#misty vale spoilers

[lovecraftiancicada]

"Eiden and Garu stand motionless,"

Meanwhile Eiden and Garu:

[jules-and-rue-and-lexi-too]

Yellowjackets / Welcome to Night Vale e34

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

So You Want To Know Garu & Karu (Timeline Edition)

Very loosely inspired by Idololivine's Olivine post and Halfeti's Edmond post. Update: here's Phaerlax's post about WRITING Garu&Karu

Lore spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BSTEdunb5PwVkhcuoEkaFVXUIk02FCnsoYkhL8yB9pA/edit?gid=221633315#gid=221633315

This is also going to double as a directory of all my Garu/Karu analysis posts.

Note: I did not play every 2022/2023 event, so if Garu/Karu had a tiny cameo in other events, I might have missed it even when watching recordings of past events. Please let me know if I'm missing something or have something wrong.

Warning for many spoilers & also trauma!

This timeline was last updated when Ch 14 pt2 was released.

This is an attempt at a complete timeline of Garu & Karu's history, that we know of. I've written quite a few meta about Garu/Karu, and thought we also need a concrete "these are the canon facts of their history".

Pre-Eiden Arrival:

Assume all these dates are before from Eiden's arrival in Klein.

[25-30 years ago before Eiden arrived in Klein] Garu was born to a nomad wolf spirit pack with a gemstone in his throat (Misty Vale, Ch 14)

[20-25 years ago] Garu, still a cub (in Earth normal wolf years, that would mean 3.5~ months old, unsure about Klein wolf spirit years), is kidnapped by some humans that eventually brought him to the Council of Sorcery (Ch 14).

[20-25 years ago] Kolt and his research team force Garu to transform into a wolf yokai/human form. Karu is formed as a DID trauma protective response. (Ch 14)

[23 years ago] Huey disappears, Eiden is born

[20-23 years ago] Kolt & his team continue to torture Karu, while Garu is dormant during the experiments, Cashel takes care of their injuries. (Ch 14)

[20-23 years ago] Rei returns to Council of Sorcery, Cashel catches him up with what's going on. The church has some kind of plan for Kolt's experiment (aka Garu/Karu), so 2 scientists on Kolt's team remove Garu's gemstone, Karu kills them, Rei & Cashel escape with Karu. (Ch 14)

[10-20 years ago] Garu/Karu and Cashel/Gramps are hiding in a cabin in the Dead Zone, killing monsters, taking care of people who get lost in the Dead Zone. At one point, Cashel/Gramps nearly drowns and never recovers from the illness. (Ch 7)

[3-10 years ago] Gramps dies, leaving Garu/Karu to wander Dead Zone alone. They do also find a cave for their main hiding spot. They also meet Blade occasionally in the Dead Zone. (Ch 7, AxBxO)

[Year Eiden arrives] Eiden meets Karu 1st, then Garu in the Dead Zone. Eiden proposes the human slave plan & Karu accepts. (Ch 7)

At this point, I don't know where the timeline is, because we don't know when the events are taking place amongst the main chapters, so I'll split it into sections.

Main story timeline:

Ch 8: Garu/Karu meets the rest of the gang and moves into Aster's mansion.

Ch 13: Garu reunites with Rei & co, they travel to Wood territory to find Kuya & Quincy because the Wood territory is in danger.

Ch 14: Karu makes Rei promise not to tell Garu his history, in part 2, he does anyways.

Events/SSR timeline:

Master's Gift: revealed that Karu idolizes/occasionally visits Kuya

Mystic Banquet/Endless Banquet SSR: G/Karu are not invited to the yokai banquet because they're under 100 years old and not as powerful as Yakumo. Kuya takes them and Eiden along to be his attendants. Shenanigans happen. Note: In the lore document, it says that Garu produced purple flames during his performance. That was actually Kuya that created the flames.

Idol Fest: Karu is a fan of Blade's idol persona.

Klein Star: Karu and Dante hunt a wild animal as a birthday present for Eiden.

Eerie Escapade/Howling Cyclone: It is revealed that Yakumo reads adventure stories to them, Garu likes drawing pictures, and shenanigans happen.

Silver Miracle: Garu sticks up for Kuya when the rest of the clan assumes Kuya is endangering Eiden with Night Crane shenanigans.

AxBxO/Forgotten Fruit: Shenanigans happen inside a book AU. Garu officially asks out Eiden to be his commander/master. Karu admits that he doesn't hate Eiden in a very backhanded way.

Misty Vale/Ethereal Guardian: Garu finds how hints about his past, so we can assume this event happened before ch 14 for sure.

Frozen Echoes/Binary Starlight: Echo spirits shenanigans happen including Karu getting kidnapped for 2/3 of the event. Garu & Karu perform with Edmond & Quincy for the Festival, Aster sells merch with everyone's face. Karu is scouted and then auditions to be a model, shenanigans, he gets some fans, and then ends up being a model/promoter for one of the restaurants.

Garu/Karu make cameos in Journey to a Nu World and Fancy Capricio, but they're AU/dreamland events and therefore not happening in the real (Klein) world. The only thing that happens in the real (Klein) world is that they join the clan in the hot springs.

Desert of Dusk/Stampeding Adventurer: Garu goes with Eiden to a town outside of Solaria while Dante is investigating it. Shenanigans. We can assume this event happened before ch14 because Garu has another confusing flashback.

Dessert Island Knockout/Beguiling Windchaser: Garu wins round 1 of the sports competition, and then together with Dante & Quincy wins the final flag of the whole contest. Garu is fast enough to be able to dodge both Dante and Quincy's (paintball/fire) attacks. Karu is apparently afraid of ghosts now, and can be easily fooled by human scent tricks.

This post will be updated as future events/chapters occur!

All my Garu/Karu analysis posts:

[humanpurposes]

These are all my thoughts about the Season 2 teaser, under a cut because I'm mentioning book spoilers and doing some speculating, and also because I have sooooo much to say

Starting off with the first shot of Rhaenyra, standing by Shipbreaker Bay with Storm's End in the distance. The fact that she goes looking for Luke is so heartbreaking, but this is why I'm so excited for the show!! In the book there's not really an explanation of how the Blacks found out about Luke's death, just Rhaenyra's reaction and the "son for a son" line. I do really love the portrayal of Rhaenyra as a mother in the first season, especially her bond with Luke and I can so see her rushing to find out what happened to him.

I'm so excited for Emma D'Arcy in general. I'll be honest, it took me a while to warm up to post time jump Rhaenyra, especially because I felt like the character felt so different to Milly's Rhaenyra, but they really won me over in episode 10. What Emma is able to do with just their expressions is incredible, particularly in the very last shot of season 1, that look of grief and fury was so impactful. I hope we get more 'silent' acting moments from Emma and I think this could be one of those.

I wanna jump a head and mention the parallels between this scene and the shot of Alicent by some lake? I really thought that was supposed to be Alys Rivers until they showed her face. Obviously there's a similar visual there with Alicent and Rhaenyra. My questions are, where is this meant to be? It looks misty and you can't see much in the background, so I'm thinking it could be a dream given that she's dressed very plainly? The other lake that comes to mind is the God's Eye, but in the book, Alicent doesn't leave King's Landing. This bit also excited me because I've kinda used bodies of water as symbol for death and grief in one of my fics haha.

Sticking with Alicent, the first we see of her in the teaser is her speaking with someone off camera, probably Larys Strong because you can see his cane. My girl looks tired (probably because her son started a war whoops) and she seems very reluctant with the "many will die line." Super excited for more Olivia Cooke looking melancholic!!

I hate Criston Cole's haircut, but it's not a big deal.

Aegon on the throne! He still looks miserable lmao. I think of all the interpretations of the characters I think Aegon will end up disappointing me the most. I really don't think they developed him enough last season to set up any meaningful rivalry with Rhaenyra, which I can understand because the focus is on Rhaenyra and Alicent. But I feel like he's been left out of his own story in a way because in the book, he doesn't want the throne, but is convinced by Criston to stake his claim and properly fight for it. I have a feeling HotD is still going for a mopey emo boy. I mean he literally has a chain around him. Also I wish his crown had more rubies, it looks so underwhelming, but the dragon embroidery on his tunic is sick.

Also, dragon shoulder things going on with Rhaenyra's dress? Slay, she's the more fashionable monarch for sure.

0:26, the dragon flying overhead. I think this is Nettles!! Some people have been saying they're disappointed she was left out, but I think could be her looking at Sheepstealer? And she has some stick thing idk it looked like a shepherd's cane to me.

And immediately after that we have a shot of a dragon flying over another lake. It looks like the same one? I was thinking it might also be Jace on Vermax when he's delivering his messages to the Vale and Winterfell? Omg but so many dragons this season!! I'm so excited to see all of them.

Going back to Daemon, he's definitely on a war path this season, we have that first shot of him grabbing his helmet and storming off, presumably to battle, then he's beheading someone in front of a Weirwood tree. One thing I really found interesting about the time jump in season 1 was how subdued older Daemon was compared to his younger self, even when he killed Vaemond he played it off so nonchalantly. But then in episode 10 he's just desperate to make a show of strength and end the conflict quickly and violently, with Rhaenyra being the one who has to restrain him. So I'm interested to see how their dynamic as a couple will play out, and to see a return to form for Daemon as a force of nature.

Aemond being the very next frame after Daemon swings his sword oof. I'll get more into Aemond in a bit because I will talk about him forever and ever amen once I get started. But that LOOK, my man is yearning for the throne and we're all obsessed.

0:38, that looks like Seasmoke to me, which would mean the person standing in front of the dragon is Laenor or Addam of Hull. I don't really have an opinion about Laenor possibly coming back, we'll just see what happens. Would be quite devastating for Corlys and Rhaenys though, after mourning their son for 6 years.

speaking of mourning sons Helaena looks so stunning in 0:40. I tried to avoid those leaks but these look like they're from Jaehaerys' funeral procession. I'm looking forward to more prophetic stuff from Helaena, hopefully get more into her relationship with her family. I just hope she gets the time she deserves in the show because in the book she very much exists in the background, especially after Blood and Cheese. And the audacity of them to show a shot of the Dragonpit before Helaena, that's just cruel 🥺

UM ALSO 0:52. Took me a second to register what was happening the first time I watched this. Something that really stands out to me is how gentle Helaena's expression is (unless I'm misreading Phia's face completely) but that is something that's mentioned in the book, Helaena supposedly met them very calmly. I just know Phia Saban is going to do an amazing job in this scene and I'm absolutely terrified to see it play out.

Ok going back again, there's some battle scene or whatever, that's cool ig.

0:45-0:47 Rhaenys' voiceover, her and Rhaenyra (I'm guessing at Dragonstone) and then BAELA!! Again, I'm really hoping for some canon divergence from the book because I am so down to see Baela being utilised more! That's something I didn't really get about the book, Baela has Morning but they only participate in one battle. I'm thinking this is her at Rook's Rest, seeing Rhaenys die or getting there too late.

0:53 Duel of the Cargyll twins? omg :(

And to finish off, the shots of Aemond, then Rhaenyra, then Vhagar. Excited to see Rhaenyra being more active in the fighting. Although her unwillingness to fight her own battles was something that was used against her in F&B, I think it feels very much in line with what we saw of her in season 1.

Aemond looks SO GOOD, and I know these probably won't be from the same scene, but with the shots of him and Rhaenyra being one after the other, I feel like there could be something there about the (for what of a better word) rivalry between them in the aftermath of Luke's death. If we got to see them face off against each other or have some kind of interaction, that would be insane.

Ok now I'm going to ramble about my war criminal princess 🥰

So we all know one of the biggest talking points of the season 1 finale was the part Aemond played in Luke's death and what this means for him as a character moving forward.

It's really interesting to compare HotD Aemond vs F&B Aemond, because in the book he comes across as a lot more abrasive, ruthless and impulsive. In the show, Aemond is an imposing but understated presence which is so unnerving and so captivating to watch, and then he has these moments where his anger comes out. I think in episode 8, his anger feels deliberate when he reacts to Luke laughing at him at the dinner, it's all a threat and a reminder of what he's capable of. It's all to get a reaction and it works, he insults the Strong boys, laughs off Jace's punch, but the moment he comes face to face with Daemon he backs down. Then we have Storm's End in episode 10. His anger is meant to intimidate again, but the difference is that there's no one to make him back down, so he takes things too far, chases Luke and is helpless to stop Vhagar when she goes in for the kill.

I love what Ewan Mitchell has said about the bond between Aemond and Vhagar, how their bond has changed his view of himself and shaped the person he becomes. He's bonded to an ancient war dragon, he's an ambitious second son who has to settle for being a supporting act to his useless older brother, and he's been through a lot of physical and emotional trauma since childhood, so while he's trying to play the part of Alicent's golden child, he's had all this pain simmering under the surface, which was inevitably going to reach boiling point.

I think it makes perfect sense that Aemond's first kill was 'accidental' considering he's never had any experience with actual combat, but this doesn't mean it has to detract from his character and in fact I think this lends itself to the tragedy of his story. Enough people have said it but I think he'll come back to King's Landing, get a right bollocking from Alicent and Otto, and he'll play it off as though he killed Luke to avenge his missing eye. The alternative is admitting that he doesn't have full control of his dragon, not a great sign considering she is the Green's most important asset in the war. B&C is going to devastate their whole family but with Aemond has to carry the guilt of being the one who drew first blood, and I think from there we'll really see him lean into this persona of The Kinslayer and become more ruthless and overtly violent. AND THEN after Rook's Rest and Aegon's injury, Aemond will become Regent and will be closer to the throne than he ever has been or ever will be.

I think he's just going to become completely insane and even more unhinged and I'm absolutely buzzing to see it all go down. Just please, HBO, for the love of God, give him more than one outfit.

Additional thoughts:

I wonder if they'll keep the GoT theme for the opening credits? I kinda want something new, maybe a bit darker? Either way, so excited for new stuff from Ramin Djawadi

No Daeron which isn't looking good, yikes. Dare we hold out hope he'll show up in a later season? But then there was a shot of the Hightower army in the teaser and he'd be with them

We also have no Cregan Stark which surprised me because I really thought they'd play up nostalgia points with Winterfell

No Sunfyre :(

No Caraxes :( unless we count that quick shot of Daemon in his saddle.

No Dreamfyre, but this is less surprising

I'm nitpicking now, but I would have liked a shot of the Velaryon Fleet too, that would have been cool

[enestoestuve]

Qué estuve escuchando #3

Qué estuve escuchando, número 3.

El menú de hoy: Un podcast contingente, uno sobre una película animada de un gran danés, otro sobre un documental local, y otro sobre la franja del plebiscito.

Las Nuevas Claves del Éxito #63 - 6 de Octubre de 2020

Las Nuevas Claves del Éxito · 63. LNCDE: Kuyinay (2020.10.06)

Se acerca el plebiscito sobre si aceptar o rechazar cambiar la constitución, y si ello ocurre, si va a ser con Convención Constituyente (miembros 100% elegidos por la gente) o Convención Mixta (50% miembros elegidos por la gente, 50% parlamentarios en ejercicio). Y mientras ello ocurre, la discusión seria parece brillar por su ausencia. La franja electoral, que debería ser el lugar para poder convencer a los indecisos, me he enterado de que es una gran chacota, y aún si la viera, no me va a convencer de cambiar mi voto (más abajo van a ver porqué).

Si usted mira la situación y se pregunta si no nos hemos dados el tiempo para hacernos un diagnóstico del estado del país antes del plebiscito, no es el único. Afortunadamente los podcast proveen la posibilidad de darnos una perspectiva menos contaminada de partidismo. Uno de los programas más recientes de Las Nuevas Claves del Éxito es un buen ejemplo. El invitado para esta ocasión es un historiador llamado Eduardo, pero que en el ámbito podcasteril es conocido como Kuyinay. Y el tema central del programa entero, es el plebiscito.  

Atentos a la discusión que Katy Becker y Eduardo sostienen. Acá les pongo algunas partes destacadas:

“Tenemos la idea de que hablar de política es pelear, ¿cachai? No discutir, no conversar, es pelear, es terminar enojados. Y eso es porque solamente nos enseñaron a hablar de política, cuando justamente había que pelear, había que sacarse cosas en cara.”

“(El plebiscito) Es la oportunidad de repensarnos un poco como país, de hacer un lavado de cara, y decir: Ya, ¿qué queremos para este nuevo siglo?”

“Es ridículo que la Biblia tenga peso político.”

Disponible en SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify y otras plataformas.

That Groovy Scoobcast #58 - Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo

Tengo que confesar. ¡Abracadabra, Scooby-Doo! es una de mis películas favoritas de Scooby-Doo de los últimos 15 años. Ok, no tiene una gran historia, pero tiene un ambiente que le hace encantadora, y aún si la he visto tres veces (dos en español, y una en inglés), me dan ganas de repetírmela.

La pandilla resuelve misterios es contactada por la hermana de Velma, la que entra como alumna a una academia de magia ubicada en un antiguo castillo, pero que pareciera estar amenazada por una serie de sucesos que están espantando a los alumnos. Entremedio, hay un empresario que está muy interesado en comprarle a pérdida el castillo a sus dueños. No es un accidente que la película tenga involucrada magia: Dos de los tres escritores de la película son Paul Dini y su esposa, Misty Lee, ilusionista de profesión.

Uno de los atractivos de la película es, desde la hermana de Velma para abajo, la cantidad de personajes peculiares que están en esta película. Los hermanos dueños de la academia, la asistente principal, el jardinero, la ama de casa del castillo, este empresario que les quiere comprar el castillo, y el aparato de GPS que está instalado en la Máquina del Misterio. Incluso si la historia de la película se siente enredada, y lo es, es un gusto ver a estos personajes.

¿Cómo se siente que un dúo de fanáticos de Scooby-Doo revise esa película de Scooby que tanto te gusta? Es una experiencia extraña, pero vale la pena probarla. That Groovy Scoobcast, para su episodio especial de la temporada 2020 de su podcast, escogieron esta película, y trajeron a un tercer panelista para hablar de ella. Spoiler alert: No sale bien evaluada en el Scooby Snack-O-Meter. Se los digo desde ya.

Disponible en Buzzsprout, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, y otras plataformas.

La Otra Historia #18 - La ciudad de los fotógrafos

La Otra Historia se repite el plato acá. Y nuevamente es por su especial de derechos humanos, de cara al plebiscito. En esta ocasión es por un podcast sobre un documental que ya había visto, pero que había postergado escucharlo para volver a ver el documental, y después ponerle oídos. ¿El documental en cuestión? La ciudad de los fotógrafos.

Este documental cuenta sobre los fotógrafos, y la importancia que tuvieron ellos en dictadura. Desde el hallazgo de los detenidos desaparecidos en Lonquén en 1978, su rol fue fundamental. Primero para dejar registro de los abusos cometidos por el régimen militar, y las protestas que se estaban empezando a llevar a cabo contra él. Y segundo, para hablar de la importancia del registro fotográfico, en un momento en que lo único que podía quedar de un detenido desaparecido era tan solo una foto. Como decía Ana González: “El no tener una foto de tu familia es como no formar parte de la historia de la humanidad”.

También explican lo que hacen los fotógrafos para poder defenderse en caso de si alguno cae detenido, y de cómo se podía saber si un fotógrafo era de los suyos. Hay un aspecto que resalta del documental, y es como se explicar de como una cámara se podía transformar en un arma, en sentido figurado.

El documental está en Ondamedia, si están interesados.

Disponible en YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, y otras plataformas.

No Sabes Nada #62 - La Franja del Plebiscito

No Sabes Nada · Episodio #62 - La Franja del Plebiscito

A riesgo de repetirme algo que dije en Twitter: No vi, no veo, ni voy a ver la franja electoral televisiva del plebiscito. La razón es muy simple: La franja electoral busca que las opciones a votar, logren convencer al votante indeciso de que su opción es la mejor. Pero no me sirve, porque lo que voy a votar en el plebiscito ya lo tengo decidido desde antes de su día original allá por Abril.

A medida que fueron pasando los días, me vine a enterar de cosas que pasaron en la franja: Que estuvieron Gustavo Gatica y Fabiola Campillai (ambos víctimas de la represión por las manifestaciones luego del estallido social/levantamiento popular/etc.), que estuvo Jorge Gonzalez, que aparecieron varios personajes de teleseries icónicas. Aún con ello, no me va a hacer cambiar de opinión.

Se me pasó por alto que No Sabes Nada, podcast especializado en series, hizo un episodio dedicado a analizar la franja televisiva. Misma posición, no me va a hacer cambiar mi voto. Pero bien vale escucharlos desmenuzar las campañas para ir más allá de lo que quieren decir superficialmente.

Frase destacada del podcast: “Chile no es un país con pocos recursos, están mal distribuidos, simplemente porque hay gente que, gracias a esta misma Constitución, están cortando como loco.”.

Disponible en SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, y otras plataformas de podcasts.

Por hoy es todo. Nos vemos para la próxima.

[lovecraftiancicada]

Misty Vale outfits!

[lovecraftiancicada]

Yakumo pls

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

a BUNCH of Garu/Karu meta, part 2: eyes, Karu-fronting units, In Defense of Sexy Garu/Karu, Leroy & Garu conspiracy, Update to Rei/Gramps theory, general "character development"

So over here I wrote a bunch of Garu/Karu meta zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u.tumblr.com/post/737197419853398016/ and I knew that eventually I'd wanna write more, so here's part 2!

Once again, disclaimer that I have not played every event nor watched every intimacy rooms so I am definitely missing some lore. If anyone has additional info to my questions, lemme know! Also, spoilers everywhere!

A) Blue eyes or yellow eyes?

In a couple comments of phaerlax's fics, he suggested that Karu's eyes are actually blue and I thought I'd follow up with some ~canon~ evidence.

Ch7- every mention of their switching involves language, attitude, and mannerisms, nothing about eye color.

Ch13- Kolt is about to kidnap Garu when Karu takes over. It's very fast and happens all in 1 sentence so there isn't space to mention any eye colors, but Kolt doesn't realize they've switched until Karu has kicked him in the face

Master's Gift- when Karu is pretending to be Garu, Eiden realizes it with the language and voice again, not eyes.

Howling Cyclone- when Garu suddenly takes over with no one around, the text narration only says "the wolf yokai closes and opens his eyes before dashing..." No mention of eye color and this time its from the third person text narration, rather than Eiden or any other character's POV.

Misty Vale- when the young wolves encounter Karu, they don't realize that Garu has switched until Karu announces to call him that. At the very end of the MV event when Garu declines joining the wolves, Eiden pats his head only to realize that its Karu due to his reaction.

Binary Starlight- no mention of eye color, but the modeling people, store owners, and Karu's fans, only refer to him as Karu or Mr Wolf Yokai, including when it's Garu taking Karu's place during the competition announcements.

Desert of Dusk- no one realizes when its Garu and when it's Karu

Some people might have noticed this by now, but Garu's ally units all have blue eyes in their sprites. But when you're actually battling, OG SSR/SR/R/N are all Karu voice lines. HC & EG Garu seem to have more Garu battle voice lines than Karu voice lines. I don't have all of them, so if anyone is willing to help me look into EB and FF Garu, please do! In a cool meta way, the fact that the sprites have blue eyes yet its Karu's voice coming out, indicates to me that Karu's eyes are probably blue.

And lastly- have you noticed Garu's battle loading screen pose, OG loading homepage, Bliss promotional pic with everyone's OG poses + new Dante/Blade/Rei, and Garu's sprite in the opening animated sequence? He's manspreading and has an angry face. Yes, we've seen Garu angry a number of times, but in the new loading homepage with Rei and Dante, Garu is smiling and Garu's angry face is usually still quite cute. I think the OG version is Karu and he has blue eyes there.

B) Karu Fronting Units

Ok so slightly following up from that last bit. I had a idea once, where it would've been cool for Karu to front in the offensive/defensive units, such as strikers and guardians, and Garu to front in the supportive units, such as buffers and healers. Especially since the battle voice lines already do that (see point above). This would be extra cool cause it lines up with their lore/personalities and DID system. Karu is the protector alter, doing a lot of the Dead Zone surviving, and it'd make sense for him to do offensive/defensive battle units.

But also- Binary Starlight Garu should have totally been Karu fronting. Frozen Echoes, while Garu is onscreen more often, is about Karu wanting to sing and then getting kidnapped. But more importantly, the intimacy stories are about Karu's modeling competition. He's also a striker and, as mentioned, I thought it would be cool to have Karu being the strikers.

Endless Banquet Garu probably would have been nice to be a Karu unit because part of it is about Karu wanting to go to the yokai festival, but it was also Garu's 1st event SSR, so it makes sense that he wouldn't be.

So here's to me sending out into the universe that we get a future Karu main event SSR. He's still missing a saboteur and I can see a saboteur going either Garu or Karu.

C) In Defense of Sexy Garu/Karu

People's biggest problem with Garu is usually how young he looks and acts. You are not wrong if you are uncomfortable with Garu/Karu being sexualized! That is totally valid! This section is not for you. This section is for ignorant haters. (Garu/Karu are just fictional characters so I don't think too defensively on this so I won't be offended if you still do.)

First up- Garu/Karu is not a shota. Shotacon is defined as underage/prepubescent/pubescent boys in an erotic/sexualized manner. And yes there are muscle shotas. But Garu is not one of them. Depending on the lore, Garu is 19-33+ (possibly older, see that other post where I calculated his possible age) and he has a young adult proportioned body. However, he has a major babyface and acts puppylike/borderline childlike and does appear younger than the rest of the cast. So it's possible that he's shota-adjacent and I can see why people think he'd be the "1000 year old loli/shota" characters.

Next- puppy play! Have you heard of animal roleplay and specifically leather puppies? Have you met someone whose done puppyplay? Seems an awful lot like Garu right? You'd be right! I'm more of a handler, but a lot (though not all) of the (western) puppy players I know go into a (dumbed down) puppy headspace, act hyper, head scratches, play fetch, bark, treats, and "treats". (Naturally, IA studio is writing from the Asian perspective so the scene might be different there & they probably didn't consult any puppy players anyways, but there's no set "rules".) Sound familiar?

I'm like 99% sure Garu/Karu is supposed to represent puppy play, not shotas. There's a reason the most common imagery of a leather puppy is a pup hood, some kind of gag, collar, chest harness, jockstrap, butt plug tail, and leather boots. Also sound familiar? It's very close to OG SSR and SR Garu, and when the devs gave BS Garu a jockstrap, that sealed the deal. Same with when they made Garu/Karu an omega in the A/B/O event.

Now that we agreed that Garu/Karu is puppy play and not shotacon, one common factor amongst puppyplayers is the sexycute factor. As in, the puppy could be acting cute and affectionate and puppylike while getting fucked. Head scratches while doing a blowjob. And so on. NU Carnival characters fill a variety of sexy roles and while we have 2 other yokai, Garu is the one that fills the puppy play role. He's not a furry, but he's the closest thing for those who are into it. And of course, he (and Kuya) are the token kemonomimi. I'd argue that Garu is actually more human that most puppies I've seen/played with since he is primarily bipedal and talks fully in a human language.

So yeah its fine to sexualize them because of the sexy archetype they fulfill!

D) Leroy and Garu Conspiracy

So this is a wild and possibly impossible conspiracy theory. At the end of Gambler's Paradise, we get a scene between Aster and Rei talking about a mysterious "that group". In ch 13, Rei tells us that Council of Sorcery is trying to replace the need for Huey's essence. Throughout Gambler's Paradise, we find out that Leroy is a recent imperfect familiar that was a result of experiments with Huey's essence. Throughout Misty Vale and Ch 13, we get hints that Garu might have been experimented on by the Council long ago.

So my conspiracy theory is that both Leroy and Garu were experimented on by the same Council of Sorcery, even if they were from different departments. Garu was possibly more than a decade or several decades ago and Leroy was within the past couple months or year cause he didn't start causing chaos in Aster's casinos until recently. This means that either there are different departments focusing on different experiments, but also totally possible that back then, they were experimenting on removing Huey's essence and now they're working on replicating Huey's essence.

Bonus weird similarity between Garu, Leroy, and Morvay- they all really REALLY like eating their choice of preferred food, and get hungry very easily. (Ok Garu technically might be super hungry cause he had very little food for many many years, but still)

HMMMMMM LORE MIC DROP.

E) Update to Rei is Gramps/Garu/Karu backstory

Here I theorized that Rei might be Gramps and other people have theorized or drawn fanart of this too. HOWEVER, Howling Cyclone does have a major problem in that we see Gramp's ghost.

What i propose to fix this: we don't know when ch13 or Eerie Escapade happened and realistically it's probably because Rei wasn't created as a character yet. But I can explain this lore away with saying even if Rei died "long ago", we dont know when he was reborn. And hey, maybe for all we know, the Gramps ghost was actually Father, realizing that even if Garu has Eiden, Karu could use some more support and decided to go revive Rei. :shrug: Or maybe they'll retcon the Howling Cyclone ghost like they retconned Aster's dick.

F) Garu/Karu's ~Character Development~ (not H scene specific)

(Warning for rambling!) So in my post about whether or not Kuya has character development and if it's even necessary, I mentioned that Garu & Karu needed character development. In various replies (but not my post), one comparison I've brought up between Kuya and Garu/Karu(+Zuko) is the difference between slow gradual changes and the heroes journey. And I thought I'd elaborate on that some more.

To clarify on Kuya- he's over 200 years old and has been changing slowly over time since forever. He started the story already having changed over time and will probably not stop going through this kind of slow gradual change, simply due to the fact that time passes and he's immortal. And while Eiden plays a part in present day, overall Kuya is not having major story beats causing massive changes.

The cool thing about Nu Carnival's cast, as evidenced by Kuya, is that everyone is on different points of their ~character development~ and Garu/Karu is starting from their very beginning. Yakumo is also starting from the very beginning. Whereas someone like Dante, Olivine, and Edmond are already somewhere further down the adventure. Or they have a different kind of character development path like Kuya, Rei, and Blade.

Now for Garu/Karu. So the classic heroes journey is a story template where the protagonist gets a call to adventure, meets various character archetypes, endures many trials, and returns changed in some way. Obviously it's not a 1:1 matchup with Garu/Karu's story, but he does get a call to adventure (joining the clan), meets a mentor(the clan members), and is currently still enduring many trials. This is what I mean by he has a big "heroes journey development". And using this pattern, we can predict that Garu/Karu will continue enduring more tests, before encountering a major ordeal, conquering it, returning back a changed man.

Now why is Garu, or more specifically, Karu's character development important or necessary? Much like how Yakumo started out his heroes journey as a "newbie", Garu and especially Karu start out as "newbies", with limited empowerment, not that many skills yet, MANY basic things to learn (and amnesia, or at least Garu has amnesia. Karu is debatable). Karu has big dreams, really big dreams, and while they're played for laughs, he absolutely sucks at those big dreams. He's either going to achieve those big dreams, change those big dreams, or lose his delusions of grandeur and that will be character development. His current stage in life, lack of power (and stamina lol), trauma, and unfortunate circumstances are preventing him from achieving those big dreams. Garu is more chill and mostly just wants to have Fun with his Master and help people where he can (including helping Karu). However, he also lacks power, is a newbie to things, and got that traumaTM that just causes him problems. Garu also kind of represents the coming of age plot- they may have gained basic survival skills in the Dead Zone & had no social skills, but have also started dabbling in learning and leadership in Forgotten Fruit, Eerie Escapade, and Misty Vale. He's slowly becoming braver. They also didn't know how to read before meeting Yakumo & Olivine, but now they can sort of write sentences!

As for their role in the story & how it ties in with character development. He's the cutesy comic relief like Blade or Topper, but also, as mentioned in my Kuya post, that they're a victim of the Gemstone plotTM. SPOILER TERRITORY. One major conflict that the plot is coming against in the main storyline is altars going haywire and the Council of Sorcery and Garu (and possibly Leroy) might be the key to solving this mystery. However, with his amnesia and limited empowerment, they can't really progress with it. Therefore, it is crucial for Garu/Karu to experience ~character development~ to move forward.

If you got this far, thanks for indulging in this longass analysis post on my favorite wolfboys to roll around in thinky thoughts. Possibly more to come as more ~lore~ is revealed.

Once again, I haven't played every event or intimacy room, so if you've got answers to my questions or additional contributions, please lemme know!

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

NU:Carnival Gambler's Paradise Event Review/Analysis

Warning for spoilers! (Note: This was written before Rusted Nation event came out, so some of the gore/assault stuff I talk about is missing)

Ok so I'm technically new to playing Nu Carnival (as in, since Sunburst Festival), so I can only compare it to Sunburst Festival, Misty Vale, and the reruns since Sunburst Festival. But I thought I'd share my thoughts on why the Gambler's Paradise event was so good.

As a disclaimer: I'm not into fluffy stories and personally prefer horror, gore, action, and ofc smut. So if that stuff ain't your cup of tea, then what I'm saying are positive things, may not be your thing. I'm also a lesbian so I'm not playing this game with the intention of self inserting myself to be banged by the guys. I can only think in terms of the quality of the sex and story compared to other porn games I've played. 

The story/sex:

One thing many people have said about NU:Carnival, is that its a gay porn game, but with "an actually good story and good characters". However, if we look at it realistically in terms of what most players can afford, then it's more like a gacha turn-based RPG, with a few porn scenes locked away. With the exception of the 1st opening scene, in all the main storyline chapters, there is no sex, unless you pull for character cards. At most, we occasionally get characters talking about their sexual exploits and Chimes of Darkness event had an off-screen orgy. Naturally, this is still a gacha game and the H scenes will never be available for free. 

But in Gambler's paradise, a very taboo sexual crime (vore) is what kicks off the plot, characters are deliberately flirty for plot reasons, a magical cock ring is what solves the day, and so on. It's a very horny event, mixing porn with plot and that's what I think makes a good porn game. A porn game shouldn't be censored or fluffy- it should have horny first, and then to elevate it from being just a bad cliched average porn game, it could also have a good plot. 

The SSRs:

I personally think SSR Aster & Morvay battle stats kind of suck, so we'll just ignore that. Instead, their SSR designs are very good. I do really miss femboy twink Aster, but full form Aster is not bad and actually made me notice/appreciate twink Aster more. Morvay, however, is standout because he doesn't have illogical gravity-defying skintight clothes and has fatty pecs. All the big titty guys (including Morvay SR/R/N) in NU:Carnival have perky tight muscular pectorals. But SSR Morvay? His are borderline sagging! To everyone who complains that there is are no fat guys in Nuca- first up its a porn game so it'll never happen, but SSR Morvay is the closest we can get to so far. Nuca's other claim to fame is the clothing damage. I don't have every card so I'm not sure if any other cards have it, but I think Aster & Morvay might be the 1st SSRs with visible marks on their bodies (kisses, handprints, rope, etc). 

As for the rooms- I did look up kink stats for all rooms, and I gotta say- Aster & Morvay have THE most creative H scenes in the entire game so far. Nuca is actually kind of vanilla if we think about it, and they BROUGHT the kinky shit. Most other porn games have more far extreme (or stupidly ridiculous >_> ) stuff than these 2 rooms, so Nuca is finally starting to catch up. 

I would like to bring extra attention to Aster though. I've read a lot of BL manga, I've played a tiny number BL games, watched many more BL game Let's plays/livestreams, and have researched many titles/looked at many people's recommendations, so I think i know a decent number of titles. At this point in history, there are absolutely 0 transguys that have sex in BL (not including "magical MTF  genderswapping" that hentai/anime is known for). There's also 0 use of strapons in smutty BL. We've also still haven't seen Aster naked or directly using his junk into/with someone else. Yes there's mention of Aster's "rod" & something gushing/leaking behind Eiden's back in his SR room, but we don't see it, there's no "orgasm splashing sound" that Nuca's H scenes are known for, and Aster's VA is also not orgasm-moaning/screaming during it. 

Several other tumblrs have already speculated that Aster might be trans and reddit has speculated that Aster might be ace spectrum/sex repulsed.  So Aster might be the 1st male character in all of explicit East Asian BL to use a strapon, possibly trans, and possibly on the ace spectrum. Also also- Aster's a shapeshifter, he can probably make a dick appear & reappear at will! And transguys can also do packing! There is just so much evidence it can't be just coincidences. I think that's SO cool. 

The gameplay: Unfortunately, the battles were the same as any other NU:Carnival battle. Nothing novel about this.

The gore/horror/assault:

This is the point where MOST people will disagree and turn away, so trigger warnings for everything. And just cause I enjoy the horror, does not mean that everyone needs to. It's valid for someone feel uncomfortable/horrified by it, but also you should not yuck my yum. Like I mentioned, I'm not into gay porn to pretend I'm being banged by guys.

Anyways, NU:Carnival, is a mostly vanilla gay porn game, so there's only horror *sometimes*, and it's usually just fighting/killing, psychological manipulation, or Kuya. Well, Gambler's Paradise opens up with serial killing and vore. We also "see" onscreen sexual mutilation, onscreen sexual assault, murder, and Aster & Morvay technically cannibalize Leroy. (They're familiars, Leroy is a familiar, so cannibalism?) Depending on how you interpret Aster & Morvay's relationship, you could view Morvay's room 5 H scene to be Aster assaulting Morvay too. Note that all the violence and stuff is still limited by the mobile game animation format, so the animation isn't great, but the text and SFX communicates the horror well enough.

Now, there are actually a LOT of horror BL visual novels/games with sex and most of them are high quality horror compared to NU:Carnival. However, one thing NU:Carnival offers is it's signature self-awareness, genre-saviness, and the opportunity to do sexy comedy horror. And ofc, since it's a regularly updated online gacha game, that means it has the time to be relevant and to experiment and try out different genres, so if this event isn't for you, there is the main story and other events that could suit your taste. Gambler's Paradise takes what it's best at, takes the risks & opportunities its' genre can offer, and makes it unexpectedly fun. (Except the whole gacha/pulling/price shenanigans, and ).

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

Mooore NU Carnival lore predictions!

Mostly pulling from foreshadowing in Rusted Nation event. All of them take place in the actual Saian continent in the past, whereas in the intimacy rooms, I think Rei and Kuya's are in the Saian autonomous zone (and Blade's takes place on a boat that starts going to Saia).

SPOILERS BELOW

So the easiest/nicest ones to talk about are Kuya's flashbacks. This one was full of easter eggs.

Huey & Kuya get the playing cards that Eiden will later show Kuya how they work in main story ch 7.

They also pick up a gemstone necklace that looks eerily like Eiden's, just with an decorative frame around it. I'm like 90% sure thats the gemstone that Huey will later use to travel to another world, or this necklace makes its way to Aster & Morvay, somehow the frame gets removed, and is the gemstone that Eiden wears now.

And ofc. The man of the hour. Huey's appearance reveal. It features a cane with a ram. And we also see Rin carrying a cane with a ram. Also also, Eiden fits Huey's outfit exactly, and we kinda all know that Rin's model is the same as Eiden's.

I wrote another theory on what the Dead zone/admantite contaminations might imply for Klein kingdom.

Potential theories??????

Also, I'm a little confused why they have SO MUCH MAIN STORY LORE in this event, meanwhile they don't show Garu's backstory in Misty Vale even though we all thought it would.

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

alright so now some updates with the breadcrumbs of info we get in misty vale. spoilers!

So we find out that Garu used to be a wolf spirit (cub) who had a gemstone embedded in his body. He was living with a pack somewhere in the klein continent when some humans kidnapped him. (Then the wolf pack fled to the Vale of eternity). Garu also has a vague flashback of being surrounded by humans & his scars bleeding.

I think this pretty much confirms that humans were experimenting on Garu, somehow he gained his yokai form, and that's when the they (literally) tore out his gems. Poor baby.

On a slightly more silly note, people have pointed out Garu's throat scar being weird. But, has anyone wondered why he has an X scar on his (very round) butt cheek? Either he fought someone that decided to slash his butt twice, a monster cut his butt precisely for some reason, or his butt had a gem [that got ripped out by the kidnappers].

predictions for Garu/Karu past (triggering version)

A companion meta to my predictions for Garu/Karu's past in this post

Ok now I'm gonna speculate what kind of trauma/experimentation garu/karu might have undergone. Warning for most likely triggering stuff.

Fortunately even tho its a BL, i dont pinkcore will ever go the r*pe trope because I think Garu says that Eiden is their first time ever.

So we know how Karu keeps talking about conquering humans and having human slaves and never referring to people by their name and being super aggro. I'll wager a guess that that is how he was treated when by humans (except on an actual threatening level), which is why he tries so hard to be as strong as the humans who traumatized him. I am a little bit worried that even if Garu geniunely had no sexual experience, that Karu might have fronted during it (to protect Garu from the trauma) and that is why he's trying so hard to be a top.

Alternatively, i think its a lot of violent/bloody essence skill testing including removal of the gems. i dont think those scars are purely from fighting in the Dead zone, they might have been from the group as well.

(speaking of which, karu's H scenes are more dubcon-y than Edmond's. at least Edmond we know he's the hiding-desires-tsundere trope. Karu/Garu are so naive/honest that I think Karu is not a tsundere and not "hiding any true desires" and knows what he doesn't like. i'm really hoping that in this new event, a) we find out Karu/Garu's backstory and b) maaaaybe Karu gets to actually top or Karu gets to finally have a good time.)

(NOTE: dubcon & noncon are some of my guilty pleasures, if you take a look at my really old yaoi posts from before 2014. however i can tell fiction from reality and at the end of the day, this is a porn game operating by porn logic.)