#but p3d is just the last thing i had open ^_^

[flyfish1999]

my current persona collection ^_^ !!! im pretty sure the only things not in this photo are my wallscroll and my framed picture of ryoji lol (but i made that myself :p ) ive accumulated too much stuff ... i think the minato towel is the silliest thing i own

[theoneprecioustome]

Little Aikoto Details

So I had been holding back from bringing up any of this because, well, given that we hadn’t even seen Aikoto dance together yet, I had no idea what to expect and whether any of this was worth pointing out.

However, now that it turned out they were being saved for Makoto’s very own trailer (bless), I feel that these small little details I enjoyed may have been deliberate, after all.

So, here are some little details that stood out to me, Aikoto wise, about P3D’s Opening and the Memories of You Dance Video!

Opening

I’m a little torn on the Opening, to be honest, and it’s mostly because of the camera motions when the characters are dancing. As well as the odd, stylistic choice of having a... foam (smoke?) trail every time they move their arms. I personally found it pretty distracting and felt it kept me from fully enjoying the dancing lol The individual (non dancing) character close-ups are beautiful, though!

That said, back to the little details that stood out to me Aikoto wise!

1. First is this beautiful thing right here:

Look at him. He’s basically doing the seal gesture but in a playful fashion. And what happens next? He becomes a ray of light...

... That turns into Aigis skipping forward.

Honestly, there’s no way to know if this was purposeful or not (though it looks very much the part to me) but it still is a pretty nice representation of what happens at the end of the game and in The Answer.

Makoto who becomes The Seal and Aigis who inherits his power, which in turn gives her the strength neccesary to continue with her life and keep protecting everyone they loved.

2. Then there is this little detail:

Aigis and Makoto are the only ones who get their eyes with a blue overlay like that during the opening. We could maybe push it and say it represents them having the same power, but honestly I think it was just a cool stylistic choice lol

Which reminded me a lot of what they did in the movie posters, back when Aigis and Makoto were the only ones pictured with blue eyes to everyone’s gray:

3. And finally, another little thing that made me smile was that when all the charaters are shown dancing one by one at the end, Aigis is the one that pans to Makoto. While it may seem meaningless at first sight, I always find it indicative of character importance (like how the P3 and FES endings open with makoto/aigis and close with aigis/makoto, for example) so it was sweet to see them being the last two characters we see.

Memories of You

I’ve to admit that I’m not yet sold sold on the Memories of You remix and the choreography, but all the girls look gorgeous!

And this??

This killed me and simultaneously brought me back to life. What a gorgeous, meaningful representation of those last final moments they shared together. The way Aigis looks down at the place he laid on, as if resminicing, and then looks up to the sky with a serene look on her face is just stunning.

I was so, so happy to see they did include a shout-out to the bench scene and to, you know, the feelings that gave birth to Memories of You. I was initially worried they’d just turn it into an Idol thing (which they mostly did), but these shots right here really sober you up.

I also loved that Aigis is the one that sings “I will never leave you” as it should be:

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

FeMC in P3D Op? Theory pt 2

Didn’t think I’d make a pt 2, but anyway if you haven’t read pt 1 here you go (for the tldr; the hands are either human!Aigis or FeMC, but for the sake of this theory let’s still pretend it might be FeMC, btw a point against the Aigis theory for that one is that they do hold hands while dancing as seen in his PV...but it’s with his left hand in that dance...and by then in the P3D Op he has changed to his P3D outfit so it cannot be his left hand so yeah.... 8U it’s a theory let’s have fun guys). 

Btw kinda also going to take the time to point out parallels between P3D and P3P’s opening because I don’t wanna do hw :’D But yeah, first the theory (aka is it (human!)Aigis or is it FeMC?, also don’t worry it’s uber short), then analysis.

So I may have alluded to a scene in the P3D Op in my last theory, about whether the silhouette was Aigis or FeMC. 

Btw this beam of silhouette was created/preceded by Minato doing the Seal motion, which.....tbh the FeMC has done too and would be an interesting way to connect them. 8U Anyway....

Now before you say anything, I always assumed it was Aigis. I did wonder for like a second if it was the FeMC (esp since it does a call back to P3P’s Op too)...but I had decided not to get my hopes up...tho after someone else mentioned it and the unknown hands shown in the full OP.....maybe it is? I mean...from the side that’s silhouetted....they look similar. I mean the FeMC’s bun can take a similar shape as Aigis’ pixie cut, both have bangs in a similar area and when bouncing (from the side angle while silhouetted) it could be either. No really look at their P3P battle icons:

When you take away all their unique features, you are left with a similar shape. Which is extra hard to tell in the P3D Op because the back end of her hair is.....camouflaged into the white background on the right’s side. 

And like, when Minato’s trailer dropped, for a second I thought it was FeMC dancing, cause it started with a silhouette. I actually really honest to god had a heart attack. 

See? The bun makes it seem like she has short hair, so akflj;asjfda ;w; (I’m not joking guys, I did have a heart attack, it physically shocked and hurt me for a second, guys we’ve reached a point this isn’t good for my health :’D ;w;)

But now I’m sure you see why......I can’t be 100% sure. On top of the fact P3D’s opening has a lot of references to the past P3 openings (even FES, it has two to be exact, the rest are P3/P majority tbh, we’ll only focus on P3P’s). 

And now to segway into the analysis part which kinda sorta backs the theory (but again this is just a pipe dream theory and we’re just having fun so just let me have my fun I know it’s probably not it but alkdsfjaf ahhhh I can DREAM ;w;)

Before we get to the parallels, bonus side theory, I’m thinking Atlus is already putting in a budget for.....the Phoenix Ranger OP, like they’re making a fictional OP for just this game. If it really IS the FeMC in the P3D Op, who’s to say Atlus won’t do the same with her? I can dream right? ;w; (also I mean like....both with P3D and P3P the MCs don’t really....spend a whole lot of time on screen....so yeah....maybe that was one way to make it easier on them to do an alt opening...also....I’ll use that to segway into the parallels~! 8U)

Anyway under the cut cause lots ‘o pictures~! 8U

Ok so like first the stair scene, now I know it can parallel P3 Vanilla’s OP, or maybe it parallels both Vanilla and P3P (cause like....a lot of these are very symbolic to P3 and some were also used in P3P, like this one, but don’t worry this is the only one I’m bringing up that’ll overlap). Anyway here’s what I mean:

“But Silly, one has stairs and the other has an escalator, also he’s going down in P3P” Well to the first thing, shhhhhh roll with it 8U To the second part I’d say you need a perspective change! 

BOOM! Now he’s going up. 8U Oh hey and it’s in the same direction now too. Well that’s if you just flip reflect on the image, not rotate it. If you just rotate it then they aren’t going the same way, but he’s still going up. 8U Here’s what it looks like just rotated (btw later with the Ken picture it’s just flipped not rotated too):

Also did you notice that the FeMC is blinking at the same time on both sides? Just....something I noticed. 8U It’s the only movement she does, Minato moves more and later but it’s at the end and by then the Minato in the background on the FeMC’s side is gone. Anyway moving on, but not too far. 8U

As you can see Minato’s they even have the close up just like P3P and....wait....hold on....w-what’s this?

w-wHAT IS THIS?!

WHAT. THE. FU-

(ok was just trying to find a funny gif but this worked out well I had to use it anyway) .I...I’ve noticed this well before but.....I.......I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE THEY STOLE HER HEADPHONES! ;W; YOU TAKE HER SONGS, YOU TAKE HER HEADPHONES, WHY ATLUS WHY?! *sobbing* just take her dignity why dontcha? ;w;

Anyway, Ken’s scene is also a call back to P3P (btw I flipped both the P3P and P3D so the bottom is showing on top for both of them just cause it’s fun):

And lastly back to the escalator scene *looks up*....I mean the one with the MCs (plus one other P3P scene).

So remember when I said Minato turns towards the FeMC? Well it looks like it parallels the scene where Aigis is looking at that silhouette. And the 3rd picture is to showcase that there is a bit of a bond with the FeMC/Aigis (in opening form that is, aka other than in-game). 

I think I got everything.....*shrugs* Time for bed. 8U

[sophiescarlet]

my anime boston recap

i told a few people i’d write this, so here. warning, it’s long as fuck.

rebecca black - friday

while waiting for artists’ alley to open, i sat in a corner and watched people go by and saw a group cosplaying the main characters from the extremely underrecognized game the arcana, which was awesome and i totally would have asked for a picture but i’m way too shy. even though i’ve asked cosplayers for pictures before but i seem to have regressed in that sense...

i also saw (and this happened throughout the con) a bunch of hot, fit, really thin girls, which made me feel gay (as expected) but also really envious and sad and insecure about my body. cause i wish i looked more like them.

i also saw two girls cosplaying snow halation!honoka and kotori from love live, and the honoka had a giant honk nesoberi that i totally envy, and then right afterward a hate na heartbeat!eli and nozomi came around the corner and they were the coolest. i wish i’d had the guts to ask them for a picture too.

finally i went to artists’ alley and i got to buy a print from one of my favorite persona 5 fan artists but unfortunately she didn’t have the postcard set i wanted to buy. BUT right across was another fan artist whose stuff i really like so i bought a BUNCH of her prints - one of each of the p5 girls for me, and an extra makoto for my friend - and she came over to thank me and we chatted a little and it was nice. i am fucking determined to befriend some of these people and now at least one of them knows who i am.

i went to a panel on “fandom as coping” presented by a social worker which was really cool. she talked about how even though she’s a social worker, she still went through a severely suicidal period this past year and survived because of yuri on ice. i left partway through because then she turned it over to the audience to share our stories and i didn’t need to hear from a bunch of people talking about bad things that had happened to them.

the next thing i went to, after hanging around the vendors for a while, was tara platt’s (mitsuru and elizabeth from persona 3) q&a. she was really cool, and i actually managed to ask her a question, which was which one she preferred. (she said she can’t choose a favorite, but had more fun with elizabeth.)

i went to a presentation by sunrise, the studio that made love live among other things, but it was boring and i left early again because they were talking about gundam and other action stuff i don’t care about.

i’d planned on going to johnny yong bosch’s (makoto from free, kitamura from toradora, yu and adachi from p4) q&a, but it had a hella long line and it was obvious i wasn’t going to get in since the room wasn’t going to accommodate that many people. so i went over to a panel greg ayres (kaoru from ouran, nagisa from free, monokuma from the danganronpa anime) was doing on “it gets better.” come to find out he is openly bi! and is good friends with his ex who’s a trans woman and confronted her family about misgendering her! he is my new fav ngl and a far cry from hikaru’s va whom i met at tora-con a few years ago and was kind of an ego. it was a conversation sort of panel and we talked about a lot of stuff around queerness and bullying. i had to leave that one early too, but wished i could have stayed for the whole thing. also, there was a girl across the aisle from me who mentioned she was trans, and at one point i happened to catch her looking at me, and i think she was checking me out! sadly, i did not run into her again.

the reason i had to leave early was to get johnny’s autograph. he was really cool and i totes wish i could’ve gone to his q&a. since i don’t actually have any free! or toradora! or p4 merch, i had him sign my p3/p5 dancing game since it did at least come with p4 dancing as a free download. he took his daughter with him to the con which i find adorable though i have to wonder how bored she was sitting there for an hour and a half while he signed autographs.

katy perry - last friday night

at this point, i had a couple hours to kill, so i walked out to newbury comics in the hopes they’d have the bananarama vinyl reissues from the british record store day. they didn’t (though weirdly they did have the shakespears sister one), but they had kacey musgraves’ golden hour on sale, and i’ve been waffling on buying that for ages, so i finally snapped it up. then i went back to the mall where the con (sort of) was and got some godiva ice cream, which was even more overpriced than you’d expect but still very good.

so my last agenda item for the day was yuri lowenthal’s (makoto/minato from p3, yosuke from p4) q&a, which tara crashed because they’re married, which i love because it means that mitsuru is irl the canon waifu. once again i managed to ask a question, which was which p3 girl he’d like to have minato end up with, which made everyone laugh, and of course he said “i want to preserve my marriage, so either mitsuru or elizabeth.”

then i went home and felt like death.

i don’t know any songs that have “saturday morning” in the title

i took an uber to the con for saturday because the T was being replaced with a shuttle bus and i decided i’d rather pay $17 each way for a 15-minute trip than $2.50 each way for a 90-minute trip.

i went to a panel on “idols in anime” that was kind of interesting but i didn’t take much away from it, other than that i should maybe watch revue starlight. but then i went to a panel on “diversity in the magical girl genre” that was really cool. it was hosted by a queer latina woman and she talked about racial, gender, sexual, and ability diversity. it was interesting because she has a very negative view of yuuki yuuna, which i can certainly understand but don’t really share. but it was a great panel and i feel like i learned a lot. one neat idea she had was that what comes across as queerbaiting (or whatever-baiting) to western audiences can be really progressive representation in japan, and vice versa.

after that i went to another panel on “magical girl fashion” and literally got up and left because i couldn’t stand how wrong the presenter was.

i’d missed out both days on the free autograph passes for yuri and tara, so i went to their paid session, which to make a long story short was an absolute fucking disaster, and i ended up making a complaint, during which i cried in front of the con’s assistant director. so there’s something i can check off my bucket list. i also met the director, who came over to reassure me they were fixing things and said, “i keep saying i need a machete to take off people’s heads this year.” so obviously i immediately liked her! in the end, i did get their autographs (on the same p3d/p5d game) for fifty fucking dollars... i’d been expecting more like thirty. and they didn’t even personalize them. sad trombone noise. they were nice though.

then i rushed over to the free autographs and saw kara edwards (chihiro in the danganronpa anime) and had her autograph a wall scroll i’d bought from a vendor. i wish i could’ve gone to her q&a because she seemed sweet.

and right after THAT, i got in line for tara sands (a bunch of pokemon) and had her sign a manga volume i bought for my friend. she was also awesome and i really wish i could have gone to her q&a because we had this exchange:

me: this is for my friend who’s a huge bulbasaur fan

sands: oh, you’re such a good friend!

me: i know. and i won’t let them forget it.

sands: [laughs] that’s good! keep it up, i like your style!

i then went to greg’s q&a, which was fun. he mentioned that while recording the audio commentary for ouran, caitlin glass (haruhi) and todd haberkorn (hikaru) got really uncomfortable during one of the twincest scenes and started talking about anything else they could so they wouldn’t have to talk about the twincest, and in the commentary you can just hear greg laugh a little because he’d made himself laugh by thinking of saying “i just think it’s hot” but kept himself from saying it out loud. the hero we deserve tbh.

whigfield - saturday night (i actually don’t like that song btw)

at this point, it was time for the 18+ panels to start, so i went to one where yuri, tara platt, lisa ortiz (idk her), and billy kametz (same) did in-character readings of various scripts. they did a couple of star wars ones which obviously did nothing for me, except that tara did bb-8 in a christopher walken voice, which was fucking hysterical. the other one i remember was lisa doing a southern belle voice narrating the notebook, with yuri as sasuke (i think) as noah, and billy as lelouch (?) as ally. but the best one, of course, was the last one, which was the iocane powder scene from the princess bride, performed by yuri as spider-cop (iirc) as the sicilian and tara as elizabeth as westley. it was AMAZING.

then i went to greg’s 18+ panel where he recounted risqué stories like when his mom wanted to watch an anime where his character has anal sex. i remember it being hilarious but unfortunately don’t remember any specifics other than him affectionately calling his lawyer the C-word and a story about beating up an asshat in the o’hare airport after asshat broke a jigglypuff ornament his friend made him.

blondie - sunday girl

so having stayed out past 11:30 for greg’s panel the night before, and forgetting to take melatonin before bed... i actually couldn’t wake up sunday morning so didn’t end up going back to the con at all. which was really sad and disappointing as it meant i missed getting greg’s autograph, a panel on autism in anime fandom, and the voice actor roundtable panel, all of which i really wanted. so after finally getting up at 2:30pm i spent the rest of the day super depressed and mad at myself and just sad and disappointed.

the end.

[smoothshift]

Car Enthusiast Buys a Tesla Model 3 Performance: It's an Electric Muscle Car via /r/cars

Car Enthusiast Buys a Tesla Model 3 Performance: It's an Electric Muscle Car

TL:DR: At its core, the car is a stereotypical amercian muscle sedan, but electric. And I think it’s quite cheap for what it is.

  Let me preface this with a warning that in the text below I likely offended plenty of car enthusiasts and Tesla fans in some way. I apologize for that, these are just my personal views.

  I’m your stereotypical car enthusiast. The latest eight new/used performance cars I’ve had were all stick-shift and either RWD or Turbo-AWD. A few were hatches/wagons. The last few were all RWD. Over the years I also co-drove a bunch of other fun cars (and lots of Miatas) at autox. I’ve had my Chevy SS for 4+ years now, and only recently got the itch for a new performance car to dailydrive. I ‘normally’ get the itch after less than two years, so the SS was/is pretty awesome. The new car had to be not slower than my SS and feel different/special enough to justify the switch. See the bottom for a list of cars I cross-shopped.

  I was thinking of a BEV for a while. With the nearest Tesla service center 170 miles away I never really considered one. Until May, when a new service center opened in Toledo, OH, just south of the Michigan border and like 30 minutes away from me. Once I learned that, I made an appointment for a ‘demonstration’ drive in Troy, MI. Drove a base Model 3 with ‘premium’ interior and a dual-motor 90(?) KWh Model S to get a sense of acceleration and was sold. Ordered a black Model 3 Performance (P3D is how people call it on Tesla forums), with white seats and no extra ‘full-self-driving’ vaporware for an extra $6k. Picked it up about a week ago and drove it home from Cleveland. Been driving it every day since, have about 500 miles already.

Obligatory picture.

  A perfect one-liner to describe it to an enthusiast: an electric muscle car. And I mean it in the stereotypical sense, ignoring good handling the Camaro/Mustang have these days. The best thing about the P3D is its acceleration/launch. It’s effortless, quite violent, repeatable, pretty thrilling (gotta make sure to have empty-ish stomach), and very usable in regular driving. For the money, it’s a ridiculous bargain. All the new cars I’ve tested in the price range are slower in a straight line. For all of them, to get their stated street acceleration you’d be risking ‘reckless-driving’ tickets for tire squeal/slip on launch. The rest of the car is okayish (to the point of me thinking getting a tacky license UMichigan plate that’d say Mehsla). Fit and finish is just passable (just like a lot of muscle cars), handling is decent but not spectacular, and the tires won’t last long if pushed. The basic autopilot I got is nice for highway cruising behind a truck on a nice sunny day to save electricity, but I wouldn’t trust it with anything else. The “self-driving capability” gives you enhanced autopilot which will change lanes by itself. I got to try it briefly on my test-drive and it was scary at how cautious and undecisive it was. I am virtually certain there will be no ‘robotaxis’ based on Model3s in a year. Not doable w/o plenty of LIDARs.

  But the way the P3D slingshots from a stop makes a long list of minor annoyances (see below) kinda irrelevant. Now, people do get used to power. So, it’s possible that I’ll miss the noise of a V8. But at this point I’m not so sure. Think about why car enthusiasts are attached to the noise. Probably because racecar. Those have free flowing exhausts to go faster. But if you can go faster w/o the noise in the EV should you be attached to the noise? If so, just buy a Harley. Don’t get me wrong, I still like a nice exhaust since that preference got engrained deep into my brain over the years, but I think I’m gonna be fine w/o the engine noise in a car that’s fast w/o it. I’d prefer to have more responsive/communicative steering before the noise.

  I’m not a Musk apologist, neither I’m a Tesla corporate fan. Probably closer to the opposite. At the moment I think the Tesla may not survive the next recession+stock market downturn on their own. So why did I buy one? Mostly because I think that at the moment TSLA stock investors are basically subsidizing Tesla customer prices. If Tesla had to stand on their own and show consistent profit margins, P3D-level performance would be a lot more expensive. Look at Audi/Jag new EV offerings. Slower/heavier/shorter range, tens of thousands of $$ more expensive. I took this as a sign of things to come: once Tesla brand gets acquired by a larger manufacturer, prices will likely go up because that’s what people pay for this level of performance from established manufactures. So, if you’re in a position to buy it, there’s a service center near you, and you have a warm garage (or live where there’s no real winter), go schedule a test drive, you might be surprised. Having another car as a back-up is a plus though.

  I don’t want to make this a super-long post, so here's just a bunch of random points about the Model 3, some from an enthusiast’s point of view I haven't seen covered much:

Little need to warm-up before flooring it, at least during the three warm seasons, unlike normal cars which need 5-10 minutes to warm the engine/transmission oil (there’s still the differential fluid to warm up though)

The ‘Performance’ model is really all about straight line acceleration, especially the launch.

Almost no camber stock

No way to add more with stock hardware, no aftermarket hardware other than lowering springs or coilovers to pick up some much needed camber.

As a result, tracking/autox-ing requires stupid-high tire pressures not to kill tires very quickly, but they will still die just regular-quickly

Very limited aftermarket suspension options

Not much clearance to upper control arm for wider tires/more camber while staying close to stock offset.

Not much space in the wheel well to go wider w/o killing paintwork by having the wheels stick out.

Thick stud bolts, so many popular aftermarket wheels might not fit, despite a popular 5x114.3 bolt pattern. Weird shape of rear calipers that limits wheel choices further.

Has bigger Brembo brakes though.

Only tried the ‘track mode’ a handful of times yet. It’s a bit detrimental to street acceleration, and brake vectoring makes the turn-in a bit livelier. Haven’t pushed it yet.

Handling is pretty good, especially for the weight. It feels less heavy than my SS with Magneride in Track mode. The wheel has nice weight and very quick ration, but very little feed back. But you can hear the tires. The first time you hear those work the turn is a revelation previously muffled by engine noises.

It's pretty comfortable even with 20” wheels. Low center of gravity means the springs can be softer w/o much body roll.

The 20” wheels are reportedly very prone to bending, looking to change those out soon.

I find myself driving it in a lot more relaxed manner w/o the engine growling me on.

Doing interior mods with the car plugged in/music playing/AC on is nice. In a regular car it’d require hooking up a battery tender and would still be no AC.

There's a considerable amount of condensation from battery thermal management and A/C. Make sure your garage drains work well.

Seats are fine for me. Felt a bit tight at first, but all good now. It may be a problem for bigger butts. Feels like driver’s seat has a hair more lateral support than my Chevy SS (low bar to surpass). Not performance seats in any way.

Pretty decent adjustable (in/out up/down) lumbar support.

Pre-warming/cooling the car via the app is nice.

Regen braking will come natural to stick-shift drivers. Feels just like driving in 2nd-3rd gears. Lift off the gas and the car slows deliberately but not too aggressively. There’s also a setting to make this feel more like a typical automatic car with some loss of efficiency.

Order to delivery was barely 10 days. Felt weird, in an instant gratification kind of way, after having to generally wait months for my recent new cars.

Rear visibility is pretty poor. Excellent view out of the front, however. No dash really opens up a lot of space for the eye.

  Annoyances:  

Automatic emergency braking and Emergency Lane Departure assist needs to be disabled every time you drive. I hope there’s a software fix to this at some point.

Software bugs. Had to reboot the screen a few times already. Those were while parked, but still annoying. But in general tablet for an interface doesn’t bother me at all. The software in generaly is pretty polished and intuitive.

Paint quality. Looked okaish at delivery. After washing the wax away, it was terrible. Caked in water spots on most of the hood (but not elsewhere). Spent whole Saturday polishing. Only got it to ‘passable’. Orange peel level is again similar to some of the Detroit products.

Jacking it up would be a pain w/o a lift. It only has 4 designated jacking spots, so no clue how one would jack one wheel and put a jack stand in there at the same time.

The car does not come with a spare, nor is there an inflator kit.

No seat ventilation/cooling. Seats can get pretty warm.

No ‘basic’ cruise control, only the ‘traffic aware’ one, which will come up on someone doing 10 under and sit there.

  Today is the last day of my 7-day return window, and I’m keeping it. Just for reference, if one wanted to return, it could take 1-2 months to get their money back from Tesla. If one wanted a replacement car in that time, they’d likely have to get a new loan with their financial institution.

  Now I just have to make sure not to get rear-ended. Cause that could lead to 2-4 months of wait for replacement body parts. Statistically, it’s a 2-3% probability event in a given year. I hope the situation improves in the future.

  I’m definitely keeping my S2000 for raw feel and top-down driving. Not sure on the SS. It’s too nice to keep it as a winter back-up car.

  For reference, here’s what I looked at before pulling the trigger on a Tesla: I’ve looked at a bunch of different slighly used C7 Corvettes. Non-Z06 ones didn’t feel different enough from my SS to justify giving up two doors for. The Z06 is awesome, but the power is not really usable below 40-60mph. It’s a waste of a car to daily it. The GT350 was the frontrunner for a while, but in the end it’s conceptually very similar to the SS with just a different noise (heavenly, yes). Also, living in Michigan, I see a least a couple GT350s every day. The ZL1 looks/visibility are not my cup of tea. The M3/4 is nice, but the sound they make during warm-up absolutely turns me off. I’d also want to do a euro-delivery if I were to get one, but doing that right now exposes one to risks of tariffs going up on euro cars over the next few months. Those are also quite a bit more expensive in livable configs. The M2c is somehow too small and too heavy for a compact car at the same time. If it was available as a hatch I’d own it already though. That pretty much exhausted my stick-shift options. Then I decided to widen the search to sigh automatics. I’ve looked at discounted new MY18 Alfa Quadrifoglios (got a CEL during a test-drive, lol), Audi TT-RS (the dealer wouldn’t let me launch it, naturally. It felt fast but not crazy fast otherwise, probably the most similar car in straight line performance). Also tried the G70 Sport. It’s pretty nice, but not for the price they are asking. I’ve tried a Hellcat Charger, and the 392 Charger a while back. Those are nice, but I’d rather supercharge my SS instead. Same feeling about the ATS-V. Throwing a blower on the SS was starting to look like a plan until I test-drove a Tesla. I was thinking of an electric car to daily for a while. In Michigan, GM doesn’t offer much in a way of sweet Bolt lease deals they have in Cali, and even for a recently-discounted prices I couldn’t get over how slow it is other than off the line. Didn’t consider the new Audi/Jag EVs, too expensive, too slow, too heavy.

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

How I think P3D should go down pt 6.

(previous/part 5) Ok home stretch, this’ll cover the ending, but not the epilogue. I’ll have to do that later, and the Q and A will answer any unanswered questions as well. But now I’m going to write a very quick summary of Arena 3 and 4.

Ok so I mentioned before there might be dialogue options in previous dungeons for Mitsuru and Aigis but I wasn’t sure if they should affect the ending or if the ones that do effect the ending are actually at the end. Well if we go with the latter, this is where the dialogue options really start to take effect. Also, right now we are playing from the POV of Aigis.

Ni’s narration/voice over throughout the dungeon focuses on her depression and thoughts on suicide, she claims she’s just so tired and wants to rest, and that she’s tired of constantly being in pain. They get to the end of the dungeon and see Ni sitting on an icey throne, fiddling with what looks like a hand mirror. But the SOs realize something is off, her eyes are yellow and her skin looked like it was turning a blueish tint.

Ni(?): *looks up in notice of the SOs* Oh dear, so you’re the guests that have been causing a ruckus here. Fuuka: That’s Ni-san but….she’s not in control! Akihiko: Just who are you? Not!Ni: My so brash, you know this is a castle and I am royalty. Junpei: I don’t care who you are princess! We’re here to help that girl, give her back! Not!Ni: *scoffs* First of all, I’m not a princess, I’m a queen. I’m the Snow Queen. And second, it looks like we have the same goal in mind. Mitsuru: What do you mean? Snow Queen: You want to help her, I want to help her. Actually, I’m also helping you all the most. So, I don’t see why we should fight. Yukari: And what is your plan on “helping her” entail? SQ: Oh, well she doesn’t want to live anymore, I want a human body. She can’t seem to die by normal means, I’m not normal means, I think you get the picture. Ken: Wha-what that’s not helping! SQ: It’s not? It’s her wish, I’m just granting it. Junpei: Yeah, but no one would really wish for that! SQ: Oh now you’re just being hypocritical…. Children who have faced the being called Erebus. All SOs: *shocked* Aigis: How do you know about that? SQ: Oh us deities know a lot of things about the world. And I know for a fact that you know humanity itself wishes for Death. This girl is just one of them. Aigis: >[That doesn’t matter we’re taking her back] >>>>[I want to hear her tell me it herself.] SQ: Tell you it herself? But hasn’t she already told you? Didn’t you hear and see her most intimate thoughts? Surely you know how she feels more than anyone else! Aigis: >>>[Are you sure you’re not just using her yourself?] >[That doesn’t justify in killing yourself!] SQ: *enraged* ME?! USING HER?! How dare you, you insolent little-I am the one who comes to help the people who are being used! Yukari: Well you did say you wanted a human body! SQ: Yes I did say that, but I never asked her for it. She gave it to me of her own free will! When I told her I would end her suffering free of charge, she told me for the first time in her life she wanted to give something to someone who she knew wasn’t asking for anything in return. Aigis: >>>[I have the same goal….] >[I’m going to get her life back for her] SQ: What? Aigis: I want to do something for her as well….and not ask for anything in return. But to do that I need to speak to her! SQ: Then I’ll just have to end you all right here. I will protect this girl!

A very long dance battle takes place. In the end the Snow Queen is defeated.

SQ: *weak and fading* I’m….so….sorry….I couldn’t….protect…you…. SQ: *starts to collapses* Mitsuru: *runs up and turns her over and supports her head* Ni: *color returning to her face, starts to wake up* Mitsuru: Oh good you’re waking up. Junpei: *approaching Mitsuru and Ni with the others*You had us running around worried silly! Yukari: Phew now it’s finally over and we can go home. Mitsuru: Let’s go back, we have a lot of explaining to do. Ni: *finally fully conscious of her surroundings* Wha? Ken: You must be pretty exhausted, don’t worry we’re here to hel- Ni: NO! *suddenly a blast of energy emits from her, sending everyone flying* Junpei: What the hell was that?! Fuuka: It’s a Persona! But…wait it’s not summoned…. What’s going on?! Mitsuru: Ni-san, please calm down, we’re here to help. Now if you can just come back with us- Ni: *shakily rising to her feet, shadow overcasting her eyes* Go back with you? Why in the hell would I want to do that? Yukari: What? Ni: Where….where is she….where is the Snow Queen? Aigis: We….we defeated her to save you! Ni: *enraged* You…..YOU! YOU SAVE ME?! Labrys: I know what happened between you and my sister is horrible but please listen Ni: Sister?! That thing has a sister? Haha, Oh my god, haha, oh man that’s rich! SOs: *shocked into silence with how Ni is acting* Ni: *finally stops laughing* DAMNIT! Why is it, every single time something goes my way, you bastards come in and fuck it up for me! Yukari: What are you talking about?! I’ve never met you until recently! Ni: Don’t act like you don’t know! Junpei: We have no idea what they hell you’re talking about! Ni: ……I guess it doesn’t matter anymore…. You can keep lying all you want… I know the truth. You took everything from, you put me in a hell hole that I couldn’t escape from. And now you destroyed my peaceful salvation…. No….No screw that. I’m not going back. I’m going to make you pay. Haha, you shouldn’t have defeated the Snow Queen, she was protecting you assholes too you know? *the ground shakes and a hole opens up behind Ni* Junpei: WHAT THE HELL?! *Ni turns around and walks through the portal without looking back, once through the portal closes* Junpei: no….seriously WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?! Is that girl freaking nuts? We come in save her and she start spouting bullshit! *before anyone could say anything else, another portal opened up* Junpei: OH MAN NOT ANOTHER ONE! Ken: Is-is she coming back? *a familiar blue claded woman walks out* Elizabeth: *pouting* Oh dear me it looks like I was a tad too late. Aigis: Elizabeth-san! Liz: Good evening. My my, looks like you’ve all been on quite an adventure! Mitsuru: Excuse me, but….is there anything we can help you with? Liz: Oh, well it’s more on how I can help you! You see I have some great news, some bad news, some very horrid news, and some good news you would all like to hear! I shall now present it to you in that order! Yukari: She didn’t have to say that last part…. Liz: The great news is that, through my research I have figured out a way to release him from the Seal without harming his soul! SOs: *All start talking in excitement* Mitsuru: Oh but what’s the bad news? Liz: Oh well, if I were to release him now the world will end! I still need to find a way to do so-so that Nyx and Erebus can never meet. Yukari: O-oh…. Labrys: And what’s the….horrid news? Liz: Oh well the person who is able to lift the Seal just left in a rage and it looks like they intend on dooming us all! SOs: WHAT?! Junpei: Oh man tell us the good news, the good news! Liz: Well I found this wonderful takoyaki stand nearby- Junpei: THAT’S NOT GOOD NEWS! Liz: Oh well I beg to differ. Aigis: Wait….so….you mean….Ni-san is the key? Liz: Yes, funny how fate works. Mitsuru: But…how is she the key? Liz: Well, I did some digging, but it looks like one way or another a piece of Death was sealed inside Ni during the Moonlight Bridge confrontation. Either because you couldn’t fit it all in one vessel or a piece got away and you had to seal it into another body I do not know. Nonetheless, she has it. Yukari: No way…. Liz: Yes, well, that would explain why her suicide attempts were always futile. The powers that be, be it Death itself, Nyx or Erebus, or another otherworldly force, if she were to die then that key would disappear. It seems that a human soul who was touched by Death is the only way to undo the Seal, as his soul is very similar to hers. They appear to be kindred spirits, I deduce that if things had played out differently, their roles would’ve been reversed. Yukari: Wait, is this what the Snow Queen meant by how she’s protecting us as well? Liz: Why yes, I believe so, and not just you the entire universe too. The Snow Queen is a very neutral being, she must have saw the destructive power of the girl but found a way to resolve it all peacefully so no extra casualties could arise. Akihiko: But why didn’t she just tell us to begin with? Liz: I do not know, maybe she knew you wouldn’t listen? Or she promised to not share more than she needed to because you already invaded this girls’ privacy? Or maybe because she couldn’t… We’ll never know I guess. Mitsuru: So what do you suppose we do now? Liz: I suppose you should go after her and try to change her mind on ending the world, possibly by force if you have to. Aigis: Will you be coming with Elizabeth-san? Liz: Oh no, I fear I do not have the power to go up against her like you all can. I will just go back to continuing my research! *opens up two portals* That one over there will take you to the Seal and to the girl. I’ll come get you once it’s all done. Don’t die now, bye~! *walks through the other portal and it vanishes behind her* Junpei: “Don’t die” she says…. Mitsuru: In any case, we need to relay this back to the others, Yamagishi…. Fuuka: Yes, I’m trying but….there’s….interference…. “Found….apartment…..be….careful…don’t….die” It’s no use, this is all I can hear…. Junpei: “Don’t die” not them too…. Labrys: Sister are you alright? Yukari: Yeah, she said some pretty horrible things…. Aigis: Yes I am fine. She had every right to. Junpei: but it wasn’t your fault for back then! Aigis: That maybe be….but her family did die in the accident caused by my fight…. I must take some responsibility. I want to…I want to protect this girl, to help Ni-san. The same way I promised to protect him.

And with that they head off to go confront Ni. (haha bet you thought the Snow Queen was gonna be the antagonist? Haha psych, it was one of the protagonists all along! 8U But yeah sorry, lots of dialogue there, but I’m not going to have as much after this point. Mostly summary)

As soon as they go through the portal they see Ni in front of the Seal.

Ni: With this, I’ll finally be dead….I won’t have to suffer anymore Ken: But everyone else will be dead, you’re just thinking for yourself, how is that fair? Ni: Fair? What’s “fair?” Here I can hear the billions of people calling for death, just like me. It’s not just Aigis: >[Don’t you want to live] >>>[Do you really want to kill innocent lives?] Ni: Nnng….. Junpei: See? You don’t want to be a killer! So don’t do this! Ni: GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE! I don’t want to be lectured by a group of people who decided they wanted to just ruin my life! AND WHAT HAVE PEOPLE EVER DONE FOR ME? EVERY BOND I’VE HAD HAS BEEN PAINFUL, ALL EVERYONE DOES IS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ME! Akihiko: Again, what are you tal- Aigis: >>>[*cut Akihiko off*] >[*let Akihiko finish*]” Aigis: *looks at Mitsuru* Mitsuru: I understand I…we….and my family have wronged you… And if you want to get back at us, we will not resist. But please, don’t dirty your hands by taking innocent lives. Ni: *taken aback* Wha-what? You’ll let me get back at you? Why? Why aren’t you resisting? *starting to tear up* This isn’t satisfying, my revenge won’t be satisfying if you don’t fight back. I want you to suffer, how can you just submit… Aigis: Ni-san, we want to help you. Ni: No! I don’t believe you! Why would you want to help now! This is a trick! Yukari: Ni-san Ni: QUIT CALLING ME THAT! That’s not my name! Do you even know what my name is? SOs: *silent, they never did ask* Ni: I thought so…..no one has used my real name in so long, it’s always been these damn, unwanted nicknames. On top of that, they make me do things, I’m like their dog. *sobbing* THEY DON’T EVEN TREAT ME LIKE A PERSON! BUT YOU! *points at Aigis* YOU GET TO, EVEN THO YOU’RE MACHINE, A MURDERER! DAMNIT! Aigis: >[Please listen!] >[Your right]

After this dialogue choice (this one doesn’t matter btw) you’ll get either the good or bad end. The bad end has her spiralling more and more into despair, and ends with her unlocking the seal and letting Nyx wipe everyone out. The good end, or well the path, leads to them trying to appeal to her and that they will accept any punishment she deemed fit. She gets overwhelmed by her confusing emotions that she summons her Persona, Death (ok after seeing P5, I thought maybe having her summon it similar to the Phantom Thieves would be a good call foreword, esp since she’s under the same emotional distress that they undergo when they first summon theirs). The song chosen is a remix of Wiping all Out, the person fighting her is Aigis (with her partner being Mitsuru).

 Now…..I won’t lie, I have different variations off for the good ending, but each end with her running away (similar to Sho), to go be alone somewhere.

End 1: She’s able to absorb all of Death into her through the Seal. And escapes with that. Esentially becoming Death herself…or at least a more complete version, and the new Avatar (Nyx is still Sealed so it’s not like, Nyx can break out and use Ni). End 2:She just runs away so that she can be by herself. No special nonsense happening. End 3 (I won’t lie I’m leaning more towards this, with Ending 1 being my backup): Ni lays there in defeat. Wondering why was even the purpose of anything. She tells the SOs to leave her there, she has no fight left, and she promises she won’t undo the Seal. She just wants to be left alone. Before the SOs can even argue with her, Liz comes in. She states that, this might be their chance to save the P3MC. She states that they should be able to seal Nyx inside of Ni. The reasoning Liz gives us is that, the P3MC’s soul can finally return to the sea of the souls, by using the Seal’s power they can encase Nyx inside of Ni, Ni wouldn’t be able to just access Nyx’s power willy-nilly but Ni would be unkillable. After some deliberating, they agree. They undo the Seal, and a dance battle begins. It’s the remixed version of Burn my dread that plays. Everyone dances to it like the final song from P4D (if we wanna be corny, even the P3MC’s soul joins in at the end 8U) With that Nyx is sealed within Ni. Liz teleports them back, but when they come to they realize Ni is nowhere to be found. Liz tells them that Ni wants to be alone to sort some things out.

 I’ll go into more detail about this chosen ending later in the Q and A, but my plan for this ending was to make it feel….unsatisfactory on purpose. It’s not a good nor bad end. I’m kind of going for an Danganronpa Ultra Despair girls thing.

Anyways, to be continued in pt 7 with the epilogue, where it explains some big unanswered questions. 8U

Part 7

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

How I think P3D should go down pt 2.

(Pt 1) Woooooow 2 months later and you’re gonna continue finally? Yes (blame my hard drive for it, tho tbh I only got a paragraph in 8U). So yeah, onto the long summary. 8U

Ok, so just like P4D, this scene takes place at some point in pt 1 or 2 posts (can’t remember when I had it planned, either for this post or I forgot for the last post so yeah 8U). We are greeted with Liz by herself, in an area we don’t recognize. She seems to be talking to us, the player (just like Margaret from P4D). She claims that she got into contact with her sister and/or brother. They state that they had a new guest show up, but they refused to sign a contract (paralleling Sho), but was asked why by Theo. The New Guest responded stating that bonds do nothing but hurt them so why would they sign into a contract to make bonds. (basically it’s different from Sho rejecting bonds all together cause he views it as weak, and Kanami attempting to force bonds, this person rejects it solely because it’s “bad for/hurts them.” Yeah yeah bonds are more of a P4 thing, but P3 has SLs so bonds were important there too 8U P4’s just more in yo face about it. ) Scene ends.

 Anyway, so chapter 2 begins with the SOs all gathered together. They proceed to debrief on the matter. The similar shadow reading that they were getting wasn’t only similar to the P4D incident, but also the Dark Hour incident as well. It feels like something is trying to connect with their world yet again (similar to P4D), but it seems to be using the DH as a way to do things (hint hint this is the odd phenomenon is what happened to Ni at the end of Part 1). A few of the SOs then ask when were the DH occurrences because they didn’t even notice it. Mitsuru explains that they are brief, most not even lasting a minute (some so fast you could blink and miss it), and at odd times such that it doesn’t even occur at Midnight; so most of them could be asleep when they happen. Mitsuru deduces that this unstable DH is possibly because of an outside force attempting to get in touch with their world (aka a god coming in to wreck the place again, and no that’s not a spoiler for later it’s just a fact at this point in this series c’mon 8U) Junpei asks the location of which the incidents are coming from, and Mitsuru responds saying it’s a sea-side city. Junpei gets excited asking if they have a beach and that they should go there. Mitsuru shoots him down stating that the city is very big and that there will probably not be enough time. (concerning the size of the city, this is probably where they bring up asking Yu, Naoto, and Rise for help to help cover ground, as again if anyone would be in the area it’d probably be them). With this the debriefing ends with them leaving for the (unnamed) city.

 The next scene transitions over to Ni again. It opens with another dance song (attempting to fit songs in here because otherwise it’d be a loooooooong while before we get to dance battles), it turns out she was showing off a new dance choreography that she was assigned to make for some idols. The people who hired her to make it state they are pleased with her work and she leaves. We then get a montage of Ni running around doing various things in the studio (very inter like stuff tbh). Every so often we see her run past a group of idols (who are none other than Rise and Kanamin’s Kitchen). At one point we see Ni stopping to overhear their conversation that’s about her:

Kanami: WOAH WOAH WOAH! So fast! Rise: That girl is really booking it! Tomoe: She’s been running around all day…. Nozomi: She must have amazing stamina. Sumomo: I saw her showing off some dance choreography earlier. But now she’s….doing a coffee run? Tamami: Oh, yeah, my dad/uncle/older brother/cousin told me about her. She’s kind of the all purpose person around here or something. Her main job is a dance instructor, but if you need something she’ll gladly do it with a smile. Even coffee or food runs. She’s a valued employee but they treat her like some noob intern. They don’t even call her by her real name….just some nickname. Sumomo: What? Really? What’s her real name then? Tamami: I….actually don’t know either…. Rise: Arg? This totally not fair for her! Tamami: Yeah I think so too, with all the work I hear that they give her you’d think she’d be tired…. But her appearance says otherwise so I guess it’s ok….. *somber* Anyway, it’s not like you have a choice with this industry. Rest of the group: *unhappily* Yeah…. Kanami: Oh! W-we better get back or Ms. Ochimizu will have our butts! *the girls run off*

Ni, neutral expression: *watches the group leave* Ni: *shadow casts over her eyes* Heh….it’s not just this place that’s unfair….. Ni: *then leaves, continuing onto whatever errand she was in the process of doing*

Scene ends (“Hey Silly what was with the ‘dad/uncle/older brother/cousin’ thing?” Hint hint it’s part of the hints, 2nd hint hint look at her last name 8U)

The next scene starts up taking place a few hours later, from Ni’s perspective again. Coach approaches Ni:

Coach: Phew, long day? Ni: Haha you said it. Coach: Man I can’t believe they still make you do all that stuff, you’re not just some part-time high school student anymore! Do you want me to talk to some of those guys to hire some lackey so you can have more time to yourself? Ni: Nah it’s ok, it makes me feel useful. Coach: Hmmm ok, but you seem down…. Oh! Is it because you haven’t gotten your acceptance letter yet? Ni: *orz* Coach: Ahhh….so that’s it. Ni: *pouting and fuming comically* They’re so late too! I know I passed the exam with top marks too, so they should just let me in already! Coach: That big time law firm right? Well I’m sure you’ll get in, third times the charm as they say! Ni: *orz* Why do you have to remind me? ;w; I-it’s not like I failed the past two times, they just won’t let me in. I-it must be the quota thing…y-yeah that it’s it! ;w; Coach: Haha I don’t know why you’re so intent on getting into a law firm so fast, just enjoy the rest of your undergrad years and ace your graduate years and you should be good to go when it comes to getting into that law firm. Ni: *suddenly really serious, her eyes are casted in shadows* Yeah but….I want to…get in there as soon as possible… Coach: Oh so serious…. May I ask what it is? Ni: *still serious*….because I want to…. *suddenly super chipper* TO MAKE SERIOUS BANK OF COURSE! ;D Coach: Woah! O_O Ni: And they’re SOOOOOOO COOOL TOO! Like, making serious dough and looking cool while doing it? Who wouldn’t want that? ;D Coach: Haha dreaming big still I see. Well I guess you are still that kid I met all those years ago. You better be careful, being a lawyer is a stressful job you might get grey hairs! Haha but then again, grey hair with red eyes might be a good look on a lawyer! Ni: *sarcastic* Ahaha yeah I’ll keep that in mind. Coach: Welp I better get going, don’t push yourself too hard mmmkay? Ni: Yup I’ll see you later. *leaves for home herself*

*scene transition back at Ni’s place* *flash back to Coach saying*” Haha I don’t know why you’re so intent on getting into a law firm so fast” Ni: *eyes covered in shadow and ominous* Because I don’t know how much more time I’ll have….. Ni: *looks at USB drive that’s by her computer* Ni: *with a serious face goes and boots up her computer and plugs the UBS drive in*

 End Pt 2

(So yeah it’s getting darker. 8U And yes that was a Sae reference, tho that wasn’t planned 2 years ago but might as well throw it in there. 8U I had to ask my roommate about how people go about becoming a lawyer in Japan. Looks like you can study about 4 years of undergrad pre-law and then take 2 years of graduate law, or 3 years of grad law if you don’t do undergrad pre-law, before you can go into a law firm to get hands on experience. Or you can take a very, VERY hard test right whenever and get into the law firm. Ni has been attempting the latter. She attempted in her 3rd year of high school so that she could go straight into the law firm when she got out of high school. As she hinted above she passed but they didn’t take her, so she’s doing the undergrad pre-law as a backup route while still attempting the exam route. As for quota, before I asked for help there seemed to be a quota some places use, even if you pass they might not accept you or something….. Let’s just say law in Japan really confuses me. ;w; But we only need to know the beginning basics so don’t worry cause I’m not. 8U

“Hey Silly, I’ve been wondering why are you telling us these “hints” we aren’t stupid we can follow along!” I know I just like to make sure we’re all on the same page ;w;)

(also sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors, I’m typing this while half awake at times and I’m trying to finish this thing before the 26th so yeah. ;w;)

pt 3

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

How I think P3D should go down pt 1.

Persona 3 Dark Hour Dance will probably be the name.

Ok so I finished the PQ2 thing, onto the next “How I think this should happen,” unlike the PQ2 thing where my main focus was on B-plots than the main plot (I was waiting for P5 to be released so I could get a better idea, so at that point the main plot was just going to be similar to PQ), P3D however is kind of my baby as I’ve been kicking around ideas since P4D’s announcement. And while some minor things have changed over the past two years the main plot is still the same and so are the themes (I actually debated writing it as a fanfic that’s how much I had planned out, but sadly I don’t have the time so get ready for a very long summary/jist of it instead split up into multiple parts :’D)! Only spoilers here will be of Persona 3 and P4D (with maybe some of the P3/4 spinoff games referenced too) but no P5 spoilers as they aren’t going to be present here so don’t worry. With that here we go:

Quick note: I’ll be referring to the male MC as Minato, I don’t think we ever got actual confirmation that Makoto Yuki is his canon name, but nonetheless this post is part of a series and I do bring up P5 characters in those posts, and to avoid confusion with them (aka P5!Makoto and P5!Yuki) and so I don’t have to put P3!/P5! In front of their names, I’m just calling him Minato.  Another note is that I won’t be referring to the city this takes place in by name but I will try to give hints to where they probably are, see if you can figure it out! 8U

Similar to P3 and P4D it opens with an animated cutscene. It almost mirrors P3’s shot for shot, just with the person who is walking more obscured (and with the camera focusing on heavily zoomed up shots of the body as to avoid giving away anything about the figure even gender) and “different” music is playing, and as each shot changes there is a change in the song, like the beats start to slowly sound familiar. (pictures to help give a flow)

The scenes in the P3 cutscene where it flashes to Yukari instead flash is instead flashed to a young, brown haired girl at a studio (similar to the P4D opening cutscene with Kanami as a kid) the kid we see feels familiar but we don’t really know why; the little girl seems to be practicing a dance routine but seems hesitant to do one of the dance moves (mirroring Yukari’s hesitation to pull the trigger), the last scene with the little girl is where she decides to go for the move and pulls it off (so this instead opposes what happens to Yukari, but her situation makes sense). The little girl is ecstatic and then muses “I did it! I can’t wait to show sensei! *looks at clock* I should keep practicing before my lesson begins…. *pouts* You better not be late sensei….”

And then we flash back over to the body that we have been following (at this point the song is still unfamiliar). We get a shot of the person getting on/riding the train/bus (mirroring Minato getting on the train)

And then a shot of them getting off the train but instead of stopping and the Dark Hour taking over the figure keeps on moving and the music still keeps going (indicating this person is in a hurry and they know where they are going). The final shot is one that mirrors the panning shot of Minato looking at the dorm. (except from up to down, it’s from down to up)

This is where we finally see the figure we’ve been following. Last zoom in on the figures feet (which come to a sudden stop right when a giant gust of wind hits), on the last motion of each foot there are two very familiar beats, the camera zooms out at brisk pace as a very familiar song’s music begins to bellow, the camera zooms up the legs and briefly register the person is wearing sweat pants, then the torso we register that the person is wearing a sweatshirt with the number 22 on back, and then we see the back of the person’s head…..a girl with a messy, brown haired bun. Just then the wind eases up and we see a butterfly fly in front of the girl’s face only to then fly around her and into the camera, right as she turns her head the “BURN MY DREAD!” lyrics finally kick in. We see the girls face as she looks at the butterfly, red eyes with her pins arranged in a roman numeral 22 fashion. She continues to look at the butterfly in awe (mean while the music builds higher and higher, with the lyrical line ‘Burn my dread’ increasing in epicness along with the music). She keeps looking in the butterfly’s direction, then has a sudden look of panic (as if she remembers she’s late for something) and turns and runs through the doors.

The music stops with a “DUHN” right as the doors close and there’s silence. And then in the blackness we hear a voice say “You’re late! I’ve been waiting a long time for you!” in the voice of the little girl we heard earlier.

We quickly jump right into another cutscene, we see a familiar hand suddenly whisk out a piece of paper saying, “If we want to proceed, please sign your name here.” The camera zooms out and we see a red headed woman, it’s Mitsuru, the person holding the paper is Aigis. Mitsuru looks at Aigis waiting for her to continue, “Don’t worry, it’s just a contract. It’s just to make sure we take responsibilities for our actions. You know….the usual stuff.” Mitsuru sighs before grabbing the paper and signing it. The scene then transitions over the P4D Visual Novel style. The begin discussing about the events of P4D, they muse how trouble seems to follow those kids. They are upset that they didn’t act in that situation (as they didn’t get the shadow reading/alert early enough and the kids resolved really quickly). But because of that incident, and the data they gathered from the P4 kids, they were able to see a similar shadow reading occurring in a town and are hoping the can investigate it before anything bad happens. They decide they need every single person of the SOs on deck if it’s anything like what happened in P4D, but they won’t get the P4 kids involved (as if anything happens to the SOs, the P4 kids would be the world’s last hope). That being said, they would still keep 3 of the P4 kids close (Naoto, Rise, and Yu), Naoto because she is working a case nearby, Yu because is living in the next town over, and Rise because she has work to do at the studio that they are attending. Mitsuru and Aigis are both amused as it seems like trouble really does seem to follow them.

The scene transitions over to the girl we saw in the opening with the little girl. They are finishing up the lesson, the little girl is berating her sensei (whom if you haven’t realized by the description is the P3FeMC) being late.

Little girl: You were so late! *pouts* Older girl: *pouting back* Hey hey it was only five minutes! And I made it up to you by staying over for 4 times as long! LG: Why were you so late?! OG: I was waiting for the mail, but the mailman came late….. LG: Oh! Ok! Wait so does that mean you got it? :D OG: *depressed* No….. *orz* LG: Oh no…I’m sorry…. OG: It’s ok…. ;w; *stomach grumbles and she shakes off her depression* Ahhhhh all this running around and being sad has made me hungry! How about it, wanna grab a bite? My treat! LG: Really?! Can we get takoyaki! :D OG: Haha sure!

So yeah, Takoyaki the girls’ favorite (hint hint). Just then the dance instructor from P4D (Coach is what I’m calling him, he was never given a name so yeah just calling him that….also yeah I’m using male pronouns for him only cause English ver uses those and I just don’t want confusion). So anyways, Coach comes in and greets the girls: “Well well well, if it isn’t my little protégé Ni-chan! Well not so little anymore since it looks like you have your own little protégé too, Maiko-chan is it?” Yup, the little girl is Maiko, then 2nd grader from P3, tho now she’d be in like 5th grade (same grade Ken was in P3 8U). Ni(-chan) is what Coach calls the FeMC (note I’ll be calling her Ni from now on), though we later find out that’s just a nickname, the entire game she is actually referred to in a nickname form (similar to how Minato/Makoto didn’t really get a canon name ala PQ, her canon name is not revealed). Also, this is the first time Maiko meets Coach, and is the first time she’s heard that variation of Ni’s nickname (later you’ll hear people calling her other names, they’re all nicknames there’s meta reason is to avoid giving her a canon name for yet another game 8U).

Maiko: Ni-chan? Ni: I-it’s another nickname is all… Maiko: I’m gonna call you that instead from now on! :D Ni: *comically distraught* H-huh? No more “Sensei?!” D: Maiko: Wait so you know Ni-chan mister? Ni: Nooooo she’s already started doing it! TT_TT Coach: Haha sorry Ni-chan! And yeah I’ve known her since she was around your age!

We then get a little backstory on Ni’s past and concerning dancing and how she was a prodigy and was able to land a job at the agency (to teach beginners at least) and how she was in high school when she started the job. The conversation then goes back to Takoyaki.

Coach: Haha you must really like Takoyaki Maiko-chan! What’s your favorite? Ni: Favorite? Isn’t it all octopus? Maiko: Actually my favorite is in Port Island, and it’s called Weird Takoyaki! Ni: *winces* Nnng. (no one notices) Maiko: Yeah and Mister/(o)Nii-san used to treat me to some all the time! Ni: *back to normal* Nii-san? Maiko: Yeah he was someone who used to play with me all the time! Ni: He sounds like a great guy then! Maiko: Yup! Actually he reminds me of you Ni-chan! Coach: Ah! Nii-san and Ni-chan! Is that why you latched on to that name? Maiko: Haha yup! They’re so alike! Ni: I wanna be called sensei again! ;w;

The scene ends. Also Ni is portrayed to be very outgoing, energetic, and nice throughout what we’ve seen, but her demeanor does crack for a second (wonder why :D Hint hint remember this).

The next scene then transitions over to the SOs, well some of them. Mitsuru, Aigis, Labrys and Akihito are there (the others will be showing up the next day). They discuss the possibilities of this shadow situation being different compared to what they’ve faced in the past. Different being, they might have to use the power of dance to defeat shadows. The problem is that….no one but Junpei (cause you know Saturday Night Fever pose he does canonically) Aigis and Labyrs (cause they can matrix download dance moves if they want to)...and maybe Yukari (she’s pretty hip to things so I wouldn’t be surprised) knows how to dance. XP But Mitsuru being Mitsuru and always wanting to be prepared, has come up with a plan! She suggest they learn something like “fight dancing” (yes it’s sounds really stupid, but it’s the only way I can see it working in-canon and lordy lord it’ll be glorious in soooo many ways). Ok so, basically everyone knows how to fight, everyone probably knows a few songs, and basically they’d just be mixing something that is like a “fight choreography” to music. Considering fight choreography in movies kinda go about a similar way to actual dance choreography.They will of course throw some actual dance moves in (this IS a dancing game I swear 8U) but for the most part it’ll be like a fight dance choreography thing. Akihiko is not exactly fond of the idea as he’s thinking he’ll look dumb....until Mitsuru says that shadow boxing to a beat might give him a unique rythme and be good for training. 8U Aigis comments that she won’t lose to anyone in the “do the robot” dance move as is the self proclaimed best at it. This is where we get our tutorial, either Aigis or Mitsuru dance here. (I should note that Aigis and Mitsuru are probably going to fulfil the Yu and Rise roles of this game). 

We transition back over to Ni’s side of the story . She’s back at home, she talk talks to herself a little bit only to decide to take a shower (paralleling Kanami’s scene in P4D where she talks to herself and then checks the website only to take a shower). There’s a cutscene where Ni is getting up to get ready to take said shower only to stops and look at her computer; and the camera zooms in on a USB drive, it cuts back over to Ni’s face whose face goes from (cutely) neutral to fairly serious before walking away muttering “not right now.” There’s a quick shower scene (just like with Kanami), though it cuts to her after she’s finished her shower and is fully dressed, and is now drying her dripping wet hair in front of the mirror. She stops for a second to look at herself, some water roles down her face, then suddenly there’s a quick change in seneary! Everything goes dark, and the water on her face and towel are now red as blood. And then as suddenly as it appeared, it’s gone and the lights are back on. Ni freaks out jumping away from the image falling down, and then she slowly gets back up to look at herself in the mirror again. (panting and really shaken up by what she saw).

Ni: *touches face* Ni: *looks at towel* Ni: *touches mirror* Ni: *realizes she’s ok* Ni: *inhales* It’s ok, it’s ok. You’re just.....seeing things cause your tired. That’s right.....Just go to bed and you’ll be fine.

The scene ends with a few zoom shots in the room, ending on a zoom in on the USB drive. 

Part 1 end.

cont pt 2