#its obviously not perfect but this is like 1 of 3 times i've ever drawn a character at this angle

[umblrspectrum]

being grounded from devices means nothing when you have a robot boyfriend

[thepageofhopes]

Saw a rhythm game template by @shuwa-chan, so of course I had to do it!

Games and explanations/musings under the cut!

That I want to try: Parappa the Rapper!

I've never played, but I probably should play the game that potentially started the entire genre at some point, right?

That I miss playing: Groove Coaster

My dear departed baby. Yes I know there's a Nintendo Switch version but there's nothing really like the feeling of playing on an arcade cabinet. I played this for over 3 years, and it's where I really got my rhythm game chops. I remember when I first started I could barely play 4s and 5s.

This game is how I met my bf of over 7 years now! It's also where we first saw undertale songs on a rhythm game, and it was such a perfect fit. I will still forever be salty about grinding for 30+ hours on the first undertale event and then getting 51st place, 1 away from the highest tier.

Sadly, Groove Coaster is one of the games where I am held back from being as good as my other experienced peers due to the stamina requirements it has, so I never quite reached peak performance.

I still occasionally visit Round1 and play it, but Round1 is expensive and doesn't really offer a lot of the games I really like, but maybe if they get a MaiMai DX cabinet, that'll change.

That I first ever played: Stepmania

I guess technically I played DDR first, but I don't count random times playing at random arcades every couple of weeks. Stepmania is where I got my start, and I even used to design a few songs on there! I never got particularly good, but back before a lot of copyright bullshit happened, bemanistyle was such a cool place to play every type of song imaginable.

That I think is cool: Lanota

I just really love the vibe, music, and system of Lanota. It's got a really unique soundtrack with a heavier focus on orchestral tracks (though obviously it has its fair share of hardcore electronic too), the feeling of swishing across those blue notes is always satisfying, and the way the game plays with the area where you hit notes is always super fun and cool.

My all-time favorite: Groove Coaster

It might not be the best system ever, but I have too many good memories for this to not be my all time favorite. Maybe when MaiMai DX comes to the states it'll be un-seated, but for now, GC is my favorite rhythm game.

That I'm confident in skill-wise: MaiMai

When the location test of DX in Dallas came through, I ended with a solid 13.1k ranking! Not a god level skill by any means, but it's enough that I can play and pass almost all charts in the game, and make good scores on a fair number. My specialty tends to be trills and tap-intensive songs, mostly owing from my GC experience, and low-bpm and weird slide tech are my worst enemies.

But I mean, last week I got an S on Umiyuri Kaiten, so that's something.

That I wish I was good at: Sound Voltex

I honestly just don't play this enough to be that good, despite it being at all the arcade locations I visit. I definitely really like it, but I've never felt the urge to particularly deep dive it like I have with GC, Maimai, WACCA, and Chunithm. Still, it's a really cool system with a huge song library and an insanely high skill ceiling, so maybe someday I'll commit enough to gid gud.

That I think has the best concept/design: Chunithm

Speaking of Chunithm, this is a game I'd probably lifestyle if I could find an online cabinet. The thing I tend to value the most in rhythm games is how a rhythm game expresses the music via the mechanics (thus why I was really drawn to GC, since the track and changing visuals along with the actual notes all contributed to expressing the music) and to me Chunithm does music expression the best, with MaiMai a close 2nd and GC a very close 3rd. The air notes add so much dimension to the way it feels to play.

That I think has the best song selection: Chunithm

It also helps that Chunithm probably has one of my favorite song selections...ever. It really fits for a weeb like me, as it has an insane number of anime openings, along with a great selection of touhou and vocaloid tracks. 2nd is definitely GC, and honestly if you count Wai Wai party probably beats Chunithm. Groove Coaster has a lot of weird songs you won't see anywhere else - collabs with Dangan Ronpa, Puzzle & Dragons, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Deltarune, BlazBlue, Dondonpachi, etc. It also has an amazing selection of touhou tracks, including 3-4 whole CDs worth of commissioned tracks not available in any other game. I own 3 of them and I am forever sad that Dream Coaster by A-One, COSIO's remixes of Hecatia's Theme and Raiko's Theme, Joker Junko by COOL & CREATE, and BUTAOTOME's remix of Utsuho's theme will never be in another rhythm game.

That I've been playing a lot recently: MaiMai, WACCA, and Chunithm

There's a set of freeplay arcades in my area called Cidercade, and they have a great selection of rhythm games. I'm lucky enough to have a monthly pass, which they don't currently offer anymore, and it only costs $20 a month, which is an insane price for a freeplay arcade. Thus, I tend to go twice a week, with one day focusing on MaiMai, and the other focusing on WACCA and Chunithm. WACCA is my other dear departed baby who died too soon, and it is incredibly sad how the pandemic killed what was a lot of people's new favorite rhythm game.

That I think deserves more attention: Beatblock

I don't normally stick with PC rhythm games, but Beatblock might become the exception. It essentially plays kind of like Undyne's battle from Undertale, but with far more flexibility and freedom in the movement and mechanics. The custom song community for this game is BATSHIT INSANE. Please please please check out some of the songs here, here, here, and here. It's currently in the demo stage, so it's free, please try it!!

That I think looks the hardest: Beatmania

The timing windows on Beatmania and all the Beatmania-likes (ex. POP'N, DJMax) are so hard for me. This, coupled with the fact that the pinky movement requirements for the DJ look physically painful make this the obvious contender for this spot, at least for me.

[mrm64]

hello! i know it's a bad idea to engage in any shipping discourse but for the sake of constructive criticism, i asked an sns shipper if she thinks there's atleast potential in ss if ever sakura had that capacity to stand up to sasuke and if she wasn't as much fixated on him during shipuuden and the war arc. i even brought up the wasted opportunity of sasuke vs sakura that was shown in the game. the sns shipper gave a very structured and well-versed answer and i do agree with some of her points. i'm not even anti-sns and i understand the support this ship gets. but this person really hates sakura. so her answer to my question if ss has potential is straight up NO. hate is an understatement. she explicitly said she DETESTS sakura and ss xD. granted, her hatred is valid since sakura's writing is very flawed and inconsistent. what i didn't like was when she said why am i trying to change sakura's personality (her standing up to sasuke whether physically or verbally) when "she's constantly on heat when he's around". gosh, i really wanted to retaliate here and say it's called freakin character development. i mean, that's what she's mainly hated for right? the fact that she's obsessed and a pushover when it comes to sasuke. having that change especially during the war arc doesn't mean she's out of character, it means development. but gah, sakura haters are really hard to argue with so i just stayed silent.

to briefly summarize, her main point of argumentation is that sakura was toxic to both naruto and sasuke. sasuke's relationship with naruto is more defined than whatever he had with sakura. she brought up ss's pt.1 moments and said that sasuke would do the same to naruto, if not even better. as for naruto's case, sakura was a mean bitch and was so unfair to him throughout the series. simply put, even if sns has questionable elements, they are more organic and healthy than sasusaku.

this got me thinking. between sasunarusasu and sasusaku, despite both having toxic elements, i think the reason why there are relatively more sns shippers is because there's balance. compared to sakura, sasuke has shown more consideration towards naruto and we all know naruto cares for sasuke just as much and he isn't afraid to stand up to this guy.

idk what i'm even trying to ask here. i guess i'm just ranting lol. i've always seen your comments in youtube vids defending sakura and ss and i know you have an extensive knowledge of the naruto manga in general. you could only imagine how shocked i am when i found out you're a male. it's really rare to find someone like you. :)

anyways, i just feel so disappointed and pressed lmao. ss shippers couldn't catch a break from haters. like yea, some of us know it has shit writing in the canon and explanations regarding their relationship in the series is very limited. i already accepted the fact that they are underdeveloped and was borderline toxic. but then, between kishimoto's pitiful inability to write female characters properly and SP's biased treatment towards sasusaku plus the manga's main narrative focusing on naruto and sasuke, i just feel like it's kinda unfair for antis to shit on ss shippers when in reality, most of us just hold onto it because of nostalgia. most sasusaku shippers came to be when they were very young. i even found comments saying they started shipping them when they were 6 or 7. in my case, i was 12 lol.

it's kinda unfair since sns has the upperhand bcoz the series is mainly about them. naruhina has retcons and SP and what does ss have? small pt.1 moments, headcanons, fanons and to top it off SP's biased ass shitting on it. the ss fandom isn't perfect and has its fair share of immature stans as well, but i'm still glad that didn't stop authors and artists from making content. ss has got some of the best fanfictions, fanarts and doujinshis. i just wished antis won't attack them as much.

anyways, i'm not even asking a specific question. i just ranted. i just needed to get this out of my system. sorry for that 😅

Hey! It's been a long while since I got asks like this lol! Once tumblr went all anti-nsfw a few years ago, we all kinda migrated to Twitter for our SS/Anime cravings tbh but I'm glad and flattered you decided to ask me on my thoughts! :)

I won't write long as again, tbh, I'm kinda retired from debating/arguing with antis on things of SS/Naruto/Etc (unless I'm simply too triggered to let it go lol. You've already probably seen my long Sakura video so I won't go too much into details of what I already covered with Sakura's character. But to answer you, I'll keep it to the point.

It's ok of course to say Kishi's writing is flawed, I mean he is human and we know Naruto has holes. Every manga/story does of course. When it comes to SS, I personally bring it to this: Sasuke and Naruto's relationship is NOT Sasuke and Sakura's relationship. And that's (imo) ok. Sasuke and Naruto obviously have a bond only they have. Both lonely and orphaned, rivals with each other, haters to brother, you know it all. But Sakura is different. She's simply a normal, head-strong and caring girl. Kishi wanted to write a normal girl, and he did a darn well good job, because just like normal girls (or people in general), they're imperfect. That's why she first appealed to me.

Anyway, to the point, SS is pretty easy to follow. Sakura likes Sasuke....what's the problem? Where's the toxicity, lol. Sure she fangirls over him as a 12 year old girl, but again, Sakura is normal. Most girls I knew that age did the same thing. Most BOYS I knew were super...*cough* ready to be with girls (*cough cough*, puberty, everyone, *cough*). Sasuke is cool and confident. Sakura lacked confidence, so naturally she was drawn to Sasuke. Sasuke at first found her annoying (as he did with Naruto too) but as the became a team, she bonded. SS' bond is NOT NSN's bond. SS's bond is built upon a simply caring basis. Sakura always cared for Sasuke, and Sasuke always was protective of Sakura. Forest of Death, Sand Invasion, etc...add in the angst of Shippuden (nobody can tell me one was better than the other during Shippuden, Sasuke was 'bout to axe everyone while in darkness lol), blank period bonding, and then Boruto. There it is in SIMPLE terms.

As far as "standing up" to Sasuke...not sure where this person is coming from....again, NSN is NOT SS....Sakura has stood up to Sasuke at times. In the FOD where she indirectly called him a coward, when she pleaded with him to not fight in the Prelims and threatened to tell the proctors of the curse mark, trying to stop him from leaving Konoha., etc. If she was a "doormat", she would have said "Ok Sauske, you do whatever you want, it's all ok my love!" That was chapter 3 Sakura. A LOT of haters can't move beyond that chapter tbh...moving on. The main thing is, she wasn't STRONG enough to stop him by FORCE. She wasn't written to. Sure I woulda liked some angsty moments of them fighting, TRUST ME, you already know. But Kishi wanted the fighting to mostly be between Naruto and Sasuke, as most battle Shonen go. It's Goku and Vegeta, Deku and Bakugou, you name it. She was written to LOVE him unconditionally. And despite Kishi's misses here and here, it's clear as day to many people that they do indeed, love each other. Sarada is a product of years of redemption, forgiveness, and understanding between SS (which is....literally some of the themes of Naruto....Zabuza...Haku...Gaara...Pein...Obito....list goes on...).

And of course Naruto and Sasuke's relationship got more spotlight. They're essentially the Shonen "duo" like I explained before with Goku and Vegeta. It's a common tope which can be a bit annoying imo since other characters get shafted, but they're gonna be seen more by the public. At the end of the day, Kishi modeled NSN after his relationship with his BROTHER....that was one of Naruto's main story plots. AGAIN, OF COURSE it's gonna be pushed and seem like it's more "balanced"...it's a battle Shonen, not a love story lol. The love stuff is sprinkled in. This isn't a Shojo. If it was, SS would be the main focus (or...I guess NSN if Kishi WANTED to go that route).

So to finish off, you're right with the SP thing. But it can't be helped. If people wanna say NSN has more "development", let them. At the end of the day, they're shown more to the viewers because they're the Goku and Vegeta of Naruto. They push the narrative, not a romance. They're Kishi's go-to boys. They're the essential main character and rival. It's nothing new. But you know what else? They're. NOT. A. COUPLE. SasuSaku is, and again, romance is SPRINKLED in. It's N O T a Shojo and not the main focus. Honestly...the arguments that NSN shipper used are a bit weak knowing full well that SNS represent Kishi's brother and himself.

I mean...tldr, I could just say "Kishi and his bro are Naruto and Sasuke. SO nah bro, NSN has no romantic development. I wasn't meant to lol."

Typed longer than I thought, but I hope this helped! At the end of the day, ship SS in peace. We have an amazing fandom for the most part with wonderful content and we ain't stopping anytime soon :)