#especially when trying to make a cohesive character while still putting my own different spin on the story

[agnerd-bot]

Fate Fanservant: Cinderella, Queen of All Fairy Tales(Ruler)

Ascension Stages:

First Stage: Cinderella is clad in an older, ragged cloak that covers most of her body. Faint hints of a scar can be seen on the left side of her face, but she has drawn her hood up to hide it from the world. Her clothes are older, ill-fitting and tearing in several places, but a faint aura of gold and white seems to surround her even in this state.

Second Stage: The cloak has been removed, and Cinderella is now dressed in a torn jacket and pants, parts of her body covered in bandages. On her body are several burn marks of black and red, covering a fair amount of her body. Her hair is pulled back, revealing a burn scar on the left side of her face. Most notably, her arms and legs have been burned almost completely black, akin to molten rock. Fire dances at her fingertips, and her face has taken a more downcast expression.

Final Stage: Cinderella’s ragged and torn clothes have been replaced with an ornate white and blue dress, and silver gloves and stockings with golden trim adorn her arms and legs. A pair of glass slippers gleam upon her feet, and a silver anklet shines on her leg. In her hands are a sword and shield made of the very same magical glass. Adorning her figure are various panes of glass, hovering around her to defend. Her scars are in full display now beneath the glass, but she bears her wounds with pride rather than shame.

Theme:

First Ascension: I Dreamed A Dream (From "Les Misérables")

Queen of Fairy Tales Theme: Florence + the Machine - Dog Days Are Over

Battle Theme: Love the Subhuman Self [With Lyrics] (Millia Theme) - Guilty Gear Strive OST

Grand Battle Theme(VS Fenrir Riding Hood): Death Battle: Fireborn (From the Rooster Teeth Series) 

Traits:

Class: Ruler

Alternate Class: Saber, Rider, Caster, Shielder

True Name: Cinderella/Rhodopis

Source: Fairy Tales

Region: Worldwide

Alignment: Lawful Good Attribute: Star

Known as: ATU 510A, Aschenputtel, Doricha, Le Fresne, Cenerentola, Cendrillon, Finette Cendron, Vasilisa, Ċiklemfusa, Katie Woodencloak, Ashey Pelt, Trembling, Nyasha, Settareh, Maha, Yè Xiàn, Tám, Chūjō-hime, Nagami, Damura, Bawang Putih, Jouanah, Pear Blossom, Maria, Oochigeaskw, The Cinder Maid, The Queen of All Fairy Tales, The Persecuted Heroine, Dream and Dreamer, Guardian of Happily Ever After

Voice Actress: Yuu Asakawa

Deck: QQABB

Parameters:

Strength: B- Endurance: A++ Agility: B+ Mana: A+ Luck: EX NP: EX

Passive Skills:

Blessing of True Magic EX:

As a Servant intrinsically tied to magical powers protecting and guiding her, Cinderella boasts a Magic Resistance surpassed only by deities and saints. Her Magic Resistance grants her the ability to nullify nearly any spell used against her, barring any extreme circumstances. As a Servant who embodies the concept of 'happily ever after', any attempts at trying to destroy said happy ending will be outright nullified completely.

Interestingly, Cinderella's Blessing of True Magic seems to be a hybrid of an innate resistance to magical powers afforded to her by her status as a Ruler-class, and an unknown outside source of magical energy protecting her at all times. It is through this combination of her abilities that her Magic Resistance is so unusually high in comparison to most Servants.

(FGO Effect:) -Increases own debuff resistance by 25%. -Increases own buff removal resistance by 25%. -Grants self Buff Block immunity. -Charges own NP gauge by 7.5% when attacking with Buster Cards.

Item Construction(Fairy Tale) B:

As much of Cinderella's tale involves the use of magic to produce fanciful dresses, slippers of gold and glass, wondrous carriages, and so much more, she has the Item Construction skill applied to her by default. Using her magic, she can create numerous items out of seemingly nothing but junk or vegetation lying around the area, and can even transmute living creatures into other entities, such as changing mice and dogs into humans, or woodland creatures into mighty stallions.

However, many of these items can only last for a limited time, vanishing in a matter of hours, or even less, depending on how much power she puts into creating these items. When these items are present, though, they are often of the highest quality materials and efficiency, even when they are made from actual garbage.

(FGO Effect:) -Increases own buff success rate by 8%. -Increases own critical star generation rate by 8%.

Riding A+:

Due to her nature as a woman who can capture the heart of any beast or animal she chooses, Cinderella has an incredibly high Riding skill, even when manifesting as a Ruler Class Servant. Even the most rowdy of Phantasmal Beasts or Dragon Kind are willing to lend her their aid for short periods of time, with only almighty Divine Beasts being able to stand outside of her influence. If no animals are available for her to ride, she can also temporarily create steeds in the form of pumpkins, vines, and other inanimate objects.

Despite her unmatched talents at taming animals and plants, she often struggles with managing more modern vehicles compared to other Servants, hence why she lacks an EX Rank. This has done nothing to discourage her from trying, however, and she often dreams of being able to use more modern vehicles by herself someday.

“A motorcycle... So cool...! Yes, I will definitely learn how to use one someday! ...I hope.”

(FGO Effect:) -Increases own Quick performance by 12%.

On the Border of Reality and Fantasy EX:

In contrast to her husband, Prince Charming, who is a Servant that is wholly fictional, or to a Servant such as Marie Curie, who is undoubtedly a real person, Cinderella stands in a unique position. While the character of Cinderella is undoubtedly one borne from fantasy and fairy tales, records do show that there was once a person who existed that inspired one of the first versions of Cinderella: Rhodopis, a hetaera from the Sixth Century BC who served as a slave to the storyteller Aesop, and eventually married the King of Egypt.

Reality and Fantasy, Truth and Lies, Fact and Fiction. Cinderella is both and neither, an anomaly that walks along their borders without faltering. As a consequence of this dual existence, Cinderella stands outside of the usual constraints of the Summoning System. Even in a Singularity where heroes and fantasies have all but died, and even in a reality where no traces of Mana can hope to exist, Cinderella will still be able to manifest in some form.

She is both dream and dreamer, a fantasy who holds fantasies of her own, and a persecuted maiden that will forever wish for better things to come. The greatest heroine of all Fairy Tales, the almighty queen of stories new and old, to which all others must inevitably bow their heads to.

(FGO Effect:)  -Increases NP by 5% each turn. -Gain 5 Critical Stars each turn.

Queen of All Fairy Tales EX:

Among all other Fairy Tales, Cinderella is the one that can be most argued to be the most well-known throughout the world, with there being five hundred different variations known in Europe alone, and roughly eight hundred versions told around the world. Nearly any culture can look upon Cinderella and recognize her in some type of form. As a result, she has an ability akin to that of a Divine Core, a power granted to her by her status as Queen of All Fairy Tales.

As a Servant, Cinderella exists as an embodiment of the hopes and dreams of those who have suffered, those who have been lost, or those who feel trapped in a cruel and merciless life with which there seems to be no escape from.  She is the very concept of 'a miracle', someone who was able to escape her own horrible life and lay claim to her own happily ever after in the end. While her combat ability in her own stories was essentially nonexistent, as a Servant, she stands among the strongest to ever live due to how her story resonates with nearly all people across the world.

However, it is not power that grants her the legendary title, but rather her heart. Even in the face of the cruelty she was subject to for ages, her will was never truly broken. Even after years of abuse and hardship, she never truly lost her kindness.

A story so beloved and so enduring that multiple cultures can come up with it simultaneously and tell it in different ways, a story where the good are rewarded and escape their suffering, and where the wicked are stopped and made powerless, and a story where an abused, innocent girl is allowed her happily ever after.

(FGO Effect:)  -Increases own damage by 300. -Decreases damage taken by 300.

Active Skills:

The Persecuted Heroine EX:

After the death of her mother, Cinderella's father remarried to a wicked and cruel stepmother, who brought in her evil but beautiful stepdaughters. They stripped her of her clothes, forced her to eat and live in the kitchen, and made a slave of her, forcing her to work day and night at impossible tasks and making her sleep by the hearth in order to stay warm. When she woke up covered in cinders, her family gave her the mocking name of 'Cinderella'.

However, despite the suffering she had to go through, she still had a safe refuge in both the hazel tree she had planted by her mother's grave and the animals that she had befriended with her good heart. Through them, she was able to accomplish the impossible tasks her stepmother gave her each and every day, and with their gifts, she was able to attain the happiness she was denied in the end.

This manifests as a skill akin to Animal Communication, where Cinderella can communicate with wildlife as easily as one can communicate with people. Unlike Animal Communication, where the animals gain no real increase in intellect, this skill enchants the animals with magic, granting them greater thinking comparable to that of humanity and empowering them with magical abilities on par with an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm, allowing Cinderella to properly direct them in combat or combine them with her own magic. Or simply ask them to help her with chores.

Among the closest connections Cinderella has with her animal companions is that of a lone eagle, the very same bird from the tale of Rhodopis that stole her sandal and dropped it into the lap of the king. Even if no one else would answer her call, this noble bird will always come to aid her, even at the end of days.

(FGO Effect:) -Increase critical damage for all allies. -Gains critical stars based on the number of Animal-Characteristic allies. -Reduces own critical star absorption for 1 turn[Demerit].

The Stroke of Midnight B:

As the fairy tale goes, the magical dress and coach that was granted to Cinderella were astonishingly miraculous. They outshone every other person at the ball, gaining the attention and catching the heart of the kingdom's prince. She shone as if she was a beautiful angel from Heaven, and at the ball, her grace and beauty that was constantly trod upon by her abusive family was allowed to truly shine for the world to see. That night, her heart was filled with a happiness she hadn't known in the years since her mother had passed away. However, the magic was not meant to last, with it all fading away at the stroke of midnight. And so, Cinderella had to run far away to her home before the magic faded completely, hiding in a tree until the prince had lost her trail.

This part of her legend manifests as the ability to boost her magical energy reserves to great heights, greatly ramping up both her offensive and defensive prowess and overclocking her parameters and skills so that they all jump up by several ranks. However, this skill is limited in that it only works during the night, and is destined to disappear once the clock strikes twelve at midnight. Furthermore, this skill can only be used once every day, meaning that after those three uses have passed, she can no longer activate this ability.

(FGO Effect:) -Charges own NP Gauge. -Grants party Invincibility for one turn. -If there is a 'Fae' Servant on the field, apply Debuff Immune to self(one time). -After three turns, apply Stun to self(one turn)[Demerit].

What Has Been Lost, Now Returned EX:

The embodiment of 'Happily Ever After', the most famous aspect of Cinderella was when the Prince reunited with her, returning the glass slipper that she had left behind. After the Prince and Cinderella wed, she was able to leave the life of pain and misery behind, and embrace her own happy ending, no longer bound by the cruelty and wickedness of her family, who were left exposed as the evil people they were.

As the Queen of All Fairy Tales, Cinderella's power is to ensure that the suffering and downtrodden are granted their happy endings, and that the evil and cruel get their just rewards. As a result, Cinderella has the ability to resist 'alterations' to her own story, akin to an Avenger’s Oblivion Correction. She can resist any attempts at temporal disruption such as Red Riding Hood's own plot to distort her own fairy tale, as well as see when alterations to the story have been made. However, this ability is limited in that she cannot immediately discern the source of these alterations, but merely see that something has been altered.

(FGO Effect:) -Increase attack of all Fairy Tale and Phantom Servants for three turns. -Increase defense of all Fairy Tale and Phantom Servants for three turns. -Apply Guts to all Fairy Tale Servants(two times, five turns).

Noble Phantasms:

Noble Phantasm: Truyện Bất Tử - The Story That Forever Calls You

Rank: B Maximum Targets: 1 Range: —

Classification: Anti-Unit(Self)

A passive Noble Phantasm borne from the Vietnamese fairy tale, "The Story of Tấm and Cám". It is said that after Tám's stepmother and stepsister murdered her out of jealousy for marrying the sovereign, the fair maiden reincarnated multiple times in many different forms to reunite with her betrothed, ranging from a lovely oriole, two gentle peach trees, a wooden loom, burning ashes, a golden apple, before finally being reborn as Tấm herself as she took vengeance upon her wicked stepmother and stepsister for their treachery.

This legend manifests itself as a unique ability. Much like how her husband, Prince Charming, embodies 'the hero that will always triumph over evil', Cinderella embodies 'the maiden who will always escape from her torment'. Cinderella's very existence is innately tied to that of mankind's own hopes and dreams for a better ending. So long as there are people that desire their wishes to come true, there will be a Cinderella to answer their call as their champion. As a Servant that embodies dreamers and fantasies, Cinderella will always be reborn, just as her stories are told again and again. Even when her enemies kill her again and again, Cinderella will find a way to return and reclaim what was stolen from her, outright forcing the World to allow her back in through sheer will.

This Noble Phantasm does have its limitations, however. It is not a 'true' immortality like that of the Monkey King Sun Wukong or the Lunar Rabbit Yù Tù. Rather, with this reincarnation ability, she lacks a 'concept of death', akin to the Primordial Mother, albeit on a lesser scale, so in theory, an attack akin to the First Hassan's Azrael could stop her reincarnation and render her mortal.

Nevertheless, even in the face of death and darkness, the Persecuted Heroine will continue to stand, the last line of defense for all who have looked up at the night sky and dreamed.

Noble Phantasm: La Colère de Cendrillon - The Hate That Forever Binds You

Rank: A Maximum Targets: 1 Range: —

Classification: Anti-Unit(Self)

In her tales told in Europe, Cinderella gained her name from the fact that her body was often covered by dust and ash from working so hard for her family without rest without any thanks or respite. She wasn’t even allowed to sleep in a bed like the rest of the family, instead being forced to sleep by the fireplace for warmth. The cruelty of her family weighed heavily on her soul, but not once could she ever let loose her sorrows or her frustrations, or else she would be turned out onto the streets. For years, Cinderella was forced to endure years of physical, emotional, and financial abuse, holding her tongue for fear of reprisal, only escaping thanks to the work of her mother's hazel tree.

But even the miraculous fortune granted to her could not rid her of her own bitterness and self-loathing. Even marrying a prince who loved her with all his heart could not erase her past or let her forget her suffering. The pain she had to live through followed her like a scourge all her life, even in her ‘Happily Ever After’. As a Servant, this anger manifests as the very cinders that gave her her name, with her arms and legs being burned pitch-black and crackling like flame. The fires she wields are the embodiment of the grief and rage she was never able to truly express under her family’s thumb. If Cinderella needs to take a stand and fight, she can unleash torrents of fire from her limbs that grow even stronger the more violent her emotions grow, and burn far longer and hotter than any normal fires ever would, and are intense enough to burn an enemy’s very existence to ash.

However, despite the sheer power of this Noble Phantasm, it comes at a great cost to her as well. If Cinderella were to let her own self-loathing and rage consume her utterly, she would risk losing herself completely to her own darkest parts, becoming a raging flame that would burn the World itself to ash and cinders, before ultimately burning herself away along with it.

Cinderella herself dislikes using this Noble Phantasm, as she believes it is emblematic of everything wrong about her, everything she hates about herself, and the ultimate proof that her family was right about her.

Noble Phantasm: Pantofola di Vetro - The Gift That Finally Frees You

Rank: A+ Maximum Targets: 1 Range: —

Classification: Anti-World(Self)

Cinderella’s second Noble Phantasm, the evolved version of La Colère de Cendrillon, manifesting as her main armaments as the Queen of All Fairy Tales. The resentful flames and ashes of her abusive past having been tempered and cooled. The toxic ashes and burning fires that surrounded her at all times when she was younger have been transformed into a beautiful armor spun from magical glass, the fabled gift that set her free from her abusive home life. No longer is she harmed by her own self-loathing or resentment, but rather shields herself with the dignity and grace of a queen.

As the story goes, among the items that Cinderella was gifted when she was dressed up to go to the ball, the most eye-catching and famous was the pair of glass slippers she wore, perfectly molded to fit her and her alone. When Cinderella fled the ball at the stroke of midnight, she ended up leaving one of her glass slippers behind in her flight home. It was through this same glass slipper that the prince was able to find her again, searching throughout the land to find the one girl in all the kingdom who would match the slipper. When the prince reunited with Cinderella, she was granted the one thing she was never gifted throughout her life: an escape from the hell that was her family’s abuse, mockery, and neglect, and she was given a chance to pursue her own happiness after years of torment and sadness, finally being able to smile again.

As a Servant, this part of her story manifests as enchanted glass armor, far more sturdy than its fragile appearance would suggest. This mystical glass repels evil, and automatically protects Cinderella from any attack ranked A+ or lower, much like Heracles's God Hand, ensuring that Cinderella is effectively immune to any attack not outright ranked at EX, and any attack that does manage to bypass these defenses are severely reduced in power. While Heracles's God Hand grants him 'a body that knows no death', Cinderella's Glass Slipper gifts her 'a shield that will push through the darkness', triumphing over every trial and tribulation the world seeks to throw at her in order to reach her own 'happily ever after'. Combined with her Blessing of True Magic skill, Cinderella’s incredible defenses allow her to outright nullify almost any attack thrown at her, allowing her to advance forward even in the face of the most terrifying monsters. So mighty is this armor that it can even withstand blows from Prince Charming’s almighty Marmyadose, though the chances of Cinderella and Prince Charming ever fighting one another in battle are well and truly impossible.

In conjunction with her powerful armor, Cinderella can also create constructs made out of this same enchanted glass, from a nigh-invulnerable shield that can halt even Divine Weapons, a powerful horse and carriage comparable to Dragonkind, pillars of spun glass that can rise past even the tallest mountains, to even an entire enchanted forest and castle to serve as a fortress against enemies as powerful as Fenrir Riding Hood. If Cinderella needs to enter combat directly, she can even focus the magic-negating properties of her glass armor into a gleaming blade that can carve through even enemies from the Age of Gods.

This Noble Phantasm is a near-perfect defense, a bulwark against all who would seek to give the story a wicked and unjust end. Just as La Colère de Cendrillon has the ability to reduce the World to ash and cinders, Pantofola di Vetro has the ability to shield the World from all villainy and dangers. The last and greatest line of defense for humanity’s dreamers.

Noble Phantasm: Once Upon a Time - The Stories That Are Carried With YouRank: E-A++Maximum Targets: —Range: —

Classification: Anti-Narrative

An almighty Noble Phantasm that serves as a record of human history itself, and the twin to Prince Charming’s own Ever After. This technique functions similar to that of Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon and Menes' Imperial Privilege, being a manifestation of all of mankind’s accomplishments. While the King of Heroes has an armory of all the weapons mankind has made and will ever make, and Menes has the capability to replicate any and all physical attributes she has witnessed, Cinderella's Noble Phantasm allows her to reach directly into the Throne of Heroes, bypassing the typical Summoning Rituals or defenses placed upon it by the World to call upon a champion to fight in her name. Even heroes who have been long forgotten or anti-heroes abandoned and scorned by the world feel compelled to come to Cinderella's aid by this Noble Phantasm, and upon their arrival, their abilities are further enhanced even beyond a Servant's normal capabilities.

While Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon is the embodiment of subjugation, and Menes' Imperial Privilege is the embodiment of domination, Cinderella's Once Upon a Time is the embodiment of human connection. It is not a forced summoning of a hero, like the Summoning System used by mages in the Grail Wars. Nor is it an emergency call to arms by the Counter Force in order to surmount an impossible foe. Rather, her charisma and honesty is enough to sway even the most steadfast and cruel of hearts, allowing her to call forth a champion who will fight to save the world without hesitation. Even in the face of impossible barriers to a Servant’s arrival such as Goetia’s Nega-Summon or Red Riding Hood’s Nega-Champion, a hero will be able to make their way through the darkness to hold the banner of humanity high. In summation, this Noble Phantasm is the very embodiment of the concept of 'Happily Ever After', a summoning of a great hero to save the day and vanquish evil.

"The world is cruel… The world is wicked… The world has produced much evil and sorrow… I should know. I have lived through it myself firsthand. But even then, I have faith in humanity. Faith that there is kindness even in the face of cruelty. Where there is good despite the wickedness. Where there can be happiness and joy even when hatred and sadness seems so insurmountable. Most of all… I believe you truly can save the world and give it a happy ending."

Noble Phantasm: Ewig Sanfter Haselnussbaum - The Love That Never Leaves YouRank: EXMaximum Targets: 1Range: —Classification: Anti-Narrative(Self)

In almost every version of the Cinderella story that has been told, there is one unifying factor between them all: a benefactor, sometimes magical, sometimes mundane, that nonetheless arrives in the heroine’s darkest hour in order to bless her with a miracle. In some stories, it is the heroine’s fairy godmother or an angel come to reward her for her piety and kindness. In other stories, it is an animal such as a divine eagle or golden fish. In other stories, it is a powerful witch or almighty god who seeks to test the heroine’s goodness and charity. Whatever the form or shape the mystical helper takes, they serve as the ultimate reward for the heroine’s pure soul and righteous heart.

In particular, this Noble Phantasm takes the form of the hazel tree that Cinderella planted by her mother's grave, where all her fortunes sprang from, and the only place she ever felt safe as a child upon her mother’s passing. In reality, this hazel tree is the very soul of her deceased mother possessing the hazel tree planted at her grave, continuing to provide for her long after her passing. While she passed away at a young age, her determination to bring her child happiness was strong enough to possess the tree that Cinderella had planted at her mother’s grave. This tree gave her the ability to commune with animals to serve as her protectors and helpers. It gave her her lovely dress with which she arrived at the ball, outshining any other beauty in the room. It gave her magical powers of her own when the time was needed to protect the world she loved, pushing her to be a shining light even in the darkest hours. Even now, she still watches over her daughter as her Noble Phantasm, serving as the source of all the incredible magic Cinderella has at her disposal, and a guardian who will answer her call when she is needed.

When called upon by Cinderella, her Noble Phantasm manifests as a massive tree in the shape of a woman towering over even the almighty wolf of Ragnarok, Fenrir. This treant will not hesitate to attack anything and everything that wishes to do Cinderella harm, fighting with the relentlessness and love of a true mother’s love and will, whether it be summoning animals to maul her enemies, or merely crushing her opponents with her mighty branches. The hazel tree is fully capable of acting without Cinderella's commands, and indeed has a mind of its very own, able to take action even when Cinderella herself has been incapacitated. Anything and everything that is even remotely a threat to Cinderella is an enemy, and all enemies of Cinderella must be destroyed without mercy.

However, despite the fearsome power of the hazel tree, it is not her physical abilities that make this Noble Phantasm such a terrifying one to face. Rather, it is the wishes that Cinderella holds. Much like how the hazel tree was able to create the impossible throughout the story, providing Cinderella a dress and shoes so she could find her true love, and helped her complete the impossible tasks set by her stepmother, so too will the hazel tree grant Cinderella's hopes when wished upon. So long as the wish made is selfless in nature, Cinderella's dreams will become reality. These wishes grow even more powerful the greater the impossibility of the act is, akin to Apollo 11’s own Noble Phantasm.

In essence, this Noble Phantasm is the very manifestation of the strongest magic to ever exist within a fairy tale: an act of true love

(FGO Effect:) -Increases own damage for every Fairy Tale Servant in the Party for three turns(includes back row). -Deal Heavy Anti-Evil damage to a single enemy(effect increases with Overcharge). -Increases own NP Gauge for every Fairy Tale Servant(includes back row). -Apply Anti-Purge Defense to self for three attacks, three turns.

Voice Lines(First and Second Ascension):

Summoned: Guten Tag, I am Aschenputtel, Ruler Class. Ah, sorry, you might be more used to my English name, Cinderella. I'm not that important of a Servant, and I don't really have anything that makes me special compared to other Servants, but I'll do my best to not let you down. Whatever you ask of me, I will accomplish to the best of my ability.

Level Up 1: Are you sure? I don't know if I'm the best one to be given this kind of power.

Level Up 2: Th... Thank you! I won't waste this opportunity!

1st Ascension: I'm sorry you have to look at me like this... My hands and feet, burned black due to tending the fires so much. It's hideous, I know... But thank you for keeping me around, all the same.

2nd Ascension: Will these ashes ever leave me be…? …no, I suppose I already know the answer to that, don’t I? Still… I’m glad that I can help you and your endeavors despite these terrible burns of mine.

Fight Start 1: *sigh* I suppose that I have no choice in the matter, do I?

Fight Start 2: I-I’m sorry to bother you, but can you help me out right now?

Fight Start 3: I admit that I’m not much of a partner… But can we dance all the same?

Skill 1: *whistles*

Skill 2: Just a moment, I’ll be right there!

Skill 3: If that is what is needed of me.

Command Card Select 1: I-I’m not really a fighter.

Command Card Select 2: My little friends, could you please help me?

Command Card Select 3: I’ll finish this task the best I can!

Noble Phantasm Select 1: Are you ready… To be consumed by the cinders…?!

Noble Phantasm Select 2: Ghhh… Haaaaaah… “That’s it… Feed the fires…”

Attack 1: U-um… Please don’t blind them this time.

Attack 2: Oh, thank you for your help!

Attack 3: Let’s go!

Attack 4: Eep!

Attack 5: I’m warning you… Please run!

Attack 6: BURN!

Attack 7: Haah… HAAAAAAH!

Attack 8: Let the cinders fall where they may.

Attack 9: Incinerate them…

Extra Attack 1: Sorry to disturb you, Sir Knight, but… (Lancelot: Think nothing of it, fair lady! Arondight OVERLOAD!!!)

Extra Attack 2: Pardon me, you two, but could you give me a lift? (Hessian Lobo: *howls*)

Extra Attack 3: I, um, hope you two don’t mind the sudden summons. (Miss Crane: A chance to work with the Cinderella?! EEEEEE! Habetrot: Nyahahaha! A tailor’s work is never done!)

Extra Attack 4: Time for a bit of cleaning, Lady Beni-Enma? (Beni-Enma: It can’t be helped, dechi.)

Extra Attack 5: Red Riding Hood… You’re helping me too? (Red Riding Hood: For now at the very least. *bang*)

Noble Phantasm 1:

P… Please…

Run away.

I… I can’t control it.

I don’t want to burn you… but I can’t hold back anymore.

La Colère de Cendrillon…!

Noble Phantasm 2:

Ngh… Ghh…

Get… AWAY…!

LA COLÉRE DE CENDRILLION!!!

Noble Phantasm 3:

“Don’t hold back anymore…”

“Hurt them. Hurt them just like they hurt you.”

“The pain… the misery… the sorrow… Let it all burn within you…”

“Let it consume every essence of your being… And let it consume them down to their very soul.”

“Let. It. Out.”

Damage from Noble Phantasm: I’m sorry…! I’m sorry!

Regular Damage: Kyah!

Defeated 1: I let… All of you down.

Defeated 2: I should’ve known better than to have come here…

Victory 1: I won?! I-I mean, I won!

Victory 2: I’m sorry… I hope your story has a better ending in the next life..

Bond Level 1: *fidget* *fidget* I'm sorry, am I bothering you? O-or perhaps you need me to help clean up around here? I couldn't help but notice that there was some cleaning that needed to be done. ...yes, I think I'll get right on that.

Bond Level 2: 'Why do I work so hard...?' Well, I thought something like that would be clear. After all... It's what I was raised to do. My... family, all they asked of me is to help satisfy their own needs. So... after a while, I learned to be quiet and serve. I don't particularly mind doing this work. After all, it means I get to accomplish something. It's certainly easier to stomach than being considered a queen of all things.

Bond Level 3: ...Master. Can I confess something to you? ...I'm scared. Scared of all this power I have at my fingertips. I'm truly nothing special, at the end of the day. I'm weak... I'm ugly... I've never really accomplished anything on my own. And yet... everyone looks at me, expecting me to be a grand hero or champion. But... I'm just me. Useless... weak... me.

Bond Level 4: I still don't understand... Why me? Why did my dear prince choose me of all people there? I didn't even come to the ball to meet him. I just wanted a night where I could be happy and not care about the weight of the world. And yet... he danced with me, made my heart feel like the weariness and heartache was all worth it for that fleeting moment. I wonder... What went through his head that night?

Bond Level 5: Master... Thank you for listening to me. I confess, I still don't know if I can bear the image of the 'Queen of All Fairy Tales', but I've been thrust into the role regardless. I may not live up to the expectations the world has of me… Perhaps I never will. Be that as it may, I still want to try. I don't believe in the 'Cinderella' that my mother and my prince saw in me... But I believe in them. And if they were able to find something in me worth loving... Then perhaps they're right.

Dialogue 1: You don’t have to act so amazed around me, you know. I’m nothing more than a simple servant girl who got lucky.

Dialogue 2: I’m your Servant… That means you tell me what to do, and I fulfill it to the best of my abilities.

Dialogue 3: It feels nice to be able to take a break every once in a while, don’t you think? Back home, I never really had a chance to sit down and rest.

Dialogue 4: *whistles* Hahahaha! It seems that even in Chaldea, there are little creatures that are willing to hear me sing to them. I rather like it. It’s so much nicer to be able to sing with an audience listening, don’t you think?

Dialogue 5 (If you have Prince Charming): Have I ever told you about the night my dear Prince Charming and I met? It feels like an impossible dream, yet an ever-enduring memory… He was the first to treat me with such genuine kindness after… Well, either way, I knew from the start that he was the man that I would marry. And you know what? I stand by that belief even to this day.

Dialogue 6 (If you have Red Riding Hood(Pre True-Name Narration)): Ah, Blanchette! It’s good to see you doing well! Hm? A hike in the woods? *sigh* I suppose that look you’re giving me means that I should go along with you, shouldn’t I? Heaven knows you tend to get yourself lost far too often…

Dialogue 7 (If you have Pinocchio): Oh, buongiorno, Maestro Pinnochio! I see you’re as active as usual today! Eh? N-no you can’t ask my mother for firewood! … O-oh. It was a joke, I see. Still, one shouldn’t make jokes like that so carelessly. Especially if you’re swinging around such a large axe…

Dialogue 8 (If you have Frau Trude Gothel): D-Dame Gothel?! She’s here as well?! I… To think the monster from my childhood would be here in the flesh… M-Master, are you sure it’s wise to have someone like this around Chaldea?!

Dialogue 9 (If you have The Fairy Godmother): The Fairy Godmother… I’ve heard that many believe our stories to be intertwined with one another. I must admit, though… I don’t think I’ve ever met her myself. At least, not in person. She seems to be very familiar with me though.

Dialogue 10 (If you have “Goldilocks”): Oh, hello Goldilocks! I’m glad we’re able to meet each other again… O-oh, you’re busy eating? I see… I’m sorry for interrupting you then…

Dialogue 11 (If you have Baba Yaga): Frau Yaga? I must say I didn’t expect you to be here. Um, not that I’m not happy to see you here! That is… Um… I’ll just leave now.

Dialogue 12 (If you have Elizabeth Bàthory (Cinderella)): Another me…? And she's an actual noble? She probably is much better than me… Maybe she deserves to be the heroine more than I do… 

Dialogue 13 (If you have Miss Crane): Miss Crane… Her weaving is the stuff of legends. To think that such a veteran artisan would be here in Chaldea… I… Do you think she would mind if I asked her for some advice for my own tailoring?

Dialogue 14 (If you have Beni-Enma): The Tongue-Cut Sparrow is here as well… Her story is familiar to me, as is her fearsome reputation. That being said, I can’t help but see her as a kindred spirit. Do you think she’d appreciate my help, or would I just get in the way? 

Dialogue 15 (If you have Merlin or Lady Avalon): You… You seem familiar to me. And yet, somehow, you feel completely different at the same time. Erm, that being said… Those pranks of yours are a bit much, don’t you think?

Dialogue 16 (If you have Hessian Lobo): You two… You’ve gone through so much, both separately and alone. I can’t even begin to understand what kind of hurt you carry… All the same, thank you for letting me sit with you. I know it means a lot.

Dialogue 17 (If you have Saint Barbara): Oh, Barbara! As active as ever, I see. … Wh-what?! Wait, what are you doing with that dynamite?! H-hey! Barbara! Wait up!

Dialogue 18 (If you have any other ‘Fairy Tale’ Servant): Everyone… Everyone looks at me, as if they expect some grand wisdom or great power of me… Those are expectations I fear I can never live up to.

Dialogue 19 (If you have Medusa): Ah, it’s that pink-haired woman! I really should thank her. She was so kind and welcoming to me when I first arrived in this place. She even helped me find some of the stories that were told of me in Chaldea’s library. For some reason, she seems to look at me as if I was familiar… Perhaps I met her in one of my tales? …could it be? Is she the incarnation of Godfather Snake? …no?

Dialogue 20 (If you have Barghest): Oh my! I’m sorry, miss, I didn’t mean to bump into you- H-huh?! …Master? Why did that woman look at me with tears in her eyes? …Habetrot said that, did she? I see.

Dialogue 21 (If you have Mata Hari): Margaretha… Yes, I know her. I know so many like her. Why wouldn’t I? After all, I know all too well what it’s like to be so alone…

Dialogue 22 (If you have Tiamat): The Mother of All Life… I heard that she was once a Beast of Humanity, driven to madness over the love she had for her children… And yet, I can’t help but feel happy around her. She reminds me of my own mother at times. Oh? A boxed lunch? Is this for me?

Likes: Something I like? Well… I suppose the only real answer I can give to that is my dear Prince Charming. He saved me after all… He took pity on someone like me and chose to marry me. …oh? ‘Pity had nothing to do with it’? Hmm… I suppose you’re right. He’d say the exact same thing to me if he heard my mumblings.

Dislikes: I’m not fond of bullies. Far too many people believe that just because they have money, or power, or… anything really, that they can hurt people. Hurt me. Ghhh…! E-excuse me, I’d rather not talk about this any longer.

About the Holy Grail: They say that the Holy Grail can grant any wish that your heart desires… If I wished on it, could I…? …no. No, someone like me doesn’t deserve to wish on the Grail. Give it to someone who’s more deserving of it.

During an Event: A celebration is going on…? I’d love to go, but… Oh, right, I suppose this situation is different, isn’t it? In that case, would you mind if I accompanied you to this? I-if it’s not too much trouble, I mean.

Birthday: Happy Birthday, Master. Have you made your wish? O-oh, you wish to spend the day with someone like me? … Yes, I’d quite like that. Thank you. Shall we be off, then?

Voice Lines(Final Ascension):

Level Up 1: This feeling… It reminds me of that midnight so long ago. I truly am blessed to have you as my Master.

Level Up 2: The night’s still young, let’s enjoy it while we can! Come, dance with me!

3rd Ascension: This dress... It's the same one I wore when I first met my prince... It's the same one given to me by my mother. I... I'm so glad that I get to dance in it again. Thank you, Master. I don't know if I can ever truly explain how much this means to me... But thank you all the same.

4th Ascension: Master... Thank you so much. Few people have ever treated me with this kindness... I always thought I didn't deserve the chance to be happy, but... Maybe I do. Maybe I deserve to have a happy ending all my own. And... I hope that someday, you too will get your happily ever after…

Fight Start 1: I do not wish to fight you… But I will not back down from this fight, either.

Fight Start 2: And so the story begins once more… With a Once Upon a Time.

Fight Start 3: Shall we dance? I must warn you though, I’m not the most graceful of partners to be had.

Skill 1: I know you’re watching over me, mother…

Skill 2: The midnight hour hasn’t arrived yet.

Skill 3: Allow me to help you with this!

Command Card Select 1: If I must.

Command Card Select 2: Get behind me!

Command Card Select 3: En garde!

Noble Phantasm Select 1: Mother… Allow me to make this simple wish.

Noble Phantasm Select 2: The time has come for the story’s climax…

Attack 1: Wing down, o eagle!

Attack 2: Arise, golden goby!

Attack 3: Help me, great crocodile!

Attack 4: Haaaah!

Attack 5: Come forth, di Vetro!

Attack 6: Glass spun of mystic arts… Protect me now!

Attack 7: My apologies… But you must stand down!

Attack 8: Get behind me!

Attack 9: Our time isn’t up yet!

Extra Attack 1: Please, help me now! (Frau Gothel: Don’t make this a habit, little girl…)

Extra Attack 2: I call upon you, great hero! (THJALFI: Very well then.)

Extra Attack 3: Thank you for your assistance! (William Tell: It’s my pleasure, your majesty.)

Extra Attack 4: Peter! Tinker Bell! (Peter Pan: Woohoo! Let’s do this! Tinker: Peter, wait up!)

Extra Attack 5: I pass this along to you, my love! (Prince Charming: Gladly, my darling! Unicorn: Let’s trample ‘em!)

Noble Phantasm 1:

Tree of Life…

Tree of Glory…

Tree of Salvation…

I come to pray at your roots once more…

Grant my wish, to save this world.

Ewig Sanfter Haselnussbaum.

Noble Phantasm 2:

Mother…

You may have passed long ago, but I still feel your presence with me.

Please, answer my prayers and help us win this day.

Ewig Sanfter Haselnussbaum.

Noble Phantasm 3:

“My dearest child… My beloved daughter…”

“The world has been unforgivably cruel to you.”

“It has hurt you more times than I can bear to count.”

“So I shall become your shield from the world’s evil.”

“And watch as you attain your own happily ever after.”

“Ewig Sanfter Haselnussbaum.”

Damage from Noble Phantasm: Mother… protect me…!

Regular Damage: Not yet!

Defeated 1: So this is how it ends…

Defeated 2: I suppose I wasn’t meant to be the hero of this story…

Victory 1: And so the story reaches its conclusion… Happily Ever After.

Victory 2: I’m sorry… I hope that someday, you will be able to find your own happy ending.

Bond Level 1: Oh? You seem surprised to see me. I guess this costume of mine is quite different from what you’ve seen before. I quite like it though. I may not be a true warrior like the other Servants you have here, but the feeling of my mother’s glass around me… it’s comforting.

Bond Level 2: It really is miraculous, isn’t it? To be in a place like this where so many different stories with so many different heroes are able to meet as one. I don’t think I ever would have expected to end up in a place like this.

Bond Level 3: The World has chosen me as the Queen of Fairy Tales, the Guardian of Happy Endings… And yet, I can’t help but feel useless at times. I’ve been blessed with these abilities, this power, but there’s still so much suffering and pain in the world. I know that my story has brought hope and light to people in despair, but all the same… I wish I could do more to help. Maybe then, Red Riding Hood… Blanchette… She wouldn’t have become a Beast.

Bond Level 4: …we’re alike, you and I. I can see it in your eyes. You want to help as many people as you can. You want to protect everyone from hurting like you have hurt. But it’s hard, isn’t it? Even when we want to save everyone, it seems impossible. But still… It’s our job to make the impossible possible, isn’t it?

Bond Level 5: Master… You’ve already gone through so much pain, and at such a young age, too. And yet, you still find it in you to smile and keep going on. You’re able to inspire so many people who have lost their hope for a better future, and you’re able to push on past your own sadness. But still… there will be times when your hope falters. I know this too. Master, when the day comes when all hope seems lost, and you can’t find it in you to smile… Allow me to be your knight in shining armor. I will defend your hopes and dreams when you can’t carry them anymore, and I promise you, you’ll find your own happy ending at the end of all this.

Dialogue 1: It really is amazing, becoming a queen like this. Some days, it doesn’t even feel real. But if this is merely a dream, a fleeting fantasy… Then even that is enough to bring my life happiness.

Dialogue 2: When I look at you… I can’t help but feel like we are one and the same. Perhaps our circumstances are a bit different, but still… You’ve been cast into a strange and frightening new reality. Alone, afraid, and… No, that’s not quite right. You’re not alone. You are never alone. This, I promise to you… Master.

Dialogue 3: The modern era has so many wonderful things to show me… Things have changed a lot since my time. Though, if you would ask me? The most exciting thing of all would be all the interesting forms of transportation? Hm? Oh, don’t you worry, my friends, I promise, I won’t replace you. …though I would like a chance to drive a motorcycle-

Dialogue 4(Clear Interlude “The Neverending Dance”): I don’t know if I’ll ever truly be able to let go of these thoughts of mine… My doubts, my anger, my anxiety… They’re something that I suppose I’ll have to live with, even as a Servant. Still… I feel like they’re bearable, so long as I can have friends like you by my side.

Dialogue 5 (If you have Prince Charming): My dear husband… My fair Prince… I’m glad you’re finally here with me. I never had the chance to say it earlier, but I truly have been blessed to have married a man such as you. A kind heart… a loving smile… an honesty that no other man could compare to. Yes, if I ever had the chance to marry any man of my dreams, I would always, always choose you. … Aha! Your face is as red as an apple, my dear husband. It’s little wonder why you enjoy speaking such sweet nothings into my ear if you get to see such cute expressions all day.

Dialogue 6 (If you have Red Riding Hood(Post True-Name Narration)): Blanchette… She’s suffered for so long, she’s been bitter and angry at the world all her life. …I suppose for her, the anger and hatred is all she has left now, isn’t it? For her, being a monster is far more preferable than being a victim. I suppose I can understand that line of thinking… Still, even Beasts of Humanity deserve to find their own happiness some day, and she’s no different. Maybe you can be the one to give her the happy ending I couldn’t, Master.

Dialogue 7 (If you have Pinocchio): Ah, Maestro Pinocchio! And Maestro Cricket, as well! It’s good to see you gentlemen out and about. That is to say… You aren’t up to any mischief today, are you? Hahaha! I’m only joking, no need to look so afraid. …unless you are planning another of your pranks, young Maestro.

Dialogue 8 (If you have Frau Trude Gothel): Dame Gothel… The Witch of the Story’s End. … *sigh* It’s hard to say how I feel about someone like her. On the one hand, she is a monster, and one who gladly admits to it, no less. She’s killed and hurt too many children than I can bear to count. …and yet, Pinocchio has shown he truly believes that even she can be redeemed. Perhaps even a monster can find her happily ever after one day. Until then, however, I will be keeping an eye on her.

Dialogue 9 (If you have The Fairy Godmother): The Fairy Godmother… I never had a chance to meet her myself in life. Or… perhaps I did…? It’s strange. She has a very familiar aura to me, but at the same time, she seems so distant and alien. Still, she at least seems to be nicer than her sister at the very least, so I suppose it’s fine…

Dialogue 10 (If you have Sòl): Ah, Sòl, I’m glad to see you’re doing well for yourself! It’s rather nice, isn’t it, being in Chaldea. I’m glad that you’re able to finally rest your head without worry. Erm, that being said… The kitchen staff have asked me to tell you to stop raiding the fridge so often. I believe EMIYA’s words were ‘rivaling Artoria’s bottomless stomach’.

Dialogue 11 (If you have Saint Barbara): Ah, Barbara! You look well today. You have something to show me? …it’s not something explosive again is it? Alright, I suppose I can come with you to the hangar to look if that’s the case. Perhaps it’ll be a motorcycle or an aeroplane…

Dialogue 12 (If you have any other ‘Fairy Tale’ Servant): *sigh* Sometimes… I still fear that I won’t be enough. That even with the weight of everyone’s expectations of what I should be, I’ll end up failing. That being said… It’s for those very same reasons that we should keep fighting, no? To at least try to live up to those same expectations?

Dialogue 13 (If you have Medusa): Medusa… So even the greatest monsters in stories can hide kindness and a desire to be loved. You’ve been so gracious to me, so I do believe that it’s time I return the favor. Come with me, if you don’t mind. I’ll put on some tea for us.

Dialogue 14 (If you have Barghest): Ah… Cheer up, o great knight. The others may not have the same faith in you that I do, but I promise, one day, you’ll walk down the aisle, within your finest dress, and have the chance to have your own fairy tale wedding.

Dialogue 15 (If you have Mata Hari): I must say… It feels nice to watch someone dance so freely and happily, especially after a life of sadness and pain. Chaldea really is a place of miracles, isn’t it? To have the ability to grant people happy endings long after their own deaths.

Dialogue 16 (If you have Edmond Dantes): The Count of Monte Cristo… I know you believe yourself a monster, a demon who does not deserve a chance at his own happiness… But I also know that you are wrong. Your happiness will come, and your sins will be forgiven, if not in your life as a human, than as your life as a Servant. It is just as you say… Wait and hope.

Dialogue 17 (If you have Kiara Sessyoin): So even Beasts can find happiness in stories such as mine… That’s quite the comforting thought to me, I’ll have to admit. I’d love to go and talk with her, but I don’t know if she’d care to listen to what I’d have to say to her. It’s a shame, though… Whenever I look at her, all I see is a girl like me… Neglected, abandoned, and hurting, just hoping for something better to come one day. …maybe one day she’ll have a happy ending of her own.

Dialogue 18 (If you have Hans Christian Andersen): You know, Master, Herr Andersen is quite the strange one, wouldn’t you say? He’s so earnest and blunt, speaking truthfully but harshly about everyone… And yet, he’s a man who hides himself from the world. He’s so open about his faults and his own issues… And yet never once speaks about his own burning pain or bitter sadness. As an author of fairy tales, Herr Andersen provided so much joy and wonder to the world… Maybe it’s time he should go and reach out for his own.

Dialogue 19 (If you have Sigurd and Brynhildr): Those two… They remind me a lot of my dear Prince and I. …hee! Perhaps we should have a double date together. I’d love to hear of the romance between these two great heroes.

Dialogue 20 (If you have Arjuna): Arjuna… Please, hold your head up high. I know all too well what it’s like to have your own self-doubt and fear control you. But I also know just as well that you are far more than what those doubts think you to be. You are a hero, noble and kind, and let none tell you otherwise, especially yourself.

Dialogue 21 (If you have Gilgamesh): Oh? Even the Great King of All Heroes wishes to speak to me? You are too kind, your majesty. Though I must warn you, my heart belongs to my Prince Charming alone.

Likes: I don’t think anything has ever made me happier than that night with my Prince. Being able to escape the torment and suffering to simply dance and eat and laugh in such a beautiful castle… It truly was a dream come true…

Dislikes: If there is one thing that I will not forget… It is those who seek to hurt their own children. Whether it be through neglect, assault, blackmail, or any other means, people who hurt the children they have raised should not be easily forgiven. If one seeks to genuinely and seriously atone for what they have done, then I am all for them bettering themselves… But if they persist in their wickedness, then I will cut them down myself. After all… I know what it means to be a child such as that.

About the Holy Grail: The Holy Grail? …hahaha, why would I ever need to use something like that? I have all I need to make me happy. My dear husband, a loving home, and friends like you to be with. Yes, I don’t think there’s anything I could wish for right now, and I have you to thank for it.

During an Event: It appears that another ball has come to town. I think I would like to attend it, what say you, Master?Birthday: Happy Birthday, Master! Please, enjoy this gift I put together for you. I stitched this suit together with the help of some of my friends. It should fit you perfectly. …oh, you don’t have to be so bashful. I made this because I wanted to, not because of any obligation. After all… We’re friends now, aren’t we?

Birthday: Happy Birthday, Master! Please, enjoy this gift I put together for you. I stitched this suit together with the help of some of my friends. It should fit you perfectly. …oh, you don’t have to be so bashful. I made this because I wanted to, not because of any obligation. After all… We’re friends now, aren’t we?

Profile:

Default:

A girl made a slave.

A wish granted.

Something is lost.

And something is found.

Happily Ever After.

She has gone by many names throughout history, be they Rhodopis, Ye Xian, Tấm, Cenerentola, Cendrillion, or Aschenputtel. Her tale has been told countless times over, from nation to nation, her legend being carved into humanity's very soul alongside great heroes such as Heracles and King Arthur.

She is the Persecuted Heroine.

She is an embodiment of the hopes and dreams of all mankind.

She is Cinderella, the Queen of All Fairy Tales.

Bond Level 1:

Height/Weight: 172cm • 54kg 

Source: Global Fairy Tales

Region: The World

Alignment: Lawful • Good Gender: Female

"I don't understand... Why...? Why does she hate me?! I've done everything... Everything she's asked me to do. I do all the chores. I cook each and every meal, I clean every inch of this estate, I work until my fingers bleed and break without even taking a break to rest. But it's still not enough. I still don't even get to sit at the table. I still have to sleep on the floor. I still get called ugly, and stupid, and useless... I don't think anyone has ever called me by my real name since...

Am I really so awful? Am I really... Am I really as bad as they all say?

...

Maybe... Maybe if I do it right this time, they won't hate me anymore. Yes. It's my fault for messing it all up in the first place. I'll do better this time, and then they'll stop hurting me.

I can fix this.

I can fix this.

I can fix this.

Please... Let me fix this."

Bond Level 2:

She didn't even intend to meet her prince. All she wanted that night was a simple escape. A chance to leave her life of abuse and torment for a single night, and to grasp a chance at being happy, even for a moment. The means of escape was different with each telling. Some say it was an eagle that had snatched her sandal and dropped it into the lap of a great king. Others say it was a magic fish with golden eyes and scales who granted her wishes from its bones. Others still say it was a Fairy Godmother, who sought to grant her heart's true desire for her piety and grace.

Whatever the story, whatever the tale, the girl's wishes remain humble and simple: a wish for reprieve.

He had approached her gently, gingerly asking her for her hand to show her around the castle. His words were calming and loving. His steps were careful and true. As the night went on, the two grew more enamored with each other, finding solace in the other's company after a lifetime of loneliness.

And in the span of a single night, Cinderella and the Prince had fallen in love before the clock struck midnight.

Bond Level 3:

The wedding was wonderful, a joyous celebration even grander than the ball where she had met her Prince Charming. It was supposed to be the happiest day of Cinderella's life. A day where no pain, no anger, no misery would exist. A day where she would finally get the Happily Ever After she's craved all her life.

Of course... That would be the day that her family arrived to ruin everything.

They arrived like vultures, acting as if they hadn't been the ones to cause her suffering for years on end. As if they weren't the ones who treated her like a slave all her life. As if they hadn't disrespected her mother's grave time and again. And yet, here they were, acting as if they had loved and cherished Cinderella all her life.

What was meant to be a day of joyous celebration instead became a day of bitterness and anger. Before, Cinderella had kept her fury inside her. She had always tempered her frustration and hid it away. What else could she have done when she was weak and helpless? But this... this was different. Whether consciously or unconsciously, the wild animals Cinderella had befriended responded in kind in her outrage, with two ravens swooping down and plucking her stepsisters' eyes.

At the vicious sight, many of the guests recoiled in fear and shock, horrified at the macabre display before them.

But Cinderella?

She put a hand to her face at the sight... and let out a laugh. A brief, quiet laugh that went unheard by everyone at the wedding... but a laugh nonetheless.

Bond Level 4:

Cinderella married her Prince Charming, and became a queen hailed as a benevolent and kind ruler. She was hailed as fair and beautiful, and within her castle, she wanted for nothing nor feared for any harm.

And yet...

The doubts and fears from her childhood still lingered, festering like a diseased wound. Where many saw beauty, Cinderella could only see ugliness. Where they beheld kindness, Cinderella beheld cruelty. Where people saw diligence, Cinderella saw nothing but uselessness. While her dear husband was always at her side to reassure her doubts, these thoughts would never leave Cinderella alone.

Would a deserving princess have their happiness handed to her?

Would a just ruler allow themselves to stew in rage over the past?

Would a good person laugh at her sisters' suffering and pain?

The anger, the anxiety, the doubt. All of it haunted her throughout her life. It was as if she had never stopped being that young girl that slept by the cinders.

Bond Level 5:

The story of Cinderella is ultimately one about pain. The pain of losing a loved one and crying beneath a tree The pain of barbed insults and cruel abuse. The pain of a cold stone floor and burning black ashes.

The years of abuse, financial, physical, and mental, will never truly go away, and neither will the pain that came with it.

But even still…

With pain eventually comes healing. Where there was a grave, a tree blossomed and bloomed. Where there was venomous insults and violent assault there is now the whispering of sweet nothings and a gentle embrace. The chill of sleeping on stone and the burned agony from the ash and cinders are now replaced with the comforting feel of glass slippers and a golden dress.

Cinderella's life was filled with nothing but pain and sorrow, both external and internal, but it was also filled with great joy and triumph. It is the triumph of an abused young girl against a world that constantly treated her with cruelty, and in turn chose to respond by being kind and being more than just her circumstance. It is the tale of finally reaching a happily ever after.

For all those in the world who have yet to find their happy endings, and for all those who have long since passed that have been denied those very endings… Cinderella will forever stand as a symbol of hope, a figure who will light up even the darkest hours with gleaming fire and shining glass.

For the lovers, the dreamers, the hopeful who have not lost their hearts to despair… Cinderella, the Greatest of All Fairy Tales, will always fight as your champion.

Extra (Clear Interlude “The Neverending Dance”):

Cinderella was never her true name. Cenerentola, Cendrillon, Aschenputtel, the identities that the world knew her as were nothing but cruel nicknames meant to mock her for her low position and to torment her for her constant work. While for many, the name Cinderella was one that inspired hope and prosperity, for the young princess, all the name did was remind her of her suffering and torment, as well as an impossible standard that she could never live up to.

Cinderella the beloved heroine.

Cinderella the worthless mistake.

Cinderella the vengeful monster.

All these and more were not who the maiden was. They were merely projections of what mankind believed her to be. In truth, she has a name that was given to her by her beloved mother, and a name that was never once spoken in any of her stories.

Rhodopis.

[a-deadly-serenade]

overall this season was pretty decent. i have some thots whats new so im gonna share them below the cut if anyone’s interested :)

so!! first off i’ll say that there were a lot of things i did really enjoy from season 4!

the action was super fun as always!! i loved all the crazy enemies and callbacks! the skeleton fight and all those little goblins they kept killing throughout were a nice touch ;) sypha’s use of her powers is INSANE her ice-chainsaw?? her WALL of fire?? electric balls?? come on. and the animation was NICE. i really wanna know who did most of the fight scenes bcuz the style is so different and it just POPS but in a really good way? 

my favorite fight has to be ofc when everyone is REUNITED yes im basic. but the THEME song going off and well, im a whore for sotn references and i CAME when i saw the leap stone ref w the winged cape or when alucard turned into a hoard of batss AND THEN HIS WOLF FORM OOOOHH BABY!!! actually episode 9 is just a straight banger.

STRIGAAA. STRIGA. oh mama i was sweating during that fight. mad kudos to her va for them growlsss

carmilla vs isaac was a lot of fun and i loved the visuals but my hype was instantly ruined when i saw her kill herself 😭but thats smth i’ll complain about later.

not all the lines were bangers, some of sypha’s swearing seemed even a bit too much at times, and it was especially jarring to be having a face-to-face death-math with literal Death and hes acting like a naughty little 5 year old thats just learnt to swear. maybe cut back on the fuck-isms? just a bit? BUT when they hit they did GOOD. “the fuck what now?” yes

ISAAC. you weren’t in this season as much but man do u still shine through. i loved his introduction back in the town where he has his night creatures digging graves and rebuilding the city 😭 and then the conversation he shares w his flyman?? obsessed.

Hector chopping his finger off and giving lenore and carmilla a good ol FUCK YOU!! as he helps isaac. we love to see it

Trevor and Sypha’s “I love you!” “I know.” <3

DEATHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

oh! alucard actually having a story & purpose in the plot? :) luv it love to see it. that being said... the Plot. 

its... ok? it’s kind of split up into 3/4 parts, as the story progresses, one eventually merges with several of the others kind of? cohesively? while leaving the other to sort itself out.

now, i didnt have too many qualms with it, it was pretty straight forward. dracula is going to be resurrected and we have sypha and trevor looking in on it, while alucard helps the nearby village and hector and isaac go on about bringing on their inevitable showdown. however, the way the story was paced and some of the decisions they made... werent so great.

st. germain for example, brought the ENTIRE momentum from the last few episodes to a halt. you have sypha and trevor fighting through heaps and heaps of monsters only to find themselves back in Targoviste where they meet the mysterious Zamfir!! and Alucard!! he’s been asked to help save this village!! all jam-packed with crazy action and animation that leaves you fired up!! and then episode 5 comes to a screeching halt and we spend nearly the entire thing on st. germain’s backstory and explaining his motives for the rest of the season

like. imma be real with you chief: he didnt need to be here lol. you could have just left varney as the main vamp in charge of bringing back big daddy drac and he could reveal to his.. idk henchmen or something that he’s death. but u gotta fill them ten 20 minute slots somehow!! he just fell so flat and unfortunately, a lot of the side-characters suffer from this this season.

i enjoyed great and zamfir, i love their desgins esp, but they really could have been fleshed out more. zamfir is shown as nothing but a spoiled brat the majority of the time she’s on screen but they wait till she’s about to die to try and turn her character around? huh? greta is given a bit more screentime but this sudden confession of feelings in the last episode felt so... huh?? why couldnt she just be dedicated to her people and show that u can love someone w/out necessarily being their partnr? i thot that was her whole thing; taking care of her people. it’s like. where did this come from. they cant have known each other more than a week at most dog 😭

it sucks they dedicated to much time to scenes that didnt really need to be there where we could have gotten this proper development, like maybe have a scene zamfir and sypha connect over struggles they’ve dealt with in the past and that has her open up about how traumatizing dracula’s attack on her city was. u could have expanded upon her role in the court and WHY she worshipped the monarchy so much instead of making it a throwaway gag about her being “crazy”. but why have that when we could instead spend the first 5 minutes of said episode watching a monotonous back-and-forth b/w varney and that big burly russian vampire who’s name im sure mor than 98% of the audience cant even remember? 

just a lot of fat that needed to be trimmed so that the actual MEAT of the story could be slow cooked to perfection. people really arent kidding when they say less is more. 

another big problem i had was there... i dont even know what to call it, re-humanization? redemption? of Lenore. like lmk if im wrong but she manipulated hector, yeah? coerced sex to slip on that ring that binds him to her?? orr whatever weird shit warren’s into. but the way they interacted, ESPECIALLY in their first major scene together was sooo uncomfortable to watch lol at first i thought perhaps hector was only playing along because well. hes enslaved to do her and carmilla’s bidding. but no, he actually LIKES her. he spares her when isaac comes around, he says that he wants to keep her as his own. and in the meantime, lenore finds time to complain to a man that’s been beaten and enslaved how upset it makes her that carmilla got angry at her 😭 or says thats she tired of isaac keeping tabs on her and wants to escape this ‘cage’. to  aman thats literally been imprisoned since youve known him 😭her death is seen as peaceful, calm, they even try and tug at ur heartstrings by swelling this sad, dramatic music as the sun rises. really? LENORE?

and carmilla’s death happened WAYY too early imo. she was the villain for practically 3 seasons and this is how she goes? isaac couldnt get more than a stab at her? his night creatures couldnt take a nibble? HECTOR couldnt even be given a chance to do somethng like come on

the resolution was... strange? it was cute!! and happy!! but i dunno if they really needed to have lisa and vlad coming back, but, like i said; it was cute! definitely not the ending i was expecting. 

i’m glad that they put their focus back on what made the show so much fun and that was the FIGHTS. they definitely helped add some much needed spice to things when scenes started to drag, but im a gal that really luvs a good story and even though reviews were raving that this season helped closed the lid on all the themes theyd been exploring, i just didnt really see that. which isnt necessarily a BAD thing, i knew i wasnt gonna find some deep introspective themes in this hack n slash horror-fantasy, its just what can turn somethng like this from an ok show to a GREAT one. 

in the end, im glad they stopped at this one and im curious to see if they really DO go ahead on making spin-offs. bcuz unfortunately, i will always be down for som new castlevania content

[natsspammityspamspamham]

Dino Watches Anime (Jan 13)

With the snow outside and cancellations everywhere, I have more time to kick back, relax, and not do anything. Seriously, playing out in the snow and being an absolute bum is my specialty.

Dropped

Darwin's Game 

It just seemed like Mirai Nikki but updated to smartphones instead of flip phones and with a new interface and system. Seriously, it’s like someone watched Mirai Nikki and went “I can remake this and rake in the money”. The animation wasn’t good (according to our local sakuga geek, there were less than 10 animators who worked on the 40 min premiere because of the inhumane conditions of the studio which adds to the yikes), the soundtrack was great (but I won’t watch a show just for the soundtrack/seiyuu cast), and overall, I felt like I didn’t want to put myself through a show like this.

Uta no Prince-sama

I couldn’t do it fam. I watched two episodes and nearly cried on the inside because it felt like Kiniro no Corda but with a new bland face with new bland characters. I never watched either of these fully. I tried to watch just for the seiyuu (*ahem* Miyuki Sawashiro), but imagine having your life hobbies made into an absolute joke by a character who can’t even read music and is in the composition department while her main song of choice is “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and the ikemen around her and swooning over it and writing their own songs for her. The guys all have the same faces too! They’re triangle heads that can only be differentiated by colour palette. I’m telling the difference based on voices at this point. I don’t want the ikemen, but I would like people to be into my music too ya know! You may think that I’m dropping this anime purely out of spite for the story and characters, and you’re damn right I am. 

Seasonal Stuff

Pet

This is this close to being dropped, and I don’t mean for the strong BL vibes. It’s a little cringy but not that bad (I’ve watched a lot of cringe straight romance and to me it’s all the same). It just feels so poorly constructed right now. The universe just hangs by a thread with characters I feel ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for. Everything in this anime feels so cheap. I’m giving this one more week before I give it the axe.

Rikei ga Koi ni Ochita no de Shoumei shitemita 

Okay, this anime is stupid, but we all went in knowing it was going to be very stupid. You’ve seen the screencaps. You’ve seen the cliches. Now get ready to have a pretentious science spin on it as if you haven’t seen these scenes a million times before elsewhere, and the characters (at least one of them) know it. The art... it’s present. I mean, character designs are giving the guys of Reddit what they want (especially with Sora Amamiya being really popular and singing the OP along with voicing the main character). Yuuma Uchida is also there. Nothing really worth noting here except “stay in school kids so you can become a pretentious science kid with no people skills!”

Dorohedoro

I might just watch this anime in place of “Pet” because this anime has a much brighter outlook and despite being CG genuinely looks better anyway. It’s the horror that I wanted to fill the void with (since Pet genuinely isn’t scary or innovative). Everything was pretty good with the first episode! I’m looking forward to seeing more!

From here on out, the rest of the seasonal list are the ones I look forward to the most! Get that head lizardman!

Runway de Waratte 

At first, this doesn’t seem like something that would come out of Shonen Weekly, but it inspires a good message about being who you want to be even with limitations if front of you. You have a girl too short to be considered a model and a guy who designs fashion without having the money to pursue it further. I know nothing about style, but I do know things about being short! Maybe that’s why I have such a soft spot for it...

ID:Invaded

This anime gets more interesting as we go along. I’m all into murder mysteries and things like that, and with the sci-fi mixed it, I checked to make sure I was up-to-date with this one. Each episode gives a new mystery with more details outline our jaded and imprisoned detective’s motives and backstory. I wasn’t sold on the character designs at first, but once you get over that hurdle, it’s all good. I like the psychological aspects of it too!

Kyokou Suiri 

Ever wish you had a female protagonist who was upfront about her romantic motives? Ever wanted to watch a show involving youkai? Here’s the show for you! Plus, her character design is so cute. Mamo sang the ED for this anime too. The animation is great, the story looks amazing (read ahead a few chapters in the manga), and this is one of my most highest anticipated anime for the season!

Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun

Here’s one of my favourite pilot episodes! This anime left such a strong impression on me that I went straight to my non-otaku friends going, “You’ve gotta see this guys”. The art style is consistent with the manga, and according to the not-so-quiet manga readers, we’re in for a really good anime. 

All the characters in this anime are also adorable and really simple-minded on the surface. Hanako-kun being a boy is a really funny twist on the local urban legend (I’m one of those kids who never dared to say “Bloody Mary” in the washroom so what can I say?)

Recently Completed

Hana to Alice: Satsujin Jiken

Remember Aku no Hana? This is what happens when rotoscoping has a bit more budget. This anime was slow, a little cringy, but it felt really real. The voices felt real, the characters felt real, and the story felt... mostly real. I don’t regret watching this movie art style and all because I think it captures a bit of the exaggerations of being a teenager (rumours blow up like balloons)

Sennen Joyuu

Satoshi Kon really has a certain way of telling stories. I’ve watched Perfect Blue, Paranoia Agent, and Tokyo Godfathers, and while this didn’t have as strong of a punch as the latter, this film was still strong. It shows a story of a young maiden’s resilience, perseverance, and undying love... all things I can’t relate to... but it was good!

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo

This show was a trip. You thought it was a fanservice anime until things got really heavy. This anime was funny, it made me feel things with the themes it took on, and it made me remember that the best girl doesn’t always have to win to be a good anime. The art was cute and sweet, the voice acting was so fricking funny (according to the cast, the improv wasn’t always included but the ones that were left along with the dialogue were pure gold), and the story was exceptional for an anime which seemed to have no base whatsoever. And plus, this had something a lot of anime don’t... A CONCLUSIVE ENDING. Give this anime a watch if you haven’t. It’s melodramatic comedic romantic teen drama at its finest.

Orange

Speaking of melodramatic romantic teen dramas, here’s another one that fits that bill! Minus the comedy, more suicide, and far less cohesive plot. Imagine throwing letters into the Bermuda Triangle and having your 16-year-old selves really reading those letters. I was wondering how they were going to explain sending their letters to the past, but they should’ve come up with better BS than that. Aside from really bad plot holes, this anime was alright. It was slow... really slow. I finished this whole 13 episodes plus the movie in about 2.5 hours after trimming the slow recaps. 

The art was alright. The story was slow, but near the end (excluding the last episode and the movie) it got really heavy. It hit close to home. I struggled with suicide for years, and I felt what this character felt. Certain lines of that dialogue just hit hard. It was depicted in a way that didn’t feel as romanticized. He wasn’t saved by just one person, his trauma didn’t go away just like that, it took a group of friends and planning to help him realize that there was more to life then just regrets.

Would I recommend this? I mean, it was recommended to me, but I’m not forcing this anime on anyone... not because of the themes but because it was darn boring and cliche 70% of the time.

Still Watching

Darker than Black: Kuro no Keiyakusha

Same things apply as previous entries

Hunter x Hunter (2011)

My brother expected me to finish this a while ago but I put it on the back-burner because the number of episodes seemed daunting. Everything else is good though.

Sousei no Onmyouji

I only watched the first episode.

Boku no Hero Academia Season Four

Same things apply as previous entries. It seems like the Overhaul arc will end in the next episode or two (depending on how much they milk this).

Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu

Groundhog Day but isekai. Seriously, this is a pretty big staple in terms of big isekai. Everyone’s fighting over who’s the best girl meanwhile Subaru is trying his best not to die every five minutes. Seriously, Subaru is a champ and what I’d want out of a Mary Sue isekai protagonist. Get em Subaru. Prove to me you’re not a car.

This will be me for the next few days because it’s getting colder where I am so watch me slip on the ice and die!

[destiny-smasher]

I used to be close friends with one of the composers for Steven Universe. I watched them rise from a YouTube remixer living in a cramped bedroom in a shared apartment with nothing but a mattress on the floor and a keyboard beside it to owning a house, happily married with a whole backyard garden and a cat because they found success working on one of the biggest cartoon shows I’ve known. But they broke off that friendship earlier this year and it’s made my biased love for Steven Universe become very difficult to grasp with. Understanding how and why we weren’t friends anymore was likewise difficult to grasp, even after hours of us trying to hash things out and resolve it. And while we DID resolve things amicably (I hope) and peacefully, it wasn’t until Steven Universe: The Movie that I was really able to feel like I could see the forest from the trees and ‘get’ what happened. This will be a kind of review of the movie, but mostly it became more of a personal ramble relating my real life experiences with Aivi to those of characters within SU, especially the antagonist of the Movie. This is lifted from this Twitter thread, so it was originally written stream of consciousness and I’m sharing it here to keep it more readable and archived. This is a bit of a read so tucking it behind a ‘read more.’

--

"You keep on turning pages for people who don't care about you And still it takes you ages to see that no one's there Everyone's gone on without you"

Time to finally talk about the #StevenUniverse Movie. Strap in 'cause this gon' get personal.

It should go without saying BUT I am gonna be talking about the movie! Dunno how in detail per se but I can't properly say what I wanna say without diving into some of the important plotty stuff. So yea.

Don't read this thread if ya don't want #spoilers #sumovie 

First off, I wanna talk about what this movie does well. Going in, I had heard it was framed like a musical. And I wasn't sure how I felt about that idea, though it wasn't surprising. After all, the 'musical' style episodes tend to resonate quite a lot. 

I think they work great when it's one song in a 10 minute episode, but an hour and a half of songs? I wasn't sure how well that would go. Turns out, pretty well. This is due to many factors but primarily the variety of song styles and art styles used throughout. Basically every scene has a primary song that drives it home, and basically all of them have a different genre/tone as well as visual presentation style. A lot of work went into getting it all to work together and feel cohesive. TBH for me personally the main highlight of the movie was honestly the animation. Average TV goers might just see "yup sure looks like a cartoon" but on the whole, on average, the movie is CLEARLY animated and framed with much more dynamism and detail than the majority of SU. Getting to see these characters we've gotten to know over the past few years a couple years in the future, generally at peace with things, but animated with more detail than ever, THAT is the true highlight of the film for me. Naturally, there was a lot of bits of comedy, often relying on knowledge of what the characters have been through, and I felt a lot of bittersweet smiles throughout as this felt like a good send off for Steven and his Space Moms. It managed to work in cameos from basically everyone you'd expect, some of which...didn't work out as well as others (specifically, the Diamonds bookending the movie was a bit forced and weird IMO but they ARE important to the lore even if I find them boring tbh) It was nice getting to 'catch up' with everyone, and the plot itself uses a generic 'gotta save the world again' thing (bleh) in a creative way, at least -- it all becomes an excuse to "re-live" the four primary heroes' stories through song. Cool enough. Something the movie inadvertently highlights, however, is the fact that SU as a series really started spinning its wheels a lot for its second half, in particular. Much has been said about how and why and why or not this doesn't matter, etc. etc. I was just along for the ride. I've repeatedly expressed my personal bias in the series' favor for a long time, and now? I kinda don't really have that personal bias anymore. I still love the show, I still think it's one of the best cartoons I've ever seen. But those rose-tinted glasses are off now. Taking said glasses off and actually listening to and looking up what critics of the show had to say kind of unearthed a bunch of things I had kept sweeping under the rug for the sake of personal bias/support of someone I loved and cared for a lot. We'll get back to that. I say all of this because the movie ironically failed to do much of anything NEW, something the series itself kind of struggled with for a while until it finally got around to the conclusion of Steven's story arc. The film ultimately kind of ends with "yeah Steven can change!" Which, um yea? Obviously. He's a completely different person than he was in S1. But he's kiiiiinda been the same person for....some while now. The weird irony of SU as a series is that about halfway through the narrative, the protag has essentially grown up, done. The last half or third or so of SU's narrative was basically Steven having to cheer everyone around him up and help them deal with their shit, and...kinda just going about that essentially the same way every time. The power of love, the friends we made along the way, etc. To be clear, there's nothing BAD about this, and in fact it's what sets Steven apart from most every other narrative of this type. The protag is almost always forced to change in ways they don't want, do things they don't want to do, etc. But when you put it side by side with something like Avatar or Gravity Falls, those series saw everyone growing alongside each other. There are clear arcs for everyone, almost all of which get resolved in ways fitting each character. It's imperfect but it's varied. SU has a tendency to just...hammer everyone's character flaws and arcs with ONE option: just love yourself and be nice, and everyyyyyyythinggggg 'll work out in the end! Which is fine, but when a story does it for so long, over and over, always the same, it gets a bit weird. I specifically LIKED in the film, at the end, that Steven actually does have to fight, because THAT is what Spinel needed to do. She needed to let out all of that anger, and that violence was her own way of doing it. 'you can't just sing a song to make everything go away' etc. It's typical, perhaps, for protagonists to have to tackle problems in different ways because that's LIFE. The fact is, Steven's approach will NOT save everyone. Lapis stilllll kinda stands as an example of this but an as of yet unresolved one. I liked that at the end of things, Spinel still doesn't come into the same fold as everyone else. Basically "sorry, I already fucked this up too much, I can't really deal with this," and that is IMPORTANT and I really liked it. Before really digging into the personal angle, I want to bring up how fascinating it is that the movie essentially had a real BUDGET and so they deliberately seemed to design an antagonist that would take full advantage of that animation budget. EASILY, by far, Spinel is the most interesting-to-watch antag in the whole series imo, in terms of how she moves and fights, etc. They really just wanted to flex and they did it, but like any SU antag there's (somewhat predictable) motives. This gets back at what I was saying before -- how the series spins its wheels a lot -- but Spinel's motivation/back story isssss kiiiinnndaaaa a lot like many many characters' issues and, like, I get it. We get it. Steven's Mom was Not The Best does that have to be the basis behind kinda EVERYONE who goes against Steven? Or the Gems? Lapis, Bismuth, and Peridot all offered more varied motivations, and even THEN, Bismuth was still essentially in the same boat? Anyway, I digress. I DO appreciate the way the series set up Rose as this wondrous lovely lady and has severely dissected and broken that down to the point where I really do not like Rose, in any of her ID's, as a character or a fictional person, and it did so gradually. A lot of what the movie did was kind of expected. Right? Songs, singing, check. Steven going about things the same way, check. Re-living/celebrating how far he and his moms have come, check. What I didn't expect was -- OK, well, there WAS that one fusion...which, um

But the actual thing that really latched onto me was how much I conncted with Spinel. As is the case with any story that has well presented characters, you can attach to SOME part of just about all of them. I associate most closely with Pearl overall but can relate with just about anyone prominent. I see parts of me and Jenny in Steven/Connie, in Ruby/Sapphire, in Peridot/Lapis. I see what kind of woman I might've become in Amethyst (and sometimes am). Spinel, though, is a really weird case because I see my adolescent self in her SO MUCH and yet fairly recent events in my life -- directly tied TO the show itself, mind you -- make that connection weirdly poignant and present. For some context, I used to be good friends with Aivi, one of the musicians who works on the series with their husband. Spring 2018, Aivi and I vocalized to each other that we considered one another one of the closest friends in each other's lives. We're no longer friends. To make sure this is clear, I think Aivi is a wonderful person, and our breaking apart wasn't violent or dramatic or anything, Aivi just...decided they weren't interested in the relationship anymore. And neglected to tell me this until like a year later. The context is of course not at ALL as severe or dramatic as Spinel/Pink, so please don't assume there's some one-to-one there. But OOF are there some harsh similarities and it really made Spinel's backstory sting in a very confusing way. I say 'confusing' because, as I mentioned, I see my adolescent self in Spinel. The way I was going about making friends matches her 'happy' self. The way I acted in my senior year of college matches her 'angry' self. There was no single person that created any of that, though. In high school, I was like Starfire, in college, I tried to nurture that, play to my strengths. I failed miserably. And what I feel is a big part of why is inherently tied to my transitioning (which is, still, something I feel I am failing miserably at). By the end of college I was more like Raven, and there I remained through the duration of my first long-term romance, into a very weird and atypical marriage and breakup, and then I moved to CA and started changing. Fittingly, my current self can't quite ID with any single Teen Titan. I'm not a teen anymore, after all. Throughout a lot of my friendship with Aivi, they really seemed to fixate on comparing me to Pearl. It sometimes made me uncomfortable the particular ways they did, though. I strongly identified with Pearl's flaws and strengths in personality (though we're obviously different people), and so seeing Pearl go through redemption via self-love and self-acceptance meant a lot to me. "It's Over, Isn't It?" I was IN THE ROOM listening to Aivi and their husband work on the chorus to that song. Obviously they couldn't talk about it but I knew damn well what it was about, and anticipated that piece for a long time. Now it's even more weirdly painful. I met Aivi because they made Mario arrangements they put on YouTube and they happened to live a few blocks away when I was subletting my first summer in CA. They seemed very kind and caring and eager to Be Nice and at the time I really needed that at a very vulnerable and fragile time in my life so I latched onto that. -In The Garden- The week when the LiS terfs freaked out on me and that Bad Spinel side of me lashed back, and I found myself suffering from being gaslit and facing the fact that the worst part of myself that Trigon in Raven's mind that Angry Spinel was still THERE was still ME It was too much For the first (and thankfully, only) time in my life, I experienced suicidal thoughts. And Aivi REACTED to that shit. Strongly. In a way no one ever had for me before, ever. They drove across the Bay to my house, picked me up, had me over, and helped me process it. And in the months to come, as I was healing and coming to terms with how That Worst Part of Me That I Wanted to BE RID OF was still THERE and apparently could just fucking show up, through all of that, Aivi helped me work through things, and we really bonded. In retrospect, though, it's SO damned hard for me to tell if Aivi and I became so close because of mutual respect or pity or just conditioned behavior to Be Nice and Keep Up Appearances. I dunno. What I know NOW is that apparently Cost More than I would've thought. I'm not Aivi so I don't want to really dig into 'dirt' (again, Aivi is a great person who works very hard and that's WHY their work is so good) but looking back, it's wild to see their progression into SUCCESS and fame while I just stood by, floundering The thing is, Aivi was a super busy person. We barely got to spend time together -- when we DID, it was a multi-hour affair and apart from like, Jenny, Aivi is prolly the person I've had the deepest, most vulnerable conversations with. They were next to me when I realized 'oh huh I'm maybe trans??' because they were there when I was at one of the lowest points in my life. I never ASKED them to be there, to Be So Nice and as it turns out, Being So Nice is harder than it looks. So to kind of loop this back to the movie, I wasn't some Skullgirls Peacock Cuphead grinny goof or anything like that but I AM WILLING to bet that from Aivi's POV the way Happy Spinel acts toward Steven is prolly how I felt in Aivi's life at points, at the least. The irony is that we would go weeks, months, barely interacting. But looking back, the way Aivi talked about things, the same phrase keeps dominating my mind: Aivi got bored of me. I wasn't 'useful' to them anymore. Aivi said that day in spring 2018 was like 'the climax' of our friendship, or something like that. Way they talked about it was like...the finale of a season of TV. Our character arc together was over. Even though we TALKED about it, came to mutual understandimng of The Logic behind Aivi's decision to cut ties, I don't think it ever REALLY made sense to me, how Aivi must've felt about our friendship, until Spinel. By spring of 2019, my role in Aivi's life -- from what they have told me, from what I can perceive -- was more like I existed in a separate space from the rest of their life. I was that one interesting person always waiting in The Garden for them to visit when they felt like it Because while Aivi had gotten BIG, gotten MARRIED, gotten a HOUSE, found legitimate SUCCESS in their creative field I was still poor still stuck in retail still unable to find an audience still unable to understand the pressures of Success And OOOOFFF in those last couple years, interacting became more and more strained for both of us, from opposite ends of things. Aivi had responsibilities, PEOPLE vying for their attention, people wanting to hire them, projects to complete, a house, a spouse, etc etc My life was (and kiiiinda still is?) nothing like that, and as our Mutual Creatives Struggling to MAKE THINGS and Get By transforming into Yep I Am Still Here but you are SUCCESSFUL I think that really put a lot of strain on things I never accepted until Spinel. After Aivi hit it big with SU, in particular, they gradually started...acting differently. Acting in ways that made less and less sense to me. They were a Diamond now. And I was still just what I was. When drawing comparisons to characters on the show, Aivi persistently compared me to Pearl. A fact I once took pride in. They repeatedly compared themself to Garnet. Which...always kind of didn't make sense to me. Aivi wasn't really like Garnet. They are more NOW, though? In the sense of how they act, I suppose. Specifically, one of the last things Aivi said to me was that trying to be friends with me had started feeling like Pearl trying to force Garnet to fuse with her. This was problematic because from my POV nothing of the sort was happening. All I was looking for was occasionally hanging out a few times a year. Like. Ya know. Actually a lot less than what I was looking for with basically all of my other friends. And that was still Too Much? But when I start looking at things like Pink Diamond and Spinel instead of Pearl and Garnet, somehow things make a lot more sense. I was probably too clingy, too exciteable, and what amusement or relief I could provide eventually stopped being useful. Aivi eventually didn't even want to spend time with friends to just...spend time with them. Everything had to have some kind of practical Purpose to it, it had to be contributing to a Goal. I still don't get that, tbh. But I'm also not A Diamond. I'm not Successful. The most responsibility I have right now is fucking hanging up the laundry to dry. I have college loans that have and continue to feel pointless to try and repay. I have severe dental problems I haven't been able to fix. My body fell out of shape because of retail hell, and what energy I’ve had to spare from that always ends up going into the people I love, and trying to keep Making Things. Let's not forget The Complications of coming out and wanting to transition but not possessing the resources to do so. (Aivi was actually super supportive of this btw and was the first person to make me feel comfortable wearing feminine things so yea) Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that MY LIFE is not together. My personality is? I feel like I am finally Myself in terms of mental/emotional stability. And that is largely because Jenny helped me get there. But Aivi helped a lot with that, too. But I think Aivi got to a point where Success was more of a measure of how Grown Up and Healthy one was because despite my behavior, my personality, my mood, what I was asking for, and what I was giving, all changing DRASTICALLY after being with Jenny, I think Aivi still...looked at me the way Pink Diamond looked at Spinel during that song. Like, "yeeeaaaa ok kiddo it's time for me to go now, kinda done here" This is what's so confusing about all of this metaphor/etc. I'm not...like Spinel anymore? My current, post-coming-out self doesn't really relate with Happy OR Angry Spinel. It's almost like Aivi couldn't see me for who I became, and could only see me for who I had been. And maybe that's like why Spinel can't be friends with Steven at the end. It's too painful. I used to take pride in being associated with Pearl because "I'm enough" and "being strong in the REAL way" but now it's more like "oh you just think I'm still hung up and needy and clingy?" which uh don't feel so great a comparison. I can't help but wonder if while working on the movie, Aivi saw some of themself in Pink. Because I'm not the only person who apparently wasn't 'useful' to them anymore. And I'm not saying we should've kept forcing something that wasn't working. Not at all. What we had was good for both us, but it also entailed a lot of patience on my part and effort on theirs. And unlike any of my other long term friends, I often ended up waiting weeks, months, "Happily wondering night after night, Is this how it works? Am I doing it right?"

Years and years of broken friendships, one after the other, most lasting merely 6 months, MAYBE a year at most, with a handful that have lasted since middle school (but which are so much harder to maintain) took a toll on my Adult Self until Jenny, anyway. For quite a long time - the majority of my life, currently - I assumed I just was Too Different and that was why my friendships didn't seem to last, didn't seem to extend to the depths I was looking for. That's perhaps one critical difference between Spinel and I: she's looking for FUN, for smiling faces, for attention, for creating smiles, I just want some fucking consistency. At this point, I'm not even sure WHY I still reach out to people. I don't NEED friendships in that desperate way I used to, back in the Happy/Angry Spinel times. And I've come to terms with that Other Max part of myself and integrated it, accepted it. My worst parts are still me and instead of suppressing them (often by relying on bids of deep friendship with others) I just have to let them EXIST and let them do their thing once in a while. This is ALL why Celeste hit me as hard as it did. Because even if I'm not actually much like Spinel anymore, and Aivi's not really like Pink Diamond, even if I don't actually share much in common with Madeline (other than the subtle 'I drink sometimes to deal with my problems' thing, which I don't anymore) I still comprehend and resonate so much with that concept of just needing to accept the worst parts of yourself and work with them rather than trying to keep them caged up and then they escape and rampage every 5-10 years or so and ruin your life As I felt myself coming to all of these Good Feelings I FINALLY felt like I could help Aivi in the ways they had helped me. That I finally had something to offer I didn't before. Turns out, I didn't, apparently. Aivi had More Important Things to do than visit me in The Garden. And I couldn't blame them. Not a bit. Especially if they had gotten bored of visiting me. I didn't like feeling like a burden on them, either. Can't really argue with that. During the last time we talked, Aivi didn't use the WORDS, didn't literally say them, but I finally could see it: I wasn't Useful anymore. I couldn't Understand, either, because I wasn't Successful. Our friendship was rewarding, but because it required effort. And that effort was still worth it to me, but no longer to them. I was no longer worth it. And despite that, despite starting to feel those hunches, I spent those final months -- as had been the case before, they were afraid to hurt me so avoided actually confronting the problem -- I remained "Happy to listen, Happy to stay Happily watching her drift away" I have no idea if any aspect of our friendship impacted anything Aivi had worked on creatively. TBH Aivi seemed to approach even relationships themselves with more of a logical, pragmatic style -- it was entirely unique compared to anyone I had ever connected with. But if you've read @lis-allwounds then it might not surprise you to know that a lot of what I expressed through Stella and Max, as well as Other Max and Another Stella, channels a lot of these things. I even quoted Aivi directly in the story's end (perhaps foolishly optimistic) And yes, that epilogue moment of sorts is gonna be entirely different if I ever do finish the visual novel. The fact is that we were ALWAYS very different people and our friendship was weird and complicated and hard for one or both of us throughout its, what, 8 year duration? Ironically, I think I took away the opposite 'Character Arc Lesson' they did from all this. But that's just the thing, nothing is permanent for a Human Being. We aren't Gems, we don't actually fuse, we can't just change our appearances when we feel like it, or project ourselves to look how we want to look, or exist for thousands of years. But we DO all have different needs, different ways of understanding those needs, and different ways of needing to adjust or change ourselves or our environments in order to pursue what we want to pursue with the limited time we have here. We tried, hard, and it lasted long enough. If I'm not useful, I'm not useful, I guess? I don't have any ill will toward Aivi, I loved them as a friend and I know they loved me, too, and were better at showing it than most any friends I ever have had. If I'd been better at reciprocating in ways that were actually useful, that would've been good -- but then maybe we wouldn't have become friends in the first place if I hadn't needed 'saving' in the first place, I don't fuckin' know. And I hope my saying all of these things doesn't make anyone think any less of Aivi because your relationship with them is, very likely, not at all personal like mine is. And you know as well as I do how good they are at what they do. Aivi took the time to ease me out of things. Aivi did NOT suddenly up and vanish for thousands of years. While the dynamics of the situation might bare sharp points of similarity, Aivi is not like Pink Diamond and I'm not like Spinel -- not in the present, anyway. Stories help us because they share THREADS with reality but it's always important to recognize those threads for what they are and not confuse them for ropes. And me ranting and tossing all of this out there is something part of me has wanted to do for months but needed to take the time to grieve and process and accept. And maybe it's selfish to be posting all of this, I don't know. But it helps me accept myself and them a lot more. "Finally something finally news about how the story ends" Aivi likely has brand new friends, better ones than me, and I'm willing to bet some of them worked on this movie. And it turned out pretty good, all things considered, probably in part because Aivi was able to focus on it That person I became friends with, she doesn't exist anymore. Just like how who I used to be when Aivi first me, he doesn't exist anymore, either. We both changed, and grew in opposite directions, I guess. We've found happiness and growth and relief in different ways. In the end the Movie helped me come to terms with all of this in a way Angry Spinel younger me couldn't have still hurts yo

"Isn't that lovely?

Isn't that cool?

Isn't that cruel?

And aren't I a fool

to have happily listened,

happy to stay,

happily watching her drift away"

[banndsand]

If there’s one thing I’ve learned

it’s that I can’t manage to stick to one hobby for long. So why not just make a variety blog?

Today’s theme:

Anime

Or more specifically, fall 2018 anime. What’s been good? What’s been meh? What’s been just awful? (Just kidding we don’t talk about that last one.)

Run with the Wind

I knew this would be near the top of my list in the first few minutes of the first episode. When Haiji asks “Hashiru no suki ka?” and Unison Square Garden takes it away... I just, oof. I knew I’d watch this one to the end.

But for those not immediately sucked in by the first 2 minutes, what the heck is it?

Run with the Wind is a show about a rag-tag group of college guys who have been gathered together in a mad attempt to run the Hakone Ekiden, a big ol’ relay marathon type race in Japan which afaik is a Big Deal TM. These dudes generally have little experience running, so it seems ludicrous that they could accomplish such a feat, but that’s honestly not what matters.

Like running itself, it’s every step you take along the way that matters, not the finish line. These are good boys (plus one very good dog) who are just doing their best to improve. Skepticism gives way to hope as you see these boys progress and come together as a team. There are of course challenges along the way, clashing of ideas, and even rivals and potentially some big dramatic twists. That last part I just figure is coming based on what I’ve seen so far.

Of course the show also looks great. The style reminds me a lot of Haikyuu which I super enjoyed (it’s actually the show that got me into sports anime)! Sometimes you can tell CG models are used, such as when there are just way too many runners on-screen at once, but tbh they look fine. CG has come a long way and the technique is used pretty sparingly in this show.

The characters are great. Everyone’s got motivations for taking part (or not taking part) in this race. They’ve all got their own personalities and struggles in this, and you can probably find yourself in at least one of them at some point in the show.

So yeah, Run with the Wind. I highly recommend it.

Next up...

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime

Oh no, another isekai?! Oh yes, another isekai!

Lately I’ve been giving a lot of isekai shows a chance and have been pleasantly surprised on numerous occasions. I quite enjoyed Overlord, though I came close to dropping it a few times. I found How Not to Summon a Demon Lord uh... fun, if only in the way where you can just turn your brain off and try to laugh at the ridiculous fanservice. These shows where the protagonist is OP as heck have regained some freshness after the likes of Konosuba and Re;Zero have redefined the genre by turning it on its head.

You may be asking yourself “so what’s this got to do with Slime show?”

Yes, yes, I’m getting to that.

In That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, the titular Slime character (who I will refer to as Slime-san) used to be a regular human, until he went and died. His dying words were used to generate his new form in a new world. But people say weird stuff when they’re dying, don’t they? Oh yes.

Slime-san us the result of some borked interpretations of regular, if slightly odd, statements. Making far-flung interpretations is the kind of thing that I love to do just as a mental exercise, and is thus a great start. This was probably the lure that brought me to the hook.

Awoken in this new world, Slime-san does what any person in a strange world would do, they interact with their environment in the only way they can, by absorbing stuff in their slime body. This leads to the character combining more weird stuff together to get weird results in ways that take me back to the days of Kirby 64, where combining abilities was amazing and novel. Oh yes, this hook looks tasty.

And of course, the art style is great. Even in a cave, with a character who is for all intents and purposes just a soft orb of slime, this show looks great! Every episode I am again floored by the wonderful art style and animation bringing this world to life.

And you know what’s the best part?

For the first month or so of watching, there were almost no boobs in the show at all!

Now, don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with boobs, but in this day and age of isekai shows that are more fanservice and self-insertion than anything, I am so freaking ready to have a break from the squishier parts of female characters. We have our squishy main character, Slime-san, so why should we need anything more?

(Of course there are some more fanservicey characters and scenes later on, but it feels a lot more manageable and not just forced on the viewer from the start.)

The one flaw I hear often for this show is that the main character is overpowered, so it gets boring after a while. I can see how folks would come to this conclusion when reading the manga, but when watching the anime week after week, it feels like there is still enough tension and/or uncertainty for things not to get stale, especially when you take into account the show’s other redeeming factors. ...Plus I’ve seen plenty of shounen series go on forever with undefeatable main characters (I won’t point any fingers) so I’m not really sure what people are expecting.

All in all, if you feel you might get tired of that kind of thing, then it might be worth skipping That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, but I honestly feel like the show has so many redeeming qualities that I just can’t seem to get tired of it. I look forward to seeing how far this series may go before that happens.

Zombie Land Saga

Hey do you like idol shows? No? Well how about giving this one a spin anyway?

Honestly, I have to watch more of this show. The main thing holding me back is the fact I like it so much that I want to share it with people, and then scheduling problems get in the way.

This show is absolutely hilarious. I don’t know if the plot will ever make sense, and I honestly don’t care. I just want to see these zombie gals try their best to make sense of this situation they’re in. And of course I want to see the manager shout. I just need more of manager man’s shouting in my life. I don’t know why.

The characters are funny and endearing, all exceptionally cute waifu material, and they’ve all got their own background (i.e. previous life) to grapple with before they can really shine as idols. Their goofy antics as a group make for some really crazy shows, which is refreshingly different from (as far as I know) just a bunch of CG idol girls jumping around in fancy costumes for 4 minutes per episode.

So just give it a look. If you aren’t into it after an episode or two, that’s fair. But otherwise it is way too easy to overlook this crazy rollercoaster ride of a show.

Anyway

this post is getting obscenely long, I’m gonna wrap things up and say to go check out these shows. I think when the season ends I’ll try to put together a more cohesive overview of the season’s anime. I’ve got a few ideas.

Of course I also want to hear what y’all have been watching in the comments below. I am always down to check out any shows I may have overlooked! That’s usually how I find my favourites. So don’t be shy!

[valliass]

Early thoughts on Age of Calamity from someone who’s put waayyy too many hours into og hyrule warriors

I’m aware I’m about a month late to the party and everyone who might be wanting to know what’s up already does, but I finally caved and bought aoc and wanted to share my first impressions after a few hours of gameplay Spoilers, duh, but like. If you’ve even watched the opening cutscene you already know what’s up

First of all: The controls

Since I’m so used to the “zelda” control scheme in og, being locked into the classic warriors control scheme feels extremely awkward to me, especially when it comes to clicking in the R stick to lock onto enemies. It just feels wrong. However, for someone who hasn’t put tons of grinding into og, I’m sure it’s 100% fine. One thing that’s not fine: The camera controls when aiming something such as Link’s bow or most characters’ bomb rune abilities. It’s incredibly clunky, as if there’s a slight slant to the ground or an object like a fence or something blocking your way, the camera will completely stop moving in that direction and/or yank itself the opposite way, messing with your aim. I was doing a side quest earlier where you’re meant to defeat groups of enemies by hitting explosive barrels near them. I went “Okay, I can just use the bow to hit them from afar without blowing myself up, easy” and while half the time it was just that, the other was spent wrestling with the camera to try and get it to do what I wanted. I’m going to toggle settings around in a bit and see if anything improves, and maybe this won’t be a problem on maps with more even terrain, but it’s come up in pretty much every mission I’ve done thus far. Aside from this one major issue, the game controls pretty smoothly Secondly: The content Age of calamity definitely feels a lot more like a cohesive rpg than og hyrule warriors ever did. It’s one experience with one storyline, and feels a bit less video-gamey (if that makes sense?) than og. This time around, the reason to play is the story, while last time the draw was learning to master the mechanics/playstyles to get high scores. Neither of these is necessarily better than the other, but you should be expecting different things coming in. One thing to note is that this newer focus on story and having one connected experience means there’s no additional game modes aside from the main campaign and whatever side quests you find on the map. I’ve heard there’s some post-game content, but I’ve also heard of people 100 percent-ing the entire game in the span of a few days, which means there’s a lot less additional content than in og. And by a lot, I mean a lot. Age of calamity has 159 non-story missions. In adventure mode alone, og hyrule warriors has 11k. I couldn’t find a list of challenge mode missions anywhere, but those would probably bump it up to around 12/12.5k. Big difference. Huge. Again, the focus here is on the story and they were absolutely going for rpg instead of arcade-y hack and slash here. Still, it’s worthy to keep in mind that in exchange for the higher-quality main campaign, you’re not going to be able to play age of calamity basically forever and still have more content to complete like you can with og. There’s also less playstyles, but that’s a non-issue. The absurd size of og’s cast was the exception, not the rule, and considering it had all of zelda canon plus its own ocs to pull from and age of calamity only had botw, they did extremely well with what they had. I’ve watched a ton of footage of each playstyle, and all the characters are very unique and deep with their own mechanics to learn. The four I’ve gotten my hands on so far (one-handed sword link, impa, sheikah slate zelda, and mipha) feel incredibly varied to control. The roster is great. Lastly: Smaller points and nitpicks/compliments that weren’t worthy of their own sections.

The marketing was incredibly misleading. This is not a prequel. This is a spin-off. They make it clear from the very first cutscene and confirm that “yes this is not going to lead into botw at all” right after story mission two. I feel slightly betrayed but already knew that going in, so it didn’t catch me off guard. I guess they thought everyone dying horribly at the end would be too hard on the kids? Beats me.

Oh my god the music slaps it slaps so hard-

Is it just me or does one handed sword link’s range feel way shorter than it should? It feels more like controlling light sword toon link or tetra. Maybe they were just really desperate not to have a repeat of og hyrule warriors link breaking the game harder than glass tossed off a skyscraper lmao Art direction is beautiful. Aside from some rare small weird shading from the cel-shader, everything looks fantastic. This is just personal preference, but I definitely wish characters talked a bit less. You start to get tired of the same voice lines playing over and over again for your most used attacks. I miss the occasional vague shouts og had. I might eventually switch to a different language I can’t speak so it’s less noticeable.

Lastly, second shout-out to the music holy SHIT just listen to the remixed champion themes

Annnd that’s about it! I might make a second post/rb when I finish, but for now that’s about all I have to say, and it’s time to get back to it!