#instead of giving them proper character development to begin with

[genericpuff]

Its from a while back (262) because i prefer to kill my brain all at once, but WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH HER SHIRT. That is a SQUARE. It was like this in multiple panels too

What's even funnier / weirder is why are they wearing the shirts in the first place?

1.) Eros and Psyche seem to be completely isolated in the prison, even if Apollo or Leto forced them to wear them they should be able to just remove them if they really don't want to be wearing them as soon as they're unsupervised.

2.) Who's gonna see them wearing the shirts? It's not like they were forced to do some "Apollo 4 King" video on TikTok to make it seem like they were aligning with Apollo, they're deadass just sitting in a prison cell wearing these shirts for seemingly no one and nothing but Apollo's entertainment?

3.) Love how we're just gonna pretend that Apollo's original campaign wasn't "Apollo for President". Love that for him that he finally figured out he lives in a monarchy and not a democracy.

[bibibbon]

MHA chapter 424 (rant)

This chapter was horrible. Look, if hori thought that this chapter could provide the fans with some relief he was wrong.

This is supposed to be the epilogue or the beginning of it and half of it is just useless BKDK. Honestly this was so stupid I feel like this chapter which was labeled the epilogue could of been used to wrap up a lot of character arcs and update us on events instead of us getting some little bkdk crying ending. In all honesty I still hate bakugo and think that their arc is Hella underdeveloped considering that Izuku never gets any intropsection going on and bks development is heavily flawed.

Still hate what the series did with Izuku. Izuku as a main character and a character in general is heavily underdeveloped so I understand why he is getting the hate that he is getting. However, izuku was also a victim in this and didn't get proper development at all, like him and shigs whole storyline was sidelined and they barely formed a relationship before or even during that fight at all. Izukus lack of intropsection is also one of the reasons why he is getting hate like it's low-key hori's fault for not giving us any development when it was right there. I also think I need to remind some people that izuku is only 16 and had all of this on top of his shoulders but I see the point that shig a victim should of been saved. However, it's not like izuku didn't try his best, like he tired all he could it's at the end of the day shig that didn't accept it until it was too late. Also, can we talk about how horrible hori did izukus design dam I miss his fluffy hair at the same time I get it. Also I hate that he still has some OFA embers and all like it makes no sense I thought they were gone with that one punch that was apparently so strong it CHANGED THE WEATHER?!?! Honestly, I hate that inko is nowhere in sight and that she allowed him to go back to ua like?!?!?!?

Shigaraki deserves better. Oh dam I just wish that someone would adopt shig and izu and give them a better ending cos this isn't it. Shigarakis storyline ending sucked in all honesty especially that retcon that stated that shig apparently knew that AFO was manipulating him?!?!?! Also am I the only one whose confused as to why shigs last words were directed towards spinner. As angry as Iam I was also expecting some horrible stuff like this to pop up considering that hori has consistently been trying to separate Tenko and shigaraki so this is what we get but just even worse.

So nothing on toga and ochako? No offense but I hated that this chapter was just centered around BKDK like where was toga? Or ochako? Why is it that we only get one small panel of ochako looking pensive and sad when last time we saw her she was on the verge of death and in CRITICAL condition. Also what about toga? Like we haven't seen her in a long time. Is she alive? Is she dead? In all honesty if she is alive and gets no concequences then I would call that bad writing.

What about the todoroki family ? Poor Todoroki last time we saw him his family fully surrounded touya forgetting about him. In all honesty he deserves so much more and my arguement stands. We should of gotten an update about the todoroki family as well. Iam not a fan of enji neither am I huge fan of the direction touya/Dabis character has taken but I would of enjoyed an update.

What about the others? Kurogiri, spinner and the rest!??!!?!?! Iam bais but dam it seems like this chapter has forgotten all about the other characters it put in critical or difficult situations and just chose to focus on some stuff that's so irrelevant. Like the small panels should of been reserved for spinner and kurogiri on characters that we should of seen updates on. While we should of gotten full pages on todoroki and ochako

Also it seems like the pacing is quite fast, too fast really. How is it that they're just going back to school like I thought people resided in UA and that some of it was heavily damaged during the war? What about the chaos and destruction that's all over Japan has that been rebuilt? Also how did parents allow their kids to go back to a school that made them glorified child soldiers?

It's a shame we don't get any focus on izuku nor do we see his mother's reaction. I mean we see and get more focus on bakugo than we do when it comes to izuku and it sucks horribly.

In conclusion, I heavily disliked this chapter and giving it the title of epilogue is horrible. I bet that this is like one of the last chapters we are getting.

[unnaturalequilibrium]

Capítulo 2 & 3

- Mafin rewatch (Sueños de Libertad)

Watching the de la Reina siblings is a hoot. It's all so deliciously dysfunctional. Damian's three porcelain dolls, all dressed up and filled with generational trauma. How could that not be fun to watch?! I enjoy that Marta is the action oriented one of them. The boys bicker, but she refuses to play their game, instead tries for a solution and an action forward. It’s notable that both brothers turn to her as if her agreement, her word actually holds sway. They’re already making a point of this being a man’s world, but these men, even if it’s a means to play out each other, hang on her word and give it weight.

I’m kind of sad Jesús is such a right villain, because I enjoy him and Marta together. They play off each other well and you instantly get the nuances between them, making it super easy to envision how things were before Andrés return. The way they’ve kept that business afloat, probably stood side by side against their father on a number of occasions. I feel like they’ve kept each other alert, maybe a bit too guarded, but also with a sense of mutual respect despite all of the other muddled feelings of jealousy and resentment and old-fashioned sibling rivalry. In a world where Jesús wasn't such an evil man I think this could have been one of my favourite relationships on the show, if they'd taken the time to develop it more. Especially in the way she yields to him in the beginning and how her character growth comes into play later on.

Carmen is the boss you want to have before she’s even anyone’s boss. The way she is straightforward and stands up to Marta for her own and her fellow workers sake and safety. I wish she was my workplace Union rep. She’s such a competent lady and I'd gladly line up behind. But why throw fucking caveman Tasio around her neck like a noose I’ll never understand. Though I’m getting ahead of myself, or ahead of the show at least.

I mean seriously, what’s up with that opening credit?! Of all the characters, they get a two shot. In bed. The two of them who at this point in time have nothing to tie them together. A flimsy string of connection through fathers, through work. I wasn’t here from the start, but I assume they were shipped from day one? Granted by my arguing maybe Gaspar and Tasio should be shipped too, but at least those two aren't in bed together. And no, don't enlighten me if there are people who do ship them. Some things I'd rather go through life without knowing. This would be one of those.

Lol, Luz is so no-nonsense as she saves Damian's life. “Stop praying and let me stab him with a giant needle, you rich fools!”. Her and Begona sharing the medical field and a bit of empathy with each other is nice too. An ensemble cast that is balanced between men and women seldom leave room for a lot of female friendship, but this one does. I appreciate that.

Fina establishing from the very beginning what she thinks of men, and especially the fool ones like Carmen's deadbeat boyfriend. I feel you. And I am in love with the way she throughout all the episodes to date will be used as a way of voicing what the tired lesbian feminist in all of us wishes she could say, out loud.

If trolls exist, you know like proper giant ones, the kind that can be mistaken for a mountain, covered in moss and trees and then suddenly just opens its eyes and stands up to stretch. You know the kind of trolls you think of when listening to Grieg's In the Mountain King's Hall - yeah those. I imagine if they existed then they'd sound exactly like a sickly Don Damian, like a melodic stone avalanche. That said I’ve never envision mountain trolls to sound Spanish before now. But maybe that’s on me.

Joaquín is a bit of an ass, calling Fina (and the rest of them) lazy - my eyes are narrowed. It wasn’t actually something he developed when he got on my shitlist by flirting with the secretary while having a cute as a button wife or pointing a gun at Marta. Apparently the assery was a pre-existing condition. It’s interesting though that Luis is the one talking about taking over the company, yet he still comes off as the decent one of them.

“You don’t notice the boys?”- Petra, you blonde little snake, don’t call my Fina out like that. Maybe we're allowed to know she's a lesbian, but don't flaunt it in front of the entire canteen like that. It’s kind of funny though how Fina is so clear about Luis not being her type, yet there are so many common denominators between him and Marta both in personality and in physicality (except of course the most important one in this case, their sex).

I know he’s supposed to be one of the good guys, but honestly, Andrés is a bit of a douchebag, isn’t he?! Or maybe that's a bit harsh, but he comes across as pretty smarmy. He's like what the wall behind your stove would be if anthropomorphised, kind of greasy, kind of sticky and in constant need of being hosed down. But yay for not letting the roof drop on your employees, I guess.

[sloilan]

I want to rate the silly ships like people have been doing so I will (my memory of them in canon is so bad) 

Percabeth: 9/10

by far one of the best ships in pjo, but there are times where the "tough love" is just too tough for me

Jiper/Jasper: 3/10

I don't remember much about this ship at all but it was a little cute? It did feel very fabricated with it being forced by Hera & I found Piper's heart eyes at Jason 24/7 annoying as hell- 

Frazel: 4/10

it was cute, but that could just be the characters lol I wish we saw them more developing their crushes on each other instead of Percy showing up and being like "oh these guys like each other lol" 

I don't like the age gap at all tho, it might just be like 2-3 years but when you're a teen that's a BEEG difference in brain development and maturity levels etc. 

Caleo: -100/10

no, just no. I can not even begin to explain why it is so bad and toxic. Richardio really saw Percabeth pop off and was like "let me do that again!" and made the most toxic ship i could find fr. Me and my homies hate Calypso frfr. Even if all their interactions were rewritten so that Calypso isn't constantly talking over and shutting down anything and everything Leo does I dislike it still because it just plays into the damsel in distress x savior knight which i do not like at allll 

Solangelo: 1/10

they had slight potential in blood of olympus (and that's me being nice) but otherwise everything after that just felt so stale, fake, cringey, and toxic. 

Will's character lacks,,, well, character. If you want to construct a relationship with characters you need them to be people in the first place- and not just a "__'s boyfriend!" 

It also just feels like those 13 yr olds in school that are so obnoxiously lovey in class and then they break up after a week you know what i mean? I have more to say but these are getting long-

Solangelo (in fanon): 8/10 

Hell yeah. Most of the fan content ive seen from solangelo has been DRASTICALLY better than canon, they actually make Will feel more like a concrete person, they give proper chemistry/shared interests to him & Nico, and overall it just flows better? Idk (big fan of when people make Will freakier than Nico, my favorite flavor of Will) 

Pernico: 2/10

I can see it? But I don't like it. They have so much built up miscommunication and bad memories from each other (Percy literally tried to strangle Nico to death) also the same with Frazel; I don't like the age gaps while theyre teens 

Jasico: 8/10

I get this one, but I really see them as more like besties, so I don't partake in it too much. Otherwise it's great. 

Valdangelo: 10/10

I am biased, but good looorrrd the potential :(( the similarities of them, both being the outcasts and just heguehfh i love them 

Valgrace: 8/10

same as Jasico, i see them as bros way too much but I don't deny it's a banger ship too. 

Shelper: 1/10

I feel the same way with this as i do Solangelo, there's no character for Shel, it's just Piper and "Piper's gf!!" Rick is so bad at writing queer rep, he just picks main characters and slaps a random blank slate character onto their side and thinks he ate, but he's just desperate for queer brownie points. 

Feirrochase: 10/10

I DON'T REMEMBER THEM BUT I LOVE THEM!! 

[runabout-river]

Do you believe that JJk part 2 would be made? The author seems to make it clear with the pacing, that the story is concluding in this series.

What other plot points could be addressed thoughtfully and with adequate pacing, if the trio's comeback, antagonist death, and main heros power escalation in the final arc, did not get the pacing it deserved?

It'll mostly likely wrap up in the next two chapters, with the last one serving as an Epilogue.

Thanks for this question! I'm going to cheat a little by copy/pasting a previous post of mine about everything that's still open ended in JJK, most likely will not get a proper conclusion in the last 3 chapters, and could serve as the groundwork for a potential JJK 2.

First, though, your questions seems a little misaligned. JJK is going to end in three chapters and there is no pacing issue there. Maybe it's a bad word choice or you've seen others talk about it like that, but chapter 271 is going to be a rounded end for the story that, in my opinion (08.09.2024), will lead into a JJK Part 2 because of these:

The Culling Games have not Ended

They still go on because players like Yuji and Hakari are still alive

We didn't even come close to the Merger

We have so much setup including pregnant Sukuna who left baby Tengen (probably) with Megumi now.

When as a writer you introduce world ending stakes, you better deliver on them even if only for the good guys to win against them.

Those stakes were never even reached though

The foreign invasion of Japan was introduced but then forgotten about

There are now militaries in Japan who abduct sorcerers for resources, giving Gege vast storytelling potential for the future

But Gojo could've dealt with them off screen and Yuta might continue to protect Japan in his stead now. This plot thread can be dealt with in the last 3 chapters but you would still ask: Why was it here at all?

Remy survived

Remy was the girl who tricked Megumi and who Megumi wanted to kill afterwards. Tsumiki's soul intervened on Remy's behalf and saved her, just for Remy to be abducted later. She's one of those characters Gege could've killed but instead we have a scenario where Megumi is poised to save her now while also getting into contact with Tsumiki's soul that hasn't happened yet

Tengen, the Star Plasma Vessel and the Six Eyes are connected by Fate

Multiple SPVs can exist simultaniously but not the 6E. After Gojo's death this minor detail mentioned by Tengen became obsolete for the story.

But then Yuta took over Gojo's body and now the 6E are back for this particular fate to happen again especially with Tengen's life in the strange state it is

Gege had come up with the story of the 3 Kugisaki women at the beginning of the manga

But instead of discarding it at the end of it, becasue it had no relevance or plot attention at all, Gege decided to open that thread and let it hang there, promising things to come like the bastard that he is with regards to the Kugisaki family.

Megumi's incomplete Domain

This is basic story telling especially in battle shonen: when you show the audience an incomplete ability, then by the end that ability has to be mastered barring a tragic end to the character.

Gege could throw us a curve ball about his domain with the last chapters but with Sukuna defeated now all tension of him accomplishing it is out.

But if this is Megumi's midpoint of his character arc and development, then everything regarding him, his domain and even his relationship with Sukuna can come to a proper end in JJK2

Sukuna's and Megumi's relationship and interactions were lacking in the end

But with Gege deliberately leaving behind 1 Finger, the option of Sukuna coming back as a curse, the remains of his first body most likely being permanent parts of Megumi, and not to forget the psycological and physical scars that Megumi has from him now, the potential for deep future interactions is there.

Sukuna's story has only been told to us from the perspectives of others

Sure, that does not have to change. Gege can leave it like that and he could or could not give us a Sukuna flashback in the last 3 chapters.

But he can go further than that and delve into that villain from more angles outside of mainly the narrator's and Yuji's.

He could eg go into the difference between Sukuna's relatiosnhip with Yuji and his relationship with Megumi to dive deeper into his personality

Kenjaku/Kaori, Jin and Yuji - none of that is resolved in any way

Just like how Kenjaku's true motives for creating the perfect vessel, who was in the end the perfect cage for Sukuna, was never explained.

So, yeah, I think JJK 2 is a real possibility with everything that hasn't been done and talked about, which was why I titled my original post with all of these points: "Gege kills off unneeded characters, why didn't he kill this?".

And I can see multiple reasons for why he would go the hard cut with the middle point of the series.

It's easier to structure narratively

he can make genre, theme and protagonist changes

he can get a break that can be longer than just a few weeks

it creates hype for the ending

keeping the story going makes him and his characters a cultural icon and him and SJ rich

also we would have a JJK 0, JJK 1 and now JJK 2, which would be funny

[natedogx15]

My Ideal Konoha Twelve Team Line-Ups

I got bored and decided to make a post about my ideal Konoha Twelve team line-ups that I think would do best for most to all the character, both students and teachers.

Team 7 Sensei: Kakashi Hatake Students: Sasuke, Hinata, Kiba

This one and Might Guy's teams were a bit on the difficult side because Kakashi and Sasuke have to go hand-in-hand due to Kakashi's Sharigan. But I managed. I think this team fits best because it has a similar dynamic to canon but different due to Hinata's shyness.

I think this dynamic works because two out of the three students will be learning their Clan's fighting style instead of really branching out to begin with. This gives Kakashi more opportunity to train Sasuke while the other two aren't neglected. Kakashi could help Hinata with her self-confidence since I think his easy-going yet hardened personality toward being a Shinobi could work similar to Kurenai's care for Hinata. Kakashi also has a contract with Ninja Dogs and those summons can help Kiba with his training to go with his Clan's training. Plus, Kakashi may be pressured to be a better teacher due to having two Clans hounding on him about their children's training.

In combat, the team is pretty well-rounded, two strong taijutsu users, and two well-rounded individuals that usually stick to using ninjutsu.

Team 8 Sensei: Kurenai Yuhi Students: Sakura, Neji, Choji

Again, I feel like this team has a similar dynamic to Team Seven that could work pretty well in the long run for each of the students. Kurenai is a teacher who likes to be involved in her students' lives and might be able to help them get over their respective issues mentally.

Similar to the last team, this one works well because two out of three members are going to be learning from their Clans, giving Kurenai more opportunity to help Sakura get out of her fangirl phase and become a proper kunoichi. She can also take advantage of Sakura's amazing chakra control to make her into an incredible genjutsu mistress like Kurenai herself. And when Sakura does study under Tsunade, she'll have two teammates that can help her develop her taijutsu skills to go with her super strength.

In combat, it's a pretty decent unit. The two genjutsu users can trap the enemy for the taijutsu users to close the distance and finish them off.

Team 9 Sensei: Might Guy Students: Rock Lee, Shino, Ino

This one was another team that gave me trouble because I had to make the teams while keeping in mind that Lee has to be on Guy's team. I think it came out pretty well and could work as a different type of the Ino-Shika-Cho formation.

Like the last two, this team will have two people that learn more from their Clans, giving Might Guy the chance to teach Lee while the other two aren't as neglected. He'll also be the type of person that will force Ino out of the fangirl mindset through his training methods. Shino is a character I think really works for any team due to his nature.

Like I said, in combat, this team could work similar to the Ino-Shika-Cho formation but with better tracking thanks to Shino. Guy and Lee can keep the enemy back while Shino can pin people down with his bugs so Ino can use her family Jutsu. Then Guy and Lee go for the finisher.

Team 10 Sensei: Asuma Sarutobi Students: Naruto, Shikamaru, Tenten

Funny enough, this is the first team I created. I like the team dynamic here because I think each student can learn a lot from Asuma and the atmosphere feels like it would be the friendliest of the four.

This team can really play on each other's strengths. Tenten will only benefit from being with Asuma because he can teach her Chakra Flow and possibly other techniques to enhance the danger of her weapons. Asuma had already taught Naruto before in canon and is one of the few in Konoha with a Wind Nature like him. Plus, I headcanon that Asuma is like an uncle to Naruto. Shikamaru will be learning from his family mostly but he has a good relationship with Asuma and his brains will help a lot with the team. Not to mention, if Naruto learns how to share his chakra early, it'll help his teammates' weaknesses from not having massive chakra reserves. This means Tenten can better user her weapons that require large amounts of chakra to use, like the Bashōsen, while Shikamaru will have more chakra to use his Shadow Possession jutsu constantly.

In combat, this is a pretty well-rounded team that focuses on close-range. Asuma is a strong close-range combatant with some ninjutsu options. Shikamaru is smart and can make up strategies while pinning the enemy. Naruto can also make creative plans and overwhelm the opponent with Shadow Clones to at least divert their attention for Shikamaru to trap them. Tenten would make good support with her weapons but a strong fighter close-range when she learns Chakra Flow.

[hxhhasmysoul]

General Thoughts on Yuuta?

As few as humanly possible? I wish the fandom let me forget about this boy.

I’ve never found Yuuta interesting. Now, thanks to fandom I find him downright annoying. 

Yuuta has strong Shinji vibes at the beginning of Zero and while it’s realistic, there are people who are like that, I just find it boring. This is a very personal bias but as a person who has several concurrent mental issues, I have a strong dislike for characters and actual people who make their mental illness their whole personality. 

His arc in Zero also doesn’t excite me. He is super powerful from the start but can’t control it. Then he puts practically zero work into it an can control it.. He seems like a scrawny loser but starts to do gymnast shit with a sword really quickly. His CT is Copy, where he just copies the techniques of others and uses them in a more powerful way than they do, with no conditions or downsides.. When he needs to, he learns reverse curse technique and can apply it to others which we learn is super hard… 

Basically, everything he needs to know and be able to do, he is able to do in the moment he needs it… 

And Yuuta has no principles, not ideals. He is unfazed by Getou’s fascist speech. Yuuta fights Getou because Getou directly harms Yuuta’s only friends. It’s really sad because Getou actually is shown to have a vested interest in pursuing Yuuta, or more precisely Rika. I mean Getou’s plan and ideology are nonsense, but what fascist ideology is internally coherent anyway, it’s always reactionary drivel that focuses on targeting the weak instead of trying to get to the bottom of societal (in this case jujutsu society’s) problems. But Yuuta has no personal connection to Getou, no thematic one either. 

I think Gege really noticed what a weak protag Yuuta was because all of this is fixed in Yuuji whose ability to perform gymnastic feats is established in chapter one. Who also has principles and a personality more complex than: I’m depressed.  Same with Getou and his primitive plans are replaced with Mother, the perfect plotter, and their amazing multi-layered plans. The Gege added Sukuna, an emotionally constipated jujutsu and poetry nerd who can also forge a plan of his own. And Mahito, a creepy kid curse who thinks he can plot but alas adults were in the room, so no he can’t And Yuuji has a deep personal and thematic connection to all three of them, and likewise.

It really shows how much Gege grew and developed the world of JJK between Zero and the main series.

There’s a hint that Yuuta’s so powerful partially because of Rika’s love for him. She loves and she stayed with him after she died. “Love is the greatest curse”. So the arc goes that Yuuta is told that he can stop keeping Rika’s soul from crossing over, can break her curse by simply talking to her, releasing her. 

And this is where Gege in my opinion really made a serious mistake. The way this is set up, and later much more well developed in JJK proper, there should’ve been a cost to releasing Rika. There is a strong idea of balance and give and take to jujutsu. Gege had a perfect opportunity here to grant Yuuta space to grow by depowering him. Letting Yuuta lose some of his powers by letting go of Rika. But Yuuta just became more powerful for JJK proper… 

And that meant there was nowhere to go with Yuuta’s character. Yuuta was still unconnected to any of the major villains and barely to any of the important characters, only to Maki and Gojou, though he barely interacts with either in JJK proper. 

I and also other people have written before how Yuuta literally does nothing during the final showdown, how he only pauses the fight, prolongs it and distracts from the people who Sukuna actually connects with during the fight, ie Yuuji and Maki. Or how he wasn’t even necessary to kill Kenjaku.  

And Yuuta has no personal connection to either Kenjaku or Sukuna. He has a forced thematic connection to Sukuna when he takes over Gojou’s body, a pathetic attempt at becoming the strongest. And he has that connection for like five minutes in the story… 

If Yuuta never appeared in the JJK main story… it would’ve been almost the exact same story. Gege needed Yuuta for one moment, just after Shibuya to fake Yuuji’s death. And maybe even that could’ve been handled differently. Someone else could’ve fought in Sendai instead of him, there are other capable characters to fight in the Culling Games.

_________________

More posts on Yuuta by me and others. If I missed any good ones, please tell me and I will add them to the list.

[actuallyidontgiveadamn]

i've never been vocal about bnha before but chapter 382 leaks depiction of AFO and Hawks as equal opposites got me so good I will explode if I don't rant about it and Hawks character development in general

If you want to read about the chapter 382 only, skip to the part with the manga pages

But I think it's necessary to start from the beginning so here are my quick thoughts

Given his late introduction, sparse appearances and mostly support role in any given situation Hawks can be narratively classified as a side character even to side characters (pro-heroes, with students being the main heroes). Within the narrative he himself insists on being a support to other heroes, from cheering them up (mostly through manipulating emotions and lying, but that's a topic for another rant) to gathering information on the enemy, and assisting in fights.

What I think we the readers and he himself has been failing to see is that he's not just supporting, he's actually leading. He was initially shown as an arrogant hero who works alone and ignores his sidekicks and interns because he couldn't bother with them being slow, but the moment a given situation gets more serious we can see that he's actually good at working with others. He's good at reading people and circumstances, bending any given situation even as it actively unfolds, manipulating people and coordinating fights.

When we first see him, he successfully pulls an 'ignorant brat' stunt on both public and heroes, which manipulates public opinion on Endeavor and Endeavor's opinion on him, both to his desired outcomes.

The High-End fight was basically staged by him, and when it happens in the middle of a city very much not according to plan he still manages to ensure that it ends with no casualties.

Operation against the PLF is once again his doing and I personally would've very much loved to see him coordinating it instead of being incapacitated at the very start.

Then again, the moment he gets up from the hospital bed, he's taking everything in his hands. He encourages Endeavor to keep fighting by walking in on his family meeting just at the right time (absolutely not a coincidence) and saying just the right words. He's the one to come up with heroes' public speech. He appears to support Deku and other heroes politely suggesting what they should do and how they should behave when basically he's giving orders right and left to three most experienced and proper adult heroes. All while being a crippled 23yo who never had a normal life. He's two days out of Comissions control, he's injured beyond recognition, and he opts to leading others, which he still views as just supporting them.

And now the final fight against the final Big Bad of the entire series. Hawks enters it yet again considering himself an Endeavor's sidekick. After all, the final battle should be between the Worst Villain and the Top Hero, right? And then this rapidly changes to show us who is actually carrying that fight. Even while Endeavor is still fighting, we see how Hawks is the one coordinating the fight and keeping Endeavor focused.

When Endeavor falls, Hawk's role as the leader shines to its fullest. He is still crippled and so he understands he's no match to AFO and yet he's succesfull in fighting, stalling, manipulating, and annoying the main villain.

He denies AFO leaving, denies him proceeding with his plans, gets support from other heroes and supports them in return, he's now successfully leading a team effort. And even though Hawks doesn't know who may or may not come to his aid, he's fast to adapt to the changes. He's relentless and AFO is noticing it.

Enters chapter 382 and its composition.

Hawks is now actually mirrored to AFO. Through art and panels and phrases.

First of all notice how they are being simultaneously addressed to as "2人の男" - "Two men". Their panels are obviously mirrored despite them not actually facing each other since Hawks is standing behind Tokoyami's back at the moment and AFO is in the air. This mirror is getting even better in the page below. They now have a same sentence for both of them with a one word difference.

For AFO it's "The situation still isn't the best" and for Hawks "The situation still isn't the worst", with 'best' and 'worst' written on their respective sides.

Then we get main focus of this chapter on Toga, but in the end we're brought full circle to AFO and Hawks, with the same mirror panels and almost the exact same sentence again.

Once again 'two men' and once again 'the situation' sentence starts being written for both characters but then it changes.

First of all 'still' (まだ) changes to 'already' (もう), and continues for AFO as 'The situation is already becoming the best'. But then suddenly it starts over and has 'still' in it as in the beginning. As if Hawks is refusing to recognise the change of circumstances in AFO's favor. For Hawks it's 'The situation is still' - and then even continued by Hawks himself speaking it out loud - "not the worst"'. Hawks insists on saying 'still' though he too clearly sees that things just got worse for the heroes. (And I have a feeling that this sentence and Hawks' response is a big nod to his "I'm an optimist" line).

So in this chapter Hawks is obviously shown as an equal opposite to AFO. He's finally acknowledged having the same role as the mastermind and the leader but on the heroes' side. Throughout the battle (and the whole previous manga) he's been shown as smart, quick-thinking, both parts supportive and leading, and most of all unyielding despite all the circumstances. Getting him finally recognised for these qualities is a huge development and an acknowledgement for a 'side character'.

Insane part is that he himself still doesn't seem to get it. At that moment he's supporting Tokoyami and feeling unworthy of it.

[ciaossu-imagines]

And smut based off this prompt, I went with Nanbaka and just let the wheel randomly choose five characters for me! I hope you all enjoy these!

Send me one pro and one con you could see with having sex with the character.

Mitsuru

Mitsuru has the best oral skills out of any man in the entire Nanbaka cast. He’s got a longer than average tongue and is really good at knowing how to use it. Not only that, but he never sticks to just the tried and true and switches up his oral techniques enough that it doesn’t begin to feel too same-y, if that makes sense. And he honestly loves giving oral sex to his partner; he makes it really clear, and he will be content with going down on them and eating them like the snack they are, even if actual penetrative sex never happens.

Mitsuru is very vocal during sex. He talks dirty and he doesn’t hold back any noises he feels like making. He’s definitely great at making sure his partner knows he’s enjoying himself, but he can be overly vocal, to be honest, almost to the point where it’s distracting to his lover and instead of being a turn-off, it can pull his lover out of the moment.

Kenshirou

Kenshirou will be an insanely loyal lover who will never, ever give a partner reason to suspect him of cheating. He won’t even watch porn while he’s in a sexual relationship with someone…hell, to go one step further, he’d be appalled at himself if he so much as saw another pair of titties on the internet while he was in a sexual relationship with someone.

The downside is, though, that Kenshirou is oddly prim and proper and quite hesitant when it comes to sex with his lover. He’s never quite sure how to instigate and feels nervous doing so and he does have a set amount of time he thinks is proper to wait before becoming intimate with a new partner and very solid thoughts on what is, and is not, proper regarding sex.

Samon

Samon has a praise kink and any of his lovers will definitely be at risk of developing a huge ego considering all the naughty, dirty, but oddly sweet compliments he will moan out during foreplay and sex. He’s especially good at bolstering the self-esteem of a lover who does have confidence issues because, if he notices this about his lover, he’s going extra hard with both the praise and the body worship he’ll lavish upon them.

That being said, Samon is a busy guy who does get stressed really easily and he’ll either become really uninterested in sex and physical affection when he gets really stressed or he’ll take out that stress on his partner and be surprisingly rough and selfish during sex when he’s going through those periods.

Qi

Qi’s really knowledgeable about all aspects of the human body so he’s fully aware of every erogenous zone on his partner’s body and will make them feel so good using methods his partner would never suspect would make them feel that damn good. He’s also pretty casual about the human body and would be quick to shrug off or dismiss any weird sounds during sex or, if a partner was on their period, or, in another example, if things got a little messy during anal, Qi wouldn’t actually think twice about it and would consider it pretty normal.

However, Qi can be a bit of a lazy lover and he’s very much a pillow princess. He’s more content to let his lover do almost all the work sexually, from expecting them to ride him instead of him having to put in the physical effort to expecting them to instigate more often than he will.

Elf

Sex will definitely be exciting with Elf. He’s anything but boring and that extends to his sexual self. He lives to push boundaries and to explore and he will be open to literally anything sexually. He comes up with insane fantasies and will want to experience every ounce of pleasure he can get or give his partner.

Cons of sex with Elf – there’s always a possibility that you end up dead afterwards but hey, those are the risks you have to accept to have anything to do with this man.

[sapphire-rb]

Some interesting text found on the code: Part 1.2 - Leftovers from DQB1

Split from this because it turned from 'fun trivia' to 'theory territory' and I wanted to keep the other post more informative than rambly.

5:

Look at that! I don't need to translate that, just read it for yourselves!

Inside the menu code there's text hinting at a chapter-structure thing, like the one from the first game!

What I think happened was that originally during early development the 4 islands were planned the same way the 4 DQB1 chapters had been planned, and then they connected them with a more lineal plotline (since there were complaints about the disconnect between chapters in the first game).

Then the game would start you from the beginning if you hit 'new game', and as you advanced through the islands you would unlock the ability to start a new game jumping directly to that part of the story, like how you unlock chapters and can replay them individually without having to complete the previous ones in the original.

That's why there's a "for beginners" and "for experienced" prompt. It'd be a little weird to tell you about "beginners" if you unlocked the menu as postgame, and there's no way they'd let you skip to the end minutes after turning on the game for the first time.

Here's the menu from the first game as a reminder:

(Also! Default builder name bonus. They are the same across both games)

And! There's no Skelkatraz in the menu, but there is a Malhalla, so Skelkatraz can't have been omitted for spoiler reasons, right? Or maybe it is, since 'before Malhalla' is slotted at the end... Was that not on the list originally because didn't want to spoil Malhalla on the menu, but eventually decided it was too important and had to add it?

But wait- can that mean that there was no 'before Malhalla' planned at the beginning? That after leaving Moonbrooke you would be basically thrown into Malhalla instead of having to build the Steppe (Steppe that just pauses the Builder-Malroth character arc for no reason)?

Because if you think about it- why is there an 'After Malhalla'? that's just a glorified cutscene away from 'After Credits'. Unless Cerulean Steppe was planned to happen after Malhalla originally and not before, which would explain why there would be content between Malhalla and Credits (prompting a need to give you the option between 'after' one and 'after' the other) , but none between Moonbrooke and Malhalla (meaning both 'After Moonbrooke' and 'Before Malhalla' would be the same point in time). And then afterwards they moved the Steppe to between Moonbrooke and Malhalla because it made more plot sense.

And think about the castle. In-game the villagers just build the shell of it, and the game just tells you to 'build it properly' post-credits. And I've heard player complaints about the game not bothering to give you a proper castle. But if Cerulean Steppe was originally a post-game IoA part, then the castle had always been planned for post-game content, and when they had to put the Steppe into the main plot they had to compromise with the shell to keep the original post-game castle idea intact.

So if that's true, and you think about the fact that Skelkatraz is omitted there, maybe the original 'structure breaker' was Malhalla breaking in the Cerulean Steppe part. But then that was cut, and Skelkatraz was slotted in during the Scarlet Sands part to fulfil the 'structure breaker' role. And Skelkatraz adds the plot point about the Children of Hargon attacking the island- and would you look at that, it just so happens that that plot point is resolved in the Cerulean Steppe part, right before Malhalla! (being the only thing that gets resolved during the Cerulean Steppe part)

And Skelkatraz is also a very buggy part of the game, so it being a last minute addition also checks out.

So, I wanted to add at the beginning of this text, the idea that if the 4 islands were planned like the 4 DQB1 chapters, that maybe IoA had been planned like how Terra Incognita had been planned. Something a little bit outside of the main plot.

Considering the idea that the Skelkatraz sequence didn't exist originally, it makes sense that the Cerulean Steppe would be out of the plot, because it means that all 3 IoA sequences were themselves 'out of plot', and you would have the 4 islands plot as the main story while going to the IoA was more of a 'side quest' thing.

Now, I'm not saying that IoA used to be like Terra Incognita. I'm pretty sure that IoA has always been like IoA, but maybe at first they had planned it to be like the little sandbox safe haven Terra Incognita is, before the realised that if they wanted to make a more intertwined plot they couldn't just have the hub of the game be completely removed from it and doing its own thing.

...You know... IoA only gets 'unlocked' after Furrowfield... The same way Terra Incognita is only unlocked after Cantlin...

ok I don't think my rambles are coherent at this point. Sorry. Got too excited. But anyway, I think it's fun to think about how the game was planned and changed around. Makes you appreciate how much work goes into it.

[bamboopanda27]

I might be in the minority here, but I gotta say, it's kind of disappointing to see so many negative reactions towards Silent Hill 2 Remake. I get that Konami doesn't exactly have the best track record with how they've handled the series in recent years. I understand that people have reservations about Bloober Team's involvement and why that is. I know that the original Silent Hill 2 is a very beloved game. And of course, people are entitled to their own opinions.

However, I feel like I see way too much of people just absolutely hating on something online these days, rather than waiting for it to come out and giving it a fair chance. I've lost track of all the times people have completely rallied against a game, show, movie, etc. based off just a few scenes or bits of dialogue. It takes more than that to truly experience and judge media for yourself.

In the case of Silent Hill 2 Remake, I've also already seen numerous rants about things like James having too much expression in certain scenes and being able to block/guard against attacks. I saw that first point floating around online after the teaser trailer released and that was literally the only information to go on. Now, people are complaining about how the combat looks. I feel like people are forgetting or neglecting that Silent Hill has never really had smooth combat. It's always been clunky and awkward to some extent. In my opinion, combat has consistently been the worst part of each Silent Hill game I've played. Story, characters, and atmosphere have been the much stronger parts for me. If anything, it looks like the combat in SH2R will still be an improvement from the original. Just from the brief clips shown in the gameplay trailer, it already appears to be much smoother and more modernized without being too action oriented.

Another thing that bothers me is the trailer even discloses the game is still in development. This isn't a finished product yet, and it's very possible the combat will be more polished once it's done. It could also have been changed quite a bit by then. I think people need to actually wait for the finished game to come out, then experience it for themselves. Like I said before, there's too much of bashing things without ever giving them a fair chance and instead assuming that they'll be terrible, awful, trash, and a myriad of other negative descriptors from the very beginning.

Maybe the game will turn out to be bad and I'll end up feeling disappointed by it. For now though, I'd rather give it the benefit of the doubt and believe it has the potential to be good. I'd rather wait to play the game myself and form my overall opinion on it then.

All this to say I'm frustrated by how quickly and easily people completely dismiss things without giving them a proper chance first. And specifically, it's frustrating to see how much of that type of sentiment has been directed towards Silent Hill 2 Remake, a game that's still in development and doesn't even have a release date yet. At this point, it honestly feels like some people are nitpicking every bit of information or footage that comes out and finding everything "wrong" with it that they possibly can.

[graniteknight]

idfk if people will understand this absolute nonsense I am about to spill, but hear me out with an absolutely pathetic over analysis on Rider coroika and his development of slowly becoming a better leader for his team.

Now now, I understand if this seems like complete rubbish, especially since I haven’t ever made a proper coro analysis before, so bare with me.. But I love the slow process of Rider slowly beginning to trust his teammates, and eventually become an actually good leader. (also focusing on his relationship with blue team :>)

I love Rider sm as a character, he’s shown to slowly develop as a person instead of just being shoved into a quick “immediately trusting others” character, especially after his loss to Blue team in vol 1 we see him slowly understand that cou can’t just rely on others to NOT help you in difficult situations.

As far as he was concerned, he didn’t need anybody else, yes he was egotistical and didn’t genuinely give to shits about working as a team, but the team he chose definitely was one he probably didn’t expect to keep around. Why he doesn’t have a previous team is completely unknown, whether he left them or not is not what I’m here to talk about.

when confronting Goggles at the end of the first chapter, he askes how they communicate properly and decides to keep that information to properly bring his teammates into.. being a team.

In Vol 5 we see that he’s actually taken this advice into consideration, as he refuses to let his teammates get defeated by emperor (even if it’s yet to happen) and appreciates the small things that they do for him. Heck he even recruited them back together for the tournament, (even before I think?) and they planned out how they were going to defeat team monarch.

when it comes to blue team, he appears relatively defensive of them, willing to help them when they lost to skull the first time, with help from his teammates. (and in hero mode 1 when he agreed to help captain cuttlefish, much to his.. uh.. unwillingness?) He wants to make sure that the teammates and others around him are protected and willing to do anything that they need to.

Overall, he’s a tough character.. and has a tough personality to suit him perfectly, although he may not seem.. that different, he changed enough for him to no longer be so egotistical about things.

[bibibbon]

Mha chapter 428 rant

Well two more chapters left before MHA ends and this chapter was expected.

All might and izuku parallels are still going strong. Somebody help this man fr.

Even though the system hasn't actually changed the civilians do seem to be realising the importance of what they do. It's an improvement I supposed and a good one at that however the people do still worship heroes in a way that they shouldn't so it kind of gives me vibes of history may repeat itself.

A starting conclusion to ochako and her feelings about toga was to be expected. Iam glad that this is actually being introduced and Iam guessing from this is that toga is dead.

I do hope that ochako and izuku both help eachother out since they haven't been in the best mental space. Ok but I just noticed that izuku was so worried for her that he is using his OFA sparks to travel faster and find her now that's a good friend right there. The man heard about ochako not answering asui's messages and ran to find ochako. Thinking about it we might get a paralleling scene of them finishing talking about what they talked about before the beginning of the second war

Aizawa has made some improvements like rejecting interviews because his class may feel overwhelmed. It's an improvement but I feel like the man should know his class enough to enter some mfs or all of them to therapy because how do you not expect them to be severely traumatised after what they went through. Personally I was hoping to see a conversation between Izuku and aizawa to fully flesh out what he meant in chapter 420 by "Iam sorry izuku"

Still not sure how no teachers can actually recognise the mental problems that izuku and ochako have.

Still not a fan of the fangirls thing and the bakugo not getting attention felt so unnecessary. I see that maybe it was used to show how bakugo has changed and developed from his old behaviour do that now he is worthy of attention or something. Also edgeshot has chosen to be connected to bakugo in a way?!?! If that's the case we should of just made him bakugos mentor instead of best jeanist and he should of played an active role in a proper redemption arc with all might.

Iam glad iida called them out fr!

Overall Iam mostly glad we didn't get a thorough introduction to the first years but this chapter was expected I suppose and Iam hoping hori shows us whats going with the mysterious character.

Also at this point there's no point of showing us Izuku's father

[icharchivist]

Please answer this venting some more about ff7remake

^ you and me rn

aww <33 such a cute meme to illustrate it hi <333

Before i dive into it, a few disclaimers

-I've been fan of the franchise for over 15 years and there's definitely an aspect i'd say of having sat with the previous games for so long that there is a chance there will be bias against anything new. I try to be as objective as i can but as it's a game that means a lot to me, I doubt i would fully manage to be so

-Rumors of a Remake has been brought up ever since the release of Crisis Core because of how the mid-credit scene was adapting the beginning of the OG, and also because of test footage for a possible Remake then. And then when the Remake was announced in 2015 it really took fans by storm and we had to wait 5 more years before seeing the first part, which means a lot of hype and expectations have been built around this Remake which probably also colored the way fans will approach it.

-In the end i'm just one random fan with my own opinion and therefore this will be colored with my own feelings, and i think if people feel any other way about what i say, their own interpretation also matter, so it's a nonexhaustive aspect of all of it

-It's going to get long. In fact this whole ask is over 10.5k long. I'm so sorry.

-I'm going to spoil major aspect of the compilation, or at least won't try to dance around spoiler if i have to mention them.

-I am not touching the Yuffie DLC because i havent played it yet, and that contrary to the Remake it's not an "adaptation" of plotpoints from the OG and should be an original story and i'll judge it as such.

-It is just about Part 1 of the Remake, if i mention Rebirth i'll be vague.

Under the cut!

The Remake is based on the very first few hours of the original game, which is a very tight narrative to start with. If we follow the canon OG, it means they would have to stretch things out and pad in addition to have a proper game runtime.

As such the Remake isn't a straight adaptation of the beginning of the OG, but also will fill in with some original material. Call backs to the other game, supplementary lore, or fully new materials, as well as reworking previous scenes.

But it also includes a completely unique storyline that ends up taking center stage, and said storyline is a sequel to Advent Children. This one story therefore comes with its own problems.

Therefore there are different angles on which to judge the remake, both as an adaptation and a continuation of the franchise.

But frankly i'm allergic to the continuation aspect so bad that i can only see how it doesn't work, instead of how well the game is delivering on this scenario.

I should also mention that i started watching a cutscene movie of the remake in 2020 but stopped after the Wall Market scene because i wanted to play for myself but also was bummed by the way the plot was taking. then i started playing the game in 2021 when it released on computer and i dropped it right before Wall Market because i was seriously getting bummed out by the developments it took, and it made me disconnect with the saga for years just because i was bitter. So that also colors my vision of it that it managed to make me uninterested about a saga that's so close to my heart. I've only decided to give the game a shot again because i ended up rewatching the movie recently and was so emotional i wanted to see through with the remake.

Let's go:

First, the Good.

-The Fighting Gameplay is fantastic. It's a good middle ground between the fast paced action game and the timed turn by turn from the original. It preserves a lot of what made the fights memorable while modernizing it fantastically. In term of pure fighting gameplay, the game is a treat to play.

-Adding to it the equipments menu is a massive upgrade and you have no idea how grateful i am to be able to access each of the characters' set up and switch their materias from one chara to the next without needing them in my party. The scars of the OG are too real. Also very happy that everyone level up at the same rate even if they're not in your party for a while. The OG doesn't give exp to characters who aren't in your party when you play and if you don't switch out regularly, once the game forces you to play specific character, you run the risk of being massively underleveled. So happy the remake doesn't do that.

-The Enemies fights are fantastically adapted. In the OG because of the turn by turn format, the attacks weren't as distinctive from one another as they could be. Being able to really see how each enemies move and work was a pure treat.

-The environment design. The places are either faithfully reecreated or updated in a way that makes them very vivid and interesting. My only grip was with how bright the undercity looks on the regular, but the way to adapt it by having the brightness pushed as much as it does when the Sector 7 plate fall still made for a horrifying perspective, and i do think there's values on the aspect of putting the player in the same mentality as the people in the undercity thinking it's not so bad after all.

-Also adding in, character designs and updates have been really great and faithful to the compilation and it's a treat

-Also big mention to the new English cast that, i think, are almost all perfect replacement. Except Zack, which i think is a terrible replacement, but one miss out of all the wins is honestly not stopping it from being a plus

-Additional scenes of each characters that don't have them talking about the whole Whispers thing are usually pretty good. Barret especially gets to win a lot in personality by constantly seeing how he reacts to things. The OG didn't have as many character centric moments and it rarely shows us the intra-dynamic of the group outside of Cloud (rarely, but not never), and the remake was allowed to really allowed to bring it up a notch in a way that really makes you feel on how those characters care about one another.

-Fleshing out NPCs especially linked to the Sector 7's incident were good moves. Jessie, Biggs and Wedge taking more room in the game developping them especially with the full chapter dedicated to them was great and really allowed you to feel for the devastation of what would happen to them.

-Most of the New NPC are really cool and interesting and i'm very glad we got Andrea for instance. Linked to that, getting rid of the homophobic elements of the Honey Bee Inn to replace it with Andrea in particular genuinely healed me a little inside i think. Also i really like Roche.

-Every Turks scene are incredible as far as they're concerned. I really like the dive into their point of view and the way to prepare for their late game shift. Genuinely no complains there.

-Added quests in Sector 7 and Sector 5 to get to know both sectors. I genuinely think it's a good way to really develop an attachement to those places and the way they matter to our protagonists.

-The whole storyarc added to the Sewer and the Train Graveyard was genuinely great and served to really show how Tifa and Aerith grew closer, and ways to explore some specific character angst for both of them, and i really liked it.

-I was surprised at first but i do like replacing the climbing of the wall to reach the upper city with climbing the ruins of Sector 7 instead. It's another case of taking away a section with unique gaming mechanisms, yeah, but i also think it hits much harder and help you really sit on the devastation that occured in a way the OG couldn't show us. I think it was genuinely a good change.

-The adaptation of the infiltration by the stairs was also incredible.

-Seeing Shinra constantly trying to restart a war with Wutai and using the terrorists for this really drive home the propaganda that was in the work at Shinra and it's really neat to see.

The On-The-Fence.

-The Deep Ground stuff. Genuinely liked the first time it's quickly mentioned by the NPC, and actually connecting it to the researches around Jenova during the lab portion was interesting, but i think they kinda overplayed their hand a little.

-Everything about the lore of Avalanche outside of Barret and his crew. Having a main cell sometimes helping or not, and the Mayor being part of it, are choices i can't really say where i land on about. I found the Mayor reinterpretation fine but it came at the cost of all the gameplay that got changed because of his inclusion for example.

-The Reinterpretation of Wall Market. On one hand i do like the more flashy approach to the Market and really feeling how Corneo's fingerprints are basically everywhere. On the other i find it unsettling how "Glam" the whole approach to enter Corneo's house was. There's a huge difference between getting the help from the little folks who are ready to help you as you make your plan yourself, and having just to impress 3 of the authority of the whole town.

-The Return to Sector 7 plotline is very difficult adaptation wise for me because i think it shouldn't be there, but it's the one section of the game that really gives Barret time to shine and i really like what they do with him, and i do think it makes sense for him to want to come back and hope for the best. Barret carries this section because everything else makes it jarring.

-The Sunlamp sections to reactor 5. Way too long and overstuffed but it helps really setting up just how wasteful and hypocrite Shinra's energy use is.

-The removal of ambiguity about the action of Avalanche especially. This one is difficult to explain. Since we rarely leave Cloud's POV we don't really see if Shinra, say, provoke a bigger explosion to the Mako Reactor and then pin it on us, or if our actions genuinely hurt people. The Remake is constantly reassuring you that the worst of our actions are only because Shinra are making them worse on purpose. The OG doesn't really give you this reassuring. I'm... miffled about it because i think losing this nuance is particularly a problem for the set up of the Barret/Reeve conflict in late game, because there's never a moment Barret can just brush off they didn't do anything wrong. The question is more, are you willing to sit with the consequences of those actions, of the people who may die as you try to achieve the greater good? Which is also exactly in parallel to Reeve who, after seeing Sector 7, will be the one to kidnap Marlene to pressure Barret because, just like him, he's doing an "specific sacrifice" to stop harm from happening. But the remake constantly absolves Avalanche from any of that by making it clear it's Shinra's propaganda. And i do think it's making this plotline an injustice.... while also recognizing that perhaps it's necessary to spell out considering how otherwise people would easily side over Shinra, especially in a world post 9/11. And meanwhile this whole discussion between Barret and Reeve late in the OG might not happen at all because in Rebirth, Reeve doesn't kidnap Marlene. We're in a situation where the two men who considered maybe one sacrifice for the greater good, aren't even doing sacrifice anymore because they're too morally good for it. It cheapens their plotlines, but at the same time i don't know if i'd trust audience going into this conflict anyway. So it's difficult. It feels like the conflict was simplified and dumbed down, and i'm torn between "well it's necessary because audience needs to understand their pov" and " 'gratz on the loss of nuance everyday".

-The Further inclusion of Project G and S in the storyline when Hojo talks about it. I'm really on the fence so it's not easy to say, but i found it really jarring when Hojo mentioned them. Since the Remake itself doesn't bring much more answer as to how those Projects are implemented in the story, my memories of CC made it seem very weird. A friend told me about how it's used in Rebirth and it may be a good point but... wait and see.

-Related to that, the Mako degenerecency addition. Or more like. We knew Mako Poisoning was a thing, we knew of Project G and S Degenerecency, and it's not a stretch to think Mako will destroy its host on the long run -- but it's never been outright said in the OG nor addressed outside of CC, and i'm on the fence about how i feel about it. It seems to have a bigger part in Rebirth so i'll genuinely hold my judgement until i see what they do with it i think.

The "That could easily have been better."

-Back to Wall Market, the big de-queerification of the plotline despite the Honey Bee Inn section. The 1997 portion wasn't great sensitivity wise, but there was this clear element of how Aerith and Cloud agreed together on the crossdressing and worked their ass off specifically to cross dress Cloud together. In doing so you meet also Jules, who's a drag queen and will challenge you to a squat off in exchange of one of his wig, and you inspire the dressmaker by helping him discover he could try making dresses for other purpose than cis-women. The dressmaker find solace in the queer approach to his work. In the remake you have no mention of Jules being a drag queen even if he looks more gnc, the dressmaker just needs a reminder that girls dancing is hot to be inspired again, and Cloud crossdressing is imposed on him at the very last minute without him having prepared nor agreed with it. Andrea replacing all of the homophobic elements of the Honey Bee Inn, mainly the fact that the male hosts from it are making move on Cloud that makes him uncomfortable even if it helps for the crossdressing, and that in itself is great because Andrea ends up the mouthpiece of queer positivity replacing the most hiffy queer part of the original game. But it came at the expense of de-queering literally every single other plotlines of this part and robbing Cloud of his agency in his own crossdressing. Meanwhile to replace the quests in which Cloud is actively looking into crossdressing himself with quests in which Cloud has to prove he's the Manly Man. It's so jarring to me.

-Cloud's mental breakdowns. Hear me out. I'm a huge fan of Cloud's mental breakdown in the OG that starts pretty early. On one hand, i like some of the way they implanted more mental breakdown. The one Cloud has while Biggs talk about him being attached to his sword? amazing bit, for exemple. On the other, they really struggle with showing them in a way that's like... genuinely interesting. A lot of the early mental breakdowns in the OG usually black out the screen, pause the music, and then you only have white words showing up on the screen. The Remake cannot help but being flashy with them in a way i find particularly tacky. Re: "Back Then, i only got scrapped knees", when he falls from Mako Reactor 5. In the OG it's a reminder of when Tifa was the one who fell that day and Cloud tried to help her, fell with her, only got scrapped knees while she was in a coma, and then he was shuned out by the rest of the village because he was believed to have caused the incident, and Cloud developped his first survival guilt out of this one. When he falls in that scene, it is because Tifa was the one endangering herself to try to save him, and it flashed him back to it. In the Remake you get to see a model of him adult in a white landscape trying to talk to him, until Sephiroth hijack the whole situation and makes it about him. The whole tension is ruined like that. Likewise, when Cloud remembers Sephiroth calling himself an ancient, same "black screen, white text, no music", instead being interpreted with a weird flashback on a white background before Sephiroth hijack the scene to spell out that Cloud's fear of "being unable to save anyone" is seriously starting to eat him alive. Or how, in the whole new Deep Ground section, Cloud flashes back to when he was prisoner in a tube, and you see it clearly again. Yes it's realistic for Cloud to break down, no he doesn't break down seeing tubes in the OG, but showing flashes of him being in one is so vulgar for the audience. And meanwhile we completely lost one of the most terrifying mental breakdown Cloud has in an optional scene in the Honey Bee In where a copy of himself jumps on him to strangle him for the way he is denying the reality that's happening to him. like man. It sucks.

-Special mention to how i'm sad they removed Aerith scamming people with her flower business. Because it was always funny to me and sad not to see in the remake. At least the remake is a major step up from every single appearance of Aerith after the OG that tends to make her too pure and sweet (and i include Crisis Core in it) while in the OG she can be a menace, and the remake did manage to make her more of a menace than not, so it's nice-- but i want her to scam people. god forbid a girl does anything.

-Cloud and Choices. So i discuss about it often but in the OG during the whole first part of the game, you're often the one having to determinate how Cloud replies to some things. Said things will somewhat shape the scenario, most importantly: who are you going to go on a date with between Aerith, Tifa, Yuffie and Barret. On a metatextual level, those choices are also clearly supposed to indicate the different personas Cloud pulls off around people, in order to really have it hit home the moment he regains his memories and you can't control his words anymore.

The OG could more easily do it because the game isn't voiced, so it's easier to prepare, and the Remake couldn't do as many of those and honestly, that's fine.... the problem is how they replaced it.

Example: the Special Affection Scene with either Aerith, Tifa and Barret. The requirements for either of them is how many quests you did with Tifa on Sector 7, how many quests you did with Aerith in sector 5, who you decide to wake up first when the two of them fall in the Sewer, and if you tie or if you have less than 3 points with them you get the Barret cutscene.

... those aren't real choices to influence the cutscene imo. Except maybe the "who you wake up", just "doing sidequests or not" isn't indicative at all of who you'd have an affectionate scene with. and Barret instead is only there if you fail with them.

now, in the OG, the Barret scene does happen only if you failed with the other girls, but he actually had options giving him point too, like calling him Cloud's boyfriend when Corneo flirts with Cloud, or giving the flower to Marlene.

The Remake doesn't give you any of that. There's a fake choice in the first scene with Aerith where she gives you her flower and then you have no choice but to give it to Tifa, where in the OG you could give it to Marlene there. ok whatever.

but those are fake choices.

Likewise for the dresses: they're determined by how many quests you did, not about your actions, not about what you decide to collect, it's literally just filling a check list. and most aggravating, no matter if you do good or bad during this scene, Cloud will be picked as Corneo's lover no matter what, because he distincts himself by calling Corneo's pathetic. In the OG, if you don't crossdress Cloud in the perfect outfit, one of the girls get picked instead.

And it feels so.... anti-game in a sense? why do you remove anything that had the player interreact with the story in some way? or more like, if it was to be replaced why give conditions this lackluster?

this is maybe a nippick and all and it could be dealt with, but considering the thematic linked to Cloud and choices and persona this feels like such a lackluster way to replace it.

-Weird timing with some of Cloud's flashbacks? It bothered me but it might be nippicky. But we regularly see Cloud flashes back to when Tifa was a kid, which i believe he shouldn't (reason in a further down section). The only one that is important is the promise under the stars one, but they moved it to be triggered on Cloud when he's out with Jessie and the gang, while in the OG this scene is triggered after Tifa tries to remind Cloud of it, and it's because they have a conversation about it that we get to relive it with Cloud. I think it's a problem because it makes Cloud the one who initiates remembering those instead of Tifa, which is a problem to commit to the gaslight storyline with Sephiroth, when Sephiroth will manage to convince Cloud he never existed by cornering Tifa into saying she doesn't remember Cloud in one of his biggest memories. Because as long as the only flashback is one prompted by Tifa, you can argue that it's Tifa who plants the idea in Cloud's mind and therefore maybe Sephiroth is right. But the more Cloud remembers things unprompted to himself, the more you'd question Sephiroth's manipulation since "well no it doesn't make any sense if Cloud remembers things like that on his own."

-Reeve was great but showing Cait Sith early was a mistake and i think this set up is going to influence Rebirth in a bad way

The Bad

-The Padding. That's the core of all the problems of the game is that they wanted desperately to extend the runtime and therefore would use any excuses to make you waste time. Some exploration can be great, but eventually you'll really feel it when scenes start to seriously stretch out

-The Removal of puzzles and exploration in order to constantly guide you from one battle to the next and one cutscene to the next, and eventually very long mini game. It's probably hard to explain but it became very jarring to me. The OG kinda have you doing things yourself, and everything i can think of were replaced by very vulgar "quests to cross" type. Like Cloud's dress in Wall Market depends on how many quests you've done which are unrelated to how Andrea sees Cloud, while in the OG you have to find each pieces of the perfect dress on your own, make individual decisions for each of the piece and hoping it works in the end.

The Integrality of the Shinra's exploration puzzle were replaced as well to instead focus on cutscenes with exposition. The archives are supposed to be a puzzle game to get a password from the mayor to get to the next level. In the remake, the Mayor gives you an extended cutscene to say he's on your side and gives you a key to move forward and he tells you to talk to another Avalanche helper. You're supposed to overhear people talk about "last time i was in the bathroom i swear i could hear voices" to figure out you can infiltrate the vents to eardrops on the meeting. The Remake just downright tells you to go to the vent, but only after you proved you can fight. And even there rather than telling you to look for something, there's always clear quest markers to guide you, you dont need to think. After a while the game just gives up with adapting the others floor, including the elaborate puzzle where you have to sneak into a vent maze to get into locked rooms.

Instead they give an extended Lab Dungeon that doesn't exist in the main game, that is very weird from Hojo at this point, and for the "puzzle" it is, the characters are always telling you what to do and it's mostly finding ways to open door in very easy way to get to more fights. There's no intentions of genuinely having you work out how to play. Meanwhile instead the mini games take too long and are often just new mechanisms for one scene and then you move out. I like the mini games, but the balance has been very jarring to me. That said this is colored by the fact i'm playing the pc-port with keyboard+mouse and the port itself hasn't been well optimized for the mini games making them a lot more frustrating than they would be on controller.

I think it's wild also that for a game desperate to pad its runtimes, it refuses to let you just get lost into a puzzle to, yknow, lose time.

-The Fear of Committing to the Fucked Up aspect of the game. The major problem i have with that is that the remake specifically set up how those elements could become even more Fucked Up, and then genuinely refusing to follow through with them. No one you know survive Sector 7's fall of the plate. Jessie, Biggs, Wedge, they all die miserably at the pillar, and everyone you've met at Sector 7 don't seem to survive. The Remake develops all of this in a way that it will make it devastating to experience... and then they pull back at the last minute. Actually everyone you met and who mattered are fine.

Sephiroth's massacre of the Shinra's Lab Floor that covered everything with trails of blood are replaced by the fact Jenova is in a remove area only Hojo accesses to, and so the trail is just Jenova's purple goop and Sephiroth probably didn't murder anyone (other than the president) this time. Lol. Lmao even. Adding to prev point, the discovery of Jenova having been taken away was totally anticlimactic compared to the way the OG delivers on it, because of the muted music, lack of build off, and refusal to show the death that surrounds her tube.

Present Shinra gets an extended scene to shame Barret and then when Sephiroth stabs him, he only leaks black mist, compared to the team going to the President Office to see he has been impaled. The Hell House, that haunts you in the Collapsed Sector, is now a thrilling action piece of a show. Cloud's most fucked up breakdown (seen above) is removed.

Hojo's plans to force Aerith to breed with Nanaki to experiment on their offsprings that would live for a long period of time thanks to the length of Nanaki's species' lifespan, is replaced instead with Hojo talking about breeding her with human experiments who are degenerating because of the Jenova cells, because it's not about the lifespan anymore but just having many experiments in case Aerith dies. Still fucked up and all, and it can work out fine, but it's still the remake getting cold feet about the bestiality aspect, and therefore Nanaki's introduction has to be different from when he just happened to be in the same cage as Aerith. It just constantly pulls back from going all in when it can afford it. the Train Graveyard is the only place they really are allowed to show fear, but even there it's more creepy than the majorly unsettling set pieces.

And i heard it happened in Rebirth too, where the whole haunted section with monsters being people who were experimented on to an horrifying degree and you are the ones who have to put those living people down, be replaced by a full VR experience.

Like, i think pulling away from one of them wouldn't be so bad - i'm like, also willing to hear the bestiality replacement point for example, but when it's a pattern like this it starts just to cheapen every scenes that have a punch into it.

-speaking of i hated the speech President Shinra gives Barret and the whole "you only care about clearing your name, not about making things better for Midgar". in the OG there IS an aspect of Barret's desire to save the planet being a selfish wish for revenge. He cares for the planet yes, but this revenge is what he holds on to to cope with the guilt of having believed in Shinra once. Still his desire to save the planet is real, and he does actually want to dismantle Shinra no matter what. This aspect of his character is what creates a conflict with Reeve later on, and it's where the conflict shines well because we have two morally ambiguous characters having to come to term with why they want to make the world better and what are they actually willing to sacrifice for this. This Discussion with Reeve later on doesn't really pick a side (even though later in the game Reeve will do everything to help the gang and fully switches side), but it's two sympathetic characters who are trying to make the world a better place who come to a clash because of the different motivation and willingness to commit.

Having Barret run in about clearing Avalanche name, which i don't recall him being that dedicated about doing in the OG (if only because the propaganda was less pointed to because of what will be my next point), is the thing that allows the President to have a gotcha and point out that Barret had no long term plan to help people and he was a scam, and that the president might be a bad person but at least he thinks about it.

I really hate it because if it's about outlining that Barret is more in for revenge than for ecology, it's giving President Shinra, a one dimensional villain, the benefit of having the upper hand on Barret. And Barret is left speechless because he lets this guilt settles in, rather than how he fights for his own POV against Reeve later.

It's like they're trying to prepare the Barret/Reeve conflict but the way they went at it was leaning too hard on letting the President have his moment, while also framing Barret as much more selfish as even his dreams of revenge from the OG let him be.

and at the same time it's weird in the remake because the remake goes hard on how much Barret is into Planetology, much more than the OG, so the guy has done his researches and has invested a lot more into ecology for it to just be a selfish barging.

And like i mentioned, this whole scene doesn't exist in the OG because we have an earlier confrontation to the President when we get arrested and Barret is mostly still mad at him for having killed his friends, not for how they're being framed, and the president is so one dimensional villain he barely invest himself in this conversation, and the next thing we see, the president is dead. They made the President more cunning in the Remake which i don't /mind/ (it helps setting up the kind of person Rufus is without having to expose that Rufus will bring a real shift to Shinra's policies, by having his father already show you what Rufus may have been raised into thinking, which means that Rufus' appearance can only be about vibes and threats without needing to expose who he is, especially this late into the remake), but by allowing him to be alive in this situation it ended up being a terrible look on Barret on something that isn't an issue in the OG.

-The whole arc between Sector 7's fall and running to Shinra to save Aerith. This one is a doozy. Everything they had added up to this point had at least a good reason to be there for the timing of all things. Like the Jessie chapter happened at night on a point in the OG where nothing happens between two big plot point, it fits organically, it's nice.

But this one really had me annoyed because i think the previous arc extended even more on why Tifa and Barret would jump right away into wanting to rescue Aerith like in the OG, but instead this is the moment the two of them pull back from going to help Aerith so instead they can focus on totally new plotlines.

On paper i don't mind the idea of them going to Sector 7 in the hope to find people who survived it, because i do think they would need this closure. In the OG there's no secret passage under the doors of the sector though, so they don't have any means to get back to the Sector. I get it in term of characters' motivation, but it also somehow manage to put the tight plot into a halt.

Now it takes them a few days to think about saving Aerith, because first we need to be reassured everyone who matters in Sector 7 is fine, saving Wedge, discovering more Deep Grounds, having Cloud has new "i shouldn't be there" flashbacks, and then doing all sort of missions for people in the aftermath of the fall of the plate, until having to help Leslie on a whole sidequest for him to tell us how to climb the wall. All of which are interesting ideas on paper but i think ends up padding the time so badly it ends up frustrating and removing completely the urgency of "Aerith was taken as a lab rat because she tried so save a stranger".

And this arc births the problem i was mentioning in my prev point that therefore the trio remains in the slums for at least two days of hearing Shinra's propaganda and the way they frame Avalanche in the way that cause Barret to be so upset it's the thing he challenges the President about, while in the OG he's still mourning first, the anger is due to the loss and grief, not on how his friends are remembered.

Actually i think that sums up a lot of the problem with the Remake when it comes to the thematic of grief, which in the OG is about how you have to accept this grief as a part of yourself because else you're going to lose yourself to its stages (and Barret therefore is kind of more this representation of the anger side of grief, compared to Cloud being stuck on denial) , and instead changing it more on "how you are remembered", either by denying the death from happening at all, or having Barret just wanting that the way his friends are remembered in death to be honorable.

-The Hojo Lab Arc. Boy is this one ways too long. Clearly wanting to compensate for the Shinra's floor that has been removed by giving this sort of exploration episode in the unsettling Jenova/Deep Ground's lab. On one hand, the atmosphere for this is chilling (at first) and it does make sense to move Jenova in a more secret floor room.

But the gameplay ended up being lackluster, just going from one obvious step to the other with the characters repeating to you want to do, only so you can get into fights, and i can think of like ONE moment that was genuinely scary, but the rest was really just.... the most padding things could get.

I also think it lampshade Hojo as a villain too much this early into the game. Also while i'm at it i hate that Hojo remembers Cloud in this timeline now. I think Hojo's disinterest for failed experiments meaning he wouldn't even consider Cloud noteworthy is an interesting way to build tension, and i hate that Hojo is aware of things and now is just maniacally playing his cards for now just for fun to see what Sephiroth will do next. Hojo is a very interesting antagonist, and while i do think he would love to commit unethical experiments with however he meets, this whole sequence was too much. Also the fact he mostly "tests" the gang by having them fight advanced weapons and like a couple monsters that happened to escape, it kinda takes away from the mad scientific vibe when he's just trying his new toys, rather than actively trying to do something more interesting and fucked up. They frame it as him wanting data on Cloud knowing he's been experimented on, but again, i don't like that he knows that, but also i think those tests weren't exactly interestings for this exact data either. and meanwhile showing him actively letting Sephiroth get away remove any type of possible tension about where Hojo stands in this whole company.

but yeah the Labs could have been a great concept but it took the most boring way to execute it and instead it just felt like dragging.

The Terrible

-No respect for the mysteries of the saga. Everything that the OG built a mystery around is spoiled in the Remake, or teased in flashforward. This is so aggravating to me.

Like, it feels to me that the devs were so convinced the game will be played by people who played the OG, or who would play the OG for themselves, that they did not bother with keeping any of them out. Sephiroth keeps popping off being more ominous than he should be. The mention of Zack gives Cloud a mental breakdown so much so they mute Aerith to really point out that something weird is going on with Cloud and Aerith's ex, compared to how in the OG Aerith just don't originally mention him and when the name Zack is finally uttered, Cloud is too far in denial to connect anything at this point.

Cait Sith coming on the scene of Sector 7, while not linking him to Reeve yet (but i heard Rebirth jumped into doing so right away), therefore setting up that Cait Sith has at least an emotional reason to be joining the crew, therefore setting up the plotline once you have everyone in your party about how there's a mole in your group into making sure the players have suspicions about Cait Sith to start with.

Zack appearing in the ending of the game, showing he's close to Cloud, showing he has Cloud's sword, totally exposing the existence of this character while he is a mystery the whole game.

Hojo telling Cloud he was never in Soldier, Cloud getting recognized in Shinra HQ by people who therefore confirm he once existed, Cloud flashbacks about being experimented on....

All new stuff that instead of working as foreshadowing end up lampshading things that should have been more quiet mysteries, element to explore later on.

There's also so many "spelling the lore out in the remake way earlier than in the OG" like having a whole Shinra propaganda room about them looking for The Ancients' secret while if i recall correctly, this was a secret endeavor only revealed further into the game.

And then the flash forward, especially in the last part of the game but not only. Cloud having a flash forward to the plate falling. To Aerith's dying. Literally showing the intro of Advent Children as the future they're trying to avoid to tease Meteor, Aerith's death, Cloud fighting Sephiroth.... and Nanaki running in a world post-civilization centuries later? this one is the most bewildering one to me because this specific scene should mean nothing to the characters about what the future has in store for them, but they played it up because it only matters if YOU know the saga. God this part was annoying to me.

I feel like the game is expecting so much that the player has played the OG that they're just begging them to tune in for part 2 because things might be different this time since we have NEW mysteries to worry about now! Will the horrors happen? teee hee who knows!

and for new players, it's confusing, but it also ends on "we're not following the OG anyway" so you kinda just have to stick with part 2 when it comes out instead.

i find it so aggravating and it takes me out of the story every single time. It's like none of the mysteries matter to be treated seriously for someone who might discover the saga.

But it therefore also comes at the price of completely ruining some characters' motivation.

Speaking of.

-Sephiroth.

Now to start with something positive, this Sephiroth is supposed to come from the Advent Children timeline, and on that regard, he's beautifully characterized. Yes, Sephiroth in Advent Children would be saying those things. Yes, he would try new ways to torment Cloud, yes he would play his cards differently, yes he would be hyper homoerotic and want Cloud by his side more than ever. All of that tracks very well with his character by Advent Children time.

.... glad to see new audience will never know how Sephiroth was before that then???

Sephiroth has one of the greatest villain built up in video games because of how slow burn his appearance is. First you hear about him in a flashback in good light, then you hear his name in a second flashback but this time in horror. Then Cloud collapse with a memory of Sephiroth, and then when they go to rescue Aerith they get to escape because the floor they were on has been massacred by Sephiroth, Jenova is gone, and the president has been found impaled on Sephiroth's sword. Cloud and Tifa react in horror as people who know Sephiroth, and then you have to escape, and once outside of Midgar, they will start discussing "what's up with Sephiroth actually"

and then once you're at Kalm, Cloud will give you an extended flashback of the Nibelheim incident with Sephiroth as a playable unit and you see he's mad strong. You try to pass through the cavern guarded by a Midgar Zolom which will be your first terrifying boss experience because of how hard it is to beat, only to pass this by stealth to see Sephiroth just empaled one before you. AND THEN you go to Junon where Sephiroth is rumored to have been and once on the boat going to the Costa Del Sol, you will run into him. Cloud will challenge him, and Sephiroth will barely recognize him, and then let them fight a bodypart of Jenova. And it's only from this point on that Sephiroth will seriously start to pay attention to the crew and will slowly but surely try to manipulate Cloud, developping an obsession toward him.

the Remake ends when you leave Midgar. So Sephiroth shouldn't have appeared. And clearly the Remake was scared that not showing the fan favorite will cause problem, so they justified a way to have Sephiroth into the story early by having him be late-development Sephiroth.

which just means that if you haven't played the OG, you're getting a wrong impression of Sephiroth and the way he specifically approached Cloud. As well as completely missing out on the slow built of his capabilities.

But if you have played the OG you therefore get to really notice how he hijacks scene and therefore change them into things they're not. I hate his appearance in Cloud and Aerith's first meeting, completely changing the mood of this scene to make it all about him. I hate that everytime Cloud has a mental breakdown, Sephiroth appears to take advantage of him.

AC!Sephiroth would! but this is a horrible way to build him for a first time audience, and it's so vulgar in the way it spells things out for him.

And you know he's going to play his cards differently because of how he lost the previous time; For example in the Rebirth trailers they did the whole marketting around Sephiorth wanting Cloud to doubt Tifa, saying about how she shouldn't be alive and will manipulate Cloud. It's a direct response to the fact that neglecting to take into account Tifa is what caused Sephiroth downfall because she was the only person who knew Cloud so intimately that she was able to guide him through his memories, thanks to how much Cloud trusted her. Sephiroth, therefore, logically, need to make sure Tifa is not going to get in the way this time.

.... and that's swell and it makes sense but we're getting a whole other story aren't we?

The remake was adverticized as a remake and instead a huge chunk of it hinges on the fact you know the saga and because of Sephiroth and the characters knowing Fate is oncoming, it's actually a sequel.

And it's deeply frustrating to play because aside from Sephiroth and Aerith, no one knows what the previous timeline was. (coming back on Aerith in a bit). All of the cast suddenly is working to change a fate they do not even know about because Sephiroth and Aerith want to challenge this fate.

As a player it removes you from fully connect with the story because the characters don't even know what they're fighting for!! They don't have the context of what the bad things are going to be!

And like okay you either like it or you don't, but personally i hate it a lot.

-Desamorcing any emotional scene by the new mysteries.

The remake wants you to be invested in the new mysteries around Sephiroth and the Whispers so bad that scenes get to be completely hijacked by those characters ruining the tension any scene is supposed to build in.

Cloud and Aerith first meeting is supposed to be a quiet scene as he runs into her after the Reactor exploded. You can also completely ignore her and she'll move on, but otherwise it's a really quiet and simple scene. The Remake builds a whole Cloud hallucinate Sephiroth scene out of it, has Aerith tormented by the Whispers, she approaches Cloud to thank him, and Sephiroth will appear to threaten Cloud about how he intends to let fate repeat, implying the threat of killing her. The whole sweet scene starting of to establish a dynamic between those two? had the focus changed on Sephiroth instead to be ominous.

Fighting Reno in the church is a good addition and all, but Cloud trying to murder him only so the Whispers can come and take him away so the whole "escaping the Church" bit is all about the Whispers? You had a good tension over two characters physically interreacting and you had to ruin it.

And the worst for me was really the whole Sector 7 incident, constantly seeing the whispers just to stop us from getting to the pillar, seeing the whispers everytime one of the Avalanche Three is having a big moment just so you can then see them as they make sure they die. Scenes that should be about Cloud and Tifa realizing they are losing people they're caring about, Cloud starting to have his whole "i can't save anyone" panic settles in, and it ends up being distracted by the Whispers doing their things and making it look like the only reason those characters die is because it's meant to be, not because yknow, they got killed?

Oh and Hojo recognizing Cloud and the Specters taking him away was so damn bad too.

It's like. Any scene that are trying to build a tension, perhaps even a good one!! suddenly gets ruined by the whole "let's keep things on track" antagonist. Scenes that would have emotionally hit hard instead becomes confusing because of a whole new plotline that only works on a meta textual level. Embarrassing as hell.

-Zack. Why would you do that. Why would you show Zack why would you create a whole alternative timeline.

oh, well, i know why. Zack is too popular not to and you gotta include him. But the fact Zack is a neat character because of how much you can feel his absence when you know why it is there, the way they just dangled him in front of our face is so insulting, especially as being the scene right before our heroes go to defeat fate. It's something that only matter to hardcore fans, who would also be fans because of how Zack haunts the narrative, and so now instead we get an alternative timeline story that would be all swell and game in fanfictions, but is bond to be confusing for non-fans, and just really antithetical to what made Zack so beloved to start with.

Every Zack fan i've talked with after the remake did that had the same reaction of being both happy he lived, and then "but what the fuck are they doing with that". It's a mystery, a zinger for the next game, to try to keep you invested

... but it feels cowardly, as well as the Sephiroth stuff feel cowardly. It feels like the game had no confidence in it doing well without fan favorites, and therefore included them in the game no matter what, even if it defies why they are fan favorite to start with.

-The Fate plotline. I've been rambling over this one a lot at this point so i don't know what much to say. I hate that the Remake is a story about defying fate. About how things are not written in stone and all of that. I feel like the game is basically in denial of the original game if only to lure the player into this state of denial. And it could work to mirror how Cloud will go through his journey, considering the OG is a lot about grief and Cloud is specifically about the harmful aspect of denial, but i think this is imposing ways too much metatextual commentary over the actual text to the point you're denaturing what the story was about.

At the end of the game, everyone have to accept together to change fate, a fate they know nothing about, a fate they just imagine could be bad. the PLAYER knows what they're talking about, but them, themselves, do not. At this point the characters don't really react out of their own arc and motivation, but on about trying to change an abstract idea they have no idea about.

Except for Aerith who knows about stuff in the future and is so determined to not let it be set in stone, Sephiroth who is implied to come from the AC timeline and wants to do things differently, and Nanaki who understands the Whispers and knows vaguely what to expect.

In a bitter way it puts any hardcore fan who expected to replay the plot of the OG in the position of the bad guy for implying that changes are wrong, actually, regardless of why fans would think this way.

To me, it's antithetical to the plot of the OG. Final fantasy manages to do stories about fate, FF15 is a great story about not being able to defy fate, Crisis Core COULD have been a story about fate due to its ending but it decided not to be, but the OG was not about fate in any way and pushing this as the core theme feels alien to the story.

The characters barely know what it's about aside from out of context flash forward and are supposed to make their stand to correct this.

Meanwhile the story also goes into so many loops to try to make you curious about the Whispers, or the way they fix the timeline, like when they save Barret's life, but everything is artificially contrived for my taste and every single scenes with the Whispers made me wish i had never been hype about this whole project to start with.

-Aerith and Nanaki becoming dev's mouthpieces at the expense of their own character arc. There are many scenes when those two will suddenly stop in their track just to do exposition dump about fate and destiny.

Nanaki is noteworthy because legit 80% of his dialogues are about Fate and Destiny, and his introduction to the squad literally had to rely on Aerith showing him a glimpse of the other timeline so he knows they're supposed to be friend, which is infuriating to think about. Because Nanaki developping a natural friendship with the gang is too much to imagine i guess. For a story about defying fate they sure make sure you know Nanaki only is talking with you because Fate told him so.

Meanwhile for Aerith it's so.... So much to me because at some point it's like her being a character stops and suddenly she ends up discussing exactly how there's a fate in front of them that will be scary to change. She wants to change it because of her own fate into it, but also fear changing it and all of that...

Which plagues Aerith with worries she didn't have at first, which means that for a bit, Aerith stops being her own character on her way to her character arc because she needs to look straight at the audience to explain them the themes of the story in case they didn't catch it up. It is so sloppy to me and i hate the idea of turning Aerith's gradual arc of reconnecting with her heritage and realizing she's the only one who can change something, into one where she's already wise and having it all figured out.

I saw someone comment on how Rebirth feels like a 5D Chess game between Sephiroth and Aerith both trying to change fate in their favor, but while i love their natural antagonistic dynamic, it genuinely bugs me how their independant actions are taking a cosmic weight right from the start of the remake. The more Sephiroth pulls in one direction the more Aerith is pulling on the other, and this natural nemesis relation where Aerith is constantly trying to one up Sephiroth and the other way around took a much bigger dimension now that Sephiroth comes from the Future and Aerith is aware of Fate.

-"Tee Hee Maybe They Won't Die :3c"

It's the frustrating aftereffect of destroying the keeper of fate, is that now the game is showing you a timeline in which Zack is alive, and is trying to act like "maybe Aerith won't die this time". Which feels cruel to me because either they go through with it and keep them both alive and we removed all the stakes from this story or why the game has a lot to say about grief, or they go through with it and they specifically manifactured a way to raise our hopes up for the sake of wanting to see them again.

Aerith and Zack are easily my favorite characters with Cloud, i've read countless of Fix It fanfic, AU where they come back, i know this denial, this desire they'll be okay.

and i know i don't want it from the main game because their death matters too much for what the story is trying to tell.

Zack needs to die for Cloud to even become who he becomes. Without his death, Sephiroth won't be able to manipulate Cloud properly. It's the reveal that Cloud has usurped Zack's life that will lead Cloud to the pure mental collapse that will have him give Meteor to Sephiroth and Sephiroth would trigger the apocalypse. Grieving Zack is a major element to explain the lowest of lows in Cloud's life.

The alternative timeline therefore lose those stakes, and may instead try to prove that Zack has to die else bad things will happen. After all, Cloud doesn't wake up in this timeline, so clearly Zack being alive means his own timeline may get unlucky as it goes.

Meanwhile Aerith's death is necessary for the powerstruggle between Sephiroth and Aerith, with the fact that by killing her, Sephiroth actually made her more powerful.

Sephiroth decides to kill Aerith because her power as the last of the Ancients and the Holy Materia are the only things that can reach out to the power of the Planet to counter everything Sephiroth wants to do. The moment he realizes She is the Menace, he will use Cloud to try to kill her, and when Cloud breaks the mind control, Sephiroth kills her himself. That way he ultimately have two birds one stone by both getting rid of Aerith and being able to break Cloud's mind and make him his and therefore getting Meteor.

But since Aerith was deep into a ritual and when she died she returned to the Lifestream, she managed to keep doing what she was doing from the otherside, more powerful than ever, and it's why the ending is as it is, with Aerith unleashing the lifestream as a way to shield the world from the fall of Meteor.

Aerith's death is essential to how to stop Sephiroth, on the aspect of, by killing her, Sephiroth dug his own grave.

But now what? Either they're keeping her alive and the 3rd part of the game will go in a complete different direction, or they'll kill her still after having raised people hope that she may survive.

-So the saga is setting itself at ending on a totally different note as the OG, at some point it will have to stop trying to adapt the OG at all because it completely went off rail... Or things will go back on rail and we've been played all along.

So yeah it's either the remake will follow through with the major plot beats and will therefore betrays its own new themes because turns out you can't win without following fate after all, or it will go completely off the rail and it will just Not Be The Plot Of The Original Game.

I'm sure we can try to see it as a sequel, i'm sure some people may be able to, but the more i get reminded of how close it is to the OG the more the things that go off rail just feel out of place, because it clashes with the themes of the OG.

I can't enjoy the fully new "sequel stuff" because it's always coupled with a reminder of the OG i love and this sequel just seems wrong there.

-It feels unfinished. And despite all of this, the game doesn't feel finished. You may add as many stories you want to give meat for the game to keep going, but ultimately you just barely introduced the concept and the characters since you legit only adapted the prologue, you left mysteries opened that are not being answered to keep people on a hook, but you end the game basically feeling you just started this trip. After a 60h+ long experience at least, you are left on a cliffhanger telling you to tune in next time.

This was always going to be the risk by cutting the game in part and even more so when the part one decided to only be about Midgar. I mentioned how i think the remake could narratively have tried to push to Junon since it would have ended with a battle with Sephiroth like they wanted.

but by finishing the Prologue, seems just seem rushed, nothing is finished, and there's a lot of plots that open at the end of the game. Like Rufus, for example, who is one of the major antagonist of the game, who can only come last minute. And because he comes in this late to the game, you can't actually have him explain what he's going to do as the antagonist. So he's just there for the vibes and it feel slike a weird addition that is just a cliffhanger for what's to come.

-"If you want to play the plot of the OG you just need to replay the OG or Ever Crisis"

Then you shouldn't have called the game a remake.

^ this is something a dev said btw and it still annoys me to this day. then you should have been transparent about it not being a remake. And saying that if people want to replay the OG they should play Ever Crisis, which is a GACHA live service game that will inevitably be unplugged one day because Square Enix doesn't have a good track record with taking care of their gacha (starting by what happened to the First Soldier, which was closed after one year of service), genuinely made me annoyed.

All in all, in the end, i'll take their word for this because it sure means i have no reason to be interested in the remake. So i will replay the OG instead.

And then they weep when Rebirth do less sales than the Remake. Lol. Lmao even.

But also just this mentality saddens me. Many people won't try the OG because it looks and feels old. It's a great game, but when the rest of the saga has only HD elements, it's difficult to get into or recommend. That's why people wanted a remake. Just being dismissive about it seems sad to me.

DEEP SIGHS.

CONCLUSION.

I didn't come to the remake wanting to hate it. In fact at first i really tried to rationalize everything it was building itself for.

But i powered through the remake more and more irritated and the irritating part took over all of the way i could interreact with the remake.

And the game isn't even that bad. It still genuinely feels like you return to the characters you know and love. I spent more hours having fun than i've had not having fun.

but the problem is that the good things are in the details and in the small interractions here and there, and that the flaws are the Major Plot Elements that you genuinely can't ignore.

And i'm torn, because i love those characters and want to see more, and the gameplay is so fun!

But by the time of the Ending of the Remake, i was just genuinely tired. Like the whole ending portion of the Remake broke me a little because no matter how in character Sephiroth is compared to his AC self, no matter how fun and camp the scenes are in isolation: this is still such a shitty choice to make about the thing that was called a remake.

I'm sure i've forgotten things despite how long this ask is. but yeah. That should be a good run down of my problems with the game.

..... sorry if you expected anything shorter. Turns out it just ended up being a good opportunity to sort out my thoughts and well. well....

Anyway hope you had a good read if you read all of it, and take care o7

[dailyanarchistposts]

J.6.5 What is the anarchist position on teenage sexual liberation?

One of the biggest problems of adolescence is sexual suppression by parents and society in general. The teenage years are the time when sexual energy is at its height. Why, then, the absurd demand that teenagers “wait until marriage,” or at least until leaving home, before becoming sexually active? Why are there laws in “advanced” countries like the United States that allow a 19-year-old “boy” who makes love with his 17-year-old girlfriend, with her full consent, to be arrested by the girl’s parents (!) for “statutory rape”?

To answer such questions, let us recall that the ruling class is not interested in encouraging mass tendencies toward liberty, independence and pleasure not derived from commodities but instead supports whatever contributes to mass submissiveness, docility, dependence, helplessness, and respect for authority — traits that perpetuate the hierarchies on which ruling-class power and privileges depend.

As sex is one of the most intense forms of pleasure and one of the most prominent contributors for intimacy and bonding with people emotionally, repression of sexuality is the most powerful means of psychologically crippling people and giving them a submissive/authoritarian character structure (as well as alienating people from each other). As Reich observed, such a character is composed of a mixture of “sexual impotence, helplessness, a need for attachments, a nostalgia for a leader, fear of authority, timidity, and mysticism” and “people structured in this manner are incapable of democracy. All attempts to build up or maintain genuine democratically directed organisations come to grief when they encounter these character structures. They form the psychological soil of the masses in which dictatorial strivings and bureaucratic tendencies of democratically elected leaders can develop.” Sexual suppression “produces the authority-fearing, life-fearing vassal, and thus constantly creates new possibilities whereby a handful of men in power can rule the masses.” [The Sexual Revolution, p. 82]

No doubt most members of the ruling elite are not fully conscious that their own power and privileges depend on the mass perpetuation of sex-negative attitudes. Nevertheless, they unconsciously sense it. Sexual freedom is the most basic and powerful kind, and every conservative or reactionary instinctively shudders at the thought of the “social chaos” it would unleash — that is, the rebellious, authority-defying type of character it would nourish. This is why “family values,” and “religion” (i.e. discipline and compulsive sexual morality) are the mainstays of the conservative/reactionary agenda. Thus it is crucially important for anarchists to address every aspect of sexual suppression in society. This means affirming the right of adolescents to an unrestricted sex life.

There are numerous arguments for teenage sexual liberation. For example, many teen suicides could be prevented by removing the restrictions on adolescent sexuality. This becomes clear from ethnological studies of sexually unrepressive tribal peoples:

“All reports, whether by missionaries or scholars, with or without the proper indignation about the ‘moral depravity’ of ‘savages,’ state that the puberty rites of adolescents lead them immediately into a sexual life; that some of these primitive societies lay great emphasis on sexual pleasure; that the puberty rite is an important social event; that some primitive peoples not only do not hinder the sexual life of adolescents but encourage it is every way, as, for instance, by arranging for community houses in which the adolescents settle at the start of puberty in order to be able to enjoy sexual intercourse. Even in those primitive societies in which the institution of strict monogamous marriage exists, adolescents are given complete freedom to enjoy sexual intercourse from the beginning of puberty to marriage. None of these reports contains any indication of sexual misery or suicide by adolescents suffering from unrequited love (although the latter does of course occur). The contradiction between sexual maturity and the absence of genital sexual gratification is non-existent.” [Reich, Op. Cit., p. 85]

Teenage sexual repression is also closely connected with crime. If there are teenagers in a neighbourhood who have no place to pursue intimate sexual relationships, they will do it in dark corners, in cars or vans, etc., always on the alert and anxious lest someone discover them. Under such conditions, full gratification is impossible, leading to a build-up of tension and frustration. Thus they feel unsatisfied, disturb each other, become jealous and angry, get into fights, turn to drugs as a substitute for a satisfying sex life, vandalise property to let off “steam” (repressed rage), or even murder someone. As Reich noted, “juvenile delinquency is the visible expression of the subterranean sexual crisis in the lives of children and adolescents. And it may be predicted that no society will ever succeed in solving this problem, the problem of juvenile psychopathology, unless that society can muster the courage and acquire the knowledge to regulate the sexual life of its children and adolescents in a sex-affirmative manner.” [Op. Cit., p. 271]

For these reasons, it is clear that a solution to the “gang problem” also depends on adolescent sexual liberation. We are not suggesting, of course, that gangs themselves suppress sexual activity. Indeed, one of their main attractions to teens is undoubtedly the hope of more opportunities for sex as a gang member. However, gangs’ typical obsessiveness with the promiscuous, pornographic, sadistic, and other “dark” aspects of sex shows that by the time children reach gang age they have already developed unhealthy secondary drives due to the generally sex-negative and repressive environment in which they have grown up. The expression of such drives is not what anarchists mean by “sexual freedom.” Rather, anarchist proposals for teenage liberation are based on the premise that a libertarian childhood is the necessary condition for a healthy sexual freedom in adolescence.

Applying these insights to our own society, it is clear that teenagers should have ample access to a private room where they can be undisturbed with their sexual partners. Parents should also encourage the knowledge and use of contraceptives and safe sex in general as well as respect for the other person involved in the relationship. This does not mean encouraging promiscuity or sex for the sake of it. Rather, it means encouraging teenagers to know their own minds and desires, refusing to be pressured by anyone into anything. As can be seen from experience of this anarchist activist during the 1930s:

“One time, a companero from the Juventudes [libertarian youth organisation] came over to me and said, ‘You, who say you’re so liberated. You’re not so liberated.’ (I’m telling you this so you’ll see the mentality of these men.) ‘Because if I ask you to give me a kiss, you wouldn’t. “I just stood there staring at him, and thinking to myself, ‘How do I get out of this one?” And then I said to him, ‘Listen, when I want to go to bed with a guy, I’m the one that has to choose him. I don’t go to bed with just anyone. You don’t interest me as a man. I don’t feel anything for you... Why should you want me to ‘liberate myself,’ as you put it, by going to bed with you? That’s no liberation for me. That’s just making love simply for the sake of making love.’ ‘No,’ I said to him, ‘love is something that has to be like eating: if you’re hungry, you eat, and if you want to go to bed with a guy, then... Besides, I’m going to tell you something else … Your mouth doesn’t appeal to me... And I don’t like to make love with a guy without kissing him.’ “He was left speechless! But I did it with a dual purpose in mind... because I wanted to show him that that’s not the way to educate companeros... That’s what the struggle of women was like in Spain — even with men from our own group — and I’m not even talking about what it was like with other guys.” [quoted by Martha A. Ackelsberg, Free Women of Spain, pp. 116–7]

So respecting yourself and others, it must be stressed, is essential. As Maurice Brinton pointed out, attempts at sexual liberation will encounter two kinds of responses from established society — direct opposition and attempts at recuperation. The second response takes the form of “first alienating and reifying sexuality, and then of frenetically exploiting this empty shell for commercial ends. As modern youth breaks out of the dual stranglehold of repressive traditional morality and of the authoritarian patriarchal family it encounters a projected image of free sexuality which is in fact a manipulatory distortion of it.” This can be seen from the use of sex in advertising to the successful development of sex into a major consumer industry. However, such a development is the opposite of the healthy sexuality desired by anarchists. This is because “sex is presented as something to be consumed. But the sexual instinct differs from certain other instincts” as it can be satisfied only by “another human being, capable of thinking, acting, suffering. The alienation of sexuality under the conditions of modern capitalism is very much part of the general alienating process, in which people are converted into objects (in this case, objects of sexual consumption) and relationships are drained of human content. Undiscriminating, compulsive sexual activity, is not sexual freedom — although it may sometimes be a preparation for it (which repressive morality can never be). The illusion that alienated sex is sexual freedom constitutes yet another obstacle on the road to total emancipation. Sexual freedom implies a realisation and understanding of the autonomy of others.” [“The Irrational in Politics”, pp. 257–92, For Workers’ Power, p. 277]

Therefore, anarchists see teenage sexual liberation as a means of developing free individuals as well as reducing the evil effects of sexual repression (which, we must note, also helps dehumanise individuals by encouraging the objectification of others, and in a patriarchal society particularly of women).

[runabout-river]

Gege famously kills off unneeded characters, so why didn't he kill off these plots?

This is going to be a list of plot points and threads that hang around in JJK without a proper ending and sometimes without a proper middle or explanation either. They're just there promising something but not delivering on it and with only 3 chapters left most of those won't be delivered on at all, not satisfyingly at least.

This list is not made to critizice Gege's story telling because the manga hasn't ended yet and many of these things wouldn't make sense to critizice villy-nilly. This list is made to show that Gege can and even might make Jujutsu Kaisen Part 2 with everything he's established, put into the story, and deliberately didn't cut out even though he has no problem doing so with characters.

Also, I'm sick right now, so there won't be much explanation on most things. If there are questions, I will elaborate later.

The Culling Games have not Ended

They still go on because players like Yuji and Hakari are still alive

We didn't even come close to the Merger

We have so much setup including pregnant Sukuna who left baby Tengen (probably) with Megumi now.

When as a writer you introduce world ending stakes, you better deliver on them even if only for the good guys to win against them.

Those stakes were never even reached though

The foreign invasion of Japan was introduced but then forgotten about

There are now militaries in Japan who abduct sorcerers for resources, giving Gege vast storytelling potential for the future

But Gojo could've dealt with them off screen and Yuta might continue to protect Japan in his stead now. This plot thread can be dealt with in the last 3 chapters but you would still ask: Why was it here at all?

Remy survived

Remy was the girl who tricked Megumi and who Megumi wanted to kill afterwards. Tsumiki's soul intervened on Remy's behalf and saved her, just for Remy to abducted later. She's one of those characters Gege could've killed but instead we have a scenario where Megumi is poised to save her now.

Tengen, the Star Plasma Vessel and the Six Eyes are connected by Fate

Multiple SPVs can exist simultaniously but not the 6E. After Gojo's death this minor detail mentioned by Tengen became obsolete for the story.

But then Yuta took over Gojo's body and now the 6E are back for this particular fate to happen again especially with Tengen's life in the strange state it is

Gege had come up with the story of the 3 Kugisaki women at the beginning of the manga

But instead of discarding it at the end of it, becasue it had no relevance or plot attention at all, Gege decided to open that thread and let it hang there, promising things to come like the bastard that he is with regards to the Kugisaki family.

Megumi's incomplete Domain

This is basic story telling especially in battle shonen: when you show the audience an incomplete ability, then by the end that ability has to be mastered barring a tragic end to the character.

Gege could throw us a curve ball about his domain with the last chapters but with Sukuna defeated now all tension of him accomplishing it is out.

But if this is Megumi's midpoint of his character arc and development, then everything regarding him, his domain and even his relationship with Sukuna can come to a proper end in JJK2

Sukuna's and Megumi's relationship and interactions were lacking in the end

But with Gege deliberately leaving behind 1 Finger, the option of Sukuna coming back as a curse, the remains of his first body most likely being permanent parts of Megumi, and not to forget the psycological and physical scars that Megumi has from him now, the potential for deep future interactions is there.

Sukuna's story has only been told to us from the perspectives of others

Sure, that does not have to change. Gege can leave it like that and he could or could not give us a Sukuna flashback in the last 3 chapters.

But he can go further than that and delve into that villain from more angles outside of mainly the narrator's and Yuji's.

He could eg go into the difference between Sukuna's relatiosnhip with Yuji and his relationship with Megumi to dive deeper into his personality

Kenjaku/Kaori, Jin and Yuji - none of that is resolved in any way

Just like how Kenjaku's true motives for creating the perfect vessel, who was in the end the perfect cage for Sukuna, was never explained.

Those are the most pressing things on my mind for why I believe that Jujutsu Kaisen will come back with a Part 2. Like, Gege is no stranger to tying up loose ends with an unforgiving cut, so why not with these things?

I've probably forgotten some things too but I'm also coughing my lungs out right now so I forgive myself.