#arknights: prelude to down

[shimutsuki]

[crownedcaps]

Arknights: Prelude to Dawn // Episodes 06-08

Download Batches Here. (now in .zip format!)

Please consider liking/reblogging if you download!

[lanymme]

I’ve been thinking recently, especially in the light of all the big, long-awaited reveals of the recent CN anniversary, which signals many of the major long-term arcs coming to a head.

Intermezzi vs. side stories.

Intermezzi are main plot relevant, right?

We’ve got Walk in the Dust and Darknights earlier in the game’s run that developed core concepts and people like Kal’tsit, Theresa, Rhodes Island, Kazdel, and hinted at the history and trajectory of Terra back in the times we didn’t know much. They also gave us a proper introduction to W, Ines, and Hoederer, who have now become main characters in the second main story arc.

You can see why they’re there, they directly prelude and give the backstory to main story content. They’re very important.

Similarly, you have Lonetrail, which is the capstone to the entire early era of Arknights content. It marks the change between Arknights content focusing on various nations and social conflicts of the modern day while teaching us about the world’s gods and giving small glimpses of the underlying forces of the world, to a new page in the story where we talk directly about that mythological history, the purpose of the sarcophagi, the threats and cycles of the world.

It makes sense for that to be in Intermezzi. The previous Rhine Lab events are side stories, since they depict a side arc that fills out the world, like all the others. Lonetrail finishes that arc but it also says, you have walked among these people, and you know the lives they lead, the injustices they suffer, the futures they envision for themselves.

Now look down at Terra, floating through space. Consider its foundations, its threats, its fate. Now you understand why Kal’tsit traveled alone for millennia, trying to change the future: why Theresa decided that people needed to strike out in a dramatic new direction, despite the danger.

A new age is upon us, indeed.

But that leaves me with one question.

Why are the Aegir events in intermezzi? Why them, and not the stories of Nian collecting her siblings, or the details of the Lock and Key incident and the place the Sankta take in the geopolitical landscape and the history of the Sarkaz?

What do they still have planned? What’s in store in the next big arc?

[dlartistanon]

Oh man cis anti bros ruined Arknights for me. I tried it out because I also liked another gacha (path to nowhere) which has a huge WLW fandom, way bigger than the dudes. So wishing for more of that I tried arknights.

The Arknights fandom is not girl friendly imho.

The doctor is supposed to be a gender neutral short person with according to some media long hair and according to the anime a female/gender neutral voice.

But the fandom made it a tall buff dude that’s going to repopulate all kinds of different species with their many waifus and ignoring character-character relationships.

Sorry for my rant, but boi was a seriously disappointed when I found that out.

I'm sorry to hear that. I don't play PTN, but I have friends who do, and one of the things they said about it really stuck with me, regarding how both player characters are written (Chief and Doctor).

According to them, Chief has more of an actual defined personality compared to Doctor. Chief is their own character within the setting. While Chief is established, Doctor is in this weird nebulous gray zone of being half-established and half-self-insert. And that is honestly one of the most frustrating things about AK's writing.

On one hand, I like the canonical lore of Doctor: their parental relationship with Amiya, their awkward, sometimes hostile dynamic with Kal'tsit, their lingering feelings of depression and detachment surrounding their amnesia, their implied autism, their gender neutrality, they're physically weak (easily winded going up/down the stairs), sensitive to sunlight, their observational skills, their fondness towards physical contact, their extremely negative reaction towards child soldiers, their academic background in neurology/history... they're a weirdo who pours hot water directly into their mouth.

But all that ends up being half-baked when the devs say that Doctor is meant to represent the player. And I just don't like that. It's a giant reminder of self-insertion, but again, incredibly weird when they have all this lore/characterization?

Look at this image:

This concept is speculated to be a somewhat of a "canon" design for Doctor. Quite feminine-looking, wouldn't you say so? Interestingly enough, no similar art of a "male" Doctor design has surfaced anywhere to my knowledge. The closest is in the art book but their face is covered in shadow and their hairstyle is a lot like Thorns'. The anime adaptation Prelude to Dawn adds to the mix by making Doctor 165 cm tall, with white hair, pale eyes, and an androgynous voice (by a female VA).

All of this ends up making the claim that Doctor is a self-insert very wishy-washy. You can't really claim Doctor as canonically nonbinary if the player chooses to see/interpret them as male or female. Because they're a self-insert. But are they really? By giving Doctor more lore/characterization, how can the claim of them being a self-insert hold up? It doesn't make sense.

It's incredibly frustrating how HG wants to have both cakes, but it doesn't work. So the result ends up feeling incredibly half-baked, fumbling both sides. At this point, there's no real and true illusion of player insertion.

It just annoys me the more I think about it. I don't want Doctor to be any % self-insert. I want them to be an actual established character.

But I apologize for going off on my own tangent. I absolutely hate how the Doctor is largely portrayed in fandom too. The automatic default to reading them as male (people can claim "gender neutral", but a lot of the time the actual portrayal/writing really comes off like a cis dude). The mischaracterization and overall gross treatment of complex female characters who have layered and nuanced relationships with other female characters. You're not alone there. I think it's amazing how the PtN fandom has more Female Chief than Male, and how much more popular WLW is. You're lucky.

[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

[the-cornuthaum]

So, I am going to do my civic duty and shill Kazemaru.

"Who is this?" you might ask because you habitually never look at 5*s, the overpriced, underperforming largest segment of characters in Arknights. Can't blame you, 5*s are almost never worth 2/3rds of a 6*s cost when all they give you is 1/3rd of their performance.

This is Kazemaru. She's a 5* Dollkeeper specialist, an archetype with three entries, which are, in order of release:

Bena, the 5* event welfare from the Preluding Lights vignette event. I hate everything about her, from voice to design to kit, so I shall not expound on her further.

Kazemaru, the actual no-shit origami ninja from Higashi. This cat was the 5* on Fiammetta's banner with Guiding Ahead.

Specter the Unchained. Yes, a limited, 6*, abyssal hunter Dollkeeper. She makes for an extremely poor point of comparison to Kazemaru because she is both a Limited and, more pertinently, an Abyssal Hunter and the AH tribal synergy is fucking cracked.

So, let's look at The Cat, the star of the show.

Kazemaru has two skills, the one you should ignore* and The Phenomenal One. (*with one exception)

Her S1, the forgettable one, is an incredibly hard-scaling (25% atk scaling gain per mastery level from M0 to M3) power strike type skill that goes down to just 2 SP at M3, that additionally takes off 10% of Kazemaru's HP whenever it activates (this is good for a Dollkeeper who wants to switch to their doll form).

"Why would you call this forgettable" you might ask? "This is a crazy good power strike skill! 350% atk scale! 2 SP cost! why would you not pick this"

I am so glad you asked.

Her good skill is Origami Arts: Twin Shadows, aka S2.

When you push this button, Kazemaru immediately punches herself in the face for 50% of her current HP (so 100->50%, or 60->30%, you know, literally just divide by 2) to get closer to unleashing to unleashing her second form.

Then she drops an origami substitute of herself on the field that immediately begins to shank people with its origami sword. Sounds good, right?

YES IT IS but there is MORE TO IT. When the Substitute - the Kaminingyo - drops on the field, this activates Kazemaru's talent. Her talent is "when a Substitute enters the field, do absolutely cracked amounts of Arts Damage to every Hostile Thing in the 8 tiles around the Substitute.

The substitute only gets summoned onto ground tiles , and always in the direction of a Hostile Thing, so don't worry about it spawning behind Kazemaru and doing fuck-all, this cat craves violence.

When I say absolutely cracked amounts of arts damage for a drop-in ability like this I mean "270% of her ATK" as arts damage. A Kazemaru without any extra potentials at e2 50 (what I consider the standard stop-at point for 5*s) has 725 ATK at 100 Trust. This translates to just under 2k arts damage from the substitute dropping onto the field. But haha, no. She gains 120% ATK from her S2M3, so that nuke turns into about 4.2k damage on drop-in.

It's free real estate, and the real estate manager is going to cut your throat with a sword made of folded paper.

So far, we've had "punches 50% of her own life out of her", "drops the substitute that does a big old nuke" and then it transitions into "now both the Cat Herself and the Substitute shank all enemies they can reach. Kazemaru reaches around 1.7k attack, the Substitute has around 1.5k attack, they both have an 1.2s attack interval. If you can sandwich an enemy where both the substitute (which can attack every adjacent square to it), it just fucking dies. Kazemaru genuinely does 6* damage, but it's slightly more conditional than modern 6*s (because you actually need to use the susbtitute and use a modicum of braincell to position Kazemaru).

Now, we still haven't hit the bottom. KAZEMARU IS A DOLLKEEPER. She just goes "I know we just had first breakfast, but what about SECOND breakfast?"

This is why both her skills chip off her own HP. Because this cat WANTS to switch to the Dollkeeper Substitute Form, rather than merely summoning a paper ninja murder doll. The moment she does that, guess what? SUBSTITUTE NUKE from her talent. On the left hand, the Kaminingyo, the summonable substitute, falls over and vanishes, but Kazemaru's dollkeeper form is completely insane because it inherits the 8-tile range of the Kaminingyo and then this fucking thing also attacks air.

Look at this creature. You are NOT safe from this cat woman with a paper sword.

Oh, and also do yourself the favour of reading her profile. Kazemaru, Professional Ninja, was forced to become an office lady when her Ninja Clan went legit, and one day flippedo ut and went "I CAN'T TAKE THE PEACEFUL LIFE ANY MORE! I NEED DANGER! EXCITEMENT!" and that's why she was transferred to Rhodes Island, because we are a peaceful pharmaceutical company.

oh, there was one exception earlier. you remember how I said that her 1st skill was forgettable? the only exception is integrated strategies. if you get the ATK-on-skill relics (spinach/spaghetti type), Kazemaru's S1 becomes an utter menace because of hard it scales off of her ATK. You will hit 10k skill activatiosn from this cat. If you play enough IS, Kazemaru is 100% a worthy M6 simply because you switch over to s1 the second you get the spinach/spaghet and then everything she hits dies in 3.6 seconds (the time for 3 attacks)

That's all I had to say. Please look at this cat.

IS players be like: "oh no I am dying help i have not gotten a single medic voucher since floor 1, this poison mist is killing me, woe is me, all I had were these 8 supporter tickets"

please for the love of god, fellows, if you play IS enough, hear me out and heed my advice and BUILD YOUR QUERCUS yes that's right you want to BUILD THE DRUID OF GODDODIN she is A BETTER MEDIC THAN MOST MEDICS and will CASUALLY KEEP YOUR SQUAD ALIVE

how? why? she has SO MUCH SHELTER on units above 70% hp and then also permanent healing uptime because her s1 is indefinite so please my brethren in christ and my brethren in not-christ-but-just-IS I beg you

build your quercus. also kazemaru because #kazemarugang

[brave-symphonia]

Do you know Arknights Perish in Frost have a new pv and release date? You should try to watch it, i hear the quality for this will be good for Lungmen arc, but i recommend you to watch Prelude to dawn before this.

Honestly, while it's nice to hear that the Arknights anime is continuing, I'm not sure I'll watch it.

Mainly because I really like the format of the game, and from what I saw of the first season of the anime, nothing substantial enough for me to watch it was added.

I don't think it's bad or anything, I'm sure it's actually pretty good, I think I just prefer the game of Arknights to the anime. Especially since it's not easy for me to sit down and actually watch an anime.

With the game I can go at my own pace, and it feels more interactive to me, shows as a medium are just a little harder for me to interact with than games like Arknights.