#actually hire some outside programmers who know what they're doing

[daxite]

artfight actually fix your website for once challenge instant fail

[yunoteru4ever]

Hello there. Thank you for helping me clarify the situation regarding the validity of the information on fandom wiki. Your response has been most insightful, but I appear to have another question. According to the manga, Rea is going to temporarily take care of Reisuke because her dead colleague is also Reisuke's parent. The use of her to denote her colleague implies that she's Yayoi Houjou. Now, the crux of my ask is which use of the term colleague denotes Yayoi's profession. If it was used in the strict sense of the word, that would mean Yayoi herself would also be a programmer like Rea. However, if used informally to denote someone who works for the same company as you, but not necessarily the same profession as you, then Yayoi's job could range from a receptionist to a custodian of the company. My question is which is the most likely profession Yayoi would have based on these context clues?

I'm glad I could help with the previous ask!

Good catch on Resiuke being described as "her" (in reference to the colleague) child — because yes, that definitely implies Yayoi Houjou was Rea's co-worker/colleague.

The use of the word "colleague" makes it almost impossible to figure out Yayoi's exact profession, though. Someone being a colleague only means you share a work environment with them — or, by the strictest definition, that you at least work with them in your profession/job. So it could be also almost anyone in your office. A programmer doesn't really work directly with a custodian, sure, but almost any other position could theoretically fit.

...but that whole idea of them being co-workers at all is where it gets interesting to me.

Yayoi is denoted as having died during the Omakata cult incident — that's why someone needs to look after Reisuke in the first place. To be clear, the Omakata cult is clearly situated close enough to Sakurami City to be within a quick driving distance for Kurusu; they're described as being on the "outskirts" at one point. But Rea Amano works far enough away that she leaves Yuki home alone for weeks at a time, and he has to come pick her up from the airport when she comes back.

So if Rea is working/living most of her life a flight away, and Yayoi is living in/near Sakurami, how could Yayoi have been a "colleague" of Rea's?

Perhaps Rea is still casually calling her a "colleague" despite that being in the past tense. Maybe Yayoi was eventually forced to abandon her job; you could even tie that into the abuse we see her receiving from her spouse in Reisuke's flashbacks.

We don't know when Rea started working away from home, but it stands to reason that she wasn't always doing that. Surely she had to be living mostly in Sakurami at some point during Yuki's childhood! Maybe she changed employers since then, sure... but what if there's a local office for the same company, and Rea eventually got a promotion that called for her to relocate? In other words: Yayoi could be a Sakurami-area colleague working at a lower level within the same company, and their work relationship was as remote-work colleagues who were linked via e-mails, phone calls, and/or video conferences. Maybe there's a local administrative/finance office, but the actual game creation takes place elsewhere. There's also the possibility that Yayoi was simply an outside freelancer who was hired to work out of her home... which would probably make sense when you consider that she had a young child to care for.

Both are plausible, but I think #2 is the more logical conclusion because it doesn't require Rea to be using such a loose definition. In that case, however, you'd have to assume that Yayoi wasn't a programmer at the same level as Rea, because if she was, she'd have been working in the same office. Yayoi could be pictured to instead be someone who worked in a finance/admin office, or perhaps she was someone who created environmental assets for the game(s) or worked on music/sound design? It's pretty common these days for some of those latter jobs to be freelanced out or otherwise assigned to a lower-level employee than the primary programmers.

This is all a ton of conjecture, of course. But it's food for thought. I'm sure there are other fans with their own visions/theories of how the relationship worked.

[is-there-a-rt-sequel-yet]

Day #4338

for today's post, I was thinking I should update everyone on my activities concerning rhythm thief for the past two years. I'll be spilling my monster truck of an essay filled with my thoughts and concerns (embarrassing) so I'm putting it beneath the cut 🤧

I haven't been able to work on RT as much as I would like to as compared to two years ago. I got really depressed to the point I couldn't go outside for months, then I got a part-time job for two months last summer, and I also reinstalled a game so that fandom's been at the forefront of my brain for the past two years. also, I started graduate school, and I'm on track to graduate by the end of this year!!! so honestly I've been giving my all to a different fandom's wiki work and my studies... and thankfully I'm happier now!! and then at some point, I will have to get my first big girl job 😭😭😭 praying someone will hire me 🙏

and then as for my rhythm thief activities, I don't know, sometimes I feel like I should be releasing the content all properly and beautifully packaged, especially since I'm not halfway done with some things. I don't like showing off my incomplete work I guess? but then today I realized that I should probably share what I'm doing so y'all know I'm not purposefully gatekeeping things or... I don't know (paranoid)

that said, here's a non-exhaustive list of things I have been working on or plan to do:

datamining ET and PC. I've been working on and off since 2020 with nicole and zai, two of my besties who have also lent a hand in researching datamining methods for images, audio, video, text, and working with the 3D models in both games. I want to somehow have the paris model viewable on the RT wiki using the interactive map function

this is moreso nicole's hard work, but once in a while, we're slowly uncovering/recovering RT materials like magazine article scans and TV interviews. it's quite difficult to track down magazine scans since we'd most likely need to buy some off resellers, and they're 10-year-old content so it's hard to track down...

tangentially related, I connected with a programmer acquaintance of mine and they helped me decode the entire PC text in Japanese, and I'm super excited to read it. I have plans to make a sort of story viewer site where you can select if you want to read the official EN translation, my translation, and the original JP text, complete with sprites, backgrounds, and text boxes. I wanted a nicer alternative than on the RT wiki, where the official EN script is up currently

about translations, I've been working on subtitling the ~24-minute TV special. I have the JP script done (with help from a Japanese friend) and timing done, but I just need to actually finish translating. I think I have about 1/2 done. I'm currently considering finding a proofer so that hopefully I will feel more assured about my work when it's done. it's tough getting the motivation to translate, but I really want to put out my best work possible for RT through accurate translations. I've seen what inaccurate/machine translations have done to create misunderstandings/the spread of misinformation in other fandoms, and yet I've been taking so much time... I feel guilty for sitting on so much content I want to go through but I often can't go through with it unless I feel up for it (which is rare) and I'm also terribly picky on my work so I like to translate things by myself (and leave proofing to another person). I'm sorry for being so complicated about this 😭

I said it last year, but I've been wanting to update my blog's theme to more accurately match it as an RT info hub in addition to counting the days until the sequel releases gimmick. I want to make the RT translations I release easily accessible, but I think I've been slacking on this because I feel I don't have much (multiple large projects) to showcase just yet

finally, for the RT wiki. I have plans to get back into editing for the RT wiki and I'm currently collaborating with some other trusted editors in various standardization and appearance improvements. unfortunately, I don't think I have enough time to tackle writing content for all pages... if anyone seriously would like to help describe characters and their actions in the main plot, locations, or anything else you think should be improved, please!! by all means, edit the wiki!!

I plan to host an RT 15th anniversary project in 2027 where fan works will be displayed on the TSX billboard in times square. I also want to release another RT doujin/zine again, but my JP friend and I are too busy to plan something concrete

if you scrolled to the bottom for the tldr, I think I often try and perfect things on my own, which is why it takes me so long to work on things... (also I'm like super picky, I guess that's the perfectionist in me). I have so many plans like translating this, subtitling that, releasing this datamined content, updating the wiki, participating in RT fan projects... it's a lot to balance when my mind is elsewhere and I've been feeling guilty and ashamed to admit it 😭

the other fandom that's been occupying my mind has taken up much of my brain space, and I'm thinking it might be healthier to cut back and refocus on RT, my main beloved fandom again, but it's a bit difficult since I have made myself a reliable figure in that fandom's wiki team 🤧 tbh I think I might have au/adhd or something cause wow..... I sure sound like it with my strong fixations and difficulty finding motivation (even though RT's the thing I love the most in my life)

I want to draw!! translate!! wiki edit!! do anything and everything for RT!! it's been massively difficult for me for years and I'm sharing my frustrations with you all 😭 before I knew it, so many years have passed and I have barely released anything. I hope no one thinks of me any lesser, but I thought it would be good to share my thoughts, my goals, and my passion with my followers since I think I'm more than "just that one person who's been running an RT gimmick blog for over a decade" !!! that's all!!! thanks for reading!!! 🥹🥹🥹