#modern cinderella cg

[arabareothecomander-blog]

[mycenia]

I can feel it… Here comes… THE WALL OF TEXT. Spoilers to a minimum, but there are some late route cgs.

It’s been a while since I really enjoyed every aspect of a SWD route. Chronus was adorable, but his route suffered from lazy writing and unnaturally short chapters. Tsubaki was a dumpster fire with all the flaws of Chronus, but without the cuteness or simple story line to compensate. I did love Ioannis, but it had little hiccups and the endings didn’t quite sync with the rest of it.  Enter Modern Cinderella. Now, I like this game. It’s low key. It lacks in the gut-punch drama, but there’s a lot of growth, the characters are nuanced (if a little melodramatic at times), and the art is decent. The missing gravitas can be a bit boring at time and it can stumble over itself trying to get the pacing right, but it avoids any major pitfalls. The first three LIs were cute, if lacking in depth. Rudolph was the devil with an angel’s face and he managed to truly disturb me before they neutered him for the sake of the “aggressive female protagonist” but, still, his route was better than the previous.  And finally we have Robert. Now, I’ve had my eye on him since they first introduced him in Zach’s route. It helps that he’s just my type. Brusque, a little rude, and generally misunderstood. For lack of a better term, he’s a bit Klaus-y…

And I love him. So. Much. He has that almost unaware level of honesty in everything he says and it makes for great moments. He’s sweet without the saccharine and supportive without the coddling. He an adorable drunk and that’s turning into a trend in characters I enjoy. The sheer number of awww-inspiring moments he dragged out of me is unheard of.  

Not just him either. The entire route was beautifully constructed. The MC seems a bit more balanced. She’s just as driven and eager, but her insecurities feel real. They don’t magically disappear and they don’t conveniently pop up for the sake of drama. Robert’s transformation gets almost as much focus as hers. It isn’t: Here is man. Here is man’s problem. Mostly ignore problem. Then jump to chapter 9 and here is man’s solution. His growth is intrinsically tied to the MC’s and their mutual support of one another is shown in every interaction and not just told in a dialogue dump. 

Their relationship is an actual entity and not the reward near the end of the story or a flash-in-the-pan moment early on to get a CG (*cough* Rudolph) that gets summarily ignored for most of the route. Her father finally comes out of the shadows (literally) and saves us from the, now old, wicked witch mother routine. Aidan is Aidan and still one of the best parts of every route.  So, to summarize… 

[rainberrydrops]

Robert Moore Rebirth + Evolution + All Endings Cleared CGs

[acrispyapple]

sample cgs and a music video for 100 days princess from the cybird website. content source is linked! ☆ additional videos here. midcin version here.

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Review: Cinderella (Spoilers)

Disclaimer: I am posting this review the day after the movie airs on Amazon Prime, so if you haven't yet seen it don't read on until you do.

General Reaction:

It is slightly weird to think of another movie studio taking on one of the classic fairy-tales that isn't Disney, because, as I am sure is the case for a large portion of the mainstream audience, Disney have almost claimed fairytale adaptations as their own.

However, as identified, Cinderella, is a fairy tale and one created long before Disney came about. As such, other studios are allowed to put across their own interpretation of these classic stories that we have seen a lot of times adapted at this point.

That being said, we have seen many different adaptations of Cinderella at this point from the classis Disney Animation version and it's live-action counterpart, to modern-day reworkings like A Cinderella Story of the mid-noughties starring Hilary Duff.

It's quite an easy story to tell and adapt to a variety of different settings, and what this 2021 retelling does with the story blends the old-fashioned with the modern. Does that mean it is set apart from the others? Well in my opinion yes and no.

While this is a Sony movie, it plays a lot like a Disney Channel Original Movie. From the comedy to the settings to the costuming and the music, it plays like the best of those types of movies. I'm talking the High School Musical franchise and the Descendants franchise. It is by no means bad or corny, but it isn't even on the level of the 2016 live-action Cinderella.

While that version was pretty much a straightforward live-action version of the original animated version, the style of the movie outweighed the substance.

Here however, there is a great blend of both style and substance. The story takes the classic elements of the original Cinderella fairy tale but tries to inject a modern and feministic twist that the recent live-action Beauty and the Beast tried to do.

In terms of whether this version of Cinderella stands out in the crowd of Cinderella movies, I would say it does. Not only is the titular character race-bent and the setting she is in seemingly plays into that, but the reworking of the Fairy Godmother as the Fab G as well as giving the Stepmother a more humanised backstory allows for a more compelling take on a classic.

Cast:

Because this is just the one all-in review I'm not going to do an in-depth character analysis and instead group the characters as who were my favourites, who did a passable job, who was bad and who were for some reason just there.

Favourites:

I have a top 3/4 favourite characters in this movie. Idina Menzel's Stepmother Vivian, Billy Porter's Fab G, Minnie Driver's Queen Beatrice and additionally Beverly Knight's Queen Tatiana.

Idina Menzel was always going to be fantastic in this movie, but to see her portray what is traditionally the villain character in the movie as a sympathetic character as part of the movie's feminist agenda was an interesting twist. No cat for a start, I don't know if Lucifer was a part of the original fairy tale but of course in the Disney adaptations Lady Tremaine is always accompanied by her faithful feline, but also the fact that her backstory parallels Ella's current story and the fact Vivian was so willing to have Ella reject her passion to do what is expected of her just as was forced on her was actually great motivation.

In truth I have only ever seen Billy Porter in one other thing aside from this movie and that was American Horror Story: Apocalypse. I have never seen Pose though I have heard good things, but from what I understand, Billy Porter only really has one speed. However, as the character's name states, that speed is fabulous. I loved Fab G in this movie, the fairy godmother is usually one of my favourite characters in the movie and every interpretation I have seen has brought something different and memorable. If this version of Cinderella is remembered for anything it will be for this very modernised take on the Fairy Godmother, not only gender-bending and race-bending a traditionally white female character, but with Porter choosing to make the character non-binary and that outfit speaks for itself, Fab G was simply a fabulous character.

In both Disney adaptations, I have never heard mention or reference to Prince Charming having a living mother...or a dead one for that matter. So to not only have the Queen being in a chunk of this movie, but also having her own story branch tying into the feminist agenda running through the movie and being portrayed by Minnie Driver, I was in love with this character.

Pretty much similar to the Fab G, if you've seen Beverly Knight's one second in the trailers you've pretty much seen her in the movie. She contributes to Ella's story in the movie and only appears in the latter half of the movie in 2 maybe 3 scenes but she makes an impact because she's Beverly Knight. My only gripe with her is she does not sing in the movie, you have Beverly Knight with not even a solo in a group number?

Passable:

Unfortunately the star of the movie Camilla Cabello is just passable in this movie as Cinderella. She does have some humour about her and her singing is great despite maybe being autotuned because I know how she can sing, but she doesn't feel like Cinderella to me, it actually feels more like a version of what Emma Watson was doing with Belle in the live-action Beauty and the Beast rather than Cinderella but at least she tried.

As for Nicholas Galitzine, he's definitely more engaging as a modern-day Prince Charming, Robert is definitely more engaging a character than Ella unfortunately, which to be fair is still good as the 2015 Cinderella is the only other adaptation to really make the Prince interesting, but I can't quite put my finger on exactly which movie it is but there is another movie I have seen where the Prince Regent doesn't want to be king but the Princess does and has to fight for her right to be it...that's pretty much this story for them.

Also Pierce Brosnan as the King, despite jokingly singing towards the end, did a great job at being the archetype of old-fashioned values with his on-screen wife Minnie Driver's queen pushing him into a modern-day thinking.

Bad:

As for who's bad, I have to say it pains but the British comic relief characters really let the side down in this movie.

In the three mice defence, Romesh Ranganathan and James Acaster are somewhat funny but unnecessary. James Corden however is abismal in this movie. I get he produces it, but particularly after Cats I do not understand 1) Why he'd want to portray another CG animal or 2) Ever think that one shot of him changing back from human to mouse with his head on a mouse body was funny...it was terrifying.

Also this movie is supposedly a family-audience movie...so why include a crass joke of Corden's character talking about peeing out of his front tail?

Additionally to the three mice, Rob Beckett has a surprising role in this movie as a potential suitor for Vivian's daughters, but he simply portrays such a creepy, cringe-worthy character it's almost uncomfortable to watch.

New Additions:

So as well as the two queens and the British comic relief there is also the addition of Princess Gwen to the movie who is the sister of the Prince and the one who wants to be ruler. It's kind of the same story as Jasmine's in the live-action Aladdin as wanting to be Sultan but being a woman isn't taken seriously, however here it is treated more comedically as every time there is a serious moment with the King trying to force Robert to grow up and be King, she always tries to interject with "Would this be a bad time to tell you about an actual real reason why I would be a good ruler" and they make sense but she's always dismissed until the very end.

Then there's a town crier, who is also inserted as a musical number while he's reading his proclamations but as a rap. Honestly I don't know Doc Brown as an artist but I did happen to enjoy what he contributed.

Music:

Which brings us on nicely to the music of the movie as this is a musical and I usually break down the songs. Again this time I will be doing groupings of best to worse.

Honestly my favourite number is probably "Shining Star" mostly performed by Billy Porter with verses by Camilla Cabello and, unfortunately, James Corden.

I also enjoyed the two original songs of the movie, "Million to One" which is Cabello's "I Want" song of the movie and used a lot through the movie, and then also "Dream Girl" which is Idina's main other song but also sung by basically the women of the movie, it's Idina Menzel if you don't give her an original song it's an insult.

Idina's other song is a cover of "Material Girl" and honestly it is a lot of fun, Nicholas Galitzine's rendition of "Somebody to Love" was also fun and surprising as I did not think this guy could sing that well.

The group numbers were fun and well choreographed but they are also somewhat forgettable. The song at the ball of "Whatta Man/Seven Nation Army" was probably the most memorable but still just mediocre.

Recommendation:

So with all that said, would I recommend watching Sony's Cinderella? Honestly I would say it is worth at least one viewing, and I do recommend watching all the way through just to get the full experience. I do think it will do better as a streaming movie than it would have done as a theatrical release, but I cannot pinpoint a market for this movie.

I don't think this will go down as one of the great adaptations, but there are moments and aspects of the movie that sets it apart from the crowd.

Overall I rate this movie a 7/10, it's not as fantastic as I feel the trailers were making it out to be, but having seen the movie twice there are definitely elements of the movie I looked forward to watching the second time around.

So that's my review of Sony's Cinderella, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Movie Reviews as well as other posts.

[masterhandss]

Hamefura Idol AU! (part 2)

Here’s a completely unrelated Katarina idol art by @Sangotofura on twitter!

This is a continuation of my first post, the one that is more of an overview of the original FL game and the original descriptions of the characters. I don’t know if I want to write a story for this, since again this is just an excuse to draw, but I’m really having fun with expanding the alternate version of the world of hamefura.

It’s a lot of fun to rewrite hamefura’s story to fit in an idol setting, so I hope you guys don’t mind if I write a bit more for my dumb au dhjgfjs

More tidbits about the ‘Game’:

The game’s name, Fortune Lover: Cinderella Idol! or “Fortune Lover”, is read as “for-tune lover” by the fans (get it? tune?? pls laugh). The ‘F’ of the name is written as a fortissimo.

In the setting for Fortune Lover, the entertainment industry is the biggest industry of all time, with music being the most popular form. It has been like this for decades, and as time progressed, people’s tastes and expectations of music evolved, leading to the creation and popularity of idols.

Idol-Producers are a new project that is testing the capabilities of a idol teen, observing how their involvement in their own success can impact how they manage their time and how they can bring the absolute best out of themselves, on their own. Maria is the first idol who will be testing this new style. She is still a producer to herself, the boys, and even Sophia and Mary if you choose to have them join you. Despite being an idol, they still call Maria their “producer” and treats her like one. 

The characters in the game are in 3D CG, as the game includes the dance choreography or “MV Mode” if you perfect the score of the rhythm game. 

While Katarina’s bullying isn’t really death threatening, it’s more in line with the petty kind like verbal threats, sabotaging Maria’s idol clothes and stage equipment, paying someone to mess up her tracks during performances, badmouthing her infront of tv show producers and hosts, and stuff like that.

Katarina’s bullying isn’t as bad as it is in the original otome game, but she gets shunned by the public because behavior like that is only supposed to be done behind the curtains. The public has such a pure and honest perception of idols that they never think of the idea that the girls who smile and sing on stage actually try to stab each other in the back when the stage lights are off. Some people think that Katarina’s character is just a persona, so knowing that she is actually an ignorant and arrogant rich girl idol-wannabe, her fans lose respect for her. Katarina’s harassment of Maria is one of the few cases that are brought to light by the end of the game, and because of how much the public loves Maria by that point, they are enraged by Katarina’s behavior, making her lose support on all sides

Katarina had been in love with Gerald ever since they were children, and while Gerald has always been a popular boy among both his peers, when she found out Gerald was going to be an idol, she disliked the idea of sharing her beloved Gerald to a huge audience of people, so she became an idol to stand alongside him and to make herself worth of him by charming him as as an idol and gaining a large following herself. Despite this, Katarina didn’t strive too hard to be a talented idol, as she was too confident on herself due to the pampering of her parents.

Even if the player doesn’t desire to romance any of the four boys, given how the game is written and how it is programmed, the boy with the highest relationship points with Maria will confess to her by the end of the game. It would be impossible to not interact and gain points with the boys, as you gain relationship points in most areas of the games (when you “practice” your characters, when you “play” their songs, when you “give” them new clothes, when you “converse” with them in story mode, etc.). In the event that there are two characters with the exact same amount of points, the game will choose a boy for you.

Sorcier Pro.’s current president is Geoffrey Stuart (for reasons that will make sense someday) 

Katarina-Gerald and Mary-Alan aren’t engaged in this au, but are constantly in each other’s presence due to most powerful bussinessmen and celebrities being good friends with each other. 

Each girl has a specialty in a certain area: Katarina with dancing, Sophia with singing, Mary with acting/drama, and Maria (according to the official description of her in the box) with fashion coordination. Maria can be seen as more of a jack of all trades though, as she does represent the player. 

While any of the boys can trigger the condemnation event that will lead to Katarina’s social suicide, the event is specifically associated with Keith and Gerald due to the severity of her presence and bullying if you have high relationship points with the two. With Alan and Nicole, Katarina’s event only happens for a few lines, but for Keith and Gerald, it takes place in complete detail, with it’s own animated cutscene. 

Gerald’s route is also the most popular among the fans, with community surveys reporting that 53% of the game’s player base had Gerald as their final chosen love interest ( 25% with Keith, 12% with Nicol and 10% with Alan)

Monkey Girl/Past-Life Katarina

Since Maria’s name can’t be change in the game, but you can give her a “nickname” that represents the username of the player, Past-life Katarina’s name in the game is “SaruP” (or “Monkey producer” lol)

Saruchan (Monkey Girl) dies before she could finish her playthrough of the game, and all of her knowledge is based on her idol-expert best friend Acchan. She’s a bit tomboyish, and she loves to climb trees and move freely without a hint of poise or shyness, and is friendly to all genders. Her love for climbing, running, gardening with her grandma, and never ending amounts of energy gave her a pretty strong, flexible, agile and energetic body.

In Saruchan’s world, idols do exist, but aren’t portrayed in the cutesy and exaggerated manner that fiction does. Though it’s no surprise to know that in her world, almost every girl had dreamed to become an idol at one point, even herself. Acchan doesn’t find the idea interesting though, as she only lives for the idealized version of idols that exist in fiction. Acchan explains that girls their age are being brainwashed by the idealized version of idols that are presented in the media that they consume, and that they should wake up and learn to enjoy the fictional idols as they are. Despite Acchan’s realistic disapproval of idol fantasies, she does love playing idol rhythm games and gacha games, and spends her allowance on getting DLC costumes for Maria in FL. Acchan even pre-ordered tickets for herself and Saruchan for an idol concert featuring the VA of the characters, that they were supposed to attend to on the day that Saruchan dies. 

She dies the game way: on her way to school and being killed by a truck that runs her over. 

The last thing Saruchan sees before she loses consciousness forever is the wallpaper of the game’s boxart from her phone screen as it flies out of her hands. 

My Next Life as an ‘Idol’?? All Routes Lead to Doom!!!

As usual, Katarina ends up remembering her future as an 8 year old kid, and plans to prepare for her future “banishment” and humiliation. She learns to farm in order to provide for herself once she gets shunned and retreats to the countryside, and (unknowingly) meets all the characters in the game and gains their good favor before the events of the game begins. 

Her head bump still happens with Gerald, but their encounter happened in a party rather than an engagement meeting, with her tripping over a rock as she decides to run to the young man in order to introduce herself. Such introductions never got past beyond their names and few exchanges of dialogue, as the bump occurred and Katarina was immediately brought to the hospital after he called for help. 

Being a girl who wanted to be an idol at one point, Katarina wanted to use this chance to fulfill her dream of becoming one! But knowing the fate that will await her, (public humiliation, isolation, and banishment to some degree) she tries to figure out ways to avoid ruining her future.

While not as bad as death, Katarina is aware that the ending of the game implies that the blemished opinion that everyone will gain of her will lead to her leading a miserable life; one that will prevent her from gaining new allies and even studying in peace without being made fun of or called out for. It might even ruin her marriage prospects, for all she knows (it doesn’t but she’s too stupid to know that). The stakes of the bad ending aren’t life threatening, but it is personal, as Katarina always dreamed of becoming an idol as a teen and doesn’t like the idea of being able to enjoy it for a few months only to be dragged down to hell right afterwards.

The Claes is a wealthy family known for her father’s knowledge and skills when it comes to trades and business, and for her mother’s beautiful opera singing voice and celebrity presence. As usual, Katarina’s father adopts Keith for the purpose of gaining a direct heir for the business, in fear that Katarina’s future significant other might just to interested in her to gain it. 

Katarina’s plan is to learn how to farm in order to be able to support herself after her banishment, give Keith lots of love so he doesn’t end up becoming a playboy like in the game, and to train herself in dancing and singing in order to not embarrass herself like the original Katarina did. After meeting Gerald again and realizes his weakness, she eventually prepares (or buys, since the setting is modern) toy snakes that she can use to surprise him whenever the condemnation event occurs, using his shocked and panicked reaction as a way to distract the media from the claims that will surely fall upon her (since no one would have expected the calm and collected Gerald Stuart to scream like a girl at the sight of a toy snake, right? That would stay in the headlines for weeks! maybe).

As a kid, she has private singing tutors, and takes more general singing classes when she gets older. She doesn’t have dance training as a kid, but she does like to exercise and move her body around, so it slowly turned into the stamina-filled flexible body that she is used to. 

Katarina and Keith - Their meeting and impressions are mostly the same, which the difference being that Katarina used a display axe above a fireplace to break down the door, and Keith got her injured by accidentally pushing her off a pretty high cliff in the Claes grounds while they were both running and playing chase (rather than being isolated for dangerous Earth Magic, Keith as a child was a clutz who attracted danger to everyone around him, making his older brothers make fun of him for being “cursed”).

Katarina showers him with love, making him affectionate towards his step sister, in the same as he was in the original material.

When Keith finds out about Katarina’s desire to train to become an idol, he is very supportive of her, and decides to train with her in order to be able to stand by his sister on stage (as well as to generally gain the same interests as her in order to guarantee that they will stay close as they age). The contrast being that instead of becoming an idol to gain the adoration of millions of nameless faces, he now wants to become an idol to gain the love and attention of a single person, which is Katarina uwu. 

Katarina and Gerald - Gerald eventually attempts to visit Katarina to apologize for the incident, expecting her to blame him for what happened, given the personality she showed him. He was shocked to find a scar on her forehead, farming while wearing a farmer’s attire despite coming from a wealthy and esteemed family, singing and dancing to a song as she waters her vegetables. He watches for only a minute, unable to look away from the girl who danced like deflating balloon and sang off key while almost drowning her small vegetable in water. She looked weird, but she was having the time of her life, and he could see and hear it from where he stood.

 In a daze, thinking he might have entered the wrong house by accident or walked on the daughter of a maid doing chores. He walks out and leave the Claes estate without a word, and visits again after only a few days, as he couldn’t get his mind off of the oddity that he had witnessed. 

He eventually realizes that it was Katarina on his second visit, as he finds the scar of the odd farmer girl on the same girl who boasted about her family’s wealth in the party. After giving formal introductions, Gerald offers to walk around the garden to get to know each other better, in order to continue the conversation that she had originally forced on him back in the party (it was done to be polite and respectful, rather than any interest to continue). In the garden, they pass by the area that Katarina had planned to turn into her farm, and Gerald was in awe at how unorganized and messy everything looked (there was dirt everywhere, the tools were left on the floor because she had to prepare to meet him, there was more bags of manure than what was even needed etc! Katarina internally cursed at her 8 year old delicate rich girl body for not having the same arm strength as her 17 year old self). It was then that it sunk in that the adorable singing and dancing farming girl that he accidentally saw really was Katarina Claes. She wasn’t the very definition of abnormal, but she was nothing like the daughters of his father’s friends that cried when not attended to or complained when not given the best dresses and shoes. There was no shred of worry about her family’s expectations in her eyes, nor expectations of him to act like his perfect and matured self whenever they met in parties, movie premiers or social events, which made him yearn for her company. 

After finding out about Katarina’s desire to become an idol one day, Gerald secretly planned to do the same (and even have her recruited in his brother’s agency) in order to become closer to her through her love of entertainment and to have a chance to be constantly in her presence. When he found out about the charms that male idols have on their female fans, he also plans on using this as an opportunity to gain both her attention and romantic affection, by perfecting his (already maxed out) charms as male idol. 

Katarina and Mary - The two met during a part hosted by Mary’s mother in the Hunt Estate, inviting all of her mother’s old opera acquaintances, sponsors and co-workers for a formal reunion. Katarina and Keith accompanied their parents to the party, leading them to be introduced to the Hunt Family’s daughters. As usual, Katarina had the urge to “release the chocolate shark” during the party and takes an elegant leave. She eventually gets lost in the estate and finds herself in the garden. Katarina was in awe of the garden’s beauty, and stood still as she watched what seemed like beautiful siren sing by herself near a majestic fountain, with a single rose in hand. 

Mary was surprised to hear an aggressive applause after singing to herself. Katarina aggressively complimented Mary for her adorable yet elegant voice, and asked who she was seeing as a singing trainer. When Mary replied that she was not having any singing or vocal training, Katarina rains even more compliments down, claiming that “her voice was that of an angel!”. Mary denied it, so Katarina proceeded to sing the same song that she had sang, as a point of comparison to make her feel more confident in herself. Mary shyly and unexpectedly joins her, and they ended up having a small and quiet duet in the garden. Katarina’s voice sounded a bit rough and squeak-ish, but alongside Mary’s elegant and controlled singing, they didn’t sound bad at all. 

When Katarina finds out that Mary is also the one who tends to the flower garden, she proceeds to shower Mary with even more compliments, and asks her to visit and help with her own farm garden. Being complimented for having a beautiful voice and a green thumb made her feel validated and appreciated, so she often visits the Claes household in order to be in constant presence of her first and dearest friend. The rest is the same.

When Mary found out about Katarina’s dream of becoming an idol, she started taking intense vocal training as well as various exercises in order to be able to join her in her endeavor. She slowly built a more brazen and tough personality in order to be able to join and protect her friend from the rumored cold and intense reality of the idol world, as well as due to the antics of her friends. 

Katarina and Alan - From Mary, she eventually finds out that the event where Mary duets and falls in love with Alan occurred. Katarina realizes that duet must not have been that effective because she has done the same with Mary, but is confident that Mary is in love with him because Alan is a very talented and handsome individual. A few days later, the fourth Stuart son bursts into the doors of the Claes household, and demands to meet with Katarina. She learns that Alan had developed a small crush on Mary, and that he wants to challenge Katarina for her hand. Same shenanigans ensues, leading up to the piano duel where his talents in the piano was in full display to everyone in the manor. 

Katarina knew how to play the piano (just the basics though), so she was in awe listening to someone who almost sounded like a pro! Alan runs off after Gerald compliments him, Katarina chases after him, and they got to talk behind a bush. Alan wouldn’t take her compliments, but Katarina aggressively insisted that his talents are nothing to scoff at. 

When Alan says that he’s sure that his brother can play just as good, if not better than him, Katarina speculates that it wasn’t the case, because everyone had things that they are good and bad at. Not everyone is the same, no one learns at the same pace, and that she’s sure even if Gerald can play the piano better than him (and she doubts he can in the first place), no one can play the piano like Alan can. The scores in his heart are his alone, and that nothing is more beautiful than the melody that the heart enacts. Katarina knew that the score he played wasn’t an existing one, and knowing Alan’s character from the game, it’s probably either an impromptu score or one he had composed by himself. Her guess was correct, leading Alan to be caught off guard by her compliment, almost feeling emotional as no one had ever guessed and believed that the music he played was his own, until Katarina did. 

She shows off the power of the toy snake to Alan, making him laugh and see his brother in a different light. He still constantly visited Katarina for their duels, but as time progressed, he lost the affection for Mary (as he saw her as a little sister now after interacting with her in the Claes Household) that made him want to challenge Katarina. They still followed up on those challenges, for fun rather than for sport. 

When he finds out about Katarina’s dream to become an idol, he is determined to join her in order to be able to compose songs and melodies that she can sing, intending to bring out the absolute best of his muse’s voice with his own music. Someone his age might not be fit to compose songs for an idol, so he intends to become one as well in order to gain a reputation as a competent composer. 

Katarina and Sophia - The two meets at an afternoon party hosted by the Stuarts, as a celebration for the birthday of the twins. Katarina had to “powder her noes” after a few trips to the buffet table, and leaves Keith and Mary. She’s chased down by a dog, climbs up a tree, and accidentally watches a group of kids and older bully a small girl who sounded like she was about to cry. The same events occur, up to their second encounter in the party. Katarina accidentally quotes a line from a novel that she was reading, and after realizing that Sophia understood her reference, she asked for them to meet again in order to discuss their similar interests. 

Everything is pretty much the same, the difference being that somehow idols were brought as a topic of conversation, with Sophia revealing that she is actually a huge fan of idols. Katarina, feeling reminiscent of her idol-expert best friend Acchan, tells her that she actually wants to be an idol herself and insists that Sophia tell her about everything she loves about idols. Sophia, who is surprised to also find another idol fan who is as young as her, becomes even more excited and tells her all about her love for idols: how they are able to wear such adorable outfits onstage, how they sing songs that carry so much meaning, how they carry their fan’s dreams with them when they dance and sing, how amazing it is to be able to juggle so many occupations at once, and much more. 

With both love of novels and idols, Sophia constantly finds herself in the Claes Household in order to talk to Katarina about books, idols, song recommendations etc. 

When Sophia was first told that Katarina wanted to be an idol, she was very supportive of her and announced herself as Katarina’s number one fan. As time passed, she realized she wasn’t just satisfied with just watching Katarina from afar, she wanted to sing and dance alongside her! She wants to use her knowledge of romance novels and idols to help make herself and Katarina the best idols to ever exist! She wants to sing on stage about her feelings: about how much she loves Katarina, idols and their beloved novels!

Katarina and Nicol - When he found out that someone had invited his little sister to a small book club, he was very wary, thinking that she was one of the many other girls who tried to use Sophia in order to become closer with him. He was shocked to realize that that was not the case, and that Katarina had barely seen him at all, and had opened his timid little sister’s heart. When Sophia asked Katarina if she found her appearance creepy, Nicol proceeds to explain further, expecting to see a hint of guilt or displeasure from Katarina Claes, only for both of them to be met with unyielding determination to have Sophia as a close friend. Sophia went home that day in tears, thankful to have found a friend who truly wanted to stick by her side. 

The Claes siblings often visits their home so the girls can have their book club, even bringing Mary Hunt with them occasionally. Katarina, while looking a bit flustered, is capable of having a conversation with him without averting her eyes, which was a breath of fresh air to the countless camera crew, staff, visitors and even strangers who couldn’t look him in the eyes because how of how much of a beautiful child model he was. It all leads up to the moment where Katarina compliments him with how blessed he is to have such a beautiful and wonderful family, which contrasted against the ignorant adults who pitied him for having parents who refused to abuse the potential of his beautiful face and for not being as beautiful as their son, as well as for having a freakish looking sister. 

Nicol, just like his sister, desired to constantly be in Katarina’s positive presence, and visited her often, leading them to be acquainted and friends with the entire group that Katarina enraptured. 

When he found about his sister’s and Katarina’s desire to become idols, Nicol thought of doing the same, in order to be able to continue to watch over and protect both Sophia and Katarina, as well to be able to continue being close with Katarina (as their lack of similar interests and age gap might lead her away from him, but tbh that is never gonna be a problem with Katarina). He also plans to use his influence as a child model to propel Sophia and Katarina’s careers, as a way of supporting his two favorite girls. 

Notes

I’m not sure how I feel about Gerald’s backstory, I might rewrite that if anyone kindly wants to critique it.

Instead of Mary’s green thumb, it’s her voice that leads her to Katarina and Alan, but I still think Sophia would still have a better singing voice than her, so both her voice and green thumbs both play a part in her character. Mary’s high pitched voice gets a bit deeper as she ages, while Sophia’s voice stays very high.

I really like the idea that rather than the original ambitions and goals that leads the harem to become idols in Fortune Lover, now it’s the effect of Katarina’s constant insistence and declarations of becoming an idol that leads to everyone doing the same. In this timeline, the harem probably wouldn’t have thought of (or planned early) becoming an idol if Katarina never brought it up. 

I’m writing this at midnight again, lol, but yeah I’m not planning on writing a fanfiction for this, I guess, but I do want to have an established plot so rather than chapters, I’m just writing a full overview for fun haha

When I mentioned that Sophia loved idols, I didn’t realize that I might have accidentally implied that she was just as an idol fan as Acchan was, but with actual idols this time, so I went with :DD

I’ll touch up on Idol Katarina, Anne, Maria, Sirius/Raphael and Fortune Lover 2 in the next one.

I’m really happy that there are people who actually read my previous post and said that they liked it! Feedback and suggestions are appreciated! I still need a final name for the units so help me pls hahaha.

I’ll rewrite this post when I feel like adding/changing stuff.

[bluepikachugirl]

I'm quite disappointed that we have to buy the premium story for the cg's......I thought the cg's will be free......can we just have the cg's for free like the other otome games sheesh

[helltothenaw]

Full offense OP, you’re comparing oranges to rhubarb while also discrediting tangerines.

You can’t one for one compare Ever After, a fully budgeted theatrical release to Amazon’s shittily done Cinderella. Both wardrobe departments had the entirely different theming styles to work with as well as budgets. But you can’t discredit the work of one because you like the theme of the other more. Same goes for the fashion 101 Dalmatians went for versus the set style iconography for Cruella with their differing budgets. That’s not even discussing the fact that modern Disney live actions are trying to CG any wardrobe item because they don’t want to pay the union’d wardrobe departments.

You’re also not counting modern works like Wheel of Time, The Green Knight, Lovecraft Country, Queen’s Gambit, Midsommar and, shit, Little Women 2019.

the decrease in costuming quality over the last 20 years has been soooo precipitous & nauseating. i’m not even talking abt marvel’s cg supersuits or anything this time, look at the fabric quality, structure, layering, character, and craftsmanship of older costumes in 102 dalmations (2000) vs cruella (2021)

ever after (1998) vs cinderella (2021)

lord of the rings (2001-2003) vs the rings of power (2022)

this trend should upset you not just because it looks cheap, but because it suggests a strong anti-art and anti-labor movement in film and tv making. don’t forget costumers are unionized

[dicesuki]

*UPDATED: Jan 7, 2018*

Welcome to Dicesuki’s first contest!

★ CONTEST DEADLINE ★

January 13, 2018

★ CONTEST CATEGORIES ★

Art: Design your own cursed “Cinderella Phenomenon” character (Full Body), then provide a brief explanation of their Fairytale Curse and the conditions for breaking it. Both digital and traditional art are accepted.

Writing: Write a short backstory for your original character that includes specifics of their curse: how/why they were given the Fairytale Curse and the requirements for breaking it. Include a short scenario that illustrates their character and curse in better detail. Description for physical appearance is not mandatory. Kooriiko will ask the winner about the description for the prize later on. Word Count: 500-1500 words for overall writing.

★ RULES ★

You can submit your entry to any site/social media but please send us a link to your submission via email at dicesukidev@gmail.com

You don’t have to publish your entry online if you don’t want to. But if you do publish them on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, or any social media with the hashtag feature, please use the #CPContest hashtag.

We will only accept Fairy tales or Folktales for the curse. Myths, ghost stories, etc won’t be accepted. Please indicate what tale you used for your entry. If you’re not sure about your chosen tale, just ask us about it.

You are allowed to include Cinderella Phenomenon characters as acquiantances in your OC’s backstories and scenarios, but they cannot be related in any way that defies the canon or implies that they are friends, family or lovers.

Please make sure to set your story in the Cinderella Phenomenon universe. If you need to name a specific location, please make sure it is a location in Angielle or Brugantia. If you do not want to set the story IN the kingdom, you can use an unnamed location in the general vicinity e.g. “In a small village in Angielle”, etc. Modern setting is not allowed.

If you need references, you can check out the following links:

Fairy tale list #1

Fairy tale list #2

Folktale list 

The work must be original. Plagiarism will result in immediate disqualification.

For the sake of fairness, only new Cinderella Phenomenon characters will be accepted as entries. (Please do not use a Cinderella Phenomenon character/concept that you have already published)  

Participants can submit more than one (1) entry.  

There will be one winner per category (Art and Writing). Participants can join both categories, but they can only win in one.  

Any edits made to your entry past the deadline will not be taken into consideration.

★ PRIZES ★

First place winners will receive the following prizes: 

A copy of the Cinderella Phenomenon Fandisk on the release date. 

A CG drawn by Cinderella Phenomenon’s artist, Kooriiko, featuring your original character with one (1) of the characters from the game in a requested scenario. 

*NEW: One runner-up from each category will win the Cinderella Phenomenon Fandisk.

We wish you the best of luck! If you have any questions, please contact us via one of our social media accounts.

[acrispyapple]

Hello again. What is "100 days princess"? I'm quite confused, because I saw some CGs, sprites and tags about it. And I feel like I'm missing something...

heya! 100 days princess or 100日間のプリンセス (shortened to 100プリ or 100dp) is a modern au game for the suitors from midnight cinderella. rayvis isn’t in it but there are 3 new suitors in the game. sadly, cybird hasn’t decided to give it to us in english. (╥_╥)

useful links (update: corrected the 4th link!)

3 new suitors

the rest of the suitors in their 100dp outfit

sample cgs and pv for 100dp

100dp trailer (the second video)

based on those links, you’d see that there are tiny changes for the suitors. byron has no eyepatch, giles’ hair is shorter, and well– their outfits are different! check out 100dp byron vs midcin byron! more byron love! ♡

and look at the backgrounds from the game! giles’ room looks so much better~

the music from the game is really great too! one of the songs playing on my blog is from 100dp. i really, really want this game to get an english release to be honest. i send a letter to cybird asking them to give us 100dp in english via the midcin feedback option in the app whenever i can lol (°◡°♡) 

[redheadkittys]

☆SWD Modern Cinderella Event Slot: Romantic Intimacy CG Chris☆

[justlookatthosesausages]

yumeka36 replied to your post “yumeka36 replied to your post “okay but now that we’ve seen that...”

@justlookatthosesausages​ I don't remember the details too well unfortunately (it was 8 months ago after all XD) They fit the style of Wreck-It Ralph while still looking like themselves if that makes sense. The older princesses like Snow White and Cinderella looked the most different due to having to fit the modern Disney style, as well as the CG style, but again, they still look like themselves

It’s alright if you can’t remember it all!

Now I’m picturing all of the initial princesses with big CGI eyes and extremely detailed skin, hair and clothes fabric OMG i can’t waaaait

also, they are wearing sweatshirts at the end of the scene and I’m very very excited to see Snow White wearing modern clothes along Moana or Elsa doing the same!!

Gosh is it Thanksgiving already? I want it now!!

[maddiesfilmblog-blog]

The Progression of Animation in Contemporary Western Animated Feature Films – Why Did Disney Stop Drawing?

It goes without saying that animation has come on leaps and bounds since its early days. With the first animated film, Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (J. Stuart Blackton, 1906) being released over a hundred years ago, it would be slightly alarming if no progress had been made since. One cannot talk of animated films without mentioning the behemoth that is Walt Disney Motion Pictures, the creators of many a children’s favourite. Many regard Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937, David Hand et al.), one of Disney’s first releases, to be one of the most revolutionary films of its time. It took the artists four years and 2,000,000 individual hand-drawn frames to finish; and remains a successful and popular movie to this day.

Today, I will be comparing two more modern Disney films, The Princess and the Frog (2010, John Musker and Ron Clements) and Frozen (2013, Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee). The reason for my choices is because of the obviously different styles in these films, with The Princess and the Frog being an homage to the traditional, hand-drawn Disney pictures, and Frozen being made in the more modern, computer generated (CG) style animation which is favoured by animation studios today.

Firstly, I will discuss The Princess and the Frog. This film is unique in the sense that, although it was released in the midst of CG animated films, it is hand-drawn. The studio did this as a special release, and as a leap of faith, to pay tribute to the style which shot it into stardom. I say that it is a leap of faith because of the fact that Disney’s more recent hand-drawn films, such as Brother Bear (2003, Robert Walker) and Treasure Planet (2003, John Musker and Ron Clements) flopped at the box office, with disappointing grosses; $250,397,798 and $110,041,363 respectively (according to boxofficemojo.com)1 It is even more surprising to see Treasure Planet flop so badly, since the directors are the same as that of The Princess and the Frog. Perhaps giving them another chance at directing a leading Disney film, especially that of an official ‘princess film’, was another leap of faith on Disney’s part, except this time, it paid off. In 2003, coincidentally the same year as the previously mentioned ‘flops’, Disney arranged a meeting with its animators; “the company's animators were told that Disney would concentrate on making computer-animated movies, abandoning a 70-year-old hand-drawn tradition in favour of a style popularized by more successful, newer rivals like Pixar Animation Studios and DreamWorks Animation”.2 However, just seven years after this decision, Disney decided to take a chance on hand-drawn animation again, and it payed off. Many are of the opinion that The Princess and the Frog was a breath of fresh air to Disney’s previous hand-drawn works, with the traditional style intertwining with the more modern approach to storytelling working well and generally receiving good reviews, both from critics and the audiences. The Princess and the Frog was a modern spin on a classic fairy-tale, set in a recognisable area (New Orleans, which also has ties to black culture, intertwining with the protagonist and first black Disney Princess). It had all of the ingredients of a successful children’s film. So why did Disney not continue with this style after its seven year hiatus?

 The answer lies in one word: money. Disney knew that however much The Princess and the Frog made; it would not, and could not, compare to the CG animation they were now famous for in terms of profit. Children born after the millennium were brought up on the CG animation, so no longer would there be a sense of nostalgia within their main audience. Sure, these children may enjoy hand-drawn animation, but they are now more likely to be shown hand-drawn films which their parents watched as children, rather than buying a brand-new hand-drawn release. Disney needed to stay modern to keep up with its competitors, and so it cranked out more and more CG releases, making good profits and maintaining its place in the spotlight. Then, in 2013, Disney released Frozen, which, as of 2019, was the third-highest grossing animated film of all time, only to be beaten by its own sequel, Frozen II (2019, Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee) and The Lion King (2019, John Favreau). However, it could be argued that although no real people were pictured in The Lion King remake, it is technically a live-action film due to the realistic animals and settings shown. Frozen was astronomical in terms of its profits, with a budget of 150 million USD, and a gross worldwide of 1.2 billion USD, it is safe to say that Disney had hit the jackpot. After releasing a movie which grossed almost ten times what it had cost to make, it is not likely that the company will go back to its humble roots of hand-drawn animation. What was once a risk three years prior to Frozen, would now be considered profit-suicide.

 Although hand-drawn animation will be sorely missed by some, myself included, it is almost a certainty that this is not enough to entice Disney to make another one. Perhaps years down the line, they will release a 100 year anniversary special, however that it long to come yet. Despite this, the nostalgic feel and more cartoonish animation style is something that will surely be cherished for years to come. I, for one, have no doubts that generations of children to come will be shown classics such as Snow White, Cinderella (1950, Clyde Geronimi et al.) and The Little Mermaid (1990, Ron Clements and John Musker), just as I was as a child, and they will enjoy them just as much as they enjoy the more modern CG animated films of today. I hold no ill feelings towards the new style, with its clean, fluid movements and polished character styling, but there is something that simply cannot be beaten about the hard work and love that went into all of the older releases. Nevertheless, whichever style reigns triumphant, one thing is for sure: people will always feel that special Disney magic.

References:

1.       A) https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl1212777985/

B) https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0133240/?ref_=bo_se_r_1

      2.    Holson, L. M. (2005) Has the Sky Stopped Falling at Disney? The New York Times, New York

[guardmesherlock-rowan]

Okay, am I the only one who thinks Guard me Sherlock changed their artist starting from Mycroft's CGs, then now even Mikah's older sprites? The old CGs definitely looked like they're higher quality. I heard Blood in Roses' art also changed, so I guess the original artist for the games really did quit, huh? Sad days :'(

I don’t know for sure if they did… but honestly I agree.

Back on this other post I compared Mikah’s new adult design to the new designs of ‘Modern Cinderella’.  But honestly looking at the story content of Mycroft and Mikah vs the others I’m not convinced they didn’t change creative team as a whole.  The stories are less about the mystery and more about the romance and, in my opinion, told in a bit less compelling manner.  With Mycroft not trying to woo her and just assuming they’re in a relationship, BUT NOT ACTING LIKE IT.

And MC has a whole in Mikah route…

But then if we compare the CGs

and

or

and

I’m not sure…. MC seems completely off in the Mikah ones but I’m not entirely sure… 

Anyone else see a big difference in the quality of the art in the CGs?

[xheartless1x]

Modern Cinderella prologue cg

[justthatstrangedream-blog]

I really loved the CG’s for  Modern Cinderella: Robert Moore, and couldn’t help splicing them to make this short comic... I own nothing just a fan with paint and thoughts ^^;;