#otowa rui

[ghoooooooooooooooost]

my cells under the. wait did i say that already

[evilkitten3]

found my first plot divergence!

how you interact with the signs and the fencing in the forest seems to alter what otowa says between screens!

[ariapmdeol]

COEtober Day 2: Mirage

[zhugeyuan]

reqs

[admoonth]

摸摸所长!...(　ˇωˇ)(含有一些吐槽*(otwくん我根本画不像你....果咩....(看了眼CoM设定，fk怎么把你头发剪了...

[mindrole]

i’ve been still holding onto the delusional hope that maybe we’ll get com information around the end of july, the start of com’s ingame canon time, or when fko starts selling the pdf for the databook but i’m slowly losing my will waiting around for even a speck of info… just a totally general and vague update would make me smile and hop around like a flea at this point

you don’t want to know what i’ve been saying and thinking regarding the merch tweets… it hurts every time. and I totally get it about the lack of shinano and missing his spot in rakuen… well listen at least you aren’t me who’s a rui otowa super fan. I fear i’m unfortunately going to starve to death before anything meaningful happens </3

anyways I hope smnt gets to you safely and soon ^_^ excited to see any other art or posts you put out

i've been keeping july in mind too, mostly august as a safety net (these safety nets always end up having gaping holes at the bottom though). the movie comes out in august, so it still fits!!!!! *gripping my thigh so hard my nails break the skin*

it comes when it comes, i will still feel like a crazy person whether it comes today or in a year. i'll probably grab the digital version having a pdf is convenient, i've already decided i will, and it's an easy way to support without worrying about expecting and being responsible for a physical item again...

and wow you're a rui fan!!!! really good taste. i think it's seriously so strange that he's not in any merch, even the first graffart thing i feel like he had a decent position to be in... i was actually so incredulous about it i made a diagram for my friend to explain why i was so shocked... (i'll post it under readmore)

it's clearly aimed at fans, with not that much care about spoilers, since snmt and theodore have appeared several times... so i'm also thinking that rui not showing up is strange!!!!!! it's strange!!!!

well at least... when there's a bit of com related news that's a bit more substantial... there will absolutely be something to chew on... it'll happen before we all crumble to dust i feel it!!!!!!!!! <-guy who's already lost it

i think if there was even a small fanbox update i'd shut up about being ravenous. it'd be nice... forget azuma, i want to see shiyo RIGHT NOW!!!! design reveal in fanbox plzzzzzz 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

is this bargaining...??? is it that stage now??

anyway, i almost forgot the diagrams👇

i was really delirious that i seriously had to make this to explain it to my friend. i was losing it

[hafura]

[huasira]

cell of empireo dump

[ariapmdeol]

Calamity

[ariapmdeol]

thinking about cell of mirage again

[ariapmdeol]

a bunch of ship requests and assorted doodles!

[ariapmdeol]

FUCK IT. analyzing the COE cast's favorite flowers

QNA translation is here! specifically in part 3. I tried to look into both victorian flower language and Hanakotoba! I'll put sources at the end. spoilers for the entire game!

Atou: White clover. White clovers represent 'I promise' in english, and 'think of me, promise' in hanakotoba. I think this is fitting: atou is very much dedicated to keeping his word as much as he can; from his promise to 'look after shinano' to his promise to Kanou in the Kanou flag stuff, it HITS. ESPECIALLY if we contrast the A/S routes with B/C/D/E. A HUGE theme in COE is about confronting the truth and not looking or shying away from understanding yourself and others. In the worse routes, Atou looks away and denies the truth. In the better ones, he faces and accepts it. BY ABANDONING SHINANO, HE ABANDONED HIS PROMISE TO LOOK AFTER HIM. he started that oh so slippery slope of denial and fear that leads aaaaall the way to ending E ^_^ It also matches well with Alpha and the question of 'what is your will?' What do you want to do with your life? What is your will but a promise to yourself?

Shinano: Wolf's Bane OK THIS ONE IS ENTIRELY FOR THE BIT but it's cute <3 Origin Beta, my silly little dogboy, has a favorite flower called WOLF'S BANE. No meaning in the Hanakotoba sources I've been looking at, but in Victorian Flower Language it means 'misanthropy', which is a hatred of humanity! Wolf's bane is poisonous; I would connect this to the concept of 'infection' as a whole, and Shinano's struggles with the cells and reaching an equilibrium. It seems to be a trend that the characters who struggle with cell corrosion the most have poisonous flowers.

Otowa: Rodger's bronze leaf this is a VERY VERY jagged plant-- the little white flowers it blooms reminds me of Haruki's clovers. The sharp edges parallel Rui's more blunt demeanor too. Not too much to say here beyond the fact that I like that his and Atou's look similar to each other I could not find any symbolism...

Yanagi: Dahlias / any large flowers ok it is SO fucking cute that she likes large flowers and Jabuchi likes small ones,,, younina real,, the blooms are big and colorful Dahlias are associated with Elegance and dignity in both. In Hanakotoba, they're associated with Good Taste!

Kurachi: Wisterias Wisterias are associated with Welcoming and steadfastness, which fits well with Kurachi! He's determined and does his best to look out for and protect everyone. This one i had to do extra googling for, and it seems that it also represents love and longevity. Fitting for Kurachi as the oldest of our central group! As a tree, it's more sturdy and long lived than flowers are.

Karen: Sweet Pea Sweet Peas represent Gratitude, tenderness, farewell! This flower is bright and colorful, like Karen herself :] The blossoms are delicate too, which parallels Karen being a child as well!

Riku: Violets So, the obvious reason for this one is his dead wife's name is Sumire, which means violets! in Hanakotoba, this flower means Honesty. Riku is consistently honest with us, and tells us things about Isoi that he knew Isoi wouldn't necessarily want us knowing. Violets mean a lot of things depending on their color in Victorian flower symbolism. The Blue color means Faithfulness, which could represent his devotion to his family!

Aiba: Sunflowers in Hanakotoba, these flowers represent Respect, passionate love, and radiance! In Western flower language, sunflowers mean Pure and lofty thoughts, adoration, longevity, and loyalty. I think both of these sets are fitting for Aiba? He's respectful in how he talks to everyone, and longevity is fitting considering he and Rui are the only two who survive in uh. all the endings...

Kanou: Datura (DEVIL'S TRUMPET) IT CANNOT BE A FUCKING COINCIDENCE THAT THIS FLOWER IS NAMED THAT. Seodore is associated with Brugmansia (Angel's Trumpet) SO THERE HAS TO BE A FUCKIGN CONNECTION HERE. WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU WORKING ON KANOU... I couldn't find any DIRECT symbolism but Datura is referred to as one of the 'witch's weeds', and ALL PARTS of the plant are toxic. It's known for causing delirium and death. This whole thing kinda parallels the Bad End "Told you so", where Kanou morbs and kills Atou ^_^. I think this has to do with what he was working on-- we know Kanou is dangerous (and consistently so), and despite the two of them working together, they both know the other is lying,., The Kanou flag events remind me of this as well.

Jabuchi: the Small white flowers on trees like quince and lemon AND IF I SAY THESE FLOWERS ARE MEANT TO REPRESENT NINA?? MAYBE?? they are small and delicate and charming and I think they remind Jabuchi of Nina <3 their favorite flowers are opposites and it's so cute,, Lemon blossoms represent Discretion!

Enomoto and Utsugi: White Roses DO I EVEN NEED TO ELABORATE ON THIS ONE WHEN IT'S REFERENCED IN GAME,, White roses are referenced in the divine comedy, as the flower that blooms in Empyrean Heaven. They represent Innocence, silence, and devotion in Hanakotoba, and innocence, wistfulness, virtue, purity, secrecy, reverence and humility. WHAT MORE CAN I SAY. Hatsutori assigned this flower to Utsugi, and it fits him SO well. Enomoto wants that same connection to Hatsutori, and picks White Rose as her favorite to take it from Utsugi.

Harada: Asters FLOWER POT TRIO SWEEP. Asters represent Remembrance in Hanakotoba, and represent love, wisdom, and faith. OUUUUGHGHG the parallels between Sanemitsu remembering and wishing he could fix things, and struggling oh so much to move forward,,, Wisdom and faith to represent his growth as a person and parent,,, Asters are so incredibly fitting for him.

Isoi: Geraniums they represent determination and true friendship! The different colors have different meanings as well, but even just these two are SO very true for Isoi,,, He's stubborn and determined and a self sacrificing little SHIT, and at the end of the day he found it,, the family,,, <3 <3 <3

sources:

[evilkitten3]

@swabluhat unfortunately, while i'm fairly certain i took screenshots, i can't find them. however, i did happen to type up the two sets of dialogue to compare them, and that screencap i WAS able to find (i'll go back and try to find the ones from the game tomorrow; i made an extra save just for that lol). anyway, here are the two versions, in the order i stumbled into them:

it's not 100% different, but it was enough that i thought it was interesting! i'm not entirely certain what triggers the change; i gave it a few tries and the first one is what i got more often, so i think that's the more likely one, but i might think that bc i got it first... anyway, from what i can tell, the second version is triggered by reading both signs in the first fenced area, trying to check some part of the fence itself (not sure if there's a specific area or amount of times), and by not backtracking to the area leading up to the fence

the overall point of the message seems to be the same, but the details otowa decides to give you are different. i would never have realized if i hadn't accidentally gone back to the first fenced area before i was finished looking around the second part (there was a phone call, which i thought was plot relevant, and since i'd just saved, i panicked and closed the game. when i went through the area the second time, i wasn't looking too hard at the dialogue, but then i noticed he mentioned his dad, which was different, so i restarted again to see if anything else had changed. i did this a couple times until i was pretty sure that there were two separate sets of dialogue, and they didn't appear to be random, but i haven't done it enough times to be entirely certain about that second part)

found my first plot divergence!

how you interact with the signs and the fencing in the forest seems to alter what otowa says between screens!