#Their sub-plot is one of my favorites from the entire game.

[barra-400]

June pt.30

[dmclemblems]

reminder that shinon is one of the best non-main characters to come out of this franchise and that most side characters don’t get a full story of character development within even one game, let alone character growth throughout two games in a linear progression. 😌 

[scruus]

★ [ 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐦 𝐈 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞? ]

✎ : sub kaveh x dom gn reader notes: handjob(Kaveh receiving), dacryphilia, dirty talk, begging, wholesome at the end so porn with plot, reader being a simp because this is very much a self insert.

author talks: WE ARE SO BACK YALL (gang signs 🤟). It took me so long to get back into my writing space again and am happy am back.

lıllılı.ıllı.ılılıı ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ favorite - isabel larosa

Kaveh was seated in front of you, dressed in the costume of a veiled dancer of the medieval century. And coincidentally so, the costume was similar to a fanart you had seen a few weeks before of the character Link from the game, Legend of Zelda. Who is currently your new obsession.

He didn’t need much help with the costume because his features and hair were an almost exact copy of that blonde twink but what shocked you was the bare torso with only chains of jewellery hanging and they added a shimmering sheen. It was like his body was a painted canvas and the gold chains coupled with small studded gems were the sheen to the final art form.

That darning pretty face was covered with a thin red veil and his arms had puffed sleeves which were lonely with no other garment around. The flowing skirt beneath his abdomen were like broad drapes spaced evenly, letting you have a peek at his milky white thighs and red thong.

Thong?!, your eyes widened with complete shock. How did I not notice that!

Upon looking at his shy face for answers, you realized it would be futile with the way he was avoiding your gaze, his eyes almost burning a hole into the carpet. However, mischief was a trait that was quite comfortable under your skin and all the more torturing for your lover.

“Kaveh….”, his body jerked at your voice, ears changing color from nude to red while he sat shyly. “Where did you get that thong?”, his jaw clenched while his hands formed into fists holding tightly at his skirt, feeling the warm shame rise in his body as he now switched his seating position to hide the underwear from you.

He grumbled quiet messes of words but you failed to hear it. The idea that whatever force had made him dress up like this was so enticing to you. You obviously knew he liked to cosplay a few characters here and there and you loved seeing him dress up. But never had you ever witnessed him in such a scandalous costume, that too of video game character he is supposed to ‘hate’.

“Kaveh…I asked you some-"

“UGH! I BOUGHT IT FROM A LINGERIE SITE!”, he shouted, rushing to bury his heating face in his hands, praying that the ground just opens up and swallows him whole and let him at mercy.

The urge to laugh was almost hurting your chest but you had to resist the temptation. In defense, you bit your bottom lip but Kaveh knew better. He sighed dejectedly, “you can laugh…”, as he looked at you.

You shook your head in response, “no no am not laughing I am just curious”. Although partly lying, it was true. The question of why he had done this was eating at you since whenever you suggested him an even mildly spicy outfit, he would straight up shut you out. Hot-headed much. So what caused this change?

“About what?”, he groaned with a frustrated pout on his face, hoping this entire ordeal just ends and he stops sitting like some guilty criminal.

“….. why Link?”, Link was one of your favourite characters but very much despised by your boyfriend. He used to complain about him at every chance he could get and you would just laugh at his pettiness. Playing the game? he would grumble about his character design. See his merch somewhere? Talk shit about the price and quality. And all the times you brought him up during lunch or dinner when the fangirling hit too hard, you could see his eyes almost roll into the back of his head.

In conclusion, he HATED that twink.

Kaveh decided to remain silent and aloof. Pupils darting around the room while his fingers fiddled with each other. It was a question he feared you would ask. He could lie or make up something random but would catch on quick. And the fact that you would probably accept his lie and not push him for the real answer hurt him more because your affection for him reaches heights.

“Honey I-“

“You liked him”, he replied softly.

“Huh?”

“….you liked him alot and I hated it”

You wish you could jump on him and grab that puffed, angry face of his which had the most adorable pout ever and kiss him hard. The kind of kiss that makes him forget his name and a little weak in the knees. The one that make him begging for more like a shameless whore.

A glow sparked on your face as you smiled at him. Directing your fingers at him, you patted your lap in an attempt to make him sit on your lap. Kaveh obliged, which was rather shocking because he usually turned a blind eye to your doting acts. It would either be you running after him to make him comply or his neediness for you overpowering his attitude.

Looks like today was the latter.

He straddled your lap, eyes still avoiding your own yet both bodies radiating the heat of need. “Were you jealous?”, your tone was delicate and sincere which led Kaveh to lose his guard. He slowly nodded his head before looking down at you. The sapphire red eyes of his being all so lovely and that gorgeous face of his beaming a dark red.

“Do you think I link Link more than you?”, you asked while your fingers trailed up and down his spine, sparking little goosebumps on his skin. Kaveh already knew the answer but his own insecurities resulted in the surety of his doubt. He refused to answer.

“Well then, would you be happy if I show my love for you?”, the question was straight and simple, even wholesome, one would say. However, Kaveh’s eyes narrowed with suspicion as if noticing something more sinister was hidden between your words .

“How about I bend you over and fuck you in this costume”, your one hand treaded through his messy hair as the whispers made his tummy churn while the other groped his butt.

“Or better….I’ll raw dog you in front of our mirror-“, so sultry and hot, that was how you sounded right now, “and you can see how we both look like when you take my strap deep inside”. Kaveh pursed his lips in, swallowing whatever saliva was remnant on his mouth because the heat was starting to rush down to his dick and it was suddenly difficult to breathe normally.

The visual imagery of what you would look like, the expressions your face would contort to and the suggestion of what a ruined mess he would look under you got him all dizzy and aching.

Your hand suddenly slipped inside his skirt, grabbing his growing boner which was covered with the red thong. His body jerked upwards, stunned by the touch. “What are you-a-ah?”, a moan escaped from his lips and he was appalled at his own reaction. What the fuck are you doing?

“What? Didn’t you dress up all nice and cute for me?”, you leaned in forward with a grin on your face, lips just a few shaky breaths apart from his. Wrapping your hand around his stiff dick, you slowly rubbed it making sure your eyes never lost the sight of his own. His pale body was now adapting a reddish color, like his entire body had decided to reject his morales and act according to your will.

“I-I don’t kn-“, a strangled moan was heard when you squeezed your palm around his dick.

“Didn't you wear this slutty thong for easy access?”, Kaveh’s inner voice was screeching at him with how you sounded right now, “so that I can pull it to the side and slide myself in for a quickie?”. The implication of your words were making it so difficult for any rationale thoughts inside his head and that too with your soft palm working around his shaft, he suddenly felt all weak.

“Ah look at you, getting all excited just from a few words”, you merely chuckled and his dick twitched in your hand. Kaveh started unconsciously bucking in your palms. “F-fuck fuck…”, he bit down on his lip stifling those whorish noises to which he received a harsh smack on his ass. Eyes widening in surprise as a gasp slipped from his throat.

It stings, he thinks. It stings so why is it that his cock is rock hard? Why is the painful stimulation driving all his blood down to his already burning core? And instead of despising it, why does he want more? He blinked rapidly trying to keep the newly bloomed tears at bay. He is whining like a pathetic slut, he can’t start crying too!

“I want to hear your voice Kaveh”, a stern command from you got to his head and he whimpered and squirmed under your gaze. “Do. Not. Be. A. Brat”, eyes scanning his burning face which so evidently revealed the desperation surging inside him. His hips grinding into your hand, chasing after the addictive feeling while heat started pooling between your legs.

“s’ good…feels good”, his moans sputtered easily as his mind slipped into a subspace. Kaveh stared at your face with adoration and he croaked his begs for a kiss. Oh they look so soft, he thinks wanting to press his lips against your own so bad all the while he ruts into your hand like was so beautifully pitiful.

You pulled him in by the back of his head and his arms wrapped around your neck. He nibbled at your lips hastily just so your tongues could intertwine, resembling an earnest puppy. He was losing himself. Needy whines of your lover, that were poorly muffled by your lips, were filling up the room and god was it intoxicating.

You fastened the pace of your hand on his weeping cock and he sobbed curses. It was adorable the way he trembled in your grasp all the while his throbbing dick sent flutters of zaps down his body. Shit he was close.

“uhn~c-close close mmh”, he was blabbering like a kid, like he didn’t know what ‘sentences’ are and that almost made you kiss him into a puddle again. But no. You wanted to hear him. Hear his words out aloud, no matter how shameless and humiliating they are. You wanted to hear him beg.

“Slow dow-ough s-slow please!”, his nerves were burning. That brain of his had already turned to mush and he had thrown away whatever dignity he had left the moment you decided to jerk him off. Mouth wide open, panting, as tears started to trickle down and he clenched your shirt for dear life. He feared the orgasm would make him pass out.

“Should I stop?”, you teased and that just made him whine. He wanted to cum so bad and if you paused even for a mere second, he would start wailing. Looks like he has really being reduced to a crying slut.

“No! No ungh~!”, he cried out, both your sweaty foreheads rested against another as his gaze fixated on the way his dripping cock was moving in and out of your pretty hands. It was so obscene but fuck did it feel good. The way your hands moved at a brutal rhythm and his head sported a swollen reddish-pink color, it was legit a scene from a porno.

“Cum for me then”, you huffed, feeling the heat spread under your skin, fire dancing on your nerves. And as if waiting for your command, Kaveh dug his nails in your shoulders before sputtering all over your top. The white liquid sticking to your trousers as you continued to massage his high off making his dick throb cutely. Kaveh felt his toes curl and there was a loss of voice in his throat for a few seconds. His hips spasming during the release while his entire body arched into you.

Shaking gasps and trembling moans left his mouth as the aftershocks still waved through his body. He swear he could almost see his vision turn dark before collapsing on you, body immediately going limp. His nose took in the scent of your perfume to which his strained muscles responded by relaxing. Time had seemed to halt and the only sounds that could be heard was Kaveh’s slumbering sighs and the soft caress of your fingers on his back.

“I love you, you do know that right?”, you finally spoke up, trying to soothe any dilemma in his mind even the act you two commited just now but what you received from him was a soft boyish laugh. The same one that made you fall head over heels when you first met him in the bar.

“I know….I just….I was jealous”, he traced shapes on your chest, avoiding your gaze once again because he knew he was blushing and the last thing he wanted to see right now was your smirk. Well he was wrong about it. You had never looked so lovesick with that grin on your face, like an absolute fool whose entirety revolves around their blonde, hot headed, bashful lover.

You wrapped your arms around his waist, pulling him in close and cuddling and it made his eyes feel heavy. Just before they shut down, he mumbled in a hushed tone, “I love you too”.

And there you sat, still and looking like a bright red tomato as your heart threatened to jump out of your chest.

Shit, you thought, I am so cooked.

[kooruphobic]

WILL YOU BE MY VALENTINE? — armin arlert/reader

𓆩♡𓆪 tags : sub!armin, tease!reader, armin has a crush (on you), and is definitely helplessly in love, kissing, begging (slightly), vaginal sex, jean kirstein is a bitch, armin thinks about voueyrism(?), smut

𓆩♡𓆪 word count : 2.7k

𓆩♡𓆪 summary : armin has been pining after you for years. when the two of you end up alone in his room, he finally works up the courage to ask you to be his valentine. but in the end, he gets a little more than what he asked for.

Armin likes you. Everyone knows—Eren, Mikasa, Jean, Connie, Sasha—it’s a universal fact at this point. Even people who aren't in your close circle know.

He’s liked you for years. Ever since Eren introduced the two of you he fell in love at first sight. Armin wasn’t gifted with the courage to flirt with girls as Eren does, so he’s admired you from afar instead. Everyone notices how he looks at you and how he blushes when you get close to him. One time, when your entire friend group was hanging out, there were no more spots on the couch so you asked if you could sit on his lap as a joke. His entire face went completely red in seconds. He managed to choke out a quiet “yeah,” and for the few weeks following Armin had to face relentless teasing from the entire group. 

Truth be told, you knew what you were doing. You always know what you're doing. Even though he doesn't think you know, it's quite obvious to you that Armin has a crush. Teasing him when you all hang out together is probably one of your favorite pastimes. You enjoy the way he struggles to get out the right words when you compliment him or how his eyes go wide and his cheeks flush rosy-pink when you flirt. 

If you're being honest with yourself, you might also have a little crush on him. Armin is very pretty. You like his blonde hair and how his soft blue eyes compliment them. His smile is super cute, too. He’s always nice to you (probably because he likes you) but he’s always careful with what he says and has never done anything to make you uncomfortable. You would ask to date him, but you find no fun in making the first move. Imagining Armin being flustered as he’s confessing to you is something you picture almost every time you see him.

Today is the 14th of February. It's a day that people either love or hate: Valentine’s Day. Since nobody in the friend group is dating anyone, you decided to spend Valentine's Day with each other. Armin offered for everyone to come over to his place and you did. You all played games (almost losing friendship over an Uno match), ate, drank, and talked about stupid things. It was like any other typical hangout you guys had.

Or so Armin thought. With the way his friends are, he shouldn't have been surprised when they all left to go “pick up” something. Jean was the one who urged you to stay with Armin, insisting he couldn't just be left alone even though Armin kept telling you it was fine.

And now the two of you are in his room, sitting on the edge of the bed, talking about nothing in particular. 

“...And I always lose when we play anything card related. You guys are plotting against me or something,” you laugh softly, slightly tilting your head. You ask him a question but your words simply go through one ear and out the other. The only thing Armin can focus on is how pretty you look next to him. He eyes your chest and eventually trails down the rest of your body, practically undressing you with his eyes.

“Armin?”

You wave a hand in front of him, breaking him out of his trance. He realizes he’s been staring at you for a little too long, and he immediately begins coming up with one hundred different excuses for himself.

“I’m sorry, I just spaced out for—”

“What were you thinking about?”

You.

“I-I dunno. Just stuff, I guess.”

Armin’s cheeks are dusted rose-pink and he can feel the blood rush to his face. He’s praying you don't notice his flushed appearance (you do, though). You giggle at his sudden shy demeanor, despite him talking so confidently with you just a few minutes before.

“You can tell me, I won’t judge.”

You will judge. How can he possibly tell you straight-up he was thinking about you? 

“It's nothing, really. Did you ask something earlier?” he questions, trying to change the subject.

You smile. Earlier you asked if he had a valentine. You know the answer already, you just want to see him become a stuttering mess.

“I asked if you have a valentine.”

Armin's eyes widen for a second and he quickly looks around the room, finding something to focus on so he’s not looking at you. 

Of course, he doesn't have a valentine. He wants it to be you, but there's no way he has enough courage to do that. Armin has done the math. There's a ninety-nine-point-nine chance of him getting rejected, so it's kind of silly to confess knowing he’ll get his heart broken.

He’s heard it a million times from his friends every year: “Just do it. The worst she can say is no,” but that's just it. Every time a guy thinks the worst she can possibly say is “no” the outcome is the complete opposite and they get rejected in ways ten times worse. Armin doesn't have any personal experience with that, but he’s certainly seen what other guys have been through.

But then he starts thinking, what if you do say yes to him? What if the point one percent of you not rejecting him actually pulls through? Armin feels a small sense of confidence. It wouldn't hurt to confess…right? He’s liked you for years so why not just tell you and get it over with? He does have the perfect opportunity. Maybe watching Eren flirt with all those girls has given him some second-hand experience.

Armin stops staring at the pencil on his desk and returns his gaze to you. You still have your head tilted to the side, patiently waiting for an answer.

“...Yeah.”

The little confidence he had in himself left and was replaced with immediate regret. Why did he say that? He didn't even say it as a normal person would. His voice came out quiet and shaky. Where was he even going with this?

“Oh, really?” you smile again, a hint of amusement in your voice. “Who is it?”

“Well—”

“Is it someone I know?” you place a hand on his chest, pushing him back onto the bed. “Am I friends with them?”

Armin's heartbeat quickens tenfold, and instead of feeling the blood rush straight to his face, it goes straight to his dick. He’s hard and all you’ve done is put one hand on hand on him. 

You give him an innocent look and place a knee between his legs, acting as if you don't know what you're doing. 

“What's wrong, Armin? You're so quiet.”

What's wrong? What's wrong is that your knee is pressing against his hard-on and you're above him, hand still resting on his chest. There's no way you're doing this as a joke. It has to be on purpose, right? You're not just messing with him?

“You…you do know her,” he manages to say, closing his eyes and letting out a sharp breath.

 You lean forward and your lips ghost the shell of his ear. 

“Tell me about her then,” you whisper, “because it seems that you like her a lot.”

Armin swallows and places a shaky hand on top of yours, gazing at you with desire evident in his eyes. 

“She’s really pretty. I’ve liked her for a long time…” he trails off when you run your hand down his abs, but picks up again when you stop. “I haven't actually asked her yet.”

“Hmm. Why? Are you scared?” your voice takes on more of a sultry tone.

“N-no. Not exactly.”

“I think…” you tuck a stray strand of hair behind his ear, “that you should ask her right now.”

Armin looks up at you and stares. There's no way you're just joking. He’s used to your teasing—Armin always thinks it's just to mess with him—but you’ve never taken it this far. You have to like him too, right? Why would you go to these lengths just to mess with him? He realizes just how embarrassed he is and how embarrassing it would be if he really asked you to be his valentine. Armin would feel like he was in the sixth grade again, which is definitely not something he’d like to feel. 

You graze your lips against his, cupping his face with your hand. 

“C’mon, Armin. I know you like me. Just ask.”

He feels his face heat up again. For a second, he thinks he’s dreaming because there’s no possible way this could be real. But it is. It is real. It’s real and you’re telling him to ask you to be his valentine.

“Will you—will you be my valentine?”

He cringes slightly at his words but seeing the way you smile against his lips makes everything worth it.

“Of course I will.”

Armin swallows again as you stare at him for a few moments. He follows your eyes as they move down to his lips. As if asking for permission, you move forward ever so slightly. He thinks about it for a moment, wondering what would happen if the others came back and walked into the room. How would they react if they saw the two of you like this, your knee in between his thighs and faces so close you can feel each other's breath? They most definitely wouldn’t be surprised, but if you took it any further than a one-time thing…

He decides not to think about it any longer and closes his eyes, letting his lips find yours and kissing you. Armin kisses softly at first, but eventually, you start kissing back, and he loses himself. The kiss grows sloppier but it doesn’t matter to him. This is all he’s ever wanted. The number of times he’s fallen asleep fantasizing about your soft lips on his—he can’t even count them on his fingers anymore. Armin wraps his arm around your waist and pulls you closer to him. 

You taste sweet, a mix of chocolate and alcohol from earlier. It’s intoxicating. Everything about you is intoxicating. The way you smell, the way you feel, the way you touch. He hadn’t noticed you were running your hands down his body until you reached in between his thighs. Your hands lingered there, unmoving. He moans into the kiss, quiet but still loud enough that you hear. 

You kiss him for a few moments longer then break away. Armin is panting, his ears burning and eyes blown with lust. You’ve turned him into a mess with one kiss.

“Please,” is the only word he says, looking down at your hand still between his thighs. 

You tug his shirt, a sign for him to take it off, and he obliges. He throws it to the side carelessly, doing the same with his pants. 

You’ve seen Armin without a shirt before but you’ve never realized how good he looks. He has washboard abs, a slender waist, and a complimenting v-line—you can’t help but stare for a few seconds. You run your hands down his abs, trailing all the way down to his boxers. You hook your fingers around the waistband and pull them down, his hard cock lightly hitting his stomach. There’s already pre-cum leaking from his tip. 

“What do you want me to do, Armin?” you ask, wrapping your fingers around his length. 

He looks at you through half-lidded eyes. He doesn’t care what you do to him, he just wants more of you in any way possible. 

“Anything.”

You grin and pull your shirt off, then your shorts, then your bra. Besides your panties, you’re completely bare. Armin admires how perfect you look in front of him. He’s touched himself to the thought of you naked before, but nothing he imagined in that pretty little head of his amounted to how good you looked in person.

You go in for another kiss and soon enough he’s pushing inside of you, slowly enough to make sure he doesn’t hurt you. You moan into the kiss, rolling your hips onto his. 

“Wait—no condom?” 

“It’s ok. On the pill,” you intertwine your fingers with his and press your lips onto his again. Armin bottoms out into you and groans. You realize just how big Armin actually is. He places his hands around your waist and hugs you closer, holding you tight as if he’s scared he’ll lose you. 

You start moving up and down on his cock and eventually, Armin starts meeting you halfway. The two of you waste no time taking it slow, he’s desperate for you, and—even though you haven’t really shown it—you’re desperate for him. When Armin kissed you your thighs clenched, but he didn’t seem to notice. 

The room that was once filled with you and Armin’s innocent bickering and teasing was now filled with obscene sounds—from how he pistoned up into your wet pussy to his sweet whimpers—it turned on Armin so, so much.

You squeeze around him, enjoying his whimpers and breathy pants. And just as you were both chasing your high, coming close even though it hasn’t been that long, you hear the front door open and the sounds of your friend's laughter follow. Armin stops and looks at his closed bedroom door, a panicked expression on his face. A knock sounds on the door, Connie’s voice coming from the other side.

“Are you two good in there?”

Armin opens his mouth to answer but only a broken sob comes out as you slam your hips back down onto him. You continue, smiling down at him, acting like nothing is wrong. He looks at you with his eyes widened, biting his hand to stop himself from letting out any more sounds.

“Go on, answer him. You don’t want him to think there’s anything wrong, do you?” 

He grabs your waist with his free hand in an attempt to stop you, but he’s so weak from the pleasure that it does absolutely nothing. Tears prick at his eyes, from the embarrassment of being almost caught by one of his friends and how good he feels.

“I bet you secretly want it to happen. For Connie to come in here and see what we’re doing.”

You’re right, he does secretly want it to happen. He wants Connie to open the door and see the expression on his face at the sight of the two of you. He wants him to see the way you go down onto his cock, taking him so well and him enjoying everyone second of it. Armin isn’t even thinking straight anymore, purely driven by lust. He begins to thrust back up into you, tears rolling down his cheeks. Everything feels better than before; you feel impossibly tighter around him and he feels so good. There are no other words to describe it. 

“Hello?”

“We’re fine. Just give us a few moments, we’re talking about somethi—”

Armin stops mid-sentence because feels close, hips stuttering. He feels the way your pussy spasms around him and notices the way your eyes roll back. You’ve already come but he’s not done yet.

“I’m sorry,” is all he manages to choke out as he continues to push into you. He grabs your hips again and thrusts roughly, his rhythm growing messy and inconsistent. You’re overstimulated and you try to say something, but your jaw goes slack as he keeps going. He chases the high he was so close to earlier and finally reaches it, a string of broken sobs and moans coming spilling from his mouth. Armin’s loud and he knows it, but it doesn’t matter to him anymore. He pulls you into one final, messy kiss and closes his eyes, breath heavy. 

There’s a moment of silence and suddenly you hear roars of laughter through the door. 

“I fucking told you! You all owe me fifty dollars,” Jean’s voice echoes through the house, followed by a chorus of groans from the rest of your friends.

“You’re such a fucking bitch, dude.” Connie’s voice is clear at first, becoming quieter and muffled as he moves away from the bedroom door.

You look at Armin and he looks at you. You laugh and he gives you a shy, embarrassed smile.

“Oops.”

𓆩♡𓆪 note : this was supposed to be posted on valentines day. . .obviously. i posted it on ao3 on feb 15, and decided to post here too after awhile.

happy late valentines day!

[theriverbeyond]

what series scratch the same "itch" as TLT for you? Recently finished the trilogy and feel empty and have found nothing to fill the void in my chest (lol) that TLT had in the weeks I was reading it. I have already experienced homestuck, when thhey cry, and most of the other "big names" of similar media. Any format works as long as its good. I like morally grey characters (Ianthe), well written female leads, character driven narratives and lesbians (in that order.

1. Princess Floralinda and the forty-flight tower (by Tamsyn Muir. excellent audio book narrated by Moira Quirk, same voice actor as TLT)

2. All of Tamsyn Muir's other novellas and short stories (The magician's apprentice, The house that did 16 loops of time, undercover, chew, the deepwater bride, etc)

Next up is entirely my personal and extremely picky and subjective preferences of brain zing, ranked in order of me remembering them

Chainsaw man manga (i read this 5x back to back when I first got into it in 2021. part 1 is complete, part 2 is still updating. part 1 can be experienced as a complete work. the anime is very good but the first episode is not as good as everything after it)

This is how we lose the time war book (feels sorta like fanfiction but the prose is gorgeous)

Interview with the vampire tv show (it's fun, it's camp, there are a lot of gay and bisexual people making really terrible decisions and being very hot)

Gurren Lagann anime (my favorite anime of all time. the women characters are not good, as is typical of many animes. the bathhouse episode can be skipped in its entierty without losing any plot. the overall story is really good and gives me that zing)

Arcane tv show (i watched this in full once and every since have just watched a caitvi + jinx whump clipshow but it did give me that zing. i do not care about the men)

Fullmetal alchemist manga or FMA brotherhood (really good and at this point a classic. royai is the queerplatonic campal blueprint i will not be taking critique at this time)

Revolutionary girl utena anime (watch the sub, do not watch the dub, the dub didn't make them gay. it's really good but heavy TWs and also it is paced like a 90's anime so: slow with a fair amount of filler, which can be good or bad depending on your preferences)

I have complicated feelings about Baru Cormerant and recommend reading up on content warnings if things like violent homophobia and very intimate portrayals of being a colonized subject are things that would upset you. It felt a little too personal to my life for me to like... think it was "fun" or whatever like it felt uncomfortably personal (and also subjectively I didn't super enjoy the pacing of the latter 2 books) but it did make me feel a lot of things and think a lot of thoughts. if the blurb sounds like something you are interested in then I recomend giving it a shot and then you can decide what you think of it yourself

Ancillary justice book (liked this one a lot, but havent felt motivated to read the sequel)

Other fun Studio Trigger animes such as Promare, Cyberpunk 2077, Kill la Kill

Nausicaa and the valley of the wind manga (the movie is good but the manga spanned 10 years, is gorgeously rendered, and goes MUCH more in depth especially wrt climate philosophy and such)

Slay the Princess video game (on steam but also I got into it just by watching letsplays online. It's really good and REALLY interesting, i love how it uses the visual novel format to its story advantage to pull of some incredibly cool story twists. Highly recomend!)

I feel like I am forgetting things that made my brain zing. My childhood special interest was CATS the musical (stage play and 1998 recorded production) and i definitely got brain zing from that but I don't think it has a lot of taste overlaps with tlt. this post really went off the rails but in my defense, it is after midnight

[dude1818]

Anime Year in Review

Last year I made a silly post ranking the three shows I happened to watch. This year, I got way more into anime (and manga), so let's do it properly this time

Revue Starlight* - Easy top star spot. This anime was flawless. I watched it twice this year and will be watching it again. The story, the animation, the music were all impeccable. The music, oh my god; I listen to the soundtrack every day. Some of my other favorites on this list I'd only recommend based on your personal tastes, but this show should be watched by everyone. (The sequel and spin-offs, not so much. They all use the revues in a way that completely undermines the premise of the main series)

Heavenly Delusion - So fucking good. Second on this list, but I think it's the best show that came out this year. Deeply traumatic, but in such a satisfying way. The horror elements were so brutal and so well done, and I love that the man-eating monsters were the least gruesome part of the show. If it wasn't for the stinker of the ice monster episode, I think this could've been my favorite anime

Call of the Night* - Adored this show. Yes it's a celebration of the hedonism of vampires, but it's so earnest and down-to-earth with it that it feels so good to watch that I did it twice (sub and dub). I also got into the manga, which is sadly wrapping up next month, but hopefully that prompts an announcement about season 2

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End - Super chill show, which is a great way to wind down the week. It's such a cool concept too, following the adventurer after the adventure is over. It's just a reflection on life and I love it

The Witch from Mercury (cour 2) - Given that I run a sideblog just for this show, it might be surprising that it's so low on my list, but the second cour was a lot weaker than the first. Not nearly enough of Suletta and Miorine interacting, and way too much chaff following Guel's B-plot. I've said it before, but I think the worst part of this Gundam show is that it's a Gundam show. A+ epilogue though, and Suletta is still my favorite character this year

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off - I enjoyed the original comic and the live action movie. I didn't realize this new adaption was really a sequel, but it ended up being a great way to bring the old story to the modern decade. (Two decades later isn't much, but it was very of-its-time)

Spy x Family (cour 2) - Very fun show. Following several viewpoint characters means the individual episodes might be hit-or-miss (as much as I love Anya, the episodes at the school are relatively bland), but the overall package was sweet and enjoyable

Nimona - Another comic I really enjoyed. The movie was strong, although it cut a lot of parts out that I thought were important to the original story

The Orbital Children - Directed by the same person who directed one of my long-time favorites (Dennou Coil), the first two acts of this really felt like a modern update. Stunning visuals, great sci-fi, thrilling adventure. Went totally off the deep in the third act, though

Joshiraku* - As the characters pointed out, adapting a manga that takes entirely inside the green room of a stand-up comedy club is an odd choice. It was off-the-charts hilarious, though. Considering some of the scripts were entirely pun-based, it must've been an immense amount of work to translate, but they absolutely pulled it off

Oshi no Ko - The only reason I watched this show was because the OP was such a banger. (Several fantastic anime songs by YOASOBI this year, and Idol is easily my favorite.) The first, feature-length episode was incredible and I literally cried at the end. If it was a stand-alone movie, it would be a couple of spots higher on this list. The rest of the show was fine, but not really what I was here for. I'll probably still watch season 2 though

Arknights: Prelude to Dawn* - I bounced off the gacha game immediately, but the worldbuilding and character designs seemed cool, so I wanted to give the anime adaptation a chance. The plot was very thin but serviceable enough. At least it looked nice to watch.

The Magical Revolution of ... - Not typing that whole thing out. It was a cute show. The yuri stuff was nice, but I wish for a show about a magical inventor, there was a non-zero amount of magical inventing shown on screen

* indicates the show aired prior to 2023

A lot of shows I really loved this year. Looking forward to next year, the anime I'm most hyped for is obviously Dungeon Meshi. It looks like it's going to be incredible. The second season of Arcane is also scheduled to come out late next year, which is also very exciting. Technically Frieren has a second cour in January, but they're airing both cours as basically a single 24-episode season, so that doesn't really count

For older shows I mean to catch up on, YouTube has recced me clips of probably every single joke from K-On!, and it's really grown on me. Definitely going to watch that soon. I'm also in the mood to watch Bocchi the Rock! again. I should also make myself watch the first couple episodes of PMMM. Nothing I've seen on Tumblr has grabbed me for that one, but it's right in the middle of some of the other shows I was gushing about here and it would be dumb not to try it

[treasure-mimic]

Felt like messing around in photoshop today, so, what started as a want to create some franchise icons for Smash turned into full character mockups, so I put together my 10 most wanted characters for Smash Bros., whatever the next game looks like, and I’d like to post them and talk about them a bit.

Quote is I think my most wanted newcomer to Smash, I really like and appreciate everything Cave Story has done, and I think if you’re talking about indie games, Cave Story has probably had the most influence on the industry. Kids today probably don’t know much of anything about this game, but trust me when I say there’d be no Hollow Knight, no Ori, no Celeste, without Quote.

This one might be a little obvious nowadays, but I am fully behind the Waluigi train. Just one point of contention, I think people undersell his potential by just having him reference different sports games and spin-offs. I think the real play is to come up with a wholly original kit based around being a dirty cheater and trickster with a penchant for explosives.

I’d much rather have Paper Mario than Dr. Mario if I’m being entirely honest with you.

This one’s a bit weird, because I don’t have a huge fondness for Excitebike the game or Excitebiker the character, I’m just enamored with this concept of a fighting game character who fights entirely from the back of a motorcycle. I just think that’s wicked as hell. I’ll take it in whatever form I can.

Metroid Dread is in strong contention for my favorite Metroid game ever, and it did finally give us a character with a body plan and toolkit that lends itself to Smash, outside of Sylux and the Hunters, whom I’m not the biggest fans of. I’ve had some contentious history with the way Smash fans talk about Metroid, so I guess I’ll put it out now that I think if, at this point, you’re not vouching for Raven Beak, you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Love me some DS VNs, Professor Layton I think at this point has the strongest ties to Nintendo and, since Phoenix Wright got to play in Marvel 3, it should be his time to shine, though I wouldn’t be opposed to any of them.

Honestly, every generation of Pokemon there’s a couple of new mons that I think would make sick Smash characters, and will inevitably get passed up for a lame starter. Nihilego deserves a spot, dammit, she’s more plot important than any number of fire/fighting muscleheads. But if we’re shilling for the most recent gen, you can’t go wrong with a giant hammer.

The Heavy is commonly in talks around Smash Bros. wishlists, especially here in the West, but the obvious problem rears its head pretty quickly. He’s a giant, lumbering, immobile mass whose main weapon takes several seconds to start up and then chews through anything it hits. This is my counterproposal, I think the Scout is just as iconic as the Heavy, comes with a lot of fun weapons and abilities, and actually has some mobility. Imagine using a downward Force-A-Nature shot to recover while spiking someone into the blast zone!

This is for sure a weird one, but once the idea came to me I started getting really attached to it. The number of Enderman variants from Minecraft Dungeons gives the Enderman a surprising amount of variance to pull from, and the Ender Dragon could be its Final Smash.

For the final suggestion, this is for sure a “there’s no chance in hell” but also “it would be really funny”. Scorpion, I think, best represents the aesthetics of Mortal Kombat, a ninja with fire, bladed weapons, and the ability to teleport, which centers him more than Sub-Zero who uses ice, Raiden who uses lightning, and Liu Kang who’s just a martial artist. Leaning heavy on the fire aspect is also a good way to nerf MK’s hypergore for a Rated E10+ game, though that really is the central appeal of Scorpion, trying to shove this edgelord into a kiddy cartoon beat-em-up.

[zxal]

hey im interested in getting into ygo do u have any recs or recommended orders of reading/watching theres a lot from the looks of it on anilist so i was wondering about your preferences o:

ANON I ABSOLUTELY DOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I'm only about halfway through the sequels (i just started arc-v) so I'm not like the most knowledgable person in the world but I can give you my personal recs. COME CLOSER!!!!!

First of all, every yugioh series is totally independent from each other (sort of - gx is set directly after dm and leans on its worldbuilding quite a bit, and 5ds takes place in the same universe as well though a bit further in the future, but you can watch them on their own with no problem) so if there's one in particular that grabs you there's nothing stopping you from jumping straight to it - that being said I've been watching all of the anime in release order (ygo dm -> gx -> 5ds -> zexal -> arc-v (i am here) -> vrains -> sevens -> go rush) and I've been enjoying it a lot. I also wouldn't recommend watching arc-v in particular without having watched the ones before it as it probably won't really have any impact for you. Now for specific recommendations (in order) !!!! SORRY THIS GOT REALLY LONG.

yugioh manga - START HERE !!!!! the original story by kazuki takahashi. high school boy inherits an ancient magical artifact containing a spirit that's really, really good at playing games (and inflicting psychological torment on bullies). I have to give it a warning for some shonen-typical creepiness towards female characters in the early chapters, but it's REALLY worth reading and it's a story that's so near and dear to my heart. this is the fastest and easiest way to start loving yugioh. Its worth noting that the original ygo manga is the ONLY manga (afaik) that tells the same story as its anime + i haven't read any of the others aside from a little bit of the gx manga, so the rest of my recs are anime-only

(optional) yugioh season 0 / 1998 / toei - a one-season anime based on the early manga chapters. if you like the horror vibes of the manga you'll enjoy this a lot. really fun 90s animation with a killer soundtrack, but generally not considered """canon"""

yugioh duel monsters - this is the one most people watched as a kid. it's an adaptation of the manga, but with most of the early chapters cut out so as to get straight to the card games + some extra arcs added in. this is most people's favorites and the most popular! you can also watch this in lieu of the manga, but you will be missing a LOT of the early story or experiencing it in condensed form (and the plot of ygo dm is already patchy At Best).

yugioh gx - direct anime sequel to ygo dm. boy goes to gamer school to become the next king of games + high school shenanigans ensue. gx is a really charming, goofy romp with a super lighthearted s1, an interesting s2 and a shockingly engrossing s3. s4 (the last 25 episodes or so) never got dubbed in english so if you're a dub enjoyer like me you'll have to switch to subs to get the full story

yugioh 5ds - direct sequel to gx, though further in the future than gx was to dm. card games on motorcycles are real and so is class warfare and the surveillance state. iirc this is the only yugioh anime that was rated 4+ - it has a slightly more mature tone but there's still plenty of lighthearted fun to be had. Really strong s1 with a second season that falls off a little bit, at least to me, but is still absolutely worth watching. s2 is missing a number of episodes in the english dub, so again if you're a dub enjoyer you will find yourself quite confused by the end. its probably worth watching s2 entirely sub-only (something i still need to do)

yugioh zexal - the first of the sequels that is possibly set in a different universe entirely (or just the really distant future). middle school boy gets a magic necklace from his dad that has an alien inside. zexal is a lot of peoples favorites and now that I've watched it I GET IT. Really strong story + pacing from beginning to end and a really endearing cast of characters. It's silly and goofy and fun but DAMN DOES IT COHERE.

yugioh arc-v - the first of the sequels that is DEFINITELY set in a different universe entirely. this is the one I'm watching currently so i don't have much to say about it yet GET BACK TO ME ON THIS ONE. this one boy's dream is to become the greatest clown who ever lived (tragic) (inspiring)

INHALES LOUDLY. that was probably more info than you wanted BUT I HOPE THAT HELPED AT LEAST A LITTLE BIT? again I recommend reading the original ygo manga first and i think that will give you a good idea of whether you are down with the yugioh silliness or not. It's important to remember that this is a very silly anime series about card games but like. As long as you can buy into the worldbuilding and accept that this is just How Things Are in the world of ygo, it's suuuuuuuch a fun world to sink your teeth into.

[goldentigerfestival]

Since I'd been talking a lot about JP Vesperia (primarily Yuri and Flynn and the heavy changes that surround them, and because I'm highly passionate about them in their original context), I wanted to compile some more jarring if not outright glaring mistakes in the localization (or what were likely intentional changes, because I can't look at some of these and just call them "mistakes"). I'm not going to mention every little change throughout the game, so smaller things I'll mostly be leaving out (namely things that don't really affect characters or context). I primarily just wanted to give some insight on some of the bigger parts.

Some of the changes seem to have been mistakes in translation itself (not just localization, but misunderstanding what was being said in general; such as, there's an instance I mention of that between Patty and Don), so I've got some mentions hanging around for clarity purposes as some scenes didn't make much sense, likely because of this.

Vocal tone with Yuri was the most prominent issue that got me making this, and the context that was changed being right after if not equally next to that (most often also with Yuri but also Flynn).

This is something that has been bothering me for a while and I've been wanting to share this stuff with people interested in seeing the game with its original context. Generally speaking, the plot and story themselves are on point. The majority of the differences surround Yuri and Flynn respectively, so there's going to be a lot of mention of them throughout.

I've also posted video clips of my favorite scenes and the heavy changes, so consider those a supplement to this and vice versa.

Part 2.

Part 3.

Part 4.

(Other) GTF Favorites.

I'd like to preface this by mentioning the chief director and producer of the game itself has also spoken about localization inaccuracy issues, so that's something to keep in mind (it's in Japanese, but you should be able to use the offered post translator).

I'd also like to preface this by mentioning that in the original, Yuri is more playful and relaxed/casual (generally but including with Flynn, which the dub pretty much entirely changed until arc 3), but also gentler and softer. He has a very large variety of tonal behaviors/tonal "moods" that were pretty much nuked from the dub.

Basically, to get the full experience for Yuri, I can only really recommend playing the game in JP audio. Obviously you won't get the actual context because all you'll have is the dub context, but that's also partly why I'm making these posts - to cover the contextual changes while the video clips cover some of the tonal changes (because lbh I don't expect anyone to actually go watch the entire game in JP with subtitles unless you're as insanely dedicated as I am, and I'm largely doing it out of my love for the original Yuri and Flynn and my disdain for how the localization treated them).

As a heads up, there won't be many skits in here because I'm going through a specific YT playthrough for these screenshots. Specific skits won't always come up in the playthrough in question, and I can't find a whole list of skits in JP anywhere online. I don't have all skits unlocked in my own save either yet (you can unlock all skits with Grade which I have yet to do in the DE), so I can't use that to compare all skits right now.

There are plenty of small changes here and there that I won't be including in these posts because there are some sentence changes that aren't impactful but do exist. I just don't want to be here for a year covering the random changes that don't matter much. I'm also not going to include details of a lot of honorifics because I'd be here all day, but there is one one major instance that I mention later on.

For reference if anything wants to actually watch the game in JP with the subs (it goes until just after Hypionia), most of the references come from here. Since in some cases the subber just reused localized text even when the context wasn't the same, I did bring some of those up in these posts too. These were subbed before the DE version came out. I used screenshots with subs where possible to make it easier to follow along.

I have a lot of passion for JP Yuri and I hope I can pass on some of that passion to others. 🙏

Apologies in advance if some of these sound cranky. If I sound cranky about some specific changes, it's probably because I am.

---

Since I talked about the whole, Raven being shady and Yuri therefore not being grateful to him incident that the localization for some reason butchered and made Yuri sound like a generally ungrateful or just outright dumb person who doesn't understand gratitude, I'll summarize that one again here:

Yuri has a skit with Estelle originally talking about how he can't find himself being grateful to someone like Raven for showing him how to sneak out of the castle. Basically, Raven is shady and he's not sure he should be grateful to someone like that, and is confused as to why Estelle would be so grateful when she doesn't even know him (because in his mind, he isn't sure he wants to trust a guy with those vibes). The dub just kinda... makes him sound like an ungrateful jerk and not so much because he's not sure he wants to trust Raven. It doesn't really sound like it's an issue of his with Raven specifically but more that he just generally doesn't feel grateful for the aid (and that in general one shouldn't feel grateful for aid like this), which gives off a really wrong impression of him that doesn't hold up throughout the game. Yuri wasn't wholly ungrateful for the gesture itself, but because of who it came from (and I imagine a weird peppy guy in jail is good cause to be skeptical).

We start off we a classic "Yuri, you idiot!" that was changed to "come on already!".

Yuri's response to Estelle mentioning he'd been in the knights doesn't actually give a time frame for how long he'd been there (the dub made up three months, but there was never originally even a time frame given).

Here when Yuri asks Estelle why she can't just leave, her response indicates she actually does know why. The dub made it more ambiguous, which could be easily misinterpreted as she really doesn't know, so I'm dropping this one here.

For some reason the localization seemed to have Estelle responding to Karol directly about the ace always performing their attack last ("I don't think so"). What she was referring to was the tiny monster that walked by, asking for confirmation that that monster was not the eggbear they were looking for (I wasn't gonna fight with the video to get a better screenshot without the annoying YT red bar in the way so the monster is in the corner mid-movement lol). Not sure if that was a genuine mistake, but it was an odd one.

(Also, side note and not putting an image here because it's more general, but Yuri refers to Karol as "Karol-sensei" which was translated in the localization to "Captain Karol". Basically, Yuri calls him "sensei" because that's a teacher/professor, and he's making a play on Karol's knowledge and being their "teacher" about monsters/maps/etc.)

I'd say this is more along the lines of overexaggerating and not overreacting, but this line was literally changed to "haha" in the dub. The whole point wasn't that Yuri just brushed her comment off or found it funny. At this point he still literally thinks she's exaggerating about her lack of knowledge out in the world, her excitement, etc.

Not the only instance you'll find of the dub just changing entire sentences to something meaningless as if they ??? didn't know what it meant (they actually changed Patty saying an entire sentence to "aye"). In some cases they added entire sentences that weren't even there...

Even though I can kind of see where they went with the dub here, the point was supposed to be that Flynn actively thought he would be happy for Yuri to go outside the barrier and see the world.

The dub changed this to Flynn saying that he, in the now, is happy that Yuri is outside the barrier, but then says he got a little less happy when he saw the wanted poster, indicating he was previously happy but got less happy, yet says in that moment that he is happy.

It's a weird case of (past/present) tense usage for the most part, but they also removed the fact that Flynn is literally saying "I thought I would be happy" (thus expressing he'd been wanting Yuri to see the world outside the barrier and would've been happy to find out he did). The reason he's not finding himself happy is because of the wanted poster and the crimes listed on it, following up that his honest happiness for Yuri (ultimately because of the poster) was a lie.

This also means they removed Flynn expressing the honesty of his happiness for a positive concept for Yuri, which, given all the changes toward Flynn in the dub, already now takes away from the fact that he'd been actively hoping for good things for someone and we're left with this more sarcastic take on him being "happy".

Obviously his happiness wasn't really a lie because most of the crimes were falsified (primarily the ones that would make him actually mad, because Flynn has had to have been aware this whole time that Yuri has committed small time crimes for the past few years now), but at the time, the focus on this conversation is that Flynn thought he'd be happy at a time that Yuri left the barrier; meaning he'd been hoping for it prior to it happening.

I'm also mentioning it because it's the very first in a whole line of changes the dub made to their relationship (and it's their first in game interaction ffs) and to Flynn himself as he's perceived as a character. The original is much more expressive of how important they are to each other in a lot of various ways.

Inserting the JP audio version of the following scene with Flynn here.

And... the following one from there.

This was changed to "damn, we if lose our balance...". I know they did it because Yuri had just fallen over, but I'm including this one because the context isn't... really the same thing?

This dub change is a bit odd to me. They had him saying something along the lines of "she is a princess after all" in the dub, regarding the council backing her.

The original context is more like, the council is backing her and he's hearing it directly from Ioder and he probably doubts Ioder would lie like that or about that, cementing that yes, she truly is, like he suspected, a princess, but it's almost still a bit odd to know. It's sort of like, he knew/had suspicions but hearing it directly from Ioder just confirms it for certain.

The dub just made it sound like well yeah, it's obvious they'd want to back her, she's a princess... but Ioder is a prince, so that doesn't explain why they're not backing him. She is a princess after all, so of course they'd back her... but what's stopping them from backing the prince?

Another weird one for me. In the dub Yuri says that "even the Commandant was a little in over his head", when he actually... really wasn't? All he did was step in. Things got bad enough that he had to, but he wasn't in over his head. Not sure how or why the dub ended up with that.

An example of the dub having a habit of just adding in random lines that didn't actually exist (and in this case the one added didn't even contextually make sense. This was no thank you from him, this was literally him making Yuri do something for him because he was going to ask Flynn for a favor and ended up with Yuri in the cell instead).

Another super weird one in the dub. They had Yuri saying Flynn was "too" late, implying he hadn't made it in time, but he did. He made it just before the battle started, but the original context only says he's late, not too late (which makes sense given that they were ready to fight but hadn't started yet).

This was changed to Yuri just mentioning there was one way they could get out of there without actually saying what it was, and Judith saying if he thinks it might work what's the harm in trying it out. Not sure why they changed Yuri literally telling her his plan, so... again, a super weird change that I don't get why they didn't just keep the context the way it was.

Third image was changed to "someone get me away from this psycho", which... I also don't get why they put that there unless they just wanted so much flavor text that they wanted to change the whole "they're in a fight and he's telling her not to come over here because he's pissed at her because they're fighting" part of the fake fight they had going on.

Not one I have a huge problem with, but definitely good examples of them going out of their way to change just... perfectly normal stuff that literally has no reason to be changed? Some of it is flavor text and some of it feels over the top for me. Stuff that makes me like... why would you change that when there was no reason to? Could be more of a personal pet peeve of mine, but I just don't like unnecessary changes when there was nothing wrong or odd about the original text and doesn't at all come off odd in English. Unfortunately Vesperia got littered with those.

I didn't feel like getting a whole video for this, but basically Judith gives a little laugh instead of just the more upset/distressed(?) sound she made in the dub. Feels more fitting imo to keep up the "lie" Yuri started for her. The dub makes it seem more like she feels guilty, versus here she's giving a little forced giggle to go along with it. Again, a change I'm not sure why they put in.

Ngl I get completely different vibes from these. The JP comes across more as concern, rather than... treating them like they're some mob on the loose...?

Once again, this gives off negative vibes toward Flynn as a character imo.

Here Judith gives more of a reason for coming with them, which they changed in the dub to "with the circumstances being what they are, this is just how things turned out". Reasonably, she didn't have to stick around after they ran from Dahngrest, but here she gives a quick "reason".

The dub changed this to "I'll bet he is". They were just told he's the current magistrate in Heliord, and all Yuri says here expresses he's letting it sink in and realizing exactly why all this is happening here. It's not a huge story beat or anything that gets changed, but it's an example of changing things that don't need to be changed as if trying to play things up in a way that... doesn't feel necessary to me? In this case the situation is kind of dawning on Yuri as he realizes how bad this situation could be/why it's like it is, but in the dub it comes across as more just unimpressed and "of course he'd do that".

An unfortunate, classic moment of them changing how much Yuri believes in and trusts Flynn. They changed this to "gotta run, Flynn!" and he just... leaves. I'm sorry but in what universe does "leave the rest to you" equal "gotta run"???

This one is one of those cases where the localization text was super awkward and wonky, and worse, they actually voiced it that way (like "we have guild's job to deal with". Yes, they actually voiced it that way too on top of everything else grammatically wonky with the entire conversation that they didn't bother fixing when the DE came out).

Also here, they changed what Yuri says about Cumore and Flynn. "I don't know how I could explain this to Flynn" doesn't, at least to me, carry the same weight as Yuri actually feeling ashamed (in the dub he says "what a shame", but does not express shame, versus him saying "how pathetic" and expressing shame in feeling pathetic) and saying he can't even face Flynn because Cumore got away. The thing is, Yuri does tend to posture, so when he fails at something, it hits him pretty hard.

And let's be honest, this just hits way harder than "he will get what he deserves".

Interestingly, Yuri could also fall into the category of viewing himself as sinful later on, which I talk about in my favorites post and the usage of "crime" and "sin" within the JP context.

Not particularly important, but just another (more mild) case and example of how the dub just randomly changed tone/mood/wording for no reason.

Another case of Yuri being more aggressive in the dub than he actually was. Here, all he says is just a plain statement. In the dub, he has an attitude about it and says it in a tone that's more insulting that Ioder didn't know about Heracles.

This isn't the only case of dub Yuri acting aggressively toward Ioder when he wasn't supposed to be and we'll get to that, but Ioder is another similar case of the dub making Yuri unnecessarily vocally rude (despite that Ioder is very polite toward Yuri).

(I left out the subtitles because all they did was copy the dub's localization, which kinda defeats the point of this post LOL. This will be the case going forward for any same circumstances.)

This one's a more interesting tidbit to me and less of a harmful change (i.e. I find that a lot of if not most changes relative to Flynn do more harm than good when compared with the original context). Basically it's saying "sweet mask and sharp eyes", implying Flynn's sweet face is a mask and saying it contrasts with his sharp eyes. I could get into a whole rant about why I love that in relation to some side material, but even in the game itself, there's the knight Flynn with his sweet, polite side and his real side that only shows when he's around Yuri (basically, who Flynn has to be for his job and who he actually is as a person, which he only gets to be around someone who knows the real him).

I'd guess this got changed in the dub because they weren't sure how to word it, though there's no mention of "heartthrob" here at all and instead actually says "sweet mask" as if, again, to say his sweetness is just a mask. It's actually a very interestingly accurate representation of his character - how he tends to not be himself when he's being "knight Flynn", and how that sweet face is contrasted by the look in his eyes (which they say, you know, eyes are the windows to the soul, so this would imply the sweet face is the mask and the eyes are the real Flynn. And of course, this Flynn is implied to show himself in his sparring with Yuri in Aurnion, where sword fighting is the best way to express himself. This isn't to say Flynn being a nice person in and of itself is a lie, but that his overly polite, respectful, kind knight side is a sweet mask contrasted to the man who loves to fight and has a sharp look in his eyes)

For now, we'll be back at Mantaic in the next post (due to image per post limit).

[wfagamerants]

So I finally saw the Mario movie, so of course I am not gonna miss my chance to do a good ol’ write-up about my thoughts. Spoilers btw.

I am just fresh from seeing it, so this is very early impressions speaking, but on the whole, I am very happy. A Mario movie on the big screen is something I wanted to experience as early as I can think back and yeah, it did not disappoint.

Above all else, the movie succeeds where it needed to succeed most.

It’s a Mario movie and very proud to be a Mario movie. it doesn’t rely on a ‘’Oooooh, Mario is in our world’’ kind of gimmick or anything. It looks like Mario, it sounds like Mario and it plays out like a Mario film and I mean all that in the best ways possible.

The movie is pure eye candy and while seeing so much of it’s setpieces from trailers already caught me off-guard, there was still more than enough to see. Brooklyn and the way it was made to fit with Mario’s current aesthetic was a major highlight there.

The characters look great, it’s full of detail, really, nothing to complain about there.

Music is a delight too, any time I recognized one of the game themes, which was a lot of times, made me grin. The licensed songs do clash with that, but are ultimately inoffensive. I get when people hate it, but for me, it’s just there.

I watched the movie in german, so I can’t comment on the english cast at large, but I liked them from the trailers and the german cast absolutely delivered too, with Luigi and DK being particular highlights.

Speaking of DK, everything around him and his series was fantastic to see. I always want to see the Marioverse be more connected and seeing a taste of that on the big-screen makes me more than a little giddy.

All that is good stuff and the many references to spot are going to make this an incredible movie to rewatch and discover new details, but there is one issue that I do think may make this movie a more difficult sell for people not super into Mario.

The beginning in Brooklyn is my favorite part of the movie for how it establishes Mario and Luigi, their relationship and struggles with both their business and earning the approval of others around them (being someone in the know and nostalgic about the old backstory adds extra points obviously). It takes time to show them actually at a job, gives Foreman Spike and Pauline small parts to give that fuzzy feeling of familiarity and all around serves as a great introduction. It’s nothing deep but it does a lot to elevate the Bros as characters in a way that suits the medium.

Once the Mushroom Kingdom comes in though, a lot of that starts to take a backseat to jumping from location to location. It’s an absolute joyride, but it does leave a lot of concepts without the room they need.

The flashback Luigi has while captive is great and earned, given Luigi’s timid nature and Mario being so protective of him have already been well established, but it doesn’t really go beyond that scene until the climax. It works, but at least an extra scene where Luigi laments being a scaredy cat would have given his one big moment some more pathos.

Similarly Peach’s backstory, while simple, does create intrigue and a new dimension to her care for the Toads, but it’s only brought up once and stops being a factor afterwards. It honestly feels like an entire sub-plot got cut there.

There is more stuff like that and it is an aspect where the movie feels a bit insecure about itself. It’s clear the shadow of the live action movie was looming over the movie’s production and through that, it feels they were afraid of focusing too long on something less fan–service. 

I still enjoy what we got, like Mario and DK’s dynamic is amazing even without an extended talk about their dads, it’s just stuff they could have done a little more of, because the movie otherwise does blatantly bank on your existing familiarity with the cast and world to carry things. It works for me, but I can understand a lot more now why critics who have not much clue about Mario, were less impressed.

On that note, the characters also really landed for me. Luigi did get thrown under the bus though. He’s great when he is on-screen and his moment of glory intensely cathartic, but he really does not get to do much and his dynamic with Mario does not have much time to shine. 

Similarly Lumalee is a big question mark for me. He’s amusing, but there is no context as to how Bowser got him. I really did expect some kind of Galaxy tease that just never happens and due to how little time the prisoners get, Lumalee really ends up just being a vehicle for macabre jokes.

I do also wish Peach was allowed to be a liiiittle more flawed, like I am totally on-board with her being more experienced because of her background growing up in the Mushroom Kingdom and always root for the SMB2 team to be the default hero team whenever possible. That I am all cool with, I just feel they overcompensated a little, because aside from being caught by King Bob-omb’s explosion, I struggle to think of a single mistake she made the entire movie, while everyone else bumbles at some point. Not a big deal, she ended up far more endearing than I expected, I just feel they could have made it more balanced than constant hypercompetence. 

The rest of the cast I have no complaints about. Mario is precisely what I want a more distinctly characterized take on him to be. All my praises regarding Toad still apply, Spike is great for what he gets, DK rules, Cranky is fine for what this version of him is meant to be, Kamek has good moments and Bowser is a hilarious incel that also caught me off-guard with how surprisingly evil he could be.

All that good stuff easily wins the day and made me genuinely love my time with the movie. A sequel really does need to address the pacing problems and let the characters breathe more, but I do think the movie is a slam dunk in what it wants to archive. 

This 100% is a movie for people that would get excited to see the Koopa General become a Blue Shell or see the Bros while invincible, put the smack down on Bowser and his army.

I am absolutely in this camp and as far as I am concerned, it’s a fan joyride, made by people that clearly respect the source material and I am happy I took on said ride.

I do wish the Plumber Rap used the same german lyrics as in the Super Show dub, but nobody’s perfect.

[oddberryshortcake]

For the character ask meme!

The floaty blue lava lamp, from that stupid silly card game anime spinoff show! <3

ASTRAL MY LOVE!!

What I love about them: SO much!! Gorgeous character design, I think about just how effective his design is all the damn time, he’s the perfect example of ‘ethereal beauty.’ I can only imagine how much more effective his design would be had his hair been more ‘flowy’ with better animation. But Ygo thrives on detailed still images and just look up one picture of Astral and you’ll just see- here, I’ll do it for you

Also a nonbinary legend. He/she/they take the crown.

I’ve always loved the trope of inhuman being discovering humanity for the first time, I love how well Zexal was able to execute how he changed over the course of the series- From a frankly emotionless brat who always had some snarky condescending comment say, to a genuinely kind person with some agency of his own (some, we’ll get into that.) I loved seeing each emotion he experienced, and he’s just great and underutilized despite being the most important person in the series (we’ll get into that)

What I hate about them: He was not utilized enough! It’s not his fault, it's the executives and such, but rewatching when Astral (spoilers) was genuinely disagreeing with Yuma and finding it hard to see himself going down the same path as him and trusting him again (which is huge because Astral got to a point where he trusted Yuma unconditionally and it blew up in his face bad,) what could’ve been used to voice their differences and speak up for himself more just…Did not happen. All of Astral’s thoughts stay within his head. 

He gets shoved to the side a LOT for someone who is a floating plot devise and the entire reason the story is even happening. It’s been about 12 years and Astral is still viewed as an extension of Yuma in a lot of the official ygo merchandise. I love their relationship, but Astral needed to be more independent! Narratively and just in general. 

Favorite Moment/Quote: I had to go back and get it, subbed episode 48- “I have no idea when I will vanish, but you have a future and infinite possibilities. Thus, I wish to leave behind the proof of my existence in your mind” (I believe dub said ‘heart’ instead of ‘mind’, both work beautifully)

Astral completely excluding himself from having a future, resigning to disappearing without a trace and no one will remember him but Yuma…and that’s all he wants out of his life. It is so damn sad that he just sort of resigns to his existence being a fickle and meaningless thing (once his mission is over) but his innocent hope of at least one person remembering him cementing itself in his friend’s grief-addled mind just aaaa! He’s just got this air of sadness that’s so !! 

What I would like to see more focus on: Astral was created for one purpose only, and when that he succeeded in his mission, it’s implied that there’s just nothing after that. That he’d just be used up, dead and gone. He carries this sort of instinctual desire to self-sacrifice because that is what he’s made to do and I’m always screaming at the TV screen, just begging him to think about himself and gain a desire to live!! Screw these people who made you to fix their own mistakes! You deserve to live, Astral!

What I would like to see less focus on: Uhhh not sure really, maybe less of him just living and breathing through Yuma and more of him being his own person. 

Favorite pairing with: Oh that’s easy, It’s [REDACTED] But on something I can talk about, I genuinely really enjoyed writing Goldenshipping (Jey x Astral) when you commissioned me and whenever I see the fanart I go 👀👀

Favorite friendship: Astral and Yuma are iconic (and obvious.) For a more unconventional one, the little friendship Astral and Haruto had was so genuinely wholesome (too bad those characters both aren’t really focused on at all) 

Astral teaching this traumatized child how to eat with chopsticks and smiling fondly at him when his instruction works?? Fucking beautiful. I cried. 

The fact that Astral was willing to give all of his numbers, his MEMORIES, to Kaito in order to save Haruto should Yuma find that the better solution. Amazing.

NOTP: Literally cannot think of any except maybe Eliphas because as much as that man denies it, that IS HIS SON 

Favorite headcanon: Should Astral become human or just be able to live on Earth (away from his planet that used him and also away from toxic amounts of chaos energy that wE KNOW GENUINELY HURTS HIM TO THE POINT OF PASSING OUT?? MAYBE HE SHOULDN’T BE AROUND THAT??) I genuinely believe he’d make an amazing dueling teacher 

He already taught Yuma how to duel and it’s something he’s good at and still likes. I can picture him getting tons of students and, more than half of them are there because they have a lil crush on him. 

I’d be his student lmao

[tetsunabouquet]

9, 12 and 33 for your 50 followers event if that's not too much. 💙

It's not hun!

9 What's your favorite scene in KNB? Hmm, that's actually a bit of a difficult question but I feel like the scene in which Midorima has those tiny flashbacks about his team in the Shutoku vs Rakuzan game, and realizes what they have came to mean to him is very dear to me.

Not just the character development itself, but the stark contrast it paints between him and Akashi too. Akashi and Midorima have a dynamic that really interests me (and I have a few love triangle fics with these two stored). They were amongst the closest friendship pairs in the GOM, had similar enoug backgrounds and lead the Teiko team together as Captain and Vice Captain. Yet their philosophies couldn't be anymore different when it comes to teamwork, even during their Teiko days. Let's not forget, Midorima was the only one out of the GOM who never wanted to participate in things like quotas and betting and after Akashi's personality switch, he was the only GOM who never skipped out and continued training hard. Midorima always thought winning was important, but he believed in neither high pressure, or slacking. Then, after joining Shutoku and being defeated by Kuroko, he basically is the GOM to follow directly into Kuroko and Kagami's footsteps by finding his own 'shadow' in Takao. Meanwhile, Akashi would toss his teammates aside, would put them under high pressure yet allowed them to slack simultaneously. It feels like such an epic showdown of the differences between them as players and the friends they once were. Midorima was defeated, but he stood up to Akashi and made his point. Not a lot of people would have had the balls to do that.

12, Is there any historical event you'd like to witness?

As a history buff, there are plenty I'd like to witness! One high on my list would be the Revolt of the Batavi. I mentioned growing up on the Dutch countryside as a child, and it was actually the province where the revolt took place so it's a very important historical event to our region. (short summary, the Batavi were a Germanic tribe the Roman Empire had basically overtaken in their quest to conquer North Europe. The Batavi had a revolution against them, it failed but the Batavi had birthed an ideology that said, 'if all of our tribes were to stand together we could defeat the Romans'. And sure enough, this was the starting point of the downfall of the Roman Empire as the other tribes had listened to the Batavi). 33, What's the most recurring theme in your dreams? YA worthy plots surrounding other worlds. I often have dreams surrounding cities I've been, but there are entirely different buildings, streets, etc yet my dreams are consistent as if there's really an alternate universe out there were there's a huge theme park behind the central station of Berlin.

Another very frequent thing that happens in my dreams is the end of the world, where I get eaten by a monster or alien at some point. Sometimes, I even dream to the point where everything has been destroyed, I am dead and the world is beginning anew. Like Ragnarok from Norse Mythology.

Just last night, I had another weird ass dream that involved a magical world with pink trees. I suppose my sub-conscious is really invested in world building LMAO

[itsevanffs]

12 and 54 for the ask game?

12. how does receiving or not receiving feedback/support impact you?

it really depends. i'm a sucker for being cheerleaded, you can do that any day, but i will shut down any criticism, good faith or not, immediately, because i never ask for it unless i do, and unwarranted criticism is the easiest and fastest way to make me dislike you immensely.

not getting any positive feedback on a fic that i've posted or updated is kind of troublesome for me emotionally, as i am a relatively well-known author (who woulda thunk? not me, i'll be honest) with almost 800 user subs (which is a LOT of people! i'm still completely mindblown by that number), so like, the attention i usually get does go to my head a little. this also means not getting what i perceive as the 'usual amount' of comments/whatever tends to kickstart my anxiety or leave my serotonin low, which is annoying. i am working on it, and usually i try to take a lot of pride in what i do get when i get it, whether it be a kudos a day or a string of hearts in my comments or a bookmark with a <3 in it. it's all welcome.

getting a nice comment or bookmark or a sudden influx of kudos (yknow, the one where i go, ooh, did someone rec me?) is always super fun, though, and i do try to look out for them. it's nice. makes me appreciate our little community, and even if it takes me a while to reply, just know that i've most likely already seen it and am just taking my time to soak it in before i give up on coherence and keysmash hearts in reply.

54. what’s your favorite part about the fanfiction writing process?

...difficult to say, i'll be honest.

i guess, like, talking to someone about it. i really like the sound of my own voice (not literally, but like, talking is my favourite hobby lol i can do it for hours) so it's very easy for me to just go into 'infodump' mode where i proceed to word vomit my entire plot onto an unsuspecting friend (cough cough, @toast-ranger-to-a-stranger <3 i love you to death buddy, i mean it!) who almost always replies with enthusiasm and helps me work out any kinks, literally or figuratively. i get most of the plotting process done in dms, and just like,,, having someone to talk to about it, about anything, is just so nice. it's why i write fanfiction at all, to be honest. i've had idle fantasies of being that one guy that drops a fic on anon and disappears from the net never to be seen again and leaves people to wonder who i am, cus it's cool in theory, yknow? but it just isn't for me.

i'm a community guy. i want to talk to people. and that's what i like doing most, even when i'm (meant to be) writing. ;P

----

want to know more? have a look at this ask sheet for fanfic writers, and choose a number! or, if you can't find the question you'd like, just pop me one of your own in my ask box, which is open to anons and non-anons alike.

[dany36]

i did it! 😍 I finished the game before New Years! I rushed the final part of the game and skipped the sub events that you can apparently do before the final fight, but since I eventually plan to replay this as Milla, I’ll just do them there. definitely enjoyed this game and I’m glad I finally got a chance to complete it. I felt like right after the big plot twist with Maxwell and Milla, the game kind of…hmmm dipped a bit in terms of the story pacing for me. but that ending?? fuck yes!!!!! <3 thank you namco for not going down the usual path of male protag + female protag = lovers. anyway, more long ramblings about this beautiful game below because i need to (as usual) dump out my feelings about it!

so first for the things i liked.

milla!! holy crap, she's definitely become one of my all-time favorite characters in the tales series and i'm aching to start a drawing of her. what an amazing character. she's such a determined, courageous, strong-willed, bad-ass woman, and OF COURSE i'm a huge sucker for female characters who just know what they're about and don't let anything or anyone stand in their way! yeah her anatomy is outrageous (she looks like she could snap in half at any moment) but just like velvet i'm letting it slide because her characterization is just wonderful. she starts out not really caring for anyone or anything but her "mission" and protecting humans and spirits alike, but then elize happens!! leia happens!! and of course jade happens as well but like!! elize and leia never hesitate to show their care, love, and admiration for milla and just ahhhhh their relationship in the game is everything to me. that post-battle scene of milla patting elize and thanking her for her help would always make my heart want to explode of joy. 🤧 thank you namco for feeding me with such an admirable protagonist who clicked so well with the rest of the female characters. can't wait to play her side of the story!

i've already mentioned in another post how much i love teepo (hands down best tales mascot yet), but i also loved elize and leia as well. i know it's implied that jiao had something to do with elize's parents but next time i'll try to do more sub-events about her to learn more about her past and well, just learn more about her overall. leia snuck her way into joining the party and although at first i didn't really care for her, she is also super helpful in battle and her bubbly personality is what was missing from the party before she joins. i just didn't like (and understand?) why she kept saying/thinking that she was getting in the way or holding the party back because...excuse me queen when does that ever happen lol you are nothing but helpful. she right away agrees to help jude and milla look for what they need to get milla to walk again and puts her life at risk for it, how is that holding them back? maybe there's something i missed but yeah, pure love for elize and leia.

the fighting system in this game is so damn good and fun omg, probably my favorite after berseria. linking arts is so satisfying and reminded me of those final attacks you could pull off in arise, except with like...you could execute them any time you filled up the linking bar and not just waiting for an enemy to almost die. i played as jude most of the time but in my next playthrough i will definitely play as milla since her attacks looked so fun as well.

that plot twist about milla having been built by maxwell to bait out exodus was totally unexpected for me and i was just in shock watching all those cutscenes play out. from clapping of joy that milla finally gets The Four back to having my mouth agape at leia and alvin fighting. like...damn, the storytelling and pacing of this story might not be the best but that portion of the game was really good. again, can't wait to see what the hell is going on with milla in that time that jude is all down and depressed!

so many animated cutscenes, and of course all of them are a joy to watch! i'm not entirely sure but i think out of all the tales games i've played, i felt like this one really had the most? either way, would always love whenever we'd get one since i love how they animate milla!

the ending. wow. i really thought they were going to go down the usual route of "male protag and female protag fall in love and stay together" because well, jude fell head over heels for milla but i never really got the impression that milla felt the same way for jude (again, need to play milla's side). i thought for sure that milla was going to find a way to live as a human, kind of what happens with ratatosk and emil in symphonia 2, but to my pleasant surprise, that doesn't happen! milla doesn't even HESITATE to say no to maxwell to his idea of her living as a human using the schism's mana--she right away knows that she will live on as maxwell and continue her duty to protect spirits and humans alike. GOD that just made me adore her character even more! i mean SURE it sucks for her because she herself says something along the lines of being sad that she will have to leave her found family behind, but (after looking it up in the youtubes cus i just couldn't wait) she says in the post-credit scene that she is proud of the path she has chosen! she has no regrets!! what a fucking queen!!!!!!!!!!

and honestly i much prefer this ending in regards to jude and milla's relationship: a relationship based on admiration and respect for each other because SHEESH it's such a breath of fresh air and i'm so so so glad that namco went this route for them because i was seriously dreading the cliched ending lol. not that i'm against the usual female protag + male protag ending up together--as long as the proper development is there (see marta and emil, luke and tear etc), but again i just felt like the feelings were very one-sided from jude so hurray for this ending!

ok and the part where elize puts teepo away? i literally screamed "NOOOOO" and was so sad but at the same time proud of elize because she no longer has to depend on teepo to express herself! and she has friends now! but still it was a depressing scene to see just because of how much i loved teepo :(

alright, now for the dislikes:

the music. this one is no surprise because honestly, ever since symphonia 2, i feel like tales games just have not done well in the music department. i think there's like one or two songs that i might have to download for my collection, but other than that, yet another disappointment in the series.

the overworlds. sorry but they were so boring and predictable to explore after like...the third or so area! they all pretty much have the same layout except with different colors. just really nothing interesting about them and the same music for almost all of the areas wasn't helpful either. if xillia 2 has the same layouts to its overworld i will seriously scream lol.

the voice acting. i think this game has the worst (english) voice acting in all of the tales games i've played, and it was especially jarring after coming from symphonia 2, which i thought did such an excellent job with its voice acting. it didn't have a japanese option otherwise i would have chosen it. those character pop-in voices that would occur during battles where your characters would say something just wouldn't match with the intensity of the character portraits, plus half the time i wouldn't even be able to hear what the hell they were saying. also, as much as i love elize, her voice just didn't sound like a 12 or 13 year old (or however old she's supposed to be). i felt like jude's and leia's voice acting was also pretty meh, like the skits would sometimes really have no oomph to them or were pretty monotone. milla's had the same issue to her but with her you can kinda brush it off due to her personality. i initially didn't really like milla's voice acting at all but overtime it ended up becoming my favorite out of the main gang lol.

alvin... oh boy. i'm sorry to alvin fans, i know he's supposed to be like the complex character of the gang, kind of like how zelos was, but unlike zelos whom i eventually learned to SOMEWHAT like despite his many flaws, alvin never really grew on me and i had no interest in learning more about his character. maybe my mind will change once i get another playthrough of the game, but his constant betrayals and running away just got old after the second time and honestly it was annoying. yeah he was part of exodus since he was a kid and did what he needed to survive, but eugh i never really felt he clicked well with the rest of the party, even when he was moping around before the final battle and elize went and cheered him up. good thing that milla and jude never gave up on him since it's thanks to his cousin that we learned about how spyrites worked, but other than that........next!!!

the antagonists. so weak. i already talked a bit about this, but nachtigal? lame af. also he was alvin's uncle? whatever, the game never really gave me a reason to want to feel sympathy for him, so i brushed over this "revelation" as fast as the game did. plus his presence throughout the game was barely felt? presa, agria, and wingul, eh, also whatever. i thought it was cool how you got to work "with them" for a bit, which was a nice surprise, but other than that, just like alvin, don't really care for them. not sure if there are sub-events where you can learn more about their past (like presa's parents abandoning her or whatever), so i'll try to be more on the lookout for them in my next playthrough, but honestly...not really impressed. i would say that this is probably the weakest thing about the game, i didn't really ever felt threatened by any of the antagonists throughout it.

the pacing after the maxwell twist. ok, one thing that really bothered me was that...jude decides that he wants to save elympios and reiza maxia, because obviously that's what a protagonist does: they want to sacrifice no one and save everyone. but my problem with this was that, before this, the game never really gives you, the player, a reason to care for elympios? at this point you know two people that are from there: nachtigal, who we barely know anything about and is just plain evil, and alvin, who...has betrayed the party countless of times and is heavily disliked by the most innocent person in the party (i forget if leia also actively hates him like elize?). he isn't exactly someone that the game managed to get me to have sympathy for, unlike sheena from symphonia or shionne from arise, both who are from a different world which you are also trying to save. so like, why should i also share the same mission as jude? but ok, whatever, it's the obvious noble thing to do even though i don't understand it, fine. but even THEN! the whole elympios bit felt severely rushed. tethe'alla is laughing. like i think only 8 hours pass from when jude says he wants to save elympios to the end of the game. so in this time you go to elympios, learn how spyrites can help its people (and somehow this is credited to jude because...why again? lol), explore two small areas of this brand new alien planet, volt makes an appearance, gaius and muzet are out trying to destroy spyrixes everywhere (although this was more of a tell rather than show bit cus i never got this impression from the game), the gang has a crisis of whether to stick with milla and jude or...go back to reize maxia (why was this an issue in the first place? why would they back down now? they tried to make it seem like it was this big crisis that they would have to fight gaius, but why would they feel conflicted with this??), and just...what? right after the plot twist i said this was contending to be in my top three favorite tales games, but this last portion of the game was just...not it, lol. i loved gaius and how much he loves his people and how far he is willing to protect them (similar to milla...), but at the end it seriously felt like "how many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man?" with how many times you fight him. the "final" level was also rather lame but i'd take that over arise's dreadful last level design.

so don't get me wrong, despite the rather weak antagonists (minus gaius and muzet, especially the latter lol her going insane was awesome) and that last portion of the game being...rather strange and honestly feeling kind of rushed, this tales game is such a pleasure and milla is one of the best tales protagonists. jude growing from being super dependent on milla and just following her around like a lost puppy to making his own decisions and saying he will be alright without milla (and changing the world helping with the spyrites research!) was also really great to watch unfold. great characters, great protagonists, great relationships within the cast, amazing gameplay, a refreshing ending...will definitely play this again!

with that i think i can confidently say that my ranking for the tales games is now as follows: symphonia, berseria, abyss, xillia, symphonia 2, zestiria, arise, vesperia.

alright, enough rambling. time to browse the xillia tag and reblog all that sweet content i've missed out on all these years!!

[quaddmgd]

Thoughts on Yakuza

I finished the original Yakuza for PS2 with Yakuza Restored re-translation patch I was talking about. I beat the game, including every substory (except hostesses) and Amon. I enjoyed it much more than I originally assumed I would, I had a lot of fun throughout the week, however I can't say it's a must-play PS2 classic, even though I really want it to be. Yet I believe it's a good way to either start your journey with the series or play more of your favorite franchise while you wait for a new game.

First things first, the translation patch is a godsend, without which I wouldn't be able to approach this game seriously. My japanese is non-existent as of now, so the original Ryu Ga Gotoku release wouldn't be for me; on the other side the western translation + dub don't do this game justice, to put it lightly. Ability to play it with english subs more in-line with later games in the franchise, with the original dub, is a dream come true and I can confirm that now, it's writing is on Kiwami level of quality.

This review contains spoilers for Yakuza/Yakuza Kiwami. Comparisons to the latter are a big focus throughout this text, so it's mostly for people familiar with the story and the overall structure of either one. This game is a good start for newcomers, especially with the patch, but this review isn't.

Plot

I'm not a fan of the plot of the first game, albeit it was much more bearable now, than when playing Kiwami, just after 0. Judging it as a first game in the franchise was much easier. People that played only Kiwami should feel right at home, and sometimes even better.

Contrary to Kiwami, Yakuza is much more straightforward. Additional Nishiki cutscenes are absent here and his Joker arc will probably raise eyebrows for most. It's not well explained at all and, due to pacing of the story leaving a lot to be desired, most of his motivations are touched upon during the finale. Fortunately, Nishiki is charismatic enough to make a good villain and I enjoyed following his development throughout the game nonetheless.

What's also missing is the entire "get the ring" quest that is forced on the player in Kiwami. Honestly, I'm happy with it being gone, as its inclusion wasn't really done well. I'd love to see those cutscenes, but during my first Kiwami playthrough in 2019 it really confused the heck out of me timeline-wise. My biggest problem with it was, that the gameplay consisted only of rage-inducing fetch quests, that don't have a place in the prologue of such a story-focused game.

I feel like I need to talk about Majima for a bit. No matter if you play the original or Kiwami, his behavior is out-of-place in context of the entire franchise. Playing Yakuza and judging it on its own merit helped me see him as this unpredictable chaotic evil psycho with a questionable motivation. The lack of "Majima Everywhere" works in favor of that feeling, as there are no longer those weird out-of-place pace-breakers, where he pauses the entire plot development to have Kiryu fight with his goofy self from future installments, after which he goes back to being his Yakuza 1 self and almost killing people for no reason (chapter 11 in Kiwami was the worst in that regard). Here, he just diversifies the cast without becoming a nuisance.

Fighting

Before I touch on the gameplay, in need to mention that I played through the game doing every substory as soon as they became available, due to many of them being missable. That being said, I fought Amon in Chapter 11, just before visiting Shangri-La with Haruka. Soon, after visiting the place, I maxed out my skills in the menu and with Komaki.

The biggest issue of Yakuza is its fighting mechanics. Kiryu is really slow, which isn't a problem on it's own, but his inability to lock-on while performing a combo makes it hundred times worse. For the most part I didn't have an issue with that, as most enemies are quite slow (gosh Shimano was so easy in contrast to his Kiwami self), but performing almost any combo on characters that constantly dodge attacks, sends Kiryu punching air. The faster the enemy, the bigger this issue becomes, so for example, both fights with Majima were quite hard to get through. Same goes for enemies with guns, like Arase or Amon. Hell, it's safe to say that most of Amon's difficulty is related to Kiryu's slowness and lack of lock-on in this game.

That being said, most fights weren't a problem, and even those that were, were much easier and more enjoyable than in Kiwami. In the original, enemies don't heal themselves and aren't based off other bosses that made appearance in the franchise starting with PS3 games. I can count the times I died while playing main story on one hand (barely) and went through bosses with ease, including Arase, and even more surprisingly, Jingu - I hated their guts in Kiwami.

Keep in mind, that at any time, Kiryu's skills were as developed as possible, due to me focusing on beating substories over story, while I played Kiwami the opposite way. I am also a big Yakuza 3 apologist, so I don't have an issue with a more technical approach to fighting. I kinda learned how to exploit the weaknesses of most enemies, but dealing with fast enemies was problematic anyway. I can imagine that people that want to just enjoy the story, will encounter some serious difficulty spikes, whenever someone fast appears. That can be a dealbreaker for some and it's the biggest flaw of the game. It's not a good brawler. There were times where I died fighting during substories or random encounters, because my opponent happened to be good at dodging and blocking.

Playing only for the plot could be troublesome in the case of Yakuza. Kiryu doesn't even have his □□□□△ combo until he levels up a bit. Not only that, but this time Komaki won't teach him anything until he levels up quite much, and as always, there are some useful Komaki moves you want to learn. I'm not gonna try it anytime soon, but I reckon doing some of the best substories in the game would improve the overall experience greatly. Fighting in Purgatory helps to level up too.

Substories

By and large, Yakuza's substories are nothing special. Most of them are uninteresting and short. There are some quests that flesh out Kiryu's and Haruka's relationship or help develop him into a better person he becomes in the end. Most of those are in Kiwami too, but there is a caveat.

Yakuza has the biggest amount of substories with animated cutscenes. These are present in Kiwami with an exception of one, that is set entirely in the underground casino (I don't know why they left it out, it has some good implications). Yakuza, though, has a time limit for most of them. After certain points in the story (mainly finishing chapters), the most interesting substories become unavailable. It's a big flaw, obviously, especially that at times there is no mention of them being available (or, in case of "The Truth Behind Fake Mizuki", they are accessible only in-between two consecutive interactions with story characters). The fact that substory locations aren't visible on the map doesn't help; playing with a guide is essential to beat them all, especially if you don't want to fail any.

There are advantages to these substories of course, but I'm really glad they aren't like that in every game. Time-sensitivity is a thing only for the most important quests, and that ensures you play them when developers want you to, even if their availability often isn't conveyed to you at all.

I also loved how many times Kiryu can get scammed when interacting with people on the streets. In general, NPCs Kiryu's interacting with are either unpleasant or someone is being unpleasant to them. Thanks to that, fights that often break out feel more natural and Kamurocho really feels like a place you wouldn't want to be in.

There is one more upside worth of mentioning - there are substories that have animated cutscenes, whereas in Kiwami they don't. Now, there are only two I'm aware of: "The Price of an F-Cup" and "The Truth Behind Fake Mizuki". Both of them being animated like story cutscenes, enhance the weight of stories they want to tell. In the former, Mai goes into a physical contact with Kiryu, they don't just sit and awkwardly look at each other. But it's the attention to the latter that makes it worth mentioning at all. The finale of "Fake Mizuki" is really somber due to what it implies. Where in Kiwami plays a typical sad substory music and there practically no animations, in the original it's fully voiced and animated, with emotions visible on pAres's owner's face with the nightsky and snow falling in the background (the quest is time-sensitive after all), accompanied by a dedicated sorrowful track - finished with nothing but silence and the weight of implications it made.

Graphics and audio

When it comes to visuals, the original impressed me much more than Kiwami. Crowds and the environmental detail are superb for a PS2 game - Kamurocho is simply full of life, even in 2005. I completely understand decisions behind the fixed camera view and splitting Kamurocho into separate zones, even if it means constant loadings between camera cuts. While loading was getting tiresome after fifteen hours, the intended feeling remained.

Even though for the most part locations are comparable, I loved how Tojo Clan HQ looks in the original. Even if it appears only two times, it nails the atmosphere, especially in chapter 3. Contrary to sunny and clean presentation in Kiwami (a good one, I must say), the original adds to the significance of the funeral, with an overcast weather, paths laid out with fallen autumn leaves, covered in a slightly yellow-ish filter that makes it look like it's about to rain. How is it that any time Tojo Clan HQ appears in a RGG Studio game, it becomes my favorite location in that game?

My knowledge on music is non-existent, so I can't really say much about the soundtrack, other than that it's great to listen to and Kiwami's electronic spin on it is quite good too. I prefer the original due to it's use of vocals (I can't remember that well, but Yakuza seems to have more of them) and dirty guitar riffs, that in my view slowly disappeared from the franchise over time. They greatly emphasize the rawness and brutality of the combat.

What I can say, though, is that I love finally hearing original Receive You in the opening and the instrumental version during both Majima fights. I love this track so much, it defines the entire franchise, just as it should. Whenever I hear it, it's instant goosebumps for me.

Is it worth to play now?

From my standpoint, yes! But only in japanese or with Yakuza Restored patch. For the newcomers to the franchise, it's a good way to start, as long as you are ok with janky gameplay. That way you can assist Kiryu, as he and the nature of this series develop. If you're like me and already played through the franchise, but didn't play the original, why not try the game that started it all? It does some things differently than Kiwami; some even better. It's worth keeping in mind that it's a flawed PS2 title, the one to start a still ongoing franchise, but a lot of love has been put into making this game and it shows.

To think that the original western release would put me off for the entire four years since I know this series. Compared to the original version, tonally it's so different and seems out-of-place. I'm so grateful for this patch, so if you're interested, please try it and give some love to the creator.

[itsbenedict]

ok so im reading through Almost Nowhere and i have Complaints about it's structure and wanted to vent but also not to the point of actually commenting on the thing itself. (its a Well-made story. this all comes from a place of admiration/love for the thing so i didnt want to put it in a public tag)

So after seeing you reblog the ending announcement i started reading it. current spot is chapter xxi, or sylvie vs hector's forces. (is sylvie just a jadesprite expy. is hector just a Dirk/Dave. is that what is going on. ugh it figures. anyway.)

pros: premise fills that timeline bullshit appetite, and has some fascinating evolutions of its timeline and the puzzle therein. the actual setup and climax of the Annes escape story was very exciting, and the notebooks are a fascinating conceit. and the entire story could be summarized as "hey aliens put everyone in mini The Matrix realities and people gotta figure out how to deal with that/escape?" which is a pretty good premise. the Annes were my favorite part.

cons:

due to being about timeline bullshit and specifically miscommunication causing disaster, it also is incredibly hard to parse even when it's trying to be clear. i get the multiple narrator conceit, and i get that Azad is glued to a thesaurus, but it feels like its getting in it's own way way more often than not. Its doing the "im using the more complicated word to sound smart rather than be accurate or communicate my message" thing, and its hard to parse how much of that is purposeful. I found it exhausting after a few hundred pages.

as time loops are a core aspect of the story, most of the characters feel like they have very little actual impact or agency on the plot. they're protagonists as designated, but grant and cordelia do very little of note- where i am now Grant's basically just a guy to get explained at and he got addicted to a sub-reality game for a while. he is important because sylvie is his dog, but beyond pining for Azad and getting things explained to him, Grant doesnt feel like he Does anything

however Grant is still my favorite character because he's the only one who actually says "what the fuck are you talking about, explain it better" which the entire text desperately needs.

its gotten to the point that the text's own coy obfuscation of itself has made me disconnect from caring about the characters- and that's Poisonous.

the story makes its Stakes either too big or too small. its either about a characters self doubts or its about finding a way to escape a reality by killing it's god. but theres very little in-between, or focuses on how one relates to the other. its hard to care when the stakes are too high (unrelateable), and its hard to care when theyre too low for too long (character feels whiny and passive).

its best done in the Annes story- her personal turmoil over her incredibly bizarre circumstances leading to resentment and action- killing her father-god- were united and flowed into each other. usually an escalation of stakes is accompanied by development of character. but beyond the Annes, i feel like there are no characters who have developed. theres no proactivity that feels like itll actually change things. its just characters that have been acted upon (not-entertaining). (and i get that time loop bullshit makes that point hard but its also sapping the enjoyment of reading the overall story itself and needs to be addressed.)

at this point i feel like the plot has become concerned with it's own telling, which is arguably what's actually happening- everything is being written because timeloop bullshit demands it and everyone caught inside is powerless to struggle against it, including the audience- but im not finding it entertaining anymore. I want to care about the characters more, but the text is reinforcing it's own disassociation-themes to the point where its getting unfun to read.

to be fair- i did read up to where i am over the course of two days, which is a Lot to take in at once. even on release this wasnt a story thats binge-friendly and im probably bouncing off of it's weirdness because i havent had time to digest it. However it's fascinating in its setups- in the questions it asks and the puzzles of the world, its just failing to provide characters that match. and maybe it has, and has just been presented deliberately obtusely and i missed the point- (which is an in-text theme! But also I can't explore that theme if the audience's participation is lost so it still is a Bad Thing!) which i would also argue is a Problem, not a success.

anyway anyway Flower that Bloomed Nowhere slaps and its mystery structure serves as a great device to convey the otherwise Intricate worldbuilding (and i like how said worldbuilding is usually introduced only as it has context to a Motive or as a Clue because it makes said worldbuilding feel meaningful which is nice) and im excited to see what happens next hope you have a good day byeeeee

hm- well, uh, i think a pretty good chunk of AN's readership is in my general orbit on here, so you're gonna get roughly the same effect as putting it in the tag, but-

i mean, the thing with AN is that... the main thing you're down on it for is sort of the whole game it's playing. first it introduces a concept in a bizarre, flowery, obfuscatory way that's playing around with language- and then it does that again, and again, from various angles, with different sorts of obfuscation, so you slowly get a picture of the concept through a sort of blind-men-and-the-elephant process. that's the fun of it, that's the game, doing a deep dive on the presentational tomfoolery to try and figure out what's going on before it just tells you.

that's what Grant's there for- he says "what the fuck are you talking about, explain it better", after it's already gone a few rounds of deliberately not explaining it clearly, and given you a chance to chew on it and try and piece it together for yourself. he's the answer key at the end of the puzzle, the way the story signposts "okay, so by this point you should pretty much Get this concept".

if you're just blasting through it to try to absorb the content as directly as possible, i can see the way the story presents itself kind of working against you, yeah. it's not trying to be obtuse for no reason- it's being obtuse because the process of grappling with the obtuse is the main selling point. if you don't like doing that, if it just bugs you when the story won't just say what it wants to say, yeah, it's not gonna be a good fit.

i kind of agree that some of the character arcs seem a little weak- like, i'm not entirely positive what Cordelia's doing here? what the point of her is? and- oh, god, don't tell Cordelia i said that, that's exactly what the poor thing doesn't need to hear.

but i think that's a product of... like, these aren't all supposed to be protagonists of a story. they're primarily lenses into the story, different perspectives on what's happening. they're part of the mechanics of the game, sources of new narration to use as part of the puzzle. grant doesn't really do anything, in-story, sure- but he's extremely active in nailing down concepts.

"the plot has become concerned with it's own telling"- yep. that's what it's doing. it's kind of always been doing that. personally, i like that!

i might have a bias here due to... having been following it on a serial basis for years since chapter 1? like, that's a format that lends itself well to the way the story wants to be engaged with, the slow and meticulous reading that leaves lots of time for contemplation. i'm not sure if i can evaluate how well that all works archivally- whether this is just a matter of differing preferences in how to consume fiction, or if structurally it's somehow encouraging a shallower reading that it doesn't reward as much.