#so far ive only used ryu

[jojolimons]

damn gill is rlly kicking my ass

[justsomerandomplanet]

[ jjk 261 spoilers ]

just rambling thoughts about the chapter now that ive Actually read it (thank u tcb and also i wish ppl who post about leaks without tags a very can you Stop and tag thanks)

tldr; i dont hate the chapter, its an interesting one! feel free to discuss with me if u would like

I don't actually hate the chapter conceptually

Ideologically, Uraume has brought up the topic of being human and the fact to be strong/to defeat sukuna you must disregard that obsession of loneliness/humanity. I also think at the end of the day, it speaks a lot about how jujutsu society functions (in that it uses people regardless of respecting them as people, i.e. the star plasma vessels, children as sorcerers facing death constantly, etcetc).

Nevertheless, I do wonder why Yuta had to do it. At the end of the day I still believe Yuji will be the one to defeat Sukuna, you cannot tell me all that build up to him is for Nothing, but what point is there in bringing Yuta in that case? If he just does more damage and then dies (lol), like. What is there to it. Like in the perspective of the characters i get it, they don't know if they'll win or lose and they're gonna have to use every option they have, but simply on a readers perspective, it feels a bit redundant. I just feel there should be a way to incorporate this idea without it feeling like we'll get gojo v sukuna 2.0. Idk i just want yuji to beat sukuna like that first page was so cool :(!!!!

Anyway, the idea of bringing back Gojo similar to how "Toji" was revived in shibuya is also unbelievable bc Gojo himself is shown to still want to protect the kids. His ideology derives from making sure They Are Alive And Changing The System. Yes, I get it he is battle obsessed too (see the shinjuku battle) but it doesn't change he went out of his way to tell them not to look/follow him for what he's about to do with the higher ups. Theory wise, gojo being brought back like this is dull (but plausible i suppose) (also thinking about it would that Really be gojo? We saw that toji still didnt come back normal, and wasnt it stated that the toji that did come back was more of just the memories of the body rather than the person himself? Idk. Anyway)

Additionally, Yuta, altho caring for Gojo, is still falling back to the mentality that made Gojo alone (the "Strongest" vs Gojo Satoru). Yuta himself wanting to sacrifice his humanity so everything Gojo did wouldn't be moot while still using his body, which inherently disrespects him as a person, is a hyprocritical and flawed way of thinking that makes him interesting for me now lmao. He cares for him a lot, but he has to resort to it as a means to an end. Also I don't care if he dies, in fact the idea of him living while still in gojo is just weird tbh so i really dont see a way put of that? Im kinda just interested to see what happens tbh

I'll be real; I can see both points in how ppl think this is a cool chapter vs ppl thinking it sucks. It is surprising how very Neutral I am on this bc I personally feel like the explanations given made sense to me in the chapter.

I don't think this took away from Yuta's character, nor did it take away from what we've seen before; Yuta is not Yuuji. Yuta has shown that he can kill people. He only sparred Uro and Ryu bc of the rule to be able to transfer points. He admits that he "cheated" in the past month. Yuta is very aware of what decisions are wrong but still does them bc its for the best outcome, even if it means losing his own humanity. Yuta wants the best for Gojo but still looks at it in a flawed way. Yuta is unknowingly falling into Sukuna's/Uraume's ideology.

Yuuji is the only one so far in the series that continues to be filled with regret from killing and still wants to do better. He is forced to dissociate his self-identity to cope with his actions. He has said he would eat anything to defeat Sukuna, effectively throwing his humanity, but does not do so at the expense of other ppl (see Yuji's conversation with Higuruma before shinjuku). Yuji looked past Gojo's infinity so he could give encouragement, even tho everyone else was afraid. Yuji is the antithesis to Sukuna's view of the world

Yuta is not Yuji, and I think that's the point.

I don't think one is better than the other, I simply find this contrast to be interesting when u look at it in the grander theme of change and tradition within jujutsu society.

[rainbowkirby]

Mortal Kombat Bloodline Episode 11 Fire and Ice.

Scorpion recognize bi Han for a long time and scorpion is very curious.

Scorpion: bi Han, is that you?!

Bi Han: yes, it is me.

Scorpion: I thought you were....

Bi Han: dead? No I'm still alive. You might think I'm dead but I'm not. I was brainwashed and turn into the undead form for a long time.

Scorpion: are you here to threaten me?

Bi Han: No, I just want to Talk.

Scorpion: Sektor? And who is the rest of em.

Shimmer: Allow me to introduce myself, I am not a threat. I'm here to help you stop the agony.

Scorpion: you're not one of Mantro's Allies?

Shimmer: I'm a Sorcerer of earth and light. I'm here to protect Earthrealm. Just letting you know that Mantro is the one who is causing all the crisis.

Bi Han: Mantro? I recognize him. I think Iv seen him before. He killed almost all my people in the Lin Kuel.

Scorpion: and he destroyed my people as well. Your right. There is a sorcerer that he caused all this destruction.

Bi Han: he will pay for all the mess that he Caused. He manipulating about everything so he can destroy us all.

Shimmer: He killed my Master and destroyed my home. Now I have nothing and I have no where else to go. I'm all Alone. Without Master Leo, my life is falling apart, which it is now.

Soren: I'm sorry to hear that and I can only imagine how you feel about losing someone you care about. I lost my family when I was little kid and I all alone and I know what is like.

Sektor: I'm so sorry to hear that.

Soren: I appreciate.

Shimmer: Mantro is far worse then ShangTsung. He'll do whatever it takes to manipulate on everything so he can Destroy us All.

Bi Han: and turning a World into a agony.

Smoke: So I'm glad you here. I thought your gonna turned against us.

Bi Han: I was wrong about Abandoned you guys and I know what I did is wrong. I will never forgive myself about what I have done. I'm sure you don't have to forgive me.

Scorpion: we are family, Bi Han, I am glad you changed and yes I forgive you and I can tell your heart is growing bigger and it shows.

Shimmer: he's right. You should show them what you really are meant to be.

Bi Han: why are you jumping into a Conversation?

Sektor: he's just trying to help. He does have a point.

Bi Han: I understand your empathy, but the conversation doesn't include you.

Shimmer: I can understand that and I can respect that.

Bi Han: good, now leave.

Shimmer walks out of the door, so bi Han can have conversations with scorpion.

Sektor: What's Going on.

Shimmer: He needs some one and one time with scorpion.

Smoke: What about me?

Shimmer: I know it sounds really strange, but be Han needs to show Scorpion what he truly is in his heart. So he needs some time.

Soren: I mean, he does have a point.

Meanwhile in ShangTsung's island

Shinnok: What do you say about Our Future.

Mantro: Once if I touch the hourglass, Once if I turn the world upside down... I will turn Every Realm into a Living nightmare come true, once and for all.

Shinnok:( Chuckle) I liked that..

So Mantro Sinister and Shinnok turn every realm into the Agony the Netherealm invasion and Shadows Realm invasion will come to destroy all Realms. In Shirai Ryu Shimmer seen what it's coming and He doesn't like it how he sees.

Shimmer: No, this can't be..

Subzero: I Knew what it's coming, Mantro is the one Is right who caused all this Mess. Which I knew what he was Planning.

Scorpion: if anything, we must stop the Agony.

Subzero: Liu Kang is a Creator, he should Stop him.

Shimmer: He can't, he was banished. Thats why we have to save him.

Subzero: that's impossible.

Smoke: I don't like.....

Hanzo: what's Happening?

Takeda: I've never seen red clouds before. Is it a bad sign?

Shimmer: it's even worse...

LiuChai: Come on, we have to Stop Mantro..

Subzero: Sektor, Protect the Lin Kuel. Chao Realmers stay with Takeda and Hanzo.

Soren: it looks like it's a good bye then.

Sektor: we can Always see each other.

Subzero: Take me and Sektor to the Lin Kuel.

Soren: What About Me?

Scorpion: I understand your Trying to help. But it's better to go home safe.

Soren: If you Say So..

Soren gives a Bloom Portal to Shimmer. Soren has a Gem portal to go back home in Chaos Realm. Takeda and Cyrax check to see what's going on. There's is a dark red cloud Surrounded the Shirai Ryu.

Hanzo: What is that?

Takeda: I have a bad feeling about this.

Hanzo: same...

One of the Shirai Ryu Guards trying to save a injured Guard.

Shirai Ryu Guard: Scorpion we have a problem. but unfortunately it's too late the injured Guard is dying by a unknown Stung has been Swollen like a pimple and eventually his body swells up quickly and Explodes. Everyone is Shocked to see that..

Takeda: Holy Shit!!!!!

LiuChai:(vomits)

It's D'vorah, she arrived to destroy them.

D'vorah: this one will Enjoy to kill you all being.

Shimmer: I knew this kill was familiar.

D'vorah: Shimmer, Shinnok thought you were dead.

Shimmer: I figured you would join Mantro all along Haven't You?

D'vorah: I serve ShaoKhan, His desire just to destroy you.

Hanzo: you will be Smashed by your Foot!

Hanzo fights against D'vorah and eventually Hanzo cuts all of her Stingers off and finish her off with her sword. Takeda Liu Chai and Shimmer didn't see that coming.

Takeda: That's Amazing.

Hanzo: your welcome..we must stop the invasion.

Shimmer: wait, what about Bi Han?

Scorpion: he's gonna do the same thing in Lin Kuel. I always counting on him.

Meanwhile in Chaos Realm Soren teleport to his home in Chao Realm and Havik, and Dairou arrive in Chao Realm.

Soren: Your Highness.....

Soren bows down to Havik. And Havik saw Soren as a Traveler.

Havik: Soren?

To be Continue...........

Episode 11 : Unleash of Onoga.

[findyourrp]

🍎👑Shirayuki-Hime RP

Aka

Snowhite with the red hair Rp

╔═════ஓ๑♡๑ஓ═════╗

I love you

Not only for who you are.

But also for who i am,

when i am with you.

╚═════ஓ๑♡๑ஓ═════╝

A next gen oc x oc rp. This roleplay will be based on the anime/manga Akagami no Shirayuki-hime. 20-25 year have passed, and Clarines is preparing itself for the next King.

King Izana's wife passed away, and now its up to the son of prince Zen & Shirayuki to inherit the seat as king.

But then he meets this ordinary girl who happen to be into herbs like his mother did, and becomes the next royal herbalist apprentice.

As if history repeats itself.

And it does, for so far. I really wanna recreate the fluffy and cuteness from the anime/manga. But in their own way.

A typical 'dont they remind you of us, when we just met?'

The difference with the anime/manga is, that this boy actually is the next in line for the throne, instead of being the second prince. Obviously Zen and Shirayuki will be his parents. And i kinda wanna add a slightly supernatural theme as the boy has been cursed since birth, and turns into some kind of demon during full moon. But nobody knows this, instead of his family and those he trust. (The demon thing will make sense after i show you his faceclaim xD(but we can leave it out if you want)

Obviously, one of the tasks of the new herbalist girl, is to find a cure for him.

This roleplay will be a MxF, Oc x Oc, but some canon characters from the original series will definitely return!

Think about Zen, Shirayuki, Obi, Ryu, Mitsuhide, Izana etc.

This rp might involve nsfw, but lets build it up please!

I really wanna add the fluff, the cuteness and the slowburns from the original series.

Ive been rping for +10 years and im looking for someone who has at least a few years rp experience. Who can come up with fun ideas and is able to make cliche into a fun and fluffy cliche!

Also, literate please🙏

.

[findroleplay]

Shirayuki-Hime RP

Aka

Snowhite with the red hair Rp

╔═════ஓ๑♡๑ஓ═════╗

I love you

Not only for who you are.

But also for who i am,

when i am with you.

╚═════ஓ๑♡๑ஓ═════╝

A next gen oc x oc rp. This roleplay will be based on the anime/manga Akagami no Shirayuki-hime. 20-25 year have passed, and Clarines is preparing itself for the next King.

King Izana's wife passed away, and now its up to the son of prince Zen & Shirayuki to inherit the seat as king.

But then he meets this ordinary girl who happen to be into herbs like his mother did, and becomes the next royal herbalist apprentice.

As if history repeats itself.

And it does, for so far. I really wanna recreate the fluffy and cuteness from the anime/manga. But in their own way.

A typical 'dont they remind you of us, when we just met?'

The difference with the anime/manga is, that this boy actually is the next in line for the throne, instead of being the second prince. Obviously Zen and Shirayuki will be his parents. And i kinda wanna add a slightly supernatural theme as the boy has been cursed since birth, and turns into some kind of demon during full moon. But nobody knows this, instead of his family and those he trust. (The demon thing will make sense after i show yiu his faceclaim xD(but we can leave it out if you want)

Obviously, one of the tasks of the new herbalist girl, is to find a cure for him.

This roleplay will be a MxF, Oc x Oc, but some canon characters from the original series will definitely return!

Think about Zen, Shirayuki, Obi, Ryu, Mitsuhide, Izana etc.

This rp might involve nsfw, but lets build it up please!

I really wanna add the fluff, the cuteness and the slowburns from the original series.

Ive been rping for +10 years and im looking for someone who has at least a few years rp experience. Who can come up with fun ideas and is able to make cliche into a fun and fluffy cliche!

Also, literate please🙏

-

[ea-nasir-infinite-copper-glitch]

by @/creatackers Mic. Oc related questions!

* Who was your first ever OC? Do you still “use” them? How have they evolved over time? The first oc i had was a self insert named simply Dragon-Girl, eventually i gave her a real name but it was still based on my irl name. Nowadays while she still exists in one of my stories, she's a background myth, a primordial god-figure known as The Archivist

Who is your newest OC? Why did you make them? My PC character in Baldur's gate 3, they're a red dragonborn sorcerer with gold dragon heritage and i think they are neat

Biggest self-insert OC? Intentionally, the first oc mentioned, accidentally i think Aster, he's like THE most wish-fulfilment character i have

What kind of music do your OCs listen to? I have so many characters it really depends. None of them listen to anything out there tough

What are some of your OCs biggest fears? I remember i used to have a character with a very specific fear , but i dont remember who or what it was .w.

Do you have any OCs without stories? Will you ever create one for them? Yes, so many, i try my best to fit characters in stories but since i also like to design/buy designs from others i ended up with quite the backlog of unused characters. Ideally all of them would have their turn to shine, but thats unlikely

What are your favourite relationships between your OCs? (romantic or platonic!) SO many. Akila Shadlan and Ryu sibling fuckery, Akila and Althia toxic old woman yuri, Erigon, Kyran and Garlasia Epic codependency, Imay and Hiraki sibling fuckery, Aster and Raine marriage goals. ANd ofc the stars of my current wip, Meira, Wisteria and Orick, The avatar of relationships, able to contain fluff and angst in equal measures

Do you have any OC family trees? YEs, i have an unfinished one, for my old project, and in fact all main characters in that story are somewhat related since they all are connected to the three god siblings

Favourite OC? Akila, she has been living rent free in my mind for like 3 years now. Shes my poor meow meow, my rotten soldier, my silly little boy, my blorbo if you will. Shes the main force behind the story she is for and i think i did a good job with her character.

OC you most struggled to make? at first, Wisteria i think. She felt very flat as her first concept was just 'nice queen everyone loves' but now that ive spiced her up a little she has unfolded.

* Sum up one or more of your wips! My Big Wip that wont see the light of day in years but lives in my head rent free: Big Sibling Spat dooms the world. But then one of the siblings die and now the other two are very pissed and its everyone problem now. Wip two currently being worked on: Three idiots keep being put in Situations until they all fall in love

Which story took the most research? Imagine researching for any story LMAO

Which story has the most lore? Big wip, it has like 10 years worth of miscelanious lore.

Current word count of all your main wips? My only current wip is on almost 40k words wohoo

How many projects do you have going on right now? Are there any that you doubt you’ll ever finish? Currently one, the rest are all ideas i HOPE to get to one day, but i do worry i might not due to my skill level

What was you first major project? How far along is it? Currently working on it! just passed the halfway point a month ago and havent worked on it since

What are some tropes and character dynamics found in your wips? Female protagonists+ mostly female cast, Heavy fantasy, Trios, Dragons, Autistic coded Magic specialist guy in a relationship with a redish dragon-adjacent person.

Describe the setting of one or more of your wips Big wip is a heavy fantasy setting that takes place both in Hell dimention and Mortal dimention, its literally what you get when you google Fantasy Landscape, also a mix of tech/magic. Current wip is more lax, i imagine it being a mix of medieval-pre industrial aesthetic, there are some big technologic developments happening but still very early.

What are some things that inspired your stories? Real events? Maybe a dream? Many things, so many things. Mostly other media. Current wip started as a HK fanfic idea i had.

What story are you the proudest of? Why? Big Wip even tought it doesnt really exist, is the one im most passionate about. Current Wip has grown on me tought, thought my satisfaction with it fluctuates, im proud that it exist in some form, but deeply unsatisfied with how...flat some of it is

* When did you start considering yourself a writer/artist? somewhere back in my teens, i think;

What are all the “kinds” of writing/art you do? (short stories, poetry, screenplays, digital, painting, clay, etc.) I draw aside from writing prose. Tried picking up other artistic hobbies like sculpiting and piano but those felt trought

Are you in any writer/artist groups? (Ex: discord server!) a few!

Do you have/want a career in your medium? If not, what do you do/want to do instead? No, i tried and it made me deeply unhappy. Im now hoping to be able to go into paleontology.

What’s your favourite genre to write? Is it also your favourite genre to read? FANTASYYYYY FANTASYYYYY, im a fantasy conosceur, the fact my wip is a more grounded romance thing makes me want to chew drywalls

What are your favourite books? My confort books are the Seven Realm series, very confy fantasy. The Locked Tomb is the one i love the prose the most, absolutely insane series.

What are your favourite movies? i dont really watch movies, really do like the first how to train your dragon movie

Favourite songs at the moment? depends on the moment, not really listening to any on repeat rn

What was your first fandom you were in? Did you make any art/fanfic for it? Voltron Legendary Defender, did art exclusively of my queen, my beloved Honerva

How are you doing? <3 pretty good!

[ryunumber]

Do either of Paul Erdős or Kevin Bacon have a Ryu number? Does Ryu have an Erdős or Bacon number?

From the top: Paul Erdős, for all of his prolific mathematical contributions, doesn't appear to be in any video games. Granted, it's not like there's great documentation for mathematicians that are in video games. The only method I could find easily is through Great Scientists and Engineers in Civilization games, and Erdős doesn't crack that list. Thus, Paul Erdős does not have a Ryu Number.

As for Kevin Bacon, Topher Florence in a 2019 Fanbyte article gave Kevin Bacon a Ryu Number of 6 (UPDATE: now 5 with Ryu’s inclusion in Brawlhalla) (UPDATE 2: 4, courtesy of @kchasm) through Bacon's sole video game credit as a celebrity guest appearance in You Don't Know Jack Vol. 2.

There are three caveats that I've discovered while doing additional research, however.

First, the path goes through the trivia game TV Land Presents: Blast from the Past, a video game that definitely exists but has virtually no documentation outside of a cast list, so it's a somewhat small leap of faith to use it.

Second, Florence mentions that American radio announcer Gary Owens is the narrator for Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers and refers to himself, out loud, as Gary Owens. Both of which are true... just not at the same time. Owens was the narrator for Space Quest IV, but at least as far as online transcripts and the Space Quest Omnipedia can attest to, the narrator only explicitly refers to himself as Gary Owens in Space Quest 6: Roger Wilco in the Spinal Frontier. So does this mean that the narrator voiced by Gary Owens in Space Quest IV is also explicitly Gary Owens? I mean, most likely, but also unless there's a line that implies the narrator in 6 is or is not the same narrator in IV, it's not 100%?

Third, the link from Owens to King Graham is through a brief cameo in Space Quest IV of someone getting carried away by an eagle in direct reference to King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder!. The sprites are nearly but not quite identical, but what complicates matters is that apparently in the game files that person is identified as Maharg. So on one hand, the sprite is just about identical, but the person in Space Quest IV is named something different, but it's also just as likely that it was a cheeky touch by a Sierra dev and not meant to signify a different character?

The first caveat has to be accepted to give Bacon a Ryu Number (and in all likelihood, it's probably fair game). The second and third caveats, however, can be bypassed, but it gives Kevin Bacon a tenuous and possibly unprecedented Ryu Number of 7 (UPDATE: now 6, see above update), barring an alternate route I overlooked.

As for Ryu's separation numbers, it is extremely difficult for a fictional character to have a movie credit (but not unheard of) and near impossible for a fictional character to coauthor a research paper, so Ryu does not have a Bacon or Erdős Number.

But just for the hell of it:

Ryu's single theatrical movie depiction is in 1994's Street Fighter portrayed by Byron Mann, who per the Oracle of Bacon has a Bacon Number of 2.

Likewise, Mike Moh, the actor for Ryu in Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist, a live action web series officially approved by Capcom, also has a Bacon Number of 2.

An associate professor in the Department of Computer Science at George Mason University named Yotam Gingold has an Erdős number of 3, and happens to have published a 2006 paper titled "From Rock, Paper, Scissors to Street Fighter II: Proof by Construction". And guess who’s in Figure 4?

[gdwessel]

New Quasi-State-Of-Emergency In Tokyo, 12 Other Prefectures Starts Friday 1/21/2022; NJPW New Year’s Golden Series Night 1 - 1/20/2022: Kosei Fujita Out Injured; Dragon Gate 1/17/2022, TJPW 1/20/2022 Results

Starting tomorrow (possibly today in Japanese time by the time I post this), another quasi-state-of-emergency is due to begin in Tokyo and at least 12 other prefectures, following record-setting new cases in both Tokyo and Osaka. Omicron is doing the numbers once more, in a country that has 80% vaccination, but a mere 1.2% booster rate. This after quasi-emergency measures in Okinawa, after increasing Omicron cases from the US military bases had spilled into the greater population, prompting restrictions on activities outside the bases by military personnel posted there.

It's unknown how much wrestling will be affected by this; Dragon Gate has already said their show in Mie this Sunday 1/23/2022 may be postponed or cancelled due to this, but have not seen any other announcements so far. We will keep you posted.

New Japan Pro Wrestling

The first NJPW tour of 2022 began in earnest today, and you can see it now on NJPWWorld. This is the first New Year Golden Series since 2005, but was a regular year-opening tour from 1974-1990. Kosei Fujita injured his shoulder in training, and has been pulled from events through the end of January. Hopefully he will be able to return later in the tour.

Results:

New Years Golden Series - 1/20/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld, ABEMA)

Great O-Khan [United Empire] d. Yuto Nakashima (5:35)

Hiromu Takahashi [Los Ingobernables] d. Ryohei Oiwa (Boston Crab, 7:24) 

Tiger Mask IV & Togi Makabe d. Taiji Ishimori & Jado [Bullet Club] (Tiger > Jado, Reverse Double Armbar, 8:59)

Toru Yano [CHAOS], Satoshi Kojima & Tomoaki Honma d. Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & TAKA Michinoku [SZKG] (Kojima > TAKA, lariat, 9:12)

Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi & Hiroyoshi Tenzan d. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI [SZKG] (Wato > DOUKI, Bendabar, 10:51)

Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & YOH [CHAOS] d. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, Dick Togo & SHO [Bullet Club] (Ishii > Togo, Vertical Drop Brainbuster, 11:41)

Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] d. Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS], Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yuji Nagata (Naito > Nagata, Destino, 20:16)

Naito gets the win, and declares not only does he want to beat “the strongest man in NJPW,” but also declared he wants to return to the main event of the Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2023. Ishii tortured Dick Togo a bit post-match. Hiromu challenged Oiwa to Y10,000 of pocket money if he was able to remove the pseudo-Kamaitachi mask that HIromu was wearing. Oiwa did so, but Hiromu had ANOTHER mask on underneath. Hiromu tapped Oiwa out anyway.

If you have a premium subscription to NJPW’s website you can now see a digitized version of the 1978 New Year Golden Series program, which advertised among other things, a board-of-nails match between Antonio Inoki v. Umanosuke Ueda on 2/8/1978 at Tokyo Nippon Budokan. I bet THAT was a thing.

The tour continues tomorrow, but the show will be on tape-delay on NJPWWorld, not a live stream.

- 1/21/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Tape delay on NJPWWorld)

Ryohei Oiwa v. Great O-Khan [United Empire]

Yuto Nakashima v. BUSHI [Los Ingobernables]

Tiger Mask IV & Yuji Nagata v. Taiji Ishimori & Gedo [Bullet Club]

Toru Yano [CHAOS], Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma v. Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & DOUKI [SZKG]

Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi & Hiroyoshi Tenzan v. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & TAKA Michinoku [SZKG]

Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & YOH [CHAOS] v. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, Dick Togo & SHO [Bullet Club]

Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS], Hiroshi Tanahashi & Satoshi Kojima v. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables]

Dragon Gate

Dragon Gate was in Nagoya this past Monday.

Open The New Year Gate 2022 – Final Burst Out! K-Ness Forever Night 8

- 1/17/2022, Aichi Nagoya Tsuyuhashi Sports Center

Takashi Yoshida, Kota Minoura & Jason Lee d. Dragon Kid [HIGH-END], Riki Iihashi & Ishin Iihashi (Yoshida > Ishin, CC2019, 11:08)

Keisuke Okuda [HIGH-END] d. Ryu Fuda (Buzzsaw Kick, 4:42)

Strong Machine J, Strong Machine F (Don Fujii) & Strong Machine G (Gamma) d. Mondai Ryu, Shachihoko Machine (Shachihoko Boy) & Konomama Ichikawa (J > Ichikawa, Kneel Kick, 0:10)

Strong Machine J, Strong Machine F (Don Fujii) & Strong Machine G (Gamma) d. Mondai Ryu, Shachihoko Machine (Shachihoko Boy) & Konomama Ichikawa (G > Ryu, lariat, 0:12)

Strong Machine J, Strong Machine F (Don Fujii) & Strong Machine G (Gamma) d. Mondai Ryu, Shachihoko Machine (Shachihoko Boy) & Konomama Ichikawa (Triple Pinfall, 3:53)

Big Boss Shimizu [Natural Vibes] & Takuma Fujiwara d. Ultimo Dragon & Takumi Hayakawa (Shimizu > Hayakawa, Big Boss Press, 9:19)

Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka d. Ben-K & Kagetora [HIGH-END] (Dia > Kagetora, Reptilian, 12:51)

Kzy, U-T & Susumu Yokosuka [Natural Vibes] d. KAI, Shun Skywalker & HYO (U-T > KAI, Passion, 15:42)

Not a good couple of weeks to be KAI, as now U-T has a challenge back pocketed if KAI succeeds against Cyber Kong on 2/4/2022. I bet that comedy triple shot was a hoot. Okuda v. Fuda is threatening to be quite a rivalry.

The next show is on Saturday 1/22/2022, from Kobe, and will be streamed live on Dragon Gate Network.

  DDT / Tokyo Joshi / GANBARE Pro

Tokyo Joshi ran today, continuing the Futari No Princess Max Heart Tournament 2022.

TJPW Tokyo Joshi 2022 Winter - 1/20/2022, Tokyo Shinjuku FACE (Wrestle Universe)

Yuka Sakazaki, Mizuki, Haruna Neko & Kaya Toribami d. Mahiro Kiryu, Marika Kobashi, Pom Harajuku & Raku (Mizuki > Kiryu, Diving Foot Stomp, 11:44)

Futari No Princess Max Heart Tournament 2022 Second Round: Yuki Arai & Moka Miyamoto d. Arisu Endo & Suzume (Miyamoto > Endo, Rashomon, 11:41)

Futari No Princess Max Heart Tournament 2022 Second Round: Nodoka Tenma & Yuki Aino d. Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta (Aino > Kakuta, Venus DDT, 13:16)

Futari No Princess Max Heart Tournament 2022 Second Round: ASUKA & Yuki Kamifuku d. Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh (Kamifuku > Itoh, Famouser, 15:57)

Futari No Princess Max Heart Tournament 2022 Second Round: Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi d. Hyper Misao & Shoko Nakajima (Tatsumi > Misao, Missile Hips, 14:57)

The semi-finals will come soon. Maki Itoh may have a challenge to her title coming from Yuki Kamifuku now.

That’s it for me today. Kind of a slow week thankfully. NOAH, AJPW, STARDOM, DG, NJPW, a whole bunch of shows this weekend to keep oneself busy. NJPW Strong on Saturday night, and even GCW on PPV on Sunday night. See you Sunday.

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[pulaasul]

Rairyu - IRL - 1

[lit. Thunder Dragon] Ryuji and Futaba promised to meet in Sword Art Online with Ryuji going in first to scout for suitable grinding areas. However, before Futaba could get into the game, Sojiro stopped her and revealed to her the status of Sword Art Online as a Death Game. [Prologue is an entry for #kissryujiday]

note:  This work is inspired by the crossover between Sword Art Online and Persona 5 in Integral Factor. This is also my entry for #kissryujiday

FFN I AO3

-----

Ren was in the middle of class when his phone rang. The ring disturbed the class that he had to excuse himself from the teacher and his classmates as soon as he saw the name of the caller.

“No matter.” The teacher spoke. “You can answer the call right here, we’re done for the day.” He dismissed.

“Stand!” The class representative stated as the class followed the instruction.

Ren tuned out the class dismissal ritual in favor of answering his phone.

“Makoto, what’s wro-“

“It’s Ryuji.” Makoto stated somberly. “He’s trapped.”

“What do you mean he’s trapped?” Ren questioned in worry.

As if on cue, the phones of the entire class, even the exiting teacher’s phone, rang. Ren noticed that everyone mirrored his expression of worry.

“Makoto, what going on?” Ren asked. “What happened to Ryuji?”

“He’s trapped inside a virtual world.” Makoto answered.

“Tell me everything later.” Ren decided. “Call everyone else we’ll meet at Leblanc.”

“We’re meeting there as we speak.” Makoto informed. “Futaba and Sojiro are presently in Ryuji’s apartment.”

------

After a quick change of clothes and a quick message to his parents of his whereabouts, Ren immediately boarded a train to Shibuya, with Morgana in his bag.

“What’s Ryuji done now?” The cat whined.

“I don’t know.” Ren answered honestly. “Considering Makoto’s words and the current news, it’s not something he’s done.” He explained. “It’s someone else’s deed.”

Morgana decided to take a peek at Ren’s phone and he read about the current Virtual Game news about 213 people being dead because of the virtual reality equipment. He remembered Ren and Ryuji’s conversation about the Virtual Reality a few months and how Ryuji got enough money to purchase one.

“Maybe it’s a prank.” Morgana offered. “You know how of a jokester he can be.”

“Maybe.” Ren shook his head. “I don’t think even Ryuji or Futaba would go that far for a joke.” He added. “In any case, we’ll know more once we arrive.”

------

As soon as Ren arrived at Leblanc, he half-expected things to just be a prank. He really hoped that everything was just a prank just for him to ditch his hometown and visit Tokyo.

But no.

He arrived to a scene where everyone was somber. An inconsolable Futaba as Makoto and Anne tried to comfort her with Yusuke and Haru looking at their youngest member, unsure what to do.

Ren and Morgana also noticed the absence of one Ryuji Sakamoto.

Usually it was Ryuji who would console anyone in a heartbeat, would console Futaba in this situation, but he wasn’t here.

“It’s all my fault!” Futaba sobbed. “I-I-I-”

“Ren.” Yusuke and Haru announced his arrival.

“Glad you could come on short notice.” Makoto offered a sad smile.

“I came as soon as I could.” Ren replied. “I’ve read the news.” He continued. “Is it true?”

“Yes.” Anne looked away from their leader. “Ryuji was even the first to exit the school as soon as it ended.” She explained. “He said he and Futaba were going to play for a few hours.”

Ren looked at the inconsolable Futaba.

“Boss managed to stop Futaba from playing the game.” Yusuke explained. “As soon as the news broke out, he immediately left and went to his residence.” He continued. “He left the café in Haru’s care that was when I arrived here.”

“Boss is at the hospital with Ryuji’s mother.” Haru informed. “He and Futaba managed to stop her from removing the Nervegear from Ryuji’s head.”

“Futaba-chan, it wasn’t your fault.” Anne comforted her. “You couldn’t have known that this would happen.”

“He told me that he’d go in first and scout for suitable leveling areas then we could party together.” Futaba sobbed. “If that stupid teacher didn’t hold us back for some stupid announcement then maybe Ryuji wouldn’t be alone in there.” She continued.

“No.” Ren declared. “Futaba no, just no.” He shook his head as he approached the youngest girl in the group. “If anything Ryuji would be happy that you didn’t make it.” He offered the young girl a smile and knelt before the girl. “If anything, Ryuji would beat himself up if you were caught up in there with him.” He added. “So don’t blame yourself.”

“I agree.” Morgana seconded. “As much as he annoys me, he’s very selfless.”

“It makes you think.” Anne voiced out. “We almost lost him a bunch of times because of his selfless nature.”

“I just hope he won’t commit suicide in a misguided attempt to help his mother.”

“What do you mean?” Ren’s eyes narrowed. “I know he tries to help his mother by working part time.” He added. “But he wouldn’t go that far. Would he?”

“I don’t know.” Anne admitted. “Ryuji fell out of public favor since he punched Kamoshida.” She explained. “Everyone who knew what happened despised him.” She added. “His reputation really never recovered.”

“He’s told me about that a few times.” Ren admitted. “He cooks for his mother, he puts his mother on top of his priorities and everything.” He added. “I don’t think he’d go that far, right?”

“Don’t underestimate Ryuji’s love for his mother.” Anne countered. “He borrowed money from me just to buy his mother a souvenir.” She shared. “Despite what others may think, Ryuji’s aware of his family’s finances.” She added. “He buys his games and consoles with his own money.”

“Considering the medical fees.” Makoto hummed. “I can see how you’d come to that conclusion.”

“If only we can change Akihiko Kayaba’s heart.” Yusuke voiced out. “Maybe we can save Ryuji and everyone else.”

“Let’s not dwell on that.” Ren stated with finality.” Let’s just visit Ryuji and offer his mother some support.”

Everyone nodded.

“It’s unanimous then?” Morgana questioned.

“Yes.”

------

Hearing about the number of people trapped inside Sword Art Online versus seeing the number of people admitted into one hospital for the same reason felt different. The former Phantom Thieves of Hearts can’t place what they were feeling.

Even moreso hearing about Ryuji’s situation. The only person who actually saw Ryuji was Futaba, the rest of the Phantom Thieves were distraught, but no one could ever be ready for the terror they felt upon seeing their friend unconscious on the bed hooked to an IV and with his VR headset.

Their desire to change Kayaba’s heart was even more apparent now that they’ve seen Ryuji in such state, however they can’t.

They successfully ended Mementos’ existence from all of Japan, even the Jails that propped up recently ceased to exist after their battle against EMMA.

“This is just wrong.” Morgana whispered to himself. “Ryuji’s supposed to be brash, and loud.” He added. “Not this quiet, this still.”

“I know.” Ren acknowledged.

“Anne-chan.”Someone greeted. “Are you here to see Ryu-kun?”

The woman in question had eyes that were red from crying.

“Yes Sakamoto-san.” Anne nodded. “Let me introduce everyone else.”

As soon as introductions were done, the elder Sakamoto allowed Ryuji’s friends inside the room and lead them towards her son’s bed.

“You kids are here.” Sojiro commented. “I’m going out for a bit, anyone want me to buy something?” He asked the group.

“We’re good Boss.” Ren replied. “We ate before we rushed here.” He informed.

“Hope you didn’t deplete my ingredients.” Sojiro offered. “I’ll be back.”

Sojiro gave the group one glance before leaving the room.

“So how’d you all meet Ryu-kun?” Ryuji’s mother asked the group. “It’s kind of surprising him making a few friends considering what happened with that teacher.” She added bitterly.

Everyone else took a turn and narrated how they met Ryuji from Ren’s fateful meeting on his first day at Shujin High.

Yusuke, when Ryuji stopped him from approaching Anne.

Makoto, when she was blackmailed by the yakuza

Futaba and Haru during their lowest point.

“That boy.” The elder Sakamoto shook her head. “He can’t really leave people alone when he knows they need help.” She offered a sad smile. “Then all these misfortunes happen to him.” She sniffled. “I wonder if I’m such a failure as a mother.”

“N-No!” Anne immediately debunked the notion. “You know how much Ryuji loves you Sakamoto-san.” She assured her friend’s mother.

“B-but I can’t even defend him against his father and his teacher.” The elder Sakamoto now had tears in her eyes. “Now I can’t even save him from this death game.” She sobbed.

“Your son’s a fighter Sakamoto-san.” Ren assured Ryuji’s mother. “I’m sure he’ll fight to survive.”

“I hope so.” Ryuji’s mother cried. “I really hope so.”

-------

“I’ll be back as soon I’m rested Ryu-kun.” Ryuji’s mother stated before kissing her son on his forehead. “Your friends offered to watch over you for a while.” She smiled.

Ryuji’s mother left with Sojiro, who offered her a ride back to home. The two of them left the Phantom Thieves to watch over their friend.

“Is there some way we can help Ryuji?” Anne voiced out. “I just can’t stand that for all the things he’s done for us we can’t do anything for him.”

“If only we can use our Personas and communicate with him directly.” Futaba sniffled.

“What do you mean?” Makoto asked.

“No Futaba’s right.” Ren agreed. “Every time Navi communicates with us, her voice, for lack of better term, are sent immediately to our brains.” He explained. “We don’t exactly hear her when she speaks.” He finished.

“You’re right.” Anne’s eyes widened in realization.

“Can we send Sophie?” Haru suggested. “She’s still an Artificial Intelligence right?”

“We don’t even know if Sophie can enter Sword Art Online.” Anne sighed. “The reason she can enter Jails was that she was the prototype for EMMA.”

“I don’t know.” Ren hummed. “Don’t dismiss that idea just yet.” He continued. “We need to talk to Ichinose first.”

“What do we do in the mean time?” Yusuke questioned.

“Offer him some words of encouragement.” Ren smiled. “Hear that Ryuji!” He exclaimed. “We’re all counting on you to wake up and exit that game.”

In their own way, the thieves gave Ryuji Sakamoto moral encouragement even when he’s unconscious. They continued to do so and continued to converse anything and everything they loved about him.

-------

As time went on, Sojiro returned to the hospital. He got the thieves to return home and offered to watch over Ryuji at the hospital, provided that they walk Futaba home before they did.

The thieves nodded and went to Ryuji one by one to say their farewells and promises to return the next day.

“Make sure you survive okay!” Futaba stated in tears before she gave Ryuji a peck on his cheeks.

“For all that you’ve done, it’s time to return the favor Ryuji-kun.” Makoto smiled as she kissed the boy’s other cheek.

“We are counting on you to return to your usual boisterous self.” Yusuke stated as he kissed the boy’s forehead.

“We’ll be waiting for you Ryuji-kun.” Haru smiled as she kissed Ryuji’s nose.

“Make sure you return okay!” Anne stated as she tried to hold back her tears. “I don’t think I can take losing you the second time.” She sniffled as she kissed Ryuji’s cheeks.

“I haven’t realized before, but you’re the glue that’s keeping us together.” Morgana meowed as he stood on Ryuji’s chest. “Make sure you return and I promise not to nag on you so much.” He finished before licking the boy’s nose.

“Hey man.” Ren began. “I know how much effort you guys went through when I was stuck in juvie.” He continued. “I knew you and Makoto lead the team and others so that I could walk away and clean my name.” He smiled. “It’s my, no our, turn to make sure you get to escape that death game.” He added. “We’re counting on you to escape that game and give us more laughs and just be yourself.” Ren finished as he kissed Ryuji’s forehead before ruffling the hair that was now showing its black colored roots.

“Let’s go.” Ren announced as he faced the other Phantom Thieves.

“We’re waiting for you Ryuji.”

[foxyotomelady]

Another love, Chapter VIII (JuminxReader)

Author’s notes:

There’ll be here some dialogues from Jumin's route, so this chapter is slightly spoiler-ish.

Their relationship will be growing slowly into something healthier, but for now... Not really ^^'

Be aware of: strong language, angst.

Chapter I | Chapter II | Chapter III | Chapter IV | Chapter V | Chapter VI | Chapter VII | Chapter VIII (You are here) | Chapter IX | Chapter X | Chapter XI | Chapter XII | Chapter XIII | Chapter XIV |

Buy Me A Ko-Fi Have a nice reading!

"Do you like the wine? I know today's dinner wasn't planned early enough." Jumin was staring at his father blankly, almost not hearing him. Before him, at the table, next to his father, was sitting a woman. He was sure, he saw her earlier but he wasn't sure where.

"It's a bit bitter today. It was quite sudden. And it ruined my rather pleasant morning."

"Pleasant morning? I apologize, but I have something very important to tell you."

"Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule, Jumin," The woman said, her voice annoying, too squealing, almost like a squirrel.

"Excuse me, but who are you?"

"Oh sorry, where are my manners?" His father glanced at the woman next to him and smiled in the way, that annoyed Jumin even more. "This is Glam Choi. I haven't told you yet, but Glam here and I are seriously considering getting married. I wanted to hear your opinion and have you two meet."

The threads. Suddenly they squeezed his lungs and head harder.

"Glad to meet you, Jumin. I look forward to getting to know you," Glam said and grabbed his father's hand.

"The same here. I see." Jumin stated, stoically, thought his head was spinning already.

"I want to end up my relationship with your mother and hope you're okay with that."

"She's not even my biological mother. And I doubt your third marriage will be any more special. Just do as you please. I don't mind as long as it doesn't affect the company."

"There is one more thing," His father said, and with a corner of his eye, Jumin saw the woman smiling oddly. "I was thinking about what it would be like for you to consider getting engaged to one of Glam's students. If you marry Sarah, her student, we'll be able to buy her business "Sugar Round" at a much lower price."

The threads tightened once more. Jumin clenched his hand into a fist under the table. But his face remained calm.

"I've never heard of that company."

"It's a new company so of course, it's still small. But we can expand it if we take over," His father explained.

"Sarah, my student, is still young, but she's very capable, smart, and pretty. I'm sure you'd like her~!" Glam added in her squealing voice.

"I apologize, but I must refuse," Both his father and Glam glanced at him in a big surprise. "Father, there was no time to tell you this, but I'm already in a relationship."

The woman gasped, his father's face had an expression of a great shock, "My son, what are you talking about?"

"I have someone very special to me, so I can't marry Sarah. Besides, this marriage seems to be arranged by Glam here."

"How long does this relationship with this special person last? Why do I not even know her name?" His father seemed to lose his patience.

"We started this relationship quite recently, and since you are doing what you like with women, I decided that I did not have to explain my decisions to you."

"Quite recently? So it's nothing serious yet, " His father assessed, as if with relief. "Look, son, I'll give you time to think about it, I believe you'll make the right decision, but I'd like to suggest that a marriage with Sarah may be more beneficial to us than a relationship with some random girl."

Jumin felt something twitched on his face. His eyes narrowed, "She's not a random girl. Father, several times you've become blind to the physical beauty of a woman and made business mistakes. But this is the worst one. Please excuse me."

Ignoring his father's protests, he got up from the table and hurried to leave. He clenched his hands into fists to stop them from shaking. Surely, this was by far the biggest mistake of his father.

Your POV

You had a strange feeling that something was wrong. You had a strange need to call Jumin, but he should be at dinner with his father now, so you did not want to disturb him. It was evening, and in his large apartment, it was quiet and empty. You missed his presence and you wished that at least Elizabeth was next to you.

You took the phone in your hand and looked at the messenger. Zen was logged in.

[Y/N has entered the chat room]

Zen: Baby~ Glad you're here ^^

You: Hello, Zen. You're at home?

Zen: Yes. Just got back from my rehearsals

Zen: I'm so tired

Zen: 

[Jumin Han has entered the chat room]

You: Jumin?

You: Are you not at dinner with your father?

Jumin Han: I was.

Jumin Han: I don't like seeing you here talking with Zen

Jumin Han: and him calling you baby

Zen: 

Zen: calm your jealousy dude ;;;

Jumin Han: but there's more important matter right now

Jumin Han: my father finally lost his mind because of a woman

Zen: lol, look who's talking

You: Zen! Stop it -_-

You: What is happening?

Zen: yeah, care to explain what's going on?

Jumin Han: my father plans to divorce my mother to marry Glam Choi

Zen: 

Zen: Glam Choi?! This actress?

Jumin Han: it's not enough for him that the rumors about his relationship with women are bad for our business

Jumin Han: he wants to get me to marry a Glam's student 

Jumin Han: And thus buy her no-name company

Jumin Han: it's illogical and irrational

Zen: WHAT

Zen: dude wait

Zen: ARE YOU SERIOUS?

Jumin Han: I see no reason why I should be joking about something like that

You: God... I'm so sorry...

Jumin Han: I never thought he would want to sell his own son

Jumin Han: You do not have to be sorry, Y/N

Jumin Han: This is I who must apologize

Jumin Han: That you're seeing all of this

Zen: But I thought you two ...

Jumin Han: That's true

Jumin Han: I'm glad you understand that, Zen

Jumin Han: And I wish you would remember that

Jumin Han: I'm not going to marry Sarah

Jumin Han: But I feel that my father will not give up so easily

Jumin Han: I will leave now

Jumin Han: I need to calm down before I get home

Jumin Han: To you, Y/N

Jumin Han: God, I'm glad you're waiting for me there

[Jumin Han has left the chat room]

You: ....

Zen: .... ;;;

Zen: Are you okay?

You: I'm not sure

You: But you should not worry about me now

You: Jumin...

You: He had to endure so much so far...

You: And now this...

Zen: yeah...

Zen: I might not like how he's obsessed with you

Zen: But I kind of understand he has his reasons to be unstable

Zen: But still,

Zen: I'm worried for u

Zen: Please, be careful and call me if anything happens 

You: I'll be okay

Zen: God, you're an angel

Zen: he doesn't deserve you

You: He needs me

You: And I'm not going to leave him now

You: In this situation

You: I'm sorry, Zen

You: I take my leave

You: I need to organize my thoughts

[Y/N has left the chat room]

You waited for Jumin, unable to find a place for yourself and calm down. You were worried about him. He had enough trouble dealing with emotions towards you and relative to memories of V. Besides, you knew that Jumin values ​​his father very much. And now it turned out that he was just another person who failed his trust...

How could you leave him now? You knew that what is happening between you is not healthy. And you wanted it to turn into something healthy. But if you left now... Jumin would lose his mind.

When you heard the door suddenly opens, you immediately ran to them. Jumin stood there, stiff and tense. But as soon as he saw you, his face softened so that your heart almost broke. "My love ..." You ran to him and embraced him in the waist. He returned the embrace and took a deep breath, "You are now my only constant point, please, do not leave me ..." "I would never do that..." Jumin slumped slowly to his knees and nestled his head in your belly. You stroked his hair tenderly. "I know it may sound selfish, but I would like to forget... Do not think, if only for a moment... Will you do me this honor and make me forget?" "I'd love to..." You took his head in your hands, lifted it up and he looked at you with the saddest expression you ever saw on his face. "Zen is right... I don't deserve you..." "That's absurd. Come..." He stood up as you said this. You grabbed his hand and lead him to the bedroom, "I'll make you forget."

This night, unlike the previous one, was very delicate. You were making love for a long time and slowly, whispering sweet words to each other. In the morning, when you lay in each other arms, and Jumin stroked your hair and make gentle kisses on your skin now and then, you decided to talk to him about Elizabeth. "Jumin... Are you sure you should not take Elizabeth back?" "Please, give me time to think about it. Yoosung looks after her well, I bet he is a better owner than me. " "She must miss you and cats also get used to the place." Jumin sighed, closed his eyes and pressed his face to the side of your head, "Please, just let me focus on you for a while..." "Well... I will write to him to take care of her for some time, but promise me that you will take my word into account." You felt that Jumin was nodding. His warm breath brushed your ear. When he lay with you, he was calm, relaxed as never before.

[Y/N has entered the chat room]

You: Yoosung. I talked with Jumin about Elizabeth the 3rd. Please, take care of her for a bit longer.

You: He needs some time to organize his thoughts. But I'm sure finally he'll take her back.

[707 has entered the chat room]

707: GOD SEVEN

707: Is about to

707: deliver to you

707: Some shocking news!

You: SIGH

You: What is it, Seven?

707: 

707: Love drama!

707: A love triangle!

You: .... what?

707: It's so exciting!

You: get to the point, Seven

You: We have enough problems already Seven put a link to the article. You felt shivers, you felt cold. You already suspected what you would see. However, you hoped that you were wrong. Well-known CEO Jumin Han wants to put his hands on Hyun Ryu's girlfriend?! Or maybe she belonged to him from the start? WHO IS THIS GIRL? There were also photos of your three. Jumin holding you by the hand, with obvious anger on his face and Zen facing you two, with a shocked look.

"Did something happen, my dear? You're pale. " You gave your phone to Jumin, not knowing what to say. Why? Why now?! It could not end well...

[findyourrp]

🍎👑Shirayuki-Hime RP

Aka

Snowhite with the red hair Rp

╔═════ஓ๑♡๑ஓ═════╗

I love you

Not only for who you are.

But also for who i am,

when i am with you.

╚═════ஓ๑♡๑ஓ═════╝

A next gen oc x oc rp.

This roleplay will be based on the anime/manga Akagami no Shirayuki-hime. 20-25 year have passed, and Clarines is preparing itself for the next King.

King Izana's wife passed away, and now its up to the son of prince Zen & Shirayuki to inherit the seat as king.

But then he meets this ordinary girl who happen to be into herbs like his mother did, and becomes the next royal herbalist apprentice.

As if history repeats itself.

And it does, for so far. I really wanna recreate the fluffy and cuteness from the anime/manga. But in their own way.

A typical 'dont they remind you of us, when we just met?'

The difference with the anime/manga is, that this boy actually is the next in line for the throne, instead of being the second prince. Obviously Zen and Shirayuki will be his parents. And i kinda wanna add a slightly supernatural theme as the boy has been cursed since birth, and turns into some kind of demon during full moon. But nobody knows this, instead of his family and those he trust. (The demon thing will make sense after i show you his faceclaim xD(but we can leave it out if you want)

Obviously, one of the tasks of the new herbalist girl, is to find a cure for him.

This roleplay will be a MxF, Oc x Oc, but some canon characters from the original series will definitely return!

Think about Zen, Shirayuki, Obi, Ryu, Mitsuhide, Izana etc.

This rp might involve nsfw, but lets build it up please!

I really wanna add the fluff, the cuteness and the slowburns from the original series.

Ive been rping for +10 years and im looking for someone who has at least a few years rp experience. Who can come up with fun ideas and is able to make cliche into a fun and fluffy cliche!

Also, literate please🙏

.

[findroleplay]

🍎👑Shirayuki-Hime RP

Aka

Snowhite with the red hair Rp

╔═════ஓ๑♡๑ஓ═════╗

I love you

Not only for who you are.

But also for who i am,

when i am with you.

╚═════ஓ๑♡๑ஓ═════╝

A next gen oc x oc rp. This roleplay will be based on the anime/manga Akagami no Shirayuki-hime. 20-25 year have passed, and Clarines is preparing itself for the next King.

King Izana's wife passed away, and now its up to the son of prince Zen & Shirayuki to inherit the seat as king.

But then he meets this ordinary girl who happen to be into herbs like his mother did, and becomes the next royal herbalist apprentice.

As if history repeats itself.

And it does, for so far. I really wanna recreate the fluffy and cuteness from the anime/manga. But in their own way.

A typical 'dont they remind you of us, when we just met?'

The difference with the anime/manga is, that this boy actually is the next in line for the throne, instead of being the second prince. Obviously Zen and Shirayuki will be his parents. And i kinda wanna add a slightly supernatural theme as the boy has been cursed since birth, and turns into some kind of demon during full moon. But nobody knows this, instead of his family and those he trust. (The demon thing will make sense after i show you his faceclaim xD(but we can leave it out if you want)

Obviously, one of the tasks of the new herbalist girl, is to find a cure for him.

This roleplay will be a MxF, Oc x Oc, but some canon characters from the original series will definitely return!

Think about Zen, Shirayuki, Obi, Ryu, Mitsuhide, Izana etc.

This rp might involve nsfw, but lets build it up please!

I really wanna add the fluff, the cuteness and the slowburns from the original series.

Ive been rping for +10 years and im looking for someone who has at least a few years rp experience. Who can come up with fun ideas and is able to make cliche into a fun and fluffy cliche!

Also, literate please🙏

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[videostak]

played some more super mario kart and street fighter 2 today and did p well at both if i say so myself :D i got all the way up to the last opponent before u have to fight balrog bison vega sagat without using a continue once. for me it was chun li and then i used 3 continues and decided to stop there. i was legitmately surprised how well i was doing. there were even a few matches where i did it in only two rounds and it didnt go to a third round. im basic and play as ryu but was doing p well using shoryuken and hadouken when necessary. and then in super mario kart i did the first cup on 150cc and just barely got first. literally it was down to the last track and last second i used a mushroom on a ramp and bumped into toad right at the finish line and barely passed him just barely and got enough points to be first. ive already done all the 150cc stuff but like two years ago or so so its still v difficult at times. especially 150cc since theres lil room for errors cause if u do make a mistake u lose like all ur momentum. but ya today was v clean since i got v far in street figher 2 w/o using a continue and then did that first cup in 150cc without having to do it twice or coming in like second. especially in super mario kart track memorization is a v important part of gameplay atleast when compared to modern mario karts. since drifting isnt as on rails as in the new ones cause in this one u really do have to know whats coming up and how much to drift if u wanna save a lot of time

[maxwell-grant]

SF Character Overview: Adon, Muay Thai Prince

(Art by Tovio Rogers)

So Street Fighter’s been making the rounds recently following the announcement of Street Fighter 6 and the many, many new developments it’s bringing to the series, and because it’s circling my brain more so than usual again, I figured it’d use some time to bring back these posts and put those thoughts to something. Since it’s obvious that, even with the roster leaks, SF6 is gonna have more characters on the way, I assume there’s gonna be a lot of speculation over the following months as to which characters are going to be brought back. So I figured going over some of them, do a little retrospective of my own.

With that said, let’s talk about the Jaguar King Shit of Thai Mountain, Adon

Adon's obnoxious fighting style and biting jackass personality doesn't seem to make him an especially popular character and boo-hoo to that, he rules. He rules, and he has to be in Street Fighter 6 if only because, if SF6's been selling itself so strongly as taking the franchise to the future, then, where is the future of Muay Thai heading?

Now, yes, I do have a considerable soft spot for the guy, as the other Muay Thai fighter in the franchise (and Sagat being my favorite character does go a long way too), also helped by the fact that, unlike Sagat, Adon doesn't use fireballs and special energy techniques, he actually does fight like a (highly exaggerated) Muay Thai fighter, focused on aggressive knee strikes and cutting elbows. The difference between the two was further accentuated not just in their designs, but fighting styles that become symmetrical through contrast. 

Sagat stands tall and precise, with his hands and feet apart in a more proper Muay Thai stance. Adon leans back in exaggerated and impractical fashion, a knee above ground and his hands poised like claws. Sagat is large and powerful, with his fastest attacks being leaping knee strikes, where as Adon is smaller and limber and is constantly hopping across the screen. Sagat holds his ground with long-ranged kicks and fireballs, Adon hauls his whole body with every special attack he has. Sagat is a mountain, Adon is a dagger. In Street Fighter’s Muay Thai world, Sagat was the mighty king of tradition, and Adon is the cunning prince spearheading the revolution to oust him.

As a character, Adon sits in a pretty unique role as the bonafide heel of Street Fighter. He’s this contemptible shithead who never has anything nice to say to anyone, who boasts more grandiose arrogance in a handful of lines than in most characters’ entire quote repertoire. He’s brutal and mean and hateful in a way even most of the actual villains aren’t, and with the way he talks about being a god, you’d almost mistake him for a SNK boss. And he's far from a joke, he’s repeteadly established to be indeed a very strong fighter. Not strong enough to fully surpass Sagat (at least not yet), but strong enough to beat him and take his reign as the Muay Thai champion, strong enough to pose a challenge to most fighters. 

But the thing about Adon is that he’s not a villain, he’s a heel. And the “why" he isn’t a villain is interesting, because it isn’t born from any sort of established kindness. Most of the time, he has no stake or goal other than beating Sagat, which he did at least once and eventually decided that Sagat was soft and pathetic and not worthy of his attention, or chasing after the Satsui no Hadou in the Alpha series, which he no longer seems to be doing circa IV (his Rival Battle with Sagat doesn’t seem to refer to it in it’s JPN dialogue, and although he claims Gouken’s ability to extinguish it is something he must nullify, he explicitly calls the Satsui no Hadou pathetic nonsense if you beat Akuma and Evil Ryu with him). 

You could even argue Adon has, or at least used to have, a higher moral ground than Sagat, because he at least never threw his lot with Shadaloo. Now, obviously the circumstances between the two were different, and considering Adon’s defined in the Alpha series by his pursuit of the Dark Hadou for it’s power, it’s not a stretch to argue that Adon could join Shadaloo if Bison had approached him at a lower point, or had just made a better offer. But the thing is, the one time we see Bison approach him, he rebuffs it (and we know this ending took place canonically, possibly even before Adon had beaten Sagat proper). And not just in the usual way he rebuffs everyone on the basis of them being weaker than him, no, he actually specifically tells Bison to piss off for being a drug lord, and Bison, who has any number of ways to brainwash or force fighters to work for him if he feels like it, actually backed off, which at minimum speaks something about Adon’s strength and willpower, if Bison respected him enough to approach him personally and actually fuck off when Adon told him to. Not many fighters can at all claim to have done that.

The druglord part is, interesting, to note as the main sticking point that gets Adon to refuse the deal. He wasn’t ostensibly any different at this point in the series than he became later (even as he was made more aggressive), it wouldn’t seem uncharacteristic for a guy like him to just accept Bison’s offer while reaping the benefits of his new life as Muay Thai Emperor. But he doesn’t do that. If nothing else, this gets me more curious to learn more about Adon’s past or life outside of the ring and his vendettas.

An interesting thing about Adon that tends to be overlooked is that, while he is an extremely egotistical character to put it mildly, he’s also highly, highly devoted to his fighting art in a way that even other characters aren’t. Adon places himself on the ultimate pedestal, repeteadly calling himself an untouchable god, but he seems to place Muay Thai on an equal pedestal, sometimes even higher. Unlike Sagat, he performs a wai kru before matches, and he’s always worn his kruangs to the ring. 

Some of his dialogue almost reads like that of a religious fanatic, and even his mad chase for the Satsui no Hadou in the Alpha series reads less like a villain’s quest for power, and more like he’s on a desperate mission to prove that there is no way, no how, that Muay Thai could possibly be inferior to anything, which speaks to the massive ego wound he has about the time where it was proven inferior to something. 

"The name of the holy "Muay Thai" doesn't allow me to lose."

"Take a good look! I am the new god of Muay Thai!"

"The one who once defiled Muay Thai can't beat me!"

"Vulnerability is a sin by itself! I must cleanse you with this fist of God!!"

(referring to Akuma) "That ultimate barrage attack... That's how I will identify him! Then, I'll teach him that Muay Thai is truly invincible!"

(talking to Rose) "Ruin and destruction, right? I know full well what it is! But Muay Thai's power is far beyond your comprehension!"

(after defeating Oni) "No deity is a match for the god of Muay Thai!"

"Muay Thai is the single most powerful art on the face of the planet!"

In fact, most tellingly, here’s what he has to say to Ryu, if you beat him in SSFIV:

"Witness the glorious return of Muay Thai to its rightful place upon the throne!"

It would be easy for Adon to be just a power-hungry jackal who thirsts for the Dark Hadou because he only wants more power. Vut in the games, Adon never goes that far, in fact, if you comb through his dialogue, he doesn’t actually show any interest in the Satsui no Hadou in and of itself, he doesn’t even seem to know what it is. He specifically wants to learn Akuma’s Shun Goku Satsu to improve his Muay Thai style, and I mean, it’s the Shun Goku Satsu, the strongest fighting technique in-universe. The whole reason he learned of it in the first place is because Akuma used it to kill a fighter he was supposed to go up against. If that’s something he has to watch out for then, it’s just plain common sense to want to learn it, it if he’s to maintain Muay Thai’s superiority instead of otherwise letting rival martial artists possess what is basically a nuke (even if he obviously has no idea how it actually works). But besides that win quote above, he pretty much never shows any beef with Ryu. I mean, didn’t Ryu beat him, too? Why is it Sagat that Adon has such a (particularly) deathly hatred for? 

Is he just a hypocrite? Well, yes, he is, but that’s not all of it. It’s not just because Sagat failed him. It’s because Sagat failed Muay Thai. Adon’s the farthest thing from what you would associate the word “honorable” with, but in a way, everything he’s doing is not just for the sake of his ego, but also has to do with honor, the honor of Muay Thai that Sagat let down and that he now intensely wants to restore. Is he that different from Sagat, who was blinded by his wound pride and honor and ultimately took such a long time to rediscover it on positive terms?

It’s repeteadly emphasized that Adon’s real grudge with Sagat is that he feels as if Muay Thai was humiliated beyond recovery by his loss. Like Sagat, Adon grew up poor and struggled his way out of poverty by taking on Muay Thai and embracing a mindset that placed power over everything. Sagat took on Adon as an apprentice after recognizing in him the same intense fighting spirit he had, and instilled on him the mindset that Muay Thai was the strongest martial art, and that strength was everything. Is it that much of a stretch then, that to Adon, Muay Thai became everything, and he took a crumbling dishonor to it so poorly? 

It’s not at all unbelievable that Sagat and Adon would adhere so strongly to this mindset, considering not just their origins as characters, but also the place Muay Thai occupies culturally. The thing about Adon is that, while he’s doing most things largely for the wrong reasons, he isn’t wrong about one thing: Sagat did disgrace Muay Thai. Not just by joining Shadaloo (even if he canonically never did anything while on it but be Bison’s sparring partner and bodyguard), but by losing the way he did. Really, losing at all with so much on the line.

Each and every day, children run the dusty, winding country roads of Thailand with dreams of carrying that culture through to the next generation. To one day join the pantheon of Thailand’s greatest fighters makes their blood, sweat, and tears necessary currency.

Like thousands of aspiring fighters living in modest means in the Southeast Asian country, providing their family with a viable way of escaping poverty is the fuel to keep running. It is the reason to return to the gym day after day, taking shot after shot. For many, it is the only way to attain a better life.

The trainers – most of who are revered as leaders in many towns and villages – will tell you that Muay Thai is simply in the blood. Although regarded as Thailand’s national sport, it is more than just competition. 

It is, for many of the country’s inhabitants, a way of life. The fabric of their people, and a constant reminder of the warrior spirit which runs through each and every Thai’s veins - History of Muay Thai

Prisoners with good behavior can even fight Muay Thai in order to reduce their prison sentences, under the idea that they can bring honor and fame to Thailand by doing so. Even though I’ve known about this for years, the relevance of this information actually didn’t particularly click with me until I’ve had a conversation with my teacher recently, about building up resistance by getting punched in the gut, and he remarked to me that fighters in Thailand spend a lot more time and effort training their guts to withstand impact than most martial artists or practicioners of Muay Thai outside of Thailand, because there, it is considered a source of shame to be knocked out by a non-liver gut punch, because it means you weren’t trained properly to take it (that’s what he tells me based on his own trips to fighting circuits in Thailand, although if anyone actually from Thailand knows better and wants to correct me, feel free to do so, I’d love to know more)

Now, consider what happened to Sagat. Sagat who was, not just the undisputed emperor of Muay Thai, but the strongest fighter in the entire world as far as he, Adon and anyone else at the time were concerned, who was so starved for proper opponents that he arranged a tournament just so people across the entire world could show up to take shots at him, and who still managed to basically remain untouched. Sagat, who staked not just his entire reputation and career, but also that of the entire martial art, and therefore the reputation of his country that he’d been carrying on his prideful shoulders, on this stunt. 

And Sagat, who was suddenly knocked out and nearly killed by some random nameless foreigner, basically just a kid with a karate gi, who just showed up and, even while pretty much losing the fight proper, still managed to knock out and nearly kill Sagat with a cheap shot last-second blow that tore him open from gut to pectoral. Sagat who, following this loss, basically fucked off and dissappeared. And Sagat who reappeared months later, as the right-hand of a druglord and dictator, the once national hero hanging out with terrorists. Is it that surprising that Adon grew to detest him so much to the point of dedicating so much of his life to breaking free from his shadow and taking the reign for himself?

I find it more interesting that Adon isn’t intended to be likeable or sympathetic, and good thing too, the series needs more heels, especially heels that aren’t outright villains, and not every understudy in the franchise needs to be a good guy either or a pure villain. Adon’s a small, petty jackass who set out to surpass the former Grand Jackass following his fall from grace, and basically succeeded. I really hope they bring him back for SF6 or at least show us what he’s been up to, where has his journey led him following his success in becoming Emperor of Muay Thai. 

Is he still pursuing grander and darker powers after all, still hopelessly bound by his and Sagat’s failure and his devotion to restoring Muay Thai’s honor? Has he succeded in attaining said powers at a cost to his own soul? Will he show up to provide us with the failed and tragic contrast of Sagat’s own quest? Or, assuming Sagat has fallen (as his SFV story seems to hint at), will he show up to rub his failure in or even, perhaps, fight his former master again in a climactic duel?

...Or is he still just gonna keep kicking around offscreen as the Grand God King Emperor Lord of Muay Thai, not bothering to join stupid Street Fighter tournaments, and has completely forgotten about those and the Dark Hadous and Sagats or whatever, because those are stupid dumb things only stupid dumb losers care about and he’s too busy rebuilding the kingdom to care? Only time will tell.

(Art by Matias Bergara)

[lechevaliermalfet]

Rise, and Escape – A Long Look at Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter

Quick note: This deep dive write-up was originally posted elsewhere in May of 2015.  I’m polishing it for reposting here.  In addition, for those interested, a while back I recorded a podcast-type thing for a project called Pause Menu Monologues, which was being done by an acquaintance of mine.  Said monologue was derived from a cut-down version of this effortpost.  For those interested, you can listen to that here. Now, on to the main event.

As I prepare to leave my current job for another with far better opportunities, it feels tremendously appropriate to talk yet again about a game premised almost entirely on the idea of escape.

I’ve written about Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter before, but it was requested that I write about it again.  It was @squeemcsquee making the request, so I listened more than usual.  I’m sure I’ll probably wind up saying a lot of the same things I said on the first go-‘round, but who knows?

Well, here’s something I didn’t say before this writing: When I first introduced her to Dragon Quarter, she got into it.  Really into it.  Given her relative inexperience with Japanese role-playing games, this was surprising to me; it’s so different from the usual run of JRPGs, especially as the genre stood in about 2003 or so when the game first came out.  Contrarian that I am (at times), that’s part of what endeared it to me.  But as she pointed out, the things that made it seem out of the ordinary to me meant very little to her.  She didn’t have much “ordinary” to compare it against.

Unfortunately, watching her play it made me want to play it also.  Part of this is the natural (and deeply unfortunate) backseat-driving instinct I have whenever I’m watching someone do something that I’m familiar with, but feel they could be doing better, and in fact, if they’d just let me have the controller for a few minutes, I could show them exactly how… But part of it was also just that seeing the game played really made me want to be playing it myself.  This presented a problem, what with us having only the one copy.  It led to arguments.  Not, like, real arguments, but not exactly cutesy fun arguments, either.  We did, at the time, have both a working PlayStation 2 and a backward-compatible PlaySation 3, so it was only owning just the one copy of the game that was really a problem.  So the solution was pretty simple.

That’s how good it is. Dragon Quarter: The game so nice, we bought it twice.

Technically, we only bought the game once.  I bought it when it first came out, back in early 2003.  I played it for a while, and while it was pretty to look at, and it had good music, and the setting was interesting, it just didn’t come together for me.  Despite this, I had no desire to trade it in.  I had the feeling I was onto something good, though I couldn’t quite grasp it at the time.

I hadn’t had much experience with the Breath of Fire series then. I owned a copy of Breath of Fire IV, which was really the first game in the series that I even tried to tackle seriously.  Having unwillingly skipped over the 16-bit generation (owning a TurboGrafx-16 and five games hardly counts), my impression of the series at that time could basically be described as “like Final Fantasy, only not quite as inventive”.  It perhaps wasn’t a fair assessment, but I was basing this on the opinions of friends and acquaintances; I was unable to draw my own conclusions.  Still, I liked Breath of Fire IV well enough, even outside of some positive personal associations, so I hung on to Dragon Quarter, feeling relatively certain that one day, I would get the itch to try it again.

As it happened, I did, a couple years down the line.  The story and the characters were calling to me, and this time, everything finally clicked.

It probably helped that, around that time, I was beginning to become aware that JRPGs as a genre were becoming (or more likely, always had been) deeply conservative in terms of design, as well as character and story archetypes.  Realistically, this has probably been the case since the days of the original Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, and Phantasy Star.  But I got into these types of games in late 1998 with Final Fantasy VII; I was new to the genre in those days, so even things that were rote and by-the-numbers were fresh and new to me then. And in fairness, I’ve enjoyed a number of these types of games.  But by this time, I found myself wanting games in the genre to branch out and do something new.  So many of the mechanical mainstays of the genre, the “traditions” of JRPG design, began life as frankly clunky workarounds for technology that wasn’t really up to giving us a less abstract simulation of the expected features of a fantasy adventure: travel, exploration, fighting monsters, finding treasure, getting new and more powerful gear, and saving the world and any number of princesses.  If you wanted to simulate all of these things on older hardware, you had to have a certain amount of abstraction.  So you had your turn-based battles, your random encounters, and so on, and so forth.

By the PS2 era, the technology was rapidly growing beyond the need to adhere to these ancient abstractions for any reason other than nostalgia’s sake.  It had been doing this for some time – Chrono Trigger jettisoned random encounters back in the mid-90s, but despite the universal acclaim that game received, no one seemed terribly interested in implementing any of its innovations elsewhere.  Developers were, by and large, unwilling to grow out of those old ways.  In part this might be down to the reluctance of their audience (or at least a very vocal portion of it) to part ways with those same traditions.  But whatever the reason, the result was the same: stagnation. Or so it felt to me.

I wanted something that was different from the JRPGs I’d played before.  Something that still offered the thought and planning that went into playing an RPG of any kind, something with a good story and interesting characters, but which went off the beaten path and did something different.

And so, in late 2004 or maybe early 2005, two years after I originally bought it, tried it, and hung it up for the foreseeable future, I started playing Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter again.

It’s an odd beast, this game, even when you look at it in the context of its own series.  All the more so, really.  The earliest Breath of Fire games got compared to the 8- and 16-bit Final Fantasy games, at least by most of the people I knew back then.  Really, a more apt comparison would be to Dragon Quest, but I hadn’t played any of those games, and I was part of a group of friends who oddly lacked much experience with that series, so maybe nobody was in a position to make that particular comparison.  With most of my friends, Dragon Quest (then known as Dragon Warrior due to trademark issues; I feel so old sometimes) was always “That game where you grind for hours and hours and then you finally say ‘fuck this!’ and go do something else, maybe play Final Fantasy or go outside or something, I dunno”.

Anyway, the whole series up to this point had been pretty standard high-fantasy fare, with the unique selling point being the main character’s ability to transform into a dragon. Most of the game mechanics beyond this were pretty straightforward.  My experience with the series at large was pretty much limited to some time spent on the fourth game, and some time spent goofing off with ROMs of the first two out of idle and quickly satisfied curiosity.

One other consistent feature of the series is that the main character, the aforementioned dragon-transforming person, is always a young blue-haired swordsman named Ryu, and there is always a blonde, winged young lady named Nina who typically focuses on magic. Additional characters tend to be of all shapes, sizes, and species.

Dragon Quarter, by contrast, occurs in a future dystopia where humankind, having pretty much destroyed the environment through the use of biologically engineered weapons called dragons, has retreated to a single subterranean dwelling called Sheldar.  There, they survive as best they can.

In this society, everyone is given a rank, called a D-ratio.  On the surface of things, this ratio is a measure of one’s current ability and future potential, and places limits on their social standing, the kinds of jobs they can hold, places they can live, and overall determining just exactly how high they can rise in the world, figuratively and literally.

“Low-Ds”, that is, people with low D-ratios, live further down in this habitat.  The air is worse, people’s lifespans are shorter, and there are occasionally monsters called genics that roam around down there.  The people with high D-ratios live closer to the surface where the air is better and things are generally less dangerous. A nice touch is that, especially in cut scenes, the game is literally more hazy and grimy, visually, the further down you are.  As you go up, the environments gradually become clearer and brighter.  It happens bit by bit, so you may not notice it the first time through, but if you finish the game and start over again, the difference stands out.

One of the few story beats to be preserved is our hero: Ryu.  Here, he’s a low-D ranger, whose job mainly seems to involve security and hunting down genics.  His D-ratio is abysmally low: 1/8,192.  His current job is the very highest he can hope to achieve.  He’s partnered with another young man named Bosch, D-ratio 1/64. While Ryu is effectively at the very limit of how far he can rise in the world, Bosch is only at the beginning.  A D-ratio as high as his means he can potentially qualify to become a Regent, one of the four rulers of this underground world. Bosch is basically just paying his dues here.  He’s friendly enough to Ryu, in a condescending sort of way, which Ryu mostly just shrugs off.  What else is he going to do?

While reporting for an assignment with Bosch, Ryu succumbs to a brief fugue, in which he has a vision. He sees the decaying remains of a giant dragon spiked to a wall.  Despite clearly being dead, the dragon seems to talk to Ryu, mind-to-mind, though what it says to him makes virtually no sense at the time.  Not long after, Ryu comes across the real thing, though it is very visibly dead and inanimate.

A terrorist attack splits up Ryu and Bosch, and shortly thereafter, Ryu runs into this game’s version of Nina, as well as a member of the resistance movement Trinity, named Lin. She seeks Nina for her own – or rather Trinity’s – purposes.  The three form an unlikely but highly effective team.  But allying himself with these two has its consequences, and by the time Ryu and Bosch reunite, circumstances have made them into enemies. Bosch is a good fighter, and he has plenty of allies with him, but Ryu refuses to betray his new comrades. Thankfully, his encounter with the dragon was no mere dream or hallucination.  Unbeknownst to him, it has bestowed him with awesome power… and a deadline.

With every passing moment, the monstrous dragon power lurking within Ryu grows more prominent, threatening to overcome him.  While Ryu is in control, he can transform into a bestial form capable of slaughtering even bosses within just a couple of rounds of combat.  But drawing on that power accelerates its progress in overtaking him.

And so, with all hands turned against him, Ryu, Lin, and Nina have ultimately just a single option: Escape.

One of the things that I like about Dragon Quarter – one of many, many things – is the way that the game’s more prominent mechanics and its story are so closely intertwined.

The dragon power bestowed upon Ryu early into the game isn’t just a narrative device or story element, coming out only when dramatically convenient.  It’s also a game mechanic, in the form of what the game calls a D-counter. This is a number, a percentage, that appears in the corner of the screen.   As you play, it slowly ticks up toward 100 in intervals of a hundredth of a percent.  Everything you do in the game causes it to increase.  Everything.  Every 24 or 25 steps will cause it to increase by one interval.  Later in the game, this happens every dozen steps or so.  Ryu’s special D-dash ability, which allows him to avoid enemy combat, causes it to tick up faster.  Transforming, all by itself, raises the counter, and any actions taken while transformed increase it by whole-number percentages.  It is literally overpowered.  What I mentioned about crushing bosses in just a couple of turns was not hyperbole.  I’ve done it.  It’s basically my end-game strategy.

There is no way to drop the counter.  Ever. There are no items, no spells, no techniques which will allow you to reset it or undo any of its progress.  It just sits up there in the corner, slowly increasing and glowing ever more furiously as the number grows.  The tension between the temptation to use it whenever you’re in a bind and the punishing consequences of that use can be exquisite.

When I first heard Dragon Quarter described as a survival-horror RPG, it didn’t make sense to me.  But that’s mainly because I associated the mechanical elements of most of the survival-horror games I’d played with the more thematic elements of horror.  And there are horrific moments and images in Dragon Quarter; the world of the game is not a happy place, and its maintenance is not easily or cleanly done.  But that horror is mainly a consequence of the world-building; it’s not the point of the game.

The key here, I think, is the word “survival”.  You might more accurately call Dragon Quarter a survival-RPG, except it’s basically the only one of its kind that I know of.  It’s kind of hard to wrangle a whole genre out of that.

At their heart, survival-horror games generally “work” based on two principles.

The first is the fragility of the player character relative to other types of games, and relative to the enemies within the game.  You are not the hero of a more action-oriented game, who can take maybe a dozen sword strokes straight to the face and just keep going, or who can withstand a hail of gunfire and duck behind cover for a few seconds while your shields recharge.  Here, the player is reduced to a much more even footing with the enemies.  Every bit of damage taken is a significant setback that needs to be planned around, either to prevent it or to deal with it when it happens.  Every attack must be calculated.  This is because of the second principle, which is resource management.

The in-game resources, both those which you use to preserve yourself and those you use to eliminate your enemies, are finite.  So they must be spent wisely, frugally.  Because of this, you are constantly required to take a measured, careful approach to any situation.  You can never just blithely wander around; to do so invites disaster twice over.  In the short term, you risk serious harm, leaving yourself vulnerable to future threats.  In the long term, if you come out of the situation relatively unscathed, it’s generally at some expense of resources, leaving you ill-prepared for future encounters.  Carelessness becomes indistinguishable from suicide.

This puts pressure on the player to play extremely well at all times by punishing mistakes immediately and brutally.  As a result, some of the typical elements of JRPGs are missing.

There are no healing spells or techniques.  All healing – whether restoring health or curing negative status effects – is accomplished by way of expendable (and frequently pricey) items.  And you have to consider how often (if at all) you’ll be using some of these items, because inventory space is limited, and multiple items of a single type don’t “stack” very much before requiring another inventory slot.  And, naturally, the usual economics of JRPGs are in full effect.  Whatever you get for selling an item is a pitiful fraction of what it costs you to buy.

The game offers you the ability to use bait and traps to lure enemies into a position of compromise and get the drop on them, but even these need to be used sparingly.  There’s hardly enough for every encounter.

Interestingly, the game knows exactly how difficult it is, and gives you something of a way around the problem.

As with most RPGs of any kind, Japanese or otherwise, you earn experience points, new equipment, and new abilities as you go through the game.  In addition, Dragon Quarter also gives you what’s called Party XP.  Basically, this is experience you can dole out to party members as you like to boost their levels.

Should you find yourself in a situation where you can’t progress without either having your party wiped or running the D-counter up to 100% (which, if it hasn’t become obvious by now, is an instant Game Over), you have the option to do what’s called a SOL Restart.  This restarts the game from the beginning, but lets you keep all the equipment and skills you’ve learned, as well as any Party XP you still have.  This gives you get a fresh start while retaining your improved gear, and the Party XP lets you give yourself a boost in the early stretches.

There’s also an option to restore a previous hard save along these same lines.  Dragon Quarter allows “soft” saves anywhere, but these are temporary by design.  Once loaded, these saves disappear.  There are only a few “hard” save points, from which you can restore at will, and to which you will be returned with a SOL Restore.

If this sounds ridiculous for what is typically a long-form type of game, it may help to understand that Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is only about eight to ten hours long from start to finish on a single play through, once you know what you’re doing.  Even with a couple of full-blown restarts, you’ll be spending no more time on Dragon Quarter than any other game from the same time period.  Less, probably.

Writing this now, I just about want to say that Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter was Dark Souls before Dark Souls really existed. There’s a certain similarity in that both games are more difficult than usual while still being relatively fair, and in the expectation that you will die, probably more than once, and that rather than being a tragedy, it’s simply an instructive part of the experience. Or in the case of Dragon Quarter, you’ll experience (probably more than once) a situation in which death is basically a given should you continue, and the smart thing would be to cut your losses and restart.

Dragon Quarter’s infliction of pressure extends even to the representation of the game’s characters and world.

Most characters have a skinny, almost emaciated appearance.  Part of this is simple stylization, of course, but it still contributes to the overall effect.  These people live a thin and narrow existence, it says, devoid of the expansive pleasures humankind was meant to enjoy.  There is a grimness and a quiet desperation underlying it all.

The world itself is a fucking hole.  Corridors in the lower areas are littered with random junk and debris; it’s best not to think what it might all actually be.  The air is hazy and grimy, and things have a sort of cobbled-together look that just makes the whole place look cramped and dingy and uncomfortable. In these lower areas, everything looks like it’s about one stern look away from falling right apart.  The upper areas are cleaner, more solid, but can seem so sterile and strictly designed as to be hostile.  Dragon Quarter does a wonderful job of creating a world you want to get the hell out of as soon as you can.

It’s ironic, really. Most games, I play to escape from the troubles and stresses in my life.  And most games oblige this desire.  Even the ones that take place in barren wastelands tend to take place in gorgeously rendered barren wastelands that encourage you to examine every carefully tailored nook and cranny.  They’re an invitation to exploration and adventure, and are “barren” or “waste” only as a matter of aesthetics.

But limitation and escape are the central themes in this game, and a world in which such themes are explored must be more than a background or a prop.  

The world is limited in its size; an RPG with little to no detectable exploration, comprised mainly of tunnels and rooms, and a single clear direction and objective at all times.  The player's inventory of supplies is likewise limited, in keeping with the surival horror influence.  The player is frequently required to prioritize, and ditch whatever they aren't likely to use based on their play style.  Care must be taken by the player to work within these limits.

Narratively speaking, the story also explores the idea of limitations.  Ryu himself embodies these limits.  His D-ratio is among the lowest of the low.  His place in society, the ways in which he can define and express himself, how he can live – all of these things have strict limits placed on them. And this dragon entity, Odjn…  As much as it much as it appears to be the key to his salvation, as much as it empowers him to break all barriers and overcome or destroy all opposition, it limits him as well.  It puts a countdown on his life, ticking down the hours he has left until... well, until whatever horrific thing might happen when Odjn gains total control and breaks free.  

And in the end, the characters decide to break free of these limits placed on them by the world by breaking free of the world itself, to smash through the ceiling of it and see once and for all what lies beyond its narrow, choking confines.

Dragon Quarter is a game about escape.

Ultimately, this is a large part of what interests me about the story of Dragon Quarter, what keeps me coming back.  Rather than a big, trampling save-the-world epic, it’s about a group of characters who just want out.  This is a smaller story, a “tiny tale of time”, as the game itself tells us in its opening narration. It’s huge in its implications for its world and its characters.  It’s great in the scope of the ideas it asks its characters to contemplate.  (It flirts with Gnosticism, which immediately grabs my interest).  It that sense, at least, it does involve the end of the world, in one way or another.  But the scale is smaller, and the characters strike me as being more real because of it.

Ryu, Lin, and Nina don’t want to fight anybody.  There’s at least one memorable occasion where Ryu, surrounded by enemies, asks why they can’t just let him and his friends go.  The character animations in Dragon Quarter aren’t spectacular, but they get the job done here.  There’s something about the way that Ryu asks his question that seems to have layers.  On one layer, he seems mentally, psychologically exhausted from the strain of all the fighting, and the toll all the deaths he’s dealt out has taken on him.  On yet a deeper layer, he seems equally exhausted from fighting the thing inside him that threatens to take over and destroy him.

They aren’t trying to harm anybody.  And it seems reasonable just to let them go, on the one hand.  But on the other, there is the major problem that letting Ryu and company out of this subterranean pit will completely upend the social order – will end this idea of the world – purely as a side-effect of his escape.  Because the underlying problem with Ryu’s world is a variant on the same problem that keeps people in dead-end jobs and abusive relationships long beyond the point when, logically, they should be getting out.

Fear.

The world of Dragon Quarter is, as previously stated, an absolute, utter shithole in purely objective terms.  Even the people in charge don’t seem to be enjoying themselves much.  And it’s because everyone seems to be in unspoken agreement that even if the current circumstances are awful, at least they’re familiar awful circumstances.  It’s possible that things are better on the surface, but it’s just as possible that they aren’t.  It’s just as possible that they’re far worse.  This, at least, is the devil we know.

Even one of the main villains, the ruler of this subterranean nightmare, is ruled by fear. A thousand years before the story proper, he was given the opportunity to open this world to the surface.  But he backed down.  In his fear that the world above might still be the barren wasteland people left ages ago, he turned back at the final moment, sentencing himself and everyone in the underground to remain in it indefinitely.

There’s an anime I like quite a bit – it’s probably my favorite, really – called Revolutionary Girl Utena, and in it there is a bit of dialogue that is recited so often it’s practically a ritual.  It goes like this:

“If it cannot break out of its shell, the chick will die without ever being born.  We are the chick.  The world is our egg.  If we don’t crack the world’s shell, we will die without ever truly being born.  Smash the shell, for the world revolution.”

This is actually a paraphrase from the Hermann Hesse novel Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair’s Youth (usually just known as Demian), in which it’s put this way:

“The bird struggles out of the egg.  The egg is a world.  Who would be born must first destroy a world.  The bird then flies to God.  That god’s name is Abraxas.”

To go up, to go out, to rise, to escape: This is an act of tremendous faith.