#but. like. all we actually have in evidence is that protag 1 was involved in this accident and that protag 2's dad was one of a number

[muninnhuginn]

Mixed feelings about accidentally figuring out mysteries or plot points in media through sheer pattern recognition + law of conservation of detail. Feels somehow like I'm cheating rather than figuring things out myself but at the same time I guess story points and tropes are all part of the story structure so if you happen to read it correctly then all you're doing is using the surrounding framework to narrow things down?

[moxie-girl]

DRDT EP 13/14 ANALYSIS/THEORIES

I said I'd do this once I collected my thoughts! haha Warning! This is super long…

To start, I'm going to pick apart all the stuff I predicted for ep. 13 (I'll try not to make it too long…)

Levi's Secret

Well. Levi sure did admit to. All that! I think this eliminates any last doubts I personally had about him being the killer… (your honor just because I'm a serial killer doesn't mean I killed that specific person /ref) I really like that he isn't shown as a bad person just because he lacks empathy, and he's actually actively trying to be a good person… the fact that he just admitted his secret because he thought it was the right thing to do is so funny though, there go all my theories lol! (I'm still a little worried about rule 14 though…)

Ace's (Almost) Murder

Yeah!! This is probably what we're gonna spend episode 14 talking about, with murder method and alibis, etc. I still don't think it was Nico though! (I want to say I called that it'd be relevant, but it felt a little obvious…)

The Murder Method

I think we can say this has been all figured out, with the method being exactly what several people much smarter than me all figured out.

The Possible Culprits

Rose was still acting a little odd, but I think Whit on the other hand, despite whatever all that was, is off the hook for now, so my number 1 suspect is still Hu! I'm like 90% sure she was the one who tried to kill Ace, at least, and that's become very important now!

Secrets

Well, we got all the secrets figured out! (Hu :( ) The fandom interpretation was pretty much correct, except for Teruko's (we'll get to that later…) I do hope that after this trial, some of the secrets that are not relevant/haven't really been discussed do get adressed, because I could even see them becoming motives for murder again. But also, I just want the characters to talk about them! (gimme that juicy juicy angst…)

Ace

He didn't re-open his injury or really freak out like I expected, but we got some vulnerability (and a new sprite!) from Ace, and considering next episode is probably gonna focus a ton on him, I'm still expecting at least one of the two to happen…

Teruko

Luckily for Teruko, we didn't have anything unlucky happen to her this episode! But she sure did get her time in the protag spotlight anyway, I'm glad she didn't let the mistake from last episode get her down!

☆ ☆ ☆

Also, my bingo card! I got a bingo!! (ft. my messy tiny notes if you want to read them)

A few of my other bingo predictions I'm still going to hold on to for the next (few) episodes, but now, onto some new stuff!

Final Arei Flashback

Whoooah boy was that scene a doozy. I'm starting to think David's murderous rage towards the blackened at the start of the trial was genuine, because me too, man. I'm really glad Arei got at least a little bit of closure before she died, though! She also had an interesting take on the "good person" role, something that has been very important to this trial thus far and will likely continue to be. (I'm thinking that the killer may have had a "good person"-related motivation for killing, which is why it's the chapter's overarching theme?)

Also, to adress the elephant in the room… EDEN??? Well, no wonder Xander "didn't expect her to attack [him] like that" - and from her expression I wonder if she expected it either - I'm really looking forward to learning more about what, exactly, happened before the killing game that involved them! I didn't really believe in Mastermind!Eden before this, but it's starting to look pretty plausible... (Also Xander is the king of haunting the narrative oh my god lol)

Teruko's Secret

Many of us, myself included, were hoping/guessing/assuming that when all the secrets were figured out, David would reveal that he actually had Teruko's, not Xander's. While that didn't happen, the way he reacted after she claimed "her" secret essentially confirms it, as does a lot of other evidence:

That secret being hers would complete a secret circle of Teruko -> Rose -> Whit -> David -> Teruko and a secret pair of Xander <--> Min, which makes sense considering all other secret swaps are either circles of four or in pairs.

Xander and Min would have each other's secrets logically since neither of them can receive secrets, so theirs would probably be separated from the rest.

MonoTV's line about not knowing whether they're all correct feels like a reminder/a hint that some of the secrets are incorrect, and those two feel like the most likely options.

Teruko apparently has no idea which secret is actually hers, so may have just guessed the one that sounded more like her, except we know she never knew her parents and only had one sibling (as does Charles… I wonder if he'll notice)

EDIT: I cant believe I almost forgot, but I feel like David’s attitude towards Xander (and Teruko) makes more sense with these secrets, because why would he idolize Xander if the killing game was his fault, but he would idolize him if he thought Xander was trying to end the killing game by killing Teruko, the person David now thinks/knows is at fault.

However, since David didn't claim out loud that Teruko was lying, it's likely that this piece of information will become relevant much later in the series, and he'll be keeping it to himself for now.

Veronika and Hu

When did Veronika and Hu make their pact? And how did Hu, presumably the one who wanted to make the pact, know that Veronika had her secret? Also, what on earth do you mean, Veronika, that your secret isn't the worst thing you've done???? This little section with the two of them could just be entirely innocent and a way for the dev to get the rest of the secrets on the board, and let Veronika be a little unhinged as she tends to be, but I get the feeling at least some of this is relevant. (I'm betting on either Accomplice!Veronika or Veronika's actual "worst thing" being important to a later trial…)

David

Ohhhhh, David. I feel like Veronika with how much I want to psychoalanize this guy. He is on the verge of a breakdown, and I can feel it! The question being, of course, whether Arei's death was enough to make it happen this chapter, or whether this is something that's gonna last another chapter or two before coming to a head. My money's on the second option, because I think this trial is about to be about Ace and his impending breakdown :)

I do hope after this trial we do get to see a little more of what David's actually like beyond his facades/the roles he's been playing! Also, as much as I'd like to see David survive and have to deal with the consequences of revealing his "true" personality on live television, I think it's more likely he'll go the way of DR antags trying to end the killing game via self-sacrifice.

(We also better keep a close eye on anyone who tries to befriend or help David in Ch3, because they're gonna die next! /j)

J's Morality

This is a short one, but I just wanted to comment on another analysis I saw point out that J has been one of the most vocal people anytime murder has been brought up. I think that behind her rougher personality, J is a more empathetic person, and/or has very strong morals, making her a narrative foil to Levi now, so I do hope the two of them interact in Ch3!

Whit??

Whit. Whit why do you know so much about hanging??? Being serious though, I saw someone else bring up that his mother might have died by hanging and he researched it afterwards as a coping mechanism or something? That's the saddest possible explanation, but it does make the most sense by far… I honestly don't think that Whit is the killer, because then why would he be being so helpful in figuring out the murder method, but he's still so weird and suspicious sometimes.

Nico!

Even though I still don't think it was Nico (crime scene makes more sense if seen as Nico trying to help Ace, they may have just admitted to it because it was the less confrontational option, next ep is def not the last one and I think it'll be about proving who it was other than Nico, and if you look at Nico's secret quote…) I still do hope they get the chance to get mad! Get mad at Ace! Get mad at David! Get mad at whoever the (attempted) killer was for putting the blame on them! Idk I just want them to have their moment.

☆ ☆ ☆

And finally, here are my new bingo cards for the next episode:

(I can't believe ep14 is gonna be 40 mins + there's a "non-spoiler" thumbnail rn oooooh I'm so nervous)

[1moreff-creator]

Hi! I'm pretty new to tumblr and I have no idea if it's appropriate to come into your askbox to talk about my drdt chapter 2 theories but I'm not confident enough to make my own post and it's more a fun thought I just had than an actual theory

/! \ this will contain spoilers for drdt obviously as well as THH in case people who follow you somehow havent played the game

the gist of it is, someone who is not the culprit could have messed with the crime scene.

It's mainly because so far the chapters seem to have reference to THH in more ways than just with the motives (it is probably too soon for it to be a pattern and ngl i kinda hope its not because if it is, with what we know of Rose' money issues she might end up the ch3 culprit and I want her to live so badly. would make the whole series a bit too predictable also, although i dont personally mind that kinda stuff)

because like. Chapter 1 had someone who got close to the protag, ended up betraying their trust, chose the murder location to frame someone specific, failed their murder attempt and died as a result with the real culprit technically acting in self defense (although its not 100% the case for Leon)

and in chapter 2 we have the victim who died a pretty quick and violent death (at least im pretty sure chihiros cause of death was a violent hit to the head? been a really long while, i could remember wrong) but the murder scene make it seem more complicated. And the victim died just after they decided to change/improve themselves in some way also

In both cases someone who has nothing (at least probably, in Davids case) to actually do with the murder have some pretty big part of themselves exposed during the trial

idk who would mess with the murder scene and for what purpose (Vero. for funsies. What a Legend)

I'm probably wrong cause that doesnt really explain the evidence at the crime scene. like. at all, i know

like Idk what the spinny thing has to do with anything (I mean you could put a bunch of tape on the handles just 'cause, i guess? but it would make more sense if it were involved in some sort of mechanism which you wouldn't need if Arei was already dead)

same for the ball of clothes and the flickering light

Whoever put the fish there though, whether its the actual killer or not, I'm pretty sure they did it to make everyone think the crime couldn't have happened at night time and fish water was actually never part of the murder itself

that would make someone physically strong like Levi the killer tho and even though it would make sense (pretty sure at this point that Arei has his secret) I feel like its too soon for him to die? Eden got more development and makes more sense to me (which breaks my heart, I love her)

Hi! Don't worry, none of us know what we're doing in this website! :D

No need to be shy about making your own posts, but it's also fine to talk/ask me about whatever crosses your mind! So, your theories/thoughts.

The possibility that someone other than the killer screwed with the crime scene is one I've seen before, and technically speaking, something like that most likely happened. I think it was an accomplice of the killer (Eden!Blackened Levi!Accomplice gang rise up), but a third party is part of other theories.

The fish are the main thing: given Nico's account (fish were all still there when they last fed them, which can be deduced to be around 7:00 - 7:30 PM of the third day, the day most of episode 7 takes place in), whoever took the fish must have done it at around the time the characters believe the murder happened. But there's no reason for the killer to bring the fish unless they were trying to confuse the time of death, which would only matter if they can have an alibi at the time the fish disappeared. But if they have an alibi at the time the fish disappear, they can't have taken the fish! (Which, btw, eliminates Veronika. Unfortunate, they won't let women do anything these days, not even mess with crime scenes for funsies smh)

So either it was someone unrelated messing with the crime scene, or an accomplice took the fish there to give the real killer an alibi. I'm planning to do a post summarizing my theory on how exactly the whole mess happened, so uh, stay tuned ig. But if you're interested in the "David screwed with the crime scene" idea, I recommend reading thebadjoe's theory on the murder. I may not agree with it, but it's still a fantastic post and a really fun read!

As for most of the other stuff, yeah Arei's death probably wasn't very simple. Explaining the odd contradiction of her wrists being bound but a mechanism clearly being involved (as you mentioned, tape on bars and flickering light, among other stuff) is a whole mess. It's part of why I'm not really sure this is absolutely supposed to parallel THH. Like clearly there's some similarities, but it's basically impossible to know what aspects of a case would be similar and which ones wouldn't. So, uh, yeah. Who knows.

I do agree Eden's the killer though! Why else would she take the tape from the gym? If you don't know what I'm talking about, basically the gym lockdown and the tape disappearing seemingly overnight makes it impossible for anyone but Teruko, Ace or Eden (or I guess Rose if she's lying) to have taken the tape. But since the tape also disappears from the background right after Ace wakes up... yeah, just Teruko Ace or Eden. But we know Teruko didn't, Ace couldn't have done it without Teruko noticing, and Eden got knocked to the floor when the tape disappeared from the floor :p

And yeah, it hurts. It will be a sad day when the killer gets executed, regardless of who they are, but especially if it's Eden T_T

[ninjagirlstar5]

Protag Teruya AU - Prologue Part 2 - The Fake Trial

TWs: Discussions of a Murder Case

Body Discovery & Investigation | Post-Fake Trial

Prologue Part 1 Beginning

Disclaimer: While Sannotori is problematic, it’s a thing in this AU/fic and the dynamic is not the same as it is in canon.

The Protag Teruya AU was inspired by @/anotherprofessional’s post! Beware of Void spoilers though!

“Since you are merely solving how the murder took place in the past, there will be no voting involved in this class trial.”

“Uhh…voting?” Kanade spoke up, her voice a bit more firmer than before. “Why would there be voting?”

“Using evidence you gathered during the investigation, you will argue what you believe happened to the victim. If you all manage to come to an agreement on the explanation, then you’ve succeeded in solving this murder. But if none of you are able to solve this murder…well, I’ll leave that as a surprise. That’s all there is to it. Good luck.”

“...Sounds like our kidnapper isn’t interested in answering any of our questions, Kanna.” Setsuka said, crossing her arms in displeasure. Kanade frowns in response but says nothing else. Kokoro taps away on her tablet before speaking up.

“Well, we should at least start somewhere. I have a good topic we can discuss if no one else has any ideas.” The psychologist props her tablet up on her podium, presumably for easier access.

“If leaving this damn courtyard was an option, I’d be turning on my heel and walking on out of here in a heartbeat!” Nikei yelled out, being only a few spots away from Kokoro. His shouting probably would’ve been an issue for anyone that was standing between them, but the podium was empty. Afterall, a sixteenth student was pretty much nonexistent in this class. “But no, as if getting kidnapped wasn’t bad enough, we’re all stuck on an island with a cruise ship we’re completely locked out of!”

“It’s not like any of us would know how to steer the ship anyways.” Mikado buds in. Nikei brings his glare towards the wizard, who was completely unperturbed by it. “But that’s besides the point. Back to what you were saying, Ms. Mitsume?”

“Thank you, Mikado.” Kokoro said, grateful that the topic was being shifted back on course. Her head faces straight ahead but her gaze shifts towards Nikei as she speaks. “Since the culprit of the case is…irrelevant to this trial, we should be figuring out how the victim was murdered.”

“Didn’t the tablet explain that already? Why should we spend time on something we already know?” Hibiki was quick to reply, her rash and irritable voice adding to the tense atmosphere. Mikado blinks his eyes. Or rather, his mask blinked.

“What tablet?” He asked and it was only then that the amnesiac remembered that Mikado never got the final clue. Feeling a little bit embarrassed for forgetting, he speaks.

“Oh, uh…there was a box of tablets called the…’Monocrow File’ that explained the…state of the victim. But it vanished along with the fountain. So, um, here. You can borrow mine.” He takes his backpack off and pulls out the tablet. Mikado thanks him and takes it from his hand, turning it on to read.

“While the tablet listed her wounds, it didn’t explain how she got them. It may be best if we start there before we can discuss anything else.” Kokoro moves the conversation along, even though Mikado probably still needs a few minutes to read the Monocrow File.

“If you ask me, it seems kinda obvious.” Emma said with a hand on her hip, her eyes to the floor as if she had figured something out. Kokoro actually raises an eyebrow at her before nodding her head. A silent ‘go on’ if he ever saw one.

“Oh y-yeah? Was there something we missed?” Shinji asked, stuttering through his words while facing the actress but genuinely curious as he had been guarding the crime scene the entire time.

“Well, there’s a knife, isn’t there?” Emma crosses her arms as she faces everyone’s gaze.

“There was an actual knife at the scene?!” Yoruko flinches at the information, genuinely scared of the thought of a weapon. Of course it would make sense that a weapon was found at the crime scene. But he can feel confusion settle into his brain with those words as something didn’t make sense in his head.

“I-If there was a knife, it’d make sense that it’d be the weapon, right?” Iroha stutters out, lifting her sketchbook up as she tilts her head. His eyebrows scrunches up tightly as he frowns.

“Uhh…I don’t think that’s right.” He said, hoping to catch their attention. He does, but Emma was frowning in his direction now.

“And why is that?” Emma calls out, putting her hands on her hips. “You can’t just say that without explaining.”

“That’s, uh, I mean…” He stumbles over his words, trying to find a way to explain himself. However, the fog in his brain refuses to lift like he was unable to connect the dots together. He knows something isn’t right but he struggles to find the reason why.

He scrambles his brain to say something, anything.

But everyone’s gazes were on him now, pressurizing like a tank that was being overwhelmed with too much air.

His throat tightens as sounds that are barely strung together like words escape his mouth. He knew he couldn’t leave everyone hanging like this so he forced himself to say anything that came to mind. No matter if it was an excuse or not.

And then someone steps in before he could.

“Because the knife was clean of blood.”

It was Mikado who spoke up, his voice clear and strong with confidence.

The amnesiac turns his gaze towards the wizard beside him. He had lifted his gaze from the tablet, facing his classmates’ stares head on. Emma blinks her eyes.

“What…?” She said, as it was apparently her turn to be confused now. Mikado goes on.

“If it was the murder weapon, it would’ve had the victim’s blood all over it.” He raises his hand as he shrugs. “Can you explain why that would be, Ms. Ma - I’m sorry, Ms. Emma.”

“That’s, uh…” Emma’s eyes shrink a little as she holds her hand against the collar of her school uniform. “Perhaps the culprit just cleaned it off?”

“Except there was dirt and debris on it. If the culprit cleaned it off, it would’ve been spotless. But it’s not.” Mikado lifts his finger up to his mouth, his mask shifting into one that was both smug and self-assured.

He couldn’t help but admire him for his intelligence.

And yet, he also felt a bit of shame for being unable to reason out his answer on his own. Especially with how obvious it was now that Mikado spelled it out.

“To add to that, if the culprit had the time and energy to clean the knife, why didn’t they just take it with them? They’d have to be a dumbass to leave it at the crime scene.” Nikei buds in with a tsk. Emma cringes but doesn’t refute him.

“I-I see…” Emma closes her eyes, dropping her hand. “When you put it like that, it’d make sense that it wasn’t the knife.”

“...It’s not?” Iroha says, almost a bit dumbly admittedly. But he didn’t have the heart to criticize her for it. He couldn’t even figure out how to explain himself when he tried to oppose Emma’s words.

“No, Iroha. It isn’t.” Kokoro said with a flat stare in her direction. Iroha yelps before hiding behind her sketchbook. The psychologist relaxes her eyebrows and curls her hand over her chest. “Why did you assume it was the knife, Emma?”

“Well, uh…When we found the body and you told me to go find the others, I think I kicked the knife while I was running. But even when I took a glimpse at it, I guess I was in too much of a shock to realize the details on the knife. Or lack thereof.” She laughs a little, albeit awkwardly as she rubs her cheek. “This is a bit embarrassing, not gonna lie.”

“I-It’s okay, Emma!” Yuki starts to speak, his voice almost steady enough to calm the tension in the air. “This is a debate, after all. It’s only natural that some of us would get things wrong as we talk through the trial.”

“But, if the knife wasn’t the murder weapon…Why was it there?” Hajime asked, crossing his arms with a raised eyebrow. “And where’s the actual murder weapon?”

“That…is a good question. I didn’t see the crime scene but the…victim wouldn’t have turned out the way she did without something sharp, um, cutting her, right?” Yuki raised his fist to his chin, looking like he was thinking hard about the case. He seems to be a little calmer now. The amnesiac glances at Mikado and the object on the podium. The wizard notices and nods. He took that permission to speak up.

“Actually, Mikado found something by the cliffside. It might be relevant.” He said, gesturing to the object wrapped in his cape. Everyone turns their gaze towards him and Mikado’s mask grins.

“It’s certainly more than relevant. Let me show you.” He then takes his cape and carefully unwraps it from the object. His jaw drops upon seeing it.

It was a weapon, shaped like a sword and its length gave it a long reach. It was still obviously sharp despite its cracks and would explain why Mikado wrapped it up in his cape to protect himself while handling it. And, more importantly, there was still some blood on it, even though some of it seemed to have been washed away.

“...Is that a sword? Where did you get that?” It was Yuri that spoke up, his voice tinged with annoyance. Mikado only nods his head in confirmation, barely acknowledging the astronaut’s presence.

“I found it by the cliffside near the ocean. It was stuck between some rocks but I managed to get it out with my magic.” Mikado carefully traces his fingers along the blade. “I believe a blade like this could easily cut someone-”

“Wait a fucking minute.” Nikei stops him, tilting his hat down as he stares at the floor. Mikado glares at the journalist but he meets it head on. “How is this blade relevant to this case? If it was by the cliff, that would make it so far away from the crime scene.”

“Maybe it’s because the culprit tried to hide it?” Kanade said, lifting her hands up with confidence.

“There were footprints leading towards the cliff.” Kokoro said, backing it up with her own observations. He tried to keep up but the conversation kept moving along without pause. “As long as these pieces of evidence are accurate to the crime scene in the past-”

“And what if it isn’t?” Nikei spat out. Kokoro blinks but doesn't turn him down, allowing him to keep talking. “What if the evidence is fake? What if the announcer is just leaving this shit around to confuse us? Why should we trust that the scene was accurate down to the smallest pieces of dirt?”

“In any other circumstance, I do think you’d have the right to be suspicious, Nik.” Setsuka said, curling her eyebrows as she crossed her arms. “But with how things are right now, all we can do is have faith that the announcer wouldn’t do such a thing.”

“Except we don’t have evidence to back that up!” Nikei scowled. “If we get this wrong, something is going to happen to us and I’d rather not find out!”

“Well, according to this Monocrow File, the wounds seem to be pretty accurate.” Mikado rebutted, calm if a bit wary of the journalist’s temper.

“Keywords seem to be. Anyone can see that the girl died due to being almost cut in half, in Utsuroshima Park. But did anyone even check that she had bruises underneath her clothes? Is there even a way to verify that she died at 11:45PM-”

“Wait, wait, wait!” The moment those words left Nikei’s mouth, he immediately knew he had to speak up. “I-I think I have the answer to that and I, uh, have evidence to prove it!”

“Oh yeah? What is it?” Nikei asked, raising his hand with a flat stare. He clearly didn’t think he’d have anything good to say. He didn’t blame him since he needed Mikado to step in and explain his thoughts for him earlier. But this time, he was certain he could explain himself on his own.

“The victim’s watch. It read 11:45 but-” He starts but Nikei turns his nose up at it.

“Ah, yes. A watch that can keep ticking on and on as long as it has power. Come on, how can a watch prove that the announcer ain’t bullshitting us with that file?” Nikei said, barely even looking his way. The amnesiac flattens his stare.

“Because it’s broken.” He said, flat and straight to the point.

“...What?” Nikei drops his hand with wide eyes, completely taken off guard.

“Once a watch is broken, it won’t be able to move its hand.” He explains pretty matter of factly. He was pretty confident in his words too and it showed with how strong his voice was. “And while it was an old fashioned watch that doesn’t tell you if it’s AM or PM, if we, uh…what’s the word…cross-reference, that’s it. If we cross-reference that with the Monocrow File, I think it’d line up pretty well, don’t you think?”

“That, uh…makes sense. But the wounds-” Nikei tries to fight back, only for someone else to step in.

“Sorry, Nik. But I can at least tell you in this case, the file is telling the truth.” Setsuka said, awkwardly smiling as she shrugs her shoulders. “I saw a pretty deep cut on the girl’s left leg and had our big buddy here verify that with Shin. Right?”

“...Wait, are you talking to me?” He points to himself. Setsuka snorts.

“Who else could I be talking to?” She seems to be winking at him but with her right eye constantly closed, it looks like she’s blinking instead. Yoruko frowns as she leans over the podium with her hands on her hips.

“Wait, wouldn’t your podium have given you your name? The screen had mine typed in it so it must’ve had yours, right?” The hostess asked and he immediately winced at her question. She notices his response and pulls back with her mouth agape. “Unless it didn’t have it?!”

His silence was enough of an answer.

“Are you…saying that the kidnapper doesn’t even know your name??” Hibiki was shocked at the news, raising her hands but unsure of what to do with that. Almost everyone was staring at him with sympathy and he couldn't help but feel like he was being put on the spot.

“That’s…a sad revelation.” Yuki said, gripping his tie. The amnesiac could only hang his head in disappointment, Mikado reaching over to pat his shoulder to comfort him.

“Maybe we should put the topic of our friend’s name to the side for now.” Shinji was the one to speak up, shooting a concerned glance his way. He seems to have noticed his discomfort and he appreciated the change in subject. “Back to what S-Setsuka said, I did find the cut on her leg. In fact, it’s so deep that she might not have been able to walk. And even if she forced herself to by using the trees as support, I…don’t think she was able to escape.” The amnesiac nods his head as he was there to witness his examination. Nikei stares at them, processing their reasoning and probably trying to come up with a comeback.

Evidently, he couldn’t, as he backs down as soon as he lowers his hat over his eyes.

“...Oh.” Nikei’s voice was smaller than usual, like all the yelling he did earlier has become nothing more than an embarrassment for him. He can even see the blush on his cheeks from where he was standing. “I…guess that means the file is reliable then.”

“It’s okay, Nikei. Some of us are bound to get things wrong.” Emma said with a light tease, tossing Yuki’s words back his way. The student gaped at her but it was already too late to stop Nikei’s sputtering.

“Y-You don’t have to rub it in, okay?!” He let’s go of his hat, putting his fists against his chest. “I just…I had to make sure our source was accurate, so cut me some slack.”

“Fufufufu, and yet, for an Ultimate Journalist, you tend to jump the gun, don’t you?” Mikado took the opportunity to take a jab at him. Nikei immediately sends a glare the wizard’s way.

“Don’t make me leave my podium just to hit you.” He warns. Mikado just shrugs but the mask’s expression only gets cheerier.

“Back to the blade, I believe it’s safe to assume that this is the murder weapon. Are we all in agreement on that?” Mikado looked around the trial and he did the same. Most of them looked convinced but some weren’t. Yuki, especially, was tugging on his tie and furrowing his brow.

“...I know it’s probably redundant to ask this since it seems to be the only weapon that makes sense. But, are we sure it’s sharp enough to cut someone like…like how the Monocrow File described?” Yuki asked, swallowing his words.

“Are you asking if it’s possible for the culprit to wield the sword in a way that would cut someone nearly in half?” Mikado clarified the question and Yuki grimaces but nods. The wizard hums. “While the results are clear as day, I don’t think there’s anything wrong in double checking our work. In that case, I believe a demonstration would answer this question best.”

“A demonstration?” The amnesiac raised his eyebrows. Mikado’s mask smiles at him and with a wave of his glowing hand, something flies out of the forest in a bright red light before he catches it with ease. The moment the glow fades, the object reveals itself to be a small log that can be carried with one hand. Albeit awkwardly. “Imagine that this is the victim. It’s not the perfect substitution as it’s not the same size as a human, however it’s thick enough but not by too much like most of the trees that surround us. So it’ll make due for a human’s fragile but sometimes durable body, yes?”

“Make sense to me.” Hajime nods his head. Shinji just shrugs. Yuri frowns alongside Kokoro, but neither of them object. Probably because due to their limited resources, this may as well be the best object to use an example of a human.

“Good. Then, the people beside me, please take a few steps back. This will be a bit dangerous.” The moment Mikado puts the log on top of his podium, he understands what he had meant and immediately starts taking a few steps back. Setsuka and Iroha does the same, although the painter goes much further than she needs to. Syobai barely moves. Mikado picks up the handle with both hands and huffs. “As you can see…I am not well-versed with a sword. In fact, it is quite heavy for me and I am probably not holding it correctly. However…”

Mikado raises the sword, swings as hard as he can in an arc…

…and the log splits nearly in half upon being cut, falling off of the podium.

They all gape at the sight while Mikado puffs his chest with what seems to be pride.

“...it doesn’t take much to do it’s deed.” The smile on his mask turns sharp and pointy.

“Holy shit, that’s one hell of a sword!” Nikei raises his fists and starts backing away from his podium. There was no need as Mikado was already putting the sword back down on his cape but it didn’t convince him to come back to his spot.

“Yeah…yeah, that’s definitely the murder weapon.” Emma looks pale.

“You don’t even need to be an Ultimate Swordsman. Just one good swing and that’s all it’ll take.” Hajime’s sunglasses slid down his nose slightly, making it more obvious that his eyes had gone wide.

“Auuugh…I guess that solidifies our answer then.” Yuki curls his hands over his stomach. He seemed ready to hurl.

“Just in case, does anyone else have any more questions to verify this?” Mikado asked. No one had any more rebuttals and the demonstration alongside the blood on the blade was enough to convince them. Once they all settled back into their podiums, Mikado finished speaking. “Then I believe it’s time to move on.”

“Alright, how about this one: why are there two weapons at the scene? It wouldn’t make sense for the culprit to carry two, right?” Yoruko asked, shifting onto the next topic. Almost immediately, his brain goes blank. Why would there be two weapons? If the culprit already had the blade, that would definitely be the superior weapon compared to the knife thanks to its reach.

“...Oh.” Hajime suddenly speaks up. He seems to be sweating a little bit. “I think I have an idea of why there’s two weapons. But it’s mostly just a shot in the dark.”

“W-Well…speak up. Whether or not it’s a good deduction depends on our debate, after all.” Kanade encouraged, gently smiling Hajime’s way.

“Yeah! Tell us, Hajime!” Iroha jumps in, urging him to continue. He can’t tell if she was excited or desperate. Honestly, it’d make more sense if it was the latter. The boxer sighs.

“Well…I’ll admit, it’ll paint the victim in a bad light.” Hajime said, rubbing his head. “But, uh, maybe the victim had some bad blood with the culprit…and tried to kill them?”

“K-Kill them?” He said it without thinking, gaping at his fellow classmate. “Why would they do that?”

“Don’t ask questions we wouldn’t be able to answer without evidence.” Yuri, who had been mostly quiet, finally started to participate more. Although he clearly wasn’t happy to be responding to him. “We don't know why the victim would bring it and we wouldn’t be able to figure that out with what we have right now. All we know is the facts: the knife was at the crime scene, which means someone had to carry it there. Right now, it makes sense that the victim was the one with the knife, not the culprit.”

“...I’m surprised you actually agreed with me.” Hajime said, raising an eyebrow.

“Don’t misunderstand, you despicable male! I agree with your reasoning but not the motive, for it paints the poor lady in a horrid light!” Yuri scowls at him with a dark glare. “For all we know, Lady Kasumi was fighting in self-defense!”

“With a kitchen knife that she couldn’t hide on her person?” Yoruko questioned with a frown, playing with her scarf. “It’d be one thing if it was a pocket knife, but a knife that big would be difficult to hide. If anything, I think the girl made it pretty clear of her ill intentions.”

“And you’d be right, Lady Yoruko!” At the drop of a dime, Yuri changed his tune once a girl started speaking to him. The hostess narrowed her eyes at him while Hajime looked like he was going to pop a vein.

“Oh, you little-”

“Enough.”

Kokoro, for as soft as her voice was, was still strong in her tone. With just one word, the class goes quiet. Yuri was pleased to have Kokoro’s attention while Hajime stepped down with a huff and crossed his arms. Once everyone’s attention was on her, she continued.

“Let’s not get distracted by arguing. We must focus on the trial and if everything calms down, we can sort out our issues afterwards.” Kokoro said, managing to put the trial back on track with just a few words. Already he can feel himself admiring her for her calmness and ability to unite the group with just a few words. “Besides, we do have evidence that a fight broke out. A tree has two cuts from a sharp object, there are footprints that made skid marks all over each other, and there were threads in a bush. If we put this all together, we get this: someone was already crouching down in the bushes, preparing for an attack. While we don’t know the details of how the fight went down, we can assume that they tried to ambush their target but it didn’t go well, which resulted in two cuts in the tree. Most likely from both the knife and the blade. The footprints represent them trying to get the upper hand on each other. But eventually, the victim, Kasumi Hayashi, decides that she wouldn’t be able to win and must have tried to run away.”

“And, um, that was probably when she got cut on her leg.” Shinji speaks up, almost nervous in the way he tried to take part without rudely interrupting Kokoro. The psychologist nods her head at him and he continues. “S-Since the cut was probably deep enough to damage her ability to walk, she wouldn’t have been able to escape the culprit.”

“And that’s when she got killed.” Nikei finished, holding onto his hat again. They all grow quiet, processing the information that’s been laid out for them. He looks around the trial, taking in everyone’s despondent expressions…

Only to stop and do a double take.

“Is he…?” He couldn’t help but point. Yuri furrows his brows and actually turns his head to see where he was pointing at.

And from what he can tell, the astronaut proceeded to swear in Russian.

“ARE YOU ASLEEP?!” Yuri yelled out, raising his hands as a dark expression fell over his face. The guy, Syobai, was taking a goddamn nap in the middle of the trial. His head was heavily leaning downward with drool dripping down to his chin and even has a snot bubble forming from his nose. The astronaut slams his fists on his podium but the noise didn’t wake him. It wasn’t until he tried to hit Syobai that he reacted and fast, his eyes opening in a flash as the bubble pops and he dodges the attack.

“Don’t hit me.” He said, glaring down at Yuri. Syobai then yawns and wipes the drool from his mouth. “It’s not like I’m interrupting anything special.”

“Excuse me, but this is a trial to find out how this poor maiden died!” Yuri scoffs, crossing his arms. “But who am I kidding, it’s not like a despicable male like you would try and solve this case. I bet you don’t even have any clues, do you?”

“...Clues like the broken lamp that caused a fire?” Syobai deadpanned.

The amnesiac does a double take. And so does Yuri, who stares at him with shock.

Shock that quickly morphs into anger.

“Did you just steal my thunder?! How dare you!” Yuri hisses but the guy merely cleans out his ear with a roll of his eyes.

“Oh please. If you were waiting to reveal those clues just to impress the women here, you’re only going to be met with disappointment.” Syobai said, pulling his finger out and flicking off any earwax he had picked from his ear. Naturally, all the girls were displeased by this news. And the guys, but he doubts Yuri would care about their opinions at all. Syobai then shrugs. “Back to the lamp, if the victim and the culprit were fighting each other, then it’s likely that the lamp broke during the struggle. Even if it didn’t, the culprit might’ve thought that a fire would get rid of any evidence left behind and chose to break it on purpose.”

“Wow, you put that together pretty fast.” Iroha said, impressed by Syobai’s intelligence. A sentiment he shared pretty well. The guy, however, merely scoffed at the praise.

“Please. As if a case like this can be considered complex at all. In fact, it’s child’s play.” He snorts and the amnesiac feels himself bristle at his words. But he couldn’t think of a rebuttal to say as he pressed his finger against his head, almost like it was a gun. “Now, are we done here? There’s nothing else to discuss and everything should be explained now.”

“Wait, really?” Iroha blinks her wide eyes. She scrunches up her eyebrows like she was in deep thought before her eyes start to swirl. “Uhhhhh, I mean, it all makes sense but I, um, don't know.” Syobai groans, facepalming the minute those words left the painter’s mouth.

“Hey, don’t act like that!” He instinctively called out on him, even as Syobai’s eyes glazed over in disinterest. He feels himself falter a little but he still stands his ground to defend Iroha. “She’s just confused! And besides, we should all make sure we’re in agreement on how the events played out before finishing the trial.”

“I agree.” It was Yuki who spoke, still holding onto his tie. He seemed to have recovered from his distress. Syobai simply shrugs in response before stepping back, like he was physically saying that he won’t be taking part in the trial any more. Despite everyone’s annoyed glares his way, no one bothers to call him out on this. Yuki continues. “There’s still some unanswered questions but…if we put everything in order when it all happened, I think we can answer them as we go along.” He pauses before lifting his fist up to his mouth. “I think it’d make sense to start at the beginning, before the fight broke out. The victim, Kasumi Hayashi, the Ultimate Personal Trainer, was in the forest, probably searching for the culprit…with a knife. We don’t know which one of them was holding the lantern…but I don’t think it was whoever was setting up the ambush. They wouldn’t risk having a light source with them in case they were spotted by their target.”

“I agree.” Kanade jumps in before he could process the information. “Whoever was planning for the ambush would want to minimize any chance of getting seen. They even crouched low in the bushes to hide. H-However, it seems their ambush didn’t go well, since their target still saw them and attacked first. Probably because the glow of their lantern revealed where they were hiding.”

“As a result, a fight broke out. The cuts on the trees and the footprints skidding across each other all points to a struggle.” Kokoro pulls her gaze away from her tablet. “Until, eventually, Kasumi Hayashi decided it was best to run away.”

“And if she were the one to bring the knife, it would make sense why she would.” Hajime crossed his arms. He was catching on to how things had played out, much sooner than he could keep up. “The blade has a far longer reach than the knife, putting her at a disadvantage. So she turned to run.”

“But unfortunately, Lady Kasumi’s luck didn’t pan out so well.” Yuri interjected with a sigh. Hajime just lets him speak. “Due to the length of the blade, the despicable culprit managed to make a cut on her leg, forcing her to fall over, or at least stumble into a tree, as it was so deep that it affected her ability to even walk.”

“Can confirm. It’s-” Shinji starts, only for Yuri to glare at him.

“Did I ask you to interrupt me, you putrid scum?” He said with a harsh tone. Shinji, who was usually friendly if a bit loud, started narrowing his eyes like he was losing his patience with him. But thankfully, someone stepped in before it could escalate.

“Don’t fight. We’re nearly to the end here.” Setsuka called out, and the both of them backed off instantly. Shinji blushing in embarrassment while Yuri…just smiles her way. “Back on topic, while she did get cut, she still tried to keep running. However, that was when the killer delivered the final blow.”

“Cutting her almost in half and then breaking the lamp to start a fire. All to get rid of the evidence.” Emma closes her eyes and hunches over. “At least, that’s what we’re assuming here.”

“Don’t forget the watch. It broke during her fall, which is what allowed us to verify the Monocrow file’s information.” Nikei said, beating him to the punch even though he was the one that brought it up in the first place. Against the journalist himself, no less. “She died at 11:45PM, which is why one of them brought the lantern with them in the first place. It would be way too dark to see without it.”

“And yet, they chose to destroy it instead of taking it with them. Just for a fire that didn’t even do its job, apparently.” Hibiki points out, crossing her arms with a huff.

“I suppose they decided that the potential of a fire getting rid of all the evidence in one go was more appealing than simply escaping the crime scene. And that’s not all.” Mikado picks up from where the vocalist left off. “The fire would’ve created a decent amount of light, so the culprit would’ve at least had something to go back to. Especially with the final thing they must do.”

“Final thing…?” Iroha spoke up, paying close attention to everyone’s explanation. He was similarly confused as he stared at Mikado. But it wasn’t him that clarified.

“Was it…to get rid of it? It is the murder weapon…” Yoruko asked, her eyebrows scrunching together. Mikado snaps his fingers in the hostess’s direction.

“Correct!” He cheerfully says. Yoruko grimaces at the inappropriate glee. His mask quickly goes back to normal. “There would be no other reason why the blade can be found so close to the ocean, after all.”

“So the culprit tried to get rid of the murder weapon. Makes sense, since even a blade wouldn’t have been destroyed in a fire. Damaged, definitely, but otherwise intact.” Kokoro said, and everyone went quiet. There was nothing else to add, after all. “...Currently, we aren't given information on who the past culprit was or the motives for why the culprit and the victim went out of their ways to attack each other. But I believe this is as close to the truth as we can get.”

“...Unless anyone else has any last minute evidence to add?” Yuki asked, which caused the shy and sweet Kanade to actually scoff.

“If they did, then we’d have to start this all over again.” She then sniffles, wiping a tear away from her eye. “Please don’t make us go through all that again.”

“Yeah!! As much as I hate agreeing with my sister, it’d be downright stupid if anyone was hiding anything at this point!” Hibiki jumps in with a hiss, leaning forward with tightly grasped fists. Frankly, he would be more willing to agree with her if she hadn’t tack on the bit about her sister.

“Yes…It seems we’re all in agreement with the explanation then.” Mikado carefully takes the blade off of his cape and sets it aside so he can clasp it back around his shoulders. No one denies his statement.

“Great! Now can we leave these damn podiums?! The trial is over, announcer!” Nikei yelled out, pointing to the sky. There wasn’t even a second to spare when the speakers came on.

“So I see! And your explanation is quite sound, with a few unknowns. But I suppose it’s only natural with the lack of equipment you can use…Not that any of you would know how to use it anyways. But nevermind that. You’re allowed to leave your podiums now. You won’t be using this trial set anymore now that it’s over.”

And just like that, the trial was over.

They don’t have to do this anymore. They’re still in this scary situation, but it is over. They can put this exhausting day behind them.

So why?

Why was he still anxious?

Why was he holding his breath?

Why did he…feel so damn useless?

“Ah, but before you go…There is another announcement I must make.”

The announcer’s voice pulls him from his despair and he absently stares up into the sky. Nikei swore under breath but he went completely ignored.

“This entire time, I’ve been talking to you all through these speakers hidden throughout the island. And such, I’ve hidden my face from you all…Please forgive me for that, my comrades. But I can assure you, I’ve been here this whole time. Watching you become acquainted with everyone, frolicking about on the beach, investigating the crime…Everything. And I think it’s about time…that we properly meet.”

Meet…?

They were going to meet the announcer?

Right now?

Dread seeped into his bones and it was heavy like lead. He barely recognized the podiums shaking and going down if it weren’t for Mikado and Kokoro grabbing him. Shaken out of his daze, he steps away as the podiums sink underground again, being sealed up but the fountain doesn’t come back up. Instead, he hears something flap in the wind.

“Wh-What was that?” Yoruko said, sticking close to Kanade. The guitarist frowns as her sister clings to her tightly.

“I don’t see anything – huh?!” Nikei starts but quickly gets interrupted by something passing by.

No, not passing by. Flying by.

Just the sight alone made everything and anything in his heart and brain grind to a halt. He processes the black and white feathers falling from the sky, that person – no, that thing circling around the group once before disappearing behind the clock tower. And then, it flies above the top and curls its wings as it lands on the roof.

It…was a bird.

A weird, black and white bird with a strange red symbol for an eye on its darker half was standing on top of the tower.

In any other circumstances, the sight could’ve been funny.

It could’ve destroyed the tension that has risen in the group.

It could’ve made him laugh, whether it’s out of disbelief or because it was hysterical.

And yet, seeing that bird, that design, made every alarm in his brain go off and his body freezing.

All he knew was that if there were any doubts left of a normal scenario, they were completely crushed with this thing’s appearance.

[lilietsblog]

so anyway im just going to scream about pgte queer representation again

cause guys we’ve got

- a bisexual most-definitely-aromantic-i-have-a-flipbook-of-evidence main character who’s the cutest blushing romantic to ever have eyes for approximately anything that moves

- her aroace-dont-@-me-i-also-have-a-flipbook-of-evidence-and-all-of-yall-saying-she-just-likes-flying-fotresses-better-than-sex-are-actively-proving-my-point enemies to vaguely-love-interests-maybe-i-mean-the-mc-literally-said-she-should-know-better-than-to-think-she-doesnt-love-her foil who uses flashing skin as a method of passive aggressiveness

- a cute as heck aroace autistic boi who’s in a romantic relationship

- with a heart-full-of-love very pan girl who respects his boundaries (once she gets to know him anyway. indrani pls dont pinch random ppls butts when you first meet them you’re awful)

- I am not talking about poly right now because it’s technically a separate thing from queer but the protagonist is also in a relationship (that is friends with benefits, where benefits include being disgustingly and adorably domestic) w/ said girl and stans her boyfriend and their relationship intensely, while the girl won’t stop shipping her / meddling in her Other Love Life because she wants her to be happy and is also terrible askdjfhaksjdh themmmmm

- a demiromantic demisexual disaster of an older man who’s a dad to one of the above, an uncle to another and technically if you squint a stepdad to the third, and killed the dad of the last one (not listed in order) (none of these people are related genetically to be clear, except for the dead one), and mentored his nephew about what being on the aro/ace spectrum is like bc having one (1) love interest does not make you not on the spectrum actually

While Papa had not been able to understand, not truly, for it was against the nature of an incubus to be as he was, his other father had seen in [him] similarities to what he’d once seen in his uncle. Enough to suggest a conversation. Not every kind of love involves bedplay or poetry, Uncle [that guyyyy] had told him. You can crave closeness with someone without craving them in other ways. Sometimes it just… fits. The intensity of it can be misleading, but you will learn.

- yeah so the autistic boi is also the adopted son of a warlock and an incubus. they are married. its controversial. incubi are not normally SENTIENT

- (this one is and they were the cutest couple as long as their son was single. now him & his gal take the cake)

- so. many. gay background and side characters

- unfortunately enbies and trans peeps are side character only but there is this vibe that like 3/4 of the side characters could be trans and we would never know bc guess whose business this is none of? anyone’s. maybe the big bad is trans. no-one in the setting has any reason to care

- also the one trans woman definitely mentioned to be such is currently off conquering her homeland. we stan a future empress. i mean imperialism is bad but so is obstructing a war effort to save the world so we stan anyway tbh

- using facepaint to indicate what gender you currently are in accordance with your homeland’s tradition? people who can read the facepaint use the right pronouns when you’re right there and everyone else / when you’re not there goes with “they”? that is happening

- “ma’am... please start a dynasty... get married... have kids... if u like girls better that’s fine we have the (miracle) technology just please... change your surname to something respectable and do a dynasty” “no”

- this is not even remotely close to everything that is happening

- i swear straight characters exist. i mean i mentioned one already (EDIT: turns out i didnt mention her. i removed that bullet point for some reason. tl;dr the protag had a ?crush? on her for a while) and there are no less than *counts on fingers* three others that statistically are shown to have interest in only girls/guys respectively

[plounce]

my Concepts for aj2

so these are my thoughts and ideas about the game that would follow aa4 in a timeline where we got a coherent apollo trilogy rather than aa5 and aa6. as such, i am discarding aa5 and aa6′s apollo backstories because i find them incoherent as an arc and only slapped onto him for the plots of the games. etc etc. theorizing on squandered potential is me-bait. trucy and klavier get to have THEIR place in the narrative as important characters!! (sorry athena. you will get your own trilogy with good writing and a better design in this timeline too)

this is very stream of consciousness and while i think it’s fairly coherent it is also not chronologically organized as i build on ideas. i am genuinely sorry if the read more doesn’t work on mobile because this thing is stupid long.

containing:

apollo, trucy, and klavier being a firm Trio and getting character development and growing closer :)

themes about found family, letting yourself love/be loved, performance and persona, love giving you strength to do good, you being the one to determine your identity

exploration of the trio’s backstories and the development of their skills

prosecutor franziska chipping away at the corruption within the legal system

klavier being the assistant for a case

kristoph continuing to be a corrupt bastard

buildup to the sibling reveal & canon klapollo in the conclusion of the trilogy

- apollo is the main character

- phoenix is absent for like the entire game besides maybe a couple tiny flashbacks, later revealed to be working with edgeworth on anti-corruption stuff (which is also tied to kristoph & kristoph’s ties within the legal system, “old boys club” etc)

- trucy is assistant for first half of the game

- klavier is assistant for second half of the game. his hair is in a little bun or ponytail :) no drill hair for THIS individual person

- klavier is prosecutor for trucy assistant cases. in the 3rd case klavier was supposed to prosecute against apollo but things keep getting fishier and fishier and things keep reminding them of kristoph. klavier is ordered off the case from on high. mysterious replacement. klavier is too invested in seeing truth & justice come to light so he helps apollo

- franziska prosecutes cases 3 & 4. she has short hair and it’s super sexy and hot.

- kristoph set things up so that klavier is implicated in things. dig into how klavier and apollo feel unable to escape kristoph’s influence - “he’s too foundational”

- 4th case klavier is on trial. oh maybe 3 isn’t about kristoph but it’s just background stuff about the rampup to the 4th case - klavier is put on probation while things are investigated but he doesn’t know WHY, but he’s still committed to his ideals

- trucy is pursuing her magic career, klavier still loves music - has been releasing solo stuff maybe, just some EPs for free/charity, but isn’t touring. focusing on law

- case 4 has a family friend (NOT A WOMAN FOR THE LOVE OF GOD... A MALE DAMSEL PLEASE) get accidentally poisoned through something klavier gave them. that’s the trial itself. kristoph was the source. klavier is arrested. it’s more complicated that this but it gets to this point. day 2 of the trial is when klavier is implicated and he gets yanked into cuffs from the defense bench

- one of case 4′s pillars is a memory from the gavin brothers’ childhood. discuss how kristoph was as a child. klavier has been realizing how... odd certain things were, and trying to pass it off as like “haha yeah kristoph would dissect dead birds and convince our parents that every mess was my fault. i guess that makes sense considering how he ended up haha? I Don’t Feel Strongly About This I Just Think It’s Funny :)”

- apollo’s perceive abilities expanding to be able to perceive general emotional states as well - along with learning to practice more empathy, being considerate. No Klavier And Trucy, You Are Not Fine. this is kind of like athena’s thing actually huh

- trucy, meanwhile, is learning to be more like. emotionally... independent? no. emotionally... self-caring. both independent in that she’s a young adult and also caring in that she is trying not to force herself to take care of everyone all the time and show her less pretty emotions to apollo. take care of herself

- case 1 has to do with something happening at trucy’s show/her career/her school etc. she’s still a real person etc. trucy’s friends mostly being adults, her feeling isolated at school. nah wait this is a slightly absurd world she’s not overly weird for her classmates necessarily. yeah ok it’s about magic

- case 2 has to do with klavier being a rockstar, the pressure of celebrity and public fascination with his persona. stalker fans, music industry, talk shows, etc. someone trying to convince him to come back to music. klavier has to arrest someone he’s fond of again. no big stadium performance in this game

- the trio all dealing with themes of hiding and trying not to feel “bad” emotions: apollo going “im fine” and suppressing his problems & just trying to do his job so he can cope with how overwhelmed & stressed he feels constantly etc etc + trucy hiding the secrets of her magic which is sort of representative of her hiding a lot of her sad/”ugly” feelings because she thinks she needs to because she thinks phoenix depends on her being cheerful all the time + klavier dealing with having a public persona and the pressures of being Himself, trying to be the person others see him as/want him to be, who is klavier when he is not performing? who are all of them when they are not performing? who are they performing for?

- yes i am a “woman” yes i am obsessed with the idea of performance

- trio all dealing with/feeling lonely wrt family: apollo learning more about jove (possibly during the music industry case - someone knew his dad, who refused a big contract), who he was & one of the cases involving someone from his past in the foster system - maybe it’s even clay! - but in general feeling very disconnected from “family” in general esp compared to trucy&klavier’s family troubles being so immediate and raw for them + trucy feeling lonely and kind of abandoned as phoenix is increasingly gone in this game and seeming very distant from her, similar to how zak abandoned her, and also the pains of growing up + klavier’s parents either are dead or are somewhat estranged after he got kristoph imprisoned, klavier feeling very lonely in general after his pursuit of truth&justice has snipped many of his connections from him

- yes i am gay yes i am obsessed with found family

- franziska having a moment of “i get how it is and it sucks” with klavier about Complicated Feelings About Family

- she eventually does realize during case 4 that klavier is guilty but has to hide it in order to push one of kristoph’s allies out into the open. sorry kid uh... what do you like. i will buy you. an ice cream? or something. look do you want a gift card i’ll buy you a gift card

- kristoph’s lawyer shows up near the start of the game to give things to apollo which he is deeply suspicious of but ema tests them and they come up clean. guy shows up here and there throughout the game. maybe tries to bribe apollo or something. apollo gets invited to a Fancy Lunch because he’s the one that bested kristoph gavin and that shows Promise. in a sense. or something. apollo being manipulated by people who refused to hire him when he got kristoph convicted etc

- themes about being young in a world full of secrets and webs of alliance that you feel barred from because you have ideals and won’t compromise them and also either come from nothing or burned all your bridges. just aa protag things <3

- oh maybe there’s a new judge who is also In On Nefarious Plots

- catching these people doesn’t fix everything but - it’s something. they got a couple shitheads

- trucy continues developing her gramarye abilities. more emotional depth. more exploration on complex feelings wrt phoenix and her childhood and her adolescence and how she’s fairly well-adjusted as one can be but also... the shit still hits yk... she’s like 16 years old so she’s maturing

- ema is there. she and apollo get along a bit better. asks after phoenix. provides evidence against klavier, and then evidence for.

- followup on apollo-edgeworth klavier-phoenix parallels - who is the one bringing them further into the light, chaser/chased, the one who wants more/the one who pushes away, etc etc

- follow through on implied gramarye mafia connections

- klavier isn’t super in the first case besides the courtroom and maybe one appearance, but he is like. worried about trucy if there is cause to be worried about her. set up their dynamic beyond trucy just liking the gavinners

- trucy&apollo and klavier&kristoph compares&contrast

- franziska is(/appears to be) very doubting/dismissive of apollo’s belief in klavier bc it’s like... are you pursuing the truth? or trying to shield your friend?

- apollo does end up almost very close believing klavier was in kahoots with kristoph/kristoph’s friends because it just looks. really bad. like it genuinely looks VERY BAD. and he’s like “i have to find truth like prosecutor von karma said”. yknow how with a lot of aa cases it starts out “oh no it looks open and shut” and then is like “NO WAY THEY COULD HAVE DONE IT... BUT HUH”. this one is reverse. and then straightens back out again. dig the hole then climb back out

- yeah the theme is like. “are you trying to find truth or do you want to protect your loved ones. what is your duty as a person, your job or your loved ones.” this carries through on klavier’s thread from aa4 where he has to work against his loved ones. meanwhile apollo, who is a bit more cool-tempered irritable grump, is the one going “oh god, am i biased towards my friends?” so it sort of flips. what kind of stories will you weave to clear your friends of blame? kristoph’s boys club.

- echo back to “evidence is everything” - this line of thinking (in a certain way) is what saves klavier when kristoph is trying to punish him for his betrayal

- since phoenix is away, the gramarye siblings aren’t revealed yet. but more info is dropped to compensate - stuff about jove and apollo’s childhood in the foster system and how that’s shaped him into someone who keeps people at arm’s length to keep himself safe; trucy and apollo getting closer despite that, trucy busting down those barriers because she needs his support and he’s like “oh my god i have to support her.” older sibling stuff.

- maybe the trucy case involves like. a mafia guy trying to collect on debts or smth and tries to ruin trucy, and threatens apollo. there’s a hint that is very obvious to the audience but is like “wow apollo he thought you were my brother!” like the mafia guy calls apollo “the other child” and apollo is like “hey, i’m 24!” which is humorous but also the audience is like Oh My God I Know What That Means

- there isn’t a deliberate withholding of information from phoenix - he literally is not there to withhold it. but there is still tension and stakes and weight to their relation - apollo keenly feeling his absence of family and trucy feeling sort of abandoned by phoenix

- phoenix is like “ok trucy you’re almost an adult so i’m trusting you to stay safe and responsible while i’m away. apollo will technically be in charge but i’m still trusting you” and privately to apollo is like “If Anything Bad Happens To Her. Your Head Is On The Line.” so it is just them making it on their own

- klavier drops the line “watching you two is like what kristoph and i should have had” and then there’s a couple “...” dialogue boxes as the audience is like I KNOW WHAT HE MEANS and then apollo is like “... are you for real comparing me to kristoph.” haha funny but also THERE IT IS

- very carefully walked tightrope. acknowledged enough that there is still tension/suspense around it but not too much as to be slightly infuriating

- before the last case trucy gets mad at apollo for something - trucy is allowed by the narrative to be angry for real. stand up for herself. trucy and apollo come back together to defend klavier. they see each other in the detention center when theyre still mad at each other - trucy was visiting klavier (he wasn’t there for the fight). “you made fraulein trucy very mad, hm?” then during the trial trucy busts in dramatically with important help when things look very bad for klavier

- aj3 has emotional revelations/high points of the trio - siblings reveal and klapollo canon. aj2 is a lot of building of these connections and building suspense and tension. more more more of these relationships before they emerge fully formed in aj3

- the last trial echoes the “im the only one who can save prosecutor gavin” or whatever gay thing apollo says in the last trial of aa4 because he literally is. just a lot of hinting and them getting along. case 3 is very important because that’s when it’s just them and it’s “oh! we work well together! we’re complementary!”

- implement the dual investigation mechanic from dgs so it does feel collaborative

- just build on the fact that klavier is the first friendly, helpful, cooperative prosecutor. he wants to help you. make that a very positive, very important feeling while still making it extremely enjoyable

- resolves in “you can have truth AND the ones you love”. or smth like that but more nuanced. it’s very inspirational and sentimental etc

- you get to meet vongole and it’s a Pet The Dog moment for klavier. look! how nice he is. he truly loves this insanely sweet and lovable dog. trucy is enamored with vongole as well. “it’s strange that she was kristoph’s dog, hm? with how affectionate she is.” “well, i guess being owned by kristoph doesn’t means she’s an equally bad dog ... ER i mean--” “hm, you always struck me as a cat person, herr forehead?” “uh - well yeah, you’re right. but... that doesn’t mean i don’t think vongole is a pretty great dog.” IMPLICATIONS. SUBTEXT. TASTE IT IN THE AIR

- oh there’s definitely a moment in case 2 when you get to examine klavier’s apartment and you can look at a couple albums and for a gavinners album apollo is like “ugh” but then you get one of his solo eps and apollo is like “trucy made me listen to this. it... was okay. not as bad as the gavinners stuff. sounds more honest. or something like that.”

- oh also when you examine the guitar klavier offers to teach apollo some basics. hee hee (BUT ALSO... JOVE!!)

- maybe for case 2 The Industry Suits want klavier to stop releasing his eps for free/total charity so it’s a whole coordinated scheme. his manager, a devoted fan who hates to see him going his own way and being happier for it, etc. “we want you to be the person you were. the one we could possess.” be more like gavinners klavier instead of honest relaxed current klavier. be who we want you to be so we can make you dance like a puppet. music industry kristoph parallels.

- “i’m sick and tired of being a plaything for other people!” >:( face moments

- a fan broke into his house and defaced the solo stuff etc. >:( face.

- who determines who “you” are? what role do your loved ones have in your life? those who truly love you can save you and make you better. loving and being loved sincerely and genuinely and truly have positive effects on your life. letting people love you and letting yourself love them is good.

- ugh but this kind of contrasts with the “the old boys club is controlling and using/shaping the institution of law to amass wealth and power for themselves while throwing others under the bus.” well actually wait

- lunch with apollo = they don’t actually care about each other, would throw each other under the bus for their own benefit

- contrast between sacrificing the weak to protect the strong and protecting the weak to depower the evil strong

- love and bonds can motivate/enable you to chip away at the system and can help you make a difference. les mis etc etc etc

- the old boys club are all putting up fronts of appearing strong and tough and above everything and in control. real love and friendship let you show vulnerability and weakness and help you & your bond come out stronger for it. (tumblr voice) the mortifying ordeal

- additional stakes of “if you are found aiding this criminal and hiding evidence etc etc we will disbar you” or smth. stakes for sticking with klavier, for winning the trial, for demonstrating care. franziska is kind of like “... apologies. but you had nothing to worry about so don’t worry about it.” 

- klavier and apollo damned by association with kristoph, especially as a kristoph scheme was just found to happen, and it depended on kristoph being in jail, so maybe they were the ones to enable that part of the plan... it’s a long con...

- it feels like there should be another legal reform here to make aa4′s jury implementation but maybe this one is more about how reform is often very gradual and like chipping away at a mountain

- in aj3 the death penalty gets reformed. (tension there about kristoph being on death row and this game piles on a lot more GOD KRISTOPH SUCKS but then it’s like. no. we have to fight for True Justice and the legal system is extremely imperfect (how many of our clients narrowly avoided a wrongful guilty verdict!) so we have to prioritize protection over punishment)

- “it’s like chopping heads off the hydra. it feels like we’ll never actually change anything.” “yes, but hercules didn’t defeat it by himself. he had a partner that burned the stumps after he sliced off the heads. ... one person to hold the sword, one person to hold the torch.” NARUMITSU KLAPOLLO PARALLELS. HI

- okay i had some really good discussions on twitter w @henriettamarias about this and here’s a couple more things

- trucy’s case involves her inheriting the gramarye secrets and the legacy. the weight of tradition and the burden of what has happened in her family. trucy’s estranged grandmother shows up - it’s kind of similar to the feys kind of. the grandmother is a complex maternal figure who doesn’t know trucy and trucy doesn’t know her and it’s sort of the idea of... even if your “new” family is related by blood, you still have to choose them. and trucy’s like !!! because she’s openhearted but the grandmother disappears - doesn’t choose trucy. it’s not a Villainous Action it’s just... it’s complicated. maybe it’s to protect trucy or something. it wasn’t done to hurt trucy is what i’m getting at, but it still hurts

- one of the music industry people in klavier’s case is a gavin uncle/aunt/cousin who is pressuring him to go back to being an Extremely Profitable Rockstar. and klavier has to deal with more disappointment from a family that values extreme success and is sort of cold (this contrasts with the warmth of the WAA found family). they liked klavier when he was very successful and famous on two fronts but now he’s opened the door and invited in shame on their family’s name so everyone’s kind of mad at him. trucy and apollo get to be really defensive of him

- apollo’s case is one i’m still thinking on what it’ll be about because i’m deeply uninterested in his aa5+aa6 backstories but there’s not A Concept to go deeper into like trucy magic and klavier music... it does involve his past from being the foster system. i think maybe there’s a teen who he was kind of the older brother of for a while before the kid got adopted who contacts him for help defending himself.

- while trucy and klavier’s stories are about rejection from their blood family, apollo’s is about warmth with a boy who he met and made a familial bond with

- at the end of this case there’s some piece of evidence that mentions kristoph and this is never resolved within that case but it sort of leads into the next kristoph-focused case

- trucy doesn’t get angry at apollo over being like jealous there’s something else that happens in this case... it doesn’t end super satisfyingly and tidily wrapped up in a neat bow. there are a lot of lingering questions and it makes everyone uneasy

- in case 3 apollo gets injured and is feeling really defensive and kind of scared and trucy is upset with him for putting himself in harm’s way to save her and they have a fight and they’re both kind of hiding their true feelings with anger to cover up how scared they were (gramarye secrets) and it just. boils over. klavier tries to mediate but it’s... a lot. they both say some things they don’t mean. :(

- oh my god. the person who got poisoned in case 4 was apollo’s foster brother from case 3. and it HURTS because we’ve spent a whole case getting to know him and working so hard to save him from a guilty verdict and it’s like :D yay he’s ok! and then he just. dies. and it’s so fucking sad

- he got poisoned because kristoph looked through papers and found that him and apollo were close so he’s like “oh i can use that ^_^” because he’s a bastard. but klavier was the one in constant contact with him recently so it’s like UH OH! UH OH! plus other aa level complications etc

- the tightrope of trucy being mad at apollo and the tragedy of apollo’s foster brother dying is one that will have to be very carefully walked bc we don’t want trucy to look like an asshole because above all she does love apollo

- i guess it’s also apollo pushing her away because I’M FINE. STOP TRYING TO MAKE ME CONFRONT MY TRAUMA. IF I THINK ABOUT MY PROBLEMS I WILL GO INSANE. yeah that works

- OH and also she’s mad at him for not telling them about the lunch with kristoph’s lawyer friends. klavier is kind of mad about that too so apollo is like STOP GANGING UP ON ME

- so the setup of case 4 is: day 1: apollo and klavier investigating, in court klavier is implicated and is put in detention, day 2: apollo investigating by himself and missing his friends :(, franziska being like “where is your sister” and apollo being like “ok first she’s not my sister. second IM FINE I CAN BE ALONE, I CAN’T TRUST ANYBODY ANYWAY” and franziska is like “... yeah being betrayed sucks, i get it, but like. are you sure about that. fine whatever you idiot be a fool”, but then in court trucy busts in at a dramatic moment and narrowly saves klavier from getting a guilty verdict, day 3: trucy and apollo investigating and Saving The Day!!!!!

- for franziska in case 4 there’s this tension between her belief that klavier is guilty (because shit looks BAD and also kristoph sort of sent shockwaves through things etc) and franziska being older (she has short hair and it’s hot) and more emotionally mature and being like “baby lawyer. it’s okay to chill. it’s fine. you’ll be okay”. but also being extremely wary and hating the corruption and collusion within the law community because MvF dealt with a lot of that and she will be BETTER than that, she has to work hard to erase the harm that her father did. she’s kind of a superhero in terms of tackling a lot of corrupt-lawyer/cop cases - it’s her specialty now. god she is hot

- aw in case 4 ema is like. kind of reluctant to help implicate klavier. because while she thinks he’s annoying she doesn’t think he’s a bad guy. she feels really conflicted :( like she blusters to cover it up but she does say to apollo at one point “hey... you better do your job right. don’t slack. defend your client.” awww she care him

- kristoph gets brought out from prison as a witness in case 4. this really negatively affects klavier (and apollo too kind of but less so), but the strength of Found Family helps him be strong :) yay

- there’s mention made of kristoph having Secrets, but since apollo doesn’t have a magatama and phoenix isn’t there, the black psyche-locks aren’t explored. it gets revealed in aj3

- apollo does have a conundrum similar to the aa5 stuff where his perceive ability is going haywire at klavier’s entire emotional state because BOY is it screwy (suppressed memories from childhood??) so he just has to rely on plain old logic

- (cw animal death) god what if one of those childhood memories is kristoph poisoning klavier’s pet - experimenting, doing trials. klavier realizes that during the trial. jesus christ. evil bastard kristoph i hate his guts. at least klavier gets to go home and pet vongole so so much

- OH on a happier note we get to meet mikeko... mikeko loves trucy and klavier so much. it’s like a big gooey hint that LOOK APOLLO LOVES THESE PEOPLE - HIS CAT IS PURRING AND CUDDLING ALL OVER THEM :) Express Your Feelings, Apollo

- i think for aj3 it’s apollo & co having their own schemes and plans sort of. bc in this setup, klavier and apollo (and trucy too) are being yanked around by the machinations and plots of the older generation like in aa4. i think in aj3 is when they finally get a leg up and have control over things for once. good for them! good for them

- oh also in aj3, it’s revealed that thalassa has been held hostage by some bad guys, which is why she didn’t come back after some time away to figure herself out to tell them. and then apollo and trucy get to know they’re siblings :)

- okay that’s it. maybe i’ll add more if i think of more. hope u enjoyed :~)

[glassandmetalwings]

Wings Talks Manga: A Year in Review, Part 1 (Completed stories)

Last year, I told myself I was going to actually really more manga and watch more anime, because despite it being my main style I hadn’t actually read much in awhile. And I actually managed to get a lot done for one year. So below is a list of stories I read/watched and a few quick thoughts on them. Despite having my list open, I’m still probably not going to get to all of them, but I can try.

Be warned for spoilers.

T.egami Bachi (manga)

I love. Anyone following this tag of mine knows this has been a long journey and that I loved every minute of it. The world is beautiful, the characters are great, the emotions run high...it’s incredibly cathartic and engaging. I will never stop lauding it.

Jiu Jiu (manga)

A short series I picked up from the library that I never really covered, but that I enjoyed. Sometimes it felt a little slow to work through, but it was cute and I got really attached to the characters over five volumes. Like the mangaka, I wish there had been more opportunity to delve deeper into some of the story elements, because especially near the end it got confusing. Also I’m assuming it ended in a poly relationship? The protag grows up and has babies but you can’t really tell which love interest is the father, if either are. They’re all together in the final picture and I support it but it also bugs me bc I am confused.

Dreamin’ Sun (manga)

Mixed feelings on this one. I honestly expected a modern fantasy involving a baku going into this based on the back cover. I was wrong. I was really cute, if not overwhelmingly emotionally frustrating/full of secondhand embarassment at some points. The characters are super well-developed and continue to evolve and grow through the series. I will forever complain about the protag falling in love and centering her life around an adult man, but there were also some very touching elements that I can’t help but remember fondly.

The Wize Wize Beasts of the the Wizarding Wizdoms (manga)

The first of a lot of BL I read this year, which is honestly very new to me. My introduction to Nagabe. I’ve mentioned there’s one story I’m not too fond of, but it could be my interpretation of it. Overall very much loved it and especially love the art style.

K.amisama Kiss (manga)

I series I kind of picked up on a whim and absolutely fell in love with. Cute, funny, touching, well-thought out. There were some elements I didn’t understand (like the end), but my enjoyment overall made up for it. The one thing I wish for was a little more development for some of the minor characters. Also I love Mizuki and his development throughout the series. He makes me emotional.

Our Dining Table (manga)

Another cute, simple love story about two guys making food. I don’t have a whole lot to say about this other than it’s cute and you should read it. Although I obviously have no issues with teenage protags, it was refreshing to have a love story about two working adults that didn’t have to involve sex. Also can totally understand one guy’s aversion to eating with others, even if my own isn’t as severe.

Love on the Other Side (manga)

More Nagabe. Really, really cute. I love the story with the bird (of course). The softness of the stories and Nagabe’s art style really have stolen my heart.

B.lack Butler: Book of Circus (anime)

We all know why I watched this. Sadly the ending is as gruesome as the manga, and the one or two scenes they added didn’t play well on the DVD. But still a delight (up until the end).

The Devil is a Part-Timer (anime)

Interesting. Funny. A good world base, but I feel they could have developed it a little more, and the last episode kind of soured it a little for me because there was no really wrap-up. But I liked the characters and had a lot of fun watching it while crocheting. Wish there was a season two.

The Bride was a Boy (manga)

A brief autobiographical manga about a trans woman, filled with lots of tidbits about transgender individuals and things like HRT. Short, sweet, cute, and full of love and joy. Again, not much to say other than I recommend it.

Fractale (anime)

A lot to process. I think I would need to watch it again to fully wrap my head around it, if not more than once. An interesting world, great character, engaging story, and beautiful animation. Plus just...kinda relevant in a way that’s hard to describe. Think ease of technology verses governmental control via tech. I really loved the episode about the mysterious photographer. Plus I just fell in love with the ending song.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (anime)

Yes, I’d never watched this before. Gonna say, not my favorite Miazaki, but as usual an excellent story with a lot of background and development. And of course I loved the creature design. Glad to finally have it watched, after all these years, but I also can’t help but wonder what the original English release was like, knowing they cut/edited a lot. Because a lot of that violence and death was...kinda necessary to understanding character motives.

H.aibane Renmei (anime)

Again, another series that’s been at the top of my list for forever. I didn’t even have an excuse not to watch is as I own the DVDs. Excellent, and touching, if not cutting a little too close to home at times (like self-harm/BFRB). Really my introduction to ABe, and I have to say I never saw the ending coming. But would definitely watch again and again. Kinda wish I could do a cosplay for this series (I’d probably be Nemu, or one of the masked characters), but I feel like you need a group for it.

G.osick (anime)

I didn’t complete this one, I’m sorry. I think the art is great, and the arcs in concept are amazing...but it falls through in the delivery. The characters don’t really feel like they have driving motives behind their actions, and sometimes the evidence and stuff are things you can’t discern from watching (’I can tell you aren’t the daughter of a coal baron because you walk short distances before turning sharply and walking the other way, like you’re pacing in a small psych ward cell’-yes, that’s a real example). Lots of potential, but not great. Sorry.

Wolf Children (anime)

Very cute. Beautiful anime. I don’t think I can say much about this that hasn’t already been said. My favorite part is the ending where she’s saying goodbye just because of how both painfully and empoweringly emotional it is.

5 Centimeters Per Second (anime)

Not bad, but probably not my favorite. It didn’t help that the version I was watching didn’t translate all of the writing, so I feel like I missed a lot of elements. While the story is definitely a sentiment I can get behind, it was also a little bit unsatisfying for me, especially at the end. But idk, maybe I just don’t like the idea of moving on when there’s the opportunity to not.

Colorful (anime)

It was...a film. About a suicide. Looking back I don’t particularly feel strongly either way about it. I think the ending was good, and giving the protag some sort of motivation, but it took forever to really get to a point where I cared about him (or he seemed to really care about the body he was inhabiting and the person he was trying to be). Some of the stuff was just...uncomfortable. It’s probably worth watching, but overall I wasn’t wowed by it.

Ibistu (manga)

My first shrink-wrapped manga. It ties together very well in the end, and the horror and violence elements did elicit some very visceral reactions in me (particularly the threat of the iron and, later, the staples). The short stories were also good, particularly the doll factory one, but I wasn’t the most fond of the one about the mangaka. Just know there’s a reason it’s shrink-wrapped and it’s not a ‘positive’ one.

A Silent Voice (anime)

Probably one of my favorite films. While I didn’t always understand the motivations behind some of the characters or their actions, it wasn’t in a way that made me uncomfortable like some of the things in Colorful did. It felt more natural for them to be irrational. Again, there is suicide, so be warned if you don’t want to deal with that. But the story is sweet and the characters are amazing. But I also have a weakness for things involving sign language and communication.

Children Who Chase Lost Voices (anime)

Very cool. Beautiful landscapes. Gave me very strong Princess Mononoke vibes at some points, but it also stood as its own story with interesting characters there are elements I wish we could have delved deeper into, though. Also...what war did the teacher fight in? It didn’t look very modern. Also also I will forever wince at the pronunciation of ‘Quetzalcoatl’. Death is a strong theme in it, so be prepared if you watch it.

The Boy and the Beast (anime)

Excellent character design. Excellent story. Excellent animation. My one complaint would be that the climax felt kind of thrown together, even though it tied back to the beginning in a good way. But overall a beautiful world with some great humor and intense elements.

The Garden of Words (anime)

Spoiler: again a story about a kid falling in love with an adult. From a platonic standpoint, the story still feels a little weird, particularly in terms of the woman’s motivations, but looking back her not getting too involved in him missing school...kinda feels like what I would do to, especially in her situation. It’s sweet, though. Maybe it’s just me and my preferences, but some elements feel a bit incomplete, and I wish had been explored/wrapped up.

Summer Wars (anime)

Probably a favorite on the films list. Again, beautiful animation. I’m not going to get over this style. But I especially liked the design of OZ and the excess of blank space in it. Characters were many but great (although I didn’t get the one baseball player was part of the family until almost the end, but that says more about me and paying attention). Even Mom got really engaged in it when I had her watch it with me (I also had her watch Wolf Children, which I thought she would like more, but apparently not). There is a character death, but if you don’t mind that it’s definitely a watch.

Beauty and the Beast Girl (manga)

A cute little story about a blind girl and a dragon girl falling in love-what more could you want? Their histories actually tie together in a really neat way. Honestly my one complaint would be that the ending feels a little too ideal and easily wrapped-up. But sometimes we need things to be that perfect, you know?

P.andora Heart (manga)

The other big story I tackled this year. There were points that were a bit slow/disengaging to me, but overall once I got hooked I really loved it. I think I need a second read to really fully understand it (if that’s possible), but equal parts cute, intense, and bittersweet. Elliot’s whole development was probably my favorite bit.

The God and the Flightless Messenger (manga)

My last story of 2020, and a very cute one at that. Another short story, with beautiful art. I don’t...really know what to say about it. It’s cute, and the love story feels both very natural and almost...secondary? Idk how to describe that. The relationship between the two of them is obviously key, but it’s the type of story where ‘I love you’ isn’t needed. It’s already there.

So yeah, there’s the list. It’s a long list. I probably still missed some. I might try to make a second list with ‘in progress’  series but I’ll be playing that by ear. I’d love to hear some of you all’s thoughts on these stories (if you’ve read/watched them), or which you now want to read/watch!

[snkpolls]

SnK S3E21 Poll Results (Manga Reader Version)

The poll closed with 260 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results of the manga reader poll. Anime only watchers are suggested not to read if you do not wish to be spoiled about certain events! Anime only viewers, click here to view your poll results!

RATE THE EPISODE 251 Responses

As usual, the episode received good ratings! A small minority could have been more impressed, but overall people were happy.

It was great, another 10/10 episode. My only gripe is that they should've cut the opening this time as well to have more time to put some great dialogues from the manga.

A bit bummed that quite a bit of lines from the manga didn't make it into the episode, but otherwise pretty damn good. 

Great one, though not as great as the previous one.

Some shots were not 1 to 1 to the manga, which was a bit sad, but overall the episode was amazing!

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS THE MOST IMPRESSIONABLE MOMENT? 255 Responses

Kruger bringing up Armin and Mikasa to Grisha was voted as the most notable scene from this episode. Behind that at 18.4% was the “Attack Titan” name drop moment. Kruger encouraging Grisha to carry out his mission came at a distant third with only 5.7% of the vote.

Everyone joking about Eren’s phase was hilarious. The lampshading of generic anime protag behaviour was great.

The end gave me c h i l l s. I loved how the outro started playing in the last little bits of krugers and grishas conversation and how the outro imagery was changed to  titan history images instead. That whole scene was such a pleasant surprise.

KRUGER SAID EVIL AND GOOD PEOPLE ONLY EXIST IF THAT’S WHAT THEY ARE CALLED. DO YOU BELIEVE THIS? 253 Responses

Just over half of respondents believe that “good” and “evil” are typically subjective terms, although there are a few who are objectively one or the other. 40.7% feel that “good” and “evil” are always subjective no matter what. A small 7.1% feel that “good” and “evil” are entirely objective with no room for argument.

Kruger's "you can be a god or demon depending on what you claim" is maybe the most overrated line in the story. He's musing on the fallibility of historical narrative and the ease with which people are deceived and made ignorant, not making some grand statement that there is no real morality.

DO YOU THINK GRISHA WAS THE RIGHT CHOICE FOR KRUGER TO ENTRUST THE TITAN POWER? 254 Responses

The vast majority of respondents feel that Grisha was a suitable successor of the Attack Titan after Kruger, while 18.5% aren’t certain he was the right choice.

WHAT IS THE BEST NAME FOR EREN’S TITAN? 255 Responses

69% percent (lol) of respondents prefer the official English name, “Attack Titan.” 18.8% prefer the literal translation of “Shingeki no Kyojin” as “Advancing Titan.” A few fans still prefer Eren’s long-time fandom label as the “Rogue Titan.” A few write-ins also had some fun takes:

American Titan, because he loves Freedom

Bedhead Titan

F R E E D O M TITAN

Crotchless sex on legs.

Elfian Titan / Elf Titan

Attacking Titan

Grisha, this titan has a name, it is Best Ass Titan.

WHAT ARE PATHS? 254 Responses

What are paths though? Like seriously? Okay, but seriously, 35.4% of respondents feel that they are metaphysical threads of fate. Closely behind at 32.7%, people are simply just confused and still can’t wrap their head around the concept of paths. 25.2% believe that paths are like an invisible highway between time periods. What are paths really, though?

As a manga reader i still don't get what paths are

By Ymir and the walls, every time I think I understand or at least accept paths something comes out of left field and leaves me shooketh.

PATHS IS NOT A SPOILER ANYMORE!!

EREN KRUGER MENTIONED MIKASA AND ARMIN WHEN HE WAS TALKING TO GRISHA - HOW DID HE KNOW THEIR NAMES? 254 Responses

42.9% of respondents feel it can only be explained as paths connecting all Eldians like a thread of fate, something unexplainable. 33.5% believe that Kruger simply tapped into the memories of either Grisha or Eren. 14.6% think that Eren sent this message back in time to Kruger. 

I think its a message passed down through the Attack Titan

Eren confused his own thoughts with the memories

I was always thinking it was someone else talking to Eren and as Eren did something, the memories were sent backwards

The Attack Titan keeps moving forward. It can glimpse further down the line into the fourth dimension.

I don't know, hopefully Isayama will explain this one day.

I noticed during this episode that Kruger looks just like Grisha as both a child and an adult. Perhaps he... is Grisha?

This conversation is a flashback alright ? Then, it’s only Eren’s wish interfering with the flashback. It’s actually Eren’s actual mind which is deforming the thing

If the theory of the time loop is real, maybe that's how the message kinda got sent, similarly how Eren got glimpses of his future when he was a kid. Maybe they've been doing this for so long now that they've tried to send messages through time so that they know what needs to be done.

Kruger was speaking as Grisha, which means he was experiencing Grisha's memory

it's the time loop guys

I have always assumed Eren's memories were mixed up with Grisha's, which is why he'd “remember" Kruger mentioning Armin & Mikasa's names, but now I'm not sure. Maybe "PATHS" really make memories a two way street.

KRUGER SAYS IN ORDER TO STOP THEIR CURSED HISTORY FROM REPEATING, GRISHA MUST LEARN TO LOVE SOMEONE. DO YOU THINK THIS COULD BE GENERAL ADVICE FOR THE REST OF HUMANITY? 253 Responses

We had an almost-tie here, but 43.9% took the lead, with respondents feeling that “love” is a primary method for breaking a cycle of hatred, prejudice and despair. 43.1% feel that while “love” is a nice, flowery solution to the world’s problems, it’s just not that simple. 8.3% aren’t sure either way, and a small amount believe firmly that “love” isn’t a reasonable approach to solving the world’s issues.

NEXT WEEK IS THE FINAL EPISODE OF THIS SEASON - ARE YOU EXPECTING A TEASER FOR THE NEXT SEASON? 256 Responses

52.3% of viewers remain hopeful that we will have a season 4 teaser will happen at the end of the episode, solidifying another season of the anime. 38.7% are confident that a teaser will be present. A small percentage have less optimism.

HOW WELL DID THE EPISODE ADAPT THE CORRESPONDING MANGA CHAPTERS? 252 Responses

This episode didn’t get as many 5/5 rankings as most previous episodes did, with quite a bit of commentary about some of the things that were cut from the adaptation:

I missed the line where Kruger said Marleyans wouldn’t exist if the 1700 years ethnic cleansing really happened. 

Felt a bit rushed and they left quotes from Kruger out which I believe are important. 

They cut way too much of Kruger dialogue. They missed some of the things that made him such an interesting character.

This episode was good as always but I'm mad that they cut a lot from the Kruger and Grisha scene (mainly the mention of Grandpa Jaeger or how marley keep the eldians in the camp as weapons). Those aren't essential but important to add layers and complexify the plot. Kruger speech was what I was looking forward the most  this season…

The Kruger conversation was cut down too harshly imo

I was missing the scene where Kruger tells grisha that his father was a smart man & that he was just trying to prevent losing more of his family.

They decided to cut some of the most important dialogue pieces from this episode, like "a doctor to falsify his blood test”

Less rushed than the previous episode but I really hate how they cropped the entirety of Kruger's involvment. It makes him look like more of a plot device than in the manga: the implications he had an agenda with the restorationists, his view on good vs evil explained (unrealistic ethnic cleansing and unrealistic miracles), how he perceived Grandpa Yeager (a smart man who didn't want his last child to walk on the path to hell)...

The anime also omitted a couple of things: Kruger suspecting Marley would no longer have any use of Eldians in the internment zone if they get the Founder and the past of the Eldian Empire, saying they used titans as weapons of mass destruction. The last one is important as the anime is really biased towards EMA's side.

Some minor dialogue cuts but it's not nearly as bad as manga readers are making it out to be.

DO YOU THINK KRUGER SACRIFICING ELDIANS FOR VITAL INFORMATION IS COMPARABLE TO WHAT EREN MAY BE DOING NOW? 254 Responses

43.3% of manga readers feel that Eren and Kruger’s actions are comparable as necessary evils in order to reach a beneficial goal for everyone. 32.3% feel that while the actions are comparable, the goals may not be. 11.8% feel that there’s not enough evidence to say either way. 7.9% felt that the contexts for both characters are completely different and not comparable.

I think what Kruger.did was more cruel than what Eren is doing now

Need to know Eren’s actual plans tbh.

They both believe that their goal is ultimately right - although I wouldn't necessarily call it beneficial

GIVEN THE MANGA EVENTS, DO YOU BELIEVE EREN IS BEING INFLUENCED BY HIS TITAN’S MEMORIES? 256 Responses

Nearly 40% of respondents feel that Eren is influenced by the memories given to him through his titan part of the time. 32% feel that it is happening always, and 15.2% aren’t sure.

This episode wonder if the nine titans had wills and personalities of their own. It can’t be a coincidence that the Attack Titan always finds its way to Eldians who desire freedom. It also makes me wonder about the way Bertholdt addressed Armin and seemed way different than usual in rts. Mikasa thought that Bertholdt was acting like a different person than they’ve seen. I think the Colossal influenced that behavior and was anticipating a new holder. Perhaps the colossal titan is always in love with the Female Titan also, forcing its holders to have feelings for the female titan holder. Which might explain Armin’s strange behavior in other chapters. This is just rambling and the concept of paths are still confusing though.

Regarding the influence of Titans: I believe everyone is being influenced. Having the memories of a differet person, their experiences and feelings is an influence. Wether they are acting different because of these is a different story. But even then, the current holder is still the one who decides to act different, based on their (now gained) own experiences. It's therefore not different from people changing after going thorugh something horrible themselves. 'influenced' is mostly used as 'being controlled' by this fandom, which I think is simply wrong. So: Yes, he is influenced. No, he is not being controlled.

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT HISTORIA SEEING YMIR’S BACKSTORY THROUGH PATHS? 256 Responses

33.2% of respondents feel that it was a reasonable way to recap Ymir’s story while also giving closure for her character, while 28.1% found that it only made the concept of paths come off as more confusing. 16.4% feel that this will be touched more on in future manga chapters. 12.1% disagree with WIT’s decision to put Ymir’s backstory in season 2, as opposed to here.

Historia being able to glimpse into Ymir's memories made perfect sense to me. She's done that before with Rod in a moment of emotions running high, so Royal Blood+contact with DNA+strong emotions might have a role. Beyond that, I'm sticking to my belief that paths can be compared to the fourth dimension in spacetime terms. 

I didn't really like the execution of Ymir's letter to Historia. The paths looked kinda cool but it's also a little out of place and just ??? The letter also kind of lost its value as well since it was cut short and seems like Ymir doesn't tell Historia anything about her past as well. Yikes

Did Ymir write the letter with her blood for Historia to see her past ????

The path scene with Historia and Ymir was odd: at the same time the anime isn't at its first when it comes to plot conveniences (sleep darts, berserk Eren), but it's also not the same time Historia got an influx of erased memories at random times (her playtime with Frieda)

I lost it when PATHS activated for Historia

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT YMIR’S FATE BEING IMPLIED IN THE FLASHBACKS? 256 Responses

Nearly 45% of respondents feel that WIT did a good thing by placing the implications of Ymir’s death in this episode, rather than show it as an afternote during the Marley arc. 17.2% wish the scene would have been longer. 14.5% were simply hyped to see Porco’s silhouette. 

I hated how unclear Ymir’s death was. You really couldn’t tell she died without knowing from the manga, and in the manga, it was a really impactful character moment. It really showed how little Ymir cared for herself and submitted to Marley because of her guilt for eating Marcel by accident. 

I think Ymir's death should have been focused on a bit longer, because I saw ppl did not quite catch what happened. Then again, people don't seem to care much about her anyway :(

PORCO THO!!!!

WHICH SCENE FROM THE PREVIEW ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? 256 Responses

Unsurprisingly, the journey to the sea is the most anticipated moment of the next episode. There are a few who are looking forward to the moments that take place during the ceremony more, though. 

next episode, we will see Hitch again and I'm not ready for that. 

I'm honestly not looking forward anything in the next episode, all the really interesting stuff already happened

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

The pace are a bit weird, they skipped several parts but i think isn't the problem if anime onlies had critical thinking/observation. Overall it's good and i though porco inherited the jaw titan after the timeskip(because how the flashback played in manga) but the anime cleared it and his lifespan is same as armin. 

I noticed that Hanji had referred to Grisha as "Mr. Jaeger" and not Dr. Jaeger. 1) that just doesn't sound right to me. 2) is there any reason for that? I believe earlier in the series they had referred to him as Dr. Jaeger, so why the change? 

Roses are red, PATHS are confusing, this episode was very amusing. Mina's best girl PEACE OUT

I want to hug eren. Both Anime!Eren and manga!Eren. 

I didnt particularly like the way they did the Attack Titan namedrop 

There were so many mistakes with the height of the characters this episode... What is WIT doing?

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 244 Responses

Thanks again to everyone who participated! We’ll see you back in a few days.

[lycorogue]

Who Wants to Meet My OCs? (Part 2 - Gyateara)

First and foremost, I meant to have this whole series to be sort of churned out the same day/week as Part 1. Life.... didn’t let that happen. I then figured “okay, I’ll update the series every Sunday” and then yesterday came and went...

Regardless, from the NEXT POST onward, I’m aiming to update every Sunday. Now, back to the series itself.

Ever since at least November, I’ve wanted to do individual posts for each of my OCs so you could meet them all. Well, I’m finally getting off my butt and working on this massive project (we’ll ignore that I’m spending hours working on this instead of my ML fanfic.... >_>).

In Part 1, I gave a broad overview of this whole Meet My OCs series, as well as gave some generic IRL background to the two main worlds my OCs hail from:

1) Gyateara

2) Glitches

Well, in this part of the series, I’m going to stay IRL as I explain where each individual OC within the Gyateara universe came from. If this is interesting to you, feel free to check below the break.

If you’d rather just skip ahead to the character bios themselves, my first one about my Glitches character Willow should be up in two weeks (sorry for the wait).

If I’m talking about Gyateara characters, I should probably talk about the one that first birthed the world: 

Amara Yori

Amara was my first-ever D&D character. I had known of the game for ages since my father used to play it frequently (and apparently roped my mother into at least running the monsters so she’d be included; ignoring that she’d rather not be included XD). 

I really got interested in D&D when I was a teen and saw the gorgeously stylized covers for AD&D ver 3.5. My father had passed away before officially introducing me to the game (although we did used to play Dungeon all the time, so that was a start...), and none of my friends were going to touch that “nerd culture” with a 10ft pole, so I simply admired the books, but never actually played. Then I went to college and managed to Nerd Out.

Hubby (then boyfriend) offered to help me build my first-ever character, but in 2004 the D&D 3.5 expansions were so massive I had far too many choices to choose from.

So Hubby had me go through some of his extra minis, and let me pick out one that I really liked. With his help, I ended up with the 2003 version of the Wood Elf Skirmisher.

Based solely on this mini, I started building Amara.

Hubby suggested that I try out the Scout class for my first one, since I couldn’t choose between a Rogue, Ranger, or Druid, and Scout is sort of in between at least the Rogue and Ranger classes. For whatever reason - I can’t remember it now - I also decided I wanted to play a half-elf.

Upon reading the generic backstory description the D&D books had for the Scout class, I figured my character needed some sort of Tragic BackstoryTM that would explain her scouting skills. Things like trap finding and dismantling, masterful rope use skills, hiding and tracking skills, and connection to animals.

I was in a big The Vision of Escaflowne kick at the time - which shows up in a couple other characters’ backstories - and was fascinated with the history between Van Fanel’s parents. Van’s human father Goau stumbled upon Varie, a Draconian woman, in the woods one day. Draconians have the ability to manifest feathered wings which allow them flight. It was rare to see a Draconian, and her beauty - with her wings shimmering in the moonlight as she waded in a small pool of water - mesmerized Goau. He instantly fell in love and brought Varie home to be his wife. The duo seemed to love each other deeply. Amara’s parents, on the other hand....

I’ll get into more when I break down their actual bios, but I took the idea of “Human stumbles upon exotic non-human in the woods and instantly marries her” and twisted it slightly. Amara’s mother was very much emotionally, and possibly even physically (I haven’t confirmed this yet), abused by Amara’s father. Amara, being a half-elf, also had to deal with abuse at the hands of many of her fellow clansmen - both the human and the elven clans; pretty much exclusively because she was a “half-breed” (Yes, I was really into InuYasha then too).

As I kept building Amara, I kept adding more and more tragedy to her backstory. I do enjoy what I created, but, especially after reading a lot of posts here on Tumblr, I’m afraid her history is nothing but a giant knotted ball of cliches and tropes. For now, though, I’m running with it. Perhaps I can figure out work-arounds later....

I never did get to play more than a session or two with Amara before the game disbanded (which seems to be a repeat thing with my gaming group), but she still lives on in my mind, and eventually in Gyateara.

Natalie

As I mentioned above, The Vision of Escaflowne very much inspired me while I was working on the earliest bits of Gyateara. Therefore, Natalie is your basic Isekai protagonist.

For those who don’t know the term (I didn’t know an official genre term existed until about a year ago), Isekai refers to a subgenre of fantasy/speculative fiction where the main character is abruptly teleported from their world to a new one; usually one with a fantasy setting.

It’s a massive subgenre and includes most of the fantasy animes I’ve watched:

InuYasha

The Vision of Escaflowne

Fushigi Yuugi

The Devil is a Part-Timer

The Rise of the Shield-hero

The Saga of Tanya the Evil

The Familiar of Zero

How to NOT Summon a Demon Lord

Sword Art Online (technically)

.Hack//Sign (technically)

Digimon (first season, specifically)

Psyren (manga)

The list can go on, but that’s not the point of this post. Getting back to the actual point, I clearly enjoyed this genre without even realizing there was a term for it, and created my own Isekai story. Natalie is from our world, but is abruptly teleported to Gyateara’s main Northern Isle, where she must save the country from being destroyed by a power-hungry, put painfully charismatic, villain.

I had taken elements from Kagome (InuYasha), Hitomi (The Vision of Escaflowne), Miaka (Fushigi Yuugi), and I think I had Ariel (The Little Mermaid) in there as well at one point. She was - and still kind of is - just “Generic Isekai Female Protagonist”, which is one of the main reasons the story she was in failed so soon into NaNoWriMo back in... 2014, I think. Almost a solid decade after I started dreaming up her Isekai story. She definitely needs to go back to the drawing board a bit to be properly fleshed out.

Connor

He was from the same story as Natalie. Connor was a denizen of Gyateara’s Northern Isles, and became Natalie’s traveling companion as he helped her try to find a way home. Ya know, that old Isekai chestnut. I even leaned heavily into the cliche and had the two of them fall in love throughout their journey. Which would lead to a third-act twist of “Okay, we can defeat the villain, but then what? Could they stay together? Would Natalie stay on Gyateara? Will Connor instead try to go home to Earth with her?” Real original. I know. Add in that Connor was a sort of Frankenstein’s monster of a character. Grab a snack, this is going to take a minute...

Connor’s traits included:

The basic backstory and drive of the player character in the video game Fable, in which his father was killed, his mother and sister tortured (and presumed dead, only to be proven still alive and captured), his home village burnt down, and he was taken in by the local guild so the guild master could train Connor to become the hero the GM believed Connor was prophesied to be.

The half-demon traits of InuYasha (InuYasha), which transformed him into a sort of were-cat. His mother, a full-demon, could become a 15ft (4.57m) tall panther with split tails. Connor’s half-demon heritage was hidden from him, and he only transformed under extreme moments of stress.

Yes. The “love interest is the only one who can snap the protag back from a monstrous rage” trope was heavily evident throughout the story.

His overall look was inspired by Link (Legend of Zelda video game franchise). His basic fighting style - swordsmanship and expert archery - was a sort of tag-teamed “thieving” from Link as well as Van (The Vision of Escaflowne).

A highly resistant, and begrudging submission to become the Hero of Prophecy lifted off of Tamahome (Fushigi Yuugi).

I know he was much more influenced by Van from Escaflowne when I was first making him. I even used Van as a reference guide when I tried to create character head shots of him. I just can’t recall now what else I swiped from that character.

I feel like there are also other male anime/video game protags I swiped traits from, but I can’t recall them anymore. Regardless, I threw them in a blender, and poured out the mixture that became Connor.

Jolene Crisslebalm

Ah, the character whose last name I always have to look up, because I can’t recall how I spelled it. Good starting point, right?

I am a very reserved person. In particular, a very sexually reserved person. But I do enjoy sex, and I love the act of flirting, and the “thrill of the chase” when it comes to dating, so a part of me always wonders what I would be like if I had let go of my reservations and just enjoyed the carnal pleasures of life.

So, two characters in particular - Willow (from Glitches) and Jolene - are my exploration of that Path Not Traveled. 

A friend of mine was hosting a D&D campaign via Roll20.net, and wondered if I wanted in. I hadn’t been involved in a D&D game in a year or so at that point, and I’ve enjoyed playing a couple of one-offs with him DMing, so I leapt at the chance to join. I had almost always played a form of Rogue class (hence the internet persona) in previous D&D campaigns, so I decided to stay the course, but with a twist I hadn’t tried before.

I wanted Jolene to be a sort of reluctant adventurer, preferring instead to be a cat burgler, but I also wanted that sexual/sensual exploration of character. So, she was a traveling prostitute (not exactly legal without proper ties to a brothel; much like a Sex Trade Guild sort of thing), but she also used her “alone time with clients” to scope out the place to see if it’s worth robbing.

Fast forward about 3 years, and I end up watching the first episode of the Freeform Marvel series Cloak and Dagger... where I saw Tandy doing the same thing, but roofying her targets instead of sleeping with them first... Great minds, and all that?

Eh, Jolene figures “might as well make money off of them before coming back and robbing the rest... less to carry later...”

In the end, while Jolene had an.... interesting run... and one I actually did enjoy role playing, even if it did leave me a bit frustrated afterwards (a good frustrated?)... Jolene just didn’t fit the world the DM created, nor did she fit in quite as well as I would have hoped with the other players.

They were all AMAZING players, by the way. Some of the best role players I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, and such fantastic writers as well. BTW, we wrote out everything in the Roll20 chat log instead of verbally playing or using video-chat. I must admit, I was quite envious of their skills. It was just a tighter knit group, and I wasn’t able to feel out their play-style well enough to continue with the group. Eventually they all had to go their separate ways anyway when their schedules no longer lined up.

Still, I LOVED Jolene, and she was the D&D character I had the joy of running the longest, so she NEEDED to live on. She did, in my first NaNoWriMo “win”. I managed to hit those 50,000 words, but I still had about 3/5ths of her story to write. 

See, while coming up with Jolene’s jaded attitude towards love and her pull towards a more hedonistic lifestyle, I went with the good old cliche of Heartbreak Was The Culprit. (With so many cliches in my character builds, is it a wonder why I just stick with fanfiction... the characters are already created...)

Jolene had her heart broken five times between the ages of 13 and 21. She was the type who fell quick into love, and fell HARD into it, and always felt intensely betrayed by her lovers when they left her. To be fair... they did routinely leave her for a woman of better social standing, or - in her youth - someone more willing to put out, or just straight up abandon her without so much as a farewell note. Eventually, she gave up on trying to find love, and joined a brothel, and then the thieves guild, and then headed out on her own from there.

The DM thought it unlikely that she was a prostitute for the better part of 5 years without a single pregnancy, so he rolled for it, and Jolene had one miscarriage, one still born, and one healthy child she gave up for adoption. I was not expecting to include that in her backstory, but it actually worked fairly well.

And all of that was the subject of my NaNo project: Lost Loves and Paramours. Jolene’s full biography leading up to the campaign: every man she fell in love with, every person she slept with, the one client who tried to murder her to avoid a scandal of his lust getting the better of him, the pain of her miscarry, the devastation of her stillborn, the heart break of giving up her surviving child, the struggles against a stalker, and her over-all YOLO attitude.

(Bitmoji is a beautiful thing...)

Well, second long post of this series is now complete. Next week, I’ll talk about the IRL inspiration for my Glitches characters. Thank you so much for indulging me on these epic ramblings.

[unwriter-sc]

Novel Prep Game

Tagged by @thatfizzyyyy  thank you very much.

Rules: Answer the questions and then tag as many writers as there are questions answered (or as many as you can) to spread the positivity! Even if these questions are not explicitly brought up in the novel, they are still good to keep in mind when writing.

FIRST LOOK

1. Describe your novel in 1-2 sentences (elevator pitch)

This woman, Robyn Lancaster, has been sucked into a fantasy world, one where she is recognised as the leader of a rebellion known as Oliva Winter. While she does manage to plead for her trial to be delayed, someone is charged with looking after her until a later date, that person is Princess Anna Winter.

2. How long do you plan for your novel to be? (Is it a novella, single book, book series, etc.)

I plan for it to be a single book. However, that does not mean that I won’t be open to more books in this world in the future.

3. What is your novel’s aesthetic?

Noble Castles, shining steel, old books, dark rooms (I’m not good with aesthetic, please help)

4. What other stories inspire your novel?

There’s a lot of high fantasy, Princess falls in love with chosen one stories that inspire it. There’s also plenty of inspiration from Modern Girl in Thedas fanfics as well.

5. Share 3+ images that give a feel for your novel

I don’t really have many images, I have the one I prepped for my Quotev cover. (If anyone can find the original artist for me to credit, that would be wonderful)

Btw: my Quotev and Wattpad username is TerribleArtist

MAIN CHARACTER

6. Who is your protagonist?

Robyn Lancaster (though I rarely write much stuff from her POV, so Anna Winter might be better)

7. Who is their closest ally?

Anna Winter (if Anna is the protag, then it is Robyn and Helias)

8. Who is their enemy?

Ser Alexander Bronzewing, largely because he believes that Robyn is evil.

9. What do they want more than anything?

At the start of the story is to simply go home, later, it is to be in a relationship with Anna Winter.

10. Why can’t they have it?

The first one is because Robyn has no magical potential, so she’d have a hard time casting the spell required to return home. While later it is because Robyn is a peasant (raised to being a handmaiden) and Anna is not only a Princess but the heir apparent to the throne.

11. What do they wrongly believe about themselves?

Robyn believes that she has a grating personality, that she is quite dumb and that her affections for Anna are one-sided.

12. Draw your protagonist! (Or share a description)

Seeing as how I can’t draw for shit, I’ll use descriptions.

She’s like 5”8, somewhat lithe build with a bit of healthy fat. Really pale skin. Evident of not going outside much. She has long, frazzly black hair, which is put into a long braided low ponytail, typically rested on one of her shoulders.

 PLOT POINTS 13. What is the internal conflict?

Let’s see… you from Anna’s POV (I rarely write from Robyn’s POV), you got her struggling to come to terms with her demisexuality, her still learning about what it would take to rule, and coming over her minor bit of mental trauma from the Witch Queen’s War (I need to write more for that)

14. What is the external conflict?

For Robyn and Anna to get together despite the pressures of the more traditional nobility (who are already ansty from Helias’ reforms)

That and Robyn and Alexander’s long term hate/hate relationship, as Alexander believes that Robyn is evil and must be purged, while Robyn believes that Alexander is an idiot who needs to get off her case.

15. What is the worst thing that could happen to your protagonist?  

Death is one of them. Being used as a vessel for the resurrection of the Witch Queen is another.

16. What secret will be revealed that changes the course of the story?  

The origins of the Magicless would be one (though it will be kept strictly under wraps). Another might be Anna’s demisexuality (for which she was heavily closeted)

17. Do you know how it ends?

An epilogue involving Anna’s coronation after her father abdicates the throne. Anna and Robyn already have a secret marriage together (because the clergy sees love as love)

 BITS AND BOBS

18. What is the theme?

Bold of you to assume that I’m smart enough to have a theme. I don’t actually know what the theme would be.

19. What is a recurring symbol?  

Steel and books.

20. Where is the story set? (Share a description!)

In a fantasy world (that I don’t have a name for yet), specifically on the continent of Pacajteroj, and the Kingdom of Emain. Which is on the west coast of the continent, it is a trade orientated kingdom with a bloody past, has a good harvest and is generally considered to be the good guys on the continent. It has a warm Mediterranean climate, with draughts in the summer and mild winters. 

The story is largely set in the Capital City of Emain, Serenity’s Grace (though it is largely called the Capitol, by most). Which is a multicultural city where trade flows like water, it’s a hive of noble and commoner activity (as well as some less than legal activity), it’s generally quite a good city, life is good, etc. (I subscribe to the “Fantasy worlds can actually be bright, rather than dark,” style)

21. Do you have any images or scenes in your mind already?  

I have many scenes in mind already, I have the duel between Anna and Ser Darian (which I plan for Anna to lose) I’ve got Robyn getting flogged (I’m a bit of a sadomasochist) I’ve got Robyn and Anna confessing to each other (I have to rewrite that scene, because it was terribly written). I’ve got a lot of fun scenes in my mind. It’s just writing what comes in between.

22. What excited you about this story?  

Initially, it was my method of entertaining myself while I was on holiday in the Netherlands and then I still had a few ideas. Then I got confirmation that this was going to be published and got a blank check in terms of time. So that was fun as all hell.

23. Tell us about your usual writing method!  

Let’s see… since I don’t like cutting chapters short, I tend to write from multiple POVs every single chapter, using what I call the four important details method, basically whenever I do a timeskip, or change POV, I write these details, to inform the readers (and myself) whose POV we are seeing this from.

Date – Time – Location – Person

I tend to write in third person limited, mixing descriptions with actually telling the reader some things.

My writing style is horrible really.

I think I shall tag: @eternalwritingstudent @ratherinterestingmilkshake @juls-writes @esoteric-eclectic-eccentric @acebelle @eternalwritingstudent @lillayalightfoot

[mystech-master]

one thing I dont get is why people say ragna is dumb filling the typical shonen manga protagonist role of being book dumb but good at fighting, and why rachel like in chronophantasm extend where we got to see abridged version of CS mocks ragna for not heeding her warnings that ragna couldnt beat terumi when she didnt tell him about terumi creating the grimoire and being able to shut it down or being vague

Ah finally, an actual question from you.

Yeah that’s one thing I dislike about Rachel. I mean I GET that she has to be vague due to her being the Onlooker, and saying too much might count as “interfering” with someone who is as directly involved as Ragna, but she should know that she sounds like she’s just saying “You suck, you can’t win” like she always has said, and doesn’t let Ragna know what the real issue is.

I mean her and Jubei both give Ragna these cryptic warnings, almost like they expect him to KNOW all the timeloop bullshit going on (shown in Ragna’s alt ending w Jubeiand Rachel’s alt ending with him in CT). Ragna at that moment in the story, has NO reason to give a fuck about being a “Guardian of the Azure” or to give a shit about the world in any way.

Ragna’s “world” was his family: The Sister, Saya, and Jin. But that is GONE now. And to him, the world outside of that is full of assholes who treat you like hell. I mean his first years of his life are being a lab rat. I feel like this contributes greatly to his rebellious and asshole nature, those scientists wouldn’t listen to being nice or anything like that, so Ragna had to get loud and mean for them to fuck off. It is literally his survival method. But everyone is just expecting him to just let go of that, and do good just because “it’s the right thing to do.”

Think of Superman, would Supes be the same hero if he didn’t have the small town origins, and wasn’t raised by good folks like the Kents?

It’s the whole nature and nurture kind of thing, and since Ragna and his sibs are artificial humans, the nature part is kind of out the window, and the first years of their lives....they weren’t exactly “nurturing” to say the least.

It may be selfish, but you can’t just tell someone, “do the right thing” after they just went through hell/an abusive childhood”. As I learned in my economics class in high school: “Self interest that benefits others is what makes the world go ‘round.”

Stop expecting Ragna to save the world when the world has done nothing but treat him like ass outside of like 2 people, at that moment in time.

Although I will admit one thing, Ragna does also fall into the “do what I want and don’t ask questions” shit that Rachel and Kokonoe do sometimes, shown when dealing with Noel in CP and CF. When he grabbed her b/c he needed her to find Kushinada’s Lynchpin, Kagura thought he was attacking her and Ragna got captured. In CF, he was trying to reunite Noel with Mu, but b/c Noel was suppressing her Mu side she got all freaked out and Ragna was scolded. So he kind has his moments as well.

As for Intelligence, I actually had a HC for that. I remembered a quote from Einstein that said:

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

So that got me thinking, what kind of intelligence does Ragna fit into?

As some of us know, there are the 9 Types of intelligence. And the one I thin Ragna fits into best is Naturalist Intelligence.

My evidence:

1. He grew up with Jubei in the wild during his late adolescence and early adulthood, where this kind of Intelligence could grow

2. cooking is an ability which matches with this kind of intelligence, which happens to be Ragna’s hobby

3. Some of the characteristics of Naturalist Intelligent people:

being comfortable with animals. In Ragna’s case: cats. As I have mentioned like ten times before, the Kaka Clan is where he was the most chill in the whole series.

Having keen senses (sight, hearing, sense of touch and smell, and may even have a well developed “sixth sense”), needed for a guy so deep in combat, and said “sixth sense” was show  in CT when he sense Jubei, or even in BBTAG when he sensed Ruby’s “bloodlust”

Learns though natural contact....which I believe can also fit into “Live and Learn”, I mean one type of learning is kinisthetic learning, where you actually need to experience/do something in order to learn. Many protags seem to be like this because they, and also we the audience, need to see exactly how shit happens and works in the show/game/movie.

and 4. This mostly comes from the anime, the episode with Lambda (the one everyone agrees was one of the few good things about it), not only was he able to identify that the Tartar from Arakune got food or nutrition AND that the big blob was like his own little ecosystem (when any other dumbass protag might’ve just said he was filthy and had bugs...I mean I would’ve thought that and I don’t think I’m stupid), BUT was able to know that Aqualeaf (the plant he used to help the Tartar...which btw ties into the animal thing I mentioned) was able to grow around that area. Which MIGHT imply that he is familiar with what plants grow in what environment at what altitude.

He might not be able to understand feelings, complex math equations, or half the shit that Rachel says (seriously in almost every scene with her I learn a new word or phrase), but that doesn’t mean he’s stupid. His intelligence just lies in other areas.

I mean if the guy had some positive encouragement and some time to actually develop this type of intelligence, he surprise some people.

[scambiatore-blog]

SHIPPING INFO

// answer the following for your muse(s) so people know how shipping works on your blog. REPOST. don’t reblog.

TAGGED BY: stole it from the dash like it was a starter in elm’s lab TAGGING: whoever

WHAT’S YOUR OTP FOR YOUR MUSE?:

hoo BOY okay... silver/gold, silver/crys, silver/crys/gold, silver/ethan, silver/lyra, silver/ethan/lyra. just... silver/gsc-hgss protag in general. all extremely good content. (i’m counting silver/liz as silver/protag bc that’s otp too tbh) silver/gladion is good too, and silver/n is a thing i think about a lot, but the latter is usually one-sided since n is oblivious lmao

also i might as well put n’s stuff here too?? my otp for n is isshushipping i love it so much. n/roark is also very good

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO RP WHEN IT COMES TO SHIPPING?:

okay here are my personal favourites: friends-to-lovers, childhood friends-to-lovers, rivals-to-lovers, and... grand finale... childhood rivals-to-friendly rivals-to-lovers. my JAM. basically i’m okay with ships that involve bickering and challenging each other so long as they 1) aren’t constantly fighting and 2) evidently do actually care about each other. it’s also a prerequisite that they’re familiar with each other and on friendly terms (whether they admit it or not) before a ship happens-- you can propose a ship before our characters interact, but if silver and your muse have never met At All i’d rather we rp them as friends before ship-talk, and i’d rather that even if they do know each other, we have them interact once or twice as FRIENDS, so that i can get a feeling for the dynamic and know 1) if this ship is going to work and 2) how silver will behave in the ship. i won’t rp incest/pedophilia/abuse, and i won’t ship with the female frlg protag, whether it’s LEAF or BLUE. i don’t care if it’s game canon and they’ve never met, i see her as silver’s sister in pokespe so it’s weird and uncomfy even in other canons

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?:

uhhh it depends on verse/age lol but i usually prefer keeping within ranges of 1-5 years older/younger, increasing if the character is older (before 18, i’ll only ship with characters the same age as, one year younger, or one year older than silver). it isn’t to say i’m totally against shipping adult silver with someone older than my usual comfort range but it’s. unlikely. i won’t age him up for it either if the character isn’t a gsc/hgss protag, who he’d be the same age as (in which case it wouldn’t even be aging up for the ship, it’s just for the verse/threads in general so they make sense)

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?:

yeah a little... i have to trust and be comfortable with the mun (and be comfy with the muse and their portrayal) and our characters have to have chemistry, but i’m not Too strict

HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY’RE CONSIDERED NSFW?:

i... dunno... i’ve never done a smut before... i think actually saying “let’s Bang” is usually the point where it is smut but Idk it depends

WHO ARE OTHER MUSES YOU SHIP YOUR MUSE WITH?:  

@esperandotte SILVER AND LIZ ARE SO GOOD... i don’t have any other confirmed/active ships atm, i’m open for more though

over on n (enharmonics) i have had a few ships proposed, some started... none actually got far though. sad airhorns 10 hours... he has had a roark boyfriend and a few touya bfs/almost-bfs. i haven’t abandoned any of the ships but the muns haven’t been active. he may just be cursed?

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?:

yes. some kind of date event is one thing but if you actually want to continue the ship you have to tell me

HOW OFTEN DO YOU LIKE TO SHIP?:

i don’t get offered to ship often enough to answer this

ARE YOU SHIP OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS?:

see above... but i do like shipping

ARE YOU MULTISHIP?:

yea boy...! (i AM singleship in certain verses but... for the most part... multishipping is a thing... polyamory is also very good...)

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SHIP IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?:

in this house we love isshushipping. in this house our love for isshushipping permeates every cell of our body

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?:

ask me. have a character with a friendly relationship with silver (whether either character admits it or not, and it doesn’t matter if the bond is from actual threads we’ve done or from canon), and then come ask me. it’s pretty ham easy honestly

[bainhardt]

FALL 2018 ANIME - STRAGGLERS PART 1

Ore ga Suki nano wa Imouto dakedo Imouto ja Nai - No doubt about it, the word here is: SOULLESS.

It’s basically like “bad Eromanga-sensei.” And I watched Eromanga-sensei to completion, so believe me when I say that that show sucks. For this one to register even lower on the scale is an impressive feat in garbage.

It has all the same features, so really I could review it exactly the same. Incest overtones, starring a sister hiding her job with the help of her who-gives-a-shit older brother? Check. Extended cast of other girls who are attracted like moths to the flame to our milquetoast lead? Check. It threw in more nudity too, with three distinct fanservice scenes in one episode (by my count).

And I’d assume there are other things that will hold equally true despite there being no evidence of such in the first episode. I bet this show will simultaneously glorify and bastardize what it’s like to be a Light Novel author, and that everyone will fall in love with the protagonist despite him sucking so, so much.

In the end, it’s presentable but unimpressive. The animation gets weak at times and the characters look... uncomfortable. The music was annoying. I’m not even sure why that is, but it really was. I think even at my lowest points - times in my life when I’d watch literally anything - I’d still feel this one was a waste of time. Absolute No.

CONCEPTION - The opening credits for this one were perturbing; shot after shot of statuesque, overly-reflective bodies posed in suggestive ways silhouetted against a blinding red background.

Then the show actually starts, and everything suddenly looks drab by comparison. It’s not outright ugly, but the contrast was a poor choice. And the first scene has a girl talking about being pregnant... I think this show is pregnant with some not-so-subtle themes.

Well, it’s based on a game. The story has the protagonist and his cousin isekai’d hardcore into a world of magic and fantasy that is being threatened by generic evil X, this time called Impurities. These two isekai’d people, as well as 11 other chosen women, are the only ones who can purify the evil, but they gotta make babies to do it, for some reason.

For about half the episode, the protagonist is handcuffed spread-eagle to a bed in his underwear while a sexy nurse explains all of the game-mechanics-but-oh-wait-we’re-not-a-game-this-time to him at length. What I would describe as a needlessly high number of these shots feature his clothed dick prominently in the foreground. Then, he’s ushered directly into gettin’ it on with his cousin in their first act of saving the magical world.

I’m someone who relies a lot on my gut instinct when making judgments, and when I watched this anime, I said, “This is so ass.” If the idea of a bunch of generic moe characters having forced sex while a weird raccoon mascot flies around making perverted jokes sounds like your cup of tea, try it out, but I think this might be a case where playing the game is the better choice.

Or who knows, maybe the game sucks too. No.

Beelzebub-jou no Okinimesu mama. - In one word, this show is: FLUFFY.

The first thing that stands out to me is how gorgeously animated every scene is; this anime looks fantastic. Buuut... I think that’s the only compliment I have. It’s somewhat cute, but not especially funny or interesting. And the plot is baffling in a way that’s tough to pinpoint.

The story takes place in hell and features a variety of demons who work in a sort of “government,” with Beelzebub at the head. But therein lies the chief problem I have with this anime: how it portrays “demons” feels almost like a complete waste of the concept.

Couldn’t Beelzebub have been a princess or something instead? The setting is like a city, and the cast all look like people. Practically nothing about this show says hell, or demons, or underworld in any capacity. I understand it’s difficult to draw accurate judgments from just one episode, so maybe there’s more to this later. Currently it simply seems made up or tacked-on.

I don’t feel there’s any reason for me to come back for episode 2. No.

Karakuri Circus - Oh, it’s got a Bump of Chicken op. That’s usually a good sign.

A boy is the heir to a huge family fortune and is being hunted by some weirdos in suits. A random guy on the street working as a circus promoter gets involved keeping him safe, a bunch of crazy shit happens, and they end up at the circus. The third lead character is introduced, a foreign woman who seems like a circus performer of some kind and who can control this enormous battle puppet. She kills the guys in suits, who were also enormous battle puppets. And some other guy shows up at the end who has his own enormous battle puppet...

I think it’s an action show, but it’s really not bad in the slightest. The art is goddamn fantastic, the music was cool as hell, the characters were appealing. There’s a lot to like about this one.

Watching this reminded me a lot of Hinomaru Sumo; it’s an excellent show, but one I might not be particularly interested in seeing through to the end. I’m not certain.

Perhaps if I had far fewer shows already lined up, I’d squeeze this one in (it might even be superior to some other shows I’m watching). I’ll toss it a Maybe because I don’t want to rule it out.

Merc Storia: Mukiryoku no Shounen to Bin no Naka no Shoujo - I sincerely thought the dad was going to be the protag in this one, before he disappeared in the first 3 minutes. Woops. I think I would’ve liked that, actually.

In a fantasy world with monsters, there are magic users called Healers who can effectively tame the monsters so they can coexist with humans. Our protag, a young boy, is from a line of Healers, but he’s not confident in his abilities. A souvenir bottle from his father’s travels happens to have a fairy inside of it, and when the show picks up, the two of them are traveling by themselves. We don’t learn why right away.

The fairy is cute, and I like how she ends her sentences with なのです... it reminds me of the owls from Kemono Friends. The two lead characters have a good dynamic, and it’s actually pretty funny watching their interactions. I appreciate that the protagonist has believable shortcomings: he’s prone to complaining, he’s nervous under pressure, and he’s also afraid of monsters. Hey, I can’t blame him; I think I would be afraid of monsters, too.

I honestly started this one with low expectations, but I found myself smiling by the end. It’s well done, and I kind of want to watch more, even though my schedule is looking pretty packed already. I’m going to give this one a Yes in spite of myself, lol.

CONCLUSION - Calling some of these stragglers might be sort of inaccurate given that other shows I watched also aired this week, but roll with me. There are still 3 more shows I have to watch (by my rules), but they all air next week or even later, so it would be a waste to wait that long to post this.