#especially art of rena since like. shes such just like a personal project

[nedsseveredhead]

*Biting people who say nice things in the tags of my art* (affectionate)

[https-immotmari]

❝ Is it chill that you're in my head? ❞ ─── mari's mutuals!

WRITER'S LIST OF (DELULU) COMRADES!

in which, mari shows you who she builds friendships with even through online! also, love toya aoyagi ヽ(✿ﾟ▽ﾟ)ノ

. . .@melops-postoffice! ( Lili / she/her / they/them)

or rather formerly known as liqi's-postoffice, if desire any type of manhwa/isekai type of fanfic then you'll definitely going to love her project! especially if you're also a fan of akuneko (devil butler with a black cat). of course, she's into a lot of fandoms like project sekai, cookie run kingdom, honkai star rail, etc!

. . .@sweetkiitsunez! ( Kiit / she/her / they/them )

well, kiit actually restarted her acc in tumblr so, make way for her rebirth of a acc! kiit's one amazing person even though i've only met kiit through discord but, still one awesome person! please be warned that kiit's works may have dark theme so, please be responsible in what you read.

. . .@herri-writes! ( Herri / she/her )

the reason why I found ensemble stars, no joke. girlie hasn't been rather active since I think she's busy with schoolworks and her private life (she's much older than me) though her works are quite on point. I recommend her acc for anyone!

. . .@invui! ( Yinnie / she/her )

the one I used to bully back in the server, especially when it was june back then hehe. this acc is actually her sideblog I think, with her main acc tagged there of course. I honestly recommend her acc for anyone especially if you're a fan of kpop!

. . .@bianjay! ( Keith / he/him )

this guy is one cutie-patootie once you chat/meet him, seriously! also, this is yin's kid, everyone say hi to him. he's also a kpop stan alongside his mom, like mother, like son they say. his acc is mostly reblogs about kpop, often TXT, memes, gifs, etc. though, I think he's also into some fandoms outside of kpop.

. . .@moonvityy! ( Emmie / she/her )

if i remember correctly, emmie and kiit are like the oldest among us here. it's no wonder why emmie got that mama bear vibes lol and is a lamli bennet simp fr. say hi to lamli's wife, everyone hehe.

. . .@xlvr-renas! ( Karu/Xin / he/him / they/them )

my ride and die bestie when it comes to teasing the others💗I think he, alongside with Keith, would send c'mon, baby, america memes in the serve and then due to that, I felt goofy and send a meme myself. boschi simp.

. . .@fwoomiufy! ( Miu / she/her )

ammon lead's wife, everyone! besties since we too are delulu about certain butlers hehe, though, a sweetheart one! I, alongside some in the server, send ammon fan arts and she just malfunction.

. . .@pudding-pompurin, @pluckpleepplop!

they're rather new mutuals of mine! I hope we can get along real well (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

. . .@reikaoproducer! ( Kiyo / she/her / he/him / they/them )

ngl, I'm a huge fan of their project sekai sideblog! can't believe that their main acc is mutuals with lil' ol me ヾ(•ω•`)o! I recommend any of their acc like seriously! their writing is so good and the way the scenario or story goes it's like heaven!

. . .@sukiyukiii! ( Suki/Yuki / she/her / they/them )

a newcomer in the tumblr app, everyone say hi! yuki is actually my best friend in real life so, gotta be more careful with my post since two of my bestfriends are now following me ( of course, I followed back ). thank you for the genderbent project sekai au, especially the Eizou, crumbs 💛💛💛 I recommend project sekai users there to interact nicely to her! she's a sweetheart dw!

. . .@emoszart! ( Scarlet / they/them )

another one of my bestfriends in real life now taking form into a tumblr acc. her mind is one of the reasons why I'll take HUMSS. I recommend her acc for those who want like a dark, mysterious, fantasy type of lore and drawing! she's one of the best artist, I can assure you that ヽ(✿ﾟ▽ﾟ)ノ

WRITER'S END NOTE!

so, yeah! that's all my mutuals for now! overall, all are lovely people to interact with so don't be nervous around them. ′ヾ(≧▽≦*)o

[catsvrsdogscatswin]

Higurashi Month 2021, Day 29: Challenged

Higurashi Month prompts archive: AO3 

Keiichi didn’t know what he expected when he first walked into the classroom in Hinamizawa, but it certainly wasn’t this.

It was a small, dinky little place, especially compared to the sleek buildings he was used to in Tokyo. He’d seen the noticeboard filled with art projects from children of every age up until high school, seen the rickey boards that were obviously years old and scrawled over by the stains of dozens of crushed bugs and dirty hands. The whole place was obviously commissioned from someone else –a rural office building that belonged to the forest services, if Keiichi remembered correctly– and the thought of it possessing air conditioning (or even, at a pinch, electricity) was laughable.

So he hadn’t really known what to expect from his fellow classmates. He knew he’d be the oldest boy, and thus probably at the top of that particular social ladder, but beyond that…

Well, what? He had no experience with non-city people, except as characters in the mystery books that his mother loved. He wasn’t really sure what to act like, but certainly they wouldn’t be like anyone he had ever known, right? Country people were different from urban people. He did know that much, and he even knew enough about psychology that he knew the society and culture you were raised with affected your personality and behavior later in life. Since he and these other kids were the process of “being raised,” he expected that their experiences would be very different from his, so they would be different from him.

How different exactly, he didn’t know until he walked headfirst into one of Satoko’s traps.

From there his expectations just kept getting turned upside down again and again, from Rena’s cheery and by all standards, comparatively normal greeting to Rika’s doll-like adorability, as picture-perfect as a character in a cartoon, to Satoko’s boisterous laughter and her improbably complicated and somehow successful trap. It was a whirlwind of smiles and joy, tumbling him and disorienting him and leaving him sprawled on the ground in a cloud of dust as the girls cackled –in welcome– around him.

And then Mion.

And then Mion.

She’d strode through the dust and waved the other club members aside like a general settling her troops, grinning down at him from his upside-down perspective with teeth that practically sparkled in the sun, her joy at having life vibrating almost tangibly from her pleased expression and the strong slope of her shoulder. She’d teased him, welcoming them to Hinamizawa and “her” classroom, introducing herself and the others, and laughing loudly at his misfortune of falling into Satoko’s trap.

“We’ll get you shipshape in no time.” she said as she helped him to his feet, before slapping him in the back hard enough to make more dust rise as Keiichi lurched forward. “Can’t have a wussy city boy disgracing the Hinamizawa Branch School, after all!”

“Who’s wussy?!” Keiichi had spluttered, finally straightening himself out and tugging his shirt straight as he gave her an indignant glare. “Its not like I’ll screech and faint because I’ll see dirt. I’m a man, after all! You can rely on me for anything!”

“Oh really?” Mion’s smile was sharp, toothy, like something a shark might flash before hitting their prey. “Well, we’ll just have to see if you can put your money where your mouth is –Kei-chan.”

“Kei-chan?!” Keiichi spluttered, shocked that she not only knew his name, somehow, but was so unselfconscious, so bold, that she’d immediately smack him with a nickname without ever once asking permission or assuming that he might think her too forward for doing it. “Listen, Mion-san-”

“Mion.” She’d waved the standard honorific aside. “It’s not like we’ll be strangers. After all, you walk past my house on the way to school, same as Rena. We can all walk to school and back together!”

“I look forward to learning with you, Keiichi-kun!” Rena chimed happily.

Later, Keiichi learned why and how they’d known his name, even where his house was –he was, after all, one of the very few people that had ever moved into Hinamizawa in recent history, and most of the village already knew him by sight by sheer virtue of the fact that they didn’t know who he was on sight. They knew that there would be a teenage boy in the family that recently moved to the village, and thus if they saw a teenage boy they didn’t recognize, it was Keiichi Maebara.

But of course, he didn’t know that then, and was swept up in the whirlwind that would soon separate itself out into his dearest friends.

And most importantly, that was the moment he met his greatest rival and closest female friend, Mion Sonozaki –the moment when they first looked each other in the eye and offered a challenge, offered to ignite the spirit of competition that they both sensed in one another.

[sairenharia]

Queen of Secrets pt. 3

Part 2

AO3

Nino would admit he's not the most observant of people. He missed Marinette's crush. He missed Alya was Rena Rouge. He often misses announcements for homework and tests. He could admit that he needed to work on that.

But he wasn't blind.

Especially when it came to Adrien. The dude had a horrible tendency to bottle things up, keep them to himself without asking. So he notices when things...shift between him and Chloe.

The thing was, Nino knows Chloe. He's been in school with her for years and ended up in her class more than once. She's always been a self entitled brat. Bragging about this expensive thing, threatening that with her dad's power, insulting and bringing people down. He had honestly been surprised at just how nice Adrien was despite being friends with her since childhood. He had figured out that he wasn't a bully like Chloe fairly quickly, just maybe afraid to be alone. He didn't expect the kind of guy who was genuinely optimistic, believing in people and always eager to help and give and not in the seeking approval way Sabrina did. He couldn't understand how someone like that would still be friends with Chloe even after he had won over their classmates.

Adrien said that Chloe wasn't always like that, she could be cool sometimes. Nino had thought maybe that was just him being too nice for his own good.

Until Adrien got pulled out of school for losing that book. He knows Chloe's crocodile tears. Everyone knows Chloe's crocodile tears except Kim. Even the teachers know and only 'fall' for it because if they don't, it moves to threats.

Those hadn't been crocodile tears. After meeting Gabriel Agreste, Nino could see why Adrien held such loyalty for her. She was a horrible bully, a complete brat, but at least she was willing to show she actually cared about him. Even if she bragged about knowing him, flirted with him even though he didn't seem interested, she would at least be upset for his misfortune. So much so when she asked him to DJ her party in her efforts to be 'nice,' he agreed. If she was trying for Adrien, he could at least do what he loved for her benefit.

Not that it lasted, though she DID cause less Akumas, so there's that. And then....

Then it gets a little weird.

Because the thing was, Nino saw Chloe in a way no one else besides Alya could. How she was as Queen Bee, up close and personal. He's been in school with her for years, but he's never seen her lift a finger for a school project, never offer a helping hand, never put in a bit of effort for anyone else besides herself unless she could turn the effort into a way for why she should be loved. And sure, she bragged about being Queen Bee, of course she did, but he also fought WITH her.

She had been good. Confident and bold which was more of a comfort while fighting bad guys then the annoyance of school life. She had been quick to act, pick up slack and save people, and when Rena had been hit, she had watched their back until her parents showed up, but to be fair, they were gunning for her hard. Nino knows what it's like to be a superhero. The more he did it, the more he recognized it was scary, it was hard. The rush of superpowers helped face it, but there was a very real risk. It was why Alya and him were practicing parkour, to get better when they were recruited. And the times Chloe was Queen Bee was when things were hardest, the scariest. Her own father, Heroes Day, Miraculer and Mayura. The time where things were the most dangerous and she still wanted to be a hero and she put in the actual effort.

He's not sure what to make of her honestly, because she is absolutely still a horrible brat even if she's gone down from an eleven to more a seven. He thinks whatever Adrien saw in her might actually be there, just buried real, real, reaaaaaaal deep.

And now there was this shift.

For as long as Adrien's been in school, most conversations between him and Chloe had mostly been Chloe bragging about something or flirting up a storm with Adrien. Or it's when Adrien is trying to get Chloe to lay off in his very gentle way of his. It was rare he ever see them just talk like the friends they both claimed they were. Adrien often treated her with the same distance he did with most of their classmates, something he's learned to recognize as uncertainty on how much he could let go of 'the perfect golden boy of Gabriel Agreste' persona. Adrien had slowly dropped it as they bonded, opened up about things piece by piece and Nino can see the stark difference when they hang out with people, and when it's just them. He's starting to relax around Alya and Marinette, thankfully, but it's a slow thing.

Then one day, Chloe had sat on the edge of his desk and showed him her phone, talking about a show she thinks he should watch. Never mentioned the name, Nino only learned it was a magical girl anime when he leaned over to look at the picture and Chloe gave him a pretty nasty glare in turn.

And he learned that one, Chloe was apparently a complete weeb which does explain the Ladybug cosplay, and two, the 'do not talk about weebitude' rule also applies to her. And three, he is trusted enough to keep silent on it? Well, he IS, he hasn't outed Adrien yet. Or the fact he was a complete nerd in a lot of ways.

It continued on like this, Chloe talking to Adrien about things other than riches and bragging, normal, everyday things, usually in terms where it's vague unless someone is paying attention and she doesn't feel the need to exclude him. Or didn't care he knew? She barely acknowledged him, he wasn't sure what it meant. But he does know Adrien was starting to relax more and more around her at school.

He asked Adrien about it once. Who had just shrugged and said they had gotten stuck together during that Akuma that had been after him shortly before the Shift and reconnected. When he asked further, Adrien shook his head and said that it was private and Nino let it go. If Adrien wants to talk about it, he will when he's ready. He knows he's here if he ever needs to.

And Nino was willing to just leave it at that. Adrien seemed happier, Chloe had less time to be rude to people, it was a win all around.

Then when he was meeting Adrien at a bookstore, a surprise hang out session, he showed up with Chloe.

"Uh, dude, why is she here?" Nino asked.

Chloe gave him a withering look. "I'm Adrien's friend. Why wouldn't I be here?" She asked.

"It was her idea," Adrien said, as Chloe made an offended noise and smacked his arm, causing him to laugh. "She knows father has to be in a really good mood to 'approve' of us hanging out. But he'll approve me hanging out with her, and if you just happen to be there..." He shrugged.

Chloe scowled, crossing her arms. "You always let me lead our hang outs. I already do that with Sabrina, I wanted a break. I thought at least he might have a suggestion," she said, earning another laugh from Adrien. "After we check out the new manga releases. There's a PreCure manga adaption out," she said, heading into the store.

"PreCure?" Nino asked as he followed after them.

"Pretty Cure. It's a magical girl series," Adrien said.

"The best magical girl series! So many fall into just the feelings and beam magic, Cure girls get real physical! They have a lot of good tips for a superheroine who relies more on martial arts," Chloe said, an excited smile on her face.

Nino honestly worried about her level of denial about no longer being Queen Bee.

"It does have pretty good fight scenes," Adrien said and nudged Nino's side. "You might like it."

"You can decide where we go next, though we've only got Adrikins for an hour and a half," Chloe said with a dismissive wave before turning into the graphic novel section.

Without the rest of their classmates, Adrien and Chloe are far more willing to show their excitement, talking about the new volume, and even trying to explain it to Nino. Well, Adrien started, then Chloe had to show how Adrien had it wrong and it was the most surreal experience in Nino's life because Chloe was actually kind of pleasant to be around? It was hard to not be pulled into their excitement even if he was incredibly confused.

They stopped in an overly fancy cafe for snacks, after a brief argument where Chloe refused to go into a normal convenience store. They compromised with Chloe and Adrien buying for Nino. He could afford normal snacks, not fifteen euros for a chocolate bar!

Then they ended up at a music store, with Nino showing Adrien samples of more underground music, and Chloe keeping mostly quiet. Only speaking up when she found piano sheet music of more modern music. But really, the fact she didn't complain about his taste in music was just another thing to add to the list of her being weird. And nearly giving him a heart attack when she asked to hear the improved mix from her party.

But eventually Adrien's schedule reared it's head and he had to go, with Chloe and Nino waving him off and he just...he had to ask.

"Dude, what has been with you?" Nino asked, fully expecting some kind of defensive snap.

"Oh shut up, I wanted to talk to you anyway and you wouldn't agree to meet me alone." Is what he gets instead.

"What?" Nino said in confusion.

She looked around, almost bored, and pulling out her phone and gestured for him to walk with her. He followed, feeling his annoyance mounting. She wanted to talk, but then went on her phone? What the heck?

"We're going to have more outings like this," Chloe said, eyes not straying up from the phone. "It is true. It's a lot easier for Adrien to get approval if he's supposedly hanging out with me. As long as I'm there, the Gorilla is technically bringing him where he's supposed to be, and if there's others, he's willing to let it slide if Adrien's having fun. As long as he's doing his job, whatever extras there are don't matter."

"And you're sure about that?" Nino asked.

Chloe scoffed. "I've spent over ten years learning the loopholes of the Agreste Overprotection Tendencies. Of course I'm sure," she said, shifting her phone and it's then Nino realized she wasn't reading anything. Her camera was on, and it was looking at the street behind them. What...? "Don't ask about it," she said, voice lowered.

"...why are you doing this now? Wait, is this why you showed up to those group gatherings near the beginning of the year?" Nino asked, still curious about what she was doing with her phone, but not asking. For now, at least.

"No, that was me wanting to spend time with Adrikins and making sure he was okay," she said. "And I'm doing this now because I love him and I want him to have a better quality of life."

Nino glared at her. "....are you doing this to try and get him to date you?" He asked, feeling a flare of anger. If Chloe was actually trying to trick Adrien-

She looked up with a nasty glare. "Romantic love and friend love are not mutually exclusive things, Lahiffe. Adrien and I just schooled you in magical girl tropes, you should understand that," she snarled.

"I don't know. You've been weird all day, it'd make sense if you were trying to trick him," Nino shot back, unwilling to be easily cowed when it was his best friend on the line.

"The only reason you met him is because of my love for him," Chloe hissed.

"What?" Nino said, taken aback.

"His father didn't approve of him going to school. How do you think he registered?" Chloe asked, raising an eyebrow.

It takes a moment. Because that's a good point. How did Adrien get in if his father didn't approve? People can't just join a class without paperwork. So how...

"Dude. Did Adrien ask...?" Nino asked, suddenly worried he read Adrien all wrong.

"Of course not. I just told him he was registered and he didn't ask how I did it," she said with a dismissive wave, looking down at her phone, moving the camera to look up near the rooftops behind them.

....okay, that made more sense. Adrien did have a tendency to just not ask if he knew he wasn't going to like the answer. "Why? You've never made it a secret you don't like anything about our school," Nino said.

"Because of people like you," Chloe said.

"....you keep losing me, dudette," Nino said.

Chloe sighed, rolling her eyes. "Seriously, you're so...you've MET his father. And Nathalie. His bodyguard. The help? He doesn't interact. They're hired to be discrete and professional. They don't talk unless spoken to. The only ones Adrien has a personal relationship are those who are directly responsible for him instead of the house," she said.

Nino frowned at that. Yeah, he knew it was pretty lonely. Cold. Adrien didn't talk about it a lot, but what little he's said combined with what Nino has seen, he knows it's not an ideal way to live. Especially with someone as lonely as Adrien had seemed to be.

"And as amazing as I am, I'm not...the best when it comes to emotions," Chloe said and Nino repressed a snort. That was one way to put it. Chloe wasn't good with most emotions or empathy in general. Nino though, he was a bit better and after the momentary moment of humor, he could see the look on her face. It was too blank, too carefully made to look unaffected. "Adrien didn't have a lot of people in his life. Nathalie and the Gorilla who barely count. His parents. And me. Then he lost his mother, his father lost whatever warmth he'd usually show, and the help was to be even more strict. I was the only emotional support Adrien had," she said, voice calm, and even.

And it clicked in Nino's head just how rough his bro must have had it before he showed up in school. It's hard to imagine the dork he met his first day was really stuck with that mourning and only having CHLOE to help. Suddenly his running off at Christmas made a lot more sense. Just going out for air his foot.

"And it became obvious that I wasn't enough. But Adrien has always wanted to go to school, wanted to be around other kids. I figured that at worst, it was a distraction. At best..." She looked his face, gaze more impartial then anything. Familiar.

The moment she handed over the Miraculous before she got arrogant and declared she'd be Queen Bee again.

"At best, he'd find people like you."

She exited out of the camera, turning off the screen before pocketing it. "I know Adrien doesn't love me romantically. I'm not an idiot. But we do love each other, and if I had to, if I thought it'd help, I'd burn the world for that boy. Those feelings aren't going to change. And if that means encouraging his relationships with people I don't like, spending time around them, and being....nice." Only Chloe Bourgeois could say that word like it was the worst thing in the world. "Then that's what I'll do. And I think he's suffering more than he let's on and that's the only way I can see helping him right now."

"Wait, what? What do you mean suffering more?" Nino said. He's not sure how to take the rest of all that, the proof that Chloe Bourgeois can indeed care very deeply about another person, but the thought of his bro suffering? That was easy to react too.

"I have reason to believe he's more stressed out than he let's on. There's no way of convincing him to cut back on all the things he has to do, so it's important to make sure he's actually unwinding in what time he has off. So if you have something he seems like he'd want to go to, contact me. Lord knows he won't ask me for a favor on his own, I think being nice is the first real favor he's asked of me in years. So you do it and I'll do what I can to make it happen," she said and held out a hand to him. "And we'll tolerate each other to make sure he's happy. Agreed?"

Nino paused, trying to think if there was any way this was some kind of trick or ploy. But as he looked at Chloe, he didn't see Chloe the bully. There wasn't any nastiness or smugness to her expression, none of the arrogance. She looked far more like Queen Bee, confident and sure she'd do a good job.

He huffed and adjusted his cap. "Well, if it's for my bro, I can't really say no," he said, taking her hand and shaking it.

"Excellent," she said, pulling her hand away and pulling out a handkerchief to wipe her hand, earning an unimpressed look from Nino. "You have my number still?" When he nodded, and turned and started walking, towards a car at the corner. "Then talk to you later, Lahiffe."

"Yeah, later dude," Nino said, shaking his head. Of all the things he thought to come out of magic and monsters being real, he never thought Chloe showing she had a heart would be one of them.

[ichika27]

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou

Finally, the new season is over... and it’ll have it’s own season 2!

I already made a post about this before when the thrid episode came out but now that Gou is over, I guess I wanted to make a new one with my thoughts for the whose season. I’ll try not to give many spoilers but the second half of this season is clearly the direct Kai sequel so it’s gonna be difficult.

Story:

The quiet and peaceful village of Hinamizawa seem perfect enough and Keiichi is having fun with the friends he made since he and his family moved in. But underneath the surface of what seems to be a nice place with friendly people is a dark and deadly secret that plagues the village triggered by their yearly Watanagashi Festival.

Characters:

Keiichi Maebara - a transfer student whose family moved to Hinamizawa a few months back. He’s friendly and kind which quickly gained him friends who are all part of a club. Due to his newcomer status, there are a lot of things he still doesn’t know about the village and it’s through him and the things he slowly finds out that the mystery unfolds and is presented to the audience. Keiichi is the type of person who never gives up and almost always know the right words to say making him a reliable person to his friends.

Rena Ryuuguu - a kind girl who likes cute things and would always like to take them home although her definition of “cute” ranges from what people normally thinks is cute to strange and questionable things. She likes going through the dump site to look for anything she thinks is cute that could take home. Despite her friendly personality, Rena is quite protective of her loved ones and is scary when those people are threatened.

Mion Sonozaki - the leader of the club and the class itself due to being the oldest one there. She’s mature, tomboyish, and the one who initiates their activities for the day. Despite that, she also has a girly side she keeps hidden. Being the older twin and with their mother being taken off the succession line, Mion is currently the heir to the Sonozaki family.

Rika Furude - one of the youngest member of their friend group, the cute Rika is the village miko as well as the remaining member of the Furude family which meant she is regarded highly by the villagers despite her age. She’s kinda and friendly and seem to be a normal child until later on in the series where it’s revealed there’s more to her than meets the eye.

Satoko Houjou - the so-called trap master of the group, Satoko is fond of making traps and playing tricks on people, particularly Keiichi who she also enjoys taunting. Despite this, she is a friendly girl who cares about her friends especially Rika who she lives with as they’re both orphans and the two are best friends. She had a tough family life enduring abuse from relatives and being shunned by the villagers due to her parents supporting the dam project. She deeply misses her brother Satoshi who she calls “Nii-nii” and this plus her past does affect her to this day.

My thoughts:

Again, Higurashi Gou is a sequel. The art has grown on me somewhat although I still like the cutesy art of the first series (Kira’s art is actually close to good in my opinion). The songs are great with the OP “I Believe What You Said” giving me an intense feel and since this is a sequel and I already know some of the big mysteries of the plot, it makes sense that it’s different from the OP of the first season being more creepy and mysterious. The OP is also brilliant that you’d only know the extent of it’s meaning once you get through this entire season (which reminds me of how Madoka Magica’s OP makes sense from another perspective once you get to a certain episode later on). The second ED is really good and I like it more than the first ED for Gou as well.

This season is a big surprise not only that it wasn’t advertised as a sequel beforehand that it shocked the long-time fans but also many of the things that happened in this season is something no one expected. It’s also nice to see how things have gone after Higurashi Kai since the direct sequel of it is in the latter half-of this season showing what had happened years after the end of the original story. It’s great to see what the characters look like as teens/adults!

From what I hear, it seems there are newcomers who enjoy the series despite not having seen the original story and I do think it makes sense as each arc is it’s own mystery in a way and while Gou tried to use some of the old arcs, they put a twist in it and so it could be enjoyed by new and old fans. I do think the latter half requires being familiar with the original series. There are references to so many of the important plot points of the original and the backstories touched on the first series that would make Gou make sense. Plus as someone who has seen the old series, the things currently happening to the cast gives more impact since I know how far they’ve gone to get here.

A lot of people already have made posts and videos about this but the current antagonist of the series caught everyone by surprise and her motivation is called into question but if the past arcs were to be looked at deeply, it’s not completely far off to something that could potentially happen for this character to get to the conclusion they did.

Everything went interesting in the 2nd half though due to the revelations that I’m excited to see the next season. The first half was kind of slow as it did try to reuse old arcs but with a twist but the latter half is an original which meant it at least tried to get to the point faster.

Connection to other series:

Ah, the entire When They Cry franchise is big. So big and all connected one way or another. The next entry to the series, “Umineko no Naku Koro ni” unfortunately did not get a good anime adaptation while the series after that, “Ciconia no Naku Koro ni” is ongoing. With Higurashi already gotten a ton of adaptations with the anime series having several seasons, the fans are looking forward to anything new for the other entries for WTC.

And Gou made the fandom go into a frenzy.

If you’re familiar with the characters or some of the plot of the other series, there’d be many lines in Gou that would get your mind rolling due to how they reference characters or information from the other games. The biggest once is the appearance of a character who very much resembles someone from Umineko and this character has a big part in Gou and the power and connection of this character is giving birth to theories that may finally properly connect Higurashi and Umineko with one another. It also gives hope that maybe, just maybe, there’s a chance for an actual anime remake but this time, for Umineko.

On the other hand, some lines uttered by the new character above reference some things from Cicionia which delighted the fans who are keeping up with the new series. They not only got the Umineko connection they were waiting for, they also surprisingly got connection for Ciconia to their delight.

Here’s me hoping it all goes somewhere cause this entire universe is really interesting.

---

With all that said, thank you for reading this far if you did get here. I do hope that was entertaining at the very least. I am excited for what’s gonna come next so let’s all wait for Higurashi Sotsu!

[kadomoni]

in which I review (most of) the .hack// franchise

I know no one cares about me ranting about dothack but imma do it anyway. this isn't a complete list because, frankly, a lot of the Japanese only stuff, I've never played/read. also I haven't finished CELL yet so I didn't list it. also the smaller off shoot series I ignored unless I really enjoyed reading them. (Also this is just my opinion lol) AI Buster: 9/10 — super intestering, only downside is the translation is inaccurate at times SIGN: 8/10 — killer story, amazing background music and characters, but A TON of filler. I highly recommend this series though, especially as a vantage point to introduce people to the series IMOQ: 5/10 — the narrative is great, but I find the characters less interesting than SIGN. also gameplay is outrageously clunky, level grinding is tedious, and virus cores are super annoying Liminality: 7/10 — considering this is the only series that mainly focuses on the real world, I think they do a good job of translating the "talk for 28 episodes" formula into a 3 ep OVA. I always enjoy watching it but it can be slow at times XXXX: 8/10 — it's like IMOQ without the horrendous gameplay! also making cubia a person was definitely a cool idea (and kite is super gay) Another Birth: 5/10 — interesting but do we really need *another* retelling of IMOQ Legend of the Twilight (manga): 8/10 — fun, light-hearted, fanservicey Legend of the Twilight (anime): 1/10 — straight up bad. don't let Bee Train deviate from the plot because it ends badly. also shugo and rena are SIBILINGS. im kinkshaming bee train tbh AI Buster 2: 7/10 — there's nothing really wrong with it and it's fun to get a little more back story on Alberio and Kamui but the small, individual stories don't really do the narrative justice ROOTS: 3/10 — I really don't understand why this anime exists. it's sort of cool to get more info on shino and haseo and ovan but the auxiliary characters are forgettable at best. also, we have so much content surrounding haseo that it seems a bit forced to keep going over the "haseo likes shino and he's gonna kick people's ass until she's avenged" thing. you can certainly play GU without knowing anything that happens in ROOTS, which I don't feel is true for IMOQ and SIGN. the pacing is bad, the narrative is forced, and I think the only good thing about it is the music tbh GU: 8/10 — okay I may be a bit biased because this might be my favorite series in dothack, but the characters and story are SO GOOD. like give me that angery silver haired anime boy, give me the mentally ill but trying her best anime girl, give me that GAY SHIT. the gameplay is way way better than IMOQ and the pacing is a hell of a lot better, but it does get kind of tedious with level grinding and tournament battles GU+: 10/10 — like with XXXX I feel like they improved the narrative in all the ways it lacked in the game. also since I'm a slut for haseo/atoli and haseo/ovan, this shit delivers. the art can be inconsistent but the spreads are beautiful and a lot of the facial expressions that are lost on the game come across better on paper. I also love when they give us more content than what's available in the main storyline Trilogy: 6/10 — just in case you need ANOTHER adaption of GU, here's a beautifully rendered attempt to cram 80 hours of game play into 90 minutes. unfortunately, atoli/haseo being endgame is less sweet than in other versions as I feel like their character development is rushed and relies on montages rather than actual interactions. dothack is amazing at creating beautiful ships that are multifaceted and dynamic, but Trilogy relies more on "look! it's a bad boy and a good girl, it's not like they're going to fall in love or anything *wink wink*" also haseo screams basically the whole movie which is both hilarious and annoying Quantum: 5/10 — yay more content, but why does every main character have to have kite's avatar??? this OVA is kinda forgettable tbh LINK: 8/10 — okay so this a majorly biased rating but this game is 100% fanservice so I'm rating it as a fan rather than an objective observer. it gives a shout out to every dothack series (and mind you, there's 2 other games, 4 animes, and 25+ volumes of books). like the story is clunky in that it goes to great stretches to convince you that they're not just doing this for the fans, but it is super cool to see all the favs back in action. I saw a lot of complaints about the gameplay, but I thought it was on the better end for a dothack game. I find IMOQ to be virtually unplayable in comparison. also the shift away from level grinding and allowing you to do subplots to get extra stuff is really quite fun. Yeah the juggling thing is kind of tedious, but let's be real, what dothack game hasn't been tedious? (like they should really just stick to anime and manga because they're just not good at making well rounded games.) that said, I have really enjoyed playing LINK but I see why they didn't translate it to English. they were like "thanks for investing hundreds of dollars into their franchise, here's 40 hours of fanservice" haha writing these reviews makes me realize that it's probably a good thing that they're not really working on this franchise anymore. project dothack is definitely better as a whole, but dothack conglomerate has (in my opinion) individual series that are better