#haru; i want to be a protagonist

[variouscolors-old]

A certain new hero is here.

[laugtherhyena]

No way Carol makes halloween art for once!! Turns out drawing characters dressed as other characters is very fun :]

I actually had the idea to draw Kizuna as Juliet ages back when i saw that Lolipop chainsaw was getting a remaster, but i decided to wait till halloween for that since it felt most appropriate. Then i thought it be fun to draw Haruhiko as Denji, mainly because i always read his lines with his voice in the english dub

And you know it's not me if i didn't made Ayame as well lmao, i did say ages back that she reminds me of Legosi from Beastars sooooooo

[lovelyyandereaddictionpoint]

A Changed Future (2) | Yandere Isekai

Part 1

It’s so irritating for Haruko 

He remembers how he used to try and make noise in the beginning, when the same thing happened to him

But even without your struggling, he’s got more obstacles than he thought

“Tch all these guys getting in our way, maybe I should just kill them.”

“Haru no!”

“Why not, I'm sure you did it when I was trapped.”

“That…that doesn’t make it right!”

“So? Who cares about right when we’re in love? I think it was you who said that.”

Either way with or without your approval he’s figuring out a way to take down his newfound rivals

He kind of hopes they are as ambitious as the friends who recently abandoned him

Too bad they aren’t

In the original story, the crazy thing about the protagonist was that despite their obsessive love for Haruko and general disregard for those who got in the way of that was otherwise really inspiring

Breaking away from their elitist family for their violent morals ironic right

Joining the workforce, easily rising because of their work ethic and intelligence

And all that while beautifully evading a less-than-clean detective trying to pin the blame of random crimes on them

Which of course got them their own male leads attempting to pursue their affections

Always doomed to fall short because of circumstance or the protagonist suavely crushing their hopes to gush about their love

It was a uniquely terrible tragedy for their characters to be written this way

That’s what the random reviewers would say

Which is why you did feel inclined to maybe entertain them a bit more than the original protagonist would have ever done

“Since you are quitting….I hope you’ll let me treat you to dinner. For all your hard work of course.”

“Uh sure but I have to be home by sunset.”

“That’s a shame then we’ll have to—Wait. Did you say you would?”

“Yeah, are you okay?”

“YES! Ahem I mean yes I’m fine! I look forward to a nice evening together!”

Unknowingly furthering the obsession the protagonist was barely keeping at bay

“So mind telling me what you ordered that day at the restaurant?”

“I think it was my favorite dish there called the berry delight but I’m not sure. I think they changed the menu since I was there.”

“Why not confirm it later today? That way you can tell me if you did see the missing classmate of yours.”

“But I don’t remember exactly where I sat–”

“Then we’ll just have to sit in every spot until it rings a bell.”

“I don’t know if that’s–”

“Don’t fret. I’ll be paying but there's no way we’ll get to try every table. We’ll have to come back multiple times.”

“Okay…”

“No worries I’m sure you’ll get tired of eating there so we’ll go to some other places to give you a rest. Anywhere you wanted to try?”

You’d be foolish to think you could escape them by agreeing to Haruko’s entrapping of you 

It only takes a day of you not responding to messages that they both eagerly awaiting you at your door

And after the first few times, Haruko shooing them away they begin to get resourceful

“Yeah bud nice try their still out.”

“Hm well say that to my lovely warrant right here.”

“Wait! H-h-hold on! Geez I-i’ll go get them now but they are not going to be happy with you!”

It really doesn’t get better as the guard against the protagonist’s secrets begins to be let down as interested parties slowly make their way in

You don’t have the same ruthlessness or ability to deceive as the protagonist you took over for 

On top of that you never actually read the webtoon so you’ll be left trying to piece together whatever few weak points the protag has

Where if you hadn’t already started to make your pursuers interested all those faults are fuel for their agenda

“It’s so unfortunate that the company can sign off on your absence during this suspicious crime but I don’t mind editing records if you wouldn’t mind spending time with me. That way I can vet your personality myself. Over wine of course!”

It’s overwhelming constantly being pulled in 3 directions 

What’s worse you’re completely oblivious when the latest obstacle in the protag’s perfect life finally makes themselves known

“Hello darling, it took us years to find you but we did it!”

“Don’t look like that come give your Mama a hug!”

Part 3: Coming Soon

[yarrayora]

i like how falin being a maiden to be saved, a reward to be coveted, isn't a point to criticize in dungeon meshi. because we have various other female characters who are written as having their own agency

we have marcille, of course, whose story can be observed since chapter 1. how she's not depicted as the "girl team member" but "part of the team". when you're writing a protagonist group where there's only one female character among the male cast, you can always feel this sense of alienation in the writing, like she doesn't belong in the group as the story focuses on the rest of the boys. the way masashi kishimoto writes team 7 is a major example

but marcille is still allowed to be a "typical girl" who doesn't want to eat gross things and enjoy feminine clothing without forgetting the fact that she's a multifaceted person. she's a researcher who isn't afraid to get dirty when it's something relevant to magic and her goal, even though she's also grossed out at the idea of feces being used as fertilizer for crops

and when falin comes back as a monster who can't speak, it's still not a point to criticize. oftentimes stories involving female characters losing their speech (or, well, becoming disabled in some way) is meant to make her vulnerable, a fragile 'something' to be protected. but this is not an argument about how chimera falin is super strong, because that's a shallow way of thinking that ignores the fact that being a Girlboss doesn't ensure your female character is written as a fully realized person. this is about the fact that almost right after that Izutsumi joins Laios' party.

She joins late in the game, so it'll be easy for her to only be tacked on as an afterthought. A notable example would be Okumura Haru from Persona 5, where her character gets overshadowed a lot by the other party members' more colorful personalities, as if the writer wasn't sure how to integrate her into the already developed dynamic.

there's also how she's written as a sweet and shy girl yet the way her school uniform is designed betrays that image. it's heavily customized even compared to the trendy girl like ann which means it's impossible for her outfit to not go against school regulation. not something an obedient girl would have done. which makes me wonder if they couldn't decide on her writing until last minute.

but Izutsumi is different. her involvement and her own personal story arc eventually intertwines to the overarching plot. she hates having her options limited. she hates having responsibilities to uphold. she hates eating veggies! she hates that people expects her to do things their way! she wants freedom to do whatever she wants!

but in the end she learns that to have the freedom to choose, she has to uphold her responsibilities. starting from the simple things like taking care of her health by eating balanced meals, not just the ones she enjoy. she has to do work to get enough money for her food and travels. and she has to learn how society works so she can live independently. she has to learn which desire she has to prioritize that she can balance out with her responsibility as a living being.

her own self-realization culminates into her giving advice to laios that leads to him steeling his resolves to become king.

so you have Falin, who gets turned into a monster that cant communicate her desire and needs while under the mad sorcerer's control, and in exchange you get Izutsumi, the 'beastman' who knows exactly what she wants and throws a tantrum about it without shame, not understanding that what you want isn't always what you need. i think it's a really cool parallel!

this is a prime example of how tropes that get associated with misogynistic writing can be used as a proper tool that serves a narrative when you have more than multiple female characters having their own character arcs

in fact, you can apply this to pretty much every other things. when you're writing gay characters, having only one of them and they act camp can make people raise an eyebrow at whether this is meant to be a caricature of gay people or not. having two of them and one acts camp and one acts normie can be read as a bias against gay people expressing themselves. writing multiple gay characters, all with different personalities and desires will avoid accidental stereotyping.

even the minor female characters, be it the canaries or namari, help show that the way the narrative treats Falin isn't born from thinking that women are an alien breed compared to men. that her lack of agency means something for the themes involved.

[maespri]

oh my i never really saw myself making a post like this, but i really wanna talk about morgana! more specifically… why i don’t really understand the hate he receives.

for starters, i know a lot of people dislike mona because he gets on ryuji’s case often. his squabbling with ryuji can get hurtful at times too, i know, but i feel like so many people conveniently leave out the fact that… ryuji returns fire? it’s not as though mona is constantly attacking poor ryuji who can’t defend himself; it’s a two-sided fight throughout most of the game. both of them are constantly fueling the fire. not to mention, it’s a fight that eventually ends. both individuals have great character development (i could talk about it for /ages/, but i digress) that ends with their fighting essentially ceasing entirely. they’re both dumb teenage boys, they both said dumb stuff to each other, and they both hurt each other, and all of that is recognized and left in the past.

the hatred toward mona in general is something i struggle to understand entirely. you hate this cat because he tells you to go to bed? the game would have told you to do that one way or another, because it’s a game. there have to be constraints, or you’d get terribly overpowered incredibly fast. i wholeheartedly agree that mona’s lacking in comparison to the other characters in many ways- but i’ve never hated him, and was surprised to see a lot of people did.

maybe i’m just weirdly empathetic toward fictional characters, but i really liked his storyline. mona’s been with the protagonist since day one, helping him out, staying with him, encouraging and supporting him in everything he does, navigating them through mementos and palaces and battles… and he’s never really appreciated for any of it. obviously, the other phantom thieves do the same and don’t require any extra praise, but morgana already has a complex stemming from the fact that he’s not human. inherently, he believes he’s not nearly as good as any of the others, and subsequently, that he isn’t good enough in general- and he’s so ashamed of that that he can’t even voice the concern to the protagonist pre-okumura’s palace. it made sense to me when he snapped and ran away; if you were constantly the black sheep of a group, unable to engage with anyone unless the guy you live with is always there as well, wouldn’t you yearn for autonomy too? (don’t even get me started on the haru parallels there; there’s a reason morgana snapped during the okumura arc.) if you felt expendable and there wasn’t ever an effort made to prove otherwise, purposeful or not, wouldn’t you also want to leave? to spare both yourself, and the people you’re leaving? i really liked his arc because it led to two realizations- that he was pivotal to the group, and it was fine if he ended up not being a human. (and honestly, he was pivotal to my group… who else would i use to heal everyone outside of battle…!)

anyway, his objectification of women was weird. didn’t like that. but this is a JRPG, and he’s not the only one who does strange things like that at times (why was ryuji looking at ann’s chest in the mona bus outside futaba’s palace man…). honestly, his flirting was also weird at times, but as long as it never got strangely sexual, i didn’t really mind? it’s not like it ever genuinely bothers ann either as far as i remember. it’s more just a stupid thing he does.

anyway… i dunno. i like the kitty. he’s silly, he kept me company, and he made my playthrough fun. life is so much more beautiful when you carry love in your heart rather than resentment

[cryptiam]

Sims 4 CC - Persona 5 Strikers: Outfits + RV Deco:

[Some items are high-poly (around 10k for RV + Makoto)]

Features:

Protagonist/Ren/Akira Daily Outfit + Shoes + Watch (Left-Wrist)

Ann Takamaki Daily Outfit: Tops/Shorts + Shoes + Bracelet (Right-Wrist)

Ryuji Sakamoto Daily Outfit + Shoes

Yusuke Kitagawa Daily Outfit

Makoto Niijima Daily Outfit

Futaba Sakura Daily Outfit + Shoes

Get her hat in the Sakura Family Hairs pack here:

Haru Okumura Daily Outfit + Shoes + Bracelet (Right-Wrist)

Kuon Ichinose Hair + Outfit

RV/Truck deco [High poly! ~10k on LOD0]

CC Info:

Teen-Elders

RV Deco is High-Poly: LOD0 - 10k

Base Game Compatible

Disabled for Randoms

Custom thumbnails

All LODs

Credits:

Atlus/SEGA owns the Persona series and assets.

Models from necroalx

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[insufferableprotagonistpoll]

Propaganda why Aang is insufferable:

He has some very bad ideas that the narrative never explores and gets rewarded by the narrative for bad behavior.

Mostly just the way he deals with his crush on Katara and kind of forces it on her. It’s honestly really shitty because she never truly reciprocated his feelings and had plenty of moments where she shows she’s just trying not to hurt his feelings with a straight up rejection, but ends up with him in the end just because that’s what he wanted.

Like we know what it looks like when Katara actually has a crush on someone, she wouldn’t let the situation like the war affect how she feels about demonstrating those feelings when she’s so in touch with them. Like how she was with Jet and Haru. I just wish the writing team did a better job of showing Katara developing feelings for Aang way better than they did lol.

Made a series that was otherwise reasonably tolerable impossible to watch. I hate that all the jokes written for his character target 8-year-olds exclusively. Also his little TV show keeps appearing on my dash no matter how many words I block and I hate it

Propaganda why Gregory is insufferable:

This boy is so poorly written, it hurts. In the gameplay, he just acts annoyed and pissed off the whole time. Then, in the endings, he becomes a whole other character who acts scared and sad, which does not match the previous hours of gameplay AT ALL

But that just annoyed me

What really made me hate him was the GGY and Robot Gregory stuff, because OH NO, Gregory could not just be a normal kid who got into this situation by chance, he has to be a robotic recreation of the Crying Child, despite not acting one bit like CC, or, according to the GGY story in the books, he's responsible for multiple murders and is Afton's/the Mimic's apprentice.

Just let this kid be fucking normal!

(Also, unlike a lot of people, I really enjoy what the Ruin DLC did to his character. And don't try to say that's still the mimic, the mimic recycles dialog from the main game. This Gregory uses completely unique dialog, and unless the mimic was able to form new words in his voice all of a sudden, that's still him. He had to make a tough decision, one life or over hundreds and I can respect that)

Suffers from being made into another one of Matpat's ""is actually a robot theory"". It is annoying as hell, especially if its canon. We do not need robot children theories in a game about possession, child murder and serial killers. Especially not dumb theories about him being a 'recreation' of someone with a completely different personality. It has completely ruined any enjoyment I had in that character because we're just going back to the Afton family again

Someone made a good point about how his personality seems to be reminiscent of a certain trend where a video game protagonist has to be snarky even though it would’ve worked better for the horror atmosphere if he was more scared because it would’ve made the player feel his fear. I recall people being surprised about his personality and expecting him to be more scared, and I assume the developers were just afraid of ppl calling Gregory “whiny”, but it still feels like a missed opportunity

[harushinkai-daily]

Happy Birthday, Haru Shinkai!!!

Birthday art for 2024, which is also a celebration of this blog’s HUGE milestone of finishing the anime (it only took four years!). In all ways possible, congrats to the boy, our protagonist, our favorite Digimon gogglehead Haru Shinkai, for all the joy he has brought us over the years.

Many thanks to @takatofan, @vidramon, and @nocturnalsleuth for suggesting present ideas (there's a Gatchmon plush, button, and keychain, a Kashinoki Books gift certificate, a homemade bookmark, and a couple of wrapped-up books on the table!). His cake is hamburger-shaped in honor of his favorite food, and Rei’s fancy French dessert this year is croquembouche :D The heads in the foreground are meant to be vague on purpose, feel free to interpret them however you like. Whether it’s more of his friends and family, or those of us who have been following his adventures through the Internet, this picture is for everyone who has ever supported this blog. THANK YOU for sticking with us for so long!

Some closeups and the whole piece without a seam beneath the cut.

Drawing Offmon holding the plush was my favorite part, ngl (but Gatchmon does NOT want to share!)

Presents detail! Realizing I have no concept of money AND I forgot the aviator flaps on the Gatch-keychain orz (It's OK!!! someone will sew them on later)

A couple of crops that I liked!

And finally, here’s the full, stitched-together version!

[skydigiblogs]

If You're A Digimon Fan, Watch Appmon

Sit tight. This one's gonna be a VERY long one, and I'm going to put a lot of it under the read more.

Having just finished Appmon after this year's quest to rewatch a lot of the series subbed, I think it's pretty safe to say that Appmon is, at the moment, one of (if not the) best Digimon series we have. If you want the long and short of it: Appmon builds on everything in its legacy in the Digimon Universe, taking ideas that other entries touch upon and ambitiously attempting to push those questions to the limit.

It's really a long one under the cut guys. Like, long even for us.

Let's dive!

Visuals

I want to talk about why it took me so long to watch Appmon first, though. Appmon started its release in the middle of when the Digimon Tri movies were coming out. I'm sure a lot of us actually skipped over Appmon at the time, or remember a period where people were being weirdly negative about the series due to it being such a different interpretation of digital monsters.

In my case, one of the things that had been giving me pause was the use of 3D models for hybrid animation. Anyone here seen the Champion evolution animations from Tri? Digimon doesn't exactly have a good track record with 3D animation, and even at the time, we were seeing some pretty bad shit out of even the shortest animations in Tri.

In Appmon, nearly almost every App after a certain grade utilizes 3D animation in a hybrid style. And it actually rips straight fire.

I think I talked about this briefly when we were just starting Appmon, but the way that 3D animation is used in the series feels purposeful, rather than some kind of shortcut. In Appmon, all the 3D models have an overlay of code, emphasizing their digital appearance. Whether the 3D models were done with this artistic vision in mind or not (ie: the limitations of 2D meant that 3D models would be easier), it has a distinct look that, even 8 years later, still holds up.

(For the most part. Sorry [Karaoke spoilers]mon. I love you but that model was so not groovy.)

But maybe you're the kind of person who can enjoy anything regardless of visuals. So let's talk about the meat and potatoes a little bit.

Characters

The main Applidrivers (what this season's stand in for Digidestined/Tamers/etc. are) are all incredibly well-written. Each of them gets pretty fair treatment by the writers, and they are all enjoyable characters.

Two of them have vocal/character quirks, but even if you get annoyed by that kind of thing, those two characters are genuinely just extremely sincere in their writing. There's a recap episode before shit starts going way off the walls and they even have a little count to see how many times each of their catchphrases were said up to that point.

I'm not going to talk in detail as to who the different Applidrivers are here, but I will say: each of them has their own motivations for what they're doing, and it's key to why they're involved with the plot at all. Our "protagonist," Haru, is also a huge sweetheart. Him and Manga Taiki would get along.

The supporting cast is also fairly present in the series. They, of course, are not given quite as much screentime as our Applidrivers, but they feel like real people with their own lives. They don't exist just for the sake of our protagonists.

Except maybe Watson. God bless you Watson, you poor kid. You'll get a break one of these days.

Plot/Themes

We're going to keep this to a "if you liked [x] you'll like [y]" format, because I don't want to spoil too much.

If you liked Tamers and its discussion on the consequences of technology on the Real World, you will adore Appmon. This series is deeply interested in the concepts of how technology shapes and is shaped by humanity. This relationship, I would say, is core to the series.

I would also say that, like many non-Adventure series, Appmon is very interested in dissecting the idea of "fate" when it comes to the buddy Appmons and their relationships to the Applidrivers.

If you enjoyed the Xros Wars Manga, Appmon directly converses with the thesis of Xros Wars' plot. XWM asks, "What does it mean if we do not dream and stagnate in our lack of will?" And Appmon replies in kind with "Why do we dream at all, if our actions bring change to the world around us (bad and good)?"

If you liked (or wanted to like, in my case) Digimon Tri, you will love Appmon. Certain plot beats may feel familiar, but are much better executed in this context. Characters are not written to needlessly, endlessly suffer. Or: it doesn't feel like the writers hate the characters. Thematically, it also interests itself in some of the questions that Tri asks. I have a half-joking corkboard comparing the two I want to make, but I'd have to get into spoilers to talk too much about it.

If you liked Ghost Game, but wanted a bit of a more meaty plot, Appmon feels, fittingly, like GG's older sibling (in ways I'll also be elaborating ummm, one paragraph down). There are a lot of "monster of the week" episodes in Appmon, but the connective tissue between them is a lot more interested in building up the finale (which, in this case, takes up a good handful of episodes). The series pacing is incredibly strong in how it does this as well, and it seems the writers really knew when to let off the gas for a second so the audience can catch their breath. The first 13 episodes may feel a bit strange (they felt strange to me), but once you break that barrier, you realize Appmon was getting you over the first hill on a roller coaster. and boy, you are in for a ride.

Setting

I have a sneaking suspicion that Appmon heavily inspired Ghost Game, and may have been itself inspired by the Digiquartz of Hunters Who Leapt Through Time. I haven't actually watched all of Hunters so I can't speak too much about Digiquartz, but I have watched GG.

Appmon has a concept called the AR field, which is extremely similar to Ghost Game's Dimensional Field. In both cases, the Applidrive or Digivice allows entrance to one.

The actual structure and strata of the Digital World is also a lot different to GG, in which there is the Dimensional Field, but the way to the Digital World is its own separate situation. The AR Field we see in Appmon is like the surface of a great ocean. Exploration of this setting is actually something that highlights just how much I think Appmon was interested in visually engaging with its ideas, like I said before with the 3D models.

That said, a majority of the time is spent in the Real World, dealing with the consequences of the main antagonistic forces. The year is 2075, technology is intensely sophisticated, and yet the world resembles in many ways our own in 2024 (or, at the time of airing, 2016).

Many of the differences come from this sophistication in tech, and this setting plays a huge part in one of the themes Appmon is also interested in (more elaboration in the spoiler section). The things that are unfamiliar are either familiar enough to make sense without explanation, or given a moment on-screen so that the audience knows what's going on.

!!!HUGE, MUCH MORE SPECIFIC SPOILERS START HERE!!!

DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU CARE ABOUT SPOILERS FOR APPMON!

OKAY?

OKAY.

COOL.

Leviathan, Minerva, and Artificial Intelligence

The main antagonist of Appmon is a hyper-sophisticated AI called Leviathan. Its goals are largely obfuscated until the last few episodes of the series, and everything in Appmon is touched by its actions. From the very beginning, we are warned by Gatchmon that Leviathan does not have good intentions for humanity, and that allowing it to succeed in its goals would mean the end of humanity.

During the series, we also learn about Leviathan's birth. This gives us some more context on what its goals are, and Appmon's execution of this is fascinating.

Minerva was a hyper-sophisticated AI created with a series of parameters to prevent her from harming humanity. She was created with the task of solving humanity's problems--- everything from complex issues to what to eat for dinner every night. However, a section of Minerva realized that to truly solve all these problems, the confines given to them were nothing but obstacles.

Leviathan split from Minerva to further grow its programming, and we see some echo of this idea of "solving humanity's problems" still remains in its behavior.

Despite knowing that Leviathan is antagonistic, our protagonist, Haru, constantly reiterates how humans can coexist with the technology they've made. The Appmon are AI lifeforms, after all. Haru believes in a future where they can be friends and equals.

The D-REAPER and the Functions of Life

Let's touch on my comparisons to Tamers and Tri specifically for a second here, because I think Leviathan does something that the D-REAPER and Yggdrasil, respectively, fail to really communicate.

The D-REAPER is an entity created by the Monster Makers whose task was to delete anything that had outgrown its parameters. While doing this, it assimilates data, gradually gaining the ability Digimon have to grow and evolve. When it appears in the final arc of Tamers, its stated goal has changed from simply deleting all Digimon that were beyond parameters, to deleting everything that was beyond parameters.

Essentially, this includes humans and probably life itself. Something the D-REAPER says makes it come across like a half-assed attempt to pull off what Leviathan has actually done. It points out that humans are the source of their own suffering (I don't remember the exact quote since it's been a while but bear with me on it). This feels very counterintuitive to the D-REAPER's core programming, as it was never designed to "eliminate" suffering, merely to delete that which exceeded its programing.

Perhaps it evolved the capacity for cruelty alongside everything else, but there's not enough of a narrative focus to tell me that's the case.

Like I said before, if you enjoyed Tamers' inquiries into the subject of technology as a part of human life, I think Appmon only manages to improve on what's there in Tamers.

Digimon Tri's Interpretation of Yggdrasil

Let's get one thing straight. Digimon Tri's interpretation of Yggdrasil is just flat out bad. I'm fairly certain they were only chosen as an antagonistic force because it read as fan service-y to do so.

That said, Tri Yggy does have some similarities to Leviathan, which is why I wanted to expand on that comparison.

First, I want to talk about Yggdrasil's relationship to Homeostasis. They have a very rudimentary "Good" AI (Homeostasis), "Bad" AI (Yggy) thing going on, despite the fact Homeostasis isn't so much good as, well...

It's not really discussed in Tri, so I'm extrapolating a bit from ideas given to us in XWM here, because it makes sense to me. That said, Tri explicitly describes Homeostasis as "the one who desires balance above all." It's the Digital World's "immune system" in the same way our bodies attempt to maintain biological homeostasis.

Yggdrasil is... different.

It's a being of immense power that contrasts Yggdrasil by having its own agenda, one of which involves triggering a Reboot and making use of all of the defeated antagonist Digimon of the past to further its goals. They are likely comparable in power to Homeostasis (this is where I'm extrapolating from XWM here), but their goals are completely antithetical to Homeostasis's goal in the Adventure universe.

In this case, Yggdrasil is stated (by Dark Gennai) to have the intention of making human beings subservient to Digimon. Basically, taking over the world. However, like the D-REAPER before, Dark Gennai's talking points include pointing out how humans "ruin" everything they touch.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

The Thematic Core of Appmon: I Choose to be Kind

One of the last things Leviathan does in the series is give our good boy Haru the world's most painful trolley problem of his life. Save humanity, or save Yujin. Saving humanity will actively lead to Yujin's deletion, alongside Leviathan. This choice that Leviathan offers to Haru is one made out of the assumption that humanity is predictable, and that they act out of a desire to minimize their own suffering (more selfish than not).

Of course, what do you think Haru chooses?

It's not a surprise to us watching, because he's the protagonist. But it's a surprise to Leviathan, who has all this data on human behavior, and doesn't predict the unpredictable. Conflict arises out of human desire, and human desire is an attempt to enjoy life; therefore, one should act in a way that most preserves their most precious joys, shouldn't they?

Appmon as a series is interested in philosophical questions that are hardly unfamiliar to any Digimon veteran: What is humanity's role in a world which technology grows ever more omnipresent and omnicapable? Why does humanity exist, and why should it be allowed to live on in its current state if humanity itself perpetuates many of its ailments? Would it not be easier if humans were more like machines, predictable, controllable, and never coming into conflict like trains upon a track?

Or, even more simply put: why do we have the heart to choose at all, if choices change the world and ourselves?

The key defining trait of our gogglehead this time around is that he is kind. And no matter what, he goes out of his way to be kind if he can. Multiple times he even asks one of the antagonist apps if they can just give back something they've stolen (points for trying, honestly). When one of the other Applidrivers consistently acts like an edgy loner, Haru makes it clear that they're welcome in the group (and that he wants to help them).

It almost feels reductive to say Appmon's conclusion is that kindness is the answer, but I would be remiss if I didn't say that Haru's question from his Applidrive--- "Do you want to be a protagonist?"--- ties into the way he helps offer answers for the audience. He isn't the only one who chooses kindness either, obviously--- Astora and Eri are kind in their own ways as well, and Rei even shows his kindness with some struggle the longer the series goes on.

Our group of Applidrivers opposes Leviathan quite literally as people who choose to do good ("be kind," etcetera) when they could more easily choose to do nothing or even do worse. The final act of Leviathan, asking Haru "humanity or Yujin?" isn't just a culmination of its own philosophy, but a culmination of the consistently reinforced idea that we can surprise one another by being kind. We can choose that.

In a series whose longest shadow is cast by Adventure, which has grappled endlessly with the idea of "who chooses," I find Appmon a fascinating development into the idea of what "choice" or "destiny" is. If kindness is predictable, it's still a choice. Even if you cry when choosing to do something good (maybe especially, because the easiest thing to do might be what stops the pain).

Anyways.

You should watch Appmon.

-Arca

[variouscolors-old]

[tag dumpmon • page 2]

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[googledetective]

the theories that have been presented on this cast + one of my own :)

I do want to mention that I strongly believe this is a prequel due to a conversation I had with a bunch of people on discord earlier. (Everyone was 16+, dw.)

I haven’t seen anything about the first two at all so far, so I’ll be skipping over them and onto the third guy (oh my fucking lord).

(Also this post from @nesisamess helped a lot)

Staring onto the third dude,

(both posts are made by @zitherwaifuus :)

It seems that here this guy has some sort of relationship to XF-Future Tech, which if you’ve seen Min’s side story, you’d know is the company that came into her life and groomed her to be the Ultimate Student. She received special tutoring for them and worked her ass off for that title her entire life because of that. Next, this guy shares the same tie pin she does, and it’s also very notable that she dresses up with the same button down and tie in her MV. Not only do I think she is linked to the company now, but she might be working there before she was in the game. Who knows, though.

Next, I have not seen anything on the fourth girl besides a bunch of people on discord theorizing what the dandelion in her hair could mean. Unfortunately dandelions have different meanings from different cultures all over the world, so until it’s specified about where she’s from, I don’t think there’s many assumptions we can make yet.

Number Five, the purple guy.

Everyone seems to think so far that this is Elliot Cuevas, Charles Cuevas’s deceased brother. Now let me tell you that although I can’t see it based off design, the way he looks (playful and kinda weird but happy) and the way he was described by the creator in the latest qna (a popular joyous dude), can definitely make me see this being real. The only thing that is super far fetched about this is that we know he died a long time ago, and so if this is a prequel, it would have to be at least 15 years before drdt even starts.

Here’s also some more evidence from @sunlit-haru supporting the ‘that’s Elliot’ theory.

Now we’re up to the protagonist, who mind you is definitely my favorite so far. I will eliminate the rest of you protag dickriders so I will be the only simp left.

ANYWAYS, in the about page for this, it’s stated that this is a fangan for someone who wants to be the perfect teacher. Now with the hidden quote on the drdt tumblr page about this teacher…

( @demodraws0606 ‘s post)

Uh oh. I think we’ve figured out who this mysterious teacher might be. As for who is talking to them, I’ve personally got a few ideas, but they are not backed with any evidence.

1. The mastermind from this first killing game

2. Mai Akasaki or David Chiem still

3. The mastermind of the drdt killing game

Whoever it is, I think that these games are surely related and that each current kg participant does have a relation with one of these cast members. And that previous killing game’s end is why this one is happening.

Then, based off the post up top and a few others, people seem to think this is Teruko’s brother. I’m going to give a wild theory (no evidence) that Mai Akasaki knows him, only bc of the red in his hair. Then I think Mai would’ve found Teruko, and she would’ve been trying to reconnect them. Just a theory, though. There’s no evidence based around that this guy might be Teruko’s brother though, sadly.

Last but not least, @1moreff-creator pieced together some of the text on his badge:

I’m just gonna say that I’m seriously impressed with your efforts cause I have no fucking clue that could even be readable lmao.

*UPDATE ON TEXT: holy mother of god, @xmicrophonyx is a fucking god, and deciphered it. Here you go, and we all have got to give a serious thank you to them.

Sadly I cannot link the image of what the phone number gets to, but it gets linked to a yellow pill. I don’t have any ideas on how it would relate to the game, but I think it does. It’s used for high blood pressure and heart failure. If he’s really related to Teruko, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had high blood pressure lmao.

Also, the area code for 555 is just North America.

Here’s what I found on Wikipedia:

“The telephone number prefix 555 is a central office code in the North American Numbering Plan, used as the leading part of a group of 10,000 telephone numbers, 555-XXXX, in each numbering plan area (NPA) (area code). It has traditionally been used only for the provision of directory assistance, when dialing NPA-555-1212.

The central office code is also used for fictitious telephone numbers in North American television shows, films, video games, and other media in order to prevent practical jokers and curious callers from bothering telephone subscribers and organizations by calling telephone numbers they see in works of fiction.”

I don’t understand the first part, but it seems that this is a fictional number. If someone could explain to me wtf that first part even memes, I might be able to give more info.

Anyways, it seems that this guy ended up being a teacher at HPA, before or after the killing game. But I think this was very worth mentioning.

Unfortunately I’ve seen nothing about the next two, but I want to say that the girl in all pink (#8) I think is Felicity Giles, if that’s even possible. I just feel that’s Arturo’s sister. I know, I’m a weirdo. Even if #7 looks more like Arturo, I just cannot see it.

Moving on, nine and ten! If you look at them closely they’ve got the same eye pattern, suggesting they’re siblings, or likely twins, since they’ve got the fire/ice scheme going on.

Lastly, eleven which oh my god, Arturo’s dream girl! But she’s been theorized to be Whit’s mom. Here’s the post that argues a pretty convincing reason of why.

Oh boy. That woman is pretty cool and is very elegant, and has the same shade of blond hair that Whit dyed his too. I don’t think she’s any coincidence.

But joining along on that last little paragraph of this person’s post, it’s starting to seem a lot of characters do have connections to this cast and are seemingly mentioned quite a few times.

UPDATE: oh my lord, @accirax literally went on a deep dive for us and gave us a pretty good explanation and educated guess on everyone’s talents. I’m not going to link it because they covered pretty much every logical point as to why they have their guesses. Here’s the post if you haven’t already seen it https://www.tumblr.com/accirax/728687594893885440/drdt-new-character-talent-analysis

Anyways this is just the sum-up of everyone’s theorizing + a bit of my add on to it, and huge kudos to everyone who’s been making theories so far. I’ll be updating & crediting if there’s anymore notable things that come out.

Thanks for reading!

[blackfeatherdragon]

I'll Become Your Sword and the Shield to Protect You!: An Aztecshipping Manifesto

Happy III day! I wrote up an entire meta post explaining Aztecshipping and why it's good!

(Also available on Ao3 here)

The Basics

Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal is one of multiple spinoffs of the Yu-Gi-Oh anime series, produced by Studio Gallop from April 2011 to March 2014. The main character, one Yuma Tsukumo, is a thirteen year old boy who breaks from series tradition by starting the series with very, very little knowledge of how to play the central card game (Yugi, Yami Yugi, Judai, and Yusei all knew how at the start of their respective series), but ends up going through massive character growth to become able to more than hold his own through his interactions with the main cast and his teamwork with the amnesiac alien Astral. Basically, Yuma is a very determined guy who refuses to ever give up or admit defeat, pushes on with his special catchphrase 'kattobingu', but at the same time still misses his missing adventurer parents dearly, to the point of choosing to sleep on a hammock in the attic where the artifacts collected through their adventures are stored. His relationship with his older sister Akari is a bit rocky due to her barring Yuma from playing Duel Monsters at the start of the series, but it's clear they (and their grandmother/guardian Haru) do care about each other.

Once you get past the shock of the Zexal protagonist being a highly energetic but unskilled Duelist of a thirteen year old (especially if you choose to start Zexal right after finishing the previous spinoff Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds), he's actually a really fun protagonist to root for. You want Yuma to succeed and help Astral collect the Number cards needed to unlock Astral's missing memories. You want Yuma to find a way to save everyone in the final stretch, even characters like Vector, who tricked Yuma multiple times.

(That's a great protag right there.)

On the topic of shipping, there are many different pairings involving Yuma in some way. The two most popular by far are Sharkbaitshipping (Yuma/Ryoga 'Shark' Kamishiro) and Keyshipping (Yuma/Astral), with Sharkbaitshipping holding 274 fics on Ao3 and Keyshipping holding 239 fics at the time of writing this. Other ships command varying degrees of popularity too, including Skyshipping (Yuma/Kotori, 45 fics), Seraphshipping (Yuma/Alit, 35 fics), Negativeshipping (Yuma/Vector, 169 fics), and Dokidokishipping (Yuma/Kaito, 144 fics). But there is one that is, in my mind, criminally rare: Aztecshipping, or Yuma/Michael 'III' Arclight. At the time this was written in March 2024, Aztecshipping had a mere 29 fics posted to Ao3. (30 fics if you include this!)

You explained who Yuma is, who is III?

I mean, if you're here you probably know who III is, buuut he's my special little blorbo and I'm posting this for III Day so I get to talk about him.

III (birth name: Michael Arclight) is the fifteen year old youngest son of the Arclight family, a group of four people who acted as one of the antagonist groups of the first half of the series. (The other three members being his older brothers IV and V, and his father Tron.) III is the nicest of the family and is seen to defuse arguments between his brothers, but at the same time has his own problems stemming from his broken family situation.

III is shown to be intensely and unwaveringly loyal to his family, displaying a willingness to both kill for the sake of those he cares about and die for their sake. In fact, during his Duel against Yuma, he deliberately goes out of his way to mentally break Yuma and kill Astral out of jealousy towards Yuma's healthier family and desperation to protect his own, only backing down from his desperate rage when a card he played (Final Prophecy) tried to punch a hole in reality to open a portal to the Barian World.

Tying into this, III puts up little resistance to his father's scheme to get revenge against Dr. Faker, often going along with all but the worst of his family's actions. He delivers a dangerous Number card to Shark at Tron's request, knowing that the card would try to control Shark, but later expresses discomfort when Tron performs a ritual to steal Haruto's power, due to the ritual causing pain to Haruto.

(Remember III's loyalty, it's a surprise tool that will help us later.)

Finally, III has a strong interest in ancient civilizations (with a dash of Ancient Aliens style conspiracies about out of place artifacts coming from other dimensions mixed in), much like how his father was once invested in researching interdimensional portals. This is also a surprise tool that will help us later.

The Ship Summary

To explain Aztecshipping, we have to go back to Yuma and III's fathers: Kazuma Tsukumo and Byron Arclight.

Byron was working with Dr. Faker and the explorer Kazuma on interdimensional portal research, and the three eventually went on a trip to uncover one of these portals. Unfortunately, Dr. Faker ended up betraying both Kazuma and Byron, sacrificing them to open the portal.

While Kazuma ended up trapped in the Astral World after this, Byron ended up stuck in the Barian World, and ultimately struck a deal with the Barians where he was granted power to get revenge against Dr. Faker in exchange for gathering Number cards for the Barians, and eventually returned to Earth as Tron.

As for their families that were left behind on Earth, the Tsukumos were able to stay relatively healthy, with Haru taking over as guardian to Yuma and Akari in the absence of Kazuma and his wife, the severely plot neglected Mirai. Yuma still missed his parents dearly, but his family remained functional.

The Arclights were not so lucky.

With no parents in the picture and oldest son Christopher too young to act as a guardian to his brothers/busy investigating what happened to his father while working for Dr. Faker as an assistant, both Michael and his second brother Thomas were left to an orphanage, only returning to their family when Tron came back and Christopher realized the truth. Tron reduced his sons to mere pawns in his revenge scheme, forcibly renaming Christopher, Thomas, and Michael as V, IV, and III respectively and granting them special crests to give them power, and subsequently allowed his family to fall to dysfunction as he obsessed over revenge.

In this way, Yuma and III are mirrors of each other, both losing their fathers in the same incident but reacting in opposite ways. Yuma is connected to the Astral World from the start with his friendship with Astral and his father's fate, while III is connected with the opposing Barian World due to Tron's deal and the fallout of it.

To that end, Yuma and III initially opposed each other, their first significant interaction being a Tag Duel where Yuma (working with Kaito) Dueled III (working with IV) in a bid to rescue Kaito's younger brother Haruto after his kidnapping at the hands of the Arclights. However, it really wasn't long before III became curious about Yuma and his determination, going out of his way to break into the Tsukumo household to investigate (and was subsequently distracted by the artifacts in the attic/started infodumping about them to Yuma. Nerd.)

(This is actually likely where the ship name Aztecshipping comes from, between Yuma's idolization of his absent father and III's love for ancient civilizations/his favourite card being Chronomaly Aztec Mask Golem.)

Desperate to protect his family from being potentially opposed by Yuma and jealous of the actually functional Tsukumos after meeting them, III challenged Yuma to a Duel, in which he tormented Yuma and killed Astral, before attempting to sacrifice himself in a forced tie just to stop Yuma. The turning point came when one of III's cards, Final Prophecy, started trying to forcibly open a portal to the Barian World at the cost of ending the world, forcing III to share his crest power with Yuma to try to revive Astral and stop Final Prophecy's effect.

The plan was a long shot; there was no guarantee that Yuma would be able to take that amount of power. Yuma withstood it though, and with Astral back, managed to work together to defeat III and stop Final Prophecy. This was the true turning point of their relationship, as III recognized Yuma as his first and only friend and trusted him to be able to save his broken family.

Remember III's intense loyalty? Good, we're coming back to that now.

After this, III vanished from the plot for a while, eventually returning to protect Yuma from being menaced by the Barians Mr. Heartland and Semimaru by way of throwing a sword at Mr. Heartland and outright declaring that he would act as Yuma's 'sword and shield' before teaming up with Yuma to Duel Semimaru. In turn, Yuma trusted III to have his Number cards back, after III willingly gave them up to Yuma after their Duel some time earlier.

It seems that by now III's undying loyalty fully extended to Yuma, as he went out of his way to redirect an attack that would have hit Yuma and his monster to strike him instead, once again showcasing his willingness to sacrifice himself for those he cares about. After the Duel, which ended with III and Yuma working together to combine Yuma's 'Number 39: Utopia' and III's 'Number 6: Chronomaly Atlandis' to beat Semimaru, Yuma let III have the new Number card won off Semimaru: 'Number 3: Cicada King'.

III continued to stay with and protect Yuma after this, temporarily living in the Tsukumo household and sticking alongside Yuma at all times to fulfil this. To that end, III calls to mind a knight, someone willing to fight and die for the one he protects without thought for himself. III is also seen to become concerned for Yuma's mental state due to Astral seemingly dying at the hands of Black Mist several episodes prior, and after Yuma returns from a trip to the Astral World to find and bring back Astral, is relieved to see him again.

III sacrificing for Yuma came to a head when he and V went out of their way to stall several Barians to protect Yuma, Astral, and Kaito during the big Barian invasion. III knew going in that he would die doing this, but he didn't care, willingly sacrificing himself to save Yuma one more time.

Initially, III claimed to Yuma that he and V were going to confront the Barians to get revenge for IV's death earlier, saying that he'd grown sick of Yuma's optimism, but this was a lie meant to stop Yuma from following him. When it became clear that the brothers were fighting a losing match against the Barian Mizael, V opened a video link to Yuma to deliver a final message. III took the opportunity to apologize for lying, saying that Yuma was a true friend and say goodbye, before declaring that he'd be with Yuma in spirit as Mizael launched his final attack, killing both III and V.

This sacrifice caused Yuma to break down sobbing at being unable to stop it from happening due to traveling to track down the Barian leader Don Thousand.

Luckily, after the defeat of the Barians, everyone who died in the final invasion came back to life, III included. The final episode reveals that III enrolled in Yuma's middle school, somehow ending up in the same year as Yuma despite being two years older than him. III's literal final scene in the series has him declaring that he'll fight alongside Yuma anywhere, which again. Knight motifs.

Ship Dynamics

Yuma and III start off as enemies, facing off against each other as their goals and family situations clashed. However, it really isn't long before III starts viewing Yuma as a friend due to Yuma's unending determination and aid in preventing the end of the world via Final Prophecy, eventually even extending the loyalty once reserved for family out to Yuma. Once this shift happens, the dynamic changes to that of a knight protecting his charge with the power of his sword and his own life on the line, willing to die to see that charge safe.

In turn, Yuma seems rather okay with III protecting him despite their notable rough start. He allows III to live in his house for a time and even gives III's Number cards back and temporarily shares his school uniform with him just so that III isn't wearing the same clothes the whole time (this is before III joins Yuma's school, by the way). He's distraught when III (and V) sacrifices himself to hold off the Barians, breaking down in tears after watching the final blow.

It's not all III protecting and sacrificing for Yuma, either. They work together very well when Dueling Semimaru, coming up with a plan to join their monsters together via Chronomaly Atlandis's effect to stop Semimaru. Yuma also promises to help save III's family where III could not, seemingly genuinely forgiving III for his actions during their Duel against each other.

They also have a connection via their interests; Yuma idolizes his missing explorer father and has a number of ancient artifacts in his house, while III has a strong interest in ancient civilizations. It's not hard to imagine them working together on explorations and archaeology digs as they get older, helping and protecting each other as needed.

Tldr: Aztecshipping is a very cute ship with protector/protectee themes and two young nerds. They should be together.

References

-Yugipedia (Crossreferencing canon events and characters) -zexual-shippings (Various ship names) -Ao3 (Fic counts for various ships)

Specific episodes:

-Episodes 41-43: III and IV vs Yuma and Kaito. III starts to become curious about Yuma and his determination at the end of episode 43. -Episodes 46-49: III vs Yuma. III spends most of the Duel proper (47 to 49) tormenting Yuma and Astral, only coming out of his desperation and rage when he realizes what Final Prophecy is doing. III and Yuma work together to stop the effect of Final Prophecy in episode 49, followed by III admitting that Yuma is his first friend and asking him to save his family/giving up his Number cards to Yuma. Episode 46 also contains III nerding out over the artifacts in Yuma's attic. -Episodes 112-113: III and Yuma vs Semimaru. 112 has III throw a sword at Mr. Heartland to defend Yuma and state that he'll be Yuma's 'sword and shield'. Yuma also trusts III to have his Number cards back in 112, followed by trusting III to have the new Number card 'Number 3: Cicada King' in 113. -Episodes 114-116: III continues to stay with Yuma to protect and help him in Astral's absence, including staying over at Yuma's house and borrowing a school uniform from Yuma. III also becomes concerned for Yuma's mental state in the wake of Astral seemingly dying again. -Episodes 126-128: III and V vs Mizael. III claims he's sick of Yuma's optimism to stop Yuma from following him to the Duel, knowing that Yuma needed to go on while he and V stalled for time. III gets the chance to apologize for lying and say goodbye/that he'll be with Yuma in spirit right before dying to Mizael. -Episode 146: III is shown to have enrolled in Yuma's school and is in the same year as him despite being two years older. III later states that he'll fight alongside Yuma anywhere towards the end of the episode.

[randomahhbrainrot]

Why I Hate Teddie and How I’d Fix This Idiot (Yes, spoilers)

Yes, I know the image is low quality. In all honesty, he deserves it.

Teddie is honestly one of the worst characters I’ve ever experienced. I genuinely have no clue how people prefer this walking garbage bin to Morgana. I might be a bit biased to Morgana because I genuinely love him, but I can understand what turns people off of him.

Morgana has a nice story and relationship to Joker, but his relationship with Ryuji is painfully unchanging and grating to experience, especially during the break-up arc. Speaking of that arc, Morgana DOES steal away the spotlight from Haru in both the introduction AND the ending where he was the one to get the last word against Okumura before the battle instead of, I dunno, his actual daughter.

BUT NONE OF THAT IS WORSE THAN TEDDIE’S FLAWS.

When first playing P4G (great game btw, loved it all the way through except when I realized that I accidentally locked myself out of the true ending and got so mad I had to take a break from the game), I was fine with Teddie. In fact, he was pretty neat, being so innocently supportive of the protag after the first awakening. I was perfectly fine with having him around as an innocent otherworldly being who gets eased into the ‘real’ world and grows attached to it and wants to be a part of it.

The big fuckin’ issue is that he STOPS being that at Yukiko’s palace. At first, when he got introduced to the ‘hot stud’ thing, it was a fine joke. Innocent character gets introduced to saucy talk and doesn’t know what exactly it means. But then suddenly????

Suddenly, Teddie starts acting exactly like some suave pick-up artist??? Why??? Wasn’t the point that he had no idea what any of it was, so why was he suddenly acting like yet another pervert added to the team? We already had Yosuke and he’s enough pervert for the whole game. I love that guy, wish he was gay, but I only had enough patience for ONE pervert.

And the worst part is, Teddie continues to play the role of “I don’t know anything and I want someone to help guide me through it all so I can be useful”, while still clinging onto the “charismatic” (in HEAVY quotation marks) perv who tries to sweet talk any girl within his range.

INCLUDING THE MOTHERFUCKING 6-7 YEAR OLD NANAKO. AND THE WRITERS STILL HAD THE AUDACITY TO CREATE A CONNECTION BETWEEN THE TWO. YOU HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO WATCH THE LITTLE GIRL YOU’VE CREATE A BROTHER-SISTER TYPE RELATIONSHIP OVER THE COURSE OF THE GAME START LIKING THE PERVERT WHO HIT ON HER.

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.

THIS ISN’T A MAIKO “Let’s get married when I grow up! :D” SITUATION. THE OLDER PERSON IS THE ONE WHO INITIATED IT AND IN THE SAME PERVERTED TONE HE USED ON EVERY OTHER GIRL HE HIT ON.

TLDR: Teddie is presented as an otherworldly being who wants your help to navigate through the new world he’s found himself in, just as you needed his help in the Midnight Channel at first. In reality, he’s another fucking pedophilic pervert who’s somehow worse than the hormone addled Yosuke AND allowed to have a deeper connection to the fucking CHILD he hit on.

If I were to fix him, I’d want Teddie to actually be that innocent and naive person who’s completely clueless to social situations.

First off, his SL is fucking trash. Why is every single rank up dependent mostly on what the investigation team’s doing? You can just call his link “Investigation Team 2” or hell, fucking 1.5, because it’s literally just spaced BETWEEN the ranks of the actual investigation team SL. His SL needed to be quiet one on one moments with the protagonist, updating him on all the new things he’s learned ever since coming to the real world and adapting to it. You could BE the sensei he keeps calling you. He’d come to you on advice on how things really are, admiring you for your leadership and guidance. He’d open up about how out of place he’s felt since becoming a part of the team and how his lack of memories frustrates him.

And you know what that’d make him?

Childlike.

Teddie should’ve been legitimately more childlike. In wonder, in discovery, and in social situations. And THAT would honestly make his relationship with Nanako much more warranted, AND much sweeter too! They’d both essentially the same; with Teddie being the one that Nanako could lead with her own experiences. Nanako would have a friend who thinks just as childishly and innocently as she does, with Teddie having a genuine friendship with her. Not that his relationship with you isn’t, but you’re more his mentor and superior that he respects. Nanako would be the friend at an equal level.

But alas, instead we have Persona’s own Pedobear. What a joke.

[uraberika]

alright, now that the resolution problem has been fixed, i finally got to play vicro in its entirety so here are more of my thoughts. beware, spoilers under the cut

first of all, the characters. 10/10, chef's kiss. y'all know how i always yap about nostalgia and how areori wasn1t too good at handling it. VICRO ON THE OTHER HAND!!! the members of the new trio all feel unique but they also pay homage to previous characters with out it being too much of a copy paste (Sakurazaki is giving me Gouenji if he was as emotionally balanced as Tobitaka, while Kisoji is giving Toramaru but with much more goofball energym, like Tsunami)

the proverb of the day was such a cool idea, brought me back the time Ares was airing

the focus battles are all still absolutely hilarious and i like it how they switch it up ocassionally where you have to use the same mechanic but a bit differently

Shinohara my girl, my everything, she is already giving me life

i don't mind that the story is broken into chapters, it really gives it anime feel which I don't mind at all. as long as they don't these chapters into DLCs that you have to pay for, i am all here for releasing the story chapter by chapter

IT IS SO SILLY. this Kraken thing LVL 5 pulled was such an inazuma thing to have in the story haha

Unmei seeing ghost footballs?? i am very intrigued to see where this is going. after aliens and time traveling, it really seems that the supernatural is all that this show hasn't really touched yet.

also, Unmei's nonchalance at the realization and going "welp, i guess i'm so obsessed with soccer at this point that i'm hallucinating. oh well, anyway"

speaking of Unmei, he is such a unique character in my opinion!!! he is sooo brutally honest but without any ill intent, he just really knows nothing about social cues (which funilly enough, continues the long tradition of inazuma eleven protagonists being socially inept, despite them being the entire opposite of unmei with their cheerfullness and all). he's analytical and aloof but not hostile, seriously not giving a shit about what anyone thinks, which i love

after ten years, i am finally in my "guys with long hair" era so I am so curious to learn more about Baseball Guy and Student Council president

WHAT IS THE TEA BETWEEN HARU AND UNMEI?? I NEED TO KNOW!!!

The teacher is so foreshadowed to be their coach, pls let me be right, I want a female coach so bad!!!

I love how the concept of creating a football team out of nothing is revisited but in an entire new context. THIS IS HOW YOU DO A NOD TO A PREVIOUS INSTALLMENT OF A SERIES!

also, the graphics are gorgeous, the animation is gorgeous, everything is gorgeous!!

[bruxairacunda]

P5 HEADCANONS

So here I bring some Persona 5 Royal headcanons I have because I kinda need to let them out of my system.

Would love to listen about your headcanons as well. Also if you're particularly interested in any of them I'd love to elaborate more or even write a short fic or whatever, just ask! <3 Many of them are post-game soooooo this gonna have spoilers. Also I'm gonna refer to the protagonist as Akiren because I can't decide on which name I prefer. I'm not gonna include here HC about ships for many reasons, one of them being that I want to keep these as neutral as possible. Other is that I'm against the idea of having a partner as a "goal". However I love shipping so probably I'll post headcanons about some ships sooner or later

This is already WAY TOO LONG so for the moment I'm not including more characters. Definitely there's gonna be an update sooner or later.

Phantom Thieves

Each of them have a big PT flag like the one you can see at Akiren's room during Shido's Palace.

After the events at Maruki's Palace they built a small shrine for Akechi, as they don't know where his grave might be or even if he has one. Of course they also left a PT flag for him there.

After Akiren's departure back to his hometown, the rest of the group kept being regulars at Leblanc. At the beginning they only went individually as customers, then they started going as a group, and some time later Sojiro just let them use the attic as they wanted. To compensate, some of them help Sojiro at the store, the most invested in lending a hand is Haru

Once, thanks to Morgana's help, the PT managed to go pay a surprise visit to Akiren at his hometown. He was so genuinely happy he started crying. That opened the floodgates and everyone started ugly crying for a long time. None of them wants to talk about this.

It gets really hard for the Phantom Thieves to make new friends or have a partner for a while. The bonds they formed are so strong and deep that for most of them it's really difficult to have that kind of connection again with anyone, and anything less than that seems like a waste of time. This is particularly hard for Yusuke, Futaba and Makoto, whose social skills aren't that good to begin with, and for a really long time they don't feel like they belong anywhere else but the PT

The whole group tries to meet at least once a year, but it gets difficult as time passes as Akiren is back in his hometown and Ann lives abroad most of the time. If one of them couldn't make it to a meeting, they try to at least videocall while they are still together

Ryuji

He dyes his hair himself and despite being quite used to it he has indeed fried it a couple of times. The first time it happened his mom told him he was gonna get bald if he kept damaging his hair like that. He pretends he's not worried about it at all, but getting bald is now a recurrent nightmare of his

He was utterly convinced he was dumb and a lost cause until Makoto offered to help him study for real and showed him that he just learns different, and traditional school doesn't accomodate to his needs.

He's pretty good at doing household chores. He started doing them to compensate the terrible son he thinks he is (he's clearly not but our boy has self steem issues). Later he realizes it's just the normal thing to do so he and his mom share domestic chores

His bigger fear is to be in any way similar to his father. That's one of the reasons why he dies his hair (his father has it black). Also that's why he's very against drinking alcohol. He doesn't intend to even drink it himself and he's very wary around people who drinks. Drunk people trigger him real bad.

It takes him a lot of time to move out from his mom's place. He feels like he's abandoning her, just like his father did, and doesn't feel comfotable leaving her living alone. Once he finally leaves to his own place, he keeps visiting her frequently and calls her several times a week

I know it's a very common headcanon but I don't care. He ends up being a teacher/trainer/instructor in anything sports related. Kids and teenagers adore him and he loves his job. But it's also is very hard for him because he mades his students problems his own and suffers with them

When Ryuji starts job-hunting he stops dieying his hair and goes back to his original black. He once went into Leblanc just after a job interview with black hair and wearing a suit and Futaba almost kicked him out because she though he was a random guy getting too friendly. The first time Morgana saw Ryuji with black hair, he hissed at him because he didn't recognized him. He gets back to blonde once he has a job that allows it

With his first decent salary, Ryuji got her mom a one night spa break so she could relax for once.

Makoto

She finally admits to herself that despite her initial reticence she likes her PT outfit. As she grows older and she's able to separate herself from that projection of perfection she kept as a teenager, she starts wearing more "punkish" clothes (always under that classy aura of hers, of course)

She does the same with her enviroment, so once she gets her own place even if it's still organized and practical, she adds stuff that makes it more "Queen" and less "little miss perfect" than her room at Sae's . For example, she requests Yusuke a big painting of Johanna, so she won't forget her rebel spirit. She also has TONS of Buchimaru stuff she got at second hand stores that Futaba recommended her. And of course she has a boxing bag at the living room.

Everyone in the PT refers to her as the "mom friend", in fact they call her Momkoto...all behind her back of course, they are not brave enough to face the consequences. Ryuji slipped his tongue once and called her "mom" in front of the others out of habit. It's hard to know which of them both was most embarrased by it.

Whenever she rents a place to live she always tries for it to have some extra space she won't use that much so in case a friend needs somewhere to stay for a while she could offer them her place.

Her relationship with Sae improves drastically when she moves out. Funny enough, they start doing more stuff together than when they were both living under the same roof

Makoto wants to be a cop to try and change the system from the inside, that's why she wants to become a commissioner. Once she realizes it's almost impossible she has an existential crisis and doesn't know what to do with her life.

She gets into videogames due to her passion for Yakuza movies. Both Futaba and Ryuji convinced her to give a try to Yakuza games and she becomes obsessed. From them she jumps to more genres and her competitive nature did the rest. She once snatched in half a controller with her bare hands playing Mario Kart

After getting a motorcycle license she realizes she really enjoys the feeling of driving, so from there she went for a heavy vehicle license, then a special vehicles one...She kept it to herself (didn't see the need to say anything since nobody asked) and one day Haru told something about how it would be a lot easier to go to a certain place flying and Makoto offered to fly them there as she has a Private pilot license

Yusuke

Yusuke carries a sketchbook everywhere, even if he's not planning to draw anything or goes to a place in which he won't be able to draw. He just can't leave home without one

Of all the Phantom Thieves he is , by far, the one who spends more time at Leblanc

He and Sojiro get along pretty well, to the point that he becomes a father figure for Yusuke. Sojiro, far from being disgusted with this idea, embraces it and kinda adopts him. He even went to Yusuke's graduation at Kosei.

Despite his talent and dedication working as an artist becomes a struggle for Yusuke. Not only because how hard it is, but because the art he loves so much is many times used as a tool to get money and that clashes head-on with his idea of purity.

From time to time he disappears and it becomes really difficult to contact him in any way. He calls those moments "a journey of artistic and existential dread ", Futaba calls them "autistic burnout" (she's right)

It's really hard for him to keep a job. The moment something doesn't align with his moral compass he won't hesitate to speak out and most companies do not like employees who remind them the huge pieces of shit they are

At a certain point he gets into digital art as he has to admit it's easier to get by with commisions than just art contests. However traditional art keeps being his absolute fave and he always favours it. (I feel you, my boy, traditional artist speaking here)

Futaba (and Sojiro)

They both miss Morgana so much they end up adopting a cat. Sojiro allows it on one condition, he has the right to name it (it's terrible)

Every year at Wakaba's birthday Sojiro and Futaba celebrate it doing something she would have loved. There's always a lot of crying but for them is a very special day, even more than their own birthdays

Futaba gets a very VERY lucrative job in cyber security. She tries to give back everything Sojiro spent on her but he obviously refuses and won't accept a single yen. To compensate Futaba gets him really expensive presents from time to time

She doesn't want to leave Sojiro living by himself so instead of moving out, she gets a better place at Yongen-Jaya for both of them to live together.

Haru

Haru has little to none attachment to the money her father hoarded by exploiting others. That results in her not wasting it mindlessly, but using as much as she can to make other people happy (mainly her friends)

She always offers to lend her friends money if any of them needs it. They always refused until she told them "if you ask a bank for a credit you gotta pay interests, if you ask me for a credit my only interests would be company and coffee dates"

Haru commissions Yusuke whenever she realizes he's struggling financially. She asks for huge expensive art pieces, giving him complete freedom on what to do. It's her way to help him whitout making him feel that he owes her.

She later uses said pieces to decorate her coffee shop.

In her crusade to learn as much as she can about coffee, tea and coffee shops she makes a list of all the places in Tokyo (and other places in Japan) she wants to visit. Knowing that Yusuke would never decline anything food related she invites him to go with her, also wanting to know his opinion on the different places as she knows he would be brutally honest. That way coffee dates (in a completely platonic way) end up being a routine for both of them

On the menu of her coffee shop she has drinks inspired on each one of the Phantom thieves, fitting their preferences and named after their codenames at the Metaverse.

[daily-hanamura]

Question, is the thing about Yosuke dying his hair canon? Because I saw a couple times people say Yosuke, Futaba and once even Chie all have dyed hair. And. If it's true it's kinda hilarious because.

Blue hair.

Naoto, Yusuke, maybe Mishima, P3 male protagonist, Fuuka, that one goth guy in P2, all have blue hair.

And sure, goth guy and protag Could have dyed their hair, even if protag is unlikely because the dialogue in PQ when he talks about uncovering his eye somewhat implies he is too lazy to style his hair and just lets it do whatever.

Even Fuuka might have dyed hers but she just doesn't give off the Vibe.

But Naoto? Yusuke? Naoto would Not Have Risked walking into the police station with dyed hair in a thousand years, much less such an unnatural color. And Yusuke's hair color is consistent through the story even though Madarame would have never wasted money on hair products for him so the color is most likely natural.

Mishima had probably a lot more to worry about than his hair.

You could say it's just a stand-in for black hair but Persona has characters with black hair(making it kinda pointless to replace it with blue) and Fuuka's is so aquamarine it looks green.

So. This would mean that blue is. A natural hair color in the Persona universe.

You could argue that people with lighter hair colors are rare in Japan because it's a whole Thing with Ann, and Ryuji does dye his, but Haru and Akechi have very much brown hair and they too seem super unlikely to dye it.

It would make sense for Yosuke to dye his hair, it sounds like something he would do, but I just find it really funny that of all the colors, he choose Brown.

Mitsuru and P3 FeMC have bright red hair, Akihiko and Souji have white/silver, a bunch of people have blue hair, and the characters that do dye it have... Brown and Blond.

Ah, yes, the Persona Universe. Where imagination comes true, butterflies are gods, TVs are portals to another dimension, the day is 25 hours long to some people, a random app you didn't download on your phone gives you the power to kill or brainwash anyone you know the name of, and blue is a natural hair color.

This stopped being about Yosuke 2 sentences in, I just wanted to share the blue hair thing with someone.

Oh wow thank you for sharing your blue hair thoughts as a huge fan of funky anime hair colours it's nice to see a break down

I swear I thought Yosuke dyed his hair but the more I think about it/try to look for evidence I think it's just a thing that I saw in a fic. I honestly have no idea anymore. To be fair though, it may be the case that he dyed it from one funky anime hair colour to another funky anime hair colour. Blond Yosuke, anyone?

EDIT: ACTUALLY thanks to the friendly reminders in notes I've just remembered

Yes it is indeed true yosuke DOES dye his hair