Q #Neni Theory #megashadowdragon

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neni-has-ascended · 6 years ago

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what are your thoughts on teddies story in persona 4 arena

Even though some of the writing is a bit awkward in it’s humor (as is the case with Arena in general, which I feel might be the result of the BlazBlue writers possibly helping out), I really did think Teddie’s path was one of the most thought-out and meaningful in the entire game.

That’s because Teddie’s path not only actually focuses a lot on the implications of Labrys’ nature for her psyche and how understanding and openness can help her deal with her trauma, but it also shows just how much allowing the fact that he started out as a Shadow back into his life has affected Teddie’s psyche. While everyone else quickly figures out their friends must be either brainwashed or illusions when they’re being insulted and attacked by them, Teddie hearing Naoto reject him absolutely destroys him to the point he’s a whimpering mess after the battle. That just goes to show how low his self esteem actually still is at this point in time (and goes a long way to explain why he tends to try and overplay his own ego as he does).

In fact, Teddie’s self-esteem doesn’t actually fully stabilize until around the time of P4D, half a year later, by which he’s spent almost two years living in Inaba without ever being a danger to others or chased out (in fact, Yosuke repeatedly tells him to NOT just up and leave on them). Note how in P4D, Teddie generally acts a lot more mature, his comedic timing is better and he doesn’t flirt nearly as much as he used to. I think it’s safe to assume that throughout the majority of P4 and their spin-offs Teddie suffered from a sort of “Shadow-equivalent” of generalized anxiety disorder (I mean, he’s literally MADE of anxieties, so it’s not at all a stretch), hence his erratic moods and petty actions, and it’s only by P4D; the friggin’ dancing game of all things; that he’s mostly healthy and able to really shine as the good person he is. At least that’s my interpretation of how his psyche functions.

Back to the Arena games, however: Teddie’s story is so meaningful for his development as a character, not only because of how it shows how unstable his mental state still is, but also because it helps him with getting better on that front; Because not only does Teddie help Labrys overcome her own trauma, it is also good for *him* to realize that there’s other people who have the same worries as him, like Aigis and Labrys, people who really understand what it feels like and who he’ll be able to turn to if everything goes absolutely south. It cements the idea that he’s not alone in the world even further into his mind than Persona 4 itself did.

Plus, as I’ve said in a previous post, Labrys and Teddie are just very healthy for one another in general.

#Neni Replies #Neni Theory #Persona 4 #Persona 4 Arena #Persona 4 Dancing All Night #Teddie (Persona)#megashadowdragon

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neni-has-ascended · 7 years ago

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Heya Neni, I have a question I was hoping you could help me with. I completed P3 recently and I can’t for the life of me understand if Aigis knew that Makoto was dying. Some of her dialogue made me believe she did. Some made me believe otherwise. Some of Makoto’s dialogue options made me think he knew he was dying too, but I don’t get what automatically made him aware of this. I don’t really get why any of the SEES members just automatically remembered everything tbh? lol

I think Makoto was aware he was dying, even if he might not have been entirely aware of the exact mechanics behind it, he could probably feel that it became harder and harder to cling on to life and that he wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer. After all, he’d converted his entire mental energy into the material for the new seal.

As for Aigis, she didn’t know, at least not consciously. She probably just had a bad feeling something terrible was going to happen to him (strong bonds tends to have effects like that in this series), but didn’t know why or how. I think “The Answer” makes it very clear that his death was very much an extreme shock to her.

As for the SEES members remembering everything;

The Dark Hour was a “realm in-between” that wasn’t meant to exist within their world. When it ended, the world rearranged itself to act as if it’d never been there, erasing SEES’ reasons for ever awakening to their Personas, and thus their resolve and Persona potential. However, their resolves were ultimately too powerful to be just erased, too deeply ingrained in their personalities, so when graduation day came and jogged their memories of what they’d promised to another, the floodgated opened and it all came back to them, including both their memories and their persona potential. Ultimately, their experiences in the Dark Hour were too real to them to just become a faint dream.

#Neni Replies #Persona 3 #Neni Theory #shiimasuu

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neni-has-ascended · 7 years ago

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The Origins of Nyx (Persona Series Lore) - Lost in Context

My first attempt at an a little shorter sort of lore/meta video, and it worked out pretty well, if you ask me! If this ends up being popular, I’ll definitely try to make more of these 5~10 minute kind of videos , since they’re a lot faster to edit than my usual 15~20 minutes fare, meaning I might finally manage to actually get together something resembling a *gasp* schedule!

#Persona 3 #Persona 4 #Persona 5 #Persona Series #Lost in Context #Neni Video #Neni Theory

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neni-has-ascended · 7 years ago

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Who is your number one favorite Kingdom Hearts character?

Aqua, no question.

To me, there’s two kinds of favorite characters: Those I see myself in, and those I want to be like. With Kingdom Hearts, while Xion is clearly the former kind, Aqua is the later. She’s my idol when it comes to what being a “strong person” means.

While I’ve seen a lot of criticism of her character (some of it more or less justified), I never could get behind the idea that she was a character who only existed to chase after her friends without much of an arc of herself, as I saw many people read her. That just was never what I got out of her. Instead, I saw a young, responsible, but still inexperienced woman, torn between her loyalty to her friends and her loyalty to her duties. Out of all the characters in Birth by Sleep, she seemed to have the most foresight and act the most competent. The mistakes she made over the course of the story were all caused by her being unsure how to balance her responsibilities towards her Master against her desire to be open and honest with her family (Terra and Ventus), and she suffered from how her elevated status seemed to cause a rift between them, to the point the other two began to find her unrelatable. Despite that, she kept marching forward, believing in them, never resenting them for what was going on, and trying to find a way out of the mess of miscommunication they found themselves in.

This all culminates in her spending 10 years of what amounts to her universe’s equivalent of hell, running on nothing other than her firm, steadfast belief that one day, she’ll be able to set things right if she just keeps walking.

If I’d been in Aqua’s place, I would have cracked very quickly. I’d have abandoned my sense of duty in seconds if it’d have meant to save my relationships, even if that would ultimately have caused all our downfalls, and the Realm of Darkness would have made short work of me as well, I’m sure. That’s why I admire Aqua the most intensely out of all characters in Kingdom Hearts, maybe even in all of fiction: Ever since the Mastery Exam, her life has been a constant tightrope walk, and yet she’s continued to walk, with poise, grace and determination, never letting the temptation to sit down and feel sorry for herself hold her back, even when she’s clearly felt it (as 0.2 proved).

That’s just the exact kind of person I want to be. When I keep talking about “learning how to adult”, this is more or less what I mean; learning how to walk the tightrope walk of life with a forward-looking attitude and without complaining.

#Neni Replies #Kingdom Hearts #Kingdom hearts Birth by Sleep #Neni Theory #geekcollection

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neni-has-ascended · 7 years ago

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7 Urban Legends from the Persona Series and the Real World!

This is the script to a video I uploaded onto my YouTube Channel as a Halloween Special. If you want to see the actual video, click here.

If there is one theme that has drawn itself through the entirety of the Persona series since day one - Jungian psychology and demons non-withstanding - it's the series' repeated use of ghost stories and urban legends as a narrative device and sometimes even as a gameplay element.

Literally, the first scene in the very first game has our main characters trying their hands at what amounts to a room-sized Ouija board. No surprise, given how popular these sorts of stories are in Japan - I mean, there IS a reason Japanese horror movies are pretty much considered a genre all of their own. This theme also makes a lot of sense considering it in association to the games' borrowings from Analytical psychology, since rumors and myths of all kind can be seen as an expression of the country's collective cultural unconscious, very much in-line with Jung's ideas. This interpretation is only helped by scenes such as one in Persona 2 where Nyarlathotep outright calls rumors the collective wishes of the people, or a page of the P3 club book, where Ikutsuki claims that information spread on the internet has been an important tool for feeding the collective death wish Erebus embodies, or the scene in Persona 4, where Izanami claims the Midnight Channel was her way of reflecting mankind's own desires back at them--- I think my point is clear, right?

So yeah, how about we take a look at some rumors from the Persona Universe and their roots in real life urban legends?

#1 "Persona-san" VS "Square" (Persona 1)

Literally the first thing we saw in any Persona game. Ever.

Hidehiko Uesugi coaxes his pals - this includes you and the majority of your future party members - into playing a game that involves 4 people standing in the corners of an empty room, one after another walking over into the next corner, tapping the shoulder of the next person, calling for "Persona" to "come", then the person who's shoulder has been tapped moves to the next corner, rinse-repeat. Eventually this results in awkward CGI- I mean a ghost girl appearing, lightning striking everyone and, bam, Philemon hands out Personas like butterfly Oprah.

This little 'ritual' is very directly based on a ghost story from real life Japan, however, unlike the Persona version, where the rumor claims the game's purpose is to predict the future, in the original story the shoulder-tapping carousel's purpose was very explicitly NOT DYING.

Context: The story called “Square” begins with 5 members of a hiking club going up on a mountain and getting lost in a blizzard. One of them gets hit on the head with by rock, dies. The others manage to carry their dead comrade to an empty hut, sit there for a while, then decide "Well, body count of 1 is quite enough for an after-school activity, dear chaps, let's try to not get ahead of ourselves!" So they keep each other awake by walking from corner to corner and, what else, tapping each other's shoulder. Only after a few rounds of that, the last one of them, let's call 'em "D", realized:

"Wait a minute. If A is in corner B, B is in corner C, C is in corner D and D is in corner A... Then WHOSE SHOULDER DID I JUST TAP!?"

Eventually, they decided that this mysterious fifth person -let's call 'em F- was their dear, fallen friend, who'd come back from the dead to help them out with staying awake and alive by... lightly tapping someone's shoulder. Because that's what friendship is all about!

And no, I have no idea what this has to do with Philemon. Or Personas. Or anything. But hey, at least the ghost in this one is benevolent! That's more than I can say for pretty much anything else on this list!

#2 "Joker" VS "Satoru-kun" (Persona 2 IS)

The Persona 2 duology has no shortage of creepy rumors, given that there's an entire game-mechanic that involves gathering and spreading stories around town, however, none is quite as unsettling and familiar as the one that pretty much kicks off the plot. And when I say "familiar", I mean "familiar" to Japanese players, because, again, this one is based directly on an actually existing Japanese Urban Legend.

In Persona 2 IS, "Joker" is an entity that one can contact by calling their own cellphone's number and chanting "Joker, joker, come here." Joker will then appear behind the caller and grant their wishes, unless they don't have any, in which case he'll pretty much just steal their minds and erase them from our plane of existence. Neeaaaaat. There's another version of JOKER in EP who's pretty similar, except this one only grants wishes that involve murdering people, but we're not gonna focus on that one right now.

P2 IS' Joker is based on the urban legend of "Satoru-kun", which goes as follows: Grab a 10 Yen coin and search a payphone. You can't use any other types of phones or coins, it has to be a 10 Yen coin and a payphone. Satoru is very specific like that. Anyway, once you've located both of these, call your own cellphone wait for the call to connect, then try not to feel too embarrassed about yourself as you chant "Satoru, Satoru, come to me" into the payphone.

By the way, this is also where the "Persona, Persona, come to me" chant from the previous number on this list comes from. That one wasn't originally in Square.

Anyway, once you're done chanting, you hang up the call and turn off your cellphone completely. If you did everything correctly, within 24 hours you should start getting calls from "Satoru" on your turned-off phone, informing you where he is right now. Once he says "I'm right behind you", you can ask him a question, any question, and he'll tell you the correct answer. Anything! There's only a few things you gotta watch out for:

A) Never turn around to look at Satoru.

B) Never be a smartass and ask Satoru a question you already know the answer to, and finally

C) Never ask Satoru more than one question.

What happens if you break any of these rules? Ohhh, you'll just get mysteriously spirited away. To hell.

#3 Reiko Kashima (Persona 2 EP)

I'm cheating a little with this one, since it's literally just a real life ghost story that *happens* to appear in the game as a sidequest, but I just liked it too much to not mention it. Japan has a rich, fascinating culture of school ghost stories, which has spawned equally fascinating academic discourse in the field of Japanese Studies. A common trend among Japanese ghost stories is the appearance of female ghosts appearing in weird places doing terrible things to people for various reasons. This is one of those.

Reiko is a ghost without legs. How she died varies depending on who's telling the stories, but the most popular version seems to be "After World War II American soldiers raped her, then she jumped onto a train track and killed herself." (A KIDS’ GHOST STORY!!)

Anyway, she'll appear to you when you enter the bathroom, often at night. She'll ask you "Where are my legs?" You're supposed to answer "At Meishin Expressway." She'll ask you "Who told you that?" You'll say "Reiko Kashima did." If she's feelings especially persistent that day, she'll also say "Give me your arms" ("I'm still using those!"), "Give me your legs!" ("I still need those.") or "Do you know my name?" (Trick question. The right answer is "The masked demon of death".) If you answer any of these wrong, she'll dismember and kill you, so the two of you can go on tour together! Oh, also, it's said she'll appear to you within one month of first hearing about this story. You're welcome.

#4 Fuuka's Revenge VS "Hikiko-san"

In Persona 3, your first encounter with one of the most adorable members of your party also happens to be one of the creepiest friggin' party member introductions in all of the franchise. Before you ever even get to meet her, Junpei's theatrics and the Shinjiro Aragaki rumor mill are so nice to inform you that Fuuka is considered A) dead B) a ghost haunting Gekkoukan High School and C) responsible for inflicting two of her worst bullies on the mortal coil with a hefty bout of Apathy Syndrome. Of course, it quickly turns out that none of this true and actually she's just been trapped in a parallel dimension filled with blood hungry monsters for the last couple of weeks (Because that's, y'know, so much better) but the spread of those rumors at Gekkoukan isn't surprising, given how common this exact kind of Ghost Story is around Japanese schools.

One such example is the story of "Hikiko-san". She appears on rainy days, wearing a tattered white Kimono and carrying no umbrella. Behind her. She is dragging something that looks like a mannequin on first glance. If you look closer, it's actually a kid. If you happen to meet her, she'll knock you out, and drag you behind her, on and on, until you finally die, then, she'll dump your corpse somewhere. Now, here's the good news: Hikiko only targets school bullies. So hopefully all of you guys should be safe! ...Hopefully

(If you’re, in fact, not safe, I’m seriously judging you.).

Hikiko is actually the ghost of a girl who was either bullied to death or into suicide. Either way, the place where she dumps her victims tends to be the same one where she herself died. Her motivations is to rid the world of the very bullies who've made her life hell. So remember, kids: If you don't want to get brutally murdered in one stormy, stormy night, play nice.

Fun fact, there's a theory that the story was originally derived from a short-story titled "Fukiko", which is my reason for thinking that this might be the one that specifically inspired Fuuka's rumor in the game. Also, Hikiko's full name is often given as "Hikiko Mori". ..."Hikikomori". Very subtle.

#5 Cursed/Magic TV Shows/Websites (Persona 4 with a side of dancing)

Okay, these ones are so numerous and varied, I really couldn't pick out just a single one, even if I tried.

Both, the Midnight Channel in Persona 4 and the Cursed Video in Persona 4 Dancing All Night are based on a long-lasting trend of urban legend about screens or radios showing or playing things that aren't supposed to be there, and causing effects to the people viewing them that are either extremely desirable or extremely bad.

One example I found are a story about a man who found a Quiz Show at night on a channel that was meant to show Anime. In said quiz show, people admitted to doing various, awful crimes. Finally, the man himself was asked about 'his' crimes by the quiz show. When he refused to answer, he was tossed off his balcony and died.

Another example is the story of the "Red Room", a pop up that will appear on your computer after you attempt to research the story. Well, sucks to be me I guess. It says that after you attempt to close the pop-up several times, it will ask you if you 'like the red room'. Then, you'll kill yourself and paint your own room red with your blood. So if I go on another 6 months hiatus after this, you'll know what happened.

#6 High School... of YOUR death (Persona Q with a side of Dancing and Arena-ish...)

This one.... has got to be cheating, but I found it relevant, so hear I go. Of course, Persona Q is full of school ghost stories, I mean, one of its major plot points is about a literal School Ghost (spoilers?) but the one that stands out to me the most is the legend claiming that those who hear the long idle school bell strike shall die - a story very similar to another rumor from early in Persona 2 IS, where hearing the school bell while wearing the school emblem would result in one's face getting terribly disfigured. This story is--- sadly not one I could find a direct real life equivalent to. (cry) BUT! I do have something else.

Dalies and Mentlegen, the Tale of the Dream School.

There's a guy, let's call him Kei. One night, Kei has a very strange dream. He's wandering around a school he doesn't know, full of closed paths he can't go. The school is built like a Labyrinth that goes nowhere and the hallways seem to be going nowhere, which Kei finds very strange indeed. Now, unfortunately for Kei, he neglected to retrieve the key for the emergency exists and leave through there, because that might just have saved him. Instead, he stumbled upon a room of dismembered, dancing students. Yes. Dismembered AND dancing. It's a weird school like that. Anyway, at that point, Kei's fate was sealed, he stayed trapped in the dream world forever and never woke up. The end.

Stories like these are a nice potential source of the Persona series liking for school hallways turning into an impenetrable maze of death, as well the tidbit about "never waking up" in the cursed video's rumor from Persona 4 Dancing All Night.

I, on the other hand, can only wonder if this means that I should be very worried about my recent tendency to flash back to the horrors of my high school years at night. Again. If I disappear, you know where I am.

#7 Magic Message Boards (Persona 5)

And finally, for the grand finale...! Drumroll, please...

The rumor... Is YOU my friend! Yes, you! The Phantom Thieves! Oh, wait, you thought I meant the real you? Eh, no, sorry. You're just... someone, I don't know... (JK I love you) CARRYING ON!

While Persona 5 is, for the most part, surprisingly light on the traditional sort of Ghost Story we've been getting used to from previous installments. It gives us one big Urban Legend right there in the premise: You, the Phantom Thieves, as an unexplained, supernatural force, granting the pleas of the oppressed and punishing the very minds of those corrupt. How do you contact this mysterious power for its aid?! Why, via an internet message board, of course! An urban legend of the modern age, indeed.

Reflective of current trends or not, the way how the world's belief in the Phantom Thieves strengthens and weakens their power over Tokyo over the course of the game -something that is actually measured with an in-game meter- is very reminiscent of how rumors work in Persona 2, and while you may now say "The Phantom Thieves aren't an urban legend in the game's world, they're one hundred percent fact!" Well, the same is true for almost everything else on this list now, isn't it?

The Persona series is and has always been a story about thoughts altering reality, and what thoughts are more powerful than those passed on from person to person, shaping a story so well-known, it already seems real at times! In a way, Nyarlathotep was right, rumors, myths and Urban Legends are reflections of how we, as a collective perceive our world, how we fear it, and what we want from it.

Now, if only the collective unconscious could keep me from suffering the dire consequences of all this forbidden knowledge I have uneart- *disappears spookily and suddenly*

#Megami Ibunroku Persona #Persona 2 #Persona 3 #Persona 4 #Persona 5 #Neni Theory #Neni Talks

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neni-has-ascended · 7 years ago

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What are your thoughts about Marie from P4G? She seems to a contrversy in the fandom so I would like to know your opinion about her and her role in the game.

Ahhh, to Marie or not to Marie. The old song and dance of love, betrayal and the fandom ripping each other’s heads off in the neverending cycle of waifu wars.

To give you my take on the issue:

Short Version: I like the character. A lot. Love her, even.

Long Version:

When I first played Persona 4 and was made aware of the fact that “The Golden” had some additional content I had no chance to experience yet, I was fully prepared to hate her. What I saw go around in the Fandom were horror stories of badly written dialogue, character derailing escapades and a character who has no business being there taking over the entire narrative. Additionally, I wasn’t really sold on her design, since her fashion style seemed pretty badly out of place for P4. So that’s what I went in expecting. A one-note plot device character who’d make my experience worse for it.

Then I actually played P4G and realized that absolutely nothing of what I’d heard was true. Instead of the “obnoxious Tsundere Mary-Sue” I was warned of, I was greeted by a very well-woven in story about a lost girl trying to deny her own loneliness and confusion by distracting herself with the material world and channeling her emotions into secret writings. In many ways a typical teenager, but the way she acts isn’t romanticized at all. It’s ridiculed where it deserves to be ridiculed and treated seriously where it deserves to be treated as such. At no point is she framed as some great, romantic “ARTEEEST” whose suffering makes her a bigger person. She’s just somebody desperately trying to not feel lost. Everything she does, having the protagonist take her out, her stance on consumerism (which she seems to embrace), her constant boredom and impatience, and her poems are symptomatic of how desperately she wants to *not* talk about her real issues that are making her hurt, simply because she doesn’t know how to talk about them. That is, of course, because she’s actually a fragment of Izanami which once rebelled against the goddesses’ corrupted desires and was cast out for it, now resigned to forgetting about its own ideals, which adds a whole layer more to the character. She’s the embodiment of a desire for people’s most honest, sincere wishes to come true, but since Izanami has abandoned her, she can no longer believe in the very ideal that makes her up, hence why she’s so resigned to materialism and living out her own desires only in secret. Additionally, the fact that she’s not actually human makes it hard for her to understand human social norms (just how Izanami doesn’t actually understand humans either), so she often acts terribly out-of line, which is where we get the “Tsundere Archetype” accusations from. However, unlike most cases, Marie is actually a GOOD execution of that character archetype: Not only is her “Tsundere-ness” not just an expression of embarrassment towards a guy she has a crush on (she acts like that towards EVERYONE, not just him), she also has damn good reasons to act like that, since she never actually learned about social guidelines.

Still, I am not surprised the fandom is often as opposed to her as they seem to be. As soon as I’d decided that I actually really like Marie, I felt immediately reminded of the exact same thing happening with a character in another fandom I am big on: Xion from Kingdom Hearts received pretty much the exact same cold initial reception from the fandom as Marie did. And that even though in character analyses she tended to be called a “very good character”.

Of course, the parallels between the cases are immediately visible: Both characters are black haired girls who were added to their respective games in retrospect by the way of expansions to the stories, turn out to be deeply important to the story and lore the players have cared about ever since before they knew this character exist, also turn out to be intrinsically connected to an important canon character, and their absence from the initial release ends up being explained with “All memories of them were destroyed when they died, BUT you now have a chance undo that!!!!”. They are perceived as somehow acting as a “forced love interest” towards a major character.

It’s pretty clear how a character like that would irk players, who might already have invested hours and hours into doing fanwork and crafting fan-theories that do not involve said character. It can be extremely frustrating to have your image of canon foiled like that by a retroactive update to the narrative. However, in both cases I think the kneejerk reactions were actually greatly overstated:

Even though both, Xion and Marie, change something about the lore they were introduced to, the changes are not so great as one couldn’t accommodate for them with ease, a love-relationship with a main character is only implied as a possibility in both cases (In fact, with Marie you can deny taking her down a lover’s route, just like you can with any other character, and with Xion I’d argue it isn’t there at all outside of Axel’s overinterpretation; Xion and Roxas’ relationship seemed strictly platonic or brother-sisterly to me) and, again, timelines where the characters have been erased from existence still exist in both cases, so if you really don’t want to involve them, you can still set your fanwork within those timeframes/timelines.

If anything, I see Marie’s - and by extension, Xion’s - case as a cautionary tale for writers as to what kind of violent reactions to expect from your audience if you decide to introduce important elements retroactively, as to opposed to putting them into the story right away. No matter how well done those elements are, there will be fans who just can’t find it in them to accommodate to that sudden change in the lore. That’s just how it is.

#Neni Replies #Persona 4 #Kingdom Hearts #Marie (Persona 4)#Xion #Neni Theory #extrosexytrollingpolice

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