#meeting her and learning her story feels like unlocking the secret character on the fighting game roster

[picaroroboto]

I look at Cylva and whatever part of the brain that makes me get obsessed with side characters starts whirring like an overheating laptop

[empressofthelibrary]

Eraser and American Gothic for how about Bailey? Aaand Weaving for you!

Eraser: what's one way this character has changed over time? Either over the course of their story, or over the course of designing them as an author.

In her early iterations, Bailey was... A lot more chaotic and impulsive as a person. Short attention span, reckless behavior, much more likely to act on a whim, almost manic at times. She's much more grounded and down-to-earth these days, and that's as much because of how I've changed as anything else. But that impulsive, "act first, think later" nature is still a part of her, and it comes out more and more as she starts doing the hero thing, learning to trust herself and her instincts again, and learning to trust other people to have her back.

American Gothic: what's one relationship between characters in this work that you think people wouldn't expect? (i.e., how the people in American Gothic are not married, they're the painter's sister and dentist)

I think most people are gonna look at Bailey -- second person to bear the Golden Eagle mantle, Thanagarian, born and raised in a rural town in the Bible Belt, historian and medievalist, started being a superhero out of a sense of duty and chivalry -- and they're going to expect her to be close with Carter.

They are not friends. She finds the way he talks about history condescending at best, and the way he always relates it to himself and his past lives just feels so... self-important. Like he can't view the world through any lens but his own eyes. The utter lack of humility and empathy baffle her, and I'm pretty sure she's gonna punch him in the face shortly after they meet.

She thinks Ollie's cool, but she's too shy to say anything

Weaving: are your works typically similar to one another? Pick two works, and share one similarity and one difference between them.

Oh, man. Well... I s'pose there's a few similarities between a lot of my works. In particular...

There's a novel I've got in the back of my head. It's about a pair of twin sisters, one of whom is a changeling that just joined the human baby, instead of replacing her. The fae girl -- Morgan -- is the sole survivor of a coup by her evil bio-aunt, and she's hidden in the mortal realm by her birthmother's best knight. She's raised by a human couple who were taken to the fae realm in their youth, and befriended the late Fairy Queen and her knight. The changeling enchantment finally breaks when the "twins" turn twenty-five, and they have to find their way under the hill, unlock Morgan's true powers, and fight the evil aunt, all before Morgan gets assassinated.

I think the differences are pretty plain, but there's some similarities to Bailey's story there -- reclaimed birthrights, heritage kept secret, coming to terms with not being human, the true definition of family, gay werewolves -- as well as a few similarities between Bailey and Morgan -- short tempers, fierce loyalty to their loved ones, a quiet longing for a place to belong, and a love of music, among other things...

I think I may just have a few favorite themes, lol

[dioptre-hertz]

Pathologic 2 ending thoughts

i don’t really use tumblr much anymore, but i recently finished Pathologic 2 and i have thoughts on the ending, which i felt was somewhat incongruous with the rest of the game’s themes and ideas. and tumblr felt like the right place to put a long-form post about it. so, here i am, haha!

MAJOR spoilers for Pathologic 2 below, obviously. this post will probably only be interesting to you if you’ve already played the game, so if you haven’t, be warned! hehehe!

okay, so. i have a lot of thoughts about the ending stuff, but basically it boils down to: i think the ending as presented would have been a good ending for a different game.

quick summary: towards the end of the game, Artemy learns that the Polyhedron, a physics-defying tower and architectural wonder, is rooted into the ground with a long metal spike that pierces the Living Earth. destroying the Polyhedron would therefore open a gaping wound in the Earth, spilling rivers of blood that could be used to mass-produce a cure for the plague. however, doing so would not only destroy the Polyhedron, but also kill the Living Earth, and by extension the Kin. alternately, Artemy can choose to preserve the Polyhedron, which would prevent the Living Earth from bleeding out and dying; but it would come at the cost of the lives of everyone in the town, since the plague would then be unstoppable.

so, the ending choice is principally about this: you have to choose between preserving the magical wonders of the world, the Kin and the Polyhedron and the Living Earth, but at the expense of the actual living humans of the town; or, you save the town and all its mundanities and its ordinary people you've worked so hard to protect, but at the expense of your cultural heritage and all the magical, impossible things of the Steppe. do you choose a world that is dreamlike, enchanted and strange, even if there is no place for regular humans in that world; or do you choose an ordinary, realistic world, one in which there is life for common folk but not for magic and fairy tales?

here’s what irks me though: this dichotomy is not at all what the game is about. or, to be more precise, it never felt to me personally like this was what the narrative was setting up. the choice as presented is fine in a vacuum! there’s nothing wrong with telling a story that creates this kind of clash between magic and realism, and asks you to choose between them. but it doesn’t feel congruous with the rest of the game’s story. let me elaborate.

so, part of what’s going on here is that the game is asking you to make a sacrifice. as the game itself repeatedly tells you: “you can’t save everyone”. either the Kin, the magical steppe creatures, and the Polyhedron are destroyed; or, the ordinary humans of the town are destroyed. you can’t protect both. Pathologic 2 goes to great lengths to show you that you are not a magical fantasy RPG hero who can complete every quest, rescue every NPC, overcome any obstacle and get the Perfect Ending. that’s the whole point of the overly punishing hunger and exhaustion mechanics; that’s why you die so easily in combat, why you’re always running out of time, and why the game is perfectly willing to punish you for every single mistake you make. it’s not a game about being the chosen one, who has magic powers and is uniquely capable of saving the day. right?

except... it kind of is precisely that, if you think about it. Artemy’s story is very clearly a traditional “chosen one” narrative! he is the sole inheritor of his father’s legacy, he is the town’s only menkhu, and so much of the story revolves around his spiritual journey. over the course of the game, Artemy undergoes a coming-of-age of sorts, reconnecting with his heritage, unlocking the secrets of being a menkhu, brewing magical tinctures that slow down and ultimately cure the plague. multiple characters make it explicit that Artemy is important - Foreman Oyun, Aspity, Isidor, and various minor characters of the Kin (like Nara) all talk at length about how Artemy is special, and his role (should he embrace it) is to lead the Kin once he is ready. and the entire conflict with Rubin revolves around the fact that Rubin isn’t the “chosen one” the way Artemy is!

this whole plot thread reaches its climax when Artemy ventures into the Abattoir to seek answers. there, he undergoes a series of harrowing spiritual experiences. several really important things happen here, and i want to focus on two of them.

firstly: upon reaching the central chamber of the Abattoir, Artemy is tasked with performing “surgery” on three seemingly random objects: a candlestick, a fingernail coin, and a spindle of thread. he has a metaphysical conversation with the odongh he meets there and then “connects” these objects into a living, beating heart, and the heart speaks to him. this scene is either hallucinatory or supernatural (or both), but it doesn’t matter which; the point of the scene is that Artemy has finally learned to read the Lines, learned to see how seemingly disparate objects can be spiritually connected into a singular whole. he takes three items that appear to have nothing in common, and he forges a beating heart out of them, a living thing. as Artemy himself learns:

This system isn't symmetrical. It's not just "Nerves, Bones, Skin." Or "Nerves, Bones, Flesh." Or "Spirit, Hair, Blood." Any triad is correct.

Truth is not a set point, but an intersection and confluence of many small truths. Knowing this, I can match and connect anything.

furthermore, shortly after leaving the Abattoir, Artemy has a dream in which he returns there and speaks to the ghost of Isidor, his father. here, he learns a difficult truth: that Isidor intentionally brought the plague back to the town, believing - essentially - that it was necessary for the town’s growth. the decision seems monstrous. Isidor justifies it thus:

This town was… connected wrong. Its parts were tied with artificial seams—so different, so awkward. One could say that Simon, the Mistresses, and I held it all together by force.

So I tore it apart, so you can sew it all back, better than before. Because you're better, and smarter, than I am.

so here we have the high point of Artemy’s spiritual journey, the part of the story where he finally understands why things are the way they are, and what it is he must do.

and this is where things start going wrong, in my opinion.

because all of this, all of what we’ve seen, seems to point in one very clear direction: Artemy will find a way to connect the Kin, the Town, and the Polyhedron into a single coherent whole. it fits so perfectly! Artemy learns that there is a way to mass-produce a cure, but doing so would require him to destroy the Polyhedron and the Living Earth. it appears as though the Polyhedron, the Living Earth, and the Town cannot all coexist; something must be sacrificed. but this choice is presented right after we’re told that Artemy’s destiny is to “sew it all back, better than before”. it is presented once we’ve seen that Artemy can connect a coin, a candlestick, and a spindle of thread into a living, beating heart, no matter how impossible that may sound. knowing this, he can match and connect anything.

and yet, he... doesn’t. the game does not end with a solution that connects the Kin, the Polyhedron and the Town. ultimately, Artemy fails to sew it all back together - and it’s not just that he fails, it’s that the game itself seems utterly unconcerned with that possibility once it heads into its final act. the mere idea that there could be a solution that “connects things right“ goes unexplored. even if the game wanted to be pessimistic and suggest that it can’t be done after all, it should at least acknowledge the thought! the game does admittedly have a focus on the idea that “you can’t save everyone”; this is one of its core motifs. so, fair enough! but since it fails to address that cynicism, it feels less like a statement on the game’s part and more like a lack of awareness.

but that’s not all! there’s a second thing that really bugs me. see, there’s another major event that takes place in the Abattoir: Artemy finally has his fateful encounter with Nara, the Herb Bride who has haunted him throughout the game, insisting that their destinies are intertwined and that he will one day kill her. here, Artemy finally comes to understand what it all means. in the depths of the Abattoir, Nara is waiting for him; the other Herb Brides give Artemy a menkhu’s knife, and they task him with cutting open Nara’s body without killing her:

We know how to open things up. Our way. You know how to open things up. Your way. Do you want to know why the sand pest passes us by? Show yourself.

Cut a living sister in such a way that she stays living. You can do it, if you know the Lines.

Artemy follows through, and he converses with Nara even as he cuts into her flesh; they talk to each other right until the end, when Artemy retrieves a spindle of thread from her body, and she dies.

now, this scene is somewhat tricky to interpret; Artemy must show that he can “cut a living sister in such a way that she stays living”, but in the end, Nara does die. so was he successful or not? well, i would argue that he is; even though Nara dies, he proves that he is able to read the Lines with such precision that she can speak calmly with him until the very end.

more importantly, this scene is the high point of a recurring theme in the game: Artemy’s skill as surgeon.

on Day 1, the very first part of the game, Artemy is sent by his old friend Bad Grief to perform surgery on Piecework, one of the thugs in Bad Grief’s gang. Piecework has gotten in a fight and been stabbed in the gut with a lockpick; without Artemy’s intervention, he will die. you can choose to save him, flub the surgery and kill him, or ignore the sidequest altogether; in any case, this early quest introduces the player to the surgery mechanic and serves to establish Artemy’s unique skills as a surgeon.

on Day 11, the last day of proper gameplay, you have a repeat of this encounter. while pursuing the main quest for the day, you wind up in a pub, where a gang of local bandits have set up shop. they threaten you and order you to rescue one of their pals, who has been shot in the stomach and is about to die. here you again perform surgery to save a man’s life, but this time you don’t do it through the usual surgery minigame - it happens entirely through dialogue choices, and i’m actually not even sure if it’s possible to fail this interaction. in any case, you retrieve the bullet from the man’s stomach and inform his friends that he’ll live.

so what’s the point of all that then? well, the way i see it, the point of all this is to foreshadow a climactic conclusion: Artemy will remove the Polyhedron without killing the Living Earth.

the game spends a lot of time setting this up! on Day 1, Artemy saves a man by removing a long metal spike from his gut non-lethally; in the Abattoir, Artemy proves his spiritual growth by demonstrating that he can “cut a living sister in such a way that she stays living”; and on Day 11, the game throws yet another surgery vignette at you in a scene that frankly feels a bit out of place otherwise.

all of this feels, to me, like it's foreshadowing and setting up one very obvious result: Artemy, having mastered not only practical surgery but also the art of reading the Lines, of being a menkhu, is the one person who can remove the Polyhedron without killing the Living Earth! the game spends all this time explaining that in the Steppe culture, cutting open flesh, or the earth itself, is taboo: only a menkhu is allowed to do so, because a menkhu is someone who knows how to read the Lines, who knows how to cut in a way that will not harm the Living Earth. the culmination of the story, therefore, needs to be that Artemy puts this exact skill to use. that was the point of his character arc, right?

except... no, it isn’t. in the end, there is no way to surgically extract the metal spike from the Living Earth. the only two choices we are presented with are: botch the surgery, or leave it be.

...

in the end, i feel that the ending(s) of Pathologic 2 aren’t appropriate conclusions to the ideas, motifs, and overall narrative progression we’re shown throughout the earlier parts of the game. Pathologic 2 is in many ways brilliant, and i do not hesitate to call it a masterpiece, aforementioned criticisms notwithstanding - but that’s precisely why i cared enough to write all this down! it’s a story that gets into your head, really stays with you, and maybe that’s the reason why i have such strong feelings about the direction the story takes in its final act.

if you reached the end of this post: thank you so much for reading it! i hope you enjoyed my thoughts, and i hope you have a great day!

[annabethlestrange]

RANKED: STUDIO GHIBLI MOVIES (rating from highest to lowest)

Check caption on every photo to check synopsis and review. 📷

I'm so happy! I've managed to finish 24 Ghibli Movies. Yay! Achievement unlock! I want to rewatch some of their movies. Every movie feels nostalgic, with good vibes, and a whimsical story! Highly recommended!

(my highest rating is 5 stars and the lowest would be 1 star)

(set2 10photos)

Princess Mononoke 1997 ★★★★ 𝄢 A masterpiece. Likable and relatable characters. It pains me by thinking about it... I mean, humans... Can be deceiving, loving, caring, and can destroy humanity. This movie shows that everyone has a different point of view. We live and fight for what we believe in. It's a matter of choices. To become a better person or the other way around. I think if everyone can learn how to be Ashitaka as being selfless, this world might have a chance to survive. 📷📷 • THE FATE OF THE WORLD RESTS ON THE COURAGE OF ONE WARRIOR. Ashitaka, a prince of the disappearing Emishi people, is cursed by a demonized boar god and must journey to the west to find a cure. Along the way, he encounters San, a young human woman fighting to protect the forest, and Lady Eboshi, who is trying to destroy it. Ashitaka must find a way to bring balance to this conflict.

Added another movie poster. Coz why not? 📷

The Secret World of Arrietty 2010 ★★★★ 𝄢 Beautifully crafted and made. I love the whole story. A magical, heartwarming, sweet, and simple yet so unique movie for all kinds of ages. It was fun with a great sense of adventure, through the film you'll feel like even the smallest childhood fantasies might be real. I remember the first time I watch this movie. This is actually the first Ghibli movie I've watched, recommended by my best friend and brother Jao Wonders. This particular movie opens my eyes to other Studio Ghibli movies. • DO NOT BE SEEN BY HUMANS. THAT’S BEEN THE LAW OF CHILDREN OF THE UNDERFLOOR. 14-year-old Arrietty and the rest of the Clock family live in peaceful anonymity as they make their own home from items “borrowed” from the house’s human inhabitants. However, life changes for the Clocks when a human boy discovers Arrietty.

Kiki's Delivery Service 1989 ★★★★ 𝄢 📷📷📷📷📷📷 I love everything about this movie. Waaahhhhh. Jiji is hilarious! 📷 Adorable and lovable characters. I wish I can fly like Kiki. 📷 • I WAS FEELING BLUE, BUT I’M BETTER NOW. A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.

Whisper of the Heart 1995 ★★★★ 𝄢 Heartfelt movie. I really love the part that Shizuku strives to be better, that she use Seiji as an inspiration. 📷 Soooo pure. It's refreshing when it comes to romance movies. Love it! • I FOUND SOMEONE I LIKE Shizuku lives a simple life, dominated by her love for stories and writing. One day she notices that all the library books she has have been previously checked out by the same person: ‘Seiji Amasawa’. Curious as to who he is, Shizuku meets a boy her age whom she finds infuriating, but discovers to her shock that he is her ‘Prince of Books’. As she grows closer to him, she realizes that he merely read all those books to bring himself closer to her. The boy Seiji aspires to be a violin maker in Italy, and it is his dreams that make Shizuku realize that she has no clear path for her life. Knowing that her strength lies in writing, she tests her talents by writing a story about Baron, a cat statuette belonging to Seiji’s grandfather.

Porco Rosso 1992 ★★★★ 𝄢 I LOVE IT! Even the villains! They're all adorable. 📷 • A PIG’S GOT TO FLY Porco Rosso, known in Japan as Crimson Pig (Kurenai no Buta) is the sixth animated film by Hayao Miyazaki and released in 1992. You’re introduced to an Italian World War I fighter ace, now living as a freelance bounty hunter chasing “air pirates” in the Adriatic Sea. He has been given a curse that changed his head to that of a pig. Once called Marco Pagot, he is now known to the world as “Porco Rosso”, Italian for “Red Pig.”

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind 1984 ★★★★ 𝄢What a masterful work from Hayao Miyazaki! I respect and like strong female characters! I love the storyline. From the world-building, villains, and characters are all well executed! YAY! • A YOUNG GIRL’S LOVE CALLED FORTH MIRACLES… After a global war, the seaside kingdom known as the Valley of the Wind remains one of the last strongholds on Earth untouched by a poisonous jungle and the powerful insects that guard it. Led by the courageous Princess Nausicaä, the people of the Valley engage in an epic struggle to restore the bond between humanity and Earth.

My Neighbors the Yamadas 1999 3.5 ★ 𝄢 Feel-good movie. I laughed out loud with every situation. It feels nostalgic as well. I can relate to some of their issues when it comes to dealing with family. Love it. 📷📷 • THE SAFETY OF FAMILY IS THE WISH OF THE WORLD The Yamadas are a typical middle-class Japanese family in urban Tokyo and this film shows us a variety of episodes of their lives. With tales that range from humorous to heartbreaking, we see this family cope with life’s little conflicts, problems, and joys in their own way.

Earwig and the Witch 2020 3.5 ★ 𝄢 Wow! Even though it's far from the original classic Ghibli movies that we're used to, I still enjoyed this movie. The only letdown for me would be the ending. I was hoping for much more appropriate closure. Or is there a second part?! lol. A bit disappointing. I still prefer classic Ghibli movies! But a great experience though. Nice try. 📷📷 • A headstrong orphan discovers a world of spells and potions while living with a selfish witch.

Grave of the Fireflies 1988 ★★★ 𝄢 📷📷📷📷📷 These emojis will explain my emotions after watching this. SAD AF! • In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.

[shadowbanki]

Symphony Saga Resonate Outline So Far

This outline has gotten so long... by the way, chapters 1-4 have been written and are on AO3.

—————

Each Arc is 25 chapters.

ARC 1

Chapter 1

(Brief cold opening where the big underlying plot is vaguely explained...)

(Monochrome is trying to ban music.)

(Queen Rainbow is recruiting people to form a magical music group.)

(Motivational message that we all have stories, we all matter, and can all reach our dreams...)

(Brief run-down of Haku’s life, and her grandmother’s recent death.)

(“Haku’s grandmother was the most magical person she knew.”)

(Snowbell was a gift from Haku’s grandmother.)

Lonely Haku had lost 3 important people...

Her brother Dell, her friend Miku, and now her grandmother...

Chapter 2

November 29...

Haku and Neru are two misunderstood, troubled, 16-year-old students who meet at lunch and break period. They both have autism and are ostracized for it. Haku shows Neru her stuffed kitten Snowbell, and they bond and talk about nice things.

There was pizza for lunch, but it ran out because the bullies pushed Haku and Neru to the end of the line. Haku and Neru had to eat nasty asparagus

coleslaw casserole instead. The day isn’t looking too good for them... but at least they met each other.

Haku is happy to have met a new friend.

Chapter 3

Everyone starts talking about Haku and Neru and teasing them.

Bullies start sticking Neru with needles during her walk to gym class.

In gym class, Neru can’t walk far because the lunch upset her stomach. During the 5-mile marathon outside that the boot camp teacher made the class do, Neru lags behind in the rain.

The rain turns into a thunderstorm while Neru is outside. The entire school loses electricity during this time. Meanwhile, Haku has a breakdown in math class because the rain reminds her of her grandmother’s recent death, and has to go to the counselor’s office alone in the dark. And the school is big and even scarier in the dark. Haku then trips and falls down the stairs.

Neru ends her school day in the nurse’s office, and getting painful rubbing alcohol being put in where bullies sticked her with needles. The counselor’s office is nearby, and they see each other there.

Haku and Neru have both had a horrible day. But finally, they can see each other again.

Chapter 4

Haku and Neru meet again after school, and decide to run away together. Haku’s mother is always late home from work, and Haku’s dad is nowhere to be found. Haku’s mother is very neglectful and Haku is convinced her mother wouldn’t miss her. Meanwhile, Neru is an orphan and lives with her mean grandmother.

Haku and Neru pack away their important things and run away to the mall where they find a secret room with a magical mirror. They get sucked through, and end up being transported to the magical world of Whimsica, in the town of Speckle Town!

After stepping through the mirror, Haku’s plush cat Snowbell comes to life.

They are sent out through a portal mirror that is in the magical world. This mirror is a one-way portal, meaning they cannot go back through it to get back to Earth.

The mirror is located in a wooded area in Speckle Town.

“Where am I?” They both ask each other.

Snowbell, who is now alive, jumps from Haku’s arms and begins to wander off.

Alarmed, Haku and Neru follow after Snowbell, and notice a very magical feel about the woods. They eventually make their way out of the forest and into Teto’s magical bakery, which is connected to the Cozy House.

Luka is there too.

Chapter 5

(Magical and whimsical food is at the bakery)

(Rhyming parts to introduce characters?)

(Mako and Luna)

(Yowa)

(Sora)

(Emi, Nova, Roy)

(Ian)

(Muffin and Merengue)

(Happy and Banana)

(Slumber the owl)

(Add more details)

(Music themes)

(Haku and Neru learn about Monochrome from chatting with the cafe guests and with Teto and Luka...)

(Introduce Luka’s pet, Tako Luka)

Chapter 6

(Haku and Neru move to an empty housing space in the Cozy Building, which is a large apartment complex that also has things like stores, restaurants, movie theater, auditorium, recreation center with a park, swimming pool and wildlife reserve, and clinic. Some of the others who live there are Ame and her parents and cat, Joy and her parents, Teto and her parents, Luka and Tako Luka, Ruko, Momo, and the Kagamine family. There is additionally a portion of the building that is said to be haunted...)

Chapter 7

November 30.

Haku and Neru attend their first day of the wacky, 300-floor Adventure Academy.

Haku and Neru have two classes out of six where they are together. (Gym and piano.)

Snowbell also gets to go to school with Haku.

In one class where she is without Neru, swimming class, Haku meets friends named Ame and Joy. Snowbell makes friends with a small talking lioness cub named Buttersotch.

Neru hangs out with Luka a lot. She also meets a friend named Emi in snowboarding class in the snow-cone hills.

Teto hangs out with her childhood friend Momo and tells her about the new students while they are in first-period baking class.

At lunch, everyone meets together. The lunch food is cooked in a volcano.

Chapter 8

During lunch, a villain attacks. However, they don’t show their face.

The villain targets Ame. Even though Ame seems cheerful, she has low self-esteem.

The villain creates a gloomy rain monster to possess Ame, who is compatible with the monster because she has sadness in her heart. (Also, Ame’s name can mean both “candy” and also “rain.”)

When Ame is possessed with the monster, she suddenly becomes really sad and cries, and begins to cause blind destruction out of frustration.

“Ame? Why are you doing this?” Neru asks her.

Ame’s puffy pigtails become swollen rain clouds and heavy rain begins to fall from them.

Storm clouds begin to fill the school, flooding it.

Haku and Neru run away scared. They ask Teto what’s going on. Teto looks back to the one time her hair became real tornadoes, because she was possessed by a monster herself!

“Ame is possessed by a monster!?” Neru reacts. “How did that happen!?”

“It must be those Monochrome goons attacking our school again! I’m sure of it!” Teto says.

All of a sudden, a harsh gust of wind blows Teto away. Haku and Neru are alone.

Two magical, colorful anthropomorphic cats named Sparkle and Twinkle show up and tell Haku and Neru more.

“Don’t be scared of Ame.” Sparkle says. “She needs you to save her. A monster has ahold of her body and is making her rampage.”

“That’s right.” Twinkle says. “This isn’t her fault. The villains used their monster to posses her. That’s not the real Ame! In order to defeat the monster, you must separate it from Ame.”

“How can we do that?” Haku asks.

“You have to give the real Ame strength.” Sparkle says. “Talk to her. Make sure she listens.”

Haku and Neru agree.

Ame is hiding in a sad painting. Haku and Neru tru to coax her out, but she keeps firing mini tornadoes at them from inside the painting, while telling about how much she hates herself.

“Ame...” Haku says to her. “I haven’t known you for long but... I know how you feel. Okay? I know sometimes it’s hard to believe in yourself. But... I believe in you. So does Neru. I understand you. I don’t have many friends either but... let me be your friend, okay?”

“And me too!” Neru says. “I know what it’s like to be lonely. I know what it’s like to have doubt. But nobody deserves to feel like that. And if you need someone, I’ll be here. So please...”

“Let me help you.”

Chapter 9

Ame turns around and looks at Haku and Neru. Suddenly she smiles, the painting becomes happier, and the monster is out...

But now Haku and Neru have to fight it!

Suddenly, they both transform into magical girls.

“Just in time! By cheering up Ame, you two fulfilled yourselves!” The cats say. They explain that In Whimsica, magical transformations are unlocked when the user “fulfills” themself, symbolizing that they’ve overcome a difficult hurdle, accomplished a wonderful goal, or opened the door to their true self.

By cheering up Ame, Haku and Neru had also told important words of encouragement to themselves.

Now that they have magical powers, Sparkle and Twinkle guide them.

The monster is strong and they get hurt. Ame doesn’t have strong magic, but she jumps in and risks everything to help her friends.

This is when a transformation happens to Ame. She fulfills herself too, because she summoned bravery and confidence during a crucial moment!

The magic of Ame’s transformation ended up healing Haku and Neru. All three of them join their powers, and they are able to defeat the monster together with a magical song!

After the battle, they look for Sparkle and Twinkle to thank them, but the mysterious cats are gone...

Meanwhile, Sparkle and Twinkle have fled off to tell Queen Rainbow that they have found pure-hearted heroes that could surely help defend Whimsica from  Monchrome. They are discussing Haku, Neru, and possibly Ame being members of the group they are forming...

Chapter 10

Neru and Haku’s final period is music class, where they are with Snowbell, Luka, Teto, Momo, Joy, Ame, Emi, Butterscotch, and a lot of other significant characters.

Class lets out late. They miss the school bus and they have to ride the Tragic School Bus to a land called Eeby Deeby...

(Marko and Hirao)

(A surreal rhyming dream part?)

Chapter 11

After the Tragic School Bus ordeal, Haku and Neru are back in their room and talk about the day and stuff. Suddenly, Luka joins them. And Ame too, and she thanks them.

Chapter 12

December 1...

In one of Neru’s classes, magic class, she notices a person who is quiet and seemingly standoffish. Apparently his name is Wallace.

Wallace is quite tall, doesn’t talk much, nor does he show much expression. He is always working on something secret under his desk, and he’s very good at hiding it. Everyone spreads rumors that Wallace is doing something “bad.”

Neru doesn’t believe the rumors and senses that Wallace is misunderstood. She wants to confirm that he is a good person, so she sticks around after class. Neru doesn’t mean to be eavesdropping, but when Wallace thinks nobody is around, Neru catches sight of what he creates. He makes small stuffed toys. Neru thinks it’s nice that he has a hobby he’s so passionate about, but she sees something else unexpected. Wallace passes by a drop-off donation box for children who cannot afford holiday gifts and drops the toys he made in it.

Neru comes out to talk to Wallace then. He has a startled and flustered reaction.

“Ah! Please tell me y-you didn’t see anything... I mean... um... I wasn’t doing anything... okay? You saw NOTHING?”

“Huh?” Neru asks. “I don’t get it. You’re doing something so nice, but... you don’t want people to know or see?”

“Ah... well... it’s....” Wallace turns red. “It’s... embarrassing.”

“...Why?” Neru says.

“Well...” Wallace says. “The toys I make... they aren’t very good... I guess... not yet, anyway...”

“But... I don’t think that matters at all.” Neru says. “I’m sure the kid who receives your gift that you put so much heart and care into will be overjoyed when they see it.”

Neru looks in the donation box, even though Wallace tries to stop her.

“Aw, they’re not bad at all.” She says, seeing what he made

“Ah, well... my father... used to make stuffed toys.” Wallace says. “They were much better than mine. He passed away a few years back. Lately I’ve been feeling down, so my uncle told me I could use the skills I learned from him to make people happy... and well...”

“Well... does it feel nice though?” Neru asks. “Knowing you’re making people happy?”

Wallace’s face lights up with an unexpected smile.

“Yeah!” He says.

“That’s great.” Neru says. “Well, I’m Neru. And well, I already know your name. Wallace, right?”

“Yeah, but... um... I’d like to be called Wally, please...” Wallace says. “That’s what I’d want my friends to call me.”

“Oh. All right then, Wally.” Neru says.

However, two ridiculous villains (Maddie and Sadie, the mad and sad clowns) show up and try to destroy Wallace’s things he worked so hard on.

Stelle, Lunette, and Celestine show up. They give Haku and Neru advice and tell them a message from Queen Rainbow, the Queen of Whimsica...

Apparently, Haku and Neru have been recruited into a group that fights for justice all around Whimsica. All they have to do to participate is to continue to be true to themselves and to continue to use their magic, determination, and kindness, to settle problems.

Maddie and Sadie reveal they attacked because they hate people’s happiness. They think “If we can’t be happy, nobody should be.” Haku and Neru tell them that just because their feelings are understandable, doesn’t mean they are correct.

Haku reaches out to them and says she’s unhappy a lot, and sometimes is even jealous of people who are, but she still tries her best to spread joy. Neru joins in, saying that even though Wallace is unhappy because his dad died, he still tries to make kids smile with his toys.

After this fight, Maddie and Sadie end up reforming and becoming good. We find out that they always wanted to spread joy, but gave up because nobody laughed at them, and therefore became cynical mad and sad clowns. Haku and Neru, along with Wallace, inspired them to try again. After reforming, they join Gladys, a glad clown, and form a trio to make people laugh together.

Intermittently in the story, Haku’s backstory about her brother Dell, who she lost before her parents divorce, had been told. We also get to know of Haku’s cousin Miku, who mysteriously disappeared.

Chapter 13

They have to ride the Tragic School Bus Again... And then the Cash Cab shows up! The driver is Kiyoteru. But after that, they group goes straight to the auditorium!

That night after school, Maddie and Sadie have a fun comedy and music show to perform alongside Gladys in the Cozy House auditorium. Luka, Teto, and Momo have parts in the show as well, and Wallace is also in the show playing the saxophone!

Chapter 14

December 2

Haku and Neru get ready for school.

That day, it’s the birthday of Simone, an outgoing, popular person at school. They are a musical idol. They get to have a school-wide party that cuts through class time.

At the party, Haku catches sight of Miku, her cousin and treasured friend from childhood who mysteriously disappeared one day. She also is friends with Simone. They have an emotional reunion. Haku offhandedly comments to Miku about her lost brother Dell, but notices Miku grows a sour expression on her face at the mention of his name.

However, soon enough, things are attacked again... but the villain this time is... Haku’s long-lost brother, Dell?

Chapter 15

Dell has been notorious in the school for being evil and causing trouble for the innocent.

Miku, who also has magical girl powers, transforms and begins to fight Dell. Haku is in disbelief and is saddened watching two precious people from her childhood fight.

“Dell... this can’t be!” She cries. “I know you aren’t like this... you were so sweet to me. You can’t really be on the side of Monochrome. You just can’t!”

Dell has a completely different and mean look in his eyes than the gentle look Haku remembered from childhood.

Dell doesn’t even seem to remember Haku. He appears completely cold, and he seems sinister. Dell is creating monsters to terrorize and destroy peace, while not even seeming to bat an eyelash.

Haku is heartbroken at having to fight Dell, but Neru urges her she has to do it. Eventually after a strong attack is fired at him, Dell retreats...

Haku is left crying, deeply affected at what she just experienced.

Chapter 16

That night, Haku thinks of what she can do if Dell shows up again. Haku is a bad cook, but she stays up all night at the bakery with Teto and Snowbell, making a batch of the cookies Dell used to eat when they were still living together as children. She doesn’t give up until they taste exactly the way they did that time.

Chapter 17

December 3

Haku and friends spend a day at school and eventually help out another character. The character they help out is Lita.

Chapter 18

Dell shows up again to mess things up. Haku begins pleading to him.

Dell begins charging an attack, getting get ready to hit Haku, but Haku just stands there. Everyone watches, thinking Haku is nuts.

As a last resort, Haku starts singing to Dell. She sings to him the song Dell always sang to her when they were little.

Dell suddenly remembers Haku. Precious memories begin flooding his mind. It shows, because he grows a soft expression stops charging the attack... But all of a sudden, he shakes them off and charges at her with a punch. Miku pushes Haku out of the way and continues to fight Dell.

While fighting, Miku notices Dell isn’t fighting with full force. Miku even notices he seems like he‘s fighting back tears. Eventually, Dell retreats.

Haku is crushed once more. She realizes she forgot to give Dell the cookies she baked.

Chapter 19

That night, Haku feels down, so her friends try to cheer her up. They go to karaoke. Haku is shy but her friends coax her to sing and be confident.

Chapter 20

Meanwhile, Dell is walking down the street after a fight with his abusive dad. He hears Haku sing from the karaoke building.

Dell is affiliated with Monochrome, the planet who wants to ban music. He’s should hate music... but it makes him feel so warm and nostalgic... and painful.

Remembering the times he and Haku sung as children, Dell flees to an abandoned building down the street where nobody would enter to sing by himself. Dell sings the song he and Haku sung together as children, before becoming emotional and sobbing loudly for the first time since childhood.

Dell is letting out years upon years of pain caused by his dad. He can’t believe he ever forgot about Haku. She was really the only friend he’s ever had. As kids, they were an inseparable pair of siblings, before their parents divorced. His father brainwashed him to be evil and forget about Haku, but hearing Haku’s song that day cleansed his heart and restored his memories.

Chapter 21

December 4

The next morning at school.

Haku and Neru join a music club after the urging of Miku and Luka, and meet a lot of new friends.

Teto and Momo, however, say they are too busy with clubs already to be in music club, so they are left out. (Note, they will join in a later part of the story.)

Miku

Luka

Ame

Joy

Emi

Wally

(Rin)

(Len)

(IA)

(Yukari)

(Shun-ichi)

(Octavia)

(Sonata)

(Aria)

(Tempo)

(Lita)

(Aisha)

Chapter 22

Dell shows up again, and this time, a group is with him. Dell has a really sad and forlorn look in his eyes this time...

Haku tries to give Dell the batch of cookies she made, but Dell forces himself to harshly reject them and begins to fight Haku.

Suddenly, all targets are on Haku. Haku defeats most of the group except for Dell and the mysterious leader of his group, and is in bad shape.

The leader of Dell’s group attacks Haku. He is very powerful, and if this goes on any longer, Haku could possibly even get killed.

Dell absolutely cannot let this happen. To Haku’s surprise, Dell desperately jumps in and helps Haku fend off the attack.

“Haku...” Dell speaks to her. “It’s okay now. I’ll fend him off myself. You stay safe. I don’t want you to get hurt!”

“Dell... Dell! No! I can’t... You’ll get hurt too...” Haku begins crying.

“It’s fine.” Dell says, choking up with tears. “I deserve to get hurt. I’ve done nothing but cause people pain... I’ll take the damage for you. So run, before something happens to you!”

To Haku’s surprise, the man says something strange...

“Betrayal, huh? From my own son?”

Chapter 23

“I’m NOT your son!” Dell shouts.

Haku’s face turns white.

“You can’t deny facts.” He says. “You are my son, Dell. Also, Haku... I am your father.”

Haku is too shocked to speak for a couple seconds, but...

“No!” She shrieks. “You are not! You’re a part of Monochrome! You’re evil. You’re the one took Dell away long ago. You made him like this! You raised him and brainwashed him to be just like you! Dell... he was always very sweet to me. He was always protecting me. He’s even protecting me now! He never wanted to be a part of Monochrome! Now I will protect him from you! Begone!”

Haku hits Gin with an ultra-strong attack, and Dell joins in. Gin decides he cannot handle it, so he retreats so he can live another day.

Haku and Dell did not defeat him this time. But at least they chased him away...

Haku pretends to be optimistic after what happened, but her fake cheers quickly turns to sobs. Dell hugs Haku and tells her everything is okay. To Haku’s surprise, Dell is crying too.

Haku had never before seen Dell cry.

Chapter 24

After calming down, Dell begins to talk to Haku and Miku about how evil his and Haku’s dad is. Gin mistreated Dell. Dell always loved music and wanted to be a singer. However, whenever Dell sang, Gin punished him by using evil magic to brainwash him bit by bit to be evil just like him. Eventually, the magic closed the door to Dell’s heart, and his memories, causing him to forget about the happy things in his life, including his love of music, and his memories of Haku.

Chapter 25

December 5

Haku, Miku, Dell, and all the others spend a fun day hanging out.

Dell decides he will join the music club.

————ARC 2————

Chapter 1

(Introduce the lore and conflict as Uta/Defoko and her life/surroundings are introduced.)

Uta Utane (AKA Defoko,) 14 years old, is an artificial humanoid from a dystopian planet (Discord) where music is banned and kept a secret by the government. This planet mass-produces androids. This planet is at war with another dystopian planet (Monochrome) and they both produce androids for the purpose for fighting the war. Due to a manufacturing error, the one of the “Default female-1” (codenamed “Defoko”) androids ended up significantly more sentient. She hated the war and fighting, so she rebelled. Defoko feels very depressed and empty about her life, and hates being a machine.

Chapter 2

One fateful day, Defoko, using her advanced aerospace engineering intellect, completes a high-speed “disappearing” spacecraft she was building so that can flee from the planet unnoticed. She arrives at the magical world of Whimsica where things are better on December 6th. Defoko changes her name to Uta Utane, after some kanji she saw on the sign of a karaoke cafe around her new home.

Uta chose to name herself after kanji from the cafe, because the musical sounds coming from the building made her feel something “warm and poignant.” The night when she visited the cafe, Taya and his friend Ritsu were inside, having a session of singing karaoke. Taya was singing a solo in attempt to get over his shyness. The sound Uta fell in love with was actually Taya’s singing voice.

Uta begins living alone in a small, worn-down apartment in the Cozy House. She acquires a part-time job repairing computers to make ends meet.

Uta would describe herself as being self-aware, but lacking the ability to feel euphoria. (Think of it as a sort of depression.) She wishes she were a “real girl” so she could feel this emotion. Despite this, Uta is a very kind, considerate, wisecracking, and compassionate spirit...

On Whimsica, she is still very lonely for now.

That night, Uta sleeps and she has her first dream, because she experienced something that gave her life a meaning (music.) She hears music in her dream and it makes her happy, but when she wakes up, she cannot explain the sensations she felt.

Chapter 3

Uta enrolls herself in the local magical high school, as she is still a young teen and she wants to meet friends. It is her first time going to a proper school. Her new school is very strange. Along with human students, there is also an array of supernatural humanoids, talking animals, anthromorphs (furries,) other creatures, and even... talking objects!?

Even if that is true, Uta sadly feels she still doesn’t fit in.

On her first day at school, Uta‘s first period class is cooking class. She ends up making the confections explode, and gets a scolding and awful grade from the teacher, Miriam. She doesn’t feel like she fits in. On her way to her second-period class, Uta ends up meeting Taya Soune, her shy 15-year-old classmate.

Taya is very late to his second period class because a mean bully girl named Tei Sukone threw Taya’s monocle (also his power source) in the giant wishing well and ran off, leaving Taya having to change into his wetsuit, dive in the well and find his monocle, and then go back to the dressing room and change back into his suit and tie outfit. Uta meanwhile is wandering the chaotic hallways of the school, completely lost.

Sometimes in Adventure Academy, when class is in session and students are supposed to be in class, there is a small chance of a monster called a grungle spawning in the hallways. If a student needs to visit the bathroom or walk down the hall for any reason during a class session, a hall pass can protect students from these monsters.

A grungle ends up spawning in the hall as Uta and Taya cross paths. It’s nine feet tall and looks like a cross between a penguin, bear, and snake. And it has lots of neon spikes. Neither Taya or Uta have a hall pass on them, so it attacks them!

In Whimsica, grungles are creatures with no souls that typically do nothing but cause destruction. They are mostly made of negative emotions.

Taya may have some magic, but isn’t very good at fighting, so Uta uses her epic android powers to protect them both ad defeat the grungle. Uta has a magical machine gun type of pistol, a force field shield, and teleportation powers, and something like The Force to fling large objects with psychic power.

When grungles are defeated, they sometimes drop various kinds of items. This one drops game tickets to use in the arcade. Uta doesn’t know what they are.

Taya thanks Uta profusely for defeating the beast. He is in awe of the new student’s powers and asks where she is from. Uta is very shy, which Taya doesn’t expect since she is so good in battle. She has a quiet voice that sounds monotone and a bit artificial. Uta finally spits out that she is an android from space. Taya realizes Uta may be sensitive about this, so he vows to try and keep this secret...

Taya tells Uta his name and begins to get to know her. He is quite friendly and guides Uta on her way to her second period class, magic class, which they have together. After school, Taya says he will go to the mall with Uta and show her the arcade, and use the game tickets they acquired from the grungle.

Chapter 4

Uta’s third period is math class, which Taya isn’t in. She feels lonely again and thinks about Taya. But then, she ends up meeting two new friends named Teto and Momo, who welcome her to the school. Taya’s third period class is music class. He has this class with with Ritsu, along with Ritsu’s other good friend, Ruko. Taya tells Ritsu about the kind and cool new student named Uta, but not the fact that Uta is an android from space. Ritsu notices that Taya seems to be fond of Uta, which is great, because he notices Taya seems lonesome a lot and wants him to come out of his shell more. Ritsu then offers to help Taya become more social, by offering him friendship and introducing him to Ruko as well. Taya is overjoyed to have a closer bond with Ritsu and another friend in Ruko.

After third period class, is lunch break, and everyone meets up together. Uta introduces Taya, Ritsu, and Ruko to herself, Teto, and Momo. Neru and Haku also get introduced through Teto and Momo, along with other characters from Arc 1.

For fourth period, Uta has computer coding with Ritsu. Taya has music class with Teto and Momo, and Ruko is alone in language arts.

In fifth period, everyone (including Haku and Neru) has gym class together.

Finally, in sixth period, Uta and Taya have Whimsica Geography class together. Everyone else is together in dance class.

Uta starts opening up to Taya when she feels she can trust him. By the end of the school day, they are friends.

“I want to be a real girl.” Uta somberly tells him then. “I want to have a soul. As an android, I cannot truly feel joy.”

However, Taya believes that Uta is already a real girl, and that she has a beautiful soul. He is determined on his quest to help Uta feel true happiness.

Chapter 5

After school, everyone else is busy, and only Uta and Taya have free time. Taya takes Uta to the arcade. Uta hears all kinds of music at the arcade. Taya has never seen Uta so entranced before. Uta asks Taya why these sounds make her feel so alive. Taya tells Uta that they are more than just sounds, they have feelings and soul, and are called “music.” Uta falls in love with music. When she hears it, she becomes indescribably enthralled.

At the arcade, Taya plays a dance game and gets a pretty high score. Apparently, it’s Taya’s favorite game at the arcade and he has had a lot of practice every chance he could get. Uta is mesmerized as she watches Taya dance to the music. Uta is a bit shy to dance herself, but a spacecraft piloting game catches her attention. Uta plays the game and gets an incredibly high score, and ends up attracting a crowd of people in awe of her skills. Uta ends up getting a huge output of coins to exchange for prizes. When Uta and Taya put their coins together, they have enough to buy a brand-new karaoke machine that even comes with three karaoke albums to sing to!

Music had awoken something deep in Uta’s soul. It’s a feeling of excitement, thrill, and comfort, but also immense yearning. Uta feels she wouldn’t be truly happy unless she would be able to compose music and sing. Taya sees Uta staring longingly at the karaoke machine.

“Oh, would you like the karaoke machine?” Taya asks Uta. “If so, it can be all yours. I already have something like it. I think it would be great for you. You want to sing, don’t you? You’ll get to experience music even more!”

“Thank you.” Uta says. “But... I’m afraid I can’t.”

Uta looks incredibly forlorn.

“Why?” Taya asks softly. “What do you mean?”

Uta explains that she feels she wouldn’t be able to sing or compose music, since one needs a heart to be able to make music. Uta is convinced she doesn’t have one. Also, can a being with an artificial voice really sing?

Taya can tell how much Uta longs to create music. He hugs her gently and tells her a story. Taya thought he couldn’t sing either at first, because he was too shy. But thanks to an old friend he had, he found the courage to keep trying back then. Taya promises he will help Uta however he can as well.

Taya ends getting a bit emotional... Uta ends up getting emotional too. They end up holding up the line. Galaco, a snobby girl from school, is next in line. She rolls her eyes and says “Oh PLEASE.”

Taya ends up developing feelings for Uta. Her story and dream pulls at his heartstrings. He feels very sincerely for her.

Chapter 6

They end up buying the karaoke machine and go back to Uta’s apartment. Taya calls his parents and tell them he is at a friend’s house. Taya supports Uta with her dream and teaches her the first steps to singing. They have their first singing lesson.

Taya is a bit shy with singing in front of Uta, but he is determined to be a good vocal coach. He looks back to the exercises he did with Ritsu in attempt to get over his shyness. As Taya sings, Uta recognizes his voice as “the sound that awakened her soul” back when she first came to Whimsica, but she keeps quiet about it due to being bashful.

It takes a while, but Uta finally figures out how to match pitch. She is able to vocalize simple tunes, but still has a long ways to go...

Chapter 7

The next day before first period, Teto sees one of the non-humanoid students in the school getting bullied in the hallway. The bullies are Galaco, Mayu, and Mizki, the snobby girl clique. They are surrounding and throwing paper at poor Inuhebi, a cute, sluggish limbless creature with a snake’s body and a dog’s head.

Teto is a little apprehensive to face up to them, but knows she has to do something.

“Like, wow. Being fabulous is like, so last year.” Teto says.

“As if. Last time I checked, you weren’t exactly a notable figure.” Mizki says.

“Who needs to be? I’m so sorry you guys can’t just have fun without worrying about who’s on top.” Teto rolls her eyes.

“Shut it, clownface.” Galaco says.

“Yup, that’s me! I’m clownface!” Teto laughs. And laughs, and pulls out a horn and honks it and does a cheesy little dance.

“Ugh. Like, let’s get outta here.” Mayu says.

Teto successfully chased away the mean girls.

Teto goes up to little Inuhebi and asks if he’s okay. Inuhebi isn’t hurt, but he’s sad because he can’t move very fast, and is bullied a lot and is usually late for class.

“Hmm... how about you be my buddy? I’ll carry you on my shoulder. We’ll always be together!” Teto said. “Then you’ll never be late again, and I’ll always be there for you!”

Inuhebi is so happy that he cries tears of joy. Teto lifts him up and lets him ride on her shoulder.

It turns out that Uta, Taya, Teto, Momo, Ritsu, and Ruko all have first period together, but they just didn’t notice before. Inuhebi also has first period with everybody. Teto introduces Inuhebi to the rest of the group, and they are now a group of seven.

“Oh yeah... you were the girl who made the kitchen explode!” Ruko says to Uta, remembering the previous day. Uta is a bit embarrassed.

Momo is the best cook in the class, so she offers to teach Uta a bit how to cook on the side. Taya is very great with cooking and baking as well.

Taya, trusting the others, tells them about Uta’s dream, but is vague about the fact that she is an android from space. Everyone in the group finds that they have an interest in singing in common.

“Hey, since we all like to sing, how about we start up a music group?” Inuhebi suggests.

“Sure!” Momo replies. “That would be fun!”

“That would be great!” Ritsu says. “But what will we name it?”

Everyone begins thinkng long and hard about it...

Chapter 8

Later that day, the group of seven go to the music store together.

Afterwards, everyone goes to Uta’s house and have a karaoke party session.

Uta feels awful and dejected however when it’s her time to sing, however. Everyone else sang so amazingly, and Uta can barely carry a simple tune at this point.

“It doesn’t matter how well you sing, Uta...” Taya reassures her. “It’s about being happy and doing your best. We all want to hear you.”

Everyone cheers Uta on. She takes a deep breath and begins singing “When You Wish Upon A Star” but messes up a bit and stops the music.

“I can’t do it.” She says, her entire body shaking.

“Uta, don’t give up!” Taya says. “I’ll sing with you this time. Will that help?”

Uta nods and tries to calm down.

They take turns singing lines from the song. Uta finally is able to sing the last few on her own. Taya comes in and harmonizes with, her and Uta is amazed at how they were able to sound together.

Everyone claps for both of them. It’s a wonderful feeling Uta wants to treasure forever.

“This moment resonates with me...” Uta says.

Uta ends up practicing her singing all night that night. However, she eventually grows discouraged when she just can’t seem to control her voice as well as she did when Taya was there with her.

Chapter 9

Tei Sukone, the bully, shares first-period class with Uta and everyone else. She is usually skipping class, but this time, Tei actually shows up to first period and causes a lot of trouble.

Tei picks on Taya and Inuhebi because she considers them timid. She picks on Ritsu, because Ritsu is Taya’s friend, and has a tendency to come to people’s rescue.

In the days before, Tei noticed that Inuhebi had become friends with Taya and Ritsu.

Tei’s nasty cronies, Jern and Kild, show up to class too. They both have ugly names.

Inuhebi doesn’t know Jern and Kild, so before class, she bakes a biscuit filled with wasabi, which Inuhebi can’t stand. During class, Jern and Kild give it to Inuhebi as a “present.”

Inuhebi is trusting and bites into the biscuit, only to cough it up seconds later because of the wasabi. Tei can’t conceal her laughter, and Uta notices the scene and figures out what happened.

Uta begins to glare at Tei, who notices Uta for the first time.

“Oh wow. You’re like, so plain-looking.” Tei says to Uta. “I didn’t even notice we had a new student because of how totally plain you are, wow.”

Uta, who underestimates her own strength, takes out her laser cannon...

“Oh, what does that thing shoot? Flowers?” Tei scoffs.

Uta fires a laser at Tei’s hair and burns off part of it.

“AAAHHHH!” Tei shrieks. “THAT... That’s not a normal thing you see on Whimsica! This girl... she must be an alien robot!”

Everyone in the class begins to uproar.

Jern and Kild begin laughing maniacally (and rudely.)

“SHE’S A ROBOT!! SHE’S NOT EVEN REAL!” They screech.

“SHUT UP!” Ritsu belts above all the chaos like the madman soprano he is. “Uta is a precious friend of mine, and she was trying to defend Inuhebi! Robot or not, it doesn’t matter!”

“That’s right!” Taya yells. “Uta cares about us! She’s more real than any of you who put her down!”

Suddenly, Uta is running out of the classroom, unable to handle the stress.

“Ah, Uta! Wait!” Taya runs after her

Ritsu, Momo, Ruko and Teto follow. Teto had gotten Inuhebi as well, and put him on her shoulder.

Uta is running off, But Taya calls her back and stops her. Taya gives her a hug.

“Taya, do I belong here?” Uta asks him.

“Of course you do.” Taya says. “You belong. Everyone belongs here.“

“Tei and her nasty cronies are the ones who don’t belong.” Ritsu says.

After a while, the teacher comes out and tells the group to get back to class. The group does. Tei and her friends are now out of the classroom, because the teacher punished them and sent them to detention. However, because of the “distraction” Uta had created, the crappy teacher also orders Uta to also go to detention.

The rest of the group think this is outrageous, to they volunteer to spend time in detention with Uta.

Chapter 10

In detention with Tei, there is no teacher keeping watch. Therefore, all sorts of madness and fighting could break out.

“So. You do realize you volunteered to have detention to defend something that can’t even dream.” Tei says. Jern and Kild laugh.

“As if!” Ritsu shouts. “Uta is not a thing, and you’re the ones who can’t dream. You three DESTROY dreams. And Uta DOES have a dream! She wants to be a singer and inspire people.”

“She’s very passionate about it too!” Ruko says. Everyone else nods.

Tei bursts into laughter along with her two friends.

“A singer!? Oh, come on! Don’t make me laugh!” Kild says.

“Right? Like, how could Uta possibly sing with such an artificial, robotic voice! She doesn’t even have a soul!” Jern says.

“She’s trying her best.” Taya said. “I know Uta can do it. She’s improved so much since she’s first started.“

“Well, I think she should just give up though. I’m saying this for her own good.” Tei says. “She’s just a robot after all. Robots don’t have souls. They really don’t have what it takes to sing.”

Suddenly, a crushed feeling falls over Uta. She feels discouraged. But she tries her best to hide it.

“That’s... that’s just too far!” Teto says. “Why are you three so joyless and mean!?”

Ritsu goes up to Tei and slaps her, and Tei shoots a beam at Ritsu. Defending her, Teto grows her chimera wings and tries to cast magic on Jern and Kild.

Jern and Kild swiftly dodge the move and use wind powers to blow the desks at the other group. A full-fledged fight had broken out.

In the midst of all the madness, Uta had left the room in tears. Nobody noticed.

A teacher eventually comes in to stop the fight, and sends everyone home with a note to their parent or legal guardian that they were fighting in school.

Since Taya’s parents are strict, he gets grounded.

Chapter 11

After school, Ritsu calls Taya and tells him to sneak out while his family is supposed to be asleep, even though he is grounded. Taya is a good boy and has never done something so... rebellious before.

It takes a bit of coaxing, but Taya eventually agrees. Ritsu, Taya, and Uta make their way to the auditorium, which is empty this time of night. They turn on one spotlight, and shine it on Uta.

“There you go!” Ritsu says. “Don’t you feel like a star now, Uta? The whole stage is yours! Now sing your heart out!”

Uta takes a deep breath, about to sing... until she remembers Tei’s words. They painfully cut through her again, like a knife through butter.

“I can’t.” Uta says.

“Uta...?” Ritsu says. “Why are you saying that? You were getting so good!”

Ritsu notices Uta looking down, with a sorrowful expression.

“Is... is this because of what Tei and her stupid cronies said?”

Uta nods.

“Ritsu... Thank you... But maybe I was not meant to sing.” Uta says sadly, her voice shaking and glitching.

Ritsu grows outraged, mostly at Tei for breaking apart Uta’s self esteem... but also at Uta for letting those words get to her.

“Uta!” Ritsu begins raising his voice. “Are you really going to give up just like that!? Don’t be so weak-willed! If you are gonna give up, your dream will NEVER be reality.”

Uta begins crying and wiping her tears on her sleeve.

“Ritsu, that’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?” Taya says.

“It’s only the truth!” Ritsu says back. “You never know what you can do until you keep trying!”

“Ritsu, can’t you see how hurt she feels already?” Taya wraps his arms around Uta and comforts her. “I’d say give her some time to heal.”

Ritsu looks at Taya for a couple more seconds, sighs, and walks off.

Chapter 12

Taya spent a couple more hours that night trying to cheer up Uta. By the time he got back to his apartment, it was almost morning, and his parents had discovered that he had snuck out and was not in his bed. As a result, Taya becomes grounded for an extra week.

The next day Uta doesn’t give up on singing. Wanting to be alone, she runs off somewhere far away and secluded to practice singing alone.

Uta ends up in the outer reaches of Tragic Woods, a very dangerous forest that also happens to be a Dissonance. A Dissonance is like a cursed land, labyrinth, or dungeon. Monsters tend to spawn inside Dissonances, and they are very hazardous and erratic.

In Tragic Woods, there is a deathly array of dangerous plants, and even though the forest seems devoid of wildlife at first glance, there are monsters such as giant mutant bears and wolves at times. While Uta is singing, a plant temporarily paralyzes her body from the neck down, meaning she can really only move her mouth and use her voice...

It is almost nighttime. After dusk, monsters start to come out in Tragic Woods. Uta can only do one thing—Just keep singing. She sings louder and louder, hoping her voice can reach someone and that they can hear her and rescue her. The effects of plant that paralyzed Uta are temporary, and can be reversed with an injection provided at the emergency room.

Once it is noted that Uta is missing, Ritsu instantly becomes the most worried, considering he hurt her feelings the night before.

Taya is grounded, so he has to stay in his house.

Ritsu, along with a bunch of other characters, form a search party and search around town for Uta. Everyone is extremely worried.

Suddenly, Ritsu hears something as he leaves the town and is standing in the windy field. It’s Uta, singing a powerful and really sorrowful song. (-ERROR.)

It’s coming from the direction of the woods. Tragic Woods.

“Idiot... what’s she doing in Tragic Woods!?” Ritsu says under his breath. But he is extremely, painfully worried.

By the time Ritsu gets there, Uta is in bad shape, as her voice is almost wearing  out, she is freezing cold, and the sun almost is below the horizon.

Uta is rushed to the emergency room where she is administered a dose of the injection for her paralysis.

Ritsu gets a chance to apologize to Uta. He says he just wanted to see her fulfill her dream and would’ve been as crushed as Uta if she were to have given up. He didn’t mean to be so harsh.

Ritsu and the rest of Uta’s friends reassure her. Taya gets to come to the hospital as well, and upon seeing Uta, begins crying and apologizing he had to have been grounded.

Uta’s friends help her the best they can, and Uta begins practicing singing nearly every chance she gets.

Taya can tell that Uta really loves music and is truly determined. Eventually he’s impressed and blown away by how far she gets.

Even though Uta was never programmed to be able to sing, she eventually begins to develop a unique singing voice through hours upon hours of practicing painstakingly.

—Eventual chapters idk—

The story goes back to the slice of life, monster of the week, helping people formula. There are also adventures involving the Tragic School Bus and magical mishaps in the school. The old heroines Haku and Neru, along with more characters from Arc 1, begin appearing more during these chapters.

Uta soon discovers her singing voice has magical power and that it can defeat monsters and evil!

Uta and the rest of the group also join the music club established back in Arc 1.

Eventually there is a part where Taya, along with the rest of the group of Uta’s good friends (Teto, Momo, Ritsu, and Ruko) are captured because they were accused of stealing “Defoko” away from the planet that produced her. (Or as Discord calls it, “Deforcing a Defoko.”) Uta is taken back there as well.

Uta is taken back to the android containment center, in a prison-like ward for severely malfunctioning androids. She uses the combat powers she kept hidden for a long time to bust out.

Uta then travels all over the center, fighting aliens and setting up her plan... she is putting speakers all over the premises and connecting them to her microphone.

Suddenly, she finds herself surrounded by the aliens who built her, and they plan to destroy her for “malicious behavior.”

“You’re just one malfunctioning android.” They say. “You’re not that important. We’ll do away with you, and we’ll have plenty more.”

Uta is not having it. She takes out her microphone...

“What are you going to do with that? Announce your defeat?” A couple more aliens surround her and say.

But Uta gives a smug smile and starts warming up her voice. Since there were speakers everywhere, her voice reverberates around the entire place. Since music is banned on Discord, the aliens can’t stand the power of it and cover their ears... The strength of music is downright foreign to them...

Uta can fight the aliens with music, with her singing, the skill she learned in Whimsica.

Once she’s finishing warming up, Uta fights her own creators with a power that is unknown (and deadly) to them.... The power of song! The power of love, and passion, and heart, and... joy! The evil aliens do not stand a chance against the power of Uta’s magical song and voice.

“Default-female model-1 DF01fx-0057! When the heck did you learn to produce a singing voice? This isn’t what you were programmed to do! Stop this madness, right this instant!” They tell her

Uta does not give them mercy and starts belting out GHOST RULE. They took her precious friends. They continue to manufacture androids that cannot feel joy. This needs to stop right now!

Uta ends up destroying the entire sinister operation, and also starts the dystopian planet Discord down its path to peace. The aliens who run the operation get blasted into space. The rest of the aliens are innocent and never wanted to be part of the operation in the first place. They also have finally heard music for the first time, as Uta’s song was broadcasted around the entire planet live on the news. It fills the depressed aliens’ hearts with love and joy.

Discord is finally a peaceful place.

However, Monochrome, the ultimate enemy in the story, still won’t budge, and continues to be an evil force...

After this feat, and rescuing her dear friends, Uta fulfills herself and unlocks her magical girl transformation. In Whimsica, magical transformations are unlocked when the user “fulfills” themself, symbolizing that they’ve overcome a difficult hurdle, accomplished a wonderful goal, or opened the door to their true self.

Uta is the first among her friend group to become fulfilled. In Whimsica, the average age of fulfillment is 16 years old. (Uta, Teto, and Momo are 14. Taya, Ruko, and Ritsu are 15. Inuhebi is 12.)

Now that Uta is fulfilled, she unlocked the power herself to be able to experience euphoria. All the other androids that were produced by her shady manufacturer also gained full sentience and the ability to feel joy as well.

Uta had slain the chains in her heart and will live on happily with Taya and the rest of her friends.

“This moment resonates with me.” Uta says.

“Wait, that’s it...” Taya says. “Resonate... that’s a perfect name for our music group! We should call ourselves Resonate!”

However, after this is over, and it’s time to go back to Whimsica, everyone finds themselves started on the planet.

“Mind if we give you a ride back, Uta Utane?” A default male-2 android created by Discord pulls up in a high-speed spacecraft, along with a default male-1 and a default female-2 android. “I hope you don’t mind. You’re our hero. You’ve done so much for us.”

Uta feels a bit embarrassed and blushes.

The rest of the group steps inside the spacecraft and are given a ride back to Whimsica.

While in the spacious vessel, a conversation is had.

“Thanks to you, we can finally feel the thrill of a good movie, the comfort of a hug, or the satisfaction of hard work... Thank you, Uta.” The default female-2 android says. “And... I have a request for you. Can... can we be sisters?”

“Um...” Uta suddenly feels embarrassed and put on the spot.

“We... were designed to be sisters after all.” The android continues. “Your codename is Defoko... short for “default-ko,” and mine is Defo-Imouto... basically, “default little sister.” Like all of us, I was never given a real name. We were never treated with any love or care. We were all just cold machinery, until you came along...”

Uta suddenly hugs Defo-Imouto, along with the other two.

“We’re all family.” Uta says. “We were all created by the same company. If you want, we can stay together.”

“On Whimsica, with you?” Default male-1 android says.

Uta nods.

“Whimsica is my home now.” Uta says.

“Well, we have nowhere else to go. Why not?” Says default male-2. “By the way, I’m called Defosuke.”

“I’m Defota.” Says default male-1.

“How about I show you a special place?” Uta says. “It’s the place where I got my name. Maybe you’ll find new names there too.”

When everyone gets back, other kanji on the Japanese karaoke cafe read, “Koe” meaning voice, “Hibiki” meaning reverberation, and “Kanade” meaning playing instruments.

Default female-2’s new name is Koe. After all, it was Uta’s voice that saved her.

Default male-2’s new name is Hibiki. Uta’s song echoed around the world and saved everyone.

Default male-1’s new name is Kanade. He recently felt very passionate about learning to play the piano.

“Why did you choose to name yourself after this building, Uta?” Kanade asks.

“Because...” Uta says. “This place was where I first heard the music that awoken my soul.”

Afterwards, there is a chapter about Uta spending time in her apartment with her new siblings.

———————————————

Arc 3

Resonate, the group of Uta, Taya, Teto, Momo, Ritsu, Ruko, and Inuhebi, merge with the unnamed musical group formed by the music club, that includes Haku, Neru and Ame.

They retain the name Resonate, and become a huge group! Queen Rainbow, witnessing Uta’s feat, and sensing that everyone in the group has pure hearts, recruits them all as official members of the Monochrome-fighting musical magic group!

But this is not the end of the story for everyone.

Now it’s time for Taya’s story.

Taya hasn’t seen his friend Saya for years... He is beginning to lose hope that she’s still alive...

Taya Soune and Saya Toune were childhood best friends who grew up someplace else. However, one day when they were both 12, Saya became depressed, and it was hard for Taya to watch his friend suffer. Some time afterwards, an earthquake hit the area and everyone had to take only their most important items and evacuate rapidly before a tsunami were to hit. Taya had to move to his current location, and had to leave Saya without saying goodbye. He never saw Saya again.

After this incident, Taya never got a phone call from Saya, or a letter or any hint she might’ve still been alive and out there. It wouldn’t have been unlikely that Saya and her family had died tragically in the earthquake or aftermath tsunami.

Taya is now left with a heavy, broken heart, and an intense fear of earthquakes. He is most torn apart that the fact that Saya had depression and the last few months before her departure to be so sad.

One day in the present, Uta, Taya, and the rest of the friend group are out at the mall. A song comes on that reminds Taya of his memories with Saya. He begins fighting back tears, but eventually starts sobbing and splits from the group, telling everyone he needs a moment alone. Everyone is concerned. Uta approaches Taya gently after he calms down. Taya then tells Uta about Saya, their story, and how much he misses his friend.

Uta is the first person Taya tells about Saya since he had moved. None of his other friends knew about the sadness he hid in his heart.

It had been years since Saya’s disappearance. Taya has pretty much lost all hope at this point.

Uta reassures Taya that he still shouldn’t give up hope. Uta’s words uplift Taya with a new hope that he had never before felt.

So Taya decides to use that glimmer of hope to look for Saya, who may still be out there.

(He releases the song From Y To Y and writes a play in order to get his name big)

Leeds, a girl with an illness, becomes a big fan of Taya’s musical play.

Sometime in this arc, everyone gets to meet The Queen...

Meanwhile, Uta bonds with her siblings.

One day when Taya is feeling useless, Uta consoles him and tells him something she was too shy to say before.

“Taya, your voice was the sound that awoken my soul. When I first came to Whimsica, I walked past the karaoke cafe, and I heard you sing. It was the first time I had ever heard music. You sang so wonderfully, and I felt so warm. I felt then, that music was a truly amazing thing. It was you who changed my life Taya... So please, don’t feel sad.”

Eventually, there is drama with a girl named Qingxian who takes advantage of Taya’s kindness and asks him to do lots of favors for her. As a result, Taya ends up getting sick right before a big day.

Eventually, it turns out that Saya is actually still alive. One fateful day, Taya and Saya reunite at an airport.

At the busy airport, Saya at first doesn’t recognize Taya because he’s trans-masculine now. They are both transgender, with Saya identifying as trans-feminine since childhood. Taya, however, discovered his true identity a bit later.

Taya eventually finds Saya in the crowd and runs after her. Saya sees Taya and passes him by.

Taya loses Saya in the crowd and becomes heartbroken...

Saya had to find Taya within a certain time period before her mom urges her to go back on a flight home.

Taya is completely heartbroken and starts crying because he doesn’t know why Saya just passed him by.

Taya calls out again and speaks how much he misses his friend from his heart. Saya recognizes his mannerisms and how he says he misses her.

Saya eventually recognizes Taya’s voice, even though it’s changed.

“Taya..? Taya...! Is that you?” She says, emotionally running forth.

“Saya? You didn’t recognize me?” Taya says, tearfully and relieved.

“I’m so sorry...” Saya sobs. “I missed you so much!”

“Me too... It’s so great to see you again...”

They hug.

Meanwhile, Ritsu is watching at the scene, crying happy tears for them. Ruko comments on how much Ritsu must care about Taya, despite how different he and Taya are.

Saya becomes a part of Uta and Taya’s group of friends.

Arc 4

At the beginning of this arc, we learn about Saya’s side of the friendship story.

Then, Uta has a new goal. She wants to become a musical artist, but feels discouraged wondering if she can make people happy with her music.

Taya, wanting to motivate Uta, has an idea of a gift to buy her. He buys her a dharma/daruma doll, a Japanese decoration.

Uta and Taya now live next to each other in the cozy building. Taya presents his gift to Uta.

“I bought you a gift! It’s called a daruma.” Taya says. “As you can see, the eyes are blank. You draw in one eye when you set a goal for yourself. When your goal is complete, you fill in the other eye. Here, I’ll give you a permanent marker.”

Taya doesn’t notice it yet, but Uta is shaking and getting a very painful flashback looking at the familiar shape of the toy.

Taya puts a permanent marker down on the counter.

“Uta, look.” Taya says. He pushes the daruma doll down with his finger, but it balances and comes back up. The way it comes back after being knocked over triggers traumatic feelings for Uta.

“See? Daruma dolls always get back up after being knocked down! So remember that whenever you’re feeling discouraged, okay?”

Taya notices Uta is silent.

“...Uta?” Taya says again. He looks at Uta and notices she is trembling with tears streaming down her cheeks. She wipes her face with her sleeve, and suddenly she’s hyperventilating as if she’s panicking.

“Uta? Are you okay?” Taya asks. Taya puts his hand on Uta’s shoulder, but Uta brushes him off. He notices an expression of fear is on her face as she backs away.

“Uta, what’s the matter? What’s wrong? You can tell me... please...” Taya offers comfort again in a calm voice. Uta shakes her head.

“No...” Uta manages to choke out. She begins to flee.

“Uta!” Taya promptly follows her in an attempt to calm her down, but sensing that his being there is only distressing Uta more, Taya lets her go.

“Uta...” Taya mutters. Once she’s out the door, Taya is left with worry and heaviness in his heart.

The shocking scene replays in his head a few times. Taya had never seen Uta in such a state before... He could sense every bit of her pain. But what could it have been? What could have triggered it?

Taya calls Ritsu on his cell phone. Ritsu hears the heaviness in Taya’s voice and figures out he’s about to cry. Ritsu tells Taya he’ll be there for him. Taya only gets a few words out before he starts crying over the phone.

After a few minutes, he calms down and tells Ritsu what happened.

“So... I got Uta a daruma doll and I showed it to her, if that part matters. I was in the middle of showing her that no matter what pushed them down, they get back up. I thought that would inspire her to always get back up no matter that pushed her down. But when I looked at her face, she was crying and hyperventilating... I tried to calm her down, but she began to panic and reject being comforted... It was if I was suddenly a stranger to her... It felt so scary. But I couldn’t imagine what it must’ve felt for Uta herself. I wonder what could’ve triggered such a response in her?”

“Hmm...” Ritsu starts thinking. “It sounds to me like Uta was having a panic attack. Was she acting as if the entire world was caving in on her?”

“Yeah...” Taya responds. “She kept trying to get away, so I just let her. Me being there only seemed to be stressing her out.”

“I see...” Ritsu says. “Perhaps Uta is just the type of person who prefers to be alone during times of distress. Or perhaps she just didn’t want you to see her in such a state. Either way, please don’t take it personally. Uta wouldn’t try to reject you on purpose.”

“Okay...” Taya says. “But... what could’ve caused her to panic? I hope I didn’t do anything to hurt her...”

Tears begin to pool in Taya’s as he recalls how painful Uta seems to feel.

“The last thing I want to do is hurt my dear friends.” He says sadly.

“Taya, based on what you said, I have a theory that maybe daruma dolls could be Uta’s trigger.”

“A trigger?” Taya asks. “Ah, you mean... like how I have a phobia of earthquakes?”

“Yeah, sort of like that.” Ritsu says. “A trigger is anything that brings negative feelings or flashbacks to someone. Even though daruma dolls are innocuous to you and me, a trigger could potentially be anything. I’m wondering if perhaps Uta had a traumatic experience in her past that had to do with daruma dolls.”

“Ah... that would make sense!” Taya says. “Poor Uta... Now I feel awful for hurting her.”

“Well, you didn’t do it on purpose.” Ritsu says.

“Well... what should I do now?” Taya asks.

“I say, give her some space.” Ritsu says. “Wait until Uta is willing to open up with her trigger and willing to tell you her feelings and confirm it. Don’t forget to apologize, and try to make her feel accepted.”

“Okay. Thanks, Ritsu.”

“Anytime.” Ritsu says.

“Um... Ritsu?” Taya asks. “You’re... a really good friend, you know? You may seem wild, but... you’re wise when it comes to this stuff, and really caring! So thanks!”

“Oh... it’s nothing really.” Ritsu says. “I just know how to deal with this stuff because... I know what it’s like. To deal with these emotions and stuff. But... I’m fine, really!”

“Oh... well, at least you’re ok now.” Taya says with a bittersweet smile. “Bye for now!”

“See ya!” Ritsu says.

They hang up.

It turns out Uta’s trigger of daruma dolls indeed has to do with a traumatic memory from her past.

Back when Uta still was a combat android on Discord, before she fled, she and a team of other combat androids were in a traumatic battle with a tremendous monster shaped like a daruma doll. The monster was ultra-powerful and seemed to never tire out.

Just like a real daruma doll, it would always get back up, no matter what pushed it down.

Many of the other androids succumbed to their battle wounds, or used up all their power and were wiped out, and could never be brought back.

The monster was eventually defeated, but not without a substantial amount of androids never returning to life. Uta was one of the lucky ones involved in the battle who survived.

Needless to say, Uta was incredibly traumatized. However, her feelings were never validated since she was treated as a machine. Also, even though the other androids didn’t have quite the same emotional capabilities, she could tell they were very traumatized too, and felt awful for them as well.

This arc will eventually be focused on Ritsu however, and reveal his depression and insecurities. Uta’s PTSD will also be a theme along with Ritsu’s depression. They will help each other grow and overcome their negative feelings.

Other themes brought up will be Haku and Neru’s autism and depression, Ame’s low self-esteem, and Taya’s insecurities. Saya was also diagnosed with depression right before she got split apart from Taya, and it comes into her life on and off.

In this arc, Taya also cheers up and befriends a boy in the hospital named Jay, who has leukemia. At the end of the arc, Jay becomes dispatched. Jay gets to become a member of Resonate after being their fan, looking up to Taya especially.

However, this arc won’t be all depressing! It will feature a lot of bonding, friends having fun, and of course, wholesome humor and cheer.

Resonate grows and develops as a group as well. Monsters are fought, and some songs are released!

Koe and Nana become friends.

Teto’s cousin Ted comes into the story!

Arc 5

The backstory of Haku’s (and Miku’s) grandmother is revealed... slowly.

Swim class

Celestine and Nika’s friendship backstory is told, leading up to how the curse set where royals and commoners can’t befriend was broken.

Kanade and Momotaro become a couple... Momotaro is Momo’s older brother!

Ame goes on fun, eventful adventures with friends.

Hibiki meets Demo one sleepy day.

Arc 6

Fun times for everyone.

A mysterious guy appears at school... But it’s actually just Ruko’s silly cousin, Rook.

Haku follows in the footsteps of her grandmother in this arc. It’s revealed she was once a powerful magical girl in Whimsica.

Ame is feeling down on her birthday... but it turns into an awesome adventure and surprise party!

Taya finds an ice-blue egg (size of a chicken egg) outside in the cold when the Tragic School Bus takes him and friends to the Northern Seaside Peaks one day. The nest was destroyed and abandoned. Aside from the single egg with a small crack in it, only eggshells of its siblings were left behind. The egg is cold, so Taya keeps it warm all the way home. He brings the egg to a shelter, and begs the rescuers to put it in an incubator, even though he was told it has a low chance of survival. The egg unexpectedly survives and hatches into a tiny species of harp seal called pocket seal three days later. Pocket seals are commonly kept as pets. Taya is attached to the seal, so he decides to keep him as a pet and names him Mochi, after how fuzzy and round he is. Mochi is a bit weak at first, but grows stronger with love and care. Mochi lives in a terrarium installed in Taya’s house, and eats kibble made for pocket seals, and fish. Taya sometimes even prepares Mochi gourmet fish dishes.

Tei also reforms in this arc after accidentally sending Inuhebi to the hospital...

At the end of this arc, Haku falls asleep and gets to see her grandmother again in a dream during a beautiful moment.

Arc 7

This arc is when the previous slower pace starts to get broken.

The plot begins to thicken!

Uta experiences android prejudice.

A jerk named Carl Carlson forcibly dates Uta, then dumps her once he finds out she’s an android.

Haku and Neru get an important job!

New, stronger villains show up.

Teto uncovers the secret of her chimera side?

Momo feels insecure... then gets brainwashed by a sneaky villain...?

The Princess Trio needs help with something...

[richincolor]

New Releases

It's a pretty exciting week in YA! Grown, Legendborn, Furia, and Each of Us a Desert are just a few of the books launching tomorrow. What's on your TBR pile this week? Share with us!

Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson

Award-winning author Tiffany D. Jackson delivers another riveting, ripped-from-the-headlines mystery that exposes horrific secrets hiding behind the limelight and embraces the power of a young woman’s voice.

When legendary R&B artist Korey Fields spots Enchanted Jones at an audition, her dreams of being a famous singer take flight. Until Enchanted wakes up with blood on her hands and zero memory of the previous night. Who killed Korey Fields?

Before there was a dead body, Enchanted’s dreams had turned into a nightmare. Because behind Korey’s charm and star power was a controlling dark side. Now he’s dead, the police are at the door, and all signs point to Enchanted. — Cover image and summary via Bookshop.org

Legendborn (Legendborn #1) by Tracy Deonn

After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC-Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape–until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus.

A flying demon feeding on human energies. A secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down. And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts–and fails–to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.

The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates. She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets–and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down–or join the fight. — Cover image and summary via Bookshop.org

Furia by Yamile Saied Méndez

In Rosario, Argentina, Camila Hassan lives a double life. At home, she is a careful daughter, living within her mother’s narrow expectations, in her rising-soccer-star brother’s shadow, and under the abusive rule of her short-tempered father. On the field, she is La Furia, a powerhouse of skill and talent. When her team qualifies for the South American tournament, Camila gets the chance to see just how far those talents can take her. In her wildest dreams, she’d get an athletic scholarship to a North American university.

But the path ahead isn’t easy. Her parents don’t know about her passion. They wouldn’t allow a girl to play fútbol–and she needs their permission to go any farther. And the boy she once loved is back in town. Since he left, Diego has become an international star, playing in Italy for the renowned team Juventus. Camila doesn’t have time to be distracted by her feelings for him. Things aren’t the same as when he left: she has her own passions and ambitions now, and La Furia cannot be denied. As her life becomes more complicated, Camila is forced to face her secrets and make her way in a world with no place for the dreams and ambition of a girl like her.

Filled with authentic details and the textures of day-to-day life in Argentina, heart-soaring romance, and breathless action on the pitch, Furia is the story of a girl’s journey to make her life her own. — Cover image and summary via Bookshop.org

Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro

Xochitl is destined to wander the desert alone, speaking her troubled village’s stories into its arid winds. Her only companions are the blessed stars above and enigmatic lines of poetry magically strewn across dusty dunes. Her one desire: to share her heart with a kindred spirit. One night, Xo’s wish is granted–in the form of Emilia, the cold and beautiful daughter of the town’s murderous conqueror. But when the two set out on a magical journey across the desert, they find their hearts could be a match… if only they can survive the nightmare-like terrors that arise when the sun goes down. — Cover image and summary via Bookshop.org

K-Pop Confidential by Stephan Lee

Candace Park knows a lot about playing a role. For most of her life, she’s been playing the role of the quiet Korean girl who takes all AP classes and plays a classical instrument, keeping her dreams of stardom-and her obsession with SLK, K-pop’s top boyband-to herself. She doesn’t see how a regular girl like her could possibly become one of those K-pop goddesses she sees on YouTube. Even though she can sing. Like, really sing. So when Candace secretly enters a global audition held by SLK’s music label, the last thing she expects is to actually get a coveted spot in their trainee program. And convincing her strict parents to let her to go is all but impossible … although it’s nothing compared to what comes next.

Under the strict supervision of her instructors at the label’s headquarters in Seoul, Candace must perfect her performance skills to within an inch of her life, learn to speak Korean fluently, and navigate the complex hierarchies of her fellow trainees, all while following the strict rules of the industry. Rule number one? NO DATING, which becomes impossible to follow when she meets a dreamy boy trainee. And in the all-out battle to debut, Candace is in danger of planting herself in the middle of a scandal lighting up the K-pop fandom around the world. If she doesn’t have what it takes to become a perfect, hair-flipping K-pop idol, what will that mean for her family, who have sacrificed everything to give her the chance? And is a spot in the most hyped K-pop girl group of all time really worth risking her friendships, her future, and everything she believes in? — Cover image and summary via Bookshop.org

God Loves Hair: 10th Anniversary Edition by Vivek Shraya illustrated by Juliana Neufeld

God Loves Hair is a collection of short stories that follows a tender, intelligent, and curious child as they navigate the complex realms of gender creativity, queerness, brownness, religion, and belonging. This tenth-anniversary edition includes a foreword by award-winning YA writer Cherie Dimaline (The Marrow Thieves), as well as additional a new preface, story, and illustrations.

Told with the poignant insight and honesty that only the voice of a young mind can convey, God Loves Hair is a moving and ultimately joyous portrait of the resiliency of youth. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Never Look Back by Lilliam Rivera

Featuring contemporary Afro-Latinx characters, acclaimed author Lilliam Rivera blends a touch of magical realism into a timely story about cultural identity, overcoming trauma, and the power of first love. Eury comes to the Bronx as a girl haunted. Haunted by losing everything in Hurricane Maria--and by an evil spirit, Ato. She fully expects the tragedy that befell her and her family in Puerto Rico to catch up with her in New York. Yet, for a time, she can almost set this fear aside, because there's this boy . . . Pheus is a golden-voiced, bachata-singing charmer, ready to spend the summer on the beach with his friends, serenading his on-again, off-again flame. That changes when he meets Eury. All he wants is to put a smile on her face and fight off her demons. But some dangers are too powerful for even the strongest love, and as the world threatens to tear them apart, Eury and Pheus must fight for each other and their lives. This Own Voices retelling of the Greek myth Orpheus and Eurydice is perfect for fans of Ibi Zoboi's Pride and Daniel José Older's Shadowshaper.

[arlakos]

The Master Fu rewrite: From a Miraculous Themed Pez Dispenser to an Actual Mentor

Ok, let's get this show on the road. Its gonna be a while and a lot of salt/

Master Fu is a character I have grown to dislike. A lot

While I initially did not feel this way at first (at worst finding him to be boring) thanks to some interesting discord discussions, as well as discussing with my internet best friend @twin-books​, I have slowly come to see the character in a negative light in many different aspects, ranging from the characterization of Fu to the plot choices Fu makes that are in many ways stupid as hell. However, unlike some who I have talked, I believe that Fu in many ways can still be salvaged as a character. He’s not a bad character himself, just that the way the show (and by extension Thomas ASS-truc, aka THAT GUY) treats him is the issue. 

In this post I am going to tackle the key issues with Fu, explain them and what i would do to personally make his character better. I am not gonna lie, this post is going to have a moderate amount of salt, so if you arent interested in a salty blog post, TURN BACK.

So, assuming that you have accepted the salt by continuing to read, let's get started.

There are a few key pointers to the issues I have with Fu.

1. His character

2. Show, don't tell

3. Fu’s weird choices

4. The bad Origin Episode of Fu (not to be confused with the actual origins episode.

So let's go over the first topic.

1. Master Fu’s character (or why he’s a glorified PEZ dispenser)

A lot of people may find this part to be surprising. After all, Master Fu shows himself in canon to be kind and helpful towards Marinette, developing new powers for her and Chat Noir to use and has helped the heroes in stopping some of their adversaries. Right?

Well...

See, the only actual characterization that Fu has is well... his passiveness.

See Master Fu, for the most part, does nothing to actually help the heroes in their struggles against Hawkmoth. For most of season 2 and 3, he remains inside his home and pretty much does nothing, doing nothing to help track down hawkmoth or aide the heroes himself, and then for the second half of season 3, runs around in a van. He gives the miraculous to Ladybug and Chat Noir to have them stop hawkmoth, then watches from the sidelines while drinking tea.

The only time he really did anything developed the potions that give the powerups (and based off what we saw, are huge gimmicks), and even then, it was simply used as another way to show how awesome Marinette is by her being the one to solve the potion.

Sure, some people may point out that it was used to show how Marinette is a capable Guardian, but aside from the fact that I think Marinette is not a capable Guardian (which is my opinion), it really doesn't help the fact that it makes Fu seem incompetent.

Slight Rant time: The secret to one of the potions was an actual tear of joy?! What kind of stupid ingredient is that? It would have made much more sense for writers to make the ingredient to be some sort of plant because of the whole ‘natural energy’ in plants, but no its an actual tear of joy, what did the guardians do to learn that, cry in a pot?! Also, For someone who is supposed to be a wise Guardian, you sure can’t seem to find out the last ingredient like its impossible. But a prepubescent girl who can't talk to a boy is totally smarter than you and can figure it out?! Yeah right.

And people are going to bring up the fact that Fu helps by granting the miraculous... but that really doesn’t help the argument against him. In fact its one of the main reasons why I think Fu is so passive. Rather than go out and give the miraculous to allies in the same manner as he did with Ladybug and Chat Noir, Fu just gives them to Marinette to just choose whoever she wants and expects them to be returned! 

Not only is that irresponsible of any sort of mentor to allow a novice to choose a hero, but what if Marinette chose wrong or allowed the Miraculous to fall into the wrong hands because she lost it?! Because of surprise, THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED IN STYLE QUEEN when she lost the bee miraculous! 

Despite the fact that I love the idea of Chloe being a hero, I think the introduction to how she got a miraculous was largely Fu’s fault. Had Fu decided to have a look at Chloe (assuming he ever would have) and introduced Chloe to Pollen in a safe manner (and not while she was upset and visibly stressed/angry), she would have learned that keeping a secret identity was important and would likely go on to become an actual hero like Ladybug and Chat Noir.

A lot of people would assume she would do the same thing again regardless, but Chloe at the time was flat out rejected by her mother, who was a rather huge Bee-word (Pun intended). It would make sense that she would do whatever it takes to prove to her mother she is worthy of respect, and that would include exposing her identity just to show off to her mother.

Despite all of the hardships both Ladybug and Chat Noir go through, Fu does nothing to remedy or help the situation. This can even be seen in Season 1, where the only reason Fu reveals himself was because Marinette discovered the Miraculous Book, and Fu (and even Marinette for that matter) didn't even tell Chat until season 2 because ‘he wasn't ready’, whatever reason that is.

Rant: What the hell do you mean he wasn't ready?! He literally became a hero the same time as Ladybug and he it’s not like he hasn’t proven himself! Why the hell should he be left in the dark?!

Now, a lot of people could attribute all these moments to both his responsibility as a Guardian or his isolation at being the Last Guardian so to speak. He has to make sure the Box is safe and make sure the knowledge is passed on to his successor without it being lost. His recessive behavior is due to his isolation and duty to keep the miraculous safe.

If that was the case, why does he do nothing to aid the heroes in finding Hawkmoth or his lair so that the miraculous doesn't remain in Gabriel’s hands? That way he can move on and keep the miraculous safe away from others. We know he is supposed to be smart, so why doesn't he just attempt to find the place the butterflies are coming from and tell Ladybug and Chat Noir via a message so they can ambush him?

So...what would i do to fix his Character?

Well for starters, I would actually have him be a bit more proactive. 

Considering that Fu would recognize the threat Hawkmoth poses, he would work down to track Hawkmoth and prevent him from getting anymore stronger. It would also be likely that he would choose which people should get a miraculous, regardless of whether it is temporary or not, so this would likely mean that Alya, Nino, and Chloe would not likely get their respective miraculi, even if Fu deems them worthy of one.

Note: This would actually make a cool AU. Imagine if Fu chose other people in the class to be heroes, like Nathaniel to be the fox and Luka to say, the turtle. Perhaps Sabrina would be the Bee hero?

Also, perhaps if you really wanted to keep the Queen Bee Trilogy, have Ladybug finally choose a hero as part of her first test, but have it go wrong for her.

Also, If anyone has seen the series on AO3 called Miraculous Tales by JED1, one of the things introduced in the sort of AU was that Fu worked behind the scenes for a majority of season 1, helping the heroes by sending them anonymous letters to aid them in their heroics. So that could be another way Fu could be more of an active mentor instead of just doing nothing except dispensing Miraculous.

Also, I know the whole thing about Fu being too old to be a hero, but what If Fu transformed to help the heroes in one of their early adventures.

Say... instead of Volpina being the season 1 finale, it is instead an early encounter with Hawkmoth, who comes to fight the heroes himself. The two heroes have been weakened thanks to the effect of an Akuma Hawkmoth has with him. He is so close to beating them...

When a shield of green energy blocks an attack from the Akuma.

Together, the three heroes managed to stop Hawkmoth and his Akuma, but unfortunately, he escapes. Before the two heroes can talk to the newcomer, he vanishes. 

The next day, Marinette goes to see the person Tikki mentioned, and she meets her savior (and soon to be teacher).

A few days later Adrien meets his new Chinese teacher.

That Could be a great way for him to actually be a Guardian and a mentor for the two heroes! As well as for Adrien to actually be part of the Miraculous team instead of as a sidekick!

Still, some people may say that Fu helps Marinette and Adrien, it's just not shown on screen. This, of course, brings me to my second problem...

2. Show, Don't Tell

Now, this a problem that the show has a and isn't solely based on Fu alone, and is mostly due to THAT GUY and his stupid writing. Anyone who has seen my previous mega-post knows about THAT GUY and his ludicrous idea of a perfect show. I could go on and on about why THAT GUY can go eat a stale Baguette, but I'm going to stick on track.

See, when a large part of the show is about heroics and being mentored on the art of heroics, it makes sense that you would show the heroes learning how to be actual good heroes. Maybe teach them martial arts, train them in the use of their powers and help them unlock new ones, all that usual superhero stuff.

But thanks to both the structure of the show and the impossible writing of THAT GUY (which concists of writing each episode to be single story and out of order insead of each episode following the last), we don't get to see any of it at all. The show rather would want to focus on setting up the next akuma rather than explore the world of the show, so it means that a lot of the stuff in show is just presumed. 

This can also go for simple lore stuff as well. For example, Adrien joined Kitty Section in the Captain Hardrock episode, yet he isn't in Silencer. Nobody would know what had happened until you had the mistake of seeing Astruc's twitter...

So yeah, its not the first time it has happened, but it shouldn't have to be this way in the first place! If you have to go to someones twitter to find the knowledge from a show that should have been there in the actual episode, then its not the fans fault for ‘oBvIOUSly’ not knowing, its THAT GUY’S fault for not making sure that bit of information was in the episode in the first place! Perhaps just a small scene explaining it instead of being passive agressive on twitter because you were too dumb to remember your own canon?

...Dammit i got off track. Back to Fu.

So yeah, in Miraculous, they dont actually show Fu teaching Marinette how to be a guardian. He does mention in Feast that he has chosen Marinette to be the next Guardian and that he will teach her (after basically insulting the traditions of his order), but considering that he goes off in his truck and stays on the move, its likely that he doesnt get the chance to teach her at all. Of course, Miracle Queen has him declare Marinette to be the new Guardian, but it feels rather jarring, as we never really feel that Marinette learned anything or she has proven her worth. All they really showed on the show was Marinette getting miraculi from Fu and that one episode with the potions, so we really never really think that she is ready. Sure we can assume that Ladybug is capable of choosing the right people to be heroes, but that doesn't mean she meets the other criteria because of that specific category.

Honestly its very simple how to fix this issue:

Have some episodes be about Fu teaching Marinette and Adrien. That way it makes sense when Ladybug is made the new Guardian. Perhaps have an episode revolve around a particular new thing about the book the heroes are learning from and have the akuma not be related to the episode theme for once, just have them there as an excuse to show off a new power, even if it is a gimmick.

Speaking of the book, the book seems like its never been fully explored or explained, or perhaps that it really doesn't seem to contain much.

Throught the entire 3 seasons, all that we have learned about the book is:

That it contains the list of all miraculous heroes

It shows how to make the power up potions

It shows how to combine the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous

It shows how to repair a miraculous

It would be nice for the book to be used to explain the background of the order, or perhaps it shows a way to grant Ladybug and Chat Noir new powers for their miraculous, and have them learn about the guardians for the plot and themselves so we can have a ‘moral of the story’ for the episode.

3. Fu’s weird Choices

Fu makes a lot of dumb choices in Miraculous Ladybug. I’ll make this one quick but i will explain a few new ones in more detail

Fu doesnt help Ladybug and Chat Noir until season 2. Sure it makes sense to wait until they both prove themselves trustworthy, but he leaves no advice for them, not even with their kwamis for safety reasons.

Fu doesnt tell Chat Noir the truth until Syren for no actual reason (thats 14 canonical episodes!)

Fu lets Marinette choose the miraculous despite her lack of training (yes, even if she does choose well in canon.)

Fu lets Marinette return the Miraculous book despite how important it is to the order (even if he did take pictures). Marinette doing it to let Adrien come back to school is still wrong, even if it is to help her friend.

Now for the actual big mistake of Fu.

In feast, the order of the Miraculous has been restored, and so have the people inside it. His master and all the people he knows is there. With Hawkmoth knowing his identity, it would make sense for Fu to travel back to China and back to the temple with the Miraculous Book to be deciphered by the other Guardians, using the Horse Miraculous to transport Miraculi to the wielders when necessary.

...Right?

...Nah that’s dumb (saying this sarcastically)

Instead, he stays in Paris, hiding in a truck, and basically gets himself kidnapped and the box stolen, resulting in him having to give up his memories to protect the heroes because he decided a truck was a better idea than keeping the box out of Hawkmoth’s grasp.

How would I fix it? It’s obvious, just have Fu be smart and not make any of the listed bad decisions. With the power of an entire miracle box in his hands, he could have just used the powers to keep himself out of Hawkmoth’s grip and give the miraculi when necassary, even if he decided not to go back to the temple.

And finally we come to the big bad, the main offender, the reason why I think Fu is a badly written character...

4. The bad Origin Episode of Fu (not to be confused with the actual origins episode.

Going back to the start of season 2, i actually like how Fu is introduced. From the initial start he shows himself as a wise and caring mentor for Ladybug (and Chat Noir) and actually sounds confident. When I hear him talk about the Order of the Guardians, and his own backstory, it sounds both intriguing yet tragic. 

The fall of the Order was Fu’s fault, but how could this be? Was it because Fu was betrayed by someone he chose as a hero, perhaps a Butterfly wielder? Were they attacked and Fu blames himself due to survivors guilt? Did fu touch an artifact that released an ancient evil?I didn’t know, but i was curious and wanted to know more. 

For that first initial introduction, I could imagine that the season was going to be great. I hadn’t learned the revelation that Gabe was Hawkmoth and seen the rest of the ep at the time (which was boring in comparison and just like season 1 but WORSE), so I was still excited for this season That we as an audience would finally learn more about the world of miraculous and explore this new chapter in the show while seeing Ladybug and Chat Noir fight new villains along the way.

Obviously, that didnt last with Miraculous being Miraculous, and it was around that time i learned about how THAT GUY was an asshole, and the discord server that i joined showed the shortcoming with the show, but even looking back on it now, i could imagine that season 2 could have been amazing.

Seriously just look at the video above, its a downright amazing intro to Fu.

So finally season 3 comes around, and the episode Feast is released. So how did the temple fall? What is this secret that Fu kept hidden from us? Surely after a season of buildup that the BACK STORY WAS GOING TO BE AMAZING-

....

So, the whole reason the order fell was becasue Fu was hangry and he dabbled with magic so he could sneek off to grab a bit and not do his job?

...

*Sigh*

...

░U░N░H░O░L░Y░ ░S░C░R░E░E░C░H░I░N░G░

This is it, all this buildup and this is the reason that an entire order Fell! Are you kidding me!?

Not only was this one of the worst writing decisions that has ever been made, but it also made Fu look like a complete and utter moron! I get that this show is mainly used by THAT GUY to make Marinette look better than everyone else, but COME ON!!! WHAT WAS THAT?! WHY WAS THAT?! HOW DID ANYONE ON THE MIRACULOUS TEAM THINK THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA. DOES EVERYONE JUST  LET ASS-TRUC DO WHAT HE WANTS BECAUSE NO ONE CAN TELL HIM HIS IDEAS ARE DUMB?!

...

Ok, calm down. Calm down...

Well, aside from that really stupid decisionholycrap- the sentimonster itself wasnt that bad. The idea of it is rather terrifying and explains why Fu needs to always keep moving and is so passive for fear of the monster finding him and chasing him. But the whole origin story for Fu is a bunch of crap. Not only does it waste the buildup of that moment, but it also makes Fu seem so incompetent. It’s obvious that THAT GUY used this as to show why Marinette is a better Guardian than Fu, but as someone that actually likes good writing, i choose to reject that idea. Just because Astruc messes up the ideas of the show, it doesnt mean that the concepts are bad, and i’ll be damned if I let that affect me or my own canon!

So how would I rewrite this monstrosity of an origin?

Literally replace it with anything of the backstories i mentioned. Have Fu been betrayed by a Butterfly wielder, have the temple be attacked, anything that what we have been given. I’d make a joke about a funny idea for the fall of the order, but the origin of Fu in Feast is already a joke. A bad one

And with that, here’s how I would rewrite Fu to be a better character. 

With these changes, I feel he would be a much competent and interesting character and a better mentor for our heroes. If you guys feel some other changes would be needed for Fu, or if you think I'm wrong about something because either i missed something important or you think that Fu being incompetent is a great way to show girl power for Marinette (Lots of sarcasm at that last part), feel free to send me an ask about what I would do about this part and that part for Fu or another character, or just tell me that I’m wrong.

Can’t wait for Season 4! Let's see if Zag can fix the mess Astruc made.

Also, please for the love of god go read Miraculous Tales by JED1, they are amazing. And follow @twin-books​, they helped me so much with rewriting Fu.

[beautifulterriblequeen]

I have a question, how do feel about Viren? Like, as a character? A majority of the fandom seem strongly dislike him (with reason), but I personally find him to be interesting, and I’m actually as invested in his storyline as I am in Callum, Ezran, and Rayla’s. I just really wanna know your thoughts on him

Ooh, Viren. *rubs hands gleefully* This is gonna be a long post.

Viren is complicated, and all my favorite characters are complicated. He’s powerful, morally gray, sympathetic (at times), highly intelligent, and proactive toward his goals. He’s also kinda hot when he embraces his evil badassery and stops stuttering for niceties to say. He’s comfortable with his thirst for power because he believes in the Narrative of Strength, that might is right.

And that is what makes him so dangerous.

i am wary of Viren. I don’t trust him to make what I consider to be good choices. Viren’s heart tries its best to be in the right place. He’s motivated by good things: family, friendship, loyalty. He acts to protect his kingdom, which contains untold thousands of human lives–an entire civilization–and which is part of a network of kingdoms that rely on each other to stand together against their enemies. This is absolutely a good thing to do for someone in his job position. But the methods he employs, and the tactics he uses, reflect a fatal flaw in his character.

Viren considers himself worthless without the power he wields, and he only values others for the things they can do for him (broadly speaking–Harrow running a good and safe kingdom does benefit Viren). Human (and elven?) life means nothing. Only results matter. 

This probably started when he was a child. My Viren Origin Story Headcanon is that he was a literal servant in Katolis Castle (or somewhere that allowed him to meet Harrow) and they became friends as kids. Viren’s very clever and dedicated. Harrow would’ve seen his usefulness and raised him to High Mage for the sake of his kingdom. But I also think Harrow’s “You–are–a–servant” was too specific to be a random insult. I think Harrow used it as a callback to a time when Viren felt worthless except for his use to the prince of the realm. Ironically, Viren’s friendship with Harrow could be a big part of why Viren feels worthless as a human being unless he’s pushing himself all-out to be useful. Harrow inadvertently (or advertently?) trained Viren to be this way. Or perhaps a toxic parent had already trained Viren to devalue himself. Or both. This makes Viren sympathetic. But it doesn’t excuse his choices.

However it came about, Viren’s gotten through life by focusing entirely on results. That’s pragmatism for you: the end always justifies the means. And much of the time, this will work just fine. But there’s a war on, and when push comes to shove, there are some lines that many–elven or human–won’t cross. But Viren doesn’t see the lines at all.

Viren offers the soulfang option to Harrow because having Harrow remain on the throne is more important than the life of a soldier with less to offer Katolis. Harrow lets Viren be High Mage. Harrow bestows rank and privilege on Viren, which Viren can use to be more useful, and thus feel more valuable as a person. If someone else runs Katolis, Viren might be devalued, and that scares him. He’s been devalued, and it’s driven him to claw his way up. He never wants to go back down.

Viren offers food to Runaan as a tactic, hoping to elicit cooperation. He treats him politely, even though Runaan’s an elf, an enemy combatant, and very possibly the person who murdered Harrow. That’s because Viren sees massive potential usefulness in Runaan, and he respects usefulness, even above loyalty to a fallen king and friend. If Runaan is willing to help Viren unlock the mirror’s magical secrets, then Viren can use the mirror to be useful to Katolis even without Harrow. But when politeness doesn’t work on Runaan, he tries the much harsher coin threat–switching the carrot for the stick. But Moonshadows are stubborn, and when he realizes he’ll never get the result he wants, then Runaan is entirely expendable, and Viren immediately stops wasting his time on him.

However, I always love the part where Runaan says, “You have succeeded,” and Viren goes entirely soft and eager: “Oh? Have I?” He’s like a little boy. “Did I do good? Did I? Please tell me I did good.” And it kind of breaks my heart that he’s so easily led by the opinions of others. If Runaan had been less honorable, he could’ve lied to Viren’s face all day long about that mirror, and Viren would’ve eaten it all up.

After sticking Runaan in that coin, Viren throws himself into research mode on his own, filling the dungeon cell with books and scrolls, even eating down there. And when he fails yet again to get the mirror to reveal its secrets, he loses his temper with himself and has a breakdown. Because the only thing that matters is results, and he isn’t getting any. He’s failing. Failing himself, failing Katolis. Failing to be useful.

But the instant the mirror turns on, Viren’s mood shifts. He’s successful. He’s calm, curious, eager again. Success is so valuable to him. And when he sees Aaravos, the archmage is like a walking reward for Viren’s persistence as well as a promise of even more power to come. Viren’s enchanted. Aaravos is everything Viren has ever wanted to be. He finally thinks he’s found what he’s been searching for all his life. At the end of the fight in S2E9, he says “I have all the power I need,” and that’s probably not something Viren ever really expected to say.

I honestly can’t see Viren being even remotely pleased to see his children come back from their mission in utter failure–and with Ezran alive and ready to take the throne, no less! “But they’re his kids, surely he loves them!” Except no. He only loves what they can do for him. Otherwise, they’re just bad employees.

The only way Viren’s kids will get back into his good graces will be by proving their usefulness to him. And I’m not sure they’ll both decide that’s worth doing. Viren can’t see any value in himself as a person, so he doesn’t value his kids, either–he really doesn’t–unless they’re capable and competent and successful. Claudia got comfortable killing things and harvesting their bits to please her dad. Soren doesn’t like dark magic, so he threw himself into swordsmanship and became the youngest head of the Crownguard in history. 

Viren is an antagonist. He makes choices that hurt and kill others. He’s certain that’s the only way. But he’s not looking outside the Narrative of Strength for ideas. If Viren is going to find redemption in this show–and that’s a big if but I’d honestly love to see it play out–he will need to learn to love himself. Because he does not love himself even the tiniest bit. He never has. And that makes me very sad. He can’t love anyone else if he doesn’t love himself first, if he doesn’t know what that feels like and why it’s important to people. Viren will never stop hurting and killing others in the name of progress and success until he learns to love himself. Then, by extension, he can love others and make better choices with the power he wields.

I don’t know if the show intends to offer Viren a chance at redemption. I think it will, but then, I don’t know if Viren will accept such a chance. I worry that he may see it as weakness instead of growth, since it will necessarily entail giving up some of the power he currently values so highly. I really don’t know what his fate will be. While I am very invested in the power he has to shake all the other characters up and drive the plot, I really cringe every time he hurts one of the other characters through his choices. I’m not sure there’s any named character that Viren hasn’t hurt or killed, directly or indirectly, at this point, and we’re only two seasons in. He really has a lot to answer for, and I’m honestly not sure whether he’ll survive that process.

Thank you, anon. Your ask is a gift.

[gra-sonas]

I am not sure if you have been asked already if you have you can link to your answer if not what would you say you are most excited for in season 2? and then what would you say you are least excited for?

Hi nonnie!

I talked about some of it  in this post, but now that we’re closer to the S2 premiere (62 days), I tried to write down a little more (esp. about other characters than Alex *ahem*). THIS GOT LONG

Liz

Liz will have A LOT on her plate this season. She’s lost Max and got Rosa back in return. That’s some grade A emotional whiplash! It’ll be interesting to see how the new dynamic  between the sisters will be (Liz is the younger sister, but she’s the  older one now, that should be interesting!). We know from several BTS pics/vids this year (thanks, Trevino!), that Liz will work at the  Crashdown quite a bit (I wonder what that means in regards to a job in the field of biomedical engineering?). I also expect her to figure out a way to bring Max back (does she have/get a lab, will there be another underground bunker, will she work at Michael’s bunker???).

In the trailer Liz was seen with Jenna (😍) who showed her how to use a weapon. WHY IS LIZ LEARNING HOW TO SHOOT??? 😱 How is her relationship with her dad, will she tell him about Rosa (not just that she’s back, but also the bit about where Jim Valenti is Rosa’s biological dad? Or does Arturo already know???).  And what role does Liz’s mom play when she comes to visit? Oh, and how/when does she figure out how to bring back Max? So many questions, and I can’t wait to find out.

Rosa

Rosa’s return is one of very, VERY few things I liked about 1x13. I’m so excited she’s back and can’t wait to get to know her properly in S2. She’ll have a lot to deal with (”I’m a ghost.” is what she says in the trailer, that implies that she has to stay hidden, at least early on!). She’s still a recovering alcoholic and addict, and then there’s this whole thing of being alive again after a decade of… well, a decade of what? Noah put her in his pod, the same pod he said didn’t keep him in stasis properly. What does that mean for Rosa? Noah’s in a scene with Rosa in the trailer, is that a flashback? Was she ‘alive’ in the pod, or was she actually dead and didn’t feel a thing? How will her dad react? How’s her relationship with Liz going to develop? How ‘delighted’ will she be to interact with Kyle, her half-brother? I can’t wait to find out about all of that!

Isobel

My girl Isobel! She’s gonna have a lot to deal with in S2. First and foremost there’s Max’s death, which - given that they are sharing a very special psychic bond - I would imagine will be super hard for her to handle. In 1x13 we also saw her ‘unlock’ a new (new to her) power. Is that something she’ll try to develop further in the hopes of bringing Max back? Will she work with Liz? Will she unlock other powers? How will she approach dealing with the severe trauma of Noah betraying and (ab)using her? Will she go to therapy? Pretend like  everything is okay and try to figure it out on her own? Go to Kyle and talk to him? Go to Alex (PLEASE, LET HER GO TO ALEX)? Is she the one who’ll identify as ‘not straight’ at the end of S2? I’m absolutely STOKED for Isobel’s journey, especially bc Lily’s the coolest who also gives Carina ideas and talks to her about Isobel a lot. This is going to be so good!!!

Maria

Maria’s the character that had the least development in S1. She didn’t have  much of a storyline of her own, and mostly served as a catalyst for other character’s stories. I hope that will fundamentally change in S2. Carina’s said that they’ll dive into Maria’s family history this season, meaning that we’ll hopefully find out more about the necklace she’s wearing, its powers, and what part her family played after the UFO crash in 1947. What’s the DeLuca family legacy, and what do they know about aliens? When will Maria find out about aliens, and how will she react - not just about the fact that aliens exist, but that everyone close to her kept it from her for so long? Will be interesting to see what they’re doing with Maria this season. 

Max

Will probably stay dead for at least some of S2, he’ll probably be brought back halfway through S2? The when and how of bringing him back is one thing, interesting will also be, how Max is. Is he the same as before? Or did the use of that much power to bring Rosa back cost him. A part of his soul? His memories? Something else? Some people mentioned dark!Max could be an option, that could be really cool.

Kyle

My boo Kyle!!! I want nothing but good things to happen to Dr. McSexy. I hope his friendship with Alex continues to blossom and grow, I can’t wait for more brilliant and hilarious one-liners and quips (Kyle had the best lines in S1, and Trevino delivered every single one to perfection!), there’s at least one Kyliz kiss in his future, and while I know they’ll never be endgame (😢), I’ll enjoy it while it lasts (here’s me shallowly hoping for some good recreational s e x for the good doctor, though I do hope he doesn’t get his heart broken.

Michael

It’ll be SO hard to see Michael spiral. :( He’s got so many things to deal with, and I’m worried how long his ‘free fall’ will last before he’s able to stabilize? Caulfield and Max’s death will be super hard on him, Iz will be busy getting her own life in order, and while I hope Liz and Michael will work together to bring Max back, it remains to be seen if Michael’s even up for it. I’m just glad to know that Alex is around, solid as a rock, not going anywhere, and I hope Michael will allow him to be there for him. ‘Only’ as a friend for now, but that’s what S2′s supposed to be about, Alex and Michael becoming friends. They still love each other (SO MUCH 🥺), they still have this cosmic bond, and I hope that despite them not being together (as ‘in a relationship), they’ll steadily move towards getting back together.

Special wish: should the ‘Alex gets kidnapped’ story line happen, I can’t WAIT for tornado!Michael to do everything in his power(s) to bring him back. And should there be a reason for Michael to put a handprint on Alex, I WANT IT!!!

Alex

Unsurprisingly, I’m most looking forward to all things Alex next season. And I really mean ALL things. Just seeing him will spark joy. I’m also prepared to worry about him. A LOT. First of all, he’ll re-enlist again. Staying in the Air Force enables him to get access to important information, which hopefully helps to keep Michael, Iz and Max safe, but what a price to pay… :/

I’m looking forward to the developing friendship between Alex and Michael, for the friendship between Alex and Kyle to grow, and I want a friendship between Alex and Isobel like almost nothing else in S2! I’m looking forward to BAMF!Alex who left nice in the Middle East and is ready to take on the fight with his father. I’m looking forward to interactions between Alex and his brothers (soooo curious about all things Manes Brothers!). I’m anxious to see how he’ll react to M/M (I really hope they won’t make him pretend it’s no big deal, or ‘forgive’ like it’s nothing that Maria went behind his back…), I hope to see Alex’s disability be more ‘visible’ again than during the latter half of S1. I wish his PTSD and what it means for him would be more visible and addressed but that might not happen. And then there’s of course BUFFYYYY! I’m prepared to sob my way through their first encounter. I’m so, so happy he gets to have her! ❤️

Buffy

I CANNOT WAIT TO MEET THIS VERY GOOD GIRL!!!!! 😍

What I hope for

A season that expands the RNM universe without losing focus of our main characters. Reveals of important alien history. Friendships developing. I hope that the influence of the large number of queer, POC, and female people working in the writers room and behind the camera will have a really positive influence on how S2 comes together.

I also hope for S2 to end on a positive/hopeful note for Malex. I hope they won’t be in relationships with other people going into S3, and I hope there’ll be a real chance for them to get back together in S3.

Despite them not being together in S2, I still hope for a kiss (OR SEVERAL, DON’T HOLD BACK ON MY ACCOUNT). I can’t go an entire season without them kissing 🥺🥺🥺

More characters  + some DNWs below the cut

Jenna

My girl Jenna! Gosh, I love her, and I can’t wait to see her again. I’m also hoping she’ll be in more than one episode. I want to know more about Charlie, I want to see more of my favorite sleuthing trio Jenna/Alex/Kyle. Just… give me aaaaaall the Jenna content!

Mimi

I hope we’ll learn more about her, her history with Jesse, and her potential history with aliens. What does Mimi know, did an alien ‘give’ her dementia? Is there a cure?

Steph

Steph (played by Justina Adorno) is a new character we haven’t met yet. According to Justina, “Steph is sassy. She is the Head of Surgery’s daughter. She’s a smart educated girl with a little sass“. So we don’t have much to work with yet, but ‘Head of Surgery’s daughter’ implies, that she might meet Kyle first (at the hospital)? Will she be in on the alien secret, or play a different role? Either way, I’m always excited for more female characters!

Grace Powell

I couldn’t be more excited about Jamie Clayton in Roswell, she’s brilliant and I want her around for more than just 2-3 episode. Hope she’s one of the good guys!

Mara & Louise

Mara (Michael’s mom) and Louise (likely Isobel’s and Max’s mom) are two characters we’ll meet in flashbacks to 1947. I’m excited to find out more about the aliens who crashed, where they are from, I hope the flashbacks will fill out some blanks. I’m also very curious to find out how they’ll incoroprate the flashbacks in general. Are these memories Isobel and Michael manage to unlock? Are there videos in the Caulfield files? Do they find old diaries in 2018 and they play out on screen?

Jesse

May he get what he deserves in S2 (AND I WANT ALEX TO BE THE LAST THING HE EVER SEES, PREFERABLY ALEX KISSING MICHAEL)

Arturo

No one, and I mean really absolutely NO ONE is allowed to mess with Papi Ortecho. (ง︡’-‘︠)ง  (ง︡’-‘︠)-o  (ง︡’-‘︠)ง Liz needs him, Rosa needs him,I need him. He better be healthy and well by the end of S2!

Jason Behr’s character

No idea who he’s going to play, probably someone from the 1947 timeline? Or someone who could be dangerous for the Pod Squad in 2018?

Wyatt Long

He’ll be in at least one episode, maybe more? What is he going to do if he ever finds out Rosa’s back???

For[r]est

Hopefully a good guy, and good for Alex. Still not eager to see this unfold on screen tho…

Manes Brothers

Ahhhhh, I’m actually super excited for Gregory Manes, and also for more Flint! I hope we’ll find out more about them, about their dynamics, who’s older/younger, how it was when they were little, and even though we won’t meet their mom this season, I hope we’ll hear sth about her (and why she left). I also hope that at least one of them will be in Alex’s corner, I’d also be in favor of a redemption arc for Flint, just putting that out there.

DNW

Any and all M/M & A/F “love” triangle stuff. I don’t want it and I wish it wasn’t part of S2. Alas, it will be and I just hope M/M will end quickly, and A/F is nothing but a fling. Ugh, I don’t want any of this 😩 My absolute nightmare would be for both ‘relationships’ to last into S3.

Extensive flashbacks to 1947 that take away precious screen time I’d rather see dedicated to characters in 2018.

Episodes that had to be edited extensively to fit 42 minutes (still mourning every little scene they had to cut from S1 episodes, even though we’ll never know what and how much got cut from each ep, it just was A LOT for some episodes)

Too much focus on the overall ‘murder mystery’ plot (or whatever we’ll get this year) . I’d much rather see the characters grow and interact with each other (more group scenes would be nice).

Another trash fire of a final episode like 1x13. Of course there will be a cliffhanger, and this time we know that we’ll definitely get another season, but still. Another season finale leaving the characters - and therefore us - in such a bad place would be the absolute worst. We’ve barely made it through this hiatus, I don’t think this fandom could handle another one with so much uncertainty, heartbreak, and dread of what’s to come in S3.

In case you’ve made it until the very end of this post, thank you, and thanks for your ask!!! Hope you’re having a great day, nonnie!  ✨💚👽

[medea10]

My Review of Little Witch Academia

Atsuko Kagari (nicknamed Akko) has always had a fascination with witches. Or should I say one particular witch! When she was a child, she saw a magic performance done by a famous witch named Shiny Chariot. After that, Akko decided then and there that she was going to become a witch just like Shiny Chariot. So when she became a teenager, she got the opportunity to enroll at Luna Nova Magical Academy. While this school has primarily been a place for witch’s only to hone on their skills, due to financial issues they opened the school up to non-magic users. And Akko has no magic in her whatsoever!

We follow the antics of Akko as she tries to survive in a witch academy. During her time she’s managed to snag a wand that was once owned by Shiny Chariot (which she plans to return to), meet friends like Lotte and Sucy, start a rival with the school star Diana Cavendish, get one-on-one training from Professor Ursula (who has her own kind of past), and learn everything there is to know about becoming a great witch. But Akko is going to have a tough time because like I said, she has no magic in her whatsoever! BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: As I mentioned at the beginning, this series is under the thumb of Netflix (in every country). I haven’t had the opportunity to check out the subtitled version. As for the dub…boy, Erica Mendez is getting the choice roles in Netflix exclusive animes. I can’t complain, the lady does fine work. Plus Netflix gives me a chance to hear other new voice actors and seiyuus. Some were big misses with me, but others (like Sucy’s voice) won me over. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from. JAPANESE CAST: *Akko is played by Megumi Han (known for Yamato on Ore Monogatari, Momiji on Fruits Basket 2019, Kagari on Steins;Gate 0, Rio on YGO Zexal, and Chie on Tokyo Ghoul) *Sucy is played by Michiyo Murase *Lotte is played by Fumiko Orikase (known for Dianthe on Pokemon XY, Kyubei on Gintama, Riza on FMA: Brotherhood, Seras Victoria on Hellsing, Shirley on Code Geass, Rukia on Bleach, and Aki on Inazuma Elven) ENGLISH CAST: *Akko is played by Erica Mendez (known for Ryuko on Kill la Kill, Haruka/Uranus on Sailor Moon redub, Emma on The Promised Neverland, Nico on Love Live, Yuuki on SAO II, Retsuko on Aggretsuko, and Tsubaki on Your Lie in April) *Sucy is played by Rachelle Heger *Lotte is played by Stephanie Sheh (known for Mikuru on Haruhi Suzumiya, Kuro on Blue Exorcist, Nui on Kill la Kill, Hinata on Naruto, Orihime on Bleach, Illiya on Fate/stay night, Yui on K-ON, and Usagi/Sailor Moon on Sailor Moon) FAVORITE CHARACTER: I know in stories like these I always root for the underdog and they end up my favorite character…buuuuuuut…

I like Sucy! Yeah, I like the little mischevious, mushroom-loving witch. And yes, I love the episode where Akko goes inside Sucy's subconscious and we see all the Sucy's inside Sucy.

DISLIKED CHARACTER: I knew I couldn’t really hate Diana! I think most of the hatred I shared at her direction for the majority of the season was because of those two cronies that hung around her. Those two were catty bitches and I just hate those kinds of characters. But nothing could compare to Diana’s bitch aunt.

God, fuck this woman! She literally tries to usurp Diana from taking over as head of the Cavendish family line. Just so she can give it to one of her bitch daughters! She’s seriously giving me Lady Tremaine vibes, it’s not even funny. You know it’s bad that I was rooting for them to die when they got into trouble. But Diana wasn’t going to let her bitch aunt and bitch cousins die so I should stop hoping for severe payback. SHIPPING: Hmm…the shipping category is going to be fun! I think it’s only because of that one episode that involves a bee sting and the person is smitten with the next person they see. And boy did Akko get her fill when not only Andrew falls for her, but Diana as well!

Actually, I have thoughts of Andrew really taking a shine to Akko. I honestly thought there would only be two interactions at the most between him and Akko during the show. But surprisingly, there were more. I’m not really a fan of this ship, but I still find it cute. Hell, even Lotte found a boy that was interested in her at one point. She turns him down, but he still holds out hope. Also a cute moment! Hmm…at the moment I’m an open multishipper for this series. If Akko ends up with Diana, cool man! If she ends up with Andrew, whatever, I can dig it! If Akko ends up with Amanda, more power to you (and I can totally see that because Amanda is giving me total lesbo-vibes). What do you expect, this is like an all-girls school!

You know what, I’m now leaning towards Akko x Amanda more than all the others. Don’t fight me on this, I just know I like it! ENDING: Up until the halfway point, a lot of the episodes are about Akko trying to make it as a witch. Did she surpass everyone’s doubts? While Akko was able to improve her magic a bit (I give it 5%), it’s not at the level as many of her classmates. I mean by episode 20, Akko still cannot fly a broom! That should tell you something. But what’s the one thing that seems to be missing from this series?

An antagonist? Yeah, in comes Professor Croix! And to many of the students, she feels like she’s able to bring witchcraft into today’s era with her technology driven methods. And Akko certainly has taken a shine to her. However, Professor Ursula can smell this woman’s bullshit a mile away. Ursula was once the classmate of Croix. But back then Ursula was known as… Oh come on, it was so bloody obvious the moment Ursula met Akko.

Ursula is really Shiny Chariot! Meanwhile, Akko ends up trying to speak these seven secret words that’ll unlock the wand she obtained in the first episode. You know, the wand that belonged to Shiny Chariot?! And Akko has managed to obtain six out of the seven secret words. She could be the one to get the seventh word, which was something Chariot was unable to do as a student. But this positivity ends with a looming war (over a soccer match) on the rise. In actuality, there’s a force around the town as well as certain moments at the school that have caused chaos. Yes, it’s Professor Croix exploiting people’s anger for her own research. Not only that, but she used Akko for her own selfish ambitions and as a result ended up injuring Shiny Chariot to a point of altering her magic (possibly permanently). That’s one thing. Then we get quite a big bombshell!

AKKO’S MAGIC: Ever wonder why Akko has like zero magic ability?! When she saw Shiny Chariot’s performance as a child, her dreams and potential magic were taken by Chariot in order to make her performances more magical (due to audience members becoming disinterested in Chariot’s magic). Akko’s magic was taken away from her before she could even realize a thing. Damn! And you can just imagine Akko’s heartache finding out that her professor was really Chariot and that Chariot did that to not just Akko, but other children! After Chariot found out what her magic shows were doing, she immediately fell off the map.

BACK TO THE CONCLUSION: One of Croix’s inventions went rogue and is officially threatening the world. And it’s up to Akko, Sucy, Lotte, Diana, Amanda, Constance, and Jasminka to catch up to this rogue missile invention. Now that Akko was able to obtain the seventh word, there’s a good chance they can take out Croix’s out of control missile. Croix thankfully realized the errors of her way and understood the pain she’s caused to her students and her former classmate. Croix and Chariot decide to give their all to help the girls as well. While five of the seven girls were able to give a big boost, it was Akko and Diana who took out the looming threat. That’s right, witches saved the world! Yeah, during the series a lot of people were kinda mean to or looked down upon Luna Nova and the witch race in general. Especially, those dickheads at Andrew’s prep school! With this act, I’m sure Luna Nova and the witches will finally get the respect they deserve. In the aftermath, yes Luna Nova is now receiving more respect from those that have been quite cruel to them throughout the series run. Croix is going away to do some research. One of her biggest plans was to restore Ursula/Chariot’s magic that was lost due to her own recklessness with Akko. The students go back to their lessons and…

Akko (after 25 episodes) was able to float a few inches off the ground using her broom. She flew…sort of. I’ll let it count as a victory! THE TWO SPECIALS: A few years prior to the television series run, Little Witch Academia had two movies air. Now this is a different telling of the story. In the first special (which is 25 minutes), it has Akko come upon Chariot’s rod during a class assignment (instead of coming upon it in a forest like the first episode).

And here’s a real kicker, while Akko is still the class screw-up and has the least amount of magic, here she actually has SOME magic. In the second special (which is 55 minutes), Akko ends up in trouble (like normal) and ends up having to do a punishment assignment. She has to help orchestrate a ritual which ends up turning into a parade. So Akko, Sucy, Lotte, Amanda, Constance, and Jasminka all end up working together to do this. But Akko wants to turn this into something for people to remember and always cherish. Like her experiences with the Shiny Chariot performances she saw as a child! But there’s always blow-back because at Luna Nova, Shiny Chariot is seen as a disgrace to traditional witches. And of course there was bound to be some disagreements when working with a big group. And despite a few hiccups, everyone was able to come together to put on a convincing parade for the crowd. Little Witch Academia was quite the enjoyable little story. Yes, it’s a root for the underdog kind of story and even though the television series seems to give Akko the short-end of the stick on the magic matter, it’s full-filling to see her accomplish quite a bit. Even if it took her until the final seconds to learn how to fly! I know it’s been about 2-3 years since the ending of the TV series and am wondering if this is it for the franchise. I know there are novels and games out for this, so maybe one day.

But I do give a recommendation for those into witches, magic, and all that good stuff! It's full of fun characters, there's no harm in that. Currently, Netflix is the only outlet for this series (in just about every country). But Netflix does carry both the sub and dub (and several other languages). Now then, what’s my next Amazon/Netflix exclusive anime? Nope. You’re watching this.

Rising of the Shield Hero? But isn’t that Crunchyroll or FUNimation? Don’t care. You’re watching this now. But I have a big list of other animes to wat… Tough shit. You’re watching this. You have no choice but to watch a modern Isekai!

[mentalmars]

Borderlands 3: Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck Review

Introduction In this 4th story campaign add-on, you are going to help Tannis with discovering what makes psychos so insane. She thinks it’s this mystical place called Vaulthalla that’s inside every psycho’s mind. Therefore, you are going to travel inside the brain of one of the most badass psychos on Pandora. Krieg was one of the playable vault hunters in Borderlands 2 and now he’s one of the NPCs you will interact with. You may have discovered some of his echologs scattered around in Borderlands 3. Here you got a taste of his personality and his relation to Maya. In the ‘Fantastic Fustercluck’, we are going to explore his mind and meet up with both sides of his character, sane Krieg and Psycho Krieg, and what makes him tick. DLC4 Preview Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck is a good DLC. It really delivered great story moments and had me questioning the sanity of the developers. On one side this DLC is fanservice as you get to interact with some of your beloved characters in the franchise. But then there are those serious moments that cover the inner struggle. Where they address how we perceive things and how things are different from another one’s point of view. This for example is communicated by the 2 versions of Krieg, each having their own interpretation of specific events. The message of how we fight our inner demons and that we are not alone is really relevant in the world at the moment. Mental health is a serious topic but Gearbox packaged this in an entertaining way. So while you have those serious moments there is also the weird and goofy stuff you like from a Borderlands game. You won’t encounter Mr. Torgue in this DLC to ‘blow up the ocean’ but you will do something else of that space, which in itself is also a cool easter egg. Memorable Missions At the start of DLC4, the devs are immediately playing with your expectations as you enter Krieg’s mind. I would have loved to see more of this openings area as it’s a nice place. After this area, you arrive at the DLC’s main hub. Here you will learn that you will need to obtain several keys to access the secrets of Vaulthalla. Each of these keys is stored away in a specific memory of Krieg. You will need to play through these memories and collect all the keys to unlock Vaulthalla. Each memory is a mission and has its own theme so you will be visiting very different places each time. But they all have an important (back)story to tell about the character. Along the way, you will be accompanied by a sane version of Krieg and a Psycho version of Krieg. They will help you navigate the world and provide context to various scenarios. Here you will also notice the different points of perspective. The maps are pretty linear, there aren’t any open areas to explore. Borderlands has always been a game of exploration for me and this DLC doesn’t deliver on that. I think this is done to focus on the story as you unlock the goofy side quest at the end of the mission. Yeah, you have a few encounters with sane Krieg and Psycho Krieg but they are short intermissions that don’t break away from the main theme. The side missions that you unlock after completing a memory/mission are insane. You will get some wacky stuff thrown at you, and this is why I love Borderlands. I would love to talk about them but this is a spoiler-free review. So if you follow me on social media (links are listed in the header), I’ll be posting screenshots and some of my thoughts or the next few days. These side missions do kinda feel like that push you back into the area you just finished, to then discover you have to walk halfway through the map to do that single side mission at that spot you were exploring and wondering what purpose it has. The delivery of these side missions felt a bit like ‘how can we keep you busy’, however, playing through these missions my mind was “WTF am I playing”. Vaulthalla Borderlands is all about the loot and I think Gearbox did a great thing at the end of this DLC to keep you playing.  And smart players can even get more out of Vaulthalla. It’s a great way to get loot and keep you optimizing your run. You are able to farm for new legendaries in Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck and you can start doing that now as DLC 4 launches Sept 10, 2020. Sidenote Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck is a good DLC. I was really excited to play this one and I did have a good time with it but I also feel like Gearbox could have done more with it. I would have loved to visit more memories and get answers to some other questions. The DLC clearly takes place after the events of the main game, but it doesn’t push the story forward or changes your perspective on certain events or character choices from the main game. In episode 2 of the Borderlands show, it was mentioned that we would get more time with Ava and answers why Maya believed in her. While the topic is briefly mentioned it doesn’t explain her reasoning. I didn’t experience that big revelation like in DLC 3 when you found out who ‘the company’ is. That said, Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck is still a good DLC and enjoyable experience.

Continue reading on https://mentalmars.com/game-news/borderlands-3-psycho-krieg-and-the-fantastic-fustercluck-review/

[ourbloodlinesendhere]

Guess who’s made a fan-house for FE3H? It’s me! I did!

Welcome to the Roseate Wolves, a house for transfer students from all over the world. I took a lot of the locations in FE3H that haven’t been fleshed out and slapped some headcanons onto them, as well as some fun cameos of other kingdoms featured in the Fire Emblem series. Is there any chance that these places all exist in the same universe? Probably not! But I don’t care.

Now, if you’re interested, I’ll drop some rambling below the cut:

(Warning: It’s very, very long and very, very rambly.)

I’ll be talking about what this house would be like if it were actually in the game!

For starters, since we only have three professors including Byleth, either Seteth or Jeritza would be the fourth professor. I’m leaning towards Jeritza for this because iirc some characters do mention that he was considered for Byleth’s position. It just makes his disappearance a little awkward, but oh well. I imagine he would default to teaching the Black Eagles for every route where Byleth isn’t (for obvious reasons) and after he poofs, maybe Seteth steps in and just makes Edelgard hate the church even more.

Anyways, let’s talk about the actual route and it’s characters, not just the setup.

With the other three routes, I’ve noticed that the house leaders warm up to you pretty quickly. This makes sense for their characters and the situation, but I’d like to imagine for a moment a route in which the leader blatantly does not like or trust Byleth at all until later in Part 1. Aren is cold and somewhat brooding, hesitant to trust and avoidant of social situations. Really, he’s only the house leader due to the insistence of his grandmother, otherwise he would never have wanted the task. When push comes to shove, he’s a brilliant tactician and a good leader, but he’s not sociable in the slightest.

During the conflicts with Lonato, the Western Church, Miklan, and other pre-timeskip Fodlan problems, there’s a persistent theme of “Why are we helping? We don’t live here, it shouldn’t be our problem” which settles over the group. More kindhearted folks such as Julia and Ragnar are less blatant about this, but there is just this general feeling of reluctance.

Now, for Edelgard’s reveal, we have a little reveal of our own. Sreng is a small kingdom with a shaky structure at best, and a low population. The only thing that has kept its sovereignty from Faerghus has been a secret it has kept for a long time. Within the various factions that make up its population, beast blood runs through their veins. Not all Srengese have this (making the trait somewhat similar to Crests in Fodlan) but for those that do, they have the power to shapeshift.

Aren, Liara, and Ragnar are all shape-shifters. Underneath his hood, Aren has wolf-like ears (like Keaton’s in Fates), as does Liara (hidden under her hair, like how... certain someones in FE3H hide their own funny ears), and Ragnar’s horns aren’t actually a feature of his helmet. Beast-shifters in Sreng are known as Orthrus. Aren is a wolf Orthrus, Liara is a snow leopard Orthrus, and Ragnar is a mutated, horned black vulture Orthrus. (He has small, malformed wings hidden under his coat. Imagine how uncomfortable he must be)

There is also the fact that Sreng lacks access to Beaststones. Their beast forms are massive and extremely powerful, but volatile. Orthrus often lose themselves in their transformation, and after battle they often need to be subdued by their allies. Without a beast form to help control their shifted selves, the three Orthrus were strictly forbidden from shifting when away from home, even when their own lives are in danger. Not just to protect Sreng’s secret; also to protect themselves and others from their beast forms.

Edelgard, as the Flame Emperor, attacks Byleth. At this point, Aren has grown very close to his professor, but still struggles in showing it. In an expression of his care for Byleth at last, he breaks the rules he was given and transforms into his Orthrus form. Gameplay-wise, he’s like a demonic beast, with four tiles in his hit-box and even an extra health bar. However, he’s an allied unit with purposefully flawed AI. He will rush right into battle without a thought, and him falling is the lose condition for the map (even on casual mode).

After the battle, with no enemies in sight and wild emotions coursing through his bestial mind, Aren goes on a rampage through the throne room as Rhea is horrified. Once the sacred site is thoroughly destroyed, Byleth finally calms him down, and he shakily reverts to his human form.

Once that map is completed, the Srengese students have had their cover completely blown, and it doesn’t take long for Liara and Ragnar to be exposed as well. They plead with Rhea to keep their secret, but she is enraged at the damage to the room and the throne, and exiles all three of them. They have to leave by that night, and she makes no promises about their secret.

Byleth meets with them in the night, and the rest of the Wolves do as well in order to say goodbye. Surprisingly, Flayn appears, having snuck away from Seteth and Rhea. She offers the Orthrus three beast-stones, unlocking the Orthrus class for them. Thank you Flayn! Wonder how she got those, almost like she knows a thing or two about- I mean, what

This will alter their beast forms to be smaller and a bit less powerful, but allows them full control over themselves when shifted. Now they play exactly like Taguel in Awakening, except they stay in beast form whenever the beast-stone is equipped, not at the start of each battle.

Flayn can’t help them any more though, since she’s ultimately loyal to Rhea and Seteth. For the remaining time until the time-skip, they’re not available for use in your party. If for some reason you’re playing classic mode like some kind of masochist and both Liara and Ragnar are out of your party, they’ll still appear in these cutscenes. However, next moon you’ll be informed that their injuries slowed them down and Knights of Seiros caught them, killing them. Ouch!

The battle of Garreg Mach is a different story. With their loyalty to the church shaken, but with no desire to join up with Edelgard, Byleth and the Wolves are trapped between two clashing armies. The goal of the map is to get your students to safety, through a harrowing path riddled with enemy soldiers attacking anyone in sight. Any students from the other houses you didn’t recruit will be enemy units! But they don’t perma-die when you defeat them here, since lots of them will appear again post-timeskip. When Rhea starts wrecking shop, Byleth hurries all the students ahead, fighting off anyone who comes for them. But they gets yeeted off of the cliff anyways.

Now, I hope to design some post-timeskip designs soon, but until then, just picture that everyone’s a little battered. Fodlan closed its borders to prevent foreign reinforcements from coming in and deserters from leaving, so all of the Wolves have become trapped in the midst of a war. Only small exceptions occur for the purpose of paralogues and such (like if you had recruited Bernadetta and Petra, their paralogue happens the same.) but overall, nobody can go home. Also, Sreng has been strong-armed into fighting for the Empire! Lovely. If Liara and Ragnar are alive, you’ll need to face them in battle and recruit them there, Tharja/Gaius-style.

But where’s Aren? He didn’t return home, actually. He laid low, and upon hearing Garreg Mach fell, he searched desperately for Byleth to find them. He eventually holed himself up in the ruins of Garreg Mach, chasing out anyone who tried to come for it. Essentially like how timeskip Dimitri was, but less murder-y and more just. constantly terrified and lashing out. He became paranoid and desperate, and eventually abandoned his beaststone to remain in full Orthrus form.

When Byleth finds him, he’s fully shifted and tries to attack them. However, upon recognizing his professor, he backs down and manages to return to his human form. His beaststone lays on the floor, now having been attached crudely to a necklace. Byleth puts it back on him, and he regains control of himself.

His personality has become erratic and anxious, even more untrusting than before, but he’s instantly dependent on Byleth and clings to them with uncomfortable desperation. When the other Wolves arrive, he is cold to them, even to Liara, and becomes possessive of Byleth.

The post-timeskip era starts out with the Wolves feeling trapped and simply trying to stay alive, turning Garreg Mach into a sort of hideout for other refugees who wish to escape the fighting. However, after getting to know the suffering of the Fodlan people, the theme shifts to one of empathy. Just because something isn’t our problem, and doesn’t affect our people, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t act when innocents are suffering. Faerghus and Adrestia are at each other’s throats, and the Alliance is getting trampled, but the neutral land of Garreg Mach houses a growing force of fighters looking to put a stop to the war.

Aren’s arc post-timeskip involves him eventually leaning away from Byleth as a crutch, and standing stronger on his own. He learns to trust others regularly, and forms a deep bond with all of the Wolves, reconnecting with Liara again. 

Now as for how the route ends... who knows ! ;) I just might write something for this house, so you’ll just have to wait and see.

If people are interested, I’ll also go into more detail about the individual characters! Because this whole thing here was very Aren-centric with cameos from Liara and Ragnar.

[seasonofthegeek]

History Repeats: Nino and Jude

This is the piece I did for the awesome Nino Zine that was just released and falls in the History Repeats Universe. :)

History Repeats: Alya and Jude

History Repeats: Alya and Nino

History Repeats: Nino and Jude:

Discovering and supporting the fact that his teenage son was a superhero just like he’d been years before required a fine balance of being proud and terrified, but Nino thought he was handling it well for the most part. For example, he was currently only trying to hide every other wince and flinch as he watched Jude, or rather Luckbug, crash into the higher beams of the Eiffel Tower from his vantage point on the observation deck. 

“Maybe it’s time to call it a night, little dude,” he called. “You should give the nuts and bolts a rest. I think there’s been enough structural damage for one night.”

Luckbug dropped down to the deck with a grunt. “I’m not getting any better.”

“But you’re not getting any worse.”

“Gee, thanks, Dad. I’m so glad I asked you to come out here with me instead of Mom.”

Nino couldn’t help but grin as Jude dropped his transformation and sank down on the bench beside him. “If you think your mother would go easier on you, you’ve been living in a different house than me.”

“I’m telling her you said that.”

“I know who runs our house. She knows it and I know it.” Nino leaned back and stared out over the city. “So what’s really the problem?”

“I just suck,” Jude muttered. “I should hand the earrings over to someone else.”

“It didn’t seem like you were having trouble a few months ago when you were sneaking out and fighting dark magical beings from hell. And wasn’t it just a couple of weeks ago that there was a new segment showing you rocking in a hammock you’d made with your yoyo between the Arc de Triomphe?”

The teenager crossed his arms sullenly. “Yeah, well, I was a dumb kid and didn’t know what I was getting into. I’m just not cut out for this.”

Nino nodded sagely. “And this wouldn’t have anything to do with what happened to your friends when you made the wrong call in that fight against the Dark One last week?”

Jude sank down lower. “I don’t want to talk about that.”

“Okay.”

“And they’re fine now. The Cure fixed everything.”

“I know.”

“But yeah, I made a bad call and they got hurt and even though everyone is okay now, it’s not like anyone forgot.”

Nino glanced over at him. “I thought you didn’t want to talk about it.”

Jude glared at his lap. “I don’t.”

The sounds of the city floated up to them from below and Nino let the silence between them simmer until he finally spoke. “I made a bad call once and got one of my teammates hurt. It was awful. I tried to give up my Miraculous that night.”

Interest flashed on Jude’s face and Nino knew he’d hooked him. He and Alya decided together to try to keep their hero stories to a minimum once the truth was out between all three of them but this seemed like a good time to take one out, brush it off, and give it a new audience. 

“So what happened?”

A memory of Chat Noir bloodied on the floor of Hawk Moth’s lair flashed in Nino’s mind and he frowned. “Well, you’re going to need a little backstory before I get to the main event. How much have you learned about Hawk Moth?” 

“Enough, I think. I know he was Uncle Adrien’s dad and you guys fought him. He had the Miraculous Everly uses now to create champions to help us when we need them.”

Nino nodded and took a moment to decide if he was going to keep going. It wasn’t his secret to share exactly but…

“What you probably don’t know is that Gabriel-- Hawk Moth,” he quickly amended, “is also Chat Noir’s dad.” He watched his son’s brow furrow in confusion and then he was looking at him with widening eyes. 

“Wait, Uncle Adrien was Chat Noir?”

“Yep.”

“And his dad was the bad guy?”

“Yep.”

Jude frowned. “So that would be like me fighting you.”

“If I was an egotistical tyrant, sure,” Nino shrugged, trying not to let it show how much the thought of them being pitted against each other bothered him. “Gabriel is not a good man. He never has been as far as I can tell but I’m on the outside looking in.”

“What’s that mean?”

“It means that Adrien still has trouble talking about him and everything that happened because he still can’t see his father as just a villain like we all did. He was still his father.”

“Is that why he got hurt?” Jude prompted.

For a moment, Nino had forgotten what took them on this path of conversation and he had to regather his thoughts. It’d been over a decade and closer to two now, but it was still uncomfortable to recall. They’d all been so young...like his son was now.

He took in a deep breath. “Ladybug had a bad feeling about Chat Noir missing a meeting and a patrol and didn’t know how to get in contact with him, but she knew I did. Adrien and I found out about each other early on. At that time, only Ladybug’s identity was a secret from the rest of us and to her, the only secret identity was Chat’s.” He saw Jude trying to keep up and decided to cut the rest of the identity reveal gymnastics out of the story for the most part.

“I tried to get in contact with Adrien out of the mask first,” he continued. “I even went to his house but no one would let me in. I transformed and tried to get in his room but the house was shut up tight. Adrien always left his window unlocked for any of us to get in or him to get out so that was the first tip off that something was wrong.”

Nino shook his head. “The thing about being a hero...the thing about life in general, really, is that when you get to look back, it’s much clearer what the better decision was to make, but when you’re right in the middle of it, you don’t always know the right thing to do. Does that make sense?”

“That’s how I feel about last week,” Jude replied quietly. “Now that I’ve been able to think about it, I know I made a bad call but I really did think I was doing the best thing at the time. But I’m supposed to be the team leader. I can’t make bad calls and realize later that I should’ve done something different!” His voice rose with every word and then he stood and paced in front of the bench. “Camille was almost killed because I got cocky and thought I could take out the Dark One on my own.”

“Juju, come sit back down.” Nino patted the space beside him. His son let out a frustrated growl and threw himself back down to the bench with a huff. “You’re so much like your mom.”

“Dad.”

“Right. Back to my story.” Nino tried to smile but it felt too small on his face, too forced. “I found a way into the house through the roof and that’s when I found Gabriel. He was talking to Chat Noir, pleading with him, and I knew he knew about Adrien.” The memory resurfaced in hazy detail and he could almost feel the sickening flutter of butterfly wings against his skin. “I caught them both off guard and Gabriel transformed and immediately tried to take me out. I didn’t realize he’d akumatized his assistant and driver to keep guard in the house and they came after me too.”

Jude was sitting straighter now, investment in the story plain on his face. “What happened?”

“Chat and I fought them.” He was surprised to feel the lump forming in his throat; it’d all been so long ago. “Hawk Moth was determined to kill me, I think. He was at the end of his rope. The akumas kept Chat busy while he and I fought and he got in a few good blows.” Nino lifted his chin and traced the thin scar along his jaw left from the rapier from Hawk Moth’s cane. “I really did think I was going to die that day. I remember looking over and seeing Chat running towards us and thinking I should’ve told the others, I should’ve waited for more help. We were going to lose our Miraculous, maybe even die, and it was my fault”

“Yeah, but Ladybug is the one who sent you to go find him,” Jude argued. “It’s her fault you were there in the first place.”

“She was doing what she thought was best in sending me. As soon as I found Chat, I could’ve called for backup but I didn’t because I thought I could help on my own. We all made our decisions.”

“Still, she was the team leader and...and…” The younger man trailed off helplessly. “It falls back on her.”

Nino considered that and decided to take a different approach. “Did you know that I was offered the position to become Guardian of the Miraculous?”

Jude’s attention sharpened once more as he looked at his father. “Kagami is the Guardian.”

“And she’s a good one; I’m the one who endorsed her for the position. She’s an excellent judge of character, though we’ve had a few words since I found out about you.”

“So if you’d been in charge, I wouldn’t have my Miraculous. Is that what you’re saying?” Jude was falling back into sullenness. 

At the beginning of the conversation, he’d wanted to give back the earrings and now he was mad at the thought of not having them. Nino had to resist the temptation to roll his eyes. Being the adult was tedious at times. 

“I passed on the responsibility because your mom and I were going to have you and we wanted to keep you safe. We gave up Wayzz and Trixx for our family because it was the right call to make and looking back, I don’t regret it.”

“Good to know I’m not a regret.”

“You’re not listening, Jude.”

His son crossed his arms and Nino sighed. “What I’m trying to say is that you never know if you’re making the right decision in the moment. You have to take the information you have and make a call and sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t, but that doesn’t mean you give up.” His words hung in the air between them and Nino spotted Tikki peeking out from Jude’s jacket to give him a fond look. 

“So you’re really just saying to try my best.” Jude smirked at his father. “How very after school special of you, Dad.”

“For a sweet kid, you’re such a little punk sometimes.”

 “And who do you think I get that from, dude?”

[dalekofchaos]

Ways they could’ve handled Supreme Leader Snoke in the Last Jedi  and what they did instead

My other Sequel trilogy wasted potential posts

Rey

Finn

Poe

Rose

Luke

Han

Leia

Kylo Ren

Captain Phasma

Hux

List of ways they could’ve handled Snoke in TLJ

Show Snoke completing Kylo Ren’s training. SHow Snoke sending Kylo to Mustafar, Dathomir, Malachor and Moraband

Have Snoke give Kylo Ren one final test, killing his mother General Organa

Order Kylo Ren and the Knights Of Ren to Ach-To to kill Luke Skywalker and bring Rey to him

Show Snoke using Battle Meditation against The Resistance, while Leia uses BM against Snoke. Leia’s will against Snoke’s might over Ach-To, while Snoke is trying to kill Luke, Leia is trying to save her brother.

Make Snoke Darth Plagueis It makes sense and ties the three trilogies together.  Darth Plagueis was a powerful Sith Lord who could influence the midichlorians to create life and also save others from dying. He taught everything he knew to his apprentice, Sheev Palpatine (aka Darth Sidious), but he eventually lost his power and young Palpatine killed him in his sleep. How could Plagueis not foresee his own demise at the hands of his ambitious apprentice? Why did Plagueis suddenly “lose his power”? The truth is, he didn’t lose his power and he knew Sheev planned to kill him. It was part of the plan. By dying, I believe Darth Plagueis was able to transmit himself into Sheev and assume control of his body, almost like an infectious disease. Ever notice his name? Darth Plagueis. Plague, as in an infectious disease. Darth Plagueis unlocked the secret to immortality by moving from one body to the next, continuing his lifespan through multiple hosts over countless years. Ever wonder why Palpatine was so obsessed with training a powerful young apprentice? Surely he knew that one day the apprentice would want to overthrow him, so why train his own murderer? In Return of the Jedi, Emperor Palpatine continually provokes Luke to strike him down. Why would Palpatine want to be killed if the goal is longevity? Because Emperor Palpatine was assumed by Darth Plagueis and, through his death, he would then be able to transmit himself into a new host body. He wasn’t just looking for an apprentice, he was looking for a new body since Palpatine’s body was growing old. Luke Skywalker was meant to be the next host body for Darth Plagueis. But unfortunately for Plagueis, Darth Vader had a change of heart and defeated the Emperor. Snoke was Plagueis. It’s the only way to make things work. StarWars.com describes Snoke as a seeker of arcane and ancient lore, and the Last Jedi Visual Dictionary shows that he is a collector of rare memorabilia. At some point, Snoke must have found the wreckage of the Death Star on the forest moon Endor, and was infected by Darth Plagueis when he came upon the corpse of Palpatine. Did you ever wonder why Snoke thought it was so important to complete Kylo Ren’s training? It’s because Snoke was Darth Plagueis and he was training his next host body. Plagueis didn’t have a choice but to infect a really old political influencer like Snoke. Kylo was being groomed to become the next host body. Remember the infamous(ly terrible) scene in The Last Jedi where Snoke is “predicting” how Kylo Ren will kill Rey? Wasn’t it a little too obvious? Wouldn’t Snoke have been able to foresee Kylo’s treachery? See through his conflict? It’s because he wasn’t predicting Rey’s death, he predicted his own. He knew Kylo would kill him. He deliberately bullied and provoked Kylo in order to stir his anger into hatred to further fuel his dark side and lead him to completing his training. So let’s say Kylo puts on his ring for his official coronation as Supreme Leader and Plagueis take’s full possession of Kylo Ren, Plagueis had an apprentice who has fully cemented himself into the dark side and now a new and more powerful body. Darth Plagueis has everything he needs to way waste to the Resistance and the final destruction of the Jedi.

What they chose to do with Snoke instead

Snoke died pointlessly without doing anything with him. Supreme Leader Snoke is wasted and there is no reason to care now that the villain you’ve been building your trilogy around is dead. Snoke’s death was too soon. Snoke is a dark side user. Calm and collected. Old enough to see the rise and fall of the empire. He takes no risks and does what it takes to win. He was different from Palpatine and I dare say he even had potential to rival Kreia. He was a mastermind and did not allow himself to be a slave to the dark side. He did not want his apprentice to die like the Sith masters of old. He did not want to keep power until his dying breath. Snoke was not the average Sith Lord, he was different.  He was respectful, he was very powerful, and watching his scenes, even when faced with failure, he remained calm and collected because he was playing the long game and was not a slave to the Darkside like the Sith. He was invested in turning Kylo Ren into Vader’s heir and even has a ring from the catacombs of Vader’s castle. Snoke was so interesting, so many unanswered questions and this well thought out villain. And then TLJ turned him into a dumbed down Palpatine rip off. The claim that Snoke and his backstory is not important is dumb, considering that we know nothing on why this war is even happening or even why The First Order is doing ANYTHING! We want to know who Snoke is because we want to know how this random evil guy was able to destroy the lives of the entire original trio, corrupted Ben Solo and override the happy ending the entire original trilogy and prequels were fighting for. The struggles of the prequels, the clone wars, rebels, original trilogy, all of these stories and struggles were undone because of Snoke, so of course we have questions. Why do the remnants of the Empire follow Snoke and where did he come from? Not wanting to know the motivation of the villains is just plain ignorant. They completely wasted Snoke. Snoke is a power from the unknown regions. He was SO powerful that Palpatine sensed him, Palpatine was so focused and invested in Jakku in hopes of getting closer to the Unknown regions and he wanted to meet what he believed was the source of the dark side of the force. And they just kill him off so easy? Now there is no reason to care. Kylo Ren is not an intimidating villain and it’s pretty obvious he’s turning to the light in Episode IX. Hux is a bumbling incompetent fool and I’m pretty sure they already confirmed he will be more comedic in Episode IX instead of being a threat. There is a villain problem for the Sequel Trilogy. There is no menace in The First Order anymore and I really feel there is no reason to care.

Pointlessly tried to kill Rey instead of trying to turn her

“Your Snoke theory sucks” card is patronizing and insulting. God fucking forbid your audience is fucking invested in the story. God forbid we actually care about learning about the big bad of the sequel trilogy. God forbid we put more thought into Snoke than you did. “Your Snoke theory sucks” no Rian, your Snoke card sucks, your inability to do ANYTHING with Snoke sucks and talking down to us for caring about the direction of the big bad and killing him for no reason sucks. You arrogant piece of fucking shit.

Because Snoke was killed, they copped out and lied out their asses that it was always the plan to bring back Palpatine….bullshit. “oh but wait Snoke was a host body for Palpatine” BULLFUCKINGSHIT. Not originally. Snoke was someone who was supposed to be the darkness Palpatine was trying to get closer. Snoke was the man who destroyed 30 years of peace. He could’ve been anyone, hell even Darth Plagueis. But no, why create interesting characters when you can bring Palpatine back because it’s obvious you have no original ideas.

[elsnark]

Off the top of my head, these are the main problems I had with Blue Lions:

Edelgard’s one year of friendship with Dimitri meant so much to him.  They were children.  So much time had passed.  His emotional attachment to her would have faded a lot.  To my memory, Edelgard didn’t do anything significant for him besides teach him how to dance, but is that really going to stick with someone throughout their life?  It would’ve been more believable to me if it was Edelgard who looked back at her time with Dimitri fondly because he did give her that dagger and it was incredibly significant to her. Is Dimitri’s attachment simply because he later learned they were step-siblings?  Because it’s implied she was his first crush?  Idk.  It’s just difficult for me to completely buy he’d continue being attached to her after so long.

Patricia actually not dying in the Tragedy of Duscur.  There was an entire conversation about this, but it never went anywhere.  All we got was, “well she missed Edelgard and wanted to see her again so she had a hand in the event”.  Okay, cool, but... that didn’t resolve anything.  We never find out what happens to her, not in Blue Lions where this conversation takes place and not in Edelgard’s route even though she’s Edelgard’s mother.  Yeah, it can be presumed she died en-route to Enbarr, but why bring it up if you’re not going to actually resolve it??? It also raises the question of why Patricia felt she needed Lambert dead to go back to Adrestia.  If she was in Faerghus of her own freewill, she theoretically would’ve been able to leave whenever she wanted.  I don’t wanna assume something sketchy was going on, but... Patricia’s existence and her marriage to Lambert were both kept a secret from the general public. Also even though Patricia’s existence and their marriage was kept secret, she... she still went with them... to Duscur?  For a very important and public meeting?  I thought she was supposed to be a secret?  It makes no sense for her to have gone along with them to Duscur if she was supposed to be a secret. Either I’m forgetting something that was said or this is just one big mess.

Dimitri, Sylvain, Ingrid, and Felix didn’t really feel like childhood friends outside of supports.  Felix primarily kept dragging Dimitri (especially in Act 2) so I could at least believe there was unresolved tension from something in their past there.  However, Sylvain and Ingrid hardly talked in the story cut-scenes.  Without doing supports and talking to them while exploring the monastery, I’d easily think the only two who really knew each other whilst growing up were Dimitri and Felix.

Unless I’m forgetting something, what Those Who Slither in the Dark gain from having Dimitri and Edelgard kill each other isn’t really explained.  It’s just an off-handed comment by both Cornelia and Arundel that doesn’t amount to anything.

A hidden scene where Mercedes talks to the Death Knight after you fight him for the last time.  I didn’t even know this existed until a YouTube video was randomly recommended to me.  I don’t understand why they make you jump through so many hoops to unlock this scene when it was hinted at throughout the game Jeritza had a connection to Mercedes and Jeritza was the Death Knight.  What’s the point of making you recruit Caspar for this?  I can slightly understand a paralogue being a prerequisite, but Caspar?  He’s a very random choice.  It would make more sense to me if it were Felix because Mercedes does originally compare him to her brother.

The song they chose for the final boss.  It was very ill-fitting since I really don’t think fighting Edelgard was supposed to feel like this, “hell yes, we’re gonna take down the evil Emperor” moment.  I guess it would’ve made sense had Dimitri still been focused on revenge, but he wasn’t.  He had snapped out of his despair enough to think rationally by this point. Not to mention, throughout the story Dimitri was like, “Edelgard means something to me and she’s my stepsister and I really don’t want to kill her, I’d rather we find a way we can walk along the same path”.  It’s only when they have their parley that Dimitri realizes they can’t find common ground, their ideals are just too different.  Dimitri has no other choice but to fight his last remaining family member.  Then we see Edelgard transform into this monstrous entity because she’s backed into a corner.  It’s not a theatrical moment.  It’s tragic. “Apex of the World” also doesn’t nicely transition into the scene after the battle.  It’s solemn.  Edelgard lost.  There’s nothing more she can do.  Dimitri wants to spare her.  He wants to give her another chance.  However, either as an act of desperation or because she knows she will only be executed later on top of everyone she loves is dead (or turned against her if you recruited a lot of Black Eagles members), she makes the choice to attempt to kill him so he’s forced to kill her. How is this theatrical?  How is this something I’m supposed to feel hyped up about?  It’s heartbreaking. If Rhea, a character that it’s simply impossible to get emotionally attached to (I’ll explain in a different post as it’s not really relevant for BL), has “A Funeral of Flowers” as her boss theme, then Edelgard deserves something on that level as her boss theme in BL.

This

And this

✧Sourcream

[ptw30]

I really dislike how A/L has been written so far (in the romantic sense), their interactions always felt like a slap on the face since we never saw little casual moments with them... but sometimes I wonder, just because I dislike it, does that really mean it's bad writting? Maybe our expectations were too high and we just fooled ourselves?

I’m a fan of romantic comedies. It’s the reason why I loved the first two seasons of Voltron: Legendary Defender. It’s why I love sports anime. For all these, I essentially have the same expectations - at the end of the story, the potential lovers get together, Shiro and Black bond and get their bayard, Kuroko is going to win the basketball game, etc. 

I get a happy ending. 

But Shiro deserved his bayard and lion; Kuroko deserved to win the game, and most of the time, the lovers deserve to get together. They’ve earned it.

Allura and Lance don’t deserve each other for a number of reasons. 

I’m not saying I didn’t see it coming. I’m not saying one can’t enjoy the pairing. I’m saying - Lance and Allura aren’t jiving for a variety of reasons. Here’s an amazing post by @sol1056​ that sums up all I feel about Lance and Allura. It also goes into Shiro and Allura as a pairing, as well as Lotor and Allura.

In the simplest points - Lotor and Shiro respected Allura, respected her decisions, respected her right to choose - Lance has treated Allura like a possession. He growled at Matt. He addressed Keith in “Ark of Taujeer” - “Is the Princess with you? With-with you or…” not actually addressing Allura, and Lance never actually grew into supporting Allura and her decision of Lotor, but rather just biding his time until Lotor was out of the picture. Heck, Lance even wanted to send Lotor to his death - all because he saw Lotor as a threat in his “quest” for Allura.

Sorry, that’s not romance. That’s the beginning of a stalker film.

But if we look at Allura and Lance’s romance from a writer’s point-of-view, it actually doesn’t follow the typical format, which is why I believe it’s not working for a majority of viewers. 

(Below the cut - Lance and Allura’s relationship, as per a romantic comedy format; Lotor and Allura’s, and Lance’s true love - the Blue Lion. You think I’m joking with the last one - I’m really not.) 

There are generally seven steps to a happy ending in a romantic comedy (from “Seven Story Beats to Help Outline Your Romantic Comedy”).

1. The Chemical Equation: Setup

The unfulfilled desire of the protagonist - Lance is a lady’s man without a lady and now a new paladin of Voltron, insecure in his position; Allura is the princess of a dead planet, tasked with freeing the universe from the one who killed her people.

Hm. That’s unbalanced place to start the romance but all right. What’s life without a few obstacles?

2. Cute Meet: The Catalyst

Lance and the paladins come to the castle; Allura falls into Lance’s arms. He tries all his tricks to get with Allura the first two seasons to no avail. (This was actually sexual harassment. It’s clear that Allura does not feel the same way. She makes it clear, but like many women, she is stuck in her position. Lance is the only one who can fly the Blue Lion, and if Allura wants to save the universe and avenge Altea, she has no choice but to work with Lance.)

3. A Sexy Complication: Turning Point

Here’s where Voltron fails. The turning point should have been where Lance gives his bayard to Allura, and it seems to be. He knocks off half of his advances, though he takes three steps back when Matt comes to the castle-ship. Then he wants to send Lotor to his death. Then he starts to hone in on Allura and Lotor’s time. Allura doesn’t start to see him in a new light, and Lance doesn’t stop being an immature teenager. Allura finding out about Lance’s affections via the mice doesn’t help because it happens before she begins to see Lance as a potential love interest.

4. The Hook: Midpoint

Allura is already bound to Lance since they are both paladins, so this part never really happens. They aren’t forced into a new situation where the two of them must work together. Lance and Allura don’t struggle with their affections. Sure, the castle-ship is destroyed, and Allura joins the paladins on Earth - but that’s not a change in Allura and Lance’s situation. 

5. Swivel: Second Turning Point

Here’s where Lance or Allura’s romantic relationship would jeopardize their goal. So…what goal? Lance is going to impede Allura’s goal. Nope. He’s a paladin. She’s a paladin. They essentially have the same goal, though there’s no stakes here other than death.

One could say that Allura being in Blue impedes on Lance embracing his own strengths. He cannot accept himself while he must still be Keith (i.e. the Red Paladin). But even in this case, Lance isn’t jeopardizing Allura’s chance to succeed - unless Lance refused to take Blue from Allura (cuz she’s just too good as a paladin), and Allura cannot leave Blue in order to run the coalition since they don’t have enough paladins. 

Goals must shift. Did any goals shift yet? No? All right. Moving on. 

6. The Dark Moment: Crisis Climax

I’ll give on this one - Season 8 might touch upon this, as the Allura-crying “leak” might indicate, but…since Allura and Lance haven’t technically done any other sections other than the “meet-cute,” I’m a bit skeptical on this being achieved. 

7. Joyful Defeat: Resolution

Skip to the end. Allura and Lance are together. What? You wanted them to go through all the steps? Sorry. Voltron doesn’t do character development. 

I will say this - if Lance had come to accept Allura and Lotor, said he wanted her to be happy, and actually supported Allura, then this might have been a different outcome to Allura and Lance’s potential relationship. Lance’s goal of “getting Allura” would shift to “supporting Allura,” fulfilling the swerve part of the plot.  

Also, if Lotor and Allura do get back together - and Lance does not end up with Allura, then that actually would be character development. Lance is a lady’s man without a lady - and that’s okay. He’s learned from his time with Allura, and he’ll know how to approach a relationship healthier next time. And then he might actually commit to someone. 

“Who?” you ask? 

The Blue Lion…but that’s another meta. 

I do want to go through these steps one more time, but let’s do it with Lotor. 

1. The Chemical Equation: Setup

Allura is fighting to save the universe from the empire that slaughtered her people; Lotor is trying to bring peace to the universe by working as the emperor of said empire. 

Oh. That’s even footing for goals, and they are in opposition as Allura wants to end the empire. Lotor does want to save it, albeit change it to be better. 

2. Cute Meet: The Catalyst

Well, there wasn’t one for them, really, unless you count the fight in “The Hunt.”

3. A Sexy Complication: Turning Point

Lotor and Allura begin to work together; Lotor kills Zarkon. Allura begins to see him in a new light. 

4. The Hook: Midpoint

“The White Lion” - Allura and Lotor need to work together to procure the secrets of Oriande. 

5. Swivel: Second Turning Point

This is not as crystal clear as it should be. Allura and Lotor kiss after going into the quintessence field, and then Romelle shows up. Lotor wants to continue to work together, despite his past; Allura can’t move past the fact that he used Alteans to power his ship prior to meeting her. 

In a tighter outline, Lotor would be wanting to use the colony Altean still, and Allura would want to free the people. 

6. The Dark Moment: Crisis Climax

The fight at the rift. 

7. Joyful Defeat: Resolution

Season 8?

Do I think the end game with Lotor and Allura? No, I don’t. I’m just saying - the story would be better written if it were. 

But…considering Keith’s body and Shiro’s power was used to fly Black, Shiro’s body and Allura’s power was used to fly the Altas, and the clone was tossed aside without the team even contemplating saving him -  I don’t see Voltron pulling out a true and satisfying romantic story arc in Season 8. 

But you never know. After all, Blue and Lance were MFEO. 

…all right. One more time. 

1. The Chemical Equation: Setup

Lance is a lady’s man without a lady; Blue is a lion without a paladin. 

2. Cute Meet: The Catalyst

Lance falls into water, her element, at Blue’s paws. 

3. A Sexy Complication: Turning Point

Blue and Lance get closer. She allows him to use her ice ray. 

4. The Hook: Midpoint

Blue and Lance get stuck under water. They become closer, and Lance unlocks the sonic blaster thingie. He also is willing to die to save the universe along with her. 

“Let’s go down swinging.”

Blue is happy. She made the right choice. Lance is happy. He has his lady. 

5. Swivel: Second Turning Point

Lance wants Black. Blue just wants a paladin. 

6. The Dark Moment: Crisis Climax

Blue locks out Lance and takes Allura as her paladin. 

7. Joyful Defeat: Resolution

Wait. WHAT?! They never reconciled! What the…?

Sobsobsob

But…they were best buds for life, for real…