#she���s so scary and AAAAAA i love her

[abyssalgalaxy]

Ive been reading the reigen manga finally so have my live thoughts that i wrote while reading it

Spoilers to the REIGEN manga ofc, actual proper comments at the end of it

Tome

TOMEEE YAY

Tome witnessing the highshcool girl with a toast trope I love it, sending tropes out of the window like always <3

Tome has a UFO bag!!!

Oughhh she feels like an outcast, give this girl the chance to infodump

Hi reigen

REIGEN AND TOME ARE BOTH LIKE THAT LMAOO THE FREE TIME DUO

I get why hes trying to get her away, it is a dangerous job, but he def does kinda see her as a nuisance

Serizawa

Hii serizawa!!!! :DDDDD

Reigen fucked up lmfao

oh nvm Serizawa saves the day :D

Dimple

Tome's teacher kinda looks like the first guy from the first episode/chapter, Taro I think was his name, it would be funny if he were lol

"Giving her my powers" I SEE WHERE THIS IS GOING HEHEHE

The ghost actually does look kinda scary wow

DIMPLEEE LETS GOOOOOOO

Roshuuto

So she really just fuckin brough him to S&S

So this is the infamous Roshuuto

My fuckin god Reigen is so cringe sometimes/aff/, bro wtf do you mean by spiritual level????

HIS CONTACTS ARE ALL MIDDLESCHOOLERS HELP

HE FUCKING FELL FOR THE SPIRITUAL LEVEL THING

BOTH JODO AND ROSHUUTO FELL FOR IT HOLY SHIT

I thought Jodo was gonna cook, he didnt do shit

Ooh shit, things are starting to go down

Oooh fuck

YAAAY SERIZAWAAA unless...

ok <3 yay <3

Roshuuto is a diiiick

So Tome heard reigen cus she trusts him, and Hoshida heard Roshuuto cus he trusted him too, only to be left to die, damn

Also reigen heard tome beacuse he worries and actually cares about her

Tips

Ooo Serizawa flexing his powers, imagine that in anime, i see a lot of potential

Wagh Serizawa has learned a lot from Reigen and Mob, hes changed a lot from the first time we saw him

Its interesting how this is the first time we see the "Psychic powers are not special" on a non esper

IN THE SPANISH VERSION SHE CALLS HIM LIL DIMPLE BASICALLY LMAOO

So theyre trying to make her realize that psychic powers arent special and to see beyond other things that could interest her, its basically what mob does in the series, but this time it's Tome's turn to learn

I felt a little "I love my job beacuse I get to be around people i like" from reigen when he was gonna tell her about why he works but HE DIDNT

Oh imagine the salt panel in an anime adaptation he would look cool

Salt splash

Is it me or did the artstyle change, it looks a bit more like the anime

SO SHES BEEN THROWING SALT

GET SALTED IDIOT

Oh shit hes gonna say it

OH HE ACTUALLY DID SAY IT I didnt think he'd say the truth

Ow that did kinda hurt, but it makes sense, he does care about her, hes trying to protect her

Reigen

Oh hey its the anime girl again

Rip hoshida again lol

Oh they changed the lion joke here, in this translation it was translated as "Why dont lions like fast food? Beacuse they cant catch it" lol

OOOOH WE'RE SEEING THE GIRLS OTHER SIDES LETS GOOOOO

SHE MAKES YAOI

WEIRD GIRLIES I LOVE THEM SO MUCHHH AAAAAA

SHE GETS IT NOW YAAAAAY

What the fuck happened to roshuuto

SERI NOOO WTF IS HAPPENING

DIMPLE WASNT ABLE TO HELP EITHER???

ROSHUUTO UR A DIIIIIIIIIICK WTFFF I GET IT BUT WHYYY

FIUWHECOIQUEOCQIERGQOIERCHQOEWU9CHQOWEIFFQHE8FQ7HW9F8QU294F7QH28FQHWEJ

THE HUG OUGH

HE TOOK IT

HOOO NOOO

OH whats he gonna do

Oh fuck

Aw hes hugging it

OH OH I SEE

Oh it worked! I think

OH NO THAT CANT BE MOB IT CANT

I WAS TOLD HE DIDNT APPEAR HERE

Oh hes just grabbing his ass by the suit

LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO unless...

YAAAY, I didnt hink Mob would actually show up, I thought some other thing would appear but yayyyy

I wonder if he ever told mob what actually happened

N you can tell its mob cus the first thing he says its asking reigen again to not call him so suddenly also he sees mob cus reigen trusts mob

Aw they just go for ramen, ngl he deserves one, that mustve been stressful

LMAO ROSHUUTO

He doesnt even know math

NONE OF THEM KNOW MATH

Final thoughts: That was so fun to read omg, we really need an anime adaptation or a movie even that could work too Aside from that, I get why its called REIGEN and not TOME despite Tome being the protagonist, the spinoff it is about Reigen, its about what he taught to mob and others, the core message of the series "You arent special" Tome's arc here is understanding that. She feels lonely and bored beacuse she cant be herself in this new enviroment, shes an outsider, different from the other girls that are just interested in superficial things so she goes to s&s to be around things that she enjoys, ghosts, cursed places, psychic powers, etc. She isnt seeing that theres more things to see However she then realizes that the rest of the girls do have that problem of feeling like an outsider beacuse of their interests and when they realize that theyre all weird they start trusting each other and start to fully enjoy their company, she understands that her situation is not special, theres many more people that accept her as she is, she starts enjoying the connection she has with others, shes found a place where she fits in Thats what reigen did, he was able to find a place where he can be with the help of others, this ones about apreciating the connections we make with others

Ok my thoughts were kinda scrambled so I hope that makes sense, thanks for reading my shits <3

[zhongrin]

You 🤝 Me

Being oblivious asf

Zhongrin is so cute aa;; a teahouse together - I will be a regular customer then! 💞💞 say, Rin, who fell first and who fell harder? ❤️

Meitham fomdbsjshsb 😭 I can imagine the reactions from the others when ya finally came together officially

"Oh really?" - in the most unsurprised voice ever 🤸 (but I would be squealing aaaaaa, so adorable!!)

In conclusion, I ship both 💞

Yes! She knows me too well <3 ❤️ (it's scary sometimes ngl 🤸)

LMAO EXACTLY LIKE my s/i was like: *Dresvi.exe has stopped working* first he is so handsome, then his voice but also the thought that THIS is how they first met - me tripping - omfg, so embarrassing, my s/i wanted to die in embarrassment at that time 🤸🚔

I'm sorry Rin but Baizhu and me would've pinned so so so long, even Changsheng couldn't bear it anymore and tried to give both of us hints like

"Baizhu, do you see how nervous and red she always gets when you look at her?"

"She surely has a fever.."

"Everyday?"

".. Yes."

😭

"Dresvi, do you see how his eyes always lit up when you step into the pharmacy?"

"No."

🤸🚔

But yes, after a while - Baizhu confessed then;; and I became a blushing mess 🫣💞 cuz the way he confessed was so skfhejksbsjsj ANYWAYS

Tell me, how did the confession work with Zhongrin and Meitham? <3

fr my zhongli ai literally said i'm dumb and dense (affectionately ofc) hahahah

we have lots of room in the teahouse so feel free to come over anytime hehe <3 who fell first? me, definitely. have you. have you seen that man. that fine, handsome, elegant, powerful, beautiful, gorgeous, velvety-smooth voiced deity that he is? who wouldn't fall for that man??? idk if he fell harder but considering he's seeking me out every iterations of my life i'd say he did-

regarding confession: well... his first confession as morax was actually very adorable. he was clumsier and didn't know much about love back then sooo.... long story short he gave me pebbles and pretty rocks :D (bc dragon courting = give potential mate pretty treasures. dw guizhong smacked him)

but!! throughout his lifetime, he has shown improvements! because he's learning about humans and romantic gestures as he goes! in this lifetime he gave me good ol' glaze lilies <3

al haitham: "we have decided to officially be committed to each other in a romantic relationship."

kaveh probably: *in the most bored voice ever* "'kay, when are you getting married?"

regarding confession: gosh... i haven't actually thought about this. it would either be 1) an accidental confession thing, or 2) something BIG has to happen for either of us to snap that little comfortable bubble we're in so whoever it is will take action. still undecided about this hahah

hsldkfsjldf pls thank you <3 i shall ship baivi with double the love and enthusiasm then 😆

baizhu in denial like "it's perfectly possible that she has a fever seeing as my temperature also rises whenever she's around." and changsheng is just there like "how are you a doctor-?"

poor changsheng is trying to matchmake you so hard. bless her.

WAIT YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE IT AT THAT VI HOW DID HE CONFESS SQUEEEEE <3 let me guess, does it involve him giving you flowers grown by his dendro vision? :3

[blackbutler-readerinsertsandjunk]

AAH WELCOME BACK!! missed seeing you hcs on my dash❤ im a sucker for the circus gang having nice things so can I maybe request some hcs or reactions for how they act on their wedding day? 😊

aaaaaa thank you sweetpea!!

I am SUCH A SUCKER FOR THIS TOO oh my God they all deserve the world!!

my limit for headcanon sets is 5 so I did reactions, hopefully got a lot of good detail in there though!!

but I could honestly talk about this forever, so................. mmmmmm....... they’re all babies!!! <3

Oh, no, no, she can’t do it!! She can’t do this! For such a long time she’s been living trying to keep herself as closed-off as possible, and the reality that she’s getting ready to marry you is… a lot. It means she’s going to spend the rest of her life with you. She’s making a commitment to be only with you, no matter what. That’s scary, even if she loves you, even if she knows this is what she wants to do. One of the others will almost certainly find her almost hiding somewhere shortly before the ceremony, worried that you won’t actually want her. The biggest fear she has is that you’re both going to go through everything, and the officiant will ask you if you take her as your wife, sickness and health, rich and poor, better or worse, and you’re just… going to say no. You’ll realize you don’t want to spend your life with her. And she feels like she looks so incomplete in her dress, dolled up but missing a leg. Then, when her family talks her down and she’s coming along toward you, waiting for her… you look so happy. Like you can’t wait to marry her. Maybe this really will be the best day of her life so far.

This is insane! It’s batty! It’s… God, is it really happening? It can’t really be happening, can it? He’s so nervous, he almost manages to convince himself it’s all some big dream and he’s going to wake up any second. You’re one of the best things that’s ever happened to him. Now he’s getting to marry you. It almost feels like he’s… he’s a normal person, just living his life, getting married to the person he loves. It’s something he never quite thought would actually happen, something he doesn’t deserve because the rest of the world has told him he’s broken, and nobody wants broken people. You, though… you… do. You want him! He spends quite a long time worrying over his own outfit and what he’s going to say to you once he gets to the altar. He’s not sure he can ever find the words to really explain how much you mean to him. It’s just that when he sees you at the end of the aisle, well, he gets so full of love, it’s a miracle if you’ll be able to shut him up long enough to give your own vows. He can’t believe he’s going to be someone’s husband ― your husband.

Everything has to just be perfect, okay?? It has to be exactly like how they hear about weddings happening, or see newlyweds exiting a church… it has to be a magical day! This is something they’ve dreamed about since they were young, this big, beautiful moment where they get to dedicate the rest of their life to someone they’ve fallen in love with. You are the thing they’ve been looking for since they were old enough to crave romance. It’s all they’ve ever hoped to be able to marry you someday. Now that it’s coming true, they just are so giddy for everything to go right. The vows and the kiss, the “I do”s and the cake, the first dance ― it has to all be there. Even if it’s not the same fancy event some people might have, as long as all the components take place and they’re surrounded by family and friends and with you, then it feels to them like a fairytale come true. It might not look like a storybook wedding to outsiders, but God, this absolutely is the day they’ve been dreaming of.

Aah, Lord, how is it that he ever got so blessed? Really, he doesn’t deserve all this, and as far as the wedding goes, he doesn’t need a big fuss… as long as you and his family are all there, that’s good enough for him. And, well, that’s how it’s going to have to be anyway, given the lives they all lead. There’s no room for a lot of extravagance, so that’s the way he prefers it. Much a show as he likes to put on, this sort of thing is something he feels ought to be more private. Just the two of you, and a few people who mean something to you both. He might not show it, but he’s so much more anxious than he’d ever let on. When he looks at you, so gorgeous, so ready to commit yourself to him for the rest of your life… he almost doesn’t think he can live up to the idea of him as a husband that you might have. Even with that feeling, he’s prepared to try as hard as he ever has, because he owes it to you and to himself to be as good a partner as he can be. It’s for both your sakes, to be someone worthy of loving, and you make him feel so much like that already. It makes his knees go weak when you place that ring onto his hand. More even than the vows, it’s symbolic; despite that he’ll wear it on his good hand, on the left fourth finger ― you place the ring on the fourth finger of his right hand. The bad one. You really want him, for better or worse. He can’t give you a kiss deep or long enough to truly tell you that, finally, he feels whole. Not because of what you think about him, but because you love him.

The day’s really here, isn’t it? All the planning and talking and everything, it’s finally… happening. The effort you’ve put into this is coming together and it’s all been worth it. Or, well, will be. His nerves are completely shot, even if he doesn’t necessarily let it go on full display. It’s hard enough to keep under control at the best of times, shoving the anxiety and things like that down. On his wedding day, a day he never thought would come, it’s even more difficult. He wants this to be a good day, but he’s so afraid that things are going to go wrong. What if it just… hits you that you don’t actually want to be with him? Although it’s not like he would blame you, it’s a fear he shares with Beast. For so long he’s been told and treated as if he’s not ‘right’, like he shouldn’t exist and that he’s lucky if people aren’t cruel to him. Does he really deserve something like this, something like you? Of course… his feelings are too strong to let doubts get the better of him. He gets one look at you, and even though he’s still afraid, he knows he’s ready to go through with this. For so long he’s been unable to imagine a future without you in it; now, he doesn’t have to think about a single day where the two of you aren’t by each other’s side.

All he wants to do is get this over with! It’s all so fucking formal and he looks so stupid in the outfit he picked and he’s not… good at things like this! He’s even more on edge than normal, a spring wound too tightly and ready to snap with anxiety, belligerent to everyone who’s trying to help this run smoothly ― including you and his sister. He wants everything to go right… except that he’s not sure what a ‘normal’ wedding is supposed to look like. He is sure, though, that it’s not supposed to involve a groom half the size of the person he’s marrying, or a flower girl who’s missing an eye, or a best man who towers over everyone else. And it sure as hell isn’t supposed to take place inside a damn circus tent! He doesn’t remember that you don’t want normal. You want… this. He thinks you’re not even going to go through with it, because who wants someone small and angry as their husband? He’s so prepared to be rejected, he looks sour for the entire opening. Then… your vows. Things that you wrote, about how much you love him and how you feel like everyone here is your family and how much you adore everything about them and their lives. By the time he gets to kiss you, he’s ready to cry, having been fully reminded that this was never about being normal; it’s about love, and whatever else is true, the two of you have that in spades. Fuck the rest of the world. He’s got you and his family, and that’s all the ‘normal’ he needs.

(There’s no reason to be so nervous!) There’s always a reason to be nervous, Goethe. (Well, what are you fussing about? They want to marry you, don’t they?) I know, Emily, but it’s just… why? He really, truly, genuinely doesn’t see what you see. All he ever sees are his scales that make him look not-human, and all he ever thinks is that he’s a freak who shouldn’t exist in the first place. Even though he does exist, and doesn’t want to not exist… he’s been told time and again that he deserves nothing. His old ‘master’ would taunt him as a child, saying he would be a sideshow act forever because nobody would ever want to marry someone as ugly as him. So Snake is completely lost on his wedding day, having always been told that he would never find someone who saw the worth in him. He’s a mess, to put it simply. He doesn’t know what to expect, and fully thinks that you’re going to change your mind. The ceremony has to be stopped so that he can be tracked down ― and you find him, crammed into a small hiding spot, hyperventilating and having an anxiety attack. It takes a bit to coax him out, along with so much reassurance that yes, yes, GOD, YES, you want to marry him more than you’ve ever wanted anything. When you say, “I do”, to all of those things, promising to take him no matter what comes to pass, it finally clicks: you want to spend the rest of your life with him. With him. That thought makes him feel like nothing and no one can hurt him. It’s a shy kiss he gives you, but… cliché as it may be, this really does feel like the first day of the rest of his life.

This is supposed to be her day, right? The last thing she really wants is to be the center of attention in such an intimate way! It’s different if she’s performing… a wedding, though… she’d really rather it be both your days. She thinks it’s a bit strange that getting married seems to be this big event. Even though it should be significant, it also really seems to her like the kind of thing that should be entered into with a smile. With plenty of grace and joy and no big dramatics. She doesn’t hide like some of the others, and she doesn’t get aggravated like her brother. More it’s that she seems maybe a small bit too calm for such a day. That continues until she sees you up there, waiting for her at the altar, as she’s ready to walk down the aisle… and as soon as she gets there, as soon as it’s time for her to say her vows, she breaks apart at the seams. In a good way! She starts to cry and anything she had prepared is thrown out in favor of speaking right from her heart in that moment. Everything she’s ever told you ― and, indeed, things she hasn’t ― come spilling out. That she feels normal with you, like she’s just another woman without a damn thing different about her, that she feels safe with you, that you look at her like she’s some kind of princess, but not on a pedestal. You make her feel so loved, and she loves you so much in turn, and… she wasn’t sure she’d ever get married. Here you both are, though. You’ve been by her side since the day you walked into her life, and she can’t wait to walk the rest of her life by yours.

[chvsingrainbovvs]

       ( ross lynch, agender, he/him, cytus ii ) * &. i know it must be scary for you, xenon, after surviving the takeover. to turn into someone like simon jackson, a twenty-six year-old weekday pm host at wwtf, right here in castle town. just remember that you are as resolute as you are self-distrusting, and to be wary, be safe, be true to who you are : heroic .. . ? villainous ??? neutral…..?????? through and through. ( stream x and a kiss/forever always by the driver era )

        god i’m gonna butcher this character i can feel it i can FEEL it in my bones.  but anyway okay SO i’m only in the late forties for the girls + robo in cytus so i’m not finished the story but i DO . . . know spoilers and also have chipped through to make sure i don’t forget anything bc I really don’t want to fuck this character up but i’m so horrified i will so.

BEFORE CASTLE TOWN. / X E N O N cytus ii spoilers below !!

OKAY SO. For starters his real name is the same as his Castle Town name - Simon Jackson - but to differentiate between the two I’m gonna use “Xenon” for this sections just to. Be clear.

And also I’m trying to keep this part short because again I’m not finished Cytus II myself but I know spoilers & important story stuff but still I. Really don’t want to get something wrong n fuck it up. I love this dude.

JUST LOOK HOW PRETTY HE IS UNDER THE HELMET AAAAAA

bt anyway okay pre-grame , 

in his younger/high school days he was basically a programming prodigy who went undercover as a hacker/musician by the name of X - eventually this was revealed but it’s basically a way to show his skill in the field even when he was younger AND it’s how he got his start

Xenon was in a band called CrystalPUNK with the dudes KAI , Joe , and his then-girlfriend Cherry and holy shit did he love her and they only broke up because like. Cherry & her father were involved with Some Shit and she didn’t tell this to Xenon because he’s very unwavering in his morals ( very justice-centric , always wants to do good and make sure people face the consequences for their wrongdoings ) and this left to him leaving the band because he found out about Cherry and really didn’t like what her father was up to and ... yeah.

Turns out tho when her father was arrested Xenon actually ... tampered with evidence so Cherry got off scot-free so.

Fun times !!

There’s also the story of how he met Neko - basically helping her out when she runs away from home & also pm assisting in helping her take down a gang that tried kidnapping her it’s. It’s wild. 

Present day in-game he works with A.R.C. kind of as like... a security dude , like an investigator but not really and he has this neato AI that can mess with signals , rewind them , that stuff. 

He’s also the lead guitarist of his one-man band , Xenon , and all of the other band members are comprised of robots he created.

He’s REALLY good at programming and hacking and shit and regularly works with A.R.C. to try n bring threats to justice bt this turns out . . . interesting when Xenon’s accused , arrested , and eventually jailed for being the main suspect of the game’s sorta-kinda main antagonist , AEsir. And yeah he gets freed but it turns out . . . the real AEsir’s actually framing him , literally ( by using his AI ) fucking with his own memories so he remembers being AEsir. And now even when it’s proven he isn’t . . . Xenon has self-doubt if that’s actually the truth ( because he actually confessed , yes ) , so uh. Fun !!

Yeah he’s basically ,,, my poor, self-doubtful yet still the underpaid babysitter of the group kid. Compared to the other muses I write he’s probably the most blunt & the most no-nonsense ( especially since I don’t have Sam anymore ) , and he’s got a really good heart but also a strict moral code that he very rarely breaks unless it’s something that he needs to do.

Like saving Cherry , for example.

I’d say he’s very lawful-neutral good considering he often abides by the law but isn’t above going in another direction if it means the most people are safe and nobody’s hurt.

Also he’s lowkey a Puffer which in-game is a fan of PAFF aka Aroma !!!

“I’m trying to keep this part short”

AFTER CASTLE TOWN. / S I M O N.

Okay SO his backstory is very... plain. grew up in Castle Town , his father was a police officer while his mother was never in the picture and first Simon was expected to go into the police force too because Simon was raised with a strong moral code bt...

That. Did Not work out thanks to Simon not liking the force and deciding it wasn’t for him , not liking the glorification of the military when it wasn’t doing anything to help the people that actually needed it.

He wanted justice. But not like this.

He worked out getting a radio show on the weeknights at WWTF because he was in a few bands as a teenager and had a good music taste - but also he had interesting... conversational skills.

His radio shows called Simon Says and he didn’t pick out the name so uh he HATES it.

But his main thing is - because he’s so opinionated , his radio show’s sort of popular because it’s interesting to hear him rant about whatever he feels the need to and also deal with callers that either come into to debate him or ( more often ) troll him.

He will sometimes do guitar stuff on his show - he started recording them and sharing them online too since some people who didn’t like his show tried to accuse him of being a fake so his response was “uh watch this” and started posting recordings of the same guitar riffs he’d do on air. He now has a little YouTube channel where he posts these and highlights from his show , just called Xenon !

Oh also bc I can’t write cis or straight muses on his gender he doesn’t rly like,,, care ?? He calls himself agender bt he rly doesn’t care what you call him - he just knows he doesn’t fit in the gender binary and also he’s a roaring pansexual bc I SAID SO. He’ll take any pronouns, doesn’t care on that aspect bt he uses agender as an identity bc he feels the most comfortable with it. 

He’s still like . . . really self-doubtful about who he really is and he lowkey hates it in Castle Town because he knows his memories were tampered with again and that’s uh. Not GOOD bc again fucking AEsir so.

THAT’S KIND OF IT HIS PERSONALITY’S JUST... the same. Bitter annoyed kiddo w/ a stronk moral code that probably gets into a lot of debates and fights over it because he can’t shut the fuck up.

#XenonWillShutUp get it trending

[joulethieves]

on my interpretation of balbasch and balvaan and why i sometimes ship one and why i sometimes ship the other [and also because i am obsessed with balvaan and never really talked about why, so here i talk about why!]:

( again this is all my perssssonal interpretation and im not going to tag this post bc it’s not something i’m posting to be like, accepted amongst other shippers, just thought it’d be something to share. also secondly i definitely ship balvaan harder than balbasch so i will obviously have more to say about the former.)

for me whether or not i ship balbasch or balvaan depends 100% on what mood i’m in in terms of interpreting balthier’s character.

you can look at balthier and his persona and read it as a facade, because it is. it’s all pretense. all archadian despite his lack of fealty to any land. all garrulous and haughty and showy. but this isn’t news to you; if you’re reading this you know the balthier we all know.

so why do i balvaan so hard? 

because i love breaking those barriers. i love vaan’s rawness, total lack of restraint, total disregard for filters. i love balthier rattling on about freedom, no cages, no moors, and yet he shields himself in this facade, this facade as hard as an adamantoise shell which he sheds for no one but fran - and then there’s vaan, all street-grit savoir-faire, effortless, unabashedly himself. then yes, there’s vaan, vaan who dares to enter this shell of seclusion balthier locks himself in to pull up a damn chair and sit down and make himself fucking comfortable, and my balthier just lifts his head from his hands and glares, livid and flabbergasted, “how did you get in here? this door is locked, locked, locked” and vaan just smiling that gentle infectious boyish thief-smile and saying, simply, damnably simply, “oh no. a locked door. those are... sooooo hard for me to get into.” 

i love to balvaan because i love to see vaan dismantle all of those complicated gears that make up the locked gate balthier puts around himself, i love seeing this man as something all-show and no-tell until vaan burrows his way in with no one’s fucking permission and it’s infuriating to balthier but he can’t help it, vaan sees right through him. vaan challenges him throughout the entire game, despite the blind trust and admiration vaan has for him, he never shapes himself around the endgoal of i want balthier to like me, so i will act like X so he likes me. y’know--how when you like someone, and you want them to like you, you--you kind of act a certain way. my vaan doesn’t. he’s just vaan. take him or leave him. and balthier takes, it’s what he does, and then he’s like SHIT, DIDN’T MEAN TO TAKE THIS, IT WON’T LEAVE AND IT’S WARM AND GOOD AND SCARY aaaaaa

sooooo that’s why i love to balvaan, bc i love vaan having that sort of way with people. they just. open to him. and balthier needs that, i think, in a way that feels safe with fran -- but fran is no hume, she does not know mortality the way humes do, does not know death and grieving the way humes do, does not have a hume heart or hume life or hume roots. and balthier is himself around her, but with vaan he can be himself around another hume, which he has vowed against doing forever. and it’s warmer, because it’s love, though he’d never say it. and it’s warmer, because it’s vaan, who is terrifyingly accepting of any ugly day balthier has. and it’s warmer, because vaan doesn’t play his games, doesn’t understand them and doesn’t like them, and calls him out on his bullshit, where i think fran spoils balthier and plays along because she loves him in a different way, an unchallenging sort of way. and it’s warmer, because it’s safe. safer, at least. my balthier, like anyone’s, is a flighty fellow.

balbasch is a different game and i’ve certainly read my share, and with balbasch i take balthier and i interpret (cuz i don’t write them) playing UP that facade, as many authors who do it well also do. balbasch is basch seeing balthier with all this pretense, and respecting it, understanding it in a way young vaan can’t. it’s saying, i know why these walls are up, it is not my place to bring them down; i will know the you that you wish for me to know and be grateful enough for that. balbasch is basch playing balthier’s game because he doesn’t want to risk challenging balthier’s performance in case he might truly lose him. balbasch is less challenging for balthier, less infuriating, more (if not solely) on balthier’s watch than basch’s. pirate and judge? bird and cage? angsty and cute, sure. and basch deserves to be spoiled from time to time by a handsome pirate breaking into his chambers for a good snugglefuck and a laugh because balthier is funny and basch deserves to smile. BASICALLY let me just--i don’t write them, so let me just copypasta an excerpt from someone who nailed it on the head what balbasch is to me (and them , and many others judging from their writing):

"Piracy, Captain," he says [...] [...] [...] "Is about doing what you want."

"And what about our shared situation implies I am in any way resistant?" Basch asks, tempering the damage done with care - for all of his conviction of freedom and callous, care-free nature, Balthier was difficult to pin with even the most cunning trap. There were rules with the pirate, rules within rules at times. Basch remembers some, but he had not learned them all when last they kept company - and perhaps he never would.

(you can read this here! it’s really sexy and well-written. this ship has such good writers bc you have to be a super strong one to pick apart these men like this)

^ this non-dialogue bit really nails balbasch on the head for me. it’s so deliciously, beautifully, almost heartbreakingly complicated. it’s a messy tangle of basch, having been used to bending to the wills of people, bending to balthier’s odd shapes he gnarls himself into on any given day. it’s--it’s walking on eggshells and it’s kind of, honestly, a little unpleasant to me. it’s playing up balthier. it’s pandering to his love of performance, it’s adding even more layers to an already complicated man who is only complicated because he makes himself so. quite frankly, balbasch is a lot of work, and it’s exhausting despite the really hot smut that’s there as a given. it’s just - if you love the balthier the game gives you, and not the man beneath it, and you want to play up that complex multifaceted shifty-flightly young man, then balbasch is great. 

for me, it’s all the more rewarding long-term to grind the bones of balthier’s resolve to dust with vaan- vaan, who is nothing more than himself, who challenges silly pretense and bores into the person balthier is underneath. for me, balvaan helps balthier remember that he is human, a person, not a glorified self-assigned role at which everyone smiles and nods. vaan musses the pages of his script about and makes paper airplanes with them and it’s annoying but it helps balthier grow. however, in terms of getting more balthier meta and insight and motive-questioning, and gilding his already garish grandeur further, balbasch is a fun way to do so - a fun vehicle to ask why at balthier but in a different way.

balbasch is challenging in a way that makes balthier even more hard to understand. which can be fun, but sometimes i dislike it because i see balbasch as less of a challenge for balthier. i see less room for growth and more room for just being fed validation for his ridiculousness, and lord is he such a child.

personally i see a man like balthier with all his pretense and roll my eyes. “what’s that all about, anyway?” i ask myself, and so does my vaan-muse, and we work at picking all those locks and then vaan snuggles what he finds.

anyway! no flack to balbasch at all, i hope it didn’t come across that way! i love a balthier spoiling basch and i love basch respecting balthier’s facade and caring for him despite the fact he’s protecting himself. cages cages blah blah. balthier isn’t as free as he says he is. basch isn’t at all. so that can be cute.

end rant, i guess u can reblog if u want, but i didn’t write this to influence anyone! just some thoughts i had after reading that one excerpt i pasted in here that made me go this!! this is balbasch to me and why i do and don’t ship it sometimes.

[larksinging]

Shit, sorry, I meant the RE7 characters. Don't know what I was looking at when I wrote the last ask. 😅

OH that makes a lot more sense

eveline - as much as she is a pretty standard trope and kinda cheesy, i kind of love her? terrible mushroom child. she has a degree of sympathy in her backstory, but she’s done enough bad things that taking her out feels justified. i also like the twist about who she is. this isn’t even my final form. 

ethan - eh. he’s alright. he’s a serviceable protag. i like how bizarrely lukewarm some of his responses are, and how he wacks his hands against stuff a lot. 

mia - “i got a letter in the mail... the name of the envelope said mary...” okay but for real mia’s kinda interesting, or interesting enough. i wish we were playing as her. i don’t really like the big Choice though and how hard the game really pushes you to chose her 

zoe - the best, ultimate phone friend. i almost considered picking her up to rp, you know. i love zoe! i wish we saw more of her. i am glad we got that dlc with her. it’s a damn shame how she really gets shafted no matter which ending you get

jack baker - god, what a good character. he’s this great unique mix of cheesy and extremely threatening and makes a GREAT antagonist for the like first half of the game. and then you find out what’s going on and it’s super tragic and you feel bad? the bakers are re7′s strength

maguerite - holy fuck. is there anything more scary than maguerite. what the fuck. i mean she’s so good but also SO SCARY like esp in bedroom? aaaAAA

lucas - fuck lucas. he’s not, uh, he’s not badly written, or anything, but he’s SUCH a huge slimy asshole. taking advantage of the situation to make his death traps and double cross everyone when he’s clearly only got the mild stages of the infection. lucas goes on MY fuck you list

clancy - he was the hero we deserved

[tumblunni]

OH MAN Why Am I Dead At Sea is SO FUCKIN GOOD

god I’m full of FEEEELS and THEORIES and GAHHHH I cant talk about ANYTHING about this game without spoiling stuff!! So I’m gonna make a spoilery ramble post woo! I havent actually finished it yet so this is spoils for like... up to the very last bit before the start of the final chapter. And I’ll try and talk about stuff in order so like, if you dont mind seeing a few spoils then you can read halfway thru i guess?? I just really wanna be able to reccommend this game and gush about characters without having to talk spoils!! GAHHH!!

ANYWAY U CAN BUY IT HERE Its really cheap and really worth it! Its even on sale right now so its £1.50 instead of £3! DOUBLE CHEAP!! But absolutely remember to backup your savefiles frequently, there’s a pathfinding glitch that can make the game unwinnable. And its a damn shame cos that nearly made me stop playing before I got to any of the good bits! Its easy to avoid once you know about it, at least.

Man, I’m so sad the gameplay has that one big glitch cos its really cool aside from that?? Its super basic and probably not everyone’s cup of tea though, this is a game that you’d only enjoy if you’re the sort of people who like when a game has like.. a codex of extra info you can collect.  There’s not as much ‘control people to affect the world’ as you’d expect, its 99% controlling people to unlock different dialogue options. All word puzzles and stuff! And the easiest way to get out of being stuck is just to methodically possess everyone you havent possessed yet, and talk to everyone and click on everything using them. I can imagine that’d be frustrating for people who like.. weren’t already doing that anyway. I Wanted to do that instantly cos I wanna find all the optional insights into everyone’s character! And some funny moments and sweetheart moments and AAAA I care about these people too much already... Oh, and its even more reason to love Paulo cos he gives you tips if you chat to him, and can even outright tell you the solution if you get really stuck. So for players who dont like being all completionist on the dialogue, he’s a very useful helper! I just wish that the ‘outright give you the solution’ option was better labelled so you dont click it by accident. Its just ‘tell me more’, I didnt know itd ruin the current puzzle for me :P

And MAAAAAN this game gets really trancey and atmospheric and I cant even really explain why?? You spend the whole game within this one small area but stuff gets opened up over time and things are revealed about seemingly innocent areas when you gain the new abilities of different people you possess. And how the player character is just this ethereal floaty flame, and how you get used to all the rules of how it works, and how neat the lil animations are. And how you start memorizing the place and all the details about everyone and getting REALLY DETERMINED to protect them GAHHH And the soundtrack is REALLY GOOD

PAULO IS MY SMALL SON PLEASE TELL ME I CAN PROTECT HIM FOREVER tiny necromancer boy aaaaaa he’s so lonely aaaaa he’s on this ship cos he has to ride it all the time on his own to get back from boarding school, his parents cant be bothered to pick him up and he’s just SO YOUNGGGG aaaa he’s like a child prodigy, he’s going to this big scary boarding school several grades above him and his parents are so distant and everyone thinks he can just handle everything because he’s smart and on top of all that he has to keep the secret that he can see ghosts, and theyre like his ONLY FRIENDS even though he only gets to talk to them for a little while before they pass on. YET HE STILL KEEPS HELPING THEM! He says all ‘oh im only summoning you for selfish reasons, I want you to save everyone else on the ship’ but he still helps you resolve your own death even when he knows it means he’ll never see you again. He has to mourn his best friend every damn time he makes one! Aside from that all he has is his teddy bear, showing just how young he really is and how much he FUCKING NEEDS GOOD PARENTS no matter how damn smart the poor kid is and AAAAA... And when you start getting clues about who you maybe are, it gets even sadder cos he’s like... “I didnt know her well but... I liked her. She helped me with my geometry homework.” God he had just ONE MOMENT of incredibly ordinary minimal friendship with this lady and then as soon as he’d got his hopes up THIS SHIT HAD TO HAPPEN! No wonder he locked his door for the entire cruise and refused to be near anyone except his new ghost friend. And gahhh he must have had his suspicions from the start about who it was that died, as soon as she didn’t come back to help with his homework. From his perspective this was just like an inevitable conclusion and he was begging you to find any other answer...

MORE SPOILERY SPOILER I was so fucking terrified when his door finally opened, and all you see inside is empty space. I mean it was a punch to the gut indeed that someone else died that we only really just met, but I’m WAY more terrified that the main sidekick for the whole game is potentially gonna die! He’s just vanished though, so I’m hoping that whether you save him or not is what determines the bad endings? So it IS possible to save him right?? SPOILER ENDDDDDDD

I’m still really confused how to feel about Xu though. I mean she’s such a huge jerk but I still cant help but feel sympathy for her?? And I feel like.. if I am supposed to hate her then its kinda annoying that the game brings up all these sympathetic concepts just to sorta discard them, they only exist to be her failed excuses for her actions. I dunno, its just sorta messed up. But it also means that if I AM supposed to agree with her actions then its messed up too?? And either way its frustrating cos she’s the only chinese character in the cast and her plot is so... gah. She’s this jerkass to everybody and she steals from the customers and then her excuse is ‘but I’m so poor and I’m a minority, how dare you yell at me for stealing’ and then she NEVER GIVES THE STUFF BACK and you never have any option to tell anyone?? And its so messed up cos like.. Anton actually IS a privilaged guy and I can see why she’d be mad that he’s in this job because he ‘wants to travel’ whereas she has to take it because she’s literally homeless. I mean if they actually discussed that then it’d be a good plot. And its a shame you cant bring up the secrets you find about Anton even when you get full possession of him, you find out he also had a meltdown and flunked out of college cos he just couldnt handle it, they could have been able to bond over that and realise they were both having misconceptions about each other’s motives for things. Like, she saw him as some guy who just chose to drop out of the education she wishes she could go back to, because he’s soooo rich and he can do whatever he wants. And he’d never considered how good he’s got it, and how other people are denied the same opportunities, and how he can use his privilage to help make the world fairer for these other people! Its just.. like.. you dont even find out that Anton IS rich until AFTER the conversation about Xu stealing his stuff, so it comes out of nowhere and feels like the game is saying privilage is a stupid concept thats not real and its being used as an excuse for her to be horrid. Either that or its on Xu’s side and its saying shoplifting is fine as long as you steal from white people?? And like.. Anton didnt do ANYTHING to make it seem like he deserved it, as far as we see. He’s never even rude to her?? He doesnt seem to do anything racist or classist. Its just like she assumes he;s that way because he’s a rich white guy but the game shows him to be Super Innocent so is it saying that everyone who ever accuses anyone of racism is always lying or.. gahhh?? It just feels like its trying to make a statement but I have no clue what it is! And this is the only time racism is ever discussed so it kinda stands out?? Also.. like.. NOBODY ever discusses the name issue?? Its really confusing, cos even her steam trading card calls her ‘Xu/Sue’. Ingame EVERYONE calls her Sue except herself and the interface. But its never drawn attention to, or explained?? So like, am I actually meant to assume that everyone is mispronouncing her name? But there’s no option to not do it! Or to bring up the subject! Anyway I just CANNOT stop feeling sympathy for her every time I see the damn wrong name in all these text boxes. Even if she’s an abrasive asshole half the time she feels like she has some sense of morality deep down, and that she’s been pushed to this extent by a terrible life rather than just choosing to become this sort of person. She’s just kinda like the ‘token evil good guy’ on the team. Even though she’s committing petty crimes it pales in comparison to the bigger horror that’s going on here :P

MAN it felt so damn good to finally get the reveal on Donavan and play as him for the first time! I mean whoa what a good climactic moment! What an uplifting! And what a downlifting when it gets cut short by tragedy, lol I TOTALLY KNEW IT that he was a cop! I mean seriously he was such a clear red herring, he was being pushed so heavily as the killer and we never got to know anything actually about him. And when you read his mind the ‘I WILL FIND YOU. I WILL EXTERMINATE YOU.’ struck me as something that could easily have a double meaning if he was a detective looking for the real killer! It was just SO BADASS when you finally get to control him and you have the power to enter every room and find clues that were locked off for ages! And it feels like you’re finally making progress so it was such a great story decision that the killer gets him immediately afterwards. And how their last taunt to him is that he was NO WHERE NEAR solving the mystery! Its just a taste of power and then its all thrown away and it makes you SO FUCKING DETERMINED to finish what donovan started with your weak lil protagonist hands NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES GAHHHHH

And then finally regaining a humanoid ghost form and being able to unlock the last two people’s tragic backstories by visiting their dreams!! And gahhh it was so interesting and sad that you have to lie and pretend to be the ghost of someone else they care about, in order to get through to them and say what that person would have said if they had got the chance to be the protagonist instead of you. It was actually a genuine huge surprise to learn that Gwen wasnt remotely involved with the murder! Like, she spent the whole game being paranoid that someone is coming after her, and everyone was saying she’s JUST paranoid, and then it turns out she WAS just paranoid! But I love that the game is actually sympathetic to her paranoia and shows how it’s a legitimate mental illness. Its left more mysterious than a lot of the other backstories, but it seems that her father or uncle or someone abused her and her sister when she was a child, and her sister was killed while she escaped. And even though its over she’s been haunted by the belief he’ll find her any second now, causing her to destroy her own life through reckless decisions, jumping up and running away every time things start getting good in her life. She doesnt even know where she’s running to! And GOD I really liked how you resolve it, you dont just cure people’s mental illnesses by giving them a  motivational speech. But you help them feel like they’re able to endure it, that they’ll get better someday and that they should accept help from therapists. And NOT BLAME THEMSELVES for being sick! I just really liked the line “yes, this is a living nightmare, but if you’re awake you can change things”.

And when you do the similar dream sequence for Darryl there’s an even better climactic line! Its like, after a whole game of him blaming himself for his wife’s suicide, going over a bazillion different scenarios of how he could have prevented it, you just say... “I was sick, there was nothing you could do.” There isnt some magical REASON why she became depressed, her life with him was as happy as he could have given her. It wouldnt have just stopped if her life was perfect, she had to get treatment, its an illness. It wasnt anyone’s fault, it was just a bad stroke of chance that she never told anyone about it and never got a chance to be treated, or even to talk it through with her husband at all. Her diary is just full of her feeling guilty that she must be making it up because she loves her husband so much and it’d be like insulting him to admit she isnt happy within her own skin, when he does everything to be the best husband he can. Goddd.... its so sad that its BECAUSE THEY WERE HAPPY that she was in this position where she never sought help! Where she just shouldered it herself and hoped it would go away on its own! And god, you get to see that Darryl does indeed have antidepressants in his room, unlike her he did seek therapy and its just because of his guilt that he isnt fully accessing that help. And he’s taking these drugs instead of his proper medication, and he’s planning his own suicide at the end of the trip. And god, you get to talk him down from it and say what his wife wanted to say, and save him from meeting the same fate as her! You’re just sick, Darryl. She was sick too. Its not anyone’s fault that someone stays depressed, nothing can magically make depression go away, you have to see a doctor like with any other illness. You cant just talk it away by telling yourself that you ‘should’ be happy and youre somehow choosing to feel this way...

GODDDD I hope poor mr stubble grandpa is okay after the end of the game And I hope him and Quella stay in touch as friends! Her backstory made me cry too, goddddd She’s been diagnosed with cancer and has anywhere between three and seven months to live, because she was too poor to afford treatment until it was already too late. And she’s just so positive and okay with it?? Everyone else are the only ones crying for her.. She just wants to finish her final novel before she runs out of time, she’s crying more about not having enough inspiration for this. She just wants to be remembered, she knows she cant change her own death and this is the only thing she CAN change... I want Darryl to be her friend and help beta read her novel aaaa And dear god can everyone please be okay and stick together and GOD why can’t protagonist stay T_T I want you all to be safe when I’m gone, my friends. God I get to know them so closely yet never be able to really even talk to them, they’ll just remember me as someone they talked to only once before I died... And DEAR GOD let me rescue Paulo please!!!! everyone be safe please I don’t want to be able to hug Paulo and stay with him forever There is no way this can happen unless the worst possible thing happened I have to say goodbye okay i HAVE TO SAVE EVERYONE if all goes well I’ll never see any of you in person, okay? just let me be a shadow on this boat and pass away with no regrets knowing all of you will live a lot longer than me THIS GAME GETS ME SO EMOTIONALLLLL

[shikis-game-reactions-blog]

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice

WARNING: I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL GAME REVIEWER, GAME CRITIC, OR WRITER. The following is just purely my opinion and reaction to the game. Also, ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE. So, yeah, I’m sure there will be a grammar mistake somewhere there. Please don’t be a grammar nazi. Lastly, THIS WILL NOT BE AN ENTIRELY SERIOUS REVIEW. Yay. *insert cute puppy face*

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING. The games I am reviewing belong to their respective owner(s). I DON’T GAIN ANY PROFIT FROM THIS, EITHER.

seeing your previous player character on the other side of the courtroom would make anyone scream

Okay, first, let me lay down some rationale for this game. The Ace Attorney franchise is really, really close to my heart. If Pokemon holds my past and my childhood, the Ace Attorney holds the key to my future – as dramatic as it sounds. The Ace Attorney is what pushed me to take the path of being a lawyer. Of course, it’s not the whole reason (I’m not too keen on putting my whole life and future over a single game, after all), the other is the desire to change all the stupid things that is happening around me. But still, it is what introduced me to the greatness of law, the importance of finding the truth, and the great feeling of satisfaction you get once you have found it.

note to self: don’t fangirl too much and read the important details. seriously.

CHARACTERS:

The Legend, Phoenix Wright

Let me say one thing, it’s really, really weird facing Phoenix in a courtroom battle. For five games, I’ve played as him, and then suddenly we’re battling against him as Apollo in a civil case!? I mean, we all anticipated it ever since we briefly controlled Edgeworth in Trials and Tribulations and acted as a Defense Attorney, but seeing the legendary Phoenix Wright on the other side of the courtroom is still surprising.

And scary. Definitely scary. Seeing Phoenix frown seriously, smirk and do a complete turnabout (which, normally is a good thing for us since we’re normally him) made Apollo (and us, the player) really quake in his boots. It’s like he’s getting back for all the abuse he received for being the butt monkey of the courtroom for the past 4 games!

Other than the very memorable Case 4, Phoenix goes back to being on our side again for the rest of the cases. I especially love the fact that even though 8 or so years has passed; Phoenix’s protectiveness over Maya has never failed. He went to another freaking country just because of a phone call for her! He fought on the wrong side of the truth (which is basically the opposite of his whole values) for her! He knowingly risked his life over her (though then again, this part’s nothing new)!

Every girl needs a Phoenix in her life, man. (NaruMayo ship: *sails*)

serious!Phoenix would make anyone tremble

Courtroom Revolutionaire, Apollo Justice

Okay, first of all, let me clarify; I KNOW THAT THIS TITLE BELONGS TO ATHENA. But it just fits, you know? (Also, I don’t know how to spell.)

I don’t care that the title of the game says Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney; Apollo is the real star of this game (it’s like the reversed version of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, where the real conflict is about Phoenix.). I believe in the wandering fan theory that this last three games (Apollo Justice: AA, AA: Dual Destinies, and AA: Spirit of Justice) is about Apollo, similar to how the first three games (Phoenix Wright: AA, AA: Justice for All and AA: Trials and Tribulations) is about Phoenix.

And man, how those three games did a wonderful job building up Apollo into the brave little bird he is now. AJ shows how he starts as a rookie defense attorney, DD shows his high school-college past (aka Clay MY GOD *eternal crying*), and lastly, SoJ shows his childhood and ends in how he starts being a professional defense attorney (thus, making a complete, albeit reversed, circle).

Spirit of Justice shows a lot of tearjerker, heart-pulling and gasp-inducing scenes for Apollo that at this point in time I don’t know how he managed to not break down. Oh wait, he did break down, he even have a new, special animation for it. And my god that scene… I didn’t shed a single tear at that point, because I was just so horrified and overwhelmed and whatishappeningisthisreallyhappening. Yeah, that feeling. (I did cry, a lot, but at the later point of the game since it took time for my mind to acknowledge that ohmyggoditreallyhappenedhuuuHUHUHUHU-)

So yeah. Apollo really received his most-deserved characterization and development in this game.

The Funeral Prosecutor, Nahyuta Sahdmadhi

Nahyuta. Nahyuta… Is my baby. Because, really, he’s just so cute and naiive in some of the things! I mean sure, he’s really nasty, but so are the other prosecutors and you don’t see me hating on them (in fact Franziska is totally my role model). But we can’t all deny the fact that he’s really kind and gentle on other people, look at Ema for instance (it’s clear that he likes her btw, I just can’t decide if it’s platonic or romantic, since my KlEma heart’s really against it).

And just like any main prosecutors in any games, Nahyuta receives wonderful characterization and character development as the game progresses. Similar to Apollo, a lot of tearjerker scenes is about him, especially when you discover how much has he sacrificed for his family…

And Nahyuta’s totally an overprotective brother to Rayfa. I can’t wait to see the next game just to see their post-game interactions.  

look at this two original assistant babies turning to mature babies

The Ace Assistant, Maya Fey

MAYA. SHE’S BACK. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

Ace Attorney fans have fully risen from the dead the moment the trailer showed Maya returning for this game. It’s what we have been wishing for in these past two games! Our beloved Ace Assistant is back! And partnered with Phoenix no less! Sarcastic conversations! Funny interactions! Ladders vs. Stepladders!

Our original Ace Attorney duo is back! AAAAAAAAA-

But still, of course 8 years have passed, so it’s inevitable for Maya to change. Even though most of the time she’s still childish and funny, there are still many scenes scattered all around the game that shows her all grown up that you can’t help but remember her older sister, Mia. The game shows Mature Maya, the Leader of the Kurain Village.

Also, the Spirit Channeling scene is very, very beautiful. I’m glad that we actually saw it for the first time.

lil’ princess is just so cute!

The Priestess, Rayfa Padma Khura’in

Princess Rayfa is a cinnamon roll. A tsundere cinnamon roll, and that what makes her a very cute and wonderful and funny assistant.

Serious talk though, Rayfa is the youngest (except for Ahlbi) character to be introduced in this game, and it shows. Although she acts all high-and-mighty and incredibly mature due to her status as a priestess, there are times that her childishness shows true. And I think it’s completely okay – and Phoenix and Maya does to. She tries too hard to immediately grow up , but what she doesn’t know is that being true to your age gives you wonders too.

And, oh god, the pressure given to her by her mother… I can totally relate.

That scene when she was asked to show her (adoptive) father’s death in a Divination Séance… it made me cry for Rayfa [seriously, this game made me cry a lot]. Sure, we’ve seen her faint a lot of the times, but it’s only for dramatics; to show how horrified she was that we beat her. But that scene… is the real deal. We actually saw Rayfa going pale, gasping for air, eyes wide… and faints. It’s – just – so heartbreaking…

can we all just cry

The Dragon, Dhurke Sahdmadhi

Oh my gosh, where do I even start.

*cries*

My first impression of Dhurke during the trailer was he’s the typical rebel antagonist in a game. And it continued on as we first got a glance on him at the end of the second trial.

Oh boy am I glad to be wrong.

I admit – Dhurke has not been a particularly good father to Apollo. Sure he’s got his reasons, being busy with the rebellion and all, but imagining a little Apollo hoping for his father to show up, pick him up and get him out of his misery – yet incredibly devastated as later, he will know that no one will show up, really broke my heart. Apollo did not deserve that. No child deserves that.

But oh man, he still loves Apollo. He loves Nahyuta. He loves Rayfa. He loves his children – anyone playing the game can see that. He just shows it in a different way, but every action he takes – it’s for the sake of his family. (Nahyuta really is similar to his father)

SPOILER

Too bad he’s not even alive. I can’t believe all the time we’ve spent with him as Apollo is… not exactly a lie, the interactions with him is the truth – he loves Apollo. But… you know.

Imagining his thought process while he was being spirit channeled by Maya and spending time with his son he had only seen now for the past two decades… is very depressing.

The Childhood Duo, Athena Cykes and Simon Blackquill

I admit, I am disappointed with these two. Well, not these two exactly, they’re perfect just the way they are (I MEAN CAN YOU BELIEVE IT SIMON AND ATHENA TEAMING UP. THE PSYCHOLOGY CHILDHOOD FRIENDS, DEFENSE-PROSECUTOR DUO IS TEAMING UP AAAAAA-), but I’m more sad in the roles they are given. More specifically, the wasted potential of their roles.

The theme of the whole game is inheritance. Inheritance from parent to child, and inheritance from teacher to student. And Athena and Simon’s ace – Psychology – is literally that, an inheritance from Metis Cykes!

They don’t need to create a whole batch of other characters. I’m not saying the Rakugo case sucks – it’s very new considering we have another Japanese culture-themed case; and the fact that a psychological disease (the multiple personalities stuff) is the main turning point of this case makes it a perfect case for Simon and Athena – but maybe they should have used it for the next game?

Athena and Simon were only introduced in the last game – so I’m definitely hungry for more backstory and deeper characterization for these two wonderful characters. And what better way for us to get to know more about theme more intimately than to get to know these two’s most important person, Metis Cykes, and her gift to them?

But hey – I’m complaining but I’m not particularly shunning these two and Case 3. As I said, Case 3 is a wonderful and genius case (but what would you expect from Ace Attorney, right?). It’s just that, the potential…

The Game

So far, this game has the largest amount of ‘gimmicks’ or ‘powers’ featured. Phoenix’s Magatama, Apollo’s bracelet, Athena’s Widget, Ema’s Forensic stuff, and the newly introduced Rayfa’s Divination Séance. I think the only missing power is Edgeworth’s Logic Chess, and we have the complete set!

Each of them is unique and special in their own way, and they definitely made the game much more exciting and enjoyable. OF course, the traditional courtroom battle is as hard, mysterious and exciting as ever!  I cannot even predict who the culprit was in the start of the case, and if it was obvious who did it (like, it was showed in the initial cutscene or was directly implied), I can’t figure out how he/she did it without the help of the character I’m acting as. Which is a new thing for me, since in the past games, I already know who the real culprit is even before the player character knows. Well, most of the time, at least.

And the plot, oh the plot was absolutely complicated and mind blowing it’s wonderful. The family drama is as – if not more – dramatic than the T&T one. And that’s saying something, considering that the Fey clan’s story is really complicated too. And as I mentioned earlier, this game gave meat for the characterization of several characters.

Also, it made me cry probably around ten times.

 FINAL REMARKS

DO I EVEN HAVE TO? GO PLAY IT. Though if you still haven’t play the previous games yet, do that first THEN PLAY THIS. THE STORY IS GOOD. THE GAMEPLAY IS AWESOME. THE CHARACTERS ARE WONDERFUL. *eternal scream*

 FINAL NOTES: I’M SORRY IF I MISSED ANYTHING. What I wrote here are the things that really stood out to me. My aim is not to review everything about the game, but to write what I remember the most and what my reaction to it. If I did react to the whole game, it would take about 20 pages or so in MS word. (This is 4 pages, btw)

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HEY WOO! I’m inexplicably hyped again to work on Changeling Sim! So since I’m working on developing Anem, I remembered how I promised a while ago I’d go into more detail on the character relationships I listed on this meme. Its probably pretty silly to start with Anem as opposed to the main protagonist, but Anem is one of two main supporter characters so meh!

R E L A T I O N S H I P   M E M E   2 M E M E L E C T R I C   B O O G A L O O

Anem + Anem

Her relationship with herself is a low self confidence one. A relateable one that’s probably the most similar to me out of all of the cast! She’s extremely shy and worried about being good enough for everyone, always fusses over little failures that nobody else even noticed, always values everyone’s opinion higher than her own, and never notices her own positive traits. And she’s very self concious about her own cowardly nature, seeing herself as a secretly horrible person and always fearing she wouldnt be able to make the right choice if she was really scared. Would she just backstab her own friends to save herself? And she’s scared that showing her emotions of fear or sadness is ‘manipulative’, she has to always put on a serious and professional face. If anything it’s good that she’s so commonly spooked by human things, it means her new family gets to see her real self whenever she lets her guard down! However she’s actually a complete badass in battle, and her friends believe that she’s actually braver BECAUSE she’s always scared! If you’re a coward yet you still fight anyway, every single time, to protect your friends when you’re TERRIFIED OUT OF YOUR SKULL, then that’s far harder than anything else! She’s also a ridiculously effective butler, no matter how much she discounts her own skills as simply the minimum required for one in her profession. She can actually accidentally sound arrogant because of this, even if its rooted in self hate instead :P

Anem + Kiddo

I WILL PROTECT YOU WITH MY LIFE, MY LEIGE Probably the person Anem is immediately the closest too. Its mostly because the little half-human-half-fairy princess is the one Anem was charged with protecting, but as time goes on she begins to care about her as a best friend instead of just an employer. She trusts Kiddo the most since she’s the least human person in the room and thus least scary. And she’d heard so many great stories of how the mysterious lost princess is an amazing person, and so much is riding on her butler being the best butler ever. Which doesnt help Anem’s self confidence issues, she has NO CLUE why she was picked for the job or how she’ll manage to live up to everyone’s expectations! So she starts off kinda as a combination of hero worship and "I must be silent around you, you are the superior, you probably are so critical of everything I am doing, aaaaaa...” And Kiddo is practically wrestling with her to let her be her friend. Goddammit you’re gonna hug me and I’m not gonna rest until this day has come to pass!! On Kiddo’s side of things, Anem is initially her only friend her own age, and even when she makes more friends Anem is still the only person who really knows what its like to be magical, and can tell her more about the magical world. And Anem just starts to see Kiddo as this kind of ‘manic pixie dream girl’ archetype who jumped into her life and pulled her into a world of brighter things! Introduced her to so many human things she found so scary once, protected her from everything, helped her to love herself more, and was really the first and closest friend she ever had. (And really THAT is the reason Anem was picked out of all the knights to disguise as a butler and protect her. The knight captain wanted Anem to be able to live a more normal life for a little while, and make a friend.) Aaaaaaand ultimately Anem kinda starts CRUSHING HARD on our lil princess, and can be a potential romance route. Senpai, notice me~! Anem sees Kiddo as her knight that saved her from loneliness, Kiddo sees Anem as... well, a more literal knight. They balance each other well! They’re both brave at different things! After all, fighting giant monsters is way easier than talking to cashiers at the store, amirite?

Anem + Jack

A pretty awkward relationship! They’re kinda... only peaceful because they have to be?? Super tense, potential for things to crack at any moment. They probably would be friends if they were introduced in different circumstances, its really sad that they’re so distant through no fault of their own! Anem is bound by honor to respect her employer’s mother, who is thusly the alpha employer. But she’s still terrified of humans and doesn’t know how to relate to her, doesnt know if she’s to be trusted. Anem’s job is to protect Kiddo, she has to be suspicious of everyone and be prepared to fight even the mother if it looks like she’s a threat to the daughter... But Anem also doesn’t want to immediately jump to assuming Jackie is evil like she does with most human strangers. So instead its just incredibly awkward and professional. Anem acts like a robot and initially refuses to speak outside of her required roles as a butler. Her helpful commentary would be more cliche tutorial at first and then get more snarky and funny as she comes out of her shell~! And from Jackie’s perspective, Jackie is REALLY trying to befriend this poor kid. She’s very aware that Anem is young, even though Anem herself seems pretty unaware of it, and always judges herself to a higher standard than most adults. And Jackie also doesnt know how to relate to a fullblood fairy who’s terrified of all humans. She doesnt know how to say ‘please take it easier on yourself, I care about you’ without outstepping her bounds and scaring Anem off... But she tries her best to at least make it feel more like she’s simply a normal child doing a part-time job, instead of a slave contractually obliged to obey EVERYTHING even if she doesn’t want to. Jackie’s only way of being able to show affection is finding ways to make Anem go easier on herself, finding ways to lower her responsibilities and give her more time off. Trying to help her learn to say no... Jackie started off as an equally shy person during her childhood, and worked really hard to become this bombastic detective mama! And even then she still has her anxieties, and she sees them all reflected in this kid and has no idea how to help :( I think if Anem and Kiddo hooked up, Jackie would be absolutely over the moon to welcome her into the family and Anem would be like “??? where did this come from.” IT WAS THERE ALL ALONG, YOU SILLY THING!

Anem + Glenn

Another case of a human who wants to be Anem’s friend and Anem completely misunderstands it. Its a bit more dramatic with Glenn though! Anem has no reason to be forced to interact with him, she’s kinda out of the loop on who he is, so to her he’s just another stranger human who’s a potential threat to her beloved princess. She always comically misinterprets his various friendship attempts as ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS, leaving him confused and bereft! “I baked you a cake” “ITS A BOMB” *slaps it out of his hands as ‘hello darkness my old friend’ plays* And its especially sad because Glenn is usually a super stern guy who doesn’t initiate friendships easily, Anem doesn’t know how rare and genuine this is. They actually have a lot in common as the ‘serious duo’, and often end up together in comedic situations because of it. They’ve kinda already accidentally become friends even though neither of them knows it! Ultimately they do eventually become closer as a sort of inter-generational brotp or something? I think their friendship is more on equal grounds whereas Glenn and Kiddo see each other as adoptive siblings. And, well, in the romance ending Glenn would have a relationship like an overprotective brother meeting his lil sis’s new spouse, which is... kinda the relationship they already had before Anem and Kiddo even started dating?? Precognative awkwardness!

~Other relationships with non-main characters~

Anem + Nicnevin

Nicnevin is currently my beta name for the head of the royal knights, a badass stoic human-hating soldier who nonetheless has a soft spot and even her hate is motivated by loyalty to her queen and country. And to her little prized knight student, Anem! Anem’s been working as a novice royal knight since a very young age, and has never wished for anything but to finally join the army for real and fight for her country. Nicnevin deeply respects Anem’s amazing skill at the lance, but also worries that she’s rushing into a decision too fast on what she wants to do with her life, and has never had a chance to experience a real childhood. So she slowly ended up growing a real friendship with this brave lil rookie, and reccommended her for the butler/bodyguard job out of confidence in her skills and also a wish that Anem could have her worldview expanded and find the happiness she needed. And ultimately it was really lucky that she did, because all the anti-human propeganda ended up being grossly exaggerated and both Nicnevin and Anem regretted their actions in this war by the end of the story. By sending Anem off to find her destiny, Nicnevin found herself doubting her own destiny that she was so sure of... Also Nicnevin just really WILL NOT EVER SHUT UP about how amazing Anem is and how she’s the single most promising knight in the army and 100% deserves every good thing she’s ever given. No matter how much Anem insists on arguing that she’s a terrible person! Like... 90% of Anem’s friendships are categorized by Anem being completely oblivious to the fact this person sees her as a friend, and insisting she doesn’t deserve them. From her perspective she and her boss have a completely impersonal relationship and she’d be like ‘WHAT’ if you told her she was clearly the favourite. E-excuse me, what is this conspiracy theory bullshit???

Anem + Currently unnamed dad/parent figure of some sort?

Undeveloped idea! I was thinking maybe Anem’s dad could be a minor npc, working a job as the royal scribe at the palace. His personality is a nice and loving guy who’s a bit of a nervous wreck and a manchild. Someone who’s looked after by his daughter, rather than vice versa. But like.. not in a negative way or a comical way. He’s a well-meaning guy who really tries, but is suffering from mental illness and isn’t fully capable of taking care of his child anymore. His wife died in the war against the humans, and his mind was pretty much shattered afterwards. This family life is what led to Anem becoming so anti-human, joining the army to live up to her mother’s legacy, and picking up a lot of her father’s frightened behaviours due to his PTSD. But it also forged her into a truly brave and supernaturally competant child who’s been protecting him and will go on to protect so many other people! Ultimately the assignment to work for Jackie and Kiddo was a huge opportunity for this family! Anem sees it as a way to make enough money to look after her father, and enough fame to make it into the royal guard at last. And her dad sees it as... a nice exchange student field trip that Nicnevin kindly sent her on. Yeah, Anem didn’t want to worry him by mentioning the potential life-threatening danger of venturing into the human world that claimed her mother. ironically the humans she was assigned to ended up being nice people and her job pretty much IS a fun exchange program! Also dad has been getting a lot better, he finally managed to get back into the workplace and this scribe job is a pretty high position! Anem wouldn’t have been happy leaving him alone for so long if she didnt know he was doing okay. But still they send constant letters to each other, and whenever she gets a chance to see him again she’s ecstatic, even if it means she has to lie about what she’s been doing the whole time. Oh, and she also sends a lot of letters to Nicnevin, but that’s part of her job. Gotta report daily on any suspicious signs from the humans! “I found this ‘fork’ which may possibly be a weapon??”