#She has to be here. If you take Haruka away and she didn't exist in the games I wouldn't love them half as much because she's the constant | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

greatideas-badwriter · 11 months ago

Text

SasuSaku: Sacrificed To The Banished Prince Chapter 1

Sixteen. That's the age that a person reaches adulthood in Konoha. It's also the age when most sons and daughters get paired up for arranged marriages. The same can't be said for Sakura, though. No, at twenty-two years old, she's never received a single offer, largely due to the fact that her existence isn't known by many. As the illegitimate child of Baron Haruno and a traveling dancer, the poor young woman was brought up as little more than a slave. Most maids are treated with more care.

Sakura is the eldest of the Baron's four children. Just three years younger than her is Hihara, the family heir and only son. With blood-red hair, emerald green eyes, and tan skin, he received nearly thirty marriage proposals on the morning of his sixteenth birthday. He married Duke Hyuga's second daughter, Hanabi, though he remains in the Haruno estate while she stays at the castle. Apparently, their dislike of one another is mutual.

Next, there's Haruka, the most beautiful Haruno daughter. She has the family's red hair, long and flowing down her back, sparkling blue eyes, and a figure others can only dream of having. Her sixteenth birthday was two months ago, and she's been taking her time selecting a husband out of the many proposals.

In reality, Sakura knows Haruka's only holding out because when she's been wed, she'll have to move in with her new husband, and it's likely she won't be as coddled as she is at home. Haruka is a daddy's girl through and through. She's spoiled and mean but does a great job of appearing charming in front of others.

Finally, there's Hana, the youngest daughter. Unlike Hihara and Haruka, Hana is sweet and kind. At fourteen, she's soft-spoken and intelligent. She's the only sibling who doesn't mistreat Sakura. The two share a love for reading novels and often bond by discussing them.

After twenty-two years of being treated awfully, Sakura's spirit is beyond broken. With dull green eyes and an ever-present solemn expression on her pale face, the woman does what she's told and tries not to draw attention to herself. Any personality she had to speak of was squandered long ago.

"You should be thanking me. My father allowed you to stay here even after your slut mother ran off and got herself killed," Haruka shoved Sakura to the ground. The pinkette didn't try to defend herself because she knew by now it would only make things worse.

The middle siblings often find reasons to bully her, even if they have to make something up. This time, Haruka insisted the woman glared at her. It didn't happen, obviously.

"Here," the redhead lifted her flowing dress enough that her feet were visible and pointed one out toward Sakura, "Kiss it. Tell me how grateful you are."

Tears threatened to rise in Sakura's eyes, but she blinked them back. Gritting her teeth, she crawled closer to do as ordered, only to freeze when their father's voice rang through the long hallway, "Girls, quit playing and come to my office."

A tiny cry escaped Sakura when her hand was suddenly stomped on by Haruka's heel. She snatched it away to her chest when able and struggled to her feet with a low gaze. It was bleeding. She quietly followed her younger sister.

"What do you need this trash for?"

They stood before the Baron's desk, Hihara and Hana already present and waiting. The stern man held up a piece of parchment with an unfamiliar seal in dark blue, "There has been a proposal that cannot be declined." He set it on the desk before him and interlaced his fingers with his elbows resting, "The second Uchiha heir demands a wife from us."

Sakura expected Haruka to be excited because, as far as she was aware, none of her other suitors had a name even close to as powerful as "Uchiha". To her surprise, she wasn't. "No, Daddy, please! Don't make me!"

"This is outrageous! How many women has he gone through already, Father? Surely there's something you can do?" Hihara added.

The Baron lifted a hand to silence the room, "Sakura."

Sakura's eyes lifted in surprise, only to drop quickly down again, "Yes, Father?"

"You'll go."

Haruka gasped before laughing loudly, "That's perfect! Send the garbage to her death in my place. Thank you, Daddy!"

The pinkette couldn't help but ask, despite knowing it'd upset at least her siblings, "To my death…?"

Hihara responded, "Countless women have been sacrificed as wives to him already. Receiving a proposal means certain death by the monster's hand." When Sakura met her brother's eye in disbelief, he smirked, "Thank you for your sacrifice, dear sister."

After being raised under the idea that she was nothing, Sakura didn't argue. She didn't fight back when Haruka visited her bedroom later that night to beat and mock her. She didn't even shed a tear upon being bathed and dolled up like some kind of princess the next morning, only to be put into a carriage and immediately sent to the most northern part of Konoha, where snow covered the ground, and the air was cold enough to hurt bare skin.

'If only I wasn't about to be killed, I'd be so relieved to finally be away from everyone,' Sakura mused while watching the trees pass outside. 'Wait, why aren't we going East, toward the castle?' This was the first time she'd been permitted to leave the estate, so she was still happy regardless.

She looked at her hands with a grimace. Her nails were trimmed and painted a soft white, but there's no hiding the scars and callouses from the hard work she'd been forced to do.

'Will he kill me immediately, or will he want to consummate the marriage beforehand?' To say she was frightened is putting it lightly. Sakura didn't know what consummate meant, but Father told her before she left to expect it and that it was her duty as a wife.

"We're here, Lady Haruno," the driver interrupted the woman's train of thought. Sakura's spine straightened as the door to the carriage opened. She was helped outside by the frowning man. He removed her luggage and sat it by her feet, tipped his hat, and left her there on the side of the dirt road.

"W-Wait!" It was futile. She was alone.

The confused woman looked behind her, only to swallow hard. There, at the end of the lengthy trail she'd been left at, stood a mansion. It was black as night and gothic in style. Every window was dark and covered with curtains. The grass and garden were dead, the leaves from the bare trees lying unraked and messily mixed into the snow to make it a dirty brown color.

'Is this really the home of a member of the royal family?'

She carried her heavy suitcase, struggling all the while, up the path until she reached the door, where she hesitated. Before she could decide what to do, the door opened to reveal a pale-skinned man with dull eyes and a tense smile, "You're trespassing. State your business or leave the premises."

'What? Is this not the right place?'

"I'm the eldest daughter of Baron Haruno." Sakura bowed politely as the maids instructed her last night.

The man's eyes widened, and he cocked his head to the side, "You're Lady Haruno?"

She nodded, attempting to remain composed under his watchful gaze.

He studied her in silence for a moment before holding the door open and gesturing inside, "Follow me. Don't touch anything."

A second man wordlessly approached, took her suitcase, and followed the duo into the large home. The floors were bright white, the tile shiny enough to reflect the lights even though they were dim. Dark violet wallpaper with an elegant black design covered the walls. Expensive-looking vases and ornaments decorated the hallway, each one probably worth more than everything Sakura owns combined. "

Wait here." The young woman nods, bowing her head politely when the pale man spares her a glance.

It was silent between her and the second butler for the entirety of their wait, almost ten minutes. The pinkette begins to feel lightheaded. She wasn't offered any food before being sent off by her family, and her body has always been weak due to the neglect and abuse she suffered all these years.

Just as she began worrying she'd have to ask the silent man nearby to show her somewhere to sit, the original butler reappeared.

He held out a thin black envelope. "Usotsuki will show you to your room."

'What is this? A letter? Where is the prince? Will he not come out to kill me now?'

The confusion must've been obvious because he curtly explained, "Lord Uchiha forbids you from visiting the third floor of the estate, where his quarters are located. Until further notice, you'll begin planning the wedding. That letter contains an official greeting."

The next thing Sakura knew, she was alone in a massive, dark bedroom. It took mere minutes to hang the three dresses she owned in the wardrobe. Inwardly, the woman was terrified the murderous prince would come to kill her in the middle of the night, but she was also wondering if maybe things would be better that way. If he did it while she was asleep, then at least she wouldn't have to suffer anymore.

Lighting a candle at the desk near the bed, Sakura sat in the large chair and opened the letter from her soon-to-be husband. Intricate, neat handwriting met her gaze. Tears welled in her eyes as she read it.

"Lady Haruno, thank you for agreeing to travel to my home without an escort. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. As for our engagement, allow me to clearly explain my intentions. We will not be married. His Royal Highness has demanded I search for a fiance, which is why you've been summoned. However, I do not agree with his demands."

"While I am certain your stay here will be temporary, please inform any of the staff of your needs, and I will see to it that they are met. I ask for your patience as I devise a plan to return you to your family. Please allow me one month to remedy the situation. In the meantime, you will need to act as though our wedding is inevitable. I understand that I'm asking a lot, but it's for both of our sakes. I do not wish to be married, and you likely do not wish to be married to a man like me."

A signature at the bottom of the letter read "Sasuke Uchiha".

Sakura's heartbeat soared in a panic.

'No! No, this can't be happening!'

If she returned home in a month, unwed, her family would be enraged. With shaking hands, the woman fumbled through the desk for a pen and paper, quickly writing a response.

"My Lord, your honesty is appreciated in this stressful situation. Please allow me to return the gesture with unsullied words. While I'm sure you have personal reasons as to why you wish to remain a bachelor, I beg your reconsideration. For my own reasons, I cannot allow this marriage to fail. Let us be wed as His Highness requests. Use me as a defense against further such demands. Whether you discard of me or not, I am fine with whatever outcome so long as our families are fooled."

Sakura would rather be brutally murdered by this mysterious prince than return home. She was sent here to die, and if she didn't do that, the punishment would certainly have her begging for death.

Hesitantly, the woman opened the door to her room and tiptoed into the hallway until she saw two maids passing by, "Excuse me, but can you please deliver this to Lord Uchiha?"

The maids looked at her with wide eyes. One of them gingerly accepted the letter, "As you wish, Ma'am." The pair bowed politely before scampering off, whispering excitedly to one another.

Sakura watched them for a moment before returning to her room with a sigh.

That was the nicest any staff had ever treated her. She fully expected them to hit or at least yell at her. Her body trembled with fright as she climbed into the comfortable bed and curled into a ball. One way or another, her life would soon be over.

#naruto #naruto fanfiction #narutofanfic #narutofanfiction #sakura #naruto shippuden #sakura uchiha #haruno sakura #sasusaku fic #sasusaku fanfiction #uchiha sasuke #sasuke #sasusaku #sakura haruno

28 notes · View notes

skrunksthatwunk · 1 year ago

Text

ok so. kiwami 2. rooftop scene. the ending. it's a bit of a clusterfuck but i wanna talk about one detail, a problem they bring to your attention by Fucking. Talking About Her.

haruka is watching all of this unfold.

[this post is like 4.5k words long + pretty critical + has spoilers for kiwami and kiwami 2, and really minor/vague ones for a couple others. they're not that bad though, trust me (and i added a warning in the one place it is major)]

ALSO CONTENT WARNING i'm gonna talk about kiryu's passive suicidality a good amount in this one, so stay away from this if you think that might affect you negatively/you'd be better off skipping it. i'll also make a tl;dr (which i will highlight in red) at the very end if you really wanna know what my point is that will exclude those elements <3. i am also going to use a lot of choice-based language in regards to kiryu's contemplation of suicide because i think it's the lens through which the games treat the topic, but i personally don't find it a productive or realistic way to look at suicide or suicidal ideation at all. someone dying by suicide absolutely does not mean they don't care about their loved ones enough to fight on or whatever. i love you, and proceed with caution on this one.

(also i'm using the kiwamis as my point of reference because i uh. don't have a ps2? those are the games that i played, and though the differences are likely slight, i wanna be clear about that. also,, ignore the watermark on these screenshots,, i didn't notice them and i'm not retaking them. we're all gonna have to settle for youtube cutscene comps for now xoxo)

first, we have to talk about the ending of the first game.

[note: i am Really Really Confident kiryu has a conversation earlier in the game about his going to jail in nishiki's stead being him running away and choosing not to resist his two options (go to jail or let nishiki go to jail) and define his own path, fighting his way against fate to make it happen. part of why i'm so confident it exists is because it made such an impression on me at the time. it's pretty important to my interpretation of things but i also can't find it for the life of me, so uh. sorry ✌️ i really tried. this post's takes/analysis will be dependent on this scene existing, so keep that in mind. if anyone knows where to find the scene/screenshots of it, lmk and i'll add a follow-up with it]

kiwami stuff

so as she's dying, yumi tells haruka this:

that she may be dying (painfully, and right as she's getting everything she wanted), but she doesn't regret it, because at least she did something rather than running away from it all. that you shouldn't run away, ever.

shortly thereafter, when the police find kiryu and haruka, this exchange happens between him and date. here's the play by play:

date tells kiryu he can get him out of trouble with this, and that if he doesn't, he'll get life in prison; kiryu declines his help:

kiryu is so devastated (understandably) by the back to back losses of the three people closest to him that he resigns himself to life in prison, and the death-in-effect that would be. he would prefer to waste away rather than struggle through a life without them. prison was monotonous and isolating, but coming back after a decade was overwhelming, and coming back to everything being so warped and twisted, and then losing the corrupted scraps he had anyway, well. he wants to go back to sleep. he doesn't want to be in a world where everything's the same except he's on his own. better to return to safety, to die slowly in a hell he knows well than weather a new one where he has control and agency, and thus one where he has the ability to fail and to lose anything at any time. he explains to date that that loss is why he can accept his death:

date shakes him and asks him if there's really nothing left for him, no reason to keep living at all:

then echoes yumi's advice to haruka:

which makes an impression on kiryu:

date gives him a reason to live in the form of haruka, saying she'll be on her own again if he goes to jail. he hijacks kiryu's tragic protector complex to keep him alive, because she needs him, and because she's someone precious to him:

after the dust has cleared,

kiryu and date also have this exchange, where date tells him to stay away from the cops (and presumably arrest and a return to prison, the aforementioned fate akin to death), and kiryu cites haruka as his reason to stay away, one he holds to with no uncertainty (showing again that he's accepted date's logic, that his reason to keep living even when it's incredibly difficult is to care for the more vulnerable haruka). given the weight of the consequences, to me, it feels like date's telling him not to be alone with his thoughts or something. it's almost frightening:

so, what's our takeaway from kiwami?

kiryu lost everything and hit rock bottom, but he chose to fight, and to live life on his own terms, even when it got difficult. that's the narrative life lesson he had to learn to avoid repeating the events of 1995. he made that choice for haruka's sake. it's seen as growth.

and without him, haruka would've just returned to the orphanage (assuming she could make it back to sunflower at all) with no one who knew or understood what she had been through, no one to mourn with her, and no one to give her the attention, care, and protection she needs. kiryu knows what it's like to be an orphan with a limited parental figure who only checks in every so often (kazama, "aunt" yumi), and what someone will do for attention/affection from that person (via both himself and nishiki swearing up, climbing the ranks, etc. arguably haruka coming to kamurocho by herself to find "mizuki" is similar), and what it's like to lose them anyway (again, kazama, yumi). their situations parallel each others' somewhat, and that binds them further. and after losing everyone (which he blames himself for to some extent, as one can probably assume from this and 2, and something key to his arc in later games), he chooses to protect her. and this time, he won't fail. at least partially because failing would hurt him, too. he'd have nothing left again.

okay. now we get to kiwami 2.

if you forgot, the context is basically:

everybody's fighting on the roof of a building which i'm sure will not be a running theme or anything as the series goes on

there's a bomb that's about to go off and they don't know how to/can't defuse it

ryuji shot the twist villain to death, but took fatal hits to do so

sayama's like hey!! let's get out of here!!! and kiryu and ryuji are like nooo we have to settle this oughh it's punchin time and they stick her on an elevator and send her down so she doesn't have to watch

ryuji loses. sayama returns, they have a cute sibling heart to heart, and ryuji dies in her arms. sad

kiryu is in rough shape as well, and there's like 2 minutes left on the bomb's timer

here's the scene itself:

sayama tells kiryu they have to run, and kiryu says he can't. the gist is "let's run!" "you go without me" "i'm not leaving you!" "i'm in no condition to run" "i'll carry you then!!" sayama: *sees how fucked up kiryu is, realizes he's Going To Die Anyway* "ok, then i'm staying with you!" and then further bickering about that, before they give up and make out (as one does i guess)

date (he's here now) yells this at them from a helicopter:

before someone else in the helicopter tells date this:

we get this shot of haruka calling out to kiryu as the helicopter swerves away:

and kiryu and sayama have this exchange about haruka where they say they let her down, but that she'll understand:

then they hug and the bomb ticks to zero right when the credits hit. in post credits it's revealed that the twist villain defused the bomb when they weren't looking, betraying his co-villain for reasons i truthfully do not remember and am unwilling to look up. it's not about that right now.

so, how does this scene interact with the ending of the previous game?

the short answer is "badly <3" but here's the long answer:

it's about choices.

the thing about fiction is that anything you want to have happen, as a writer, can happen. it may not be effective, internally consistent, or logical, but you can write it regardless. audiences suspend their disbelief for the sake of engaging fully with your fiction, but everyone has a threshold past which they will stop being engaged in a story and either become uninvested or annoyed. writers usually have lines they're unwilling to cross as well. but in almost every story, there's at least a couple of places where they stretch reality a little to make the narrative they want happen. this is not a bad thing at all. that's how stories get told.

now, i'm gonna be real with you. i don't care about how feasible plots are like 95% of the time. it's not something i think about much, nor is it something i prioritize. i am a very character-centric media consumer, so if world building and/or plot are a bit stale or contrived, that doesn't really bother me much so long as i'm invested in the characters involved. some people can't stand plot holes or the ways musicals burst into song or whatever, and that's fine for them. but it's not something i tend to find that all that important.

this is all to say that i have a sorta affection for rgg's flavor of bullshit pulling. and it is a powerful flavor, maybe even an acquired taste, but i can and do rock with it so long as it doesn't damage the characters too much. this is why i'm not making a lengthy post howling into the void about joji kazama or the second joon-gi han or how many secret relatives there are. those things are silly and endearing and a clumsy yet heartfelt part of a series i care about very deeply. i'll joke about it, but i don't consider it much of a flaw. it's more like personality. flaws are texture, and they help a piece's identity. point is i am very, very willing and able to suspend my disbelief for these games in exchange for a good time, particularly via good characters.

(if you want another example of where i draw the line from within rgg, the answer's the YAKUZA 4 SPOILERS INCOMING rubber bullets twist, because i think 1) it's actively horrifically stupid (especially retconning a scene we SAW HAPPEN. WE SAW BLOOD ON EACH IMPACT, AND RUBBER BULLETS DON'T OFTEN BREAK SKIN THAT DEEPLY (THEIR DAMAGE IS MORE PERCUSSIVE THAN PENETRATIVE). THESE EVENTS HAPPEN IN THE SAME GAME YOU DON'T HAVE TO RETCON IT JUST REWRITE IT. OR DON'T SHOW THE HIT AT ALL SO THERE'S MORE PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY. DON'T DO THIS JUST TO HYPE UP YOUR SHITTY VILLAIN NO ONE CARES ABOUT. and 2) (a bit more importantly) i think it actively removes saejima's primary internal conflict for that game, that being his intense guilt over the 18 murders he thinks he committed, one i was invested and interested in. but this isn't a rubber bullets post.)

characters in this series walk off a lot of life threatening injuries. they survive miraculously, they escape in the nick of time, and they pull through in the end. kiryu still somehow hasn't killed anyone. almost every game in his saga ends with an "is kiryu gonna make it out this time?!?" shortly followed by a "yeah lol. lmao" postcredits reveal. kiryu fucking punches a marble statue into dust in the first game. having a story that asks you to suspend your disbelief so much and so often means that when a decision is made, it's not the writers saying, "well, this would have to happen so we are obligated/forced to write it happening" so much as "we wanted this to happen for some reason(s)," because you already know that they're not guided solely by logic. again, this is true of all writers, it's just amplified in stories like these because they've already given you so many hard mode suspension of disbelief moments (they've broken you in like leather, yeah? or like how obvious internet scams allow for self selection by being so obvious that only the most vulnerable people would fall for them. they curate an audience willing to play along with their bullshit flavor so they can tell a story that's more likely to satisfy that audience. in a good way, in a fun way! mass appeal is overrated). there is not much limit to what this series is willing to try and sell you.

so when ryuji takes lethal damage taking out the big bad, that's a choice. when he doesn't die immediately, that's a choice. when ryuji and kiryu send sayama away in the soon-to-be-forgotten elevator so they can settle this like men or whatever despite the literal actual bomb about to go off, that's a choice. when sayama comes back, that's a choice. when ryuji does die, that's a choice. when kiryu determines that he can't escape in time, that's a choice. when sayama is unwilling to leave him, that's a choice. when she says she'll carry him out and there's an elevator right fucking there and then she's like never mind i guess i won't anymore we're dying together right now kiryu like they're not gonna even try?? wouldn't distancing themselves from the blast give themselves a better shot, something that's super possible given the 2 minutes they have with that elevator??? sayama you met him like a week and a half ago why are you ready to die with him that's not a plot hole i just think that's kinda strange whatever anyway, that's a choice. when kiryu stops arguing with her so they can kiss (next to her brother's corpse), that's a choice. when date shows up, that's a choice. when the helicopter can't save them because the bomb was going to go off too soon, that's a choice. when they put haruka in that helicopter and take her away, let her only impact be reminding kiryu and sayama that they can't help her, that's a choice. when they spend their last moments talking as if they're already dead, then simply waiting, that's a choice.

they're all choices that the writers made for the characters, and we are asked to believe them for the sake of achieving the writers' vision, as with any story. the only problem is that the writers' vision here fucking blows.

i'm not saying it would be realistic for kiryu and sayama (and even ryuji) to make it out alive, but it wouldn't be out of character for the series in the slightest. kiryu is suddenly unable to power through here, and that's a choice. so, what is their vision?

put simply, i think they wanted a romantic last stand for kiryu and sayama, a tragic scene of doomed, devoted lovers. and i think they wanted an edge-of-your-seat fake out death. they wanted spectacle.

here's how some specific choices they made undermine all that shit we talked about earlier from the first game.

once again, kiryu is called by date to live, to pick himself up and keep going, no matter how impossible the odds are. he's even reminded by haruka's presence, his one anchor in keeping himself going. the growth he had in the parallel scene in the previous game is challenged, and he fails.

it's not enough this time. and that's a choice.

it's also one i can't think of a good reason for, and that's the real kicker.

characters can have developmental backslide just like people do, and if they're given good reason for it, it can be just as, if not far more compelling that purely linear growth (i am a chimera ant arc enjoyer, and that's all i'll say. sorry if you haven't seen hunter x hunter. uhh. i am also a zuko avatar enjoyer if that helps). but i can't think of anything that happened in that game that would cause this from a character perspective. if anything, kiryu should be less likely to do this intentionally. he's spent around a year raising haruka, and a year has passed since he lost his loved ones. at the very least, the pain should be more dull, though it is established through an early nightmare sequence that his ass is (justifiably) not over it yet. given that their deaths were the initial motivation for his willingness to rot forever, theoretically, he should be more motivated to stay alive than before now that he's got more investment and stability in his life outside of them, particularly when it comes to haruka, his reason for surviving. and if the ongoing nature of the trauma was the motivator for this, then they should've had it affect him more past that nightmare scene (it really serves more as a recap of the last game than anything else) so it didn't come out of nowhere. so the reminder of the lesson that saved his life and then guided it for at least a year afterwards, one that the whole resolution of the previous game relied on heavily falls flat for... some reason.

i think this is a good time to mention that, generally speaking, you don't write arbitrary choices into characters. sure, people in real life are often sporadic, but when analyzing fictional characters, every choice is filed into a portfolio of characterization that can and should be analyzed. going for pure realism can obfuscate their development, motivations, themes, etc. their choices and reactions may be unorthodox, but they must be internally consistent. this is very related to how i view plot contrivance as well. characters drive the plot, not the other way around. stories are about the ways characters affect their worlds/lives and vice versa, and they're the human face to the themes and ideas the writers are trying to explore and express. maybe my stance on this seems hypocritical. i don't know if it is. but to me, plot issues are usually a matter of engagement and investment, while character issues are a matter of substance.

i hope this doesn't feel patronizing explaining all of this, but i want you guys to know where i'm coming from in my analysis. starting at my base philosophy on writing is the easiest way to do that, i feel. defining the terms of the debate, and all that. anyway

and i mean, look. they survive because "it was defused the whole time we just didn't see it happen", so it's not like narrative tension or realism or whatever was THAT big of a priority overall. if it was gonna be a cop-out anyway, they should'nt have ruined kiryu's development too, yeah?. and sayama fucks off to america after this game anyway, so it's not like the doomed lovers thing had much payoff or meaning after this one (though you could argue that's more an issue with yakuza 3 than yk2, which has some merit to it). which means that they chose to sacrifice kiryu's prior development and internal logic for the sake of cheap tension for their finale that was both kinda illogical in and of itself (the elevator!! the elevator!!!) and a romantic climax that neither required nor really benefitted from this staging. (like. you coulda had them make out and then get saved by date, or kiss on the elevator in a "it's moving, but will we make it in time??" way or whatever. look i'm not saying those are great options either but they're SOMETHING okay. it would remove/reduce the amount of time wasted on characters sitting around with their thumbs up their asses for no reason in this finale).

instead the message of this finale is that, actually, sometimes it is impossible to change your circumstances and fight for your own way out of an awful situation. and what should you do about this unfortunate truth? uh. die! i guess. it's the exact opposite of the encouraging, optimistic message of the last game. zetsubou chou pride my ass.

note: i feel i should mention that when suicidality is brought up within the series (particularly in substories), it is always something someone has to overcome themselves through wanting it badly enough. they simply need the inspiration and the motivation to keep going. it's arguably treated as a moral obligation. frankly, the series is broadly very meritocratic (<- bad) when it comes to this topic (and others, but that's a Whole Other Thing. see akiyama's weird loan shark tests as well). sheer will and resolve is enough to conquer any problem, be it physical or mental/emotional, and it's irresponsible to act/feel otherwise. this is the logic the games operating under, and kiryu is often the mouthpiece for this bootstrap-pulling "tough love" sentiment. so when kiryu "chooses" to die, yet faces no emotional fallout from date, haruka, or anyone else, it feels very out of place. it's not just an odd choice; it's specifically, once again, an odd choice to make in context of the game/series/character it appears in.

kiryu's just like eh, haruka'll watch her only family die right as she gets some sense of tentative stability and lets her guard down after a devastating month the year prior (and a relatively dismal upbringing before that) that we trauma bonded over. sure, she likely came to view me as the one who would stay no matter what, who was too strong to be taken out, who she could always rely on, and so i know that dying would hurt her immensely, but she's smart enough to know it'd happen eventually. her eventual recovery means it's okay for me to do this (somehow, in a way it wasn't in the first game). it's an excuse within the narrative's logic, and one it is uncritical of simply because it's kiryu. he gets a pass.

and i think with the previously mentioned passive suicidality and general series-long mental health issues kiryu displays (i mean. yakuza 5's literally his depression arc), this could be retroactively seen as an interesting choice, like a piece in that particular narrative. i don't even dislike that viewing, especially in terms of fan approach. but (assuming this went down the same in yakuza 2), they likely didn't have that in mind. all they had then was the first game and the movie. and they took the first game's Entire Message and contradicted it for nothing but a scene they wanted to have happen because it'd be suspenseful and/or emotional (without actually doing the work to earn it). and they're not fans trying to analyze his character, they're the ones making choices for him. and they chose to massacre my boy. and if the subject of kiryu's mental health was a priority of theirs, why didn't they explore that? haruka and date's feelings on him not resisting and their words not being enough (whether that blame is justified by the narrative or not (it shouldn't be btw)), the uncomfortable drifting that resigning yourself to death and living afterwards anyway often brings, literally any conversation about it besides the minimal shit we get post credits of date being like "did you know about the bomb not having a fuse?" which like. bad answer either way (which is why they weren't straightforward about it, the cowards). you can't just be like "oh uh. idk he just gave up this time. yeah he was gonna die on purpose for some reason. good thing the bomb was fake lol" and then pack up and go home!! that's stupid!! any merit the idea of kiryu dying by suicide in this scene and in this way could have had from a character-based perspective loses its weight because 1. it didn't happen (for kinda stupid reasons), which makes it fall flat and 2. no one is really affected by the fact that it almost did, including him. they sacrificed his ass and replaced it with nothing, even when there could have been interesting outcomes to it.

so the narrative effectively chose to kill him by making the situation impossible, and this impossibility is ultimately arbitrary, given the series' usual approach to miraculous, illogical escapes. that, or the choice to stay was up to kiryu and sayama, one that 1. doesn't make sense and is actively regressive in context of kiryu's arc in the only other game in the series (as well as his whole saga in retrospect) and 2. one that contradicts how the series sees/treats resignation to death/death by suicide in all other contexts without being addressed, challenged, or condemned in ways it would in all other contexts. because they don't want you to think about it like that. they want you to think he (and the narrative) had no choice, that it made sense to do that. but it didn't. it doesn't.

and look, honestly? if i was bleeding out and had like 2 minutes to live, there's a non zero chance i'd say fuck it and kiss a girl too. i get it. but i am (and this is crucial) not a fucking yakuza character. and i'm certainly not kiryu kazuma.

tl;dr (basically just rephrasing the second to last main paragraph)

there are not sufficient character reasons for kiryu and sayama not trying to escape. additionally, because the narrative regularly facilitates even less likely escapes, it's not so constrained to logic and reality that it couldn't pull this one off. the choice to let their situation be impossible this one time was a cheap and arbitrary way of forcing a scene they thought would be cool and dramatic, and in doing so they chose to cannibalize a key emotional note of the previous finale (namely kiryu's mission to dedicate his life to protecting haruka) for hollow last minute stakes-upping in this one. it is then completely disregarded anyway. god damn.

#got so into this post that i used tumblr on my laptop for the first time to surpass mobile's image limit #i also added transcriptions in the alt text (which i should do more often)#actually thinking about it in the movie kiryu teaches haruka that lesson about stumbling on.. and she's the one to ask to follow him... hm.#just interesting given that the movie came out before 2. i don't think it makes much of a difference to the post it's just neat to me #one of my favorite parts of writing this was skimming through a bunch of yk1/yk2 cutscenes and noticing how often kiryu pats haruka's head #it happens a lot more than i remembered and it's very sweet to me. get bonked little one <3 #another good thing was realizing you can edit tags when you're not on mobile.... fucking life changing. i have lost hours to mobile tag #editing and i'm not even kidding about that #speaking of editing this one took like 6 hours.. my brother used “yakuza autism” (verb) for me earlier and it's so true. source: this post #i did have a short break to get food bc i hadn't eaten all day but that's mostly because i woke up at 3pm. anyway #also if you like kiwami 2's ending you're not even remotely alone. i looked at the comment sections of the scene comps and ppl love it #and more power to you!! i like it when people enjoy things. and tbh i DO have feelings that i'm supposed to about that ending #i just also have feelings you're not supposed to. like. anger. i guess.#rgg #ryu ga gotoku #skrunk meta #aww yeah it's a new tag babeyy #yakuza kiwami 2 #kiwami 2 #yakuza #like a dragon #yk2 #kiryu kazuma #sawamura haruka #sayama kaoru #maybe my thoughts'll change after replaying the games...? it's been like a year and a half since i beat yk2 so i am a bit fuzzy on it #yakuza kiwami spoilers #yakuza kiwami 2 spoilers

39 notes · View notes

waiting-on-a-dream · 2 years ago

Text

My ocs as milgram songs!

I'm doing this based on backstory and which one of my oc(s) would kin the milgram character, so whoever gets assigned to these sad songs...Rip.

Weakness: Aurora

The words I tried to say was “You’re unfair” And those words thought how pitiful I am

As told before in my Aurora analysis, they long for a love that only children receive. That is to say, they want to be protected and pampered (simply for existing?). The same goes for Haruka, who desperately wants to be loved and seems to be still stuck in a childish sort of mindset, and this sentiment shines through strongly in this song. I want to be a pitied and loved weakling. Children are "weak", and yet they are often treated with such love and care. Since that is so, Aurora never wants to grow up.

Another thing is, Haruka seems to have had this sort of sibling rivalry with his sister, where his mother would pay more if not all of her attention to his sister instead (as hinted in all knowing and all agony). Aurora feels this way towards their own sister, Alanna, who is the youngest and more ambitious to excel. Though not to such a serious degree as Haruka of course.

Umbilical: Gaius

Just the two of us, I feel a little tingle inside Our love links us together Just me alone, the warmth starts fading away Let’s reload the warmth

A song most likely about abortion? *Ignores my female ocs and slaps the song onto this guy like a sticker*

All jokes aside, Gaius is the one most likely to tweak his personality in order to appeal to someone he likes out of all my ocs. He's also secretly really lonely, and that's why he's the most sociable out of the seven brothers. He'd probably be the first one to have a crush on someone and get into a relationship out of the seven of them.

Bring it on: Violet

All evil hypocrites should disappear I won’t stop until you say “sorry”

None of my ocs would go on a manhunt on social media and bully someone until they cancel their life subscription, so I just chose my most morally outspoken oc for this song. Even she's not that aggressive, damn. Fuuta needs to chill.

After pain: Xenon

I don’t want tomorrow to come I want to forget yesterday

I don't think I've ever revealed Xenon's backstory before, but at the rate my creative writing juices are filling up, I don't think I'll be able to write something more serious for him anytime soon. So here it is!

His family used to be happy, attending the annual moon festival together and all. But somewhere along the line, his parents started to drift apart and argue a lot more. The divorce was messy, fireballs were thrown. Of course, any child would feel miserable throughout this entire process. Xenon felt like it was his fault somehow, as if he was a burden to his parents because both of them didn't seem eager to take custody of him.

Throw down: Emile

“Throw down” emotions with no color I wonder if I can die with it still left

To be honest, this might be the hardest milgram song to decipher. The lyrics and even the music video are so vague, no one really knows what Shidou did. But if I were to throw all of my ocs at this song, Emile would probably stick best.

He's going to do something that he thinks is terribly wrong, and feel incredibly guilty for it. But the damage has been done. Let's see if I ever get the motivation to write it out.

This is how to be in love with you: Gaius

Giving you love to the point of pulling you down It’s just because I still get worried, please forgive me

Out of all my ocs, he's the one most likely to become almost obsessive in a relationship. Anxious attachment style let's go.

Half: Violet

The curse of reuniting with you puts a dagger in my heart I imagined that you saying "See you" is the same as "It's over” Only if your heart would change but that’s not possible Please tell me what I should do, feelings shrouded in lies will float away and disappear

HELP I READ THE LYRICS TO HALF AND IT FITS VIOLET'S FEELINGS TOWARDS IRIS SO MUCH! IT FITS SO WELL I MIGHT JUST DO A WHOLE RELATIONSHIP ANALYSIS FOR THEIR RELATIONSHIP USING THE LYRICS OF THIS SONG!! (Along with Aurora and Weakness.)

Magic: Violet

But it’s not scary at all, because it’s love I can actually think of it as a good thing, see isn’t it a great thing?

Oh my goodness, Violet is on a roll in this post. All I can say is that her mother was very overbearing and overprotective towards her and Iris. And while Iris often rebelled, Violet was the one that obeyed. Even she gets curious and wants to explore sometimes, but she doesn't want to be scolded! She doesn't want to be a bad girl!

MeMe: Elio

Ahhh, it’s the same anywhere I go It’s like what’s wrong isn’t wrong

He was bullied physically quite a bit as a kid, and Duran often had to step in and fight off the bullies. (It took Duran a while to learn how to fight though, so before that, Fleda would take on most of the beatings. I already have an idea for a scenario to convey this.)

That's what motivated Elio to learn how to fight on his own, and that's why he's so aggressive now. He only fights people he deems deserving of a throw down, and doesn't think it's fair that he's punished along with whoever he fought with afterwards. He especially doesn't like how Luka scolds him without asking for the full picture after hearing about the incident.

Harrow: Elio

I can’t forgive the evil hurting the weak It’s unforgivable, I won’t allow it, I just can’t let it go

The explanation for this is the same as the one above, lmao.

All knowing and all agony: Aurora and Emile actually

You were always comparing me to someone else You were always generous, except towards me

Aurora feels as if their mom is always comparing to someone else. Even if their mom mentions a family member being an honor's student, or accomplishing a great feat in sports, it already sours Aurora's mood. It's hard being the eldest child, eh?

Mommy, look, I’ve done great “There there, my good boy!”

Emile just wants to be a good boy for his mom. :( I will not elaborate.

Tear drop: Iris

If you want “me”, come marco, I’ll polo Let’s just do it, please smile?

Hm...Out of all my ocs, I think Iris would be most eager to...you know, do the hanky panky? I don't have a lot of ocs that are of age either, so. She's probably also most likely the one to hate other's moral expectations of her. What she does is her own business after all.

Backdraft: Elio

Holler-holler from safety, so worthless The fight’s up here! Come up to the ring and face me!

Once again, Elio's connection to this song can already be explained with what I wrote for MeMe. Wow, he's on a roll too.

#aurora puerstella #iris delmor #violet delmor #xenon ambrose #emile briar #gaius antoine amias #elio ignatius amias

4 notes · View notes

archivalofsins · 1 year ago

Text

Not to be Mikoto centric but ya'll better treat this man better this time around. The double standards are so tangible they're stabbing me.

Mikoto doesn't wear a shirt while showering oh he knew what he was doing being shirtless so many times in his video- oh but Mu didn't know what she was doing with the socks and stuff. Oh, and Yuno in lingerie for all her second video nothing weird about that nothing to question there she's just being the icon as usual.

This dude was taking a fucking shower in his own home.

Mikoto shows or alludes to the idea he committed murder wow that's fucked up- Mu stabs someone in her first video. Ahn, there's probably a reason here like she said in her voice drama it was probably self-defense we saw a stabbing, but we don't have enough info yet soo...

Mikoto in his fucking first music video-

"“I” will save “me”." - "I will NEVER forgive you if this is happening to me even though I’m right."

Throughout the first trial and now the other guy makes it rather clear he only shows up in order to defend/protect himself or in response to stress.

"Agh! Fuck... Fuck...! Stop pissing me off!"

Mahiru is shown literally forcing food on someone regardless of her intentions or what she believed of the situation. Ah, well, that's clearly a visual metaphor, look at the glitching and warping in the video-

Nobody better come at me with the man in Milgram have it too easy like ever- One it's only certain men let's get that straight. Two Mikoto is a strikingly good example of the shit men aren't allowed to get away with and women are. Like sexism exists and affects all genders differently yes it affects certain genders more than others but it does impact all genders.

People were fucking this man over specifically. As trial two goes on I'm like people really voted this man guilty over TikTok then had the audacity to make it about his character like it was his fucking fault that his song is good- THEN not even a trial later contradicted themselves. Contradicted themselves so hard that people can look at the results of trial one and say, "Yo, why did all these people who we explicitly see murder people and animals get voted innocent and three who we don't even see do anything guilty? Who the fuck made that call?"

I could at least give you guys the Futa one like at least we saw him do something. Yet, now by the logic some people are using for Mahiru's second trial video right now we can't rightfully say we saw Mikoto do anything. It's kind of up in the air now. Though we definitely didn't see Amane or Mahiru do anything trial one.

It's really just some bullshit. I don't even have to bring up Futa and Kotoko as an example to strengthen my point. Some people just fucked this guy over that hard. For things that were all completely out of either of their control mind you. I abstained that wasn't on me. I wasn't there- I was there, but I did not vote because I was ignoring the guy. I saw that video and went nope I don't got anything to say about that you do you.

Then the next trial voted on Amane and that's the first person I voted on. So, whatever the fuck others were doing the vote for fine and dandy. The reasons I saw though bad at drawing, bad fashion, fuck tiktok, he's such a faker- Like damn it was just all pure hatred look at his fucking verdict in comparison to every other guilty prisoner-

Mahiru and Futa weren't even guilty by much and their videos were pretty fucked up. Their verdicts were close too at 55 but Mahiru being viewed as a bit more guilty. They had a similar severity to them, but Mahiru's was a tad more graphic. So, I wonder if Amane's will be a bit tamer since she has the smallest Guilty percentage.

However, Haruka and Mu's videos were messed up as well and they were Innocent- So, it really depends on how the person interprets it. Knowing Amane and Mikoto's personalities their mvs will probably be worse than the other's but in a very surprising or subversive way.

Especially considering their trial two voice lines,

"So, I wasn’t forgiven. How cruel, even though I said I didn’t do anything. It’s making me resentful."- " So you decided you don’t forgive me. If you don’t fix your way of thinking, we’ll never forgive you for all eternity."

I'm saying all this not just to point out the blatant hypocrisy- But to go remember this moment and all the nuance being used here when Mikoto comes up, when Kazui comes up, when Amane comes up- Remember it because a lot of people are gonna act brand new when that happens.

Suddenly it's gonna be different when it shouldn't be.

1 note · View note

retphienix · 4 years ago

Text

youtube

I did it :)

So, I cried. That's a given.

Also this might be the most overwhelmingly happy ending in the series so far, you know, if you're used to every entry ending with "KIRYU DIE?????"

Bonus points because this ending DID NOT immediately reveal that he lives! I know my intro here is all unserious and the like but genuinely, that does a lot for making the scene so much more impactful and it worked here even though I know he returns for Y6.

So, I'm gonna do this post like the last big post because there's too many thoughts to expel.

Timestamps as I rewatch so I can share my thoughts. Then a short conclusion because honestly? This game has taken all my words multiple times.

I just want to calmly and happily say my final piece at the end :)

0:39 - Spoiler, this ending SUCKS because it doesn't include a final rhythm battle for Haruka! Now I think I read somewhere that there's a member of that assassin clan she can dance battle as a final challenge but I clearly didn't do that right and missed out and that's beside the point- THERE'S NO RHYTHM GAMEPLAY IN THIS FINALE >:(

9:00 - I EARNED IT, I'M USING IT!

13:00 - Spoiler for later, Shinada doesn't get to say this from what I recall. Instead Baba gets a different wake up call, but that works out :)

17:00 - Not now, but this will come up, I offer to you my johns for what happens in the first boss fight. My eyes were dry as hell so I missed some QTEs which means I didn't get the flashiest stuff to happen. This actually happened at the end of Y4 also but I restarted just to capture good footage- not this time.

17:30 - MOUSE. MOUSE MOUSE, A LITTLE RAT, MOUSE. Love to see it.

19:00 - The audible sigh I let out when they played the same song I've heard like 40 times in my playthrough was palpable. I do dig the song! But there are what? 4 Idol songs? They really needed more or to not saturate their use so much :(

19:40 - I legitimately gasped and went "Oh no... of course it's you!" at Baba's role in this. It added a lot of weight to the way he practically begged Haruka not to show up.

20:50 - So here's the gist. Majima's plan didn't work out, we know that. Majima has a REALLY good line and motivator moment where he says he's following orders now to protect Haruka because she means more to Kiryu than anything (and that's how Majima rolls), Majima then reveals some shit which can be amounted to "I think you've gotten weak and wanted to protect you!!!!" which does ring slightly hollow since we saw Majima at a ridiculously low point earlier. So either his low point was him contemplating Saejima's survival chances, or his low point was sincere (it sure sounded it) and his worry over Saejima being weak was just also happening at the same time. I don't really mind either way to be honest, we beat him up. I fail some QTEs.

33:00 - Baba deciding not to fulfill his orders on his own accord is actually extremely important and good as hell. It shows that all this changed him and gave him the motivation to forge his own path- or rather it began to though he's overwhelmed with doubt. It's extremely good.

33:50 - The fact he intentionally leaves evidence shows how much doubt he has though, he's giving up entirely more than forging his own path, he's just refusing to follow the orders of another but hasn't found the strength to continue on his own. It's really good is all.

38:00 - This was the first cry I had beating the game x.x Shinada is just a phenomenally likeable character, and watching him accept where his life has gone and what it's meant to others is way more touching than I'd assume considering it's a tale of a baseball star.

40:50 - THIS WAS HYPE AS HELL AND LEAD TO MY SECOND CRY. THIS PRISON FAMILY HAS NO RIGHT BEING THIS ENDEARING. Also, more or less, they get to deliver the message Shinada was supposed to lol.

42:50 - THIRD AND BIG AS HELL CRY. SHINADA YOU FOOL, YOU'VE A FOUND FAMILY AFTER-ALL!!! I genuinely adore this moment so much is all. It's such a wonderful payoff for this loveable fool. After all the runnin' away he has a home.

43:36 - I love Shinada so much the silly fuck.

46:00 - I got a laugh out of Akiyama KICKING ASS in the news footage (didn't mention but the first brawl cutscene was rather lacking wasn't it?) and Kiryu just like... punches a guy. It's hilarious to me. Also you best believe- I UNLOCKED IT, I'M USING IT!!!

48:00 - Now this is a, well, it's a bad reveal. Like look, there is a metric ton of good going on in this finale- but the reveal that Aizawa is his son and is evil and is the final boss is just too much zero-build-up-payoff. It's the worst part. It's not like extremely detrimental or anything- like it doesn't take away from the good stuff- but it's just entirely uninteresting and bad. It makes Aizawa's interest in Morinaga bizarre and uninteresting since he got no payoff, he had buildup with Saejima and then in the final scenes he's just like "Yeah, Mori was nice but who gives a fuck I am the one who killed him (I think he said) and I aspire to be strong as fuck because all of YOU IDIOTS have FRIENDS and CHARISMA >:(" and like, who fuckin' cares bud.

52:00 - Now I'll more or less sum up all of Akiyama's payoff here. 1- I unlocked it so I'm gonna use it! 2- He offhandedly says he wants to be a legend in this town, which in Y4 he already was- he was a myth, a city mystery- but of course he means like Kiryu not the loch ness monster. 3- He gets to be a legend by being the only civilian (or person in general) the Omi would bow to. It's kind of not built up at all and is a bit lame, but to be honest Akiyama has a pretty bit part in this entire game. He's kinda just a convenient returning character with motivation to assist Kiryu and a career that allows motivation to get involved through Park. To be blunt, his part in the story is weak. I wish it was stronger. But it's inoffensive and he at least gets something- as minor as it is. Getting to say he's king of the world is something, you know?

56:00 - I will say that the build up of "Oh shit, these are Kanai's men!" and the reveal that "Oh shit! They are WATASE'S men and all the clans who the Tojo were seeking alliances with!" is a good one. Watase is a fine enough character which I bring up only because I was told he was a standout- but he wasn't for me. His scenes are great, his growth with Katsuya is nice, but he's barely in the game and really only exists to be betrayed and then to be like "I'm one of the good yakuza despite being a war-lusting one because being a good yakuza is just complicated enough to allow this overlap" which is interesting for sure, but I don't know. Unless he does stuff in the subsequent games I didn't catch much in this one. Maybe he does- I assume he runs the Omi now!

1:00:00 - I kinda summed it up but yeah. Here's the final boss, Aizawa, a character we were mislead on and who's motivation is empty as fuck. It's, whatever. It's not the good part of the ending. The good part is everything prior and directly after. Like his entire deal is anti-silver-spoon talking points but also he includes being charismatic or capable as silver spoon-isms??? He pretty much just wants to be leader because he's strong. He'd arguably be more interesting if he just said it that way.

1:11:00 - The lyrics to Dream are anything but subtle and I love them and I love Haruka. Sliding this in here- Majima gets no payoff >:( Park's dream is accomplished in seeing her star on the stage, but no Majima moment? No sight of him accepting her loss? Lame.

1:14:00 - I genuinely LOVE that Aizawa focuses in on Kiryu's gunshot wound. He still accepts it as a fair fight because Kiryu presents it as one, but even then he pays mind to it as you'd expect someone wanting to fight at their strongest would- he wants to fight Kiryu at his best and he's accepting this because Kiryu presents as his best even when wounded- it's pretty cool. Fight happens. It's fine stuff, flashy and fun. Still maybe the weakest final boss yet because he has no build up. I'd be the first to admit without looking it up I can't list every final boss thus far, but like, Nishi was built up, Mine was built up, Goda was built up, I just, in this moment, don't recall having a big "WHO THE FUCK, THIS MEANS NOTHING?" fight in yakuza and this is certainly one of those.

1:25:00 - I cried AGAIN. Haruka just hit me with a truck of emotion here is all.

1:41:15 - This is a beautifully shot, emotional, and tragic looking ending. Heck, at 1:43:00 I initially thought he was being awoken in a hospital bed and I was like "Heh, there's the old Kiryu dies fakeout!" but no! They hammer home, they go for broke, they give a TRAGIC AS FUCK bitter ending on top of an ending that's like 99% happy as fuck in terms of offering everyone involved hope for the future. This was a good end :)

So then, some overall thoughts I maybe didn't get out- I mean there's no way this post touches everything but I want to at least try to because I like sharin' the experience and what I got out of it.

The fighting styles were mighty uneven as far as strengths or fun factor. To be blunt,

Kiryu has an overpowered counter attack and heat mode and since heat mode is underwhelming as hell that means he has JUST a counter attack- his strikes don't really hit all that well considering the improvements other characters saw this time around, so he's a bit one note here.

Saejima feel even meatier than before, nothing particularly 'stands out' but the fact that he has super armor as long as he has heat is a pretty big factor in making him feel good to use.

Akiyama got the short end of the straw this time around. His new gimmick is the launch combos and they are... well... less than shit at least from what I could feel during gameplay. They don't hurt much, they burn heat like crazy, and they can MISS, all while being a move that targets just one enemy- has no counter to blocking or armor- and provides no armor in turn.

Despite not losing anything, he kinda got screwed.

(I'm lead to believe Akiyama is invulnerable during his aerial combos which my blurb in my finale post complained felt worthless and cited that as a reason.

If so then I was wrong but I still hold all my other complaints towards it, just not the 'it has no armor or invuln' bit assuming that's true.)

Shinada wins out for being unique and being a weapon oriented character that actually does well with weapons. Weapons have always been something I pretty much ignore in Yakuza and the series itself has always desperately tried to make them interesting with things like weapon skills, Kamiya works, and the like. But other than the god weapons like the golden gun weapons just never felt good to manage.

Using them, sure, that's fine, but managing them? Durability and skills and limited movesets and all that? Nah. But Shinada really does a lot to make them less shit! His innate abilities that raise durability a metric ton REALLY make weapons feel better to use with him- and his unique movesets with weapons are pretty damn good (mostly. The pipe/'normal one hander pole size object' moveset is worthless as heck, it regularly misses).

He's fun.

===

Revelations were a miss this time around for me. Since you couldn't have seen them if you tried on my blog let it be known- I ONLY got the quest related revelations for each character- which is to say- ONE rev per character.

Revelations in 5 are weapon based, and not just 'bat or pole or gun' or whatever- they are DISPOSABLE TEMPORARY weapon based.

What you are supposed to do is go to the specific place on the map where that one revelation weapon spawns, hope like hell you find an enemy, and wail on them like crazy. If you use a weapon x amount of times then you'll get a revelation according to the internet. This is beyond ridiculous and means a normal playthrough will get none of these, while a focused one will be bored out of their mind GRINDING to get these.

I did not bother.

===

Now.

Yakuza 5.

This might be my favorite Yakuza overall.

I still think 0 is probably the best overall for most people, it has the best style, it has from what I've experienced the best gameplay, it's story is tear jerking and exciting and fun.

But as a yakuza game overall, I really have to give it to 5 personally. Because 0 tried to work within its bounds- it made itself a great entry point to the series or a great addition to Yakuza 1 / Kiwami as background.

But 5 is building on 4 previous games and it does so fucking phenomenally.

There's something to be said about a later entry in a series gaining extra payoff thanks to multiple entries of build up and character depth and 5 fucking does it.

I just. It explores the motivation of some fan-favorites so well, it expands characters so fucking well, I know I've harped on about it but just Saejima- man! Saejima goes from a run of the mill "Decent" character to a fully fledged and explored entity! And I LOVE him!

And no he's not the only shining spot, like hell he is, but he's such a posterchild for what 5 does right in my eyes- take something that's already good and breath some life into it. Also I adore it's laser focus on a singular theme and all the ways it wanted to explore it.

Like. I think Kiwami and Zero take the cake for the most fun I've had " 'playing' Yakuza so far, but 5 takes the cake for the most fun I've had 'in general' like gameplay and me just thinking about it because there's so much to think on.

More time will tell as I compartmentalize my thoughts and perhaps forget some details as one does, but right this moment- this might be my favorite Yakuza game.

I love it.

Also, woot! I beat Y5 before Monhun Rise came out :D Now I can start that game without putting a story on hold!

...

Except I also told my sister that I'd start Omori after Y5. So I guess alongside monhun I'll be playing through a game with a hefty and wonderfully done story. Which is what I didn't want to do with Y5.

I just can't win, lol.

#RetPlays #Yakuza #Yakuza 5 #Youtube

3 notes · View notes

keyofjetwolf · 7 years ago

Note

why are Haruka and Michiru being more threatening than they were in the anime a bad thing? Also, how do you know for sure that the anime didn't intend the rose petal watercolor outers portraits just as seriously as Takeuchi intended the helicopter entrances of Michiru and Haruka? Why is one more acceptable than the other?

“Because I don’t like it as much”, is the basic answer. I mean whatever else I have to say, that’s what it’s going to come down to. If you do, that’s fine, as always. But let’s presuppose good faith in your questions for the moment, and so read it as you wondering why I prefer one over the other, and roll with that!

To begin, it’s less that Haruka and Michiru are “more” threatening than the anime so much as they aren’t threatening at all. They were completely apathetic. This is their very first conversation with the Inners, from Episode 91:

Here’s their first conversations in the manga:

The initial apathy in the anime doesn’t entirely work for me given the larger scope of things and what we come to learn about Haruka and Michiru, but it’s a lot easier for me to reconcile than what we have here in the manga in that same first introduction. Particularly as the Inners LITERALLY HAVEN’T DONE ANYTHING YET. They said “This place might be weird, let’s check it out.” Usagi’s even the only one who snuck in there, the others are wandering around outside. Haruka went out of her way to jump in front of THEM and then say “If you get in my way again, I won’t show you mercy.” Again, hilarious and perfect for Actual Haruka, but I know I’m supposed to be taking it fully serious here. This being their first interaction with the others just makes no sense to me whatsoever, particularly if it’s supposed to be any kind of undercover infiltration operation they’re performing here.

Because I mean, if nothing else, it’s completely blowing any hope for cover. The girls don’t even know other Senshi EXIST yet, Like, this might make more sense coming from Uranus and Neptune, but Haruka and Michiru weren’t even part of this equation yet, as far as the Inners were concerned, until they decided to get all threatening about it.

Even later, the line from Uranus and Neptune in the anime is “There are going to be casualties, you don’t understand”, not “Next time you get in our way, we won’t show you mercy.” The most threatening the Outers ever are is in Episode 110 when Haruka takes Usagi’s brooch, and even then just to keep her from interfering (or, basically, for her own good). I mean I don’t now what Haruka and Michiru’s motivation is here yet, it could be exactly the same. My point being that in the anime it took twenty episodes to build to that one action, versus here in the manga their first conversation being “HELLO NEXT TIME I WILL SHOW YOU NO MERCY”. It’s a pretty different set of experiences and emotions feeding into it, and as usual for the manga, in my tastes, it’s unnecessary and purely for the sake of drama.

2) how do you know for sure that the anime didn’t intend the rose petal watercolor outers portraits just as seriously as Takeuchi intended the helicopter entrances of Michiru and Haruka? Why is one more acceptable than the other?

Because I watched the anime. Those moments are “serious” in the sense that they illustrate the “the world has stopped as you behold this perfect human being”. But they’re also AGGRESSIVELY OVER THE TOP, taking a moment that conveys its intent and then holds it for several beats too long to say “And yes, I know this is ridiculous.” It’s playing to both sides, which is an element I absolutely adore. If you want to just take it 100% seriously, you certainly can, but it’s self-aware enough to play to the side that is looking at it like “Really?” and saying “No, not really.”

You see it even more as the series progresses, as the rose petals and ooo-y music become a constant companion, and we get moments like the pastel fades on things like being jealous about a goldfish, and the super serious watercolour moment interrupted by Minako trying to unload her god awful vending machine dolls.

As for why “one is more acceptable than the other”, again, we’re discussing an opinion. For people named Jet Wolf who are me and writing these posts, it’s more acceptable because it isn’t immediately demanding a particular viewpoint of them. In the manga, because every drop of it is entirely serious, I’m being told to accept the legitimate wonder and grandeur of Haruka Tenoh, genius race car driver with hordes of screaming fans who takes a private helicopter to high school every day. I’m not allowed to find that as hysterical AS IT SO VERY CLEARLY IS. I’m just supposed to be as starry eyed about it as any one of those screaming girls, and sorry, no.

Give me dorky fucking Haruka Tenoh who flirts with girls until the second they flirt back and then she has to run away, who stands across a busy street in the rain dramatically whispering to the person on the opposite sidewalk, who argues loudest and most often about how she is FINE TOTALLY FINE WITH THIS SACRIFICE I HAVE NO SERIOUS INTERNAL MORAL DILEMMA I AM WRESTLING WITH WHATSOEVER.

I’ll take an actual person over a loose pile of “cool” any day.

#anonymous #ask a jet wolf #JW reads Sailor Moon #sm manga infinity #sm manga act 27 #jet wolf versus the manga #sms #haruka tenoh #michiru kaioh #i guess loosely but michiru doesn't have anything in the manga yet so it's more difficult to argue against #save for that complete absence of anything #a novel by jet wolf

44 notes · View notes