#ritsu mishuyo

[satsuha]

dear older brother

[starkittnd93]

…why is this unironically my best artwork posted on here so far-

[Textless version under the cut!]

[moresrush]

Local cowboy about to grab a bull by the horns.

[ventusrocks]

OT2 Anniversary: 8 Days Left Countdown Image!

Happy belated 2nd anniversary to Octopath Traveler II! This is the 8 days left countdown drawing I did for Project Path Action on Bluesky, finally coming to Tumblr late as usual! Hikari's my favorite of those travelers, so I had to draw him! I like the friendship between Hikari, Ritsu, and Rai Mei in Hikari's chapter 1, and it's really cool how you get to fight with them (what an great first impression of this series!), so I drew all three of them supporting each other in battle!

[redshift-corridor]

three little kitties

[franthescrivener]

Fandom: Octopath Traveler II

Pairings: Hikari Ku/RItsu Mishuyo, Hikari Ku/Partitio Yellowil

Warnings: Major Character Death, Pregnancy, Childbirth, Infant Death, Stillbirth, Transphobia, Misgendering. Please note Hikari (mostly) uses she/her in flashbacks.

The specter of a heartbreaking past haunts Hikari as he fights to change his kingdom and embark on a new future with Partitio.

[sombrerokiwi]

ritsu mishuyo the blorbo ever

Absolutely.

[satsuha]

ritsu..... i've been. thinking about him (understatement)

[starkittnd93]

Was discussing trans Hikari headcanons with some friends and this old unposted doodle came to mind…

[satsuha]

ship + some other misc doodles

no actually important spoilers, but comic referencing a postgame scene below (temehika):

ive seen several diff peoples takes on this scene but im still very confused by it WHY IS TEMENOS DOING THE HEAVY LIFTING?

[starkittnd93]

Shadowkari Posting!

(Part 2)

[satsuha]

ku trio can have a little kemonomimi

[satsuha]

one difference between the japanese and english versions of octopath 2 that i find interesting is that most NPCs in the japanese version have a "title" attached to their name... this ranges from things like their job ("silver merchant papp" and "newspaper reporter ori") to things other characters call them ("star" dolcinaea and "great noble alrond")

the localization's decision to not mirror this entirely was probably at least partially because of space limitations... the title used for papp would be really long in english (silver merchant) while just being 3 letters in japanese (銀商人) but it is pretty interesting to see where they decided to leave the titles in. i think the english rightfully thought a lot of these titles were redundant and over-explainy in most cases which i think does suit english better

in hikari's story specifically though you see titles change a LOT... they're a lot more important in his story compared to others' because of the emphasis on military rank we see throughout his story so it makes sense that english replicates a lot of these;

chapter 1: king jigo and general mugen

chapter 3: king mugen, general rou and captain ritsu

chapter 4: lady rai mei

chapter 5: general ritsu

one thing to note is that the localization never gives benkei and ageha their respective titles, 重臣 (juushin, chief vassal) and 兵長 (heichou, lance corporal/captain/idk man finding equivalents of military titles is hard) i also want to mention that rai mei's title in ch.4 literally means lady as in "lord/lady of a castle" (城主 joushu) which i feel like is lost a little in english

i do like this emphasis on titles in hikari's story especially because it makes their absence feel a lot more meaningful... ritsu especially changes titles in almost every appearance, going from 剣士 (kenshi, warrior) in ch.1 to 兵隊長 (heitaichou, captain) in ch.3 to eventually 将軍 (shougun, general) but he's missing a title during his childhood flashback in ch.3 and during the brief scene we see of him and mikka in ch.5. i know the latter is... most likely to not spoil the fact that he's been made a general in the very next scene but i do really really like that this is a scene we see of him with mikka... it's like titles don't matter when he's with her. mikka is also i think the only major NPC in hikari's story who doesn't ever get a title? even tsuki has one (従者 juusha, attendant)

similarly, rai mei doesn't have a title in her first appearance during ch.1 and the flashback in ch.4 but has the title "lady" when she's in castle mei, and then loses the title again when she comes for hikari's aid in ch.5. i like that for rai mei, her title represents her burden and is only present when she's following mugen's orders... just as ritsu, who follows mugen for most of the story, is entirely bound by his titles. these are mostly mirrored in the localization as well! (the only exception being ritsu's "warrior" title in ch.1 being missing)

kazan also follows a similar progression where he is known as tactician (軍師 gunshi) for the entire story until he reveals his true name oboro, which has no title attached

hikari, as a protagonist, never has a title attached to his name so it's interesting to see how he fits into all this... we see 3 kings throughout the course of the story but hikari doesn't get the title of king attached to his name and of course the scene we see him as king is when he removes his crown to speak frankly to his people... i think it's nice

[satsuha]

some new stickers im making + other doodles... spoilers for hikari last chapter below (related to last pic)

[satsuha]

im still completely normal about this game

spoilers for ending/extra story below:

(used a trace base) i really like what temenos and arcanette have going on but god is it spoilery lmao... i'm replaying the game very slowly but every line mindt says has me feeling very o_o

[satsuha]

in a previous post about the last scene in hikari's story i mentioned that the clearing of the clouds indicates that the power/ambition ritsu once aspired for (the sky) has been dismantled now that hikari has torn down the system that necessitated it but i recently remembered that after hikari's ch.5 ends you can go get information from mikka where it reveals that her name means "sky" in the ancient ku language....

i mean i think there isn't one correct interpretation of what mikka says at the end but the fact that 1) mikka was named by her father 2) ritsu vowed to reach the heavens/sky after witnessing his father's death 3) ritsu always yearns to rise up (to the sky) like hikari and 4) it's hikari and mikka who look up at the clear sky at the end of his story.... it's just too much

hikari's ending scene is probably my favourite amongst all of them because not only does it mirror the first scene in his story, it's also just... incredibly fitting to hikari's character and his values that his story ends on such a quiet, contemplative and personal note after his coronation speech scene. it makes me think of nishiki's comments about hikari's theme because the mix of the gradiose nature of his duty and the care/grief he feels towards the people and the country he loves is really important i think

source

i also just... really love the detail of the cliff being named the "crest of heroes". it's an honourable yet tragic way of describing those who lost their lives in the war, and seeing how different hikari and ritsu's attitudes are in the first scene makes it feel like they would have differing opinions on this point too. i doubt ritsu is the type of person who finds glory in death... which makes it all the more ironic that he ends up being buried there. i feel like his lack of reverence for the dead is also fitting when you consider that he planned to kill hikari there during ch.1 - whether he dies on the crest of heroes or not, once hikari is dead nothing about him will matter. in his own words, "Pray for the ones fighting for their lives, not those already in the dirt."

i like to think that hikari resolved to make sure that ritsu is the last person who gets buried in the crest of heroes... that ku will never again have any so-called "heroes" who gave their lives to further the violence in the country. i think it's both a consoling and saddening fact for hikari and mikka, that ritsu will be remembered in this way. it's also why i really like the child npc you see later in ku who was saved by ritsu... at least to one person, he was a true hero