#plot twist he's the biggest weeb of them all lol

[the-improbable-one]

I can't sleep so enjoy a shitty Sniperscout/Speeding Bullet edit thingy of a text I found on fb cause that's def them

[beyondtheborderridiculous]

Why I love A3! and am content being stuck in actor hell

In this essay I will

No seriously. I really love this game and I have no otaku/weeb friends irl that would ever play this with me. And I just want to fangirl and have no other outlet than writing a massive post just spilling out my love for this game. Read at your own risk, lol.

For me, what makes me fall in love with a game, more than their game play, is their story. I play games for their stories because I am a story lover. I love stories so much, that I majored in literature, lol. So for me, I only really play games that are story-centric. But even though I’ve been playing video games for as long as I can remember, I suck at them. My coordination is always so bad, and I’m so bad at grinding, that sometimes, when a game is too hard, I stop playing halfway through and never end up finishing the story out of frustration. There’s a lot of games on my switch and other apps that I’ve played that are on hiatus due to this reason.

But A3! is really simple to play. Took a while for me to get the game mechanics of it, and I was a bit confused at first, but unlocking the next chapter is a pretty simple feat. (The fact that I downloaded this game during the period where all the main story acts were accessible also helped.) So I got to read all of Main Story 1 and I FELL IN LOVE.

I fall in love with stories if I fall in love with the characters. And as a story consumer I am so impressed by the amount of thought the game developers had for each and every character.

My first impression of how the story would unfold was that Sakuya would be the main focus of this game and that other than Masumi, the other characters would fall to the way side. Sakuya was your typical shounen hero character, the optimistic, untalented but hard working guy (the Naruto in the early arcs of that series). He’s not my favorite type, but I understand that he’s a necessary and in my first impression, the most important character of the story. Then there’s Masumi, the kuudere/tsundere talented bishounen who’s the rival (i.e. the Sasuke). The fact that he falls in love at first sight with the player (or Izumi) was a hilarious surprise, and he became an instant fave. I know that some don’t like his obsessive yandere tendencies, but I find them hilarious and am quite fond of them (but I would never condone it irl). Honestly, during Harugumi’s act, I honestly thought that the focus would solely be on them. But it wasn’t.

Tsuzuru got the chance to pursue his dream of becoming a playwright and he dwells into some regrets of not pursuing his dream earlier. (The fact that he straight up dies after each script is written cracks me up every time. Seeing it in the anime adaptation killed me.) Citron is the comic relief. He’s necessary to gel a team of strangers together. But during this act, his past and background is hinted and it doesn’t seem to be all sunshine and rainbows (To be honest, and spoilers for the EN server here, but before I read Main Story 2, I straight up thought that Citron came from a different planet, lololol). And then Itaru. Chigasaki Itaru my man, my all time fave. To be honest, when I first saw him I didn’t have a favorable impression. The prince-like bishounen is the type I dislike the most. But he’s an otaku? A closet gamer? But to be honest, even when that was revealed, I didn’t think much of it. I initially thought, ‘Oh, they made a gap mode character, cute.’ And again, I thought that he would be put into the backdrop. BUT THEN HE WANTED TO QUIT AND HARUGUMI PERFORMED A STREET ACT TO CONVINCE HIM TO STAY AND I DIED (Omg, Citron in the anime adaptation killed me). I thought that only Sakuya and Masumi would be the focus, but I was very very pleasantly surprised to find that all characters had their own major screen time (Maybe save for Citron. His was kind of the smallest, but that’s for a reason. At this point, I’m tempted to make a first impressions vs. current thoughts post of every single character. Would anyone be interested in me doing that?). 

By the end of Act 1, I fell in love with Harugumi. And to be honest, I was apprehensive of reading Act 2. I became so invested in Harugumi, and now I have to start a new journey with a new set of characters? I just wanted to read more about Harugumi and I was disappointed because I thought that I wouldn’t see those characters again. But again, I was pleasantly surprised to see that that wasn’t the case. Act 2 is Natsugumi’s story, but Harugumi characters were sprinkled here and there. And I thought that it was cute that Temna, a really prideful actor, looked up to Sakuya and asked him for advice. And then you have Sakuya saying that he didn’t really do anything as a leader, LOL. Save for sleeping on the stage together. And then Temna proceeds to follow this advice by going to Izumi and saying that after much research, the answer to a better team was sleeping together. LMAO TEMNA YOU IDIOT (I love you)! Natsugumi’s story was adorable, and I adored it.

Main Story 1 is the introduction and formation of every troupe. By Act 3, I was expecting it to become repetitive. What was impressive to me was that it wasn’t. Every single character is so vastly different from one another. They have their own personalities and fully fleshed out backstories. In Main Story 1 alone, that’s twenty characters. That’s highly impressive, especially like I mentioned beforehand with Act 1, everyone got their own screen time and character development. And for those that didn’t it’s because there’s a reveal/plot twist later down the line that’s at least hinted. You don’t always see that in t.v. shows/anime/manga with an ensemble cast (Voltron Legendary Defender, I’m staring at you. But that’s just one example, there’s others too). 

But the game developers didn’t stop there. For each of those twenty characters, the writers developed not only their personalities and backstories, but also their own personalized relationship dynamics with other members of the company.

Each troupe is very unique in their dynamics. I have a very hard time picking a favorite troupe because I am just so fond of them all. The relationships that the members have with each other in each troupe is so different, so special. I think the reason why I love anime/manga so much is because found family or nakamaship is usually a prevalent theme in them and I am a sucker for these. One of my favorite genres is slice-of-life just because I love reading relationships, whether they be platonic or romantic. And each troupe has these in spades.

BUT IT DOESN’T END THERE.

By Act 3, I thought that I figured out the pattern. Harugumi supported Natsugumi during Act 2, so in Act 3, Natsugumi would do the same for Akigumi. And then Harugumi will fall to the wayside. But I was pleasantly surprised again (do you see the pattern here?) to find that wasn’t the case. Fucking Itaru became the outside support/advice giver for Banri LOL. What made me fall in love with the game even harder, and what made me impressed with the game developers even more, was that not only did they write relationships within the troupe, but they also created and personalized intertroupe relations for ALL TWENTY CHARACTERS. Like how?! That’s so much work and so much to juggle with! As an avid story reader, that was just so crazy impressive to me. 

So that’s just me geeking about the narrative and character and relational development. Let’s talk about the gaming side of things, shall we?

I’m pretty familiar with app gatcha games as I’ve played my fair share of them. A3! strangely focuses more on the story aspect than the game aspect, which I am totally okay with. But what impressed me from the gaming perspective was how A3! handles events. Most gatcha games I’ve played, the event story line had nothing to do with the main story (SWD Obey Me and FE Heroes being prime examples here). Events were used as fanservice in order to get money from the consumers. And my first event was the Summer Beach Episode, so I initially thought that that was the same case for A3!. But it wasn’t.

When Main Story 1 ended, I was satisfied and at the same time I wasn’t. The story was good, and it ended well, but I wanted more. The game seemed to hint at more, so would I ever get more? And then I find out that all of the events (or most of them anyway) is the continuation of Main Story 1. That’s crazy!!! As a gamer, and as someone who has a family member that works in the gaming industry, I was crazy impressed because I haven’t seen this done before. I thought that that was immensely smart on the game developer’s part. Honestly, I know that not everyone plays the events in app games. But by making the events canon, and not au, gamers will be more inclined to play the event games. And I also know that it’s crazy easy to get bored of games, especially if the main story ended or the gameplay/story line isn’t that interesting. But the beauty of app games is that they could constantly be updated; their stories could continue to be added to. And with A3!, the event story line dwells deeper in these character’s backstories. Remember what I said about me initially thinking that the story will only revolve around protagonist and rival character? With each troupe play event, the lead and support actor constantly change. Everyone straight up gets their time to shine and their character development continues. Along with their relationships with others within the company. As someone who’s already invested in these characters, there’s no way that I would miss these events! I’m determined to play all of them! And that’s why I really think that the game developers came up with a smart strategy to get their gamers hooked. 

My biggest regret is that I downloaded this game recently, so I missed the prior events. PLEASE, LIBER AND CYBRID, I WOULD PAY MONEY TO HAVE ACCESS TO THE PREVIOUS EVENT STORIES. I don’t need the gatcha cards pertaining to these events, I just really really want to read the previous event story lines. I am forever grateful to yaycupcake that I was able to read what I missed (and the future events), but it’s not the same as experiencing it myself. 

What’s also smart, is that you have to read the event story lines, or else you won’t be able to completely understand Main Story 2. There’s aspects of things in the event that Main Story 2 will touch  upon. So as a consumer, you really do want to participate in all the events. 

Let’s talk about Main Story 2. I somehow discovered that in Main Story 2, each troupe is going to get an additional member (the BRBrookies). And I didn’t know how I felt about that. I liked the dynamic that each troupe has now. Wouldn’t an additional member ruin that? And could I really get myself to like these four new characters? The joke’s on me because I severely underestimated the game writers. You would’ve thought that I would have more faith in them since they impressed me so much. But I was a fool. Main Story 2 is great, and it didn’t seem like anything was pulled out of nowhere because it was all hinted at either in Main Story 1 or during the event stories. And each rookie is a perfect fit for their troupe and each troupes’ bonds continue to grow stronger and I cry every time. I can’t wait for it to come to the EN server. 

Now I’m a talk about the music.

For a while, I was aware that in the otaku/weeb community, that there was an idol craze. But I never understood it’s appeal. This game is starting to make me understand, lol.

I may not have understood the idol craze, but I do like vocaloid. When I first listened to vocaloid, I thought that it was weird that I was listening to a computer program sing. But what really attracted me was the stories told in the songs (again, story lover here). As an example, I’m going to talk about Evillious Chronicles. The Evillious Chronicles told a story in each song that was all a part of a story, and it was also my introduction to vocaloid. Storytelling through songs was just genius to me, and I fell in love with it. Granted, I know that it’s not new to vocaloid, and that not every vocaloid song is part of a series or tell a story, but it was what drew me in.

So vocaloid may seem like a tangent here, but to me, the A3! music was kind of like vocaloid. I accidentally stumbled on it when I was actually searching for someone doing a gameplay video of the Alex in Wonderland event. I couldn’t find any, but instead I discovered Alice in Wonderland Go Go. I gave it a listen, and fell in love with the melody. The music fit the theme of Alice in Wonderland so well. And then I listened to Susume Pirates next. It fucking slapped. These two songs became my gateway to A3! songs. 

I’m a go on a bit of a tangent here, but I’m a talk about the voice actors for a bit. As someone who’s also pursuing voice acting, I always appreciate when voice actors go the extra mile for their fans. Despite the vastly polar opinions of Voltron Legendary Defender, I adore the voice actors for their contribution to the fandom. Especially Josh Keaton (Shiro’s VA). So imagine my surprise, that I discover that not only is the Main Story completely voiced in A3! (which is very impressive and high production for a f2p app game), but the voice actors sing too in these songs too!

The A3ders sing the theme song. But each troupe has their own song, and each song is so vastly different from each other because these songs reflect the dynamics of their specific troupe, and I love that. But not only are there troupe songs, each character has their own song! And once you read the main story of each character, their song just becomes so much deeper! I give mad props to the song writers for tailoring each song to fit the character. I’m not going to lie, I bawled while reading the Manju Fist event, and then when I listened to Taichi’s character song afterwards? My mom thought that someone died since I was crying so hard. And did it end there? No! There’s a song that’s fucking tailored after every play! And they’re all bops!

The amount of times that A3! has impressed me is just way too much to count. It’s a fucking amazing game, story wise and music wise. And the love that the developers have for A3! is just so evident, and I love that. It definitely deserves its five star rating, and deserves an even bigger fandom here in the west.

So there, that about wraps up my massive essay on my love for A3!. If you read this far, I tip off my hat to you. If you also want to talk about A3! hit me up! I need someone to fangirl with, lololol. 

[paulisweeabootrash]

New Year’s Cleanup: End of 2018 Mini-Reviews

It’s a mini-review pack!

Sometimes I watch shows that I have something to say about, but I don't feel like writing a real review of them.  Let's close out 2018 with some short appraisals of a few shows I watched this year that fit that bill.  Happy New Year, nerds!

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1. Chu-Bra (2010)

(based on 3 episodes)

I found this show purely by scrolling alphabetically through VRV's catalog of Crunchyroll shows.  The synopsis sounded like a total disaster, so I clicked on it, and it pretty much is, but surprisingly it's mainly because of the execution, not the premise.  This school life comedy follows Nayu Hayama, a middle schooler who aspires to design underwear.  It seems like it's trying to use an otaku-friendly mindless fanservice format as a vehicle to sneak in some endearing friendships and surprisingly informative information about puberty, ordinary adolescent insecurities, and, uh, how to properly fit bras.  But if you want that, just go watch Please Tell Me!  Galko-chan instead.  It is a much better show that won’t leave you feeling nearly as uncomfortable afterwards.

Classic W/A/S: 2 / 6 / 7

Weeb: There's a little bit of particularly Japanese attitudes and references that pop up regarding how others react to Nayu, but anyone who has gone to school with judgemental classmates or teachers should understand.

Ass: Brief actual nudity, plus tiresome levels of conveniently-timed gusts of wind and/or pratfalls lifting skirts, and groping that is played for laughs but ultimately pretty uncomfortable, especially because of the age of the characters.

Shit: The "ass" score, and how it’s executed, is closely related to why the show falls apart for me.  The whole show just felt icky.

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2. Love and Lies (2017)

(based on 4 episodes)

A complicated love story set in an alternate present where Japan decided to boost its birthrate through algorithmically-enforced matchmaking.  Drama ensues as a forbidden romance between a couple who are not matched to each other, Yukari (who, by the way, is named after the Yukari Law — the law that authorized the matchmaking system!) and Misaki, gets cheered on by Yukari's assigned wife, Rinina.  It's a beautiful and engaging work of speculative fiction and criticism of overconfidence in automation with varied, believable, and lovable characters and please just go watch it.

Classic W/A/S: 3 / 3 / 1

Weeb: There are some very distinctly Japanese allusions, most commonly and notably the "red string of fate", but if you're watching the subtitled version, anything likely to need explanation is explained on-screen.  The most foreign concept to an American audience might be the idea of a government agency that is widely trusted and assumed to be competent.

Ass: Brief partial nudity and allusions to sex because of course there are, the show is about romantic relationships.  Little that's fanservicy or gratuitous, though.

Shit: The only complaints that come to mind are a few off-looking facial expressions and the weirdly variable competence of the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare — not in their matchmaking, but in their ability to find Yukari in a park at midnight but not find Misaki's legal address.  But maybe that's intentional, and it seems almost in character, given their supreme confidence in the perfect system and obliviousness to anything being wrong with it.

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3. KADO: The Right Answer (2017)

(based on entire series — 12 episodes)

Speaking of great works of speculative fiction you need to go watch, this is that, at least for most of its run.  Watch Ministry of Foreign Affairs negotiator Shindo Kojiro accidentally become humanity's ambassador to a radically-non-human alien while he's trying to go on vacation!  Explore the social and political implications of sufficiently advanced technology indistinguishable from magic!  Ponder the disturbing implications of being unaware of higher spacial dimensions but still existing in them!  Then nosedive into a poorly-set-up, literal deus ex machina ending that defeats most of that development and speculation and exploration!

Classic W/A/S: 1 / 1 / 3 for most of the series, then suddenly 9 at the end.  Seriously guys this ending is baaaaad.

Weeb: Not so much Japanese as just very sci-fi geek.  Not in references, but in topic.  This is a show for the committed sci-fi fan.

Ass: I watched it pretty early in the year and wasn't actually planning on reviewing it, but I don't remember any nudity or innuendo or anything at all.  If the mere mention of sex is too much, that’s the only thing I can think of justifying a point of Ass for this show.

Shit: Other than the terrible ending, my biggest complaint complaint by far is some aspects of the CGI.  The entire show is 3D rendered, which makes the intricate and shifting surface texture of KADO, the alien craft, look incredible (and suitably alien), but the human characters often end up looking oddly robotic, maybe due to a failure by the animators, maybe due to the software itself.  It’s frequently unpleasant to look at, but the story was so interesting I wanted to keep watching!

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4. Magical Girl Ore (2018)

(based on entire series — 12 episodes)

A couple of aspiring idols, Saki and Sakuyo, become magical girls... who are ridiculously muscular men after they transform.  A love triangle immediately ensues, with Sakuyo crushing on Saki, Saki crushing on Sakuyo's brother Mohiro, and Mohiro only returning Saki's feelings when Saki is in her transformed male form.  The rest is an over-the-top parody of magical girl shows, full of twists on or outright subversions of the usual tropes of those genres and frequent tangents and fourth-wall breaks.  But I think I've seen a lot of these jokes before in Excel Saga (which is such an old favorite of mine that I really should review it sometime), Pop Team Epic, or both.  A somewhat-surprising plot twist later and we're at a climactic showdown with the Big Bad.

Classic W/A/S: 7 / 4 / 3

Weeb: Jokes may still work in a "lol so random" kind of way, but are much funnier if you get the references.  The show relies heavily on familiarity with not just magical girl shows but several anime in other genres, the formulaic expectations set up by recent anime across genres, and even to some extent the animation industry.  This is a show by otaku for otaku.

Ass: Most questionable content occurs in the context of occasional parodies of fanservice — spun not to be genuinely sexy but to laugh at the way typical anime fanservice portrays women by treating male bodies the same way.  There's also quite a lot of partial male nudity in the obligatory hot springs episode, which is treated sexually because of the aforementioned love triangle.  (Psst, anime writers and directors: more fanservice shots of men in other shows, plz.)

Shit: A lot of gags are kinda just low-hanging fruit of "haha, look at this, it's a thing you recognize from other shows".  The things that aren't are pretty well developed, and a few things that appear to be art errors turn out to actually be part of the joke.

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5. Polar Bear Cafe (2012–2013)

(based on 6 episodes)

This mellow slice-of-life follows a group of humans and surprisingly-realistically-drawn animals, focusing on the patrons of Polar Bear Cafe (run by — surprise! — a literal polar bear named Polar Bear), especially on the terminally-lazy Panda's attempt to work part-time as a zoo exhibit.  Its slowness is a nice part of the atmosphere, but it's also not a show suitable for binge-watching.  You might end up falling asleep, and the running jokes get grating after a while.  Watch only an episode or two at a time when you need something happy and relaxing.

Classic W/A/S: 5 / 0 / 1

Weeb: Polar Bear constantly makes puns that only make sense in Japanese, which are explained as on-screen notes, but seeing a pun accompanied by a note is not nearly as funny as actually getting the pun.  I don't think I've ever seen an American show from any time period or genre that is similar to this show's format or pacing, so I'm also going to maintain that "mellow slice-of-life" is itself a concept that deserves a few weeb points.

Ass: Near-constant nudity... by the non-human characters.  Seriously, guys, this show is far more innocent than your typical Disney movie.

Shit: I'm sure there's something wrong with this show, but I'm blind to whatever it is because it's so cozy.  

[deann1120]

Worst to Best Precure Seasons (Futari Wa - Go! Princess)

I’ve decided to do this just to get it off my chest. Remember, this is my personal opinion. Note: Max Heart and GoGo are not included in this because I honestly never had any interest in the sequel series.

SPOILERS FOLLOW 10. HappinessCharge Precure! I'm only 13 episodes into this season, but so far it's boring the crap out of me. The animation and their uniforms are beautiful, as is with most of the newer seasons, but I'm confused why they have SO many attacks and forms. Megumi/Lovely and Hime/Princess are kind of hard to watch; them, along with Yuuko/Honey seem pretty underdeveloped. I was expecting myself to like Hime because I had really loved Erika from HeartCatch, but she just doesn't have her charm and comes off as annoying. But, maybe my opinions will change as I continue with the season. FAVORITE CURE: Iona/Fortune 9. Yes! PreCure 5 I found this particular season to be pretty forgettable, unfortunately. Not only did I find Nozomi/Dream pretty annoying, I didn't approve of her thing with Coco because 1) he's kinda her teacher and 2) he's a chipmunk?? Like is she still attracted to him in his chipmunk form??? The whole thing is weird, and the same goes for Komachi/MintxNuts. Also, Milk was equally as annoying and this plot line wasn't too creative either. Plus, those Despair Mask-things were creepy af! FAVORITE CURE: Rin/Rouge 8. Suite PreCure One of my biggest problems with this season was the design. HeartCatch was such a big improvement in the animation from the previous seasons, and this one just looks like it falls flat. I kinda hated Kanade/Rhythm, and I had a couple of problems with Ako/Muse (specifically, I don't understand why, if she wanted to GET TO her father, why she disguised herself, or what the point of the disguise was at all). I did like her sassy personality though,and I was upset that they just sorta forgot about that once she joined the Cures. I will applaud this season's humor, villains, and Hibiki/Melody's characterization. FAVORITE CURE: Siren/Eren/Beat 7. Futari Wa Pretty Cure Splash Star As with most Precure fans, I assume, this season felt very similar to the Futari Wa. Saki/Bloom and Mai/Egret are pretty much descendants of the original pair, down to their personalities and voices. However, this season did feel a little newer, as it did introduce the whole "bad guys turn good and get Precure powers" trope with Michiru and Kaoru, even if they didn't officially become Precure. Also, Muup and Fuup are adorable af. However, I didn't understand why Saki and Mai got their Bright and Windy, forms, to be honest; it just didn't seem very necessary? Plus, the concept of two Precure forms wasn't really ever brought up again (not counting HappinessCharge). FAVORITE CURE: Saki/Bloom/Bright 6. Fresh Pretty Cure! When I first watched this season, I didn't like it very much because its animation looked stiff and the girls, besides Eas/Setsuna/Passion, barely had any difference in personality. However, I realize now that it was better than I thought it was. For example, I find this season to have the best use of the "bad guy turns good" trope; it's played out very nicely. This season also had a good deal of humor, especially in Westar and Soular (who I low key kinda shipped.) I also liked the idea of Love/Peach and Setsuna being adoptive sisters, since they had surprisingly good chemistry. I always saw Chiffon as just another damsel in distress, but Tarte is my bae because he was funny af and looked out for Chiffon like a big bro. Also, the concept of having the big-baddy be a computer was interesting and creative. FAVORITE CURE: Eas/Setsuna/Passion 5. DokiDoki! PreCure Okay, I can see why people love to hate this season, but personally, I kinda loved it. As mentioned before, the animation is beautiful, the girls and villains are well written (except for Aguri/Ace, which I'll get to), and the story is nice. Ai just overwhelms me with cuteness and Sebastian is the best side-character ever, I swear (he's basically Precure's Alfred Pennyworth). I think people hate the Mana/HeartxRegina pairing mostly because it takes up too much of the plot line, but I thought it was a nice divergence from the usual formula seen in Precure. Plus, they're pretty much canon already (they were holding hands in bed for fuck's sakes!) But there things with this one that will hang over my head every time I rewatch the scenes. One is Rikka/Diamond, who annoyed me just a little cause she was kind of a smartass. But my biggest problem is AGURI. Oh my lord, where do I start? How about the fact that she's like 9 in her normal form, but is suddenly 14 as Ace? Or that her transformation, while it is cool, is overdramatized and doesn't fit well with the others? Or how about the fact that when Mana becomes upset that she lost Regina again, Ace comes with no remorse and fucking TAKES AWAY HER LOVEADS??? FOR CRYING OVER A LOST LOVE??? Excuse me, bitch, what right do you have to determine whether or not a girl can be Precure. Get the fuck back, you're not helping. #LeaveManaAlone. Okay rant over lol. FAVORITE CURE: Mana/Heart 4. Futari Wa Pretty Cure Like with most franchises, the first is always a classic, and that's the case with Precure. Nagisa/Black and Honoka/White were both very likable characters, and I adored the love-hate relationship between Nagisa and Mepple. I liked how it was mostly hand-to-hand combat with this one, unlike the later seasons. I was also rooting immensely for the HonokaxKiriya pairing, and I was upset to hear that Kiriya is not even mentioned in Max Heart after what happened to him. I just felt like he was such a great anti-hero and they kinda just forgot about him entirely. FAVORITE CURE: Nagisa/Black 3. Smile PreCure! I will admit, I first watched this one as Glitter Force. However, I then went back and watched it as Smile, which was obviously better. This is the season that got me into Precure in the first place, and I'm glad it did. All of the girls are likable (notably Yayoi/Peace, she is my smol weeb bean and I luv and relate to her), their uniforms are easy on the eyes, and I loved their attacks. Joker was quite the villain too, especially for a kids' show. Everything in this one pops, and it just really uplifting, except for that one scene where they're all crying near the end. FAVORITE CURE: Yayoi/Peace 2. Go! Princess PreCure I had wanted to see this season for a while, after watching the transformation sequences ahead of time; when I did catch up to it, it was as good as I expected it to be. Everything about this season is so cool, from the proper-yet-badass style of the entire season to the girls' outfits and Keys. Pafu was really pretty, and Aroma was funny and cute too. While I didn't ship Haruka/FloraxKanata too much, Kanata is fuckin gorgeous, his hair is goals. This show definitely handled the whole dream motive better than Yes! 5, and I thought it was a great choice of character development to have the ever-optimistic Haruka lose her faith in her own dream when the one who initiated in the first place put her down for it. The girls are all great, Kirara/Twinkle is a queen of sass and super goals as well. I just wish they would've expanded on their future selves longer than the last 2 minutes of the series. One thing I wasn't a fan of in this season was those CGI attacks and scenes; they looked strange. FAVORITE CURE: Haruka/Flora 1. HeartCatch PreCure! You knew this was coming. Okay, so my first reason for this one topping the list is the animation style. It's vivid and energetic, just as the series itself is. I'm also lauding the much different tone of story in this one; it gives a sense of maturity in PreCure as a show for more than preteen girls. Specifically, my favorite parts were the whole Yuri/Moonlight vs. Dark PreCure battle (which contained some pretty fucking lit fight scenes) and Moonlight's history. I'm amazed they went as far to actually kill a fairy in this one, but I'm glad they decided to go through with it (not that I wanted little Cologne dead at all). I also loved Kaoruko/Flower as Tsubomi/Blossom's grandmother, I thought that was a nice twist. As with the others higher on this list, the girls are all well done, and this is the only season where I have more than one favorite cure. This season also had some pretty lit songs, and the final battle between the PreCure and Dune is pretty epic. FAVORITE CURE(S): Erika/Marine and Yuri/Moonlight

[the-apocryphal-one]

SO I FINISHED THE GAME AND…

It was…umm…wow, I don’t even know what to say.  My mind’s kind of on overdrive even though I decided to wait a few hours so I could slow down a little but I’m still…wow.  THAT TRIAL.  I’m an incoherent mess right now. 

Well I’ll start with Junko because I don’t know where to begin with Hajime.  I’ll leave him for last because I’ll probably end up babbling about him the most.

JUNKO’S BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER.  Seriously, she is the best.  I love Junko so much.  I’d never, ever want to meet someone like her in real life of course and I think she’s a terrible person in every sense of the word, but she is such an entertaining villain and I love her so much.  Seriously, she is one of the best villains in the history of villains.  Her design’s great, her voice and the way she talks is great, her fourth wall jokes are great, turning into a gigantic version of herself and getting a 3D model is great, her plan is so crazy, so Junko, I just have to love it.  She’s such a fantastic villain and I don’t know how future games will ever be able to beat her.  She’s a good villain, but she doesn’t make me want to root for her and it’s still satisfying as hell to beat her.  Junko’s great.  She’s probably the one who “improved” Hangman’s Gambit considering how unfair it is.  I sure felt tons of despair whenever I played it.  The ONE thing I didn’t think the creators took advantage of was her saying she could imitate the characters’ friends’ personalities.  She could have just started talking as their friends just to mess with the characters.  Chiaki when she’s talking to Hajime, Peko to Fuyuhiko, and so on.  Maybe it would need more time or something so they weren’t able to do it, but I’d have really liked seeing that.  She’s already emotionally tormenting them.  Why not a little more?  It would have been nice to see.  

Akane was…the longer she was one of the survivors, the less I tolerated her.  I might just be bitter because some of my favorites were killed off but she’s just not entertaining.  I can’t even remember her name half of the time.  Sigh, she could have so easily been Ibuki…

Kazuichi was likable.  I’m sure if I did more free time events with him I’d have definitely enjoyed him more, but I liked him.  Nothing too much stands out about him, but there really isn’t too much to dislike or even say about him for me.  I think the most I remember about him is the bear trap teeth and “Are my words being displayed on a screen right now?!”  Trial six got meta. 

I liked Sonia too, more than Kazuichi.  She was by far more entertaining than him, and actually did stuff.  I got a kick out of her being a weeb.  I’m glad she was a survivor.  

Fuyuhiko didn’t die, and I’m happy.  That means he can show up again and that’s good.  Unless I’m forgetting something, he was the only survivor to have a character arc so it makes sense why I’d get attached to him.  I’ve talked about him before so I won’t go too much into him.

Never did I think I would be so happy to see Makoto.  Ever.  He always seems to shine at the endgame, huh?  Seeing Byakuya again makes me wonder why I missed him.  Geez, he’s such a jerk.  But it’s okay because Kyoko!  Kyoko’s the best and seeing her again made me really happy.  I’m sad there was no Toko but I’ll live.  She was referenced in the epilogue so I’ll take it.

Nagito’s still nuts, except now that I know more about him, he’s somehow even more crazy.  He hacked his arm off just so he could have Junko’s arm?  What the hell?  Like, wasn’t Junko crushed to death?  How does that even work?  Of course that’s not even scratching the surface of what other people did to her crushed-to-death corpse.  I think I’ll just avoid talking about that, though…

And finally, HAJIME.  OH, HAJIME.  YOU’RE THE REASON I WAS LEFT STARING BLANKLY AT MY COMPUTER SCREEN WONDERING WHAT’S GOING ON.

When you said Hajime’s voice actor really shone late-game, holy crap, you really meant it.  I am so glad that I decided to play the game with the English dub (other than not having to read the Nonstop Debate text flying around).  I wouldn’t have been nearly as affected by hearing Hajime’s breakdown with just words on a screen.  I’m not saying his Japanese VA is bad at all, but it’s more effective when you can understand what’s being said, y'know?  

Just imagine finding out that you’re arguably on par with pretty much evil incarnate.  His breakdown was just so bad, the final portion of the trial was dedicated to it, which was definitely a good choice.  In fact, the climax of his character arc was given more focus than the climax of the game.  And I liked it.  Seeing him just completely shut down was…I don’t know how to describe it.  It was unnerving, in a way, I think is one way to describe it.  It makes you think that him and Nagito are probably more alike than he wants to admit.  Or, at least, pre-game Hajime was a lot like Nagito.  Both were willing to go to drastic ends to become “useful”, and that was what killed them in the end.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but Izuru Kamukura was an invented person put in Hajime’s brain, right?  He was never a person who died then his personality was reinvented then slapped on this random high school student?  I kind of got that from Junko’s line of “Izuru Kamukura 1.0” but I want to be sure.

I really have no idea what else to say about him because there’s so much that can be said.  I’m sure words will come to me in a few days when I’m able to properly digest everything.  And, I don’t know, watching Danganronpa 3 over the weekend.

But I think the biggest tragedy out of all of this was Hajime losing all of his monocoins.  I wasn’t even able to spend all the ones I had collected.  It was over 500, I think.  All the things I could have bought…

OH, AND AGAIN WITH THE EPIC FORESHADOWING!!  In the first game it was a random PhotoShop mention, and in this game it was the characters talking about these plot twists about mystery novels where the detective or the protagonist turns out to be the Big Bad all along.  The foreshadowing in both of these games is absolutely amazing and I love it.  Hajime’s (or rather, Izuru?) not just the villain of his game, he’s one of the main villains in the entire series.  

I have a few questions, though.  How did he not revert back to Izuru when he helped shut down the game?  How did all the other survivors not completely revert back to their Ultimate Despair selves?  Why did his hair randomly change color?  I get it was because if they did, the game wouldn’t exactly have too much closure, but I don’t really get it.  I’ll probably go back and replay the sixth chapter again at some point, but I’d like to hear your explanation(s) for it first.  

I don’t have much to say about the plot because I think I mostly said it all with Hajime, since he’s so closely tied to it.

So yeah, this game was amazing.  Yeah, I liked the gameplay better in the first game, but everything else is just so fantastic, it doesn’t even matter because I loved everything else about it so much.

—-

:D :D :D :D

I TOLD YOU TRIAL SIX WAS WORTH IT

Man I never even thought of Junko pretending to be the deceased students. Makes me sad she actually didn’t. But yep, I was happy to see her return (only because I felt she worked well here too. I wouldn’t want her to become like Ganondorf and always be the final boss). She does an epic job of breaking our cast down one by one. And lol, yep, that’s a good explanation why Hangman’s Gambit it so much worse! She’s doing it to drink our tears.

Haha, I’m glad you like the survivors more than me. Agree with you about Akane, but Kazuichi’s Sonia-stalking became way too much and Sonia’s always just kind of been there for me. Hajime and Fuyuhiko were the only ones I liked.

Lmao Byakuya comes back and you go right back to hating him! But I’m glad you liked Makoto and Kyoko’s cameo!

Nagito just really loves and hates Junko. Junko was crushed, but I honestly believe that Nagito’s luck just preserved enough of her body for him to hack her arm off.

HAJIME IS A FANTASTIC CHARACTER AND A PRECIOUS BABY. NOW YOU TOO HAVE BEEN ENLIGHTENED.

JYB is so magnificent in Trial 6, it’s one of my favorite performances ever. The pure agony in his voice is heartbreaking. And it’s really what cemented Hajime as my favorite protagonist (that and the revelations of Trial 6 in general). Like, he wanted to be special so much he sacrificed his humanity for it, only to have a hand in destroying the world. That would shake up anyone!

Right, Izuru Kamukura, the one you see in Chapter 0, is an entirely new persona who was only ‘born’ when Hajime went through the surgeries. There was a predecessor, the founder of the school–that’s who Junko is referring to when she says “Izuru Kamukura 1.0″. He’s long dead and has nothing to do with Izuru Kamukura, result of the Hope Cultivation Project.

There was even more foreshadowing in DR0, the novel I suggested reading! It’s where Izuru first gets set up. Interestingly, some of what is revealed there contradicts some of what Junko claims about him here. Take that to mean what you will.

Who says he didn’t revert to Izuru? :) He’s got every talent, I’m sure Ultimate Actor is in there as well…

Okay, serious answer, the power of hope/friendship/belief in yourself is why he and the others are okay. They basically woke up with their memories of what happened in the simulation and their real memories, and they decided to do what Chiaki said and make their own future. Basically, sheer will is why they can fight back against despair. Cheesy, but they deserve it.

Why did his hair go from brown to black, or black to brown? …I really have no idea. He might have dyed it back to brown, but I don’t know why it changed color in the first place.

I have three things to say about watching Danganronpa 3 (looking forward to your thoughts on that too)! First, the episode order is Future 1 -> Despair 1 -> Future 2 -> Despair 2 etc. Don’t watch all of one side first, stuff that happens in the other arc will get spoiled that way. Side:Future covers Makoto and the DR1 cast after the events of SDR2, while Side:Despair shows how the world (and the SDR2 cast) fell to despair.

Second, contrary to playing the games in English, I’d suggest watching the subbed version first. This is because the dub, while not bad…is hilarious. It’s so hilarious it loses some of the serious emotion. It’s like an Abridged series (I’m not joking). It’s worth a watch, but second.

Third, there is an episode of Side:Future that references the events of the gaiden game Ultra Despair Girls, so it’s recommended to have some knowledge of what happens there. If you’re too impatient to play it, you can get away with watching the cutscenes on Youtube.

I’m glad you loved this game so much, and congrats on beating it! Sorry the gameplay never became your thing, but like you said everything else is just so, so good. It’s still my favorite to this day.