#honestly I used to be a huge touhou fan

[katyspersonal]

18and30 for bloodborne!

(Asks from this ( x ) meme)

18. Fuck, marry, kill hug [3 specific characters]

Fuck - Micolash, he is ideal for me and intimacy with him would feel divine, it is not about physical pleasure (pretty sure he could not give all that much nor he'd last all that long) but about emotions. As much as I'd like to push him into 'Marry' instead, it is probably a bad idea as he feels like he'd be a negligent husband (TOO caught into research and is already married to his obsession with the Gods :p)

Marry - Ebrietas.... She would be such a good wife... She has so much humanity for a Great One, and I already strongly identify with Rom (a Rom, not necessarily specific interpretation).. We could both vibe with the cosmos... My version of Yurie is a close second, though!

Hug - Gehrman!!! He needs one! I am NOT immune to the Sad Old Man Crying! He is also REALLY cuddly.

30. Crossover time — Choose a game you want to turn into a Soulsborne-like game.

Damn, to think of it, I haven't played all that many games in my life... And the ones I did play would not translate very well into Soulsborne antics! However, sometimes I daydream about Touhou Project of all things to have a Soulsborne-like edition! So, of course the youkai would be muuuuuuch more like their actual creatures prototypes instead of cute anime girls everywhere, playable character's unability to die would be connected with unability to wake up (hello again BB lol), and Reimu would level our character up but could also be a summon in some boss battles! Some lore things about Touhou are already so subtle yet take so much brain to understand that they already remind me of some Soulsborne lore readings hahaha;

Thank you for asking!

[cyalmaf2]

📌📍 | PINNED .

`` Why is it that some were given the role of villain? The moment, they were released into this system.``

1! 2! 1! 2! 3! 4!

~ ⏳️ ~

~ ⌛️ ~

``Stand up, gallop on. Nothing can be done but feeling so sorry for myself.``

``Hero on plastic sword, fighting like it's real! With a cardboard sword...`` 🦋

☁️🫖 | ABOUT ME

Good morning , afternoon or night , I am Cyalm / Celesteal . But , you can call me " Cloudy " if you don't want to call me those names . Get ready to read more long paragraphs about ourselves .

I am a Transman and also Gay , as well as Aromantic . I am also apart of " The Celestial Archive " system . We are bodily a minor , so please avoid being weird to us .

That's all I have to say about me , let's go onto the serious parts .

``I know, successful or not, I am who I am..!``

🧵🪡 | DNI + BYI

DNI .

Basic DNI criteria

Racists , homophobes , proshippers , ableists .

Endo Systems / Believers in endo systems .

Already listed , but please absolutely do not interact if you ship Stratosfear × Cyalm . Get out , this isn't the blog for you .

``I am my biggest fan, I am my biggest fan. I am my enemy and my friend..``

BYI .

Before you interact , please note that we have BPD . I am heavily cautious and anxious about clinging onto people so please try to make minimal amount of contact with me .

We are sensitive , please try to be careful and patient with us .

Also , Anon asks will always be off on our blog . Mainly for safety , please do not ask us to turn it on .

``Hero..! Gonna prove my version of justice is just more than yours!``

❌️🦋 | ADDITIONAL INFORMATION .

Here's some fun information about me , if you want .

If you want an " actual system blog " then sure , here's @vinndose . However , don't expect much posts from it .

The host , me , Cyalm .. Is a huge Shallare fan ! Please proceed to share ANY Shallare art you may have created .. I love Shallare art ...

The fandoms I am in are AFPR , Project Moon , Guilty Gear , Touhou , Cookie Run [ Mainly Ovenbreak . ] and Needy Streamer Overdose .

I'm honestly not sure what else to put here .. I guess I'm crowned the No.1 Shallare × Cyalm shipper though ! Please send art of them to me .

``Uno, remaining on this stage I AM THE ONLY ONE!``

✨️⚰️ | DEPARTURE

This is all I have to say about me , if you want my socials , here .

CyalmAf2 - Twitter

Vinndose - Roblox

^ PSA , we are not CyalmAf2 on roblox . That is a mutual of ours .

And that's everything , have a good day , evening or night . Adventure for me , Star Saviour !

``I am my biggest fan, I am my biggest fan, I am my enemy and my friend.``

[switchmusicbox]

Out of all the characters introduced in Touhou 19, I think Son Biten has to be my favorite. I'd honestly like to see her and Meiling interact in Touhou canon in some way. Like in another fighting game for example.

Speaking of which, I know it may be difficult to talk about Dragon Ball since it's creator, Akira Toriyama, is no longer with us (May he rest in peace. I'm not a huge fan of Dragon Ball, but I know it did heavily influence Sonic the Hedgehog, one of my favorite series, so I do owe it to DB for making Sonic into what it is today)... But still, seeing all the memes comparing Biten to Goku is honestly pretty funny and cool, considering they're both based on Sun Wukong from Journey to the West.

Anyways, hope you enjoy this remix!

VGM Download

Midi created by A4S9

[thevulpinehero1]

Gwatch: Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 Ep 2

Time for Episode 2. After a high-octane first episode, EP 2 has some minor administrative stuff to take care of in regards to laying out the situation the protagonists will be in. As before, be wary of spoilers.

Pictured: the Captain of the White Base asking a sensible question about war machines that would later be almost exclusively piloted by people too young to legally drink

Let's talk about Zakus. People love Zakus. They're cute little cyclops guys, and they get totally manhandled basically from start to finish whenever they appear which gives them underdog points, but it's worth noting that at this point the story goes out of its way to establish that even a Zaku, the punching bag mook suit of future Gundam lore, is a huge threat.

Char reports losing two Zakus, and his superior cannot believe his ears. These are the shaky beginnings of mobile suits, and the Earth Federation doesn't really have any horses in that race yet. They're still trying to fight off Zakus with tanks and planes, and the Zakus are as far above conventional military vehicles as the Gundam is above the Zakus.

Two Zakus murdered entire crowds of people. They're stated to have wiped out almost every single military officer and engineer that was supposed to staff the White Base. They're directly responsible for the ongoing crisis that the protagonists experience throughout the series; those two random guys Amuro yolo'd in a suit he could barely get to stand up were more effective in stalling the Federation war effort than almost anything that follows.

And they sort've need to be that effective, because the audience needs to be sold on the premise of mechs as a weapon of war, subject to the logistics and concerns of the battlefield. Previous shows in the genre have been more super robot types, so they got a free pass, but the Zaku needs to show why you wouldn't just use a tank or more conventional vehicle, and that threat level has been established early on (even if it's mostly brushed over; as mecha fans will admit, the question "but why does it have to be a giant robot?" doesn't have any good practical answers outside of it being cooler. Even if you ignore things like the square-cube law and the difficulty in scaling up a humanoid body, even if you ignore how complex mecha would be in comparison to a tank loaded with the same armaments, the simple fact is that humanoid is not a particularly effective shape to be on a modern battlefield.)

Sayla Mass shortly after slapping a random civilian who has understandably elected to get himself away from an active battlefield instead of roaming around looking for survivors, then telling him he should be left behind to die instead of being evacuated. Her sweater has become part of her skin; she's a Na'vi from the neck down.

Sayla's an interesting character who basically never appears in other Gundam shows, despite the fact that she'd be pretty relevant to a couple of them and the series being quite happy to include previous major characters in later instalments. I forget why this is the case -- I think it might have had something to do with her VA? -- but either way, she's one of the few who doesn't return in any meaningful role, which means we can only enjoy her here.

Part of what makes her fun to watch is that, when she's not just randomly slapping potentially traumatised survivors of a military attack, she's generally pretty effective. Within minutes of us being told her name, she's pulled a gun on Char, who's snuck into the colony on foot to do a bit of spying (which is honestly something of a habit for him as the Gundam series goes on). He almost immediately disarms her because he's Char and also extremely effective when he wants to be, but hey.

Char Aznable playing Touhou in his off time. Seriously, this guy dodges lasers like it's going out of style.

As Char makes his escape with the valuable data, we're treated to what will become a fairly common sight: Amuro getting out the beam rifle and just kind of yeeting all of his ammunition at nothing in particular. This time, he has excuses; he's aiming at human targets in a mobile suit, and he's never really killed a human in cold blood before. He also pulls off a couple of neat shots where he hits two missiles mid-flight. But I remember the amount of times 'oh no I fired wildly with my rifle and didn't hit anything, and now I have no ammo!' became a complicating factor becoming something of a joke to me.

We're then treated to the first ever battle between Amuro Ray and Char Aznable, which ends up as more or less a stalemate. Make no mistake: Amuro gets completely manhandled by Char, who's an accomplished ace pilot with five battleship kills to his name. But the Gundam is so OP for this point in the series that, even though Amuro can't really touch him, Char can't really capitalise on the opportunity since the Gundam can tank his weapons head on. In the end, their skirmish is a mutual loss. Amuro loses to a pilot. Char loses to a suit.

But Char walks away with a head full of the Federation's military secrets and a much better understanding of the Gundam's threat level, and he has supplies and reinforcements on the way...

[sneakyscarab]

alrighty, ive now caught up from my backlog of touhous that ive beaten, so the pace from now on is gonna slow down since i need to beat the games first before i write about them. who knows though, if they take as long as this one did maybe i can keep up this pace :P

nina's thoughts on Touhou 12 - Undefined Fantastic Object

so funny story, after Subterranean Animism took me like two weeks to finish, i went into UFO expecting a similar result, but i ended up clearing within a single day. twelve (12) attempts of UFO and i had already got my 1cc! im a bit impressed with myself tbh, but i think i was helped by the gameplay changes in UFO that make it a bit easier.

for starters, real bombs are back baby! no more trading attack power for survivability, full power bombs are here again as a seperate resource. life pieces stick around, but now boss fights only give one out when you defeat their last phase. you would think this makes life pieces incredibly scarce, but theres another entirely new source for them: the titular Undefined Fantastic Objects. some enemies now drop little ufos that fly around the screen that come in one of three colours. when you pick up a ufo it goes into a small tracker in the corner, and when you collect 3 in a row all of one colour, or 1 of each, then a Big UFO spawns on screen. the UFO sticks around for about 10 seconds, slurping up every collectible that shows up onscreen. for each item it grabs, a meter around the ufo fills up and at max it drops an item depending on the colour, and when destroyed it drops another item plus everything it picked up. rainbow ufos drop more small ufos, green gives you a bomb on full meter and a bomb-piece on kill, red gives you a life piece on both, and blue does… something? i don't know. i never saw any items pop out of a blue ufo, and i prioritized blue ufos the least. i can only assume they do something relating to points since those are blue, but i honestly have no idea cause i beat the game before i had to go look anything up about it. once i figured out red guys gave you life i basically hard-focused proc'ing red ufos as much as possible, going for rainbow or green when red wasnt possible. as weird as the ufos are, i have to say their mechanics are conveyed surprisingly well without any real tutorials or even words, just really solid ui design.

the last new addition to the gameplay comes in the playable characters, Sanae is here now! wooo Sanae lets go! obviously Reimu and Marisa are here too, each of them get 2 weapon options so theres still only 6 total. i gave each one a shot, although some of them i literally only played once lol. Reimu has the standard homing shots and needles, Marisa has her illusion lasers but a new secondary weapon that shoots in sort of branching V-shapes, with a couple shots going behind her as well as in front, which i didnt find many uses for in my brief experience with it. illusion laser is the only one of these that i played more than once, as i put most of my focus into Sanae. both of Sanae's movesets are pretty neat, her first one was my weapon of choice for my 1cc attempt. based on Kanako, she shoots out snake beams that fly vertically, and then if they see an enemy to their left or right they take a 90 degree turn, making for an interesting type of homing. her other set, based on Suwako, shoots out frog beams in a wide fan angle, or straight ahead when focused, that explode into lingering AoE damage when they hit a target, which is great at clearing out huge swarms of enemies. i really like how her movesets sorta play off of Reimu's homing shots and Marisa's piercing lasers, but in very different ways compared to the two of them.

for the new characters, my favourite is probably Kogasa. this poor umbrella girl just wants to be scary, but shes inherently too silly-goofy and struggles to do what she as a youkai is Supposed to do. she's trying her best though, and looks adorable while doing it. i believe in you Kogasa!

i wasn't expecting to be a Ichirin & Unzan fan, but they surprised me. Ichirin is basically a stand user, a buddhist monk who controls her partner Unzan, a old man wind spirit with a powerful beard and even more powerful fists. the spell cards involving Unzan are great, seeing his huge angry face show up and throw hands is just hilarious. the best one by far though is their final attack, what i would call the absolute funniest spell card of the entire series so far: Thunderous Yell 「A Scolding from a Traditional Old Man」. if the name alone didn't convince you, the visuals are also hilarious, with two massive Unzan faces appearing on each side of the screen and shooting angry eye lasers at you. just look at it. perfection.

it's become a pattern in these posts that i talk about three new characters, but none of the others in UFO really stood out to me. if i had to pick one id go with Captain Murasa, just cause pirates are cool, but i don't have much more to say about her lol. sorry UFO crew!

anyways i think its about time to wrap this one up. thankfully i kept this one short so we dont have another SA essay situation lol. UFO is pretty fun, if a little bit Too easy with how much free stuff you can get from good ufo management. the story and characters really didn't stand out to me, and with how quickly i finished this one i don't expect it to really stick out much in my brain once i finish the series. if anything from UFO sticks it probably will just be Unzan's laser eyes. can we play that back one more time? thanks.

[clarste]

Is it just me or is there some kind of touhou fan to arknights fan pipeline?

There's definitely a huge overlap in the fandoms, but I don't think that's a surprise since have a similar... I want to say aesthetic but that's obviously not true. Hm. The more I think about it the more dissimilar they seem, but I want to say there is some deep, core essence that they share. Probably doesn't hurt that a lot of the people that make Arknights used to make Touhou fanworks, including the founder of the company and Head Producer, Lowlight. Honestly I would consider all of Arknights another example of a Touhou doujinka going on to make some popular mainstream thing, like Bloom Into You for example.

Oh, one thing I can definitely say they have in common is their love of what I'm going to call Distributed Storytelling, where they usually only hint at people's stories in profiles and such, with other mentions dropped here at there at random in like costume descriptions or whatever, and letting the audience piece together a fuller picture on their own.

And loads of female characters, of course, but I feel like saying that makes it sound more like a cynical gacha "selling girls to nerds" thing, while personally it feels more like the Touhou philosophy of "eh, no particular reason, it's just cooler that way."

Also the extremely basic logic that when a person likes something new they want to share it with all their friends, so naturally word of mouth travels through particular interest groups faster.

[genso-menagerie]

———  basics! ♡

(PEN)NAME:  Skittles

PRONOUNS:  He/Him

ZODIAC SIGNS:  Dog / Saggitarius

TAKEN OR SINGLE:  Taken

TIME ZONE: (GMT-7)

———  three  facts! ♡  

I’m a streamer! I play a variety of games, though more often than not despite being hours into some RPG or whatever, I’ll never play it for months and instead constantly stream rhythm games (usually Project Diva, Stepmania, Clone Hero, or Audiosurf 2). I frequently consider becoming a strictly rhythm game streamer. (totally not advertising my twitch or anything)

I’m honestly a huge Pokemon fan, it just never shows much in the RP scene because the rpc here is a plague and I don’t know many friends who are interested in writing that stuff.

When I’m not here I’m honestly usually hanging out with someone on Discord and watching anime/movies or gaming. I have a lot of inactivity here due to this lol.

———  experience ! ♡

I got my start in roleplaying on a now little-known website called Tinierme, which I joined around...mid-late 2009. It was an english version of a japanese online game of the same name. It had virtual avatars, groups for various subjects, a virtual town, a gacha item system, and a pure weeb community. It sadly shut down in 2012. My first OC was more a self insert I used there as well, for Pokemon roleplays specifically. It was pretty cringe but a good time overall, especially when I branched out...

Fairly shortly before the website went offline, I joined tumblr. I was inspired by some of the old ask blogs to make a blog for Ran Yakumo. With no art experience, it was pretty much me being too afraid to approach ANYONE and having no art skills to grab attention, so I phased out of that slowly...

This is where the real cringe begins. From then on, I had gotten into MLP:FiM and wrote OCs and other muses from that for YEARS both there and on a couple other sites. While I would never go back, I don’t really regret any of it, I met my best friend through that community after all, and it drove me to get better at writing.

At some point, likely around 2019 maybe? I finally gave up. I clung to the old days too much, but I just totally lost interest in MLP and finally, permanently rolled into the Touhou RPC, almost exclusively. They were much more welcoming than any other I’d been in. Love you guys.

———  muse preference !  ♡

It varies, but my muse types generally come down to: the true neutral/chaotic neutral(Mamizou and Yukari), the goofy-ass child who just shows up out of nowhere (Yotsuba), or the mom friends (Sanae Furukawa, Hikari(oc))...with the occasional crack muse(Dokuro)

———  FLUFF / ANGST / SMUT! ♡    

FLUFF: I am majorly a sucker for fluff. Muses being super sweet with each other makes my heart melt.

ANGST: I don’t dislike angst, but most often I avoid writing it simply because I don’t like being sad. I’m too empathetic with characters I’m attached to lol.

SMUT: I used to write smut a LOT more but I haven’t felt like writing it in such a long time (sorry @ everyone who’d been wanting smut from me). That said, I still enjoy the occasional smut.

PLOT / MEMES: Honestly I’m terrible at extensive plotting, so I’m usually flying by the seat of my pants. But if someone prefers to plot stuff out I’m always down to try! It is still nice to know what direction a thread or ship is going, after all.

Tagged by Stolen from: @twinfoxtails​​

Tagging: Y O U

[dlamp-dictator]

Allen’s Friday Update

Well folks, Allen X is finally moving up in the world. After months of saving and budgeting I at last have enough month to get a decent gaming PC. Specifically, this big boy. Nothing too expensive, nothing too fancy in the grant scheme of things, just something that’ll play some of the more intense RTS games I’ve been interested in like some Total War games and a few of the more graphically demanding fighting games that my laptop can’t handle. I think most of work will still be on the laptop, but that’s a discussion for later. The PC’ll be here Monday, so I got a few days to get my room in order so it can fit all that. 

In the mean time, here’s what I’ve been up to this week.

So like I said in the last update, I got a lot of manga last week and I’ve been slowly whittling through it. One such manga is Fairytale Battle Royale. The story is about a girl named Aoba, a bullied ninth grader that was given a chance to turn her life around with a magical contract that would grant her any wish. Her wish was simple, to make friends with everyone in her class. And to her surprise this wish came true. Her classmates apologized for their bullying, everyone else treated her kindly, and her life improved significantly. 

However, the price was was great. Soon after she’s transported to twisted and corrupt fairytale world where it’s kill or be killed. And in this new world she must...do... something. 

And that’s the issue folks. Much like Magical Girl Spec-Ops, this manga isn’t giving us much in terms of what the end goal is outside of basic survival. As of volume 2 we don’t know much about outside of the fact that Aoba and go in and out of the fairytale world more or less at will, that “completing your story” will lead to your death, and that several factors and people involved in your wish are at some kind of risk.We have hints of rules, but nothing concrete and that bugs me. In most Battle Royale genres the death match happens right away, or at the very least the rules are made clear at or near the start. Juni Taisen and Magical Girl Raising Project are good examples of this. I’m fine with a slow burn in most media, but this is a slow burn that I’m just not enjoying. It’s honestly more irritating if anything. I’ll keep up until volume 3, but... my patience is waning, and Aoba being a good girl in a bad situation can only keep my attention for so long. 

Moving on, something I’ve never talked about before on this blog is that I’m a huge fan of the Touhou series. The fighting games anyway, but I’m interested in the world of Gensokyo and the lore behind. And when I noticed that Forbidden Scrollery, a manga tie-in to the series, was officially being translated and sold here in the West I instantly picked up the first three volumes. The story focuses on the Human Village and a book rental store Suzunaan, along with its owner Kosuzu Motoori, a human with the ability to read and decipher any text. Her store owns several interesting and dangerous books and the story is more episodic in a similar vain to A Certain Scientific Railgun. Each volume usually covers about two or three stories/arcs, usually focusing on a specific character or book within the shop. Overall this manga gives us some more insight on how the Human Village functions, along with how fragile the peace within the village can be when there are Youkai hiding among them. Both as a piece of Touhou lore and as a story, I’ve been enjoying my time reading this series. Can’t wait to pick up more of this next month.

Onto video games, I have to admit it’s been a long while since I’ve played Va-11 Hall-A. I saw this on the Nintendo store and bought it for my Switch. While I have it on Steam, something about playing this on the Switch just feels... right. It’s also nice to be able to play a game without announcing it to everyone on my Friends’ List that I’m playing an really old indie title by the standards of how games age. 

I’ve got to talk about this game in depth at some point, but the premise is simple. You’re a bartender in a dystopian cyberpunk city, serving drinks, hearing stories, and paying rent. It’s a very somber, yet relaxing experience. I... find it a bit hard to describe to be honest, at least in a small update post like this but it’s only 15 around bucks both on the Nintendo E-shop and on Steam so I say give it a shot. I’m on Day 5 as of writing this, and I’ll probably blitz through it over the weekend.

And last up is another game I’ve been playing on my Switch, Muse Dash. It’s a two-button rhythm game that’s got some decent music and character designs in it...

...

...

Yeah, that’s really it. A very straightforward rhythm game with cute girls in it. I’ll admit, it’s pricey, around 26 bucks, but it’s got a lot songs and a lot of content for a simple game. Rin is best girl, and... yeah. That’s really it.

And that’s it for the Update. I’ll hopefully have that Dictator’s Works for Kyo, Reyna, and Violacious Storm as a whole finished over the weekend since I’m only working one job this time around. But until then folks, see you next time.

[crystalelemental]

With the end of the year, what better time to do another Touhou sort?  Here’s the updated rankings.  It’s been ages since the last, and I’d be lying if I said I haven’t moved away from Touhou as a major fixation this year, which has resulted in some...really big shifts in placements overall, though I think the Top 10 are mostly consistent with the obvious newcomer.  Anyway, commentary on the newcomers and some notable placement changes.

Kokoro vs Okina (#1 vs #2) Apparently the last time I did this was like...June 2020, and Okina was top dog at the time.  Kokoro has regained her place at the top, but they’re honestly so close.  I got this matchup at like 38% and it was the hardest decision of them all.  But man, I just love Kokoro so much, and while Okina is also fantastic, it’s just not the same.  In a way, maybe Kokoro is something of a comfort character.  I just love seeing her in any capacity, while Okina is more the one I want to always be involved in a story.

Tsukasa motherfucking Kudamaki (#3) I adore this shitheel.  Like on design alone she was a 10/10, but by character it’s honestly a contender with Kokoro and Okina.  Everything about her presentation in Unconnected Marketeers just killed me.  She plays every side, actually has some solid manipulation tactics at work in the extra stage, and is just all sorts of fun.  But she’s never like...completely in control in a way that would make her boring.  Just about everyone she interacts with surprises her in some way that she didn’t expect, but it never shakes her confidence or her ability to adapt to the situation.  I just find her endlessly entertaining, and I really hope to see more of her.

Misumaru Tamatsukuri (#11) I think Misumaru was the lowest ranked character from the new games in the latest popularity poll, because fandom is garbage and everyone else has bad opinions.  I love Misumaru.  Like, I appreciate her general mannerisms; she’s Doremy-esque in feeling kinda uniquely polite and reasonable in a world of lunatics.  She has a great role as a major figure in lore, has a lot of involvement with the extra stage story that makes her feel more engaged with what’s going on, and...I dunno, she’s just cool to me.  Also her theme kicks ass, definite favorite from UC.

Flandre Scarlet (#17) Huge jump up.  “Oh, so you really liked her in 17.5?”  I haven’t seen or read anything from 17.5.   I desperately need to.  Okina and Flandre seems like a fantastic combination.  No, this was strictly based on just...kinda getting used to the idea of accepting the EoSD cast as their own people rather than a fan response.  I’m not fully there yet, but I’m there enough to admit to liking Flandre and Sakuya a lot more than I’ve been giving them credit for.

Sumireko Usami (#28) Sumireko, a long standing favorite, continues to slip lower in the rankings.  I blame this less on disliking her and more on new additions catching my interest more.  I still like her a lot but she’s been dropping over the last two years.

Yakumo Ran (#31) The highest placement increase of anyone at 24 places.  This is...honestly entirely because fox.  I dunno, this one doesn’t feel like it had the greatest reason, I just really like Ran based on design and concept.  A nine-tailed fox but like...also a computer mind?  I dunno what that’s about, but it’s goofy and I love it, and I’m tired of pretending it’s not cool.

Megumu Iizunamaru (#35) Tsukasa’s boss is less interesting, but she is a really pretty design.  I do like her, admittedly.  I have an affinity for this particular type of shithead, I think.  I do want to see more of her, too.  I think it’d be nice.

Sunny Milk (#48) Another breaking of preconceived notions, this is where I decided to split the Fairies up.  Sunny has always been my least favorite of them, so she dropped a lot.  Hilariously, the other four all maintained as a cluster.

Chimata Tenkyuu (#52) Similar deal to Megumu, but not as appealing a design.  I think it’s interesting to have another god figure that was dying off suddenly get a resurgence, I just always like that kind of approach.  I like that her partnership with Megumu was strictly business, and that both were playing each other.  Again, I’d like to see more of her.

Takane Yamashiro (#69) Cute design.  Over the top goof per the Four Seasons manga chapter.  That one actually propelled her up here.  She’d be a lot lower without that.  Actually, same on the Aki sisters.  I loved that chapter.

Momoyo Himemushi (#70) I don’t love her design, but I do like that her focus is just “Eats dragons, or rocks with the power of dragons, and is stupid strong and all about fighting other really strong folks.”  She’s funny.  Unlike the others though, I’m not as invested in seeing her return.  She’s pretty direct and doesn’t seem the type to have much depth to her.

Sannyo Komakusa (#88) Talk about disappointment.  Her design was super good, but she’s...really kinda boring.  Like she has nothing going on for me, I don’t care.

Yuuma Toutetsu (#93) Hopefully Flandre removes some of the sting on this one, but I haven’t played 17.5.  I literally know nothing about Toutetsu.  At all.  She’s ranked here purely on design alone, and I’d say ranking top 100 based solely on design is pretty damn good.  That said, she’s one of the mob bosses from WBaWC, and I notoriously did not like them (see Yachie and Saki down near the bottom), so I don’t anticipate this going up for her.

Mike Goutokuji (#108) Mike’s around.  Sure.  I have nothing interesting to say.

Maribel and Renko (#120-121) I haven’t read or listened to any of their stuff, I don’t know them.  Consider Suika the bottom of my list in terms of characters I know, with the exception of Daiyousei and Momiji, who I am banishing to the depths of not even wanting to consider their existence due to their frankly unreal placements in the popularity poll that I refuse to get over.  I can forgive the EoSD crew with time and distance, but I can’t forgive those two.

[patchun]

Smash time

Alright, so I’ve been thinking about this a lot and now I’m going to try to compile all this into some posts. I’ll also tag this as long post, and “smashlongpost” in case you get tired of seeing it somehow.

First majorly important thing is this: since the release of Smash Wii U, how many new titles has Nintendo made? That’s right - unless I’m completely missing something, that answer is... 2. If not 2, then still pretty low. Splatoon (which may have come out before Smash Wii? I don’t remember, not important, I’m gonna count it.) and Arms.

So, I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet that, along with Inklings, we’re going to get Springman/Ribbongirl, either as two different characters or as one character, HOPEFULLY one character. Unfortunately, Rex is also a likely addition here. I can’t really emphasize my dislike of Rex enough, but in case any of you here like him... I’m sorry. I hate him. So much. But I also fear he’s inevitable, like the Arms characters.

Another safe bet is a new Pokemon rep. After a lot of thought, I think the top candidates for this are either Decidueye because of his immense popularity, or Mimikyu. However, considering Mimikyu’s similarities to Pikachu appearance/size-wise, it seems more likely they’d choose Decidueye. Another option on the Pokemon side of things, though, is an unknown Gen 8 Pokemon, since Pokemon Switch is currently in development. Since Greninja was being developed for Smash Wii U before Sun and Moon were released, the same thing could easily happen with this new game, I think.

But, with only two new titles, that only gives us two new characters excluding some switched out ones, right? Kind of, and this is kind of bad news - but at the same time it is great news.

Why is it great news? Because! Because Nintendo doesn’t have many new titles, that means there’s a bigger chance of them looking to 3rd parties! And this is very exciting news. Which brings me to a list of possible candidates, and desired candidates. First of all, there are three newcomers that seem somewhat unlikely, but that I’d love to have. They are:

Marx (Kirby) - This is so unlikely. But man, I love Marx, and his announcement for Star Allies really refueled a fire in my heart. Being playable in Star Allies will be enough for me, but oh boy, if he was playable in Smash that would be something.

Sans///or Frisk - People are joking about this, and also treating it as if it’s a bad thing. Listen. Undertale wasn’t immediately acknowledged by the big gaming companies, I don’t think, because they’re busy making games, not following what’s hip on the Indie market. But Undertale made a HUGE impact, and also, Japan loved it. Since it was announced as coming to the Switch in the same trailer as Smash, I wouldn’t even say that Sans or Frisk coming to Smash would be unlikely, and unlike those treating Undertale as a bad thing for some reason, I think that could be really cool. I’m not going to say it’s extremely likely, but is it possible, and probably more likely than Marx? Yes.

Reimu - Of course, my most desired would have to be none other than Reimu. The chances of this are so slim, probably more slim than even Sans, but the impact on Touhou as a whole that Reimu in Smash would have would be unspeakable. Let me make my case. First of all, the basis of all of this hope is that Touhou is on the Switch now. Copyright things may have already been dealt with in order for a fangame to make it to the Switch, meaning ZUN may not need to worry about that, though I don’t know exactly how the copyright stuff works. So, with that in mind, consider this: Nintendo likes money. Nintendo, with Smash, wants to appeal to as many target audiences as possible. And, according to what I’ve heard, Touhou in Japan has been pretty big lately, particularly for young girls (you know, because ZUN actually treats girls as people unlike almost every other thing Japan makes!!!!). So... Reimu in Smash would be perfect to appeal to that audience. In the west, Reimu in Smash would have such a huge effect. You know how you probably didn’t know who Ness or Lucas were until you saw them in Smash, got curious, google them, then played Earthbound and now you love them? Think about how much exposure this could give Touhou and ZUN. This could create an entire wave of Touhou fans in the west, and I really hope ZUN can see this. Unfortunately, I don’t see this as likely. The best case scenario is that someone on the Smash staff has a daughter who really likes Touhou, and so basically what ends up happening is that Nintendo WANTS Touhou. Since I can’t see ZUN taking any initiative to put Reimu in Smash himself, the way I see it having to happen is for Nintendo to be the one who initiates. That way, I can at least see ZUN possibly agreeing. I know the chances are slim, but I really, really hope this happens - and I can’t stop fanboying over the idea of a 3d rendered Reimu in ZUN style.

Waluigi - Waluigi is interesting because, like a Touhou character, it seems that the fanbase basically... made him. I don’t know exactly what his moveset would be or how it could be made unique, but I know so many people who love Waluigi who would be happy to see him playable, including myself.

That ends the list of characters I really want. Otherwise, I’ve thought of some characters that have a pretty good chance of getting in, in no particular order.

Crash Bandicoot (convenient timing for a Switch release, a gaming icon similar to Pacman and Sonic)

Jibanyan from Youkai Watch

A Rabbid (Mario and Rabbids Kingdom Battle, I didn’t like this at first, but that game was actually pretty fun! I wouldn’t be opposed to playing as Rabbid Luigi)

Yooka-Laylee (I’d personally rather not a character slot be taken up by this, better to put Banjo-Kazooie or Hat Kid)

Bomberman

Shovel Knight

Shantae

Phoenix Wright (maybe... doubtful but maybe, I’d like this)

Sora - THERE’S NO WAY SORA IS GETTING IN. I like Sora, but the Disney copyright barrier is too strong. It’s like, Cloud getting in was a miracle enough - but imagine Nintendo not only having to go through the Square Enix barrier but also the Disney one.

Bandana Waddle Dee - I wouldn’t mind this! I’d like it... but I’d prefer Marx.

Then we have other Nintendo characters, like K. Rool, Ridley, Wolf, etc. But... honestly, I’d prefer 3rd party characters to these. That’s just personal preferences.

Finally though, depressing reality kicked in when I realized that, sure, I *hope* that Nintendo will be looking at and considering relevant and modern characters... but, there’s also a chance that Nintendo is just going to bring us another Mr. Game and Watch, or a ROB, or a Little Mac. An old property that they bring back. Some people may like this, and I wouldn’t really be opposed to it so long as a few relevant and not-previously-in-Smash get to shine too.

In the end, I just really hope Nintendo is given the opportunity to consider Reimu. She’d be such a great addition.

Please respond with your opinions, I’d really like to interact with you guys.

[cabalspinatagarden]

Heres a little blog post for you along with my sketch~

I walked into the local game store to talk to a friend, and he was playing the OST to Embodiment of Scarlet Devil and it made me feel really nostalgic. These two characters were always my favorite and I absolutely ADORE Touhou.

Occasionally people will ask me what made me start drawing or playing music, and most of the time I’m too shy to tell them the actual reason lmao. Growing up I liked a lot of really nerdy stuff, most of it being really weird obscure stuff nobody around me knew about. Touhou was the biggest one, I used to sit around listening to the music all day, running off to my piano and playing whatever song was stuck in my head that day. ZUN’s music was really inspirational to me and what got me not only into music, but art and honestly game design as well. He seemed like a very humble person, and he created this huge franchise all on his own. Hes also an incredibly cute guy, hes so quirky its great. These two characters in particular really stuck with me, their relationship reminded me a lot of the one I have with my little brother. 

Anyways, I used to sit around drawing really bad fan art of all of his characters. I would be in the middle of a math class drawing a bunny girl and trying to hide it so nobody around me saw lmao. I honestly was pretty decent for my age, but I was so nervous and critical of my own work that I don’t think I would’ve felt comfortable showing anybody at the time. It got even worse, as during my middle school graduation I actually ended up playing a duet of ‘U.N. Owen Was Her” with my best friend. We stayed after school practicing it all the time, he was such a good guy to put up with my nerdy ass at the time. After graduation a lot of people came up to me and asked about the song, saying they liked it and wanted to look it up. Again, the last thing I was about to explain to someone as a middle school boy was what Touhou was, so I gave him them some bizarre story about it being an old classical song and left it at that. 

I think my favorite thing about art school is that it really puts into perspective how fucking cool everybody is. During highschool I was still a bit anxious when it came to showing off my artwork to people. Even now I think I still get that way, but being on such a welcoming campus has really helped me grow out of that and be proud of what I make. 

[pywackett-barchetta]

001 Touhou. I'll take the easy one but I am genuinely curious.

Favorite character: Extremely hard to pick, but since she’s not mentioned anywhere else in the following answers much, I’ll go with Komachi. Badass death god who’s just super-chill and wants to relax. Very relatable.

Least Favorite character: There is no character I actively disdain in Touhou, and the usual thing where people end up liking a character less due to associating it with unlikable real-life people only dethroned Utsuho from top favorite rather than throwing her straight into dislike. But I guess overall, despite reminding me of a fantastic Fleetwood Mac song, Medicine. I constantly forget she exists, only reminded otherwise when navigating huge poison clouds in PoFV and shouting at how much those suck, so I guess technically it’d be statistically a negative average experience with her for me.I don’t much like Clownpiece but I can’t blame her for it because in her case, it’s entirely due to being associated with fandom stuff I’d rather forget. And an entire game I didn’t like, so.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): With the stipulation that I consider them all non-canon and generally platonic; Mokou x Keine, Meiling x Sakuya, Reimu x Marisa, Komachi x Eiki, and, uh… Suwako and Kanako, I guess? I dunno, I haven’t given any of ‘em much thought in a long while. Cute couples, though.

Character I find most attractive: Seija. Why. What has gone so wrong with me that I deeply want to be shrunken down and crushed underfoot by a Deviantart-recolor hedgehog-haired grade-A jerk.

Character I would marry: Trust is key in a marriage. Suika might have no reason to care about my existence, and has surpassed most reasonable definitions of “alcoholic”, but at least there’d be no lies in it!

Character I would be best friends with: If we’re talking realistically based on people I know, I mean, Marisa gets along with everyone anyways, but… I gotta love Meiling for just being a manga-loving badass nerd. If I hadn’t just recently had an encounter with someone very awkwardly trying to brute-force conversation out of just having the general concept of “anime” as a common interest, I’d likely have no hesitation on that front.

A random thought: I think my interest in the Sonic series as a kid really helped lead me into Touhou. Instantly recognizable cast in completely changing locations with plots/mechanics that are downright nonsensical except in the context that this is a world where all of those gameplay mechanics are genuinely part of daily life. That series has never, ever pinned down exact geography, though, and kind of keeps things boundless. I think a good deal of why I’m losing interest in Touhou sometimes is the setting feels restricted and exact now, as opposed to the big wide open “anything can happen” land of magic.

An unpopular opinion: The Watatsukis aren’t the worst characters in existence, and the sight of them does not make me want to headbutt my monitor.

My canon OTP: Mokou x Keine isn’t necessarily canon but it’s cute and not outright denied.

Non-canon OTP: They’re all non-canon.

Most badass character: I was going to nominate Shinmyoumaru for taking on opponents way stronger than her on a regular basis with absolutely no fear, but then I remember Suika smashed her way through Heaven until they surrendered and let her stay.

Pairing I am not a fan of: I’m starting to get a little tired of Cirno and Daiyousei. Like, if you’re going to make the latter your own character from a blank slate, actually make her someone. Standing there while someone else has all the punchlines and does everything interesting is kind of a waste of space. Some fanworks have made amazing use of her and now everyone’s just kinda forgotten.Nothing I’m actively repulsed by comes to mind, though.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): This is probably a weird choice considering the more obvious ones, but… honestly, I found Mamizou a great deal less exciting when she went from trickster mentor trying to act important to, like… genuinely another conspirator with her own plans in motion. She seemed like an adorable dork trying to keep up the image of mystery.

Favourite friendship: If the Reimu and Shinmyoumaru dynamic didn’t happen when it did and as sweetly as it did, I very, very well may have moved to something else already. But that kept me very firmly glued to this all over again because it is precious and perfect and the best thing. Or it was until ULiL backed off it a bit and showed it as marginally less healthy and sweet.

Thank you for asking!

[recentanimenews]

Nicole's Winter Wonder Festival 2019 Picks, Part 1

Ah, there's nothing quite like opening up a package to get that coveted anime figure you've been eyeing for months. The detailing on the sculpt, the way it's painted, the character's pose and the basing... it's almost like it was pulled out of your favorite show! Having a piece of the anime world in your own space is pretty dang neat!

  Last weekend was that magical time where anime fans and figure collectors were glued on their phones and PCs as their newsfeeds updated constantly with new figure announcements and reveals. It was a time of much rejoicing! And also a time where our wallets all collectively cried out in anticipation of the upcoming damage. Yup, it's WonFes time! Wonder Festival is is a grand event where major figure companies come to showcase prototypes of upcoming figure releases along with announcing new projects. But that's not all, it's also where people can show off their own garage kits creations and even sell their very limited runs. It's an anime figure wonderland!

  Winter Wonder Festival 2019 had plenty of stellar annoucements and figures shown, so buckle up, 'cause I'm gonna tell you which ones I'm looking forward to the most!

  Alter

    Starting with one of my favorite figure companies, Alter, they've revealed the fully painted figure sculpt of the gorgeous Merlin from Fate/Grand Order. The detailing on the ribbons and tassles are eye-catching, and look at that staff! Not to mention Merlin's soft smile as he has his hand extended in his signature pose. Alter never fails to disappoint when it comes to detailing! 

      Speaking of attention to detail, check out Alter's sculpt reveal of Fate/Grand Order's Meltlilith. This figure is HUGE! I adore the amount of work put into the folds of her clothing! The way the range of motion is captured in this figure is impressive.

I know there's a bunch of Laid-Back Camp fans out there, so this one's for you! Alter showed off the painted sculpt of Rin getting ready to go on yet another camping trip. This figure really looks like it was pulled directly out of the show itself! I dig how Alter has shown off all of her gear packed up, not to mention getting the design of the bike just right. 

  Alter treated us to the painted sculpt of THE IDOLM@STER Side M's Touma! You better prepare yourself for his songs! It's their first Side M figure release, and I'm sure we'll be seeing the other guys down the line.

    Alphamax & Big Boys Toys

    Alphamax and Big Boys Toys bring us a combined production of this cool Kyo figure! The figure was shown off completely painted in a diorama-esque fashion. The background image really completes this figure, as Kyo is seen doing one of his signature attacks! But who will be shown on the other side? This teases that there will be more King of Fighters releases to combine with this one soon. Who do you think they'll make? My money's on Iori!

    Aniplex

    With the upcoming Heaven's Feel II: Lost Butterfly movie release, Aniplex announced these Sakura and Saber Alter figures based on the movie. Really looking forward to how they're going to pull off the illustrated images to bring the figure to life! 

      To keep the Type-Moon love going, Aniplex also presented a painted sculpt of Rin from Fate/Extra Last Encore! She looks ready to strike! I can't stop looking at her hair.

      Any Promised Neverland fans? If so, you're in luck! Aniplex revealed the sculpts for the Emma, Norman and Ray figures. I'm sure these will look even more impressive when they're painted, so I'll be awaiting that reveal! 

    Megahouse

    New Death Note figures in the year 2019? Your eyes are not playing tricks on you, I promise! Megahouse unveiled the painted sculpt of Yagami and L, and yup, they're handcuffed to reference the famous scenes in the series! 

      This is probably the best Fullmetal Alchemist figure I've ever seen! Megahouse showed off their painted sculpt of the Edward and Al figure, and it just looks like it's springing to life at any moment now!

      I never thought I'd see City Hunter figures in this day and age! With the release of the City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes movie being such a huge hit, figure companies want to give some lovin' to the series with some amazing figures, and Megahouse is no exception. Ryo and Saeki are ready for some crime-solving action! 

      It's no secret that Pokémon is one of my favorite game series of all time, and Eevee and all the Eeveelutions are among my favorite pokémon. So when I saw this figure, I GASPED! All of them are there! And they're all so very cute!! Pretty much one of the best Pokémon figures I've seen in awhile, for sure.

      Speaking of figures that made me gasp, how about this stunning figure of Fate/Grand Order's Ozymandias by Megahouse? It's pure perfection! I have nothing more to add, other than I'm 100% getting this figure and no one can stop me.

Kotobukiya

    Kotobukiya has finally shown off their painted Bakugou ARTFX J figure sculpt! This is one I've been waiting on since it was initially announced, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out! The ARTFX line from Kotobukiya has always been one of my favorite figure lines for a long time due to the craftsmanship of the figures being so impressive. 

      But wait, that's not it for My Hero Academia figures! Kotobukiya also displayed an image of their latest sculpt in the ARTFX J line: Ochako! My favorite thing about these My Hero Academia figures is that when you display them all together, it just looks like they're getting ready for an intense battle. I wonder which other characters Kotobukiya will make next! I'd personally like to see Todoroki!

      With the upcoming Devil May Cry 5 game, Kotobukiya is going to be releasing Dante and Vergil ARTFX J figures! Makes sense, since they've done one for both Devil May Cry 3 and 4. 

    FuRyu

    I've always thought that FuRyu's Noodle Stopper figures were a bit silly, but in this case, it TOTALLY fits and makes sense! Make your cup ramen with Nadeshiko, as she maintains the lid closed for your ramen to be heated up perfectly! FuRyu also announced that there will be a Rin version as well, so Nadeshiko won't be lonely for long.

    Flare

    Odin Sphere is such a fantastic game, and it's wonderful that the game is still getting some figures made! This time, Oswald is getting some love from Flare. The detailing on the armor looks good so far! I'm eagerly looking forward to the painted sculpt for this one, especially to see how they'll detail Oswald's face.

      New Rozen Maiden figures in 2019? YES, PLEASE! Rozen Maiden has been a long-time favorite of mine, and I never really got to get figures of my favorite character, Suigintou, but it seems I might have another chance! I'm hoping that Flare delivers an excellent Suigintou figure!

    Ques Q

    I'm in love with this Sakuya figure. From the eyes to the clothing, Ques Q perfectly emulates the art style from the fan-made Legend of Scarlet Devil Castle: Scarlet Symphony, a Castlevania-esque game featuring Touhou characters. I haven't bought Touhou figures in a long, long time, but this might be the one to change that! Ques Q also announced that there will be a Reimu figure in that same style, and I can't wait to see what the sculpt for that one will look like!

    Sentinel

    Sentinel is giving Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind some love with these Giorno and Bruno figures! Having the base of the figures what seems to be a broken Greek column is an excellent touch, because honestly, these figures look like works of art.

  Figure companies pulled out all the stops to bring new and exciting figures for all to enjoy! Make sure to plan wisely so you can get the releases you're pining for. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Where's the Goodsmile Company and Max Factory stuff?" No worries, that's what Part 2 is for. Come back tomorrow and check out the rest of my picks! But for now I bid you adieu and happy collecting!

  Which figures caught your eye the most in this WonFes? Planning to get any of them? Let us know in the comments!

----

Nicole is a features and a social video script writer for Crunchyroll. Known for punching dudes in Yakuza games on her Twitch channel while professing her love for Majima. She also has a blog, Figuratively Speaking. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[clarste]

listen-and-reflect replied to your post:

Um, just wondering, why aren't you around much...

… I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on Arknights. I’ve paid no attention to it whatsoever, but if it impresses you, I’m curious.

To boil it down to its component elements, I’d describe Arknights as “urban fantasy catgirl tower defense gacha.” If any of those words viscerally disgust you, there’s probably not much I can do to convince you otherwise, but personally that was enough to intrigue me. And what I found when I tried it surprised me in a good way. Honestly I’ve been struggling for like a month for how to talk about this, but for the purposes of this post I’ll boil it down to three major elements: Aesthetics, Worldbuilding, and Gameplay.

First of all the Aesthetics. Might as well start with a picture or three:

For the record, yes, 90% of the characters in this game are women, and there’s no explanation for that, that’s just how it is. I am 100% fine with that because I am a Touhou fan. Anyway, what I want to draw attention to is the way these women are portrayed. IE: they are posed/costumed to be seen as “cool” and while they certainly aren’t unattractive, it isn’t in a horny way that emphasizes their breasts or butts or anything. It’s not a perfect “practical clothing only,” I mean high heels aren’t great for fighting and there are other characters who show more skin, but the philosophy carries through in all the official art: these are cool, capable women who are never once reduced to sex objects for the male gaze. I respect that.

Also you don’t get to marry any of them which is a huge plus in my book.

It’s hard to say any more on that without moving on to the Worldbuilding. Basically, the world of Arknights is both blessed and cursed with a magical rock called Originium which is the source of all their problems. First of all it’s a miraculous power source, the resource that fuels the engine of modern society. Not only that but it can be used as a medium to cast actual magic spells (which is of course a well-studied phenomenon that’s treated as a science). On the other hand, its very presence warps the environment, causing large-scale city-destroying natural disasters on a regular basis. And more importantly for the conceit of the narrative, it can get in your blood, eventually causing an incurable disease called Oripathy which involves your body slowing turning into crystal from the inside out. Basically magic rock cancer. Later stages of it involve visible “crystal lesions” growing on the skin, but even internal growths can have serious medical problems. This is sometimes shown in character designs too:

This is important to the worldbuilding because “The Infected” are a major source of discrimination and political unrest. Oripathy is only mildly contagious (you’re more likely to get it from mishandling the rocks directly), but the stigma of it is such that anyone with Oripathy is immediately quarantined, exiled, or worse. Both the player characters and their enemies are generally Infected, with the “good guys” (scare quotes intended) being a medical institute that takes in patients to treat the symptoms and vaguely hoping for a cure someday, while the “bad guys” are revolutionaries violently overthrowing the society that treats them as subhuman. There are analogies you could make to HIV, leprosy, or heck even current events with COVID-19.

Anyway, I say all this so I can turn to the in-game character profiles and how they’re structured. Specifically, they’re all medical reports written by the doctors of your institute (who are themselves playable characters who are Medics in-game):

(Incidentally everyone uses codenames in this game). Anyway, my point is that these are not neutral, objective “word-of-god” profiles, these are the facts as they appear to some particular person in-universe. In Touhou terms, these are written by Akyuu: some clinical facts mixed in with rumors and speculation. And I absolutely love that.

More than that though, we get this amazing invention:

Why yes, that is an in-game chart of all the characters’ relationships, grouped by people who belong to the same organization, that fills in as you play. And yes, raising trust with characters by using them does fill in the names of people close to them who you haven’t met yet, as well as new connections to unknown people. Who is friends with Croissant?! I must know!

Er... Anyway, I think having this chart in-game is quite frankly a genius move on the part of the developers, since it gets you immediately invested in seeing how the characters are connected. But wait, there’s more! When you pull a dupe from the gacha, you get a little token that can be used to upgrade a character slightly, pretty normal. But even these little tokens have tiny bits of story on them!

These are the items that are important to these characters, and they can change the way you see them. Every little thing in this game has story attached to it! It’s incredible! And they actually tell stories with these things. There’s one in particular that fascinates me (and others), but unfortunately I have exactly 0 of the characters involved so I’ll have to pull quotes from the wiki.

There are three characters from a faction called Rhine Lab: Ifirit, Saria, and Silence. The details are pretty vague, but basically Ifrit is an Infected child with incredible Originium channeling powers who’s been experimented on, and Saria and Silence are two doctors who were involved in those experiments but had a falling out after an experiment gone wrong. But how does the game tell you this? Well, lots of ways. Saria’s profile is the most explicit:

The relationship between Lady Saria and Rhine Lab is very complicated. Though all Rhine Lab Operators who work with Rhodes Island show some amount of respect for Lady Saria, Rhine Lab's Medic Operator, Silence, shows nothing but hatred for her. At the same time, Lady Saria appears unsurprised by Silence's feelings toward her. Whenever Lady Saria attempts to talk with Caster Operator Ifrit, Silence gets in the way. According to available information, the animosity between Saria and Silence stems from an experiment at Rhine Lab led by Silence. The experiment was an unfortunate failure. Lady Saria acted alone in suppressing the experimental materials that had gone out of control. Similarly, because of this experiment's mishaps, Lady Saria left Rhine Lab. It is not known why she chose to cooperate with Rhodes Island after leaving Rhine Lab.

But then you have Ifrit and Silence’s tokens:

A long novel telling a legendary story. It is badly burned and you can only barely make out the words.

A patterned feather decoration. This ineloquent researcher from Liberi shows her sincerity by gifting her own feathers.

But oh gee, guess who are wearing feather tokens in the designs?  (it’s Ifrit and Saria)

Also here’s Silence just so you aren’t left wondering what she looks like:

Anyway, the point is that the writers know how to throw tiny bits of characterization and hints of an untold story into literally everything in this game, and that is exactly what I live for.

Oh yeah, there’s also Gameplay.

Game’s pretty fun:

I enjoy it as a game too.