#it end up fitting really well by completing the protag trio

[millidew]

i think he deserves the therapy dinosaur

ft. lyra’s own ominous ass chikorita

[managician]

ARC V Anniversary Day 12

Disccusion prompt: Favorite ships?

ARC V has really made me ship a lot of things, be it with or without taking canon into account just because of the potential, so buckle up ‘cause this is gonna be long. I kept it to a top 10 or otherwise I’d be here all day. Honorable mentions to prodigy and whistle, as they barely didn’t make it.

(PD this is a reupload because I realised the post wasn’t showing up properly, so if you’ve seen it before already I apologize)

With that out of the way, let’s go!

10. Natureshipping

I love many of the bgirl/bgirl ships so naturally I’d love all of them being together… Not only for the awesome aesthetic though, I also think their personalities would fit so nicely with each other and they’d like having the chance to meet and talk about everything they’ve gone through; I have so many fluffy headcanons for them and I really just wanna see them bonding and being happy together!

09. Frypanshipping

Probably the oddest ship in this list, I sure as hell didn’t expect to like them so much, but Crow really helped in making Shingo become a better person, and poor Shingo clutching onto his card post BB-arc the entire time made me so emotional. You could tell they had a good relationship and were very happy to be fighting together after that, they’re so cute.

08. Wingshipping

Look at these two precious babs… On a visual level they both have some of my favorite designs in all of ARC V and they’re both counterparts, so I was bound to at the very least consider pairing them up, but when they actually had a rather peaceful meeting in canon all things considered, and immediately valued each other? When you take into account all the possible fluff and angst you could make with setting these two into any scenario? I was soo sold. And they both share the egao philosophy, they’d definitely get along… It’s just fun to think about ideas with them.

07. Janushipping

I have a weak spot for Fusion/XYZ ships because I think there’s so much room for growth and forgiveness if done right, and while I didn’t expect Dennis and Ruri to actually have some backstory together, this relationship has all I could wish for both of their characters. It adds personal conflict to their stories (especially on Ruri’s side, something that isn’t about being related to Shun or Yuto) and leaves room for Dennis to be able to apologize and improve himself after the war; not to mention their aesthetics mesh beautifully together. It’s so easy to picture them awkwardly falling back into an acquaintanceship and figuring out together where to go from there.

06. Fruitshipping

aka the ‘these two care so fucking much for each other, I don’t know how you can watch arc v and at the very least not appreciate their relationship’ ship.

I don’t know what to say that hasn’t been said about them already, honestly. I was admittedly… Reticent, let’s say, to ship this at first, because the relationships between the protagonist and lead girl in YGO shows tend to be lackluster at best for me, but they built each other up as equals from day one and have a genuinely heartwarming friendship, where they know they can lean on each other for support no matter what. They’re one of the most important people for the other and you can feel that throughout the entire show. To this day they hold the honour of being the only protag/main girl ship I can stand romantically.

Though… since they’re so well-executed in canon, I don’t feel the need to seek fanworks of them because there’s no real conflict in their relationship, if that makes sense, haha.

05. Mysteryshipping

This is sort of to be expected as I enjoy all the relationships between this trio separately (even if Yuto/Yuzu’s was short-lived); this shot in the 2nd ED is what got me to even become interested in the OT3 potential, though it was after I finished the show. Yuzu had clearly been having a period of self-doubt in S1 because of the Yuto situation, and thanks to episodes 36-37 we got a wonderful showcase of how well Yuto and Yuya would have clicked, so if Yuzu happened to explain her problem to either of them and caused them to meet in not-so-tragic circumstancies… You can only dream of the possibilities. And thanks to their bonds being established early on, you can expand on them during or post canon events, both in a positive and negative light. We’ve seen teamwork and discussions between all of them already; it’s fun to try to translate that dynamic into a three-way interaction (cranky but overly protective Yuto being dragged around by his two enthusiastic Standard S/Os who also happen to love each other very much, for one).

04. Musicboxshipping

Gosh, these two are just so cute together. Sora was heavily influenced by both Yuya and Yuzu, but you can tell their relationship is really important by the way they both act with each other, especially during the Synchro Arc. Sora taught Yuzu how to Fusion Summon and thanks to that Yuzu was able to become stronger; but Sora also was able to form a solid connection with her and basically made his first true friend in all of his life. They support each other and care about each other so much that even after they know of Sora’s true colours, Yuzu still has blind faith in him, and Sora returns that feeling by saving her from her Duel crash and even being unable to carry the mission Academia gave him because he treasured their friendship that much. Their little master/apprentice moments are adorable and really give off the fluffy energy these two have around each other; and of course Sora’s Mad Chimera and Yuzu’s Bloom Prima dancing together was beautiful too! That was such a lovely scene that made me really appreciate the trust they have in each other.

03. Swiftshipping

I shipped them together from the moment I learned both of them had been kidnapped, and I was really happy when I saw that their designs fit well with each other’s color scheme. They’re both very caring for people they hold close and since there was no indication of the opposite, for the longest time I assumed they were in a cell together. Imagining both of them trying to comfort and support each other through their predicament got me really invested in their possible relationship, and even if it didn’t turn out like I’d hoped in the end, I still had a solid grasp on their personalities by that time, and I couldn’t let go of all the AUs and concepting I’d made for them. It should be said that I have a really weak spot for f/f ships, and this one hit many of my favorite tropes (stuck in same bad situation where they both would try to be strong for each other’s sake, different growing-up backgrounds; to name a few) so my investment only went up from there. I love them so much.

02. Triggershipping

I didn’t expect them to interact much, much less positively, and much less for them to grow to care for each other so much in a short span of time. They have such a friendly and beautiful relationship; Yugo hugging Yuzu because he thought she was Rin and poor Yuzu becoming a blushing mess was a sure way to make me interested from the get go in them, haha. And it only got better from there! Even though she was a complete stranger to him, Yugo still tried to comfort Yuzu to the best of his abilities and looked out for her, fully trusting everything she said, even if to someone else it would’ve sounded like a crazy story. And you can tell Yuzu grows very comfortable with being around Yugo; their small scene with the domestic bantering and her pulling out her fan says that much, as she only uses it with people she really cares for. Whenever they’re on screen together you know you’re gonna be in for a good time, their interactions are always funny and heartwarming.

Yugo saying that Yuzu will always live on his heart in a similar manner to what Yuri said of Rin made me realise how much she really meant to him, and both of them cheering for each other in their Friendship Cup duels was adorable. But if you put their situation into context their relationship is… really sad, as Yugo has lost Rin and Yuzu is all by herself in an unknown dimension. They have that perfect mix of fluff and angst to work with that I love in ships. I adore their relationship; even if it was born out of less than desirable circumstancies, they made it work and learned to appreciate and love each other. It’s always a source of inspiration for me!

(And Yugo’s lack of knowledge of what personal space is just made it even easier to ship them)

01. Counterpartshipping

ARC V has always had the uncanny ability of making me consider ships in the span of a single episode because of the wonderful character interactions. But these two… These two really take the cake. I’m not exaggerating when I say the relationship and development between them has made me cry.    

Anyone who has heard me talk about YGO may know how much I like them. As I mentioned in a previous post where I talked about my favorite characters, I hadn’t expected to enjoy Yuto’s character so much, and much less this ship. Yuto remains a latent force of encouragement for Yuya during the entire show; as Reiji beautifully points out on his duel with Yuya after the Battle Royale fiasco, Yuya’s immediate connection with Yuto thanks to their shared ideology was the bond that allowed him to perform a XYZ Summon. His concern for Yuto in episode 37 was so palpable that it hurt; Yuto went from being some random shady dude who was beating up his friend Sora to a kind damaged person who believed in Yuya’s potential to make people happy in a way that he no longer could. It’s really interesting for me to analyse how deeply they affected each other in a short span of time. We’d seen that Yuto was a very protective person thanks to his interactions with Yuzu, so when he said that he didn’t want to hurt anyone else and ended up protecting Yuya at the cost of his own life… It drove the point home, Yuto really saw Yuya as someone worth protecting and that made it so much more painful.

Yuya also later on refers to their dialogue as a vow/promise, despite the fact that Yuto never said so, which really shows just how much thought he put into his words; to the point where those very words managed to snap him out of Berserk Mode when he was about to fight Sora. It really moved me, and the soul-crushing sensation I felt then stayed fresh in my mind right until the final season, which made me fall in love with them even more. They argued, they had fallouts, but their undying trust for each other still rose through all the problems. Yuto trusted Yuya so much that he essentially told him he was okay with falling to darkness because he knew Yuya would be okay and he’d still believe in him no matter what; that moment nearly made me actually tear up because it shows how much they’d helped each other grow.

They’re hands down one of the, if not my most favorite ship in all of the YGO series, and they’ve spurred my creativity so much. I love making AUs or analysing their interactions. They made me interested in creating content for other people to enjoy after I’d hit a stalemate 5 months ago, I’ll just never be able to express how much I love them and how grateful I am that they got to meet.

[leighlikescartoons]

A Review of Trollhunters (Season 1)

This review contains many many spoilers.

Trollhunters is a blend of everything I want in an action cartoon. It's got Action. It's got Comedy. It's got great effects, a grandiose story, a lovable chubby sidekick, and a love interest that isn't completely and utterly useless. Seriously, Claire is a bad ass with nerves of steel and it's so nice to see the love interest not just fall into the damsel trope. Spoilers btw

So let's start where we always start, the animation. I'm not a fan of 3D or CG animation in the slightest. To me it always looks so... unfinished. It's most likely due to the fact that a lot of video games are done in that style and end up being leagues ahead of cartoons in terms of aesthetics. However, Trollhunters holds the place of the greatest execution of the style. It looks great and the fact that its CG is barely noticeable. The trolls, changelings, gnomes, and goblins are for sure animated better than the humans. They fit better with the backgrounds, which are beautifully drawn, and the lighting hits them so well. I think it's nearly impossible to make humans look good in CG, as I've never really seen it done (outside of video games). They always look... waxy? Like they're made of wax or plastic. It works for some properties, like Toy-story where the characters should have that extra smooth, almost glossy look, but for actual humans it's not great. But with trollhunters, most scenes look great. The trouble lies when you have the main trio standing near trolls that aren't Blinky and Arg. You get used to Jim, Tobi, Claire, Blinky, and Arg being together and the fact that their art direction is so different melts away. But once you get a scene with say, Strickler next to Angor Rot it really sticks out.

Now the story is fairly standard, but that doesn't make it bad! It falls into a lot of tropes, some of the things happening within the story line things that have been within the action genre since forever. The series starts with one with 'The Chosen One' being someone that doesn't fit the mold of their predecessor. Then, of course the big bad bully Draal becoming a valuable ally and close friend to Jim and co. You've got the power ups, Blinky turning human, and the protags succeeding against all odds only to be met with the next villain who completely and utterly outmatches them. This storyline is cheeeeeeesy, but in the best way possible. I didn't care that Trollhunters was falling into so many basic tropes. Despite the story elements being the same ones I've seen over and over and over again, the story was fresh. It's a fun concept within a fantastic and magic filled world and I couldn't help but watch the entire first season in a day.

So what didn't I like? Well the fact that Season 1 is 26 episodes while season 2 is half that was a bummer to find out. I mean season 1 very clearly had two full story lines within them and could have easily been split into two separate seasons, but I greedily want every season to be that length. I just love the Trollhunters property and want as much as I can get.

I also didn't enjoy Arg's story arc. The first half of the series he's a pacifist, reserving his fists for walking upon, but, at the very end of the first arc, he throws his first punch. Well, he throws his first punch if you don't count the episode where he smacked a bunch of goblins across the street during a chase scene, but I don't count that. He's a big guy! It happens! Anyways, he smashes Bular to pieces in order to save everyone from a sneak attack and says that keeping Tobi safe is more important than his pacifism. Not really something you can get mad at him for, plus 13 or so episodes where he's completely docile builds up for a really great moment. It's exactly as the scene should have gone... except in the very next episode he's completely forgotten about being a pacifist. He's excited to throw punches and smash monsters to dust and it's like... dude come on! What happened? You were completely right to break you oath to protect your friends, but you can't just fall immediately back into being a killing machine like when you were a gum-gum! There has to be a progression to things like this! And the way it was presented made it seem like his pacifism had to do with him not slipping back into the ways of being a gum-gum. But then he's completely got it under control in what? Two weeks? He can get in as many fights as he wants now! It doesn't make sense and I don't like it.

And, to balance the negative with a little more positive, I want to talk about Claire for a moment. Oh my God, what a badass! I mean, right after she finds about the goblins, she takes up a tree branch and just starts wacking them. She manages to save Jim not once, but twice in a single scene and survives the vengeance of a goblin horde. Then, when faced with Angor Rot's trio of broken glass golems, she manages to single-handedly take one down with a stick no longer than her forearm. She tackles Angor Rot through one of his shadow portals and steals his staff. Angor Rot, the villain that completely and utterly outmatches everyone that fights him. The guy that Jim, Strickler, and Draal had to rig the entire house full of traps to subdue and he still managed to live through that. Claire, who isn't the chosen one, or even the chosen one's sidekick, stole an uber powerful weapon from him and then used it to help defeat him. That's the type of character that should be every hero's love interest, no doubt about it.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give Trollhunters (Season 1) a Crispy.

[lesbianmichelmishina]

random thoughts on my pokemon magical girl/boy au:

the protags/rivals fuse with their pokemon to become heroes. it’s not rly like ash-greninja or mother beast though. maybe a bit more like su fusion?

their powers come from the legendary pokemon of the region in question, via these things called “hearts”, which are weird artefacts found at the sites where leagues are built. the champions (+ kukui and burnet) look after these and watch over the heroes. the powers are specifically handed out by talking electric rodents (plus a mimikyu that got hired bc togedemaru wasn’t around and silvally couldn’t hand the power to gladion itself).

geez this got long let’s put it under a cut

red = charizard, blue = blastoise, leaf = venusaur.

red signs his dramatic speeches. leaf and blue thought initially maybe he could try speaking with his charizard’s help, but he still can’t speak any human languages. fortunately he’s still able to trash-talk giovanni, who learnt sign language because you never know who you’ll be dealing with in his line of business.

also red accidentally caught the pikachu that was trying to give him superpowers bc he was like “wow a pikachu!! they’re rare!! let’s catch it!!” pikachu has never let him live this down.

ethan = typhlosion, silver = feraligatr, kris = meganium, lyra = azumarill.

silver got picked up by the spiky-eared and pikachu-coloured pichu bros first. they regret this decision right up until goldenrod when the character development starts kicking in.

lance: “why this kid though?” pichu bros: “well... he has a good heart deep down!! we just didn’t realise how deep down it was.” lance, getting out his #1 dad mug and a barbeque: “guess i’m going to have to handle this one myself.”

kris actually gets her powers last, they meet her in ilex forest with her bayleef.

may = blaziken, brendan = swampert, wally = gallade.

SORRY SCEPTILE. i love you but... can’t have two greens...

may loves this job way too much. wally is so determined to do this right. brendan... is just getting dragged along for the ride.

wally’s costume has a face mask designed to help his breathing as part of it, so he can stay active for longer than he normally could. it actually really helps his health.

archie and maxie are also getting way too into this. archie is enjoying being the big bombastic magical girl villain, and while maxie won’t admit it, he’s going very shiny-glasses-and-tch on the gang.

dawn = torterra, lucas = empoleon, barry = infernape.

barry has fire powers, arceus help us all. wait, this is partially arceus’s fault. fuck.

cyrus is your standard super fucked up why is he in this genre at all villain.

looker figures out who the trio are basically immediately, but promises to keep their secret so long as they work with him against the team galactic. they agree because looker’s awesome and fuck cyrus.

dawn very much enjoys using the move wood hammer.

hilbert = samurott, bianca = emboar, cheren = serperior, n = zoroark.

the nacrene museum affair is a complete disaster for n, who realises at the last second that the skull isn’t what they want, and then has to go magical boy mode with hilbert to get it back, which confuses the HELL out of the plasma grunts.

please imagine bianca punching ghetsis through a wall. it is a great image.

cheren thinks this is stupid but he LOVES his costume.

rosa = lucario, hugh = unfezant.

the first one is based on the pokestar studios first movie. rosa stars in a film about herself, playing herself, and almost no one knows. hugh and bianca die of laughter when they see it.

the second one... firstly he gets a pidove fast, secondly, that MASK. imagine it.

my apologies to hilda and nate. you guys are cool but i couldn’t fit extra protags in on this one.

serena = delphox, calem = greninja, shauna = chesnaught, tierno = clawitzer, trevor = florges.

they love this. they love this so much. it is the best thing that has ever happened to these kids. especially tierno. he quickly becomes known as the most graceful of kalos’s legendary heroes and he loves it.

trevor is in kind of an odd situation - everyone else has gender match-ups on their pokemon but he can’t. so technically “florges hero” is non-binary. it’s an interesting opportunity for self-exploration if nothing else.

serena would probably end up very usagi-like just for the joke in the names. meanwhile calem is a fucking ninja and he loves it.

shauna in a suit of armour. it’s so stupid. i love it.

moon = incineroar, sun = primarina, hau = decidueye, lillie = lunala, gladion = silvally.

LILLIE PLZ. GLADION PLZ. that’s just excessive??

sun and moon are twins. scary twins. meanwhile hau is robin hood. he just wanted a type advantage over his grandpa.

the plot would be some convoluted mix of sm and usum with necrozma and mother beast and all of that thrown in. 

episode rr is the movie where they get all of the teams together. giovanni is like “???” when he sees silver. archie and maxie end up working together because if they don’t then this tiny blaziken girl will destroy them both. cyrus has now seen it all. ghetsis laughs at n being there until he can’t fucking find anyone because of all the illusions, also it’s not funny to harass someone who is beyond the point of caring about it. lysandre cannot believe this is happening. faba runs screaming the moment the big fight starts.

fwiw: lance = dragonite (he adopts like seven unruly kids in this mess), steven = metagross (probably shiny for the aesthetic), wallace = milotic (most fabulous magical mentor ever), cynthia = garchomp (if you actually make her transform you’re screwed), alder = whatever his partner was in the past (you never see him change form), iris = haxorus (tiny princess girl with an axe), diantha = gardevoir (bow down to the queen or get moonblasted), kukui = lycanroc & burnet = musharna (they found the heart so they have to deal with it).

the villains also generally manage to imitate these powers with varying levels of success. giovanni manages it but doesn’t enjoy it. archie and maxie do fairly well because their pokemon like them. cyrus thinks it’s a weird but useful tool. ghetsis... max frustration hydreigon... it’s not pretty. n obviously nails it. colress never personally tries but it’s an interesting phenomenon all the same. lysandre also does well because his gyarados actually does seem to like him a lot. lusamine should not have tried this with an ultra beast. guzma goes all street samurai with his golisopod and it’s AMAZING.

[theroadyouchoose]

Eh, I think Brock should have left the anime by the end of AG. Everytime I go back and watch DP eps Brock feels so out of place like he's only there to explain battles or exposition of what's going on in the episode. The DP trio really just felt like Ash/Dawn interacting with Brock literally just being there. I also really like Cilan, Bonnie/Clemont and now Kiawe so I'm not sure why they couldn't find a new male companion for DP.

By DP they didn’t really know what to do with Brock. Well, this started to show up in AG but it was super noticeable then. You said you’re not sure why they couldn’t find a new male companion for DP, so lets take a look at that.

Who do you replace him with that could be unique and contribute to the group? Can’t have a rival character with the same goal as Ash since there’s no need to promote that with two people. No need for another coordinator since Dawn was there to promote that. None of the gym leaders fit age-wise. They could have made an all-new character but what would that character promote? No need for a doctor or a breeder because they might as well have left Brock there for that. Maybe they could have had someone who just wanted to do battle frontier stuff but they had already done that with AG. I’m sure t hey could have come up with some random goal or reason to be there but it would have to be something good to match with Ash and Dawn without it being just an add on because they might as well have left Brock there. 

See it’s easy to say in hindsight. It always is. There’s really nothing that can be done with it since I still think the easiest way to get around this would have been to have Dawn, Lucas, and Barry as the three main protags and not have Ash at all. DP was awesome for him, but I’m in that group that thinks he should have been retired after OS. Or maybe not retired. Maybe Ash should have become the older traveling companion himself, helping out younger trainers like Brock did or him, until finally becoming a character that has reoccurring cameos in later seasons, especially when legendaries are involved and in leagues. That’s just me though.

Side note: I don’t know why you lumped Bonnie with Clemont? She’s a completely different character. Also it’s not fair to compare previous groups with the SM group because that’s completely different. 

[miyaio]

desu2!!

desu 2 meta brings out the tl;dr beast in me b/c i’m always thirsty to talk excessively abt this game.

My favorite parent-child relationship

- i think otome and koharu win by default, tho io’s brief scene w/her mother and the background we get on her relationship w/her parents is v heart-wrenching.  i love the way otome’s single mom status is depicted–it feels very nuanced and sympathetic, without shying away from the way having parenthood thrust upon her would realistically impact otome’s life and koharu’s.  when otome mentions in tri arc that she misses being koharu’s mother, despite how selfish that would be (as it would come in exchange for her cousins’ lives), i teared up, ngl.  koharu herself is also really precious, tho i wish we had a consistent appearance for her–it seems to change between vanilla desu 2, ds2a, and tri arc?  

runner-up goes to airi and her dad, despite the fact that she thinks he’s dead.  the dera-deka sub-arc is well-worth doing at least once, imo.  it made me bawl, and it’s also necessary for 100% compendium completion.

My favorite sibling relationship

- can i say saiduq and the other septentriones?  yamato and miyako are the only sibs we see onscreen (tho airi mentions having a little brother), but tbh, i’m more interested in miyako’s side than i am in yamato’s.  what goes on in the septentriones’ minds–if they even have “minds” as people would perceive the concept–is fascinating to me, and i really wonder what saiduq thinks abt his former “siblings”.  does he simultaneously pity and envy them for lacking his autonomy?  does he see them as extensions of polaris’ will that deserve to be beaten down by humans?  the denizens of the akasha stratum are one of my fav aspects of desu 2′s worldbuilding, so i’m always hungry for meta on them.

My favorite family relationship (other)

- airi and ronaldo in a found family situation………  i love the way their dynamic develops, w/neither one aware of how strong a connection they really share.  i do wish we’d had more of them bonding over their memories of airi’s dad (which i’ve always hc’d as happening at least on egalitarian route), but seeing how similar the two of them really are is always cute.  airi loves her gay uncle 2k17

My favorite friendship between two people

- uffff this is so hard b/c i like a lot of my ships b/c of their friendships……..  ig i’d make it a tie between hibiki + daichi and jp’s trio’s dynamic as a whole?  even tho jp’s trio isn’t two people, haha.  one thing i really like abt hibiki in comparison to like, every male protag ever, is that it’s p heavily implied that he’s not popular at all.  the one thing ds2a did right was hibiki’s backstory, which i think still fits in w/gameverse!hibiki’s description as someone w/a “blank” past.  his friendship w/daichi and the relationships he forms w/the main cast mean a lot more in the context of daichi really being his only close friend at the start of the game, imo.  s/t i love abt hibiki + both daichi and io is that their friendships are based on equity, abt hibiki supporting the others and working w/them as equals to help them realize what wonderful ppl they are in their own right, rather than him being the ultra-charismatic authority who’s always Cool and in control.  like, this is the guy who has such Serious dialogue options as “RAINBOOOOOOW!!” and “tell everyone yr gay for yamato”.  hibiki being really isolated from most ppl aside from daichi feeding into his decision to pursue the human admin end of br is a meta for another time, ig.

jp’s trio’s various relationships are all v interesting, in terms of the spokes of the triangle and all three of them together.  it’s really refreshing to see that kind of dynamic between adult women who are professionals–their bond feels a lot less??  transient than it might between yet another group of high schoolers.  you get the sense that all three of them being adults is what lets their friendships bloom and be so important to them, as the people they were in high school are hardly the same people they are now.  the event in tri arc where fumi and makoto take care of a fatigued otome and tell her that she can lean on them, too, really made an impact on me.  all three of them play off of each other so well in a variety of settings, and it lends a v mature, multifaceted air to their dynamic.  otome taking a different faction than fumi and makoto, and how different fumi and makoto’s own reasons for joining yamato are, is also worth mentioning in that the three of them aren’t always in agreement, and that’s a part of friendship, too.  

My favorite friendship between a group

- team nagoya………  i’ll be the first to say that i dislike both the extremist routes.  whether or not the writers intended to make the player feel that way is subjective, and may well depend on where a player falls on the smt alignment continuum, or even on desu 2′s version of that continuum.  either way, i at least liked egalitarian better than meritorious b/c team nagoya has such a strong rapport w/one another, compared to the cognitive dissonance-riddled mess that is team osaka.  based on their dialogue from any daichi route, the members of team nagoya definitely know they’re not necessarily vying for the best solution to their very legitimate concerns.  they’re a lot easier to sympathize with b/c their grievances are very real–as joe says in “dream’s end”, while society may be growing less prejudiced over time, for many people, there is no time to “wait for things to get better”.  the problem lies much more in going thru polaris to make a change, as the ending p clearly (and horrifyingly) demonstrates that polaris just uses team nagoya’s passion for its own ends.  

at any rate, the interactions between the four of them are great, from ronaldo and airi’s aforementioned dynamic, to joe and otome’s complimentary playful attitudes, to how airi represents the future that all three adults are fighting for.  it’s really telling that team nagoya consists of three adults and one teenager–otome puts it most clearly in her post-defeat dialogue on daichi routes when she says that she was fighting desperately (yet short-sightedly) for the future of the world’s children.  imo, airi really represents that future to the three adults, as a teenager who has already had so many doors closed in her face due to inequity.  airi’s own stubbornness, selective self-flagellation, and issues w/moving on aside, schooling in particular really is s/t that can shape a child’s entire life, and i’m sure ronaldo, joe, and otome realize that.  so seeing how well all four of them interact w/each other and how airi represents both the best and the worst of team nagoya’s ideals def makes them my fav faction.

My favorite mentorship

- speaking of airi’s interactions w/the adult cast, makoto + airi is so good…..  i love how constructive makoto is w/airi, giving her the tools she needs to move forward in life w/o telling her to get over it, or denying that airi’s been screwed over by forces well beyond her control.  makoto’s not a perfect mentor, but (as her name suggests), she’s honest w/airi, and owns up to it when she reacts too harshly.  i think it’s great to see makoto helping someone in a way she knows for sure is right, in contrast to how uncertain her cognitive dissonance abt other issues in sep arc must be making her feel.  on the flipside, airi gets to begin moving forward w/life again, which in turn contributes to helping her reconsider her own alienating abrasiveness (can you tell i like airi b/c she and severa are so similar……).  the moral of airi and makoto’s mentorship isn’t “never ever give up on yr dreams b/c you can only ever have one True goal in life”, nor is it “there’s no need to challenge injustices done unto you b/c if you don’t rock the boat, life will move on eventually”.  airi’s sub-arc comes to a more nuanced conclusion, and i don’t think she could’ve gotten there w/o makoto’s influence.

My favorite rivalry

- does hinako and yamato count?  i love how often she calls him out, and how she’s not afraid of him in the least.  while i doubt yamato sees hinako as much of consequence, she makes her beef w/him plain, w/o going “DIE HOUTSUIN MY JUSTICE IS SCREAMING” ala ronaldo www  her voice is much-needed in a lot of situations, too.  her confrontation w/yamato over whether or not he cherrypicked the results of the medium compatibility tests to get rid of io is really well-done, esp if you infer that hinako knows abt io’s own disastrous confrontation w/yamato earlier on friday.

My favorite hatred/antipathy

- while i know miyako and yamato don’t straight-up hate each other, their dynamic as enemies (or at least in opposition to one another) is great.  i’m not just saying this b/c i love seeing yamato get dragged, i promise–there really is just s/t satisfying abt miyako not taking his shit at all, despite her own cognitive dissonance and his valid points abt the futility of her plan.  yamato -> saiduq is also fairly interesting, tho ds2a bloated itself so much w/a tepid exploration of how their dynamic could potentially be explored that i’m not too keen on meta-ing it more.  yamato is kind of a hate sink amongst the cast, tbh www  saiduq’s own rebel angel-turned-usurper dynamic w/polaris is p unambiguous hatred, but it’s v interesting, given how saiduq feels he has no choice but to die as polaris’ sword on every other route.  really seeing him shuck that alcor designation (ppl who call saiduq by that name when he explicitly says he dislikes it still drive me bonkers in 2017) and take up heaven’s throne is v satisfying.

My favorite potential relationship between characters who never talk in canon

- do u have a moment to talk abt how we were robbed of more io-joe interactions………  if anyone’s actually read this far, you probably do lmao  in any event, i think this is mostly a limitation of how the fate system is constructed, and you can see the writers stretching and experimenting w/it in tri arc.  if future desu games expand into s/t like fe’s support system, where you can see the fate system-equivalents between all characters, sometimes w/o the protag even present, i think that’d be a great step forward.  i bring this up for one area in particular where i really wanted to see more joe-io interactions: on tuesday, after io’s parents die.  joe has a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it line in his own fate system w/hibiki abt how his own parents are dead, but it’s not framed in a more genre-typical “tragic orphan backstory” way.  it really raises the question about when someone whose parents have died is too old to be called an orphan, given that joe is only 25.  

this dialogue suggests that the losses are then fairly recent, tho joe writes them off w/his patent-pending brand of escape-avoidance.  for all his flakiness (his term), tho, joe really does try to fill a big brother role for tokyo trio, and this is where i think he and io could have some v fruitful interactions.  i think that most of the cast isn’t really faced w/the immediacy of the high likelihood that their families are dead, w/the exception of chars like joe, jungo, airi, and keita, who all lose parents prior to the game.  io, on the other hand, watches her mother die in her arms.  she displays astounding resilience and focus in how quickly she draws herself back together after the loss, despite her r5 confirming that she had pretty constant suicidal ideation throughout the rest of the week (and quite possibly before the game, too).  as joe is the closest to io out of the four aforementioned characters at that point in the game, i really, really would’ve loved to see his take on providing her comfort and guidance in the wake of her sudden loss.  i think it would’ve been a good set of conversations for both of them, especially if you buy into the reading that both joe and io let themselves die should the player fail to prevent their death clips.  in this respect, i’m interested in the similarities between joe and io, and i think a good heart-to-heart between them early on in the game would’ve led to a variety of other interactions.