#that’s not even touching what I think Jade feels about dist!

[aerois]

I see you are a person of taste, being a Jade fan. What are your feelings about Dist?

Oh boy oh boy oh boy I’ve always wanted an excuse to rant about this!!!

So... Dist. The Rose, The Reaper. The Runny 😏

What to say about one of the most iconic Tales side-villains? Dist is... a beautiful disaster. But what’s beautiful about him isn’t his fashion sense (he wishes tho lol), but rather, the parts of him many don’t see.

Now I won’t lie, Dist is an annoying, pathetic, self-centered little buttmunch. The man is 35 and his social skills even worse than Anise’s. His attachment to the professor goes past being immoral and subjectively disgusting to downright concerning on a more personal level. He is somehow both a giant narcissist and yet void of any confidence at the same time. And he really doesn’t know when to shut up.

But he has a very sweet heart, I think. Because underneath all the borderline psychosis and THE most unhealthy coping skillset in existence is a very dedicated and reverent person who just wants to return to the safety of his childhood. As far as we know, the Professor was the only truly positive influence in his life that wasn’t another kid his age. He describes his childhood as “those glorious days...” but it’s odd to me because, well, you would never describe the antics of 9 year olds as “glorious.” And it’s also a bit sad because a good chunk of his childhood was him getting absolutely dunked on by Jade. But at his core, Dist is someone who was forced to become an adult too fast, and yet he never really grew up. He’s stuck in this weird limbo where he’s emotionally a child but intellectually an adult.

And normally that’s disturbing, and I admit I felt that way— until I read the manga. Tl;dr (this is a spoiler for the manga, heads up) there’s a side story where Dist and Anise befriend each other during Anise’s earliest days in the Oracle Knights. Her Tokunaga used to be just a regular doll, until one day Dist witnessed Anise being bullied and the doll tattered in the process. Anise discards it in distress iirc, and Dist picks it up and repairs it in secret. He mends it, dutifully and unceasingly, adding protective technology that makes it into the Tokunaga we all know. He does all of this without Anise asking. Stays up late into the night working to exhaustion for a little girl he barely knows. It’s his first instinct to help this child.

Dist is a man who reveres childhood, so it’s only natural that he adores children. Dist was able to look at Anise, a lonely, misfit, mistreated child, and see a part of himself in her. The past version of himself that he recognizes deserved love and nurturing. He takes that feeling and, instead of becoming bitter, channels his grief into a positive action and improves someone else’s life. And for a narcissist like Dist, the fact that he toiled away quietly, making no announcements about it, is the most telling thing about his character. He is a kind, generous, and surprisingly humble man.

Dist fluffs his feathers a lot, but deep down he’s someone with an incredible amount of love but no one to give it to. And while his social skills are atrocious, I wager he’d improve a lot if he could just find someone patient enough to listen to him for a good long while. And in my opinion, he’s someone whose talents probably lie in parenting. He would make a very attentive and considerate father, and would probably derive a lot of healing from raising and running around playing with children. I think that’d be a healthy way for him to move on in life.

That’s where my feelings end up. I look at him, and while I cringe at the bad, the good almost brings a tear to my eye. I want him to live peacefully and happily, surrounded by people that accept him.

[fonicsight-a]

Unprompted | Always Accepting

@ervaurem​ asked: Random headcanon question: What is/are emotion/s that J.ade still can't get a grasp on? That he finds it hard to "feel", especially because of everything he went through?

OOOO that’s a really good question that I’ve been thinking about a lot the past month or so, thank you!! First thing’s first, I wanna try to determine what he means by “emotions [he] can’t get a grasp on”; because that will play a role... but it kinda has two sides! ...This is probably gonna be long because I’m diving deep into our favorite sarcastic colonel’s psyche, so buckle up fhjdsvfhys

SO...

For one, Jade has very low empathy, almost to the point of sociopathy but he’s not quite there. It’s entirely natural; even when he was a kid, he’s never been even mediocre at being particularly empathetic. We’ve seen it when he ’’’fixed’’’ Nephry’s doll using fomicry instead of just sewing it together or even just comforting her, as well as really any time Saphir got hurt. Even while in danger, he didn’t react as one would expect a child to. He cares about others, but he’s very rational in how he shows it if he does at all. It’s not a bad thing, but it can make relationships of any kind a little more difficult, and we can see evidence of that being the case by looking at Jade’s history.

The other factor is that his first response to emotional distress is repression. I’ve touched on it a little bit, in the first part of my headcanon on his family, but to retreat inwards was the immediate response to the first major event in his life (that he can remember anyway). The second only further instilled that idea. By then, he was smart enough to know the whole ‘older sibling needs to be strong for the younger sibling’ shtick, and he was all Nephry would have in the familial sense. Same with Saphir, since back then he did genuinely see him as a friend despite picking on him.

Part of Professor Nebilim bond after that was her trying to get him to be more open, along with trying to steer him away from his arrogance too. So when he accidentally killed her, he could only repress the emotions further. He does feel these emotions! The problem is, he doesn’t recognize that’s what they are anymore. In order for him to function from as young as five, he had to emotionally detach himself from everything. 

By the time anyone could notice how extensive it was, it would be seen as helpful because then he’d be adopted into a family with heavy military influence and thus almost guaranteed to be a soldier just from that alone. By that point, emotions were little more than chemical responses to stimuli that could be ignored and hidden because they’re irrational. It’s only until creating bonds with Luke, Anise, Ion, and everyone else has that finally started to be undone, but it’s far more complicated a lock than even the fon slot seal placed on him early on.

Now that this is made clear... He still struggles with all of them, but he’s gotten a little better at it, just a bit. However, the one he may never overcome is the one that started it all; grief. Every single time he’s encountered death - even when it was almost his own - he repressed it further and further and further. And the only thing that may allow that to end is the grief of others once he dies.

When he states he would kill his infant self if he could, he says it as if its nothing. He barely reacts when Saphir tries to take himself out with his Kaiser Dist in the final battle with him, aside from instinctually looking away from the sight. Same as when Ion dies, subtly glancing away just as the Seventh Fonons making up the Fon Master’s body separated. When he almost died in his own experiment, it didn’t even register to him that anyone else would be affected by his own death. When Nebilim was on death’s door, he hid anything he felt while Saphir was bawling his eyes out. The monsters he experimented on provided little insight on the topic aside from what actually constitutes as ‘death’. He could only stare in silence when he was told of his father’s demise to the miasma, as well as his mother’s death to bring his sister into their world before it.

Indeed, it seems death is the one that haunts Jade the Necromancer, and grief is its companion that he just can’t seem to grasp any understanding of. But... maybe these newfound allies of his can help fill in a couple pieces to this massive, intricate puzzle.

[dimensionslip]

Tales of the Stage - Those Who Inherit The Power of Lorelei - EMOTIONAL ACT (August 23, 2018)

What a long day it was!

In a nutshell, today's stage play was a lot more serious as promised (in contrast to how crazy the Yokohama stage　play was). It definitely felt more like Asch's story this time around, and anyone who adores him is very much in for a treat. There were also a lot more scenes with the Six God-Generals and Noir, with the Abyss party members taking more of a backseat this time around. I think this might be the closest we'll ever get to an Asch side for Tales of the Abyss. Aschtalia shippers will also love it a lot.

After the stage play, there was a talk show with Chihiro Suzuki (Luke's voice actor), Kazuki Yao (Dist's voice actor), Yuya Arai (Asch's stage actor), Orito Kasahara (Dist's stage actor), and Shunichi Takahashi (Jade's stage actor). Which, you can probably guess, is the reason why I picked this day to go, besides my already planned Saturday and Sunday viewings.

Anyway, without further ado, here's my personal experience for today, as well as a plot and talk show summary I've drawn up to the best of my abilities and memory!

Before the Stage Play

After hearing that Jade sold out pretty quickly yesterday, I took no chances for the merch line and arrived two hours early before they started selling stuff. It was a long wait under the sun as they had us line up outside the venue before letting us in 30 minutes before 4pm (the start of sales).

As I was the second in line, I managed to get everything I wanted! I lined up again a little later because I was curious about the items that sold out. The Dist bromide (Yokohama Arena version) and acrylic was the first to run out in about 20 minutes. Legretta's bromide (Yokohama Arena version) also sold out at around the same time. Not too long after, Jade's acrylic keychain also sold out. I'm so glad I came in early to get them, but man, they didn't really seem to stock too much of everything except Boy Asch, Luke, and Asch.

The wait for the theater opening itself (6pm) was made bearable by the fact that I managed to make a friend (aka the person who was as early as I was in lining up). Both of us are Jade and Dist fans (with matching Jade dolls too and what not), and it seems we both took the bait regarding the varied talk shows per day (today was Jade and Dist's turn).

Once the theater gates opened, we got the postcard (today was Jade and Dist) that changes for each showing. There were also a good bit of flowers. Jade, Dist, Tear, and Asch have the most.

Stage Play Summary

Note: Apparently some of these scenes were different from Day 1's show. As I have not gone to the said show, I do not know which is different or the same, so I'll be updating this on Saturday again to report on which scenes were unique to Day 2.

Before the stage play, Noir and her lackey Dino (if I'm getting the name right) fooled around a bit onstage. Noir's bromide sold out and Dino was talking excitedly about it. He also opened a blind box can badge in front of Noir, hoping he'd get Noir. He got Ion instead, which Noir pinned to her uhh... chest wrap, or whatever it is you call her clothes. Dino started taking a lot of pictures of her and kind of got skeevy a little later and got bonked by Noir as a result.

Kazuki Yao (as Dist) narrated the story introduction, complete with Dist's trademark laugh. He made it a point to emphasize that Jade was his rival.

The story opens with boy Asch escaping, and Dist running after him. Dist got a clunked on the head for his trouble, Van reassured him that it's not a problem that Asch escaped. Asch got stopped at the gates and was laughed at, and everything more or less proceeds as the Abyss plot did.

The boy Asch actor didn't join in the Karma dance, but he did appear in several of Asch's dream/nightmare sequences/flashbacks. It was sprinkled throughout the play and was a nice touch, and definitely added to the overall Asch-feel of the stage play.

As with the Yokohama stageplay, the Karma dance was montage-y at some parts for the God-Generals. Also since I pay extra attention to Jade, he somersaults into the stage, sights Dist, then walks away when the latter tries to chase him.

They had some pre-game scenes here that were never in the game or anime, aka an opportunity to showcase how stuff in Daath went. Like, Anise being busy with Ion. Dist presenting Tokunaga to her was also included here, as well as a bit of showcasing of how their awkward friendship works. I love it so much. There was also Arietta having some trouble with paperwork and trying to get Sync to help her. Legretta eventually ends up aiding her instead, and she kinda felt motherly here. Van also had a fatherly moment when the God-Generals met up with him and Arietta presented her paperwork to him proudly, but it did come off as a little creepy given what we know of Van.

But yeah, during that meeting, Van also poked fun at Asch's dislike of octopus as a joke. Basically it all felt like they were the dysfunctional family that the anime or game semi-implied but did not quite emphasize.

Luke and Tear end up in what I suspect to be Cheagle Woods, but the area wasn't named. The main party also had their entrances at around this point (including Guy and Natalia, who aren't slated to join until way later, game-wise). Guy's introduction ("Enter the amazing Guy") kept on getting interrupted by Natalia, which was hilarious.

Later on, we get to see a similar scene as the Yokohama Arena showing, where Asch visits Nam Cobanda Isle to make a deal with Noir. Noir's backstory also comes out here. A random kid gives Asch his most treasured possession, which is a doll.

I think this was around this time that Asch had another one of his dreams about the past again. As I've mentioned earlier, this is a recurring thing throughout the stage play. They also got the Natalia actor (I think) to dress up as child Natalia for these flashbacks.

There was a huge skip to what I assume to be Deo Pass (prior to Akzeriuth), where the party battles it out with the Six God-Generals. Natalia sees Asch's face and they end up having a long moment staring at each other, and she seems to realize something, but does not have much time to dwell on it. Guy and Sync get some curse slot action going here as well.

Akzeriuth more or less proceeds as it does, including the Abyss classic "ore wa warukunee". However, at Ortion Cavern, there was an added scene where Jade talks about his past with Dist, and there's an enacted flashback for it. For this adaptation, younger Jade and Dist (in lab coats) were in Hod when it was collapsing, and that's how Jade came to know about Van's real name. Note that in the game, Jade had never actually stepped a foot inside Hod. Even if this wasn't canon compliant, it was still interesting to see because, yay, more Jade and Dist scenes. Action scenes, that is. Though Dist (Saphir then), wasn't really any good with them battles and just kept on trying to dodge things.

It was around this time (or a little earlier), that Mohs was talking to Largo about something interesting that he heard (aka the circumstances of Natalia's birth), and was heavily hinting that he knew something about Largo too. Largo just brushes it off.

Speaking of Largo, earlier he also had a moment with Asch, something like acknowledging that they have the same feelings regarding a certain issue. I think it was Natalia-related, but my memory is a little fuzzy at this point in time.

There was a part where Asch was more apparently in pain, and Dist, like in the Yokohama Arena showing, ends up mocking-slash-word-vomiting at Asch regarding his state (the Big Bang). While Dist was going on his spiel, Noir and Dino were nearby, poorly hiding as they overheard everything. Once Asch chases off Dist, Noir voices some concern over his well-being, but also ends up reporting that Natalia is in trouble (Mohs was going up with his reveal regarding Meryl and Natalia being a "fake" princess). Asch ignores his extreme pain and runs off.

As with the Yokohama Arena show, we got to do the Natalia chant with the penlights along with Noir and the Dark Wings.

Asch and Van also have their battle here, which Asch has the upper hand in until he gets a seizure, which Van takes advantage of by stabbing his arm and literally twisting a knife (err, sword) into it. Same as the Yokohama Arena show, and just as "oww" to watch.

Absorption Gate was also another opportunity to showcase some of the party's talents. I was only expecting somersaults and stunts from Jade (who delivered!), but Tear also had her own cartwheels and it was pretty impressive. Van still had his dance numbers but they were very much shortened. Also Jade featured quite prominently in the Absorption Gate battles, I feel. And there even was a part where he seemed to be dancing it off with Van.

Sync was in the Absorption Gate battle and once his mask broke and he got on this diatribe, he committed suicide with a sword. Later on, he gets revived along with Van.

Luke and Asch receive their parts of the Key of Lorelei. Asch has a scene with Noir at around this time too, where he asks Noir to return the doll he received from the child earlier on in the stage play. But something happened to the doll's face, I think? Dino said something but I wasn't able to catch all of it.

Then there's a huge skip to Eldrant, where the party have their final showdown with the Six God-Generals. Natalia and Asch have a moment too over here. So we have the following:

 Anise vs Arietta: Poor Arietta, she had that scene where she hallucinates her mother and Ion before she dies.

Jade vs Dist: Jade makes quick work of Dist's robots after going "Sayonara, Saphir". Which did not feel as heartfelt as the game or anime, but I'm glad they included that. The battle ends when Jade steals Dist's flowery wheels and Dist chases after him.

Tear vs Legretta: Legretta has more or less the same death scene lines, with Tear being equally devastated.

Natalia vs Largo: Quite similar to the game as well, with Largo being proud of his daughter before dying, and Natalia calling him father

Guy (and later on Anise) vs Sync: Similar to the anime, and Sync has a moment where he impersonates Ion in the heat of battle, which throws off Anise

Luke vs Asch: Similar to how it goes in the game, with a few twists. Luke sees Asch getting turned into a pincushion and was definitely very hesitant to leave him like that.

All of the God-Generals except Dist dies. There is a scene after Asch dies where the Natalia in his dream finally finds him (prior to that, it was always him just chasing after Dream!Natalia), and gets the flower crown, plus a realization of the place he belongs in. We also get to see (briefly) the God-Generals that have died in the said sequence. A good number of people were in tears at this point.

In the final battle against Van, Asch from the beyond gives Luke a pep talk. After which, Luke uses Lost Fon Drive to defeat Van. And I guess it's time for a small random note--everyone in the party (plus Asch) got to use their Mystic Artes throughout the stage play, except for Jade. But that aside, the post-Eldrant scene was cut a little short, with only Tear saying her piece about wanting Luke to come back. But Luke and Jade do share a nod before it cuts to Luke fulfilling his promise to Lorelei.

They tried to recreate the whole Luke-falling-to-the-core scene as faithfully as they can. I think that they could not have the Luke stage actor carry Asch the whole time, so they substituted for a projection. Still was nice.

"The Look of that Day" starts playing, and we get the epilogue scene, which proceeds more or less as it did in the game and the previous stage plays (with the Luke stage actor in the Mr. Ending costume), BUT. Besides using a more Lorelei-ish voice for him (it's the Mr. Ending voice, overlapped with some other voice), we get a silhouette of Asch too (in a similar costume, iirc) after Mr. Ending exits the stage.

When I looked around and the lights went on, it seemed that more people were in tears by the time the after talk show was to start.

After Talk Show Summary

Kazuki Yao was dressed up in a flowery print Hawaiian shirt and shorts combo, with a t-shirt that had a glittery skull on it. It was a highly unexpected turn of events and earned many laughs.

Chi-chan made sure to emphasize we're getting Double Dist today. And kept calling Jade's corkscrew a dragon screw.

Some of the questions and answers I can remember (paraphrased):

(1) What thing did you have to be careful about when portraying your character? Yao: Apparently he thought Dist was an "okama" (roughly "drag queen"), but in the middle of recording, he was told that Dist is not an okama and it was difficult to adjust. Kasahara: He did a lot of research, and tried his best to imitate Yao's voice for Dist. (he's playing through Abyss and I think got Shiro no Ashita and Tsuioku no Jade manga) Takahashi: Jade's spectacularly long hair. (which I imagine got in the way in a lot of stunts... he needed to keep flipping it away lol)

I can't remember what Arai said for Asch, unfortunately.

(2) Since we have Double Dist today, name something good about Dist. Suzuki: Very forward-looking and positive. Arai: He has a beautiful color. (said after facing Dist and looking at him for a long time) Takahashi: Let me just describe what happened when it was the Jade stage actor's turn. > Dist and Jade face each other and are sitting way close. > Jade: (after a long stare) Nothing. > Dist: (looking affronted) Ehh??! There must be something!!

If I recall correctly, Jade reaffirms the no, but definitely, shortly after this, Dist starts playfully grabbing Jade's knees and goes all "JEIDOOOO". Kasahara-san and Takahashi-san were so cute together...

Anyway, the winners for the picture-taking lottery were announced at the end of the talk show. Didn't win, but I did have a lot of nice memories to take home, which I feel was very much precious in itself.

Personal Thoughts

As with the previous stage plays, I feel it's best to watch this while being well aware of TOA's story. They skip around a lot and omit a lot of things, and I feel it's easier to appreciate the additions with that said background in hand.

I really loved the stage play as an Asch side type of deal. It's a refreshing way of looking at the story, and as I've mentioned, they really made good in making this feel like it's Asch's story. The party members taking the sidelines (including Luke) was a consequence of this, but it all felt natural. I liked seeing more of the Six God-Generals too.

Accounting for my Jade bias, I'm satisfied with regard to his level of presence in an Asch-centric story. I think he had even more stunts here than the last one he was in, but that could be my wishful imagination at work. I also feel his character was a lot more interesting with Dist around, rather than a standalone.

Asch was definitely the star of the show, but I still love Kasahara's Dist. He's such a great Dist and I'm glad they got him on board. His research certainly looks like it paid off--he looks the part and acts the part. I think a lot of people are charmed by his performance too, which also may factor in to Dist running out today (besides today being Jade and Dist talk show day), and during the last TalesFes. I also noticed that people in the trade search on Twitter have been searching for his karaoke trading card too (Jade, of course, is still the crowning king of rare).

I still feel that Reo Kawamura's Guy is a bit lacking, but he had a lot more to do this stage play, so it wasn't as bad as the previous stage play in Yokohama Arena. As far as successors to Kou Hosokawa's Guy was, I think he's fine--it's just that Hosokawa's performance feels difficult to top, in my opinion.

I cannot tell which among the stage play scenes were different or added for the day, so I guess I'll discover on Saturday what may have changed. I definitely look forward to that and the talk show, in any case. Will post again on Saturday and Sunday with the said differences, but until then, I hope you enjoyed this report! If you have any questions that I have not addressed, please feel free to drop by my ask box!

[the-cryptographer]

more TotA blabber

- I forgot to mention this and a couple of other things the first time around, but- Wow, this game is kind of in love with pseudo psychology bullshit. Guy’s phobia of women based in this traumatic past event. Arietta being raised by wolves. Or ligers, i guess. Even Luke’s child development stuff is super bullshit, lol. idk, it’s not like I hate it, but you can feel the kind of bizarre pop culture psych things that went into this.

- On the subject of Guy’s phobia... upon replaying I am kind of uncomfortable with a couple aspects of it. First that, like, every rando woman in this household flung themselves on him as human shields to be slaughtered is a bit objectifying in a pretty violent and terrible way from a meta perspective. Not that a woman sacrificing herself for a man can never be done right. But it’s kind of creepy to me in this mass fridging kind of way. And then also the narrative seems really invested in, like, curing Guy. And I understand that from the perspective of it seriously hindering him from doing important things like saving Anise, but it’s also a bit creepy from the perspective of, like, ‘must make myself like woman. must be straight.’ :/   Not that I have a problem with Guy liking woman or shipping him with them just... yeah. Canon itself could chill a bit.

- Also the issues that Luke has killing other people is kind of waved to the side and... wtf? Like, one minute he’s having a mental breakdown over it, and the next time we run into human enemies on the ferry to Baticul it just... never comes up. While I believe pretty unreservedly that killing is bad and shouldn’t be sanctioned for war or other similar purpose, I can understand where Tear and Jade are coming from. It’s hard to predict when leaving someone alive will only cause more suffering in the end. And I realise that Luke has a lot of difficulty at that point in the game taking responsibility for things, including deaths, that are kind of inevitable but... I think the game kind of cuts this plot short by making it about Luke being some form of immature and weak instead of- yeah- killing people is fucking bad, so... wtf???

- It kind of interests me how the relationships in this story go, lol. compared to the really haremy kind of stuff that starts out with a bunch of tsun girls that slowly warm up to you and start wanting your dick, it’s kind of interesting that this game started with a spoiled noble that every girl wants to get with, and then basically weeds Natalia and Anise out through a combination of mistaken identity and misaimed goals and shitty behaviour on Luke’s part. Not that it’s, like, sooo much better or less sexist than other stuff. But it’s an interesting contrast.

- But Asch complaining about ‘Ladies Man’ Luke was so classic. omg. what a jealous nitwit. i love it.

- I keep thinking of Nephry being kind of chilly and unemotive, basically like Jade but with a better sense of morals and empathy for others. But, man, during the first meeting with her she’s so emotional... I mean, I understand why: she’s got a brother she loves but doesn’t trust and thinks he’s dead and then he shows up on her door with no warning at all. And she has all these terrible thoughts and feelings about what’s happened in the past and nobody to talk to about it with, so then she vomits it on Luke. But it was kind of jarring for me combined with some really bad voice acting, omg.

- Also I read in a let’s play that the only canon evidence of Peony -> Nephry in the games is during the Rappig Quest. But, like, I walked into Keterburg and nobody could shut up about how hot Nephry was and how Emperor Peony’s first wuv lives there and then we meet Nephry and, lo and behold, she’s super HOT. So how much evidence do you guys fucking need spoon fed to you for this onesided shitshow to have canon traction, smh. (We all know I just have a hateboner for ppl ignoring Nephry and shipping Jade and Peony, lol)

- Yeah, I was kind of patting this game on the back for not being overly exploitative with the girls’ character designs too early. I guess the tone of the game changes a bit post-Akzeriuth, so that explains suddenly why there’s such an influx of MELON jokes about Tear. MELONS. Poor Tear...

Also just this image for Tear’s Mystic Arte:

That garter belt shot... mmm... fuck. I have no standards.

- Also, got a decent image of the book in the Order of Lorelei library that has everyone’s rank:

Got a mention of that mysterious Cantabile that’s the 7th God General we never hear about. What an interesting lady.

But mostly I’m just in shock that Sync, of all people, is Chief of Staff. lmao, the most nihilistic uncaring bastard ranks above Largo and Dist and Asch, haha. I need to write something about that.

- I guess I forgot how much I was glued to the sidequest FAQ the first time I played this game, smh. I ended up locking myself out of completing the Frings/Cecile sidequest, which really pisses me off, smh. I remember really enjoying this sidequest the first time and Frings untimely DEATH. So I’m disappointed I’m missing it now. Watch me get over-invested into forced and unnecessary and completely optional tragic het ships.

- (Also missed the Collector’s Book aaaaaaaa.)

- Kind of touched on it in that other post but, wow, this game sure does have a lot of angst and death and dying for a game whose general aesthetic is ‘yay! i cooked an apple pie after battle!!!’ Maybe that’s why I’m leaning away from being able to write comedy about it, lol. But I should. Apple pie is... good.

[sage-nebula]

I feel bad for continuing to post caps from this video I’m watching considering that I’m not in the Tales Series fandom anymore (and don’t want to give people the wrong idea) but djfkdslfjdslfdsa this entire segment is killing me.

So they ended up on this beach to look for the fourth mirror, and there was an insinuation early on that Dist was there because Jade went on ahead (having heard a sound), and then wanted to leave right away immediately. But they stayed to look, and after a time Dist revealed himself . . . to an extent. He can see them, apparently, and they can hear him, but he hasn’t made himself visible yet and wants them to find him instead. Jade, of course, is not about that life, so he starts to leave, hence the above, and I just---

“I’m afraid that all I can hear is the plaintive wail of a dying cockroach.”

KRSRKDJSFKDSHGDSFDKSGHDSKFJDSGDS

COLONEL JADE CURTISS, 3RD DIVISION, MALKUTH IMPERIAL FORCES (dear god how do I remember all of that even now, even still, after all these years), EVERYONE. THE MOST SAVAGE IN ALL THE LAND, GOOD GOD. Honestly, forget “Necromancer,” his title should have been Jade the Savage my god.

But then, but then, just---

Lloyd: “Hey, rose dude! Shut up for a minute!”

Dist: “Huh? But I . . . okay.”

FHFDHSKDJFDHJHGDKSGHDSGSD

This is a historical day. This is a day that shall be remembered through the ages. Becuase today, on this day, on that beach, someone told Dist to shut up . . . and he actually shut his mouth as commanded.

Like, honestly, did he ever shut up, at all, even once, even for one second in the entirety of Tales of the Abyss? Because I don’t think he did. God knows he must have been told to at some point. Jade was always telling him to go away, and I’m pretty sure Luke and Asch collectively told the entire cast (including each other) to shut up more than once, so one of them must have told him. But Dist, caught up in his own importance and a love for his own voice, never would have heeded that. But here, Lloyd Motherfuckin’ Irving, Savior of Aselia and giver of motivational speeches, told Dist the Reaper / Rose / Runny, to shut up . . . and actually got him to do it.

I know that Lloyd reunited two worlds, but god, I think this is his most impressive miracle yet.

The scene doesn’t end there, though. Believe me, it doesn’t end there, and it just keeps getting better. However, this is getting long, so I’m going to put the rest beneath the cut (and trust me, you’ll want to look, because the next little exchange is what made me decide to make this post, because it made me laugh that much).

KRSRKDJSKGHSDFSDGHDSFDSGHSDFHSDGHSD

“Oh, Guy. You poor bastard.”

THAT LINE. FUCKING. KILLED ME. Something about Jade calling Guy a “poor bastard” just . . . krdukrsughdslkfhdskhdsfds. I think it’s because that’s not normally the type of language you’d expect in a game like this? I mean, the Tales Series games do have PG-13 rated profanity---“bastard” has been thrown around a few times in them before, such as this memorable exchange in Tales of the Abyss:

Luke: “Mohs is such a bastard.”

Jade: “But an effective one.”

But the phrase “poor bastard” is just . . . such realistic dialogue that I just . . . it slayed me, especially since Jade says it in relation to Guy having to encounter Dist and you know he means it, like I just . . . god I fucking died laughing. But then:

LLOYD TELLS BOTH DIST AND JADE TO SHUT UP FDKSJFKDSFJDSFDS LLOYD, I LOVE YOU SFM. We don’t get to see their reactions, though, because at that point Guy has a flashback about what led to him coming to this place and losing his memory in the first place. It turns out that he and Dist were attacked by some dude who I think is a Rays exclusive character (and thus I have no clue who tf he is), and said dude wanted to kill them both. Guy suggested that he and Dist make a truce until they took the dude out, and Dist agreed, but he told Guy to get back, because he was going to use some explosive creation to do it. The blast did send Guy flying back, but it also knocked him out, which resulted in his amnesia. Luke correctly came to the conclusion that this means that Guy’s amnesia was Dist’s fault, at which point Dist grew offended and demanded to know what kind of “so-called warrior” gets a concussion from a blast like that, and then Jade delivered this wonderful line:

“We humans are a touch more delicate than your kind, cockroach.”

Ily Jade.

Anyway, at that point Dist decided he was going to kill all the gathered group before going after “the savior,” which was a mistake to say in front of Lloyd, because “the savior” is Colette, and, well . . . we know how Lloyd gets when Colette is threatened. The rest is just more plot stuff instead of comedic stuff, but anyway, this whole little bit killed me, because god, things never cease to be hilarious when Dist is around. :’D I kind of miss these characters, albeit not enough to return to the fandom or even replay the games again, I think. Still nice to see a little video like this, though. It’s all nostalgic and whatnot. Makes me smile. ♥

[gracefuldist]

💗 What advice would they give a potential partner about making their relationship last if they could with no judgment?

LOVE & SEXUALITY & RELATIONSHIP HEADCANONS

This is suuuch an interesting q omfg... Okay so. 

Dist & Jade 

Dist and Jade has to be to its own separate category because oh my god there’s a lot to talk about here. SO if Dist felt like he could be completely, entirely honest with Jade - well... all he wants is for Jade to acknowledge him. To actually need him for something, and to maybe, you know, appreciate all the work he does for him. It doesn’t have to be much - I mean, christ, Dist is touched by the fact that Jade used to say ‘goodnight’ to him on a regular basis... so for just a little bit of that cold shield to be lowered, for a couple more thank yous, for a recognition that he’s genuinely on Jade’s level when it comes to fontech.... that would be the world. Even better would be if Jade recognised that... Saphir has essentially sacrificed his entire life just so he could be happy. Maybe none of those sacrifices resulted in anything, maybe Jade grew through Peony or Luke or himself - maybe Saphir actually played a part in holding Jade back from growing, by supporting the illusion that fomicry could ever be perfected and encouraging the dream that Nebilim could ever be revived, that their true happiness lay in their lost past... But he’d still want something to be noted about that, for someone to see that this all came out of... a pretty selfless place. He never expected Jade to give him anything in return, he hoped, but didn’t expect - he just wanted to see Jade be able to get emotional again, to be real. And I’m not saying that he went about it the right way at all - in fact, you could see Dist as nothing more than a scummy, lonely neck-beard forcing his hero fantasy onto Jade and that just because he sacrificed so much doesn’t mean Jade owes him anything... BUT .... I still feel sympathetic as hell for the guy, and I don’t doubt that Dist wants, more than anything, than for Jade to be aware and appreciate, just a little, how much Saphir gave for him.Jade & Saphir are also the only people in the world that know what it’s like to... go through what they went through. They really need to talk through this part of their lives together if its ever going to work. There’s a lot of other issues with Jadist as I’m sure you’re well aware of, but I think these are Dist’s major hangups with the whole thing. He always feels disempowered around Jade, like he doesn’t matter - when he wants to matter soooo much, to be seen as Jade’s hero. I think he could put up with Jade using and bullying him if there was at least that core respect there, you know? (tho obviously, he’d love to say to jade ‘pls stop bullying me its actually rly upsetting’ but that’s... never going to happen whereas getting a modicum of respect might, so I’m gonna let him put all his chips on that pile.)

Generally 

Making a relationship work with Dist is... really hard. He has a lot of trust issues and a lot of insecurity, he’s flighty and anxious about everything and over-exaggerates all the time. Honestly, his partner is the one that probably has a lot more to say to him, ahaha. BUT If you really did want to make a go of claiming this Goosey Wee Bab’s heart, you’re going to need to be really assuring. Ridiculously patient. Very calm, preferably actively affectionate and willing to draw Dist out of his shell (but also recognise his boundaries). You have to be in For the Long Run and committed, loyal and faithful - publicly, if necessary.  He needs your confidence to undo his anxiety, and he needs your interest so he can talk at you for about a million-miles an hour about anything and everything that’s happened that day. You gotta be able to see through his bullshit, but let him down gently. basically, i realise as im typing this, u need to be guy. guy is dists perfect partner. im sobbing. 

[sightofspira]

Nectar.

A short selection of scenes exploring Dist’s feelings towards Jade and their relationship over time. Alternatively, how Saphir became Dist.  CW: Dist is Obsessive & Creepy, Drowning, Death, Terrible Metaphors.  -- Jade was, to Saphir, like a flower. He often thought, in his younger, more childish days - that Jade and Peony should have been born with their names swapped. Peony was brutish and hard like a gemstone, undeservingly destined to embroider the thrones of emperors simply because of tradition and namesake. Jade, however, Jade was like a delicate flower. Stalky and thin, with lips like fine petals, his eyes the richest red that could only be compared to the rose. Even his skin was rose-like, white roses, and his heart was a mess of thorns. Saphir mused on this a little longer, thinking that… if he could change his name, or the meaning behind it, change who he was as so often he wished he could - he would be a hummingbird. A flittering, graceful thing - who never needed to touch the earth for fear its ringing heart would stop, and who spent its life revolving around its most precious, nutritious, delicious flower. Sipping nectar, that was how he wanted to spend his days - rather than tracking over miles and miles of useless, crappy snow. 

Today was one such tracking-through-miles-of-crappy-snow day, all because Peony and Nephry had wanted to go ice-skating. But of course, the lakes closet to town weren’t frozen nearly enough - and that dumb ox Peony had of course already been out hillwalking, and of course he had found a solidly frozen lake and of course he had suggested with all sincerity and thickheadedness, that of course they should all go there to skate. And, of course, he had protested - until his lovely Jade had decided that he was going, with a smile that tasted sweeter than any nectar and no sooner did Saphir agree that he should go. After all, what was the hummingbird without revolving around its flower? But, so sad, the hummingbird could not fly. Too brave, too shy, without a dot of practice and whole lot of shrieking - Saphir had slipped on the ice, skates with blades pointed directly at his beloved Jade, ready to cut him to ribbons. That was, until, Jade had set the ice in front of him on fire and Saphir, with one last hurried gasp that may have been the beginnings of a scream, disappeared under. The world went black. The pain was unlike anything Saphir had ever experienced, like his muscles had been peeled off from his bones and that his lungs had been sucked out from his throat, catching water. Every gasp that came involuntarily just brought in more water, lukewarm from the fire and yet seething through his insides like dry ice. And he couldn’t stop thinking, couldn’t stop thinking about the endless black that rushed down beneath his feet, drawing him deeper and deeper and its blackness would enter through his mouth, through his lungs, until there was nothing left to sense but that darkness. When he managed to bob to the surface, each breath a coughing pulse, he could see that there was no one was there, nothing but the ice and the snow and the deep dim quiet. And suddenly, it was like the pale, empty white surface was as frightening as the dark below, and Saphir wondered if, even if he managed to haul himself out, if he would soon have nothing left to sense but that brightness. He had wanted Jade, Jade’s soft hand around his own, to pull him free. But Jade was gone.

The search party found him, stranded and alone, body half-pulled from the ice. He was alive, yes, and when his jaw stopped clattering enough for him to talk - he asked if Jade had called on them, if Jade had slipped under too, if Jade was waiting for him back home. Every answer was a no, and yet, when his skin was wrapped up warm again and he could feel his muscles reattach, toes able to curl and lips able to taste the hot cocoa his rescuers shoved in his face… all he could ask was, where is Jade? And finally, finally, when he saw that rose-petal boy again, whose lips looked so soft and so kind, that Saphir desperately wanted to see twist into the very slightest twinge of concern… instead slid into a smirk. A smile, even, and Saphir felt his heart roaring in his ears again, the heat finally returning to his face. Jade laughed, he remembered that, Jade laughed and said, “You have the tenacity of a cockroach”. And Saphir, named after the gem given to royals - the sparkling stone that represents fidelity and sincerity, Saphir who dreaming so desperately of becoming a hummingbird with glittering, soft and vibrant wings - compared to the lowliest, ugliest and most disgusting of creatures. All for surviving the ice. He looked at Jade’s cold surface, and disappeared under. —

Jade sat opposite him at the breakfast table, pale sunlight inching its way across the room. Saphir watched the way he cut his eggs, chopsticks running finely and precisely through the yolk, spilling yellow. He watched the way he cut fine pieces, dipped it in the yolk, and ate. He enjoyed these moments with him the most. Watching him eat was like watching God become mortal. How he reacted to his sensations, to taste, to indulgence. The way he turned his whites over in the runny yellow, so tactfully, all just to slather it in the taste he liked… something he liked. Lorelei, he felt as though just in that briefest of moments, he knew exactly what Jade felt, what Jade thought, what Jade was sensing. Knew exactly what it was like to be him, to be so cool and poised and … just enjoying his eggs. Then Jade looked at him, the fire that killed Nebilim still in his eyes. “Are you going to eat? Or are you expecting me to hand feed you?” Just like I have to do to you with everything else, the insult was as clear as it was unvoiced. Saphir shook his head, sucked his lip in, and started to eat. Jade pushed his plate away, his chair squeaking in protest to the sudden movement, and left. Saphir wolfed his breakfast down carelessly, following after him. — Nebilim was theirs. Their secret. Their precious memory. Their one and only desire. No one else! could understand them, no other soul had been their to witness her body strangled in the flames, charring even while she screamed. No one else had been in the cold, lonely snow - Jade’s magic redrawing her organs, her skin, her smile. No one else had seen her rip the limbs from that screaming man, his death still ringing in his ears even though he had induced countless others. No one else had shared, shed, seen so much blood as them. How many times had they killed her, since then? Cocktails of sodium thiopental as anaesthetic, pancuronium bromide for muscle paralysis, and potassium chloride to stop the heart. That was, of course, if she survived long enough for that - if she didn’t just disintegrate in front of them, a spew of blood and weakly gnashing teeth, with such laborious breathes… Lorelei, the breathing, the wheezing, choking bleeding, that’s what scared him the most. Only Jade knew that sound, knew how loudly it ringed in both his ears, even if his face said nothing, his lips barely ever moving from that stoic frown.   “Next time, next time. We were so, so close!” Acknowledge it, Saphir soundlessly begged, Acknowledge that this is ours. Our secret. Our dream. We’ll do it, we can do anything, anything. Please, Jade, Jade, please please say…

Jade said nothing, throwing the syringe in the bin, his back to him.

— “Discontinue the experiments.” That was it. That was the end of all of it, those three, stupid, horrible words. Jade said it so casually, so obviously, so plainly - as though this was as easy for him as ordering his eggs for breakfast. Didn’t he care?? Didn’t he care at all for all these years of slaving? For all that both of them had given, dedicated, burned out of themselves - for all that Saphir had given, dedicated, burned? Why did he get to discontinue them, just like that, why did he get to rip away the only semblance of their happiness - the only thing Saphir had ever, ever been good at, just with the click of his fingers? How could he give up his smile, his happiness, his only chance at life just like that? All because of … because of a little failure? A set back? Could perfect, beautiful, clever boy Jade - could he not handle what mere mortals like he had to survive with everyday? Did Jade think he could just keep him on a leash his whole life, that with one simple tug he’d fall under the ice with him again? No! No! This was theirs! Theirs! Theirs! The only thing that had even been theirs, the only thing that… The only thing that had ever been his!   Jade didn’t get to take that way! He didn’t! J-just because he had forgotten what it was like, to be the happy little boy in the snow, fingers slipping loose snowballs and laughing as they hit Peony right in the nose. He didn’t get to forget all those times they’d slept over at each others houses, gently giggling about all the other stupid kids that could barely tie their own shoes while they were tapping into magic and machinery that generals knew nothing of. He didn’t get to forget the soft hums of his little songs that he used to sing to himself, the terrible poetry that he showed no one but had kept for years, the violin that he used to play. He didn’t get to forget and if he did… if he did then… then Saphir would have to remember for him. Everything Jade had ever abandoned, Saphir kept. All of his precious, forgotten memories - all of his precious, forgotten self that had died with Nebilim. “Goodbye, Saphir.”

— He would no longer be the hummingbird. He would be the source of nectar. He would become the rose. And all this, this metaphor that Jade would never!, never!! understand - because poor, shy Saphir had never been able to say anything. Not when they were twelve and at their happiest, whenever Jade looked at him and the universe hushed and there was nothing but that soft, so soft, smile. Not when they were sixteen and drenched in blood, a shared, dark laugh drifting between them over yet another failure. Not when they were twenty and Jade told him it was over, Jade told him goodbye and each and every time Saphir had had a chance to scream, claw, pound on his chest and kiss his lips and tell him ‘I love you I love you Iloveyouiloveyouiloveyouilove…’ But he never had, and he never would! Because those days where over, long, long over! And though he was still going to recover Jade’s smile, Jade’s laugh, Jade’s heart that was lost amongst the thorns - he didn’t need to sip from his nectar anymore! That mana was his own, all his own. He wasn’t going to be stupid, runny nosed Saphir anymore, a stupid little brat who was forever washed out by Jade’s light. No, he was going to take that light, and he was going to shine brighter than that brainwashed idiot’s dulled surface.

Dist. Distant, Distorted, Dissonant, Dist. Jade may have pretty, but Dist would be more beautiful. Jade may have been intelligent, but Dist would be so much more clever. Jade may have been elegant and confident and perfect in every single way but it was Dist, Dist who would be more and more and more, always more. Only then would he be good enough, able enough, strong enough to bring her back - if Jade had decided to accept withering and dying, well, Dist would simply have to bloom in his place.

[dimensionslip]

Tales of the Abyss -Those Who Inherit the Power of Lorelei- Event Report (June 15, 2018)

Just came home from the event a few hours back, and summarized stuff to the best of my abilities!

But, just a fair warning. The TL;DR of the stage play is "Abyss on drugs", as so succinctly put by a friend. And looking at the JP side's tweets, most people seem to be sharing the sentiment and aren't too sure of what they just watched (in a good way, as people seem to have enjoyed it all the same). So tread under the cut with caution...!

The stage play opens with Anise rushing onstage and greeting the audience, waving her penlight (the red one being sold in the venue), followed by Luke and Tear (with penlights too). She seems really excited, and goes along with the thought that everyone's celebrating her birthday. But Luke and Tear would not have any of it, including Mohs, who suddenly appears from the back with several light sticks on hand--think Mohs with red penlights ala Wolverine claws, if that gets the image across. Even Jade pops in as a skit face onscreen, voiced by Koyasu (I think he says something about Ion... about what he might do if he found out? Or something along those lines, my memory's kinda fuzzy in that regard). Even then Luke, Tear, and Anise (but mostly Anise and Luke) spend a lot of time trying to get the crowd hyped up with various iterations of <noun> warukuneeee and getting the crowd to do Raijinken. At least until Asch comes busting in and tells them to cut it out. Which they do, and Asch starts with a serious introduction to the stage play, which gets cut off by Anise doing a really good imitation of him telling them to cut it out earlier, and Anise gets chased off stage by Asch.

And, the stage play starts, with of course, Karma. They did something nice and montage-y with it, where some pre-game events were demonstrated by the cast, like Dist remodeling Tokunaga for Anise.

The first scene, as I recall, was a rehash of Asch discovering he'd been replaced, and seeing how Natalia treats Luke without knowing he's his replica. The next scene was one in Nam Cobanda Isle, where it's shown how Asch recruited the Dark Wings. I think Noir's companion here was York...? Not too sure.

I think it was around this time that the play cut to Engeve, where Tear and Luke were preparing meals, with Tear preparing a rather giant riceball. There was something about miso here (helping out with it, as I recall), and Tear asked one of the people in the audience to choose if they'd assist or not. The audience member ended up choosing "It can't be helped" and yeah, Luke helped out with miso stuff. Tear also asked another audience member to choose between her and Natalia, but the audience member chose Anise for some reason lol. Eventually, a second audience member chose Tear and the stage actor looked so happy hahaha.

There was also a meeting among the Six God-Generals, but all I can remember from it (and throughout the stage play) is Dist on wheels. Instead of his floating chair, he was on some sort of rollers the entire time past the opening. It was amusing. The scene skipped to Zao Ruins and we got Luke vs Asch, and the party against Largo, Legretta, Sync, and Arietta, if I recall correctly. It was also around this time we got Anise and Arietta in some sort of cat fight, where they were pinching each other's cheeks and Largo looked like some sort of unintentional referee. A little later was also a point of audience participation, where Luke explicitly asks Largo to stop mid-attack (and he agrees, oh my), and then asks the audience to shout Raijinken with him. Which, of course, causes Largo to faint.

Akzeriuth isn't really touched upon so much, and there's a focus on the Asch and Luke replica confrontation scene, as well as the party deciding what they should do post-Akzeriuth. It goes more or less the way the game does, and there's a skip to Ortion Cavern. Guy splits from the team at this point, and Asch, Natalia, Anise, Ion press on. With Anise... insisting on using a save point. Which everyone goes with, and we even get a save screen for it. It turns out to be a good thing, since the party gets wiped out by a surprise attack (complete with Asch's sword... missing a blade for some reason). Complete with a game over screen. But after some fuss on Anise's end, the "save" is reloaded, and they... run away from the battle.

Discovering Van's replication plans more or less go down the same way they do in-game (Asch saving Natalia, having a bit of a talk with her), but with maybe a little more Anise feeling like a third wheel. Asch gets some headaches at this point, if I remember properly, and later on, in another scene, Dist instead of Spinoza ends up explaining the Big Bang and relevant stuff (if not something along those lines).

Still, the craziest of the day's antics is yet to come, and I've got to say the scene at Chesedonia takes the cake. I can't recall the exact circumstances as to why the party found themselves in a bar of some sort (I think it may be a callback to how they got blocked by the Dark Wings asking for a toll?), but in either case, we have the party watching Van, Legretta, and Arietta putting on a dance number along with Noir, wearing something that certainly isn't Oracle Knight standard issue. It was some sparkly shirt for Van, is what I remember best, as with his sunglasses for the occasion.

It's around the time when Chihiro Suzuki shows up as the owner/manager of the establishment and causes a lot of confusion due to the fact that he sounds like Luke (also he calls Van, Legretta, and Arietta and they deny being them). He also knows no fear and starts poking fun at Van-sensei, inc But yeah, he gets into this argument with the Luke stage actor and begins shouting out Luke's attacks and ends with Lost fon Drive (which seem to affect the stage actor). Later on, Asch also shows up, and Chi-chan ends up putting on his Asch voice and causes more confusion (including towards Natalia, who stills at his voice). Koyasu as Jade eventually pops in and asks Luke what he's doing, more conversation follows, then Jade calls him a bad boy or something along those lines, which is followed by, of course, an "ore wa warukunee"... (which Jade says in a more yasashii voice).  A little later, Jade decides it's a good time for an Indignation, which the audience gets to shout out along with him.

We also get Largo in a suit, who claims not to be Largo (?). And is some red lion (?).

After the advertisements (for Emotional Act) and chitchat between Luke/Asch and Jade, everything (thankfully or not) turns more serious for the most part. We get things like Natalia being outed as the "fake" princess, and the audience being the Kimlascan townspeople shouting her name (similar to the way she was protected by her people in the game). There's also a small scene with Arietta dancing around Feres. Then we get the infamous Aschtalia promise scene in Sheridan.

The stage play also has an interesting take on Sync's death. The party fights him, and there's a portion where they try to stop him from doing suicidal stuff when it's revealed he's an Ion replica, but they can't really stop him from falling to his death, just like in the game.

Then we get a Van vs Asch scene, which actually goes in Asch's favor for the most part--until he gets a headache which is so bad that he drops to the ground, and Van ends up turning the tide. Which means that it's time for another dance number and fight. The party fights Van, and they successfully defeat him. But Van gets revived, complete with a dance number, and we also get Sync back, in his new outfit from the last part of the game.

The stage play ends with Asch getting the Sword of Lorelei, and after the curtain call, a small talk show was held.

Some thoughts

So basically, the stage play skipped around a lot, and there was a lot of crack. There's not really any significantly new scenes, I feel (of relevance I feel would be recruiting the Dark Wings, as with how they handled Sync's death), and it was mostly just fun crack. Which I do not really mind, I really enjoyed the stage play despite being all "what the heck did I just watch" when I try to recall what just happened. I think involving the audience through subevents kind of led to the craziness and wackiness of the stage play overall, but I don't think it's exactly a bad thing per-se. We were somewhat forewarned, after all, by what was on the website with regard to what was in-store, and I suppose this further drives home the point/promise of the Emotional Act stage play to be closer to the main story, rather than being an original one the way the Yokohama Arena show was.

With regard to cast members that stood out, besides the star of the show (Asch), I would say Van, Sync/Ion, Anise, and Dist were pretty interesting to watch. Master Van because of the dance numbers again, Sync/Ion because of the way the stage actor had to switch between the two, Anise because that hyperactiveness/genki levels are just really off the charts (and quite entertaining), and Dist because the stage actor really, really nailed him (not to mention, staying on those rollers or whatever it was called was pretty amazing in itself, even if it does has something like a balancer). I'd actually like to take this opportunity to applaud Dist's stage actor (Orito of Starboys), for a job well done. I've seen his tweets the past few months about getting into Dist's role and he's really dedicated to his craft, I've got to say. It was revealed in the talk show that he got over a hundred hours on his Abyss save (and would play it during breaks while practicing, I think? one of the stage actors mentioned seeing him play, if I recall correctly), and he also nails Kazuki Yao's voice for him. He makes some IC Dist tweets at times too and it's really great of him, ahaha.

As for Jade, Koyasu actually didn't appear too much (or as much as I wanted to, but that's just my bias speaking), but what little moments we got were nice. In the plot itself, his presence is mostly handwaved. But more relevant to the stage play, I suppose, would be how Asch-centric it is. And I think if you take out the crack, it is quite Asch-centric, even if my report doesn't make it sound like the case, given how I remember the crack bits better.

Anyway, that's all I remember for now! If anyone has questions about what happened, I will try to answer stuff to the best of my abilities, though fair warning I might not remember everything that occurred. That, and I welcome any corrections in case I misremembered or misinterpreted anything. I wrote all of this while everything is fresh in my mind, meaning that all of this was typed past midnight, and may contain typos and the like, especially with my brain not really operating at an optimal condition.

...Or maybe I just want the excuse, given how I just looked over what I typed and still can’t believe I did just that. But hey, ask anyone who watched the stage play and they’d probably say the same thing as me:

“It was crazy, but awesome.”

[the-cryptographer]

I’m actually replaying Tales of the Abyss now instead of just thinking about replaying it as I become randomly taken over by Dist-related feelings. So under the cut is my experience with the first third of the game (everything up to the haircut).

- Imma just start with the character stuff and then move onto the gameplay stuff bc nobody cares about gameplay.

- Yeah, I started playing this like - “I wonder if I’ll still like the same shitty ships I liked when I was playing this ten years ago.” And the answer is FUCKING YES - they are apparently permanently ingrained in my psyche.

- On the subject of Luke... I didn’t actually remember how much of a douche he is for the first third of the game, since it’s been a while and I’m more accustomed to seeing portrayals of the better rounded and kinder character he eventually became. I’m going to say, I’m really glad he grew out of it on both a narrative and personal level, but I also really did enjoy and love long-hair douchey Luke. He’s insufferable and I adore him.

- That being said, I think this kind of puts an interesting spin on Luke/Tear. I do genuinely like this ship and am happy with where it ended up, but a lot of what seems to keep their early interactions from going even more poorly than they do is that Luke is... very used to bossing people around. And Tear is very used to being bossed around. Like, she’ll obviously talk back to him, but even so- Tear kind of falling into this servile protective bodyguard role is kind of what ends up endearing her to Luke and it’s kind of bad and good at the same time. Especially combined with things like her thinking the Baticul maid outfit his servants wear is cute... This idea could be taken places... I’m glad the relationship didn’t stay like this in the larger context of things, but I’m also kind of enjoying where it’s at so~

- That being said I feel like the party starts making lovebird jokes way too early. Like, I like this ship a lot, but I also have bad taste, and this isn’t the kind of thing I feel should be encouraged irl/in-universe. Not as their relationship exists during this part of the game, at least. ubb.

- More generally I do like Tear a lot tho. I think having her be a bit more serious and stoic and emotionally withdrawn are things that speak a lot to me, with regards to female characters and heroines especially. I also like that she is genuinely competent as a fighter and protector. And that the more traditional damsel role is occupied by a man, Ion.

- I’m also surprised that Tear’s boobs are as modestly proportioned as they are. Maybe it’s because of doujin content, or a couple of tactless jokes later on in the game(?) but I always thought they were HUGE instead of, well, buxom and hourglassy in the vein that you might find on a real woman. This game in general isn’t super fanservice-y in its character designs (although there’s something to be said about a few of the scenarios). There’s some Zettai Ryouki on the girls, but that’s about it. I guess the fact that this game's age is showing.

- The different iterations of ships involving Anise, Arietta, and the Ions are also something that are still appealing to me a lot. Part of me feels bad for being okay with Anise/Florian, since Florian’s a kind of an obvious replacement character. But then I start thinking about how conflicting and upsetting it would be for Anise and then - whoops - I’m interested again.

- Luke and Ion crush on each other so hard though. This was not a ship from when I first played but, god, it’s so cute how much Ion seems to genuinely like Luke, and how Luke gets so tsun and blushy about protecting him. Excuse me while I try and figure out a way to write this that isn’t heartbreaking, and fail.

- me: I wonder if I’ll like Jade as much as I did the first time. Since I seem to have come to a realisation that he’s an emotionally manipulative asshole with a very limited capacity for empathy on any non-abstract level. Jade’s disembodied voice *hasn’t even shown up on screen yet* : Move out of the way or it’s not my problem if you get run over by this tank I’m driving. me: I was a complete fool. He’s a total asshole and I love him so much.

- Naw, yeah, for real tho: one of the first things Jade does upon meeting Natalia is try and establish that she’ll be easy to emotionally manipulate and control. He rather easily brushes over watching the suffering of others in favour of more goal oriented behavior. That, in addition to what happens when he extracts information from Dist at the Keterburg Hotel... I don’t really think I was off the mark about Jade potentially negging his boyfriend or exacting physical torture on his ex, especially insofar as his ex is a criminal anyhow. Like, obviously Jade has some kind of moral code by the time the game begins. And overall I think it’s admirable that he’s concerned about things like minimising the world’s death toll and human suffering. But he’s certainly not above breaking a few eggs to make and omelette, even if those eggs include visiting long-term physical and psychological damage on others. I would... hope that he could restrain himself from taking that kind of route with things. But I don’t think I’m exactly wrong in thinking he’s not a person I would trust not to, and thus not someone I’d want to invite within a mile of my personal life. Although he’s probably going to continue being a character I really cherish. He might still be my favourite playable character in the game - although Tear and Anise come close.

- Actual favourite character is Dist, of course. I mean, he’s hammy and awful and terribly written, but I love him so much. ‘Everyone is jealous of my intelligence and beauty.’ (Which is even funnier considering the post-battle dialogue where Anise and Jade tell Luke to write about their beauty and intelligence respectively in his diary. Birds of a feather.) idk, it’s just really strange, because I don’t really like when fanon iterations of characters are made more femme and flamboyant than they are in canon. But you have actual femme and flamboyant men in canon (Dist, Wallace from pkmn, etc) and somehow I love them so much, omg. (Dist also has a lot of grief stuff I like tho - v relatable with regards to Nebilim.) idk, I just count my lucky stars every day. Because five of the six God Generals die in this game, so the odds were definitely not in my favour, but somehow my favourite is the one that makes it out alive?! I’m dying at how blessed I am. Dist is basically the opposite of the Bury Your Gays trope, and I love it.

- On that note, when Jade and Dist are snarking and Luke and Guy share the look(tm) and are like ‘they’re off in their own little world’ asdfghjkl;

- me: I wonder if I’ll like Natalia more this time. Since I’m more aware now of the baggage and misogyny that goes into female character creation, and am more likely to blame authors than the characters themselves. Natalia: *to Luke, after taking one look at Tear* Are you fucking the servant girl? me: YIKES(tm)

- Naw, she’s okay. I mean... she’s not less okay than Anise or Tear, really, in terms of poor (stereotypical) writing and poor (catty) behaviour. I certainly think her commitment to being a kind ruler and acting towards the public good with her own hands and own feet is quite touching. But she appeals to me the least out of the three girls on a personal level. And, also, I think there are several issues with her introduction-

- Well... first off, that we hear about Natalia from Luke and Guy earlier in the game - and we’re told she’s high maintenance and clingy before we’ve even met her. And then we meet her and her introduction ends up immediately corroborating what Luke says about her. So... it’s a very bad first impression in a way. In general it’s kind of interesting seeing how the narrative feeds out information, now that I know all the characters and all the twists. Some of it is info-dumpy, and some of it is unintuitive, but it’s interesting to watch how it drops out hints and evidence for you to try and piece together before the reveals come.

- But I digress, the other thing is Natalia is, after her disastrous first impression, set up as a foil for Luke. Her kindness and selfless concern for others, and how seriously she takes her responsibility as a state leader, are both immediately cast against Luke’s self-absorption. Which... is in some ways ineffective for me tbh.

- Idk, just, like- An adult man spends seven years building up trust with a child that’s been isolated and emotionally neglected by design, and then manipulates and uses him as part of a murderous rampage. (two children, if we’re including Ion) And somehow this is Luke’s fault? Yeah, I don’t... buy that.

- I mean, Luke is obviously rude, callous, selfish, and arrogant. And I think all of those things are problems. All of those things are Luke’s fault and responsibility. I do think it’s upsetting that Luke is more concerned with dodging blame regarding Akzeriuth than he is concerned about... everyone who just died. And I’m certainly glad that Luke makes a decision to change. But... none of those things are really related to him feeling he can trust Van, and it’s pretty monstrously unfair to blame him for being manipulated by the only adult he really felt took his interests and concerns seriously as a kid. (I mean, obviously his parents love him, and he them. But there’s also a definite feeling that his concerns are not being prioritised by them. And that he can’t even advocate his concerns with regards to his mother, whose emotional and physical health could be endanger if Luke burdened her with his upsets.) As the player, we don’t really have a reason to trust Luke, and Luke’s loyalty to Van, more than Tear’s (and the rest of the party’s) distrust of her brother. We’ve known Luke and Tear approximately the same amount of time. But... Luke has known Van for seven years. And Luke has known Tear and Jade and Anise for a couple of weeks and has little reason to trust them. Tear spirited him away from the safety of his manor and into a dangerous world. Jade and Anise had him restrained and arrested and made no secret they were using his status for their political goals (good goals, but still...) They’re all openly disparaging of Luke. It seems pretty natural that Luke would trust Van over them, and the fact that Van was counting on that when he betrayed Luke and everyone... I mean... I also don’t blame the rest of the party for blaming Luke in the heat of the moment, but I think the game and narrative itself takes the ‘it’s your fault’ stuff a bit too seriously and uncritically. It’s also super obvious that they ramped up Luke’s unlikable qualities in preparation for what happens at Akzeriuth - pride cometh before the fall. And, even if it’s emotionally effective, it still don’t really go from point A to point B that being selfish and rude and arrogant makes you at fault for being susceptible to emotional manipulation. Which is kind of frustrating.

- Also, yeah, zol was right. You could’ve saved that kid with stalagmite or smthn, Jade.

- There’s a lot of weird bullshit along the lines of gameplay vs plot dissonance. Like trying to light barrels of oil on fire in the Abandoned Factory. I’m surprised none of them blew up in Luke’s face. Did nobody think to bring a candle? Or just have Mieu light up the dark with fire near the switch? That would have been a lot more expedient and a lot less dangerous.

- Ion: The seventh fonon was recently discovered. Jade: And thirty years ago, when I was a young lad, I was upset I couldn’t use the seventh fonon and blew up my teacher by mistake (whoopsie). me: what the flippity fuck, Ion? that’s not recent. I thought you were supposed to be better than Luke about this shit. What could possibly be responsible for this mistake - OH!

- In general, since Ion’s four years old and somehow knows a shitton about the world, it kind of takes some of the wind out of Luke’s sails when he’s had a three year lead on Ion ‘but i had more important stuff to learn, like my parent’s faces’. Luke’s amnesia and subsequent isolation are pretty well integrated into the story for the most part, but parts of it are obviously exaggerated for the sake of having a character that needs the relevant info about the game world infodumped on them.

- Mieu... is a thing. I don’t really like mascot characters as a concept in general. But I think some authors, like CLAMP, have done a good job integrating them into their stories. I can’t really say the same for Mieu though. That he kind of is Luke’s chew toy for the beginning part of the story is interesting. And that he fucked things over for his people and the Ligers due to this random accident (much like Luke) is kind of interesting. But... overall he’s just a very annoying cute thing that’s following you around for no reason. I wonder if his voice is less grating in Japanese, but the PS2 version of this game at least didn’t come with JP audio, which was kind of a bummer. I like the dub for the most part (Anise especially is really good) but I would have liked to hear the JP version this time.

- I think I still prefer platonic Guy/Luke to romantic Guy/Luke. (Although I don’t dislike it, the way I dislike Asch/Luke) but I am super charmed by the drama with Guy having all this resentment towards Asch that then becomes easier to move past once Asch gets switched out for Luke. Like, I think in some ways it’s more about Guy being in a different place looking after this helpless newly replicated Luke at age 14 compared to looking after the better-realised Asch when he was younger, rather than because of a stark difference between Luke and Asch themselves. But I can’t help but love Guy a little for seeing them so differently and feeling certain that Luke is the one that’s his friend. It’s really sweet and cute x’)

- And last thing - the hyperresonance stuff was super poorly explained. Particularly the first one between Luke and Tear. We’re told that this is something that can randomly happen when two seventh fonists interact, and Tear’s like ‘i should have been more careful’ like this is something that happens periodically that you can predict and avoid. but... how? What are the conditions that lead to this? Is this scientifically replicatable at all? Or is it something that can happen completely at random whenever Luke and Tear touch each other? Whenever Natalia and Asch touch each other? they’re just going to be having sex one day and randomly teleport out into an open field or smthn. This is so dumb. Except I know that the teleportation thing was actually 100% convenient plot bullshit, so I shouldn’t even pretend it can be made sense of in any real way, smh.

- New Game Plus! I debated quite a bit, but in the end EXP x10 was the only thing I purchased from the grade shop. I wanted to have the experience of gathering all the items and bonuses myself, since I forgot what happened the first playthrough. But I’m regretting the decision a bit now since I did all the sidequests and ultimate weapons and stuff the first time around and had a very full inventory, and I’ve already missed at least one thing on my current playthrough when a combination of not saving and forgetting how to walk lost me Barrelow X’s Capacity Core. (Not saving also made me not have a save to go back to to win against Asch at Yulia City- boo) But, regardless, even without all the other perks, I figured EXP x10 would basically mean breezing through the story, which was what in theory I wanted. But then I decided to combine this with the Unknown Difficulty Mode (enemy stats x3.5) which effectively made the game even more slow than the first runthrough, EXP x10 be damned. I spent a lot of the first part of the game crowding around Engeve, frantically trying not to die before I gathered 100 gald to stay at the Inn. I was completely outmatched on the Tartarus when it gets overrun with Griffins and Ligers. And I made about a dozen trips between the Fubras River and Engeve before I finally made it to Arietta without my characters dying. After getting my party to level 40, spamming Mystic Cage, and still getting absolutely crushed by Arietta at Coral Castle, I finally gave up. I lowered it down to Very Hard mode instead and defeated her in two minutes. After a quick search, I learned that this is considered one of the hardest battles with the hard mode stat multipliers, and it gets easier from there. So I technically could have kept going to level 50 or smthn but... it also seemed like a lot of these people were doing this challenge with the capacity cores and equipment rollover, and without them I’d most certainly have to grind more (and grind without good capacity core stat bonuses). And the simple truth of the matter is I wasn’t having fun anymore. So... if I do a third playthrough in another ten years, I’ll rollover everything properly to do Unknown properly, but in the meantime I’ll stick to whatever mode lets me farm grade the most easily.

- On that note, it became very clear that the defense stat in this game is very broken. All the characters (including your own characters, pretty much regardless of level) have /lots of HP/ and are meant to take /a lot/ of small hits - this is just the play style. So, as long as you have full TP and a way to heal, taking on characters with multiple times their usual attack and HP stats is doable. On the other hand, characters with high defense, like Arietta, Golems, etc... Even small differences between your attack stats and the opponent’s defense stats can result in your own attacks doing half/quarter/tenth of their usual damage, which means a battle taking two/four/ten times longer than usual (and you’re way more likely to run out of TP and healing items this way). I think this essentially means that high fonic/phys attack (respective of whether the character has a mage vs melee move set) are the most important stats for the player character. It would be cool if you could replicate Arietta’s defense effect with your own characters but... the truth is the bosses in these types of games are built very differently than the player characters (unlike something like pkmn)... so I’m not sure you can(?)

- Pet peeves currently include the Tales Of series’s multi-part cutscenes. It’s started already and I know it will get worse (i distinctly recall latter parts of this game where I had to fly between characters in different cities collecting cutscenes before I could move onto the next dungeon) But, yeah- I’m at a bit of a loss here because, while I like open exploration game worlds where you walk between different locations and vastly prefer this to games that teleport you between battle stages (ie Sonic Adventure 2, Disgaea) there is a lot of retreading old pathways in Abyss (as there was in Legendia) trying to negotiate between different talking heads. Like... I saved my game going up the tower at Coral Castle, intending to walk into a boss fight. And then a cutscene happened, during which I was teleported three loadscreens back in the direction I came from for another cutscene. And then I had to manually walk back the same exact route and save again, before another cutscene and finally the battle. What’s the rationale behind not just making that one big pre-battle cutscene with the travel included/implied? Maybe the fact that they DON’T HAVE A CUTSCENE/SKIT SKIP BUTTON which is another pet peeve, mind you. Another example is when you get to Luke’s home in Baticul and have to run back down to the port to retrieve the scrolls that the maids threw out, and then climb back up to his house again. It’s not like anything exciting happened on the three different elevators I took between those two points. It’s not like I don’t know what the trip between those points looked like - I just came from the port. There’s no reason not to just have it be automatic. Even attempts to reduce this - the wing bottle - are frustrating in their setup. By requiring me to spend money and keep inventory in order to use the teleport function, they are incentivising me to /not/ use the teleport function. They’re requiring me to spend money to /avoid/ doing something boring. And that’s, idk, kind of unnecessary and shitty? Like, usually in a game I want to be spending money in order to unlock new features and content and have more fun. Not to, like, avoid playing parts that I’ve played already. idk, because i do realise that streamlining some of these moments would require alterations to cut down some of the movement in the plot - and ultimately I think flying between cities to talk with different people before acting isn’t bad or unrealistic plot wise. buuuut, even if some of the multi-part cutscenes need to stay for this effect, even if not all of them could have been streamlined into a more direct line of action and travel, even if not any specific moment of this travel is unbearably awful, it still frustrates me that this clearly wasn’t even a priority for the devs.

[dimensionslip]

The Subject of Change: Some Small Observations from Tsuioku no Jade

Aka overanalyzing and/or possibly reading too much into certain things in the Japanese version of the aforementioned spin-off manga.

There’s these two statements here, 「変わってほしくなかったんだ」(kawatte hoshikunakattanda, roughly “I did not want things to change”) and 「変わってほしくない」(kawatte hoshikunai, roughly “I do not want things to change”). Jade says the former during Chapter 4, when he nearly dies in one of his experiments to bring back Nebilim, while the latter is said in Chapter 8, after he and Luke have a small heart-to-heart in front of Nebilim’s grave.

What I want to draw people’s attention to would be the italicized verbs, aka the things that changed between the two sentences. Besides the fact that the latter is quoted and implies that Jade still has difficulty letting go of the fact that he once desired such a thing, one thing that I think is interesting is the fact that this is coded to draw a parallel between Jade’s feelings towards Nebilim and Jade’s feelings towards Luke. An emphasis on how Nebilim is his past, while Luke is his present. Both of them are people whose state of living that he did/doesn’t want to change respectively. “Did”, because with the Peony punch from forever ago and especially with them defeating Nebilim Replica, he’s finally put to rest the Professor, and “does” because at this point in time, Jade still continues to hope (irrationally so) that there’s something he could do about the scientific inevitability that is Luke disappearing. The main difference is that he has a better way of dealing with these matters at this point in time, and I would like to believe he’s not about to divide by zero this time around in his quest of sorts to find a way for Luke not to die.

Also, let’s not get started on how Jade’s fist is clenched when the idea of Luke’s time being short comes up, aka someone certainly is hurting at the idea...

Other small things I’ve observed is as follows, some of which are hard or next to impossible to translate. As this list of “small” things actually got long, I’ll be keeping the rest of it under a cut.

Currently, Jade, Dist, and Jasper all use “watashi” as their pronoun, but back in their days in military school, they used different pronouns. Jade and Dist both used “boku”, while Jasper used “ore”.

While Jade tends to be formal around superiors, he was a bit more informal around his schoolmates in terms of speech. Not shounen-protag level of casual, but just basically casual enough as people his age tend to be when around their peers. This is actually normal, given that in everyday Japanese, people do tend to switch pronouns and between polite and informal speech (even if it’s a lot more “consistent” in Japanese media, i.e. anime/manga/video games). But it all changes after a certain incident, which I’ll be getting into in a bit...

In an old essay of mine which shall remain unnamed, a friend and I touched on a bit with regard to Jade’s change in speech pattern in Shiro no Ashita. Basically, all you have to know about that discussion is that Jade’s speech pattern is different from the past and present, and delivery suggests that it’s a conscious change on his part and he does slip up on occasion, especially in heights of emotion. While it’s hard to tell if that is indeed the case in Tsuioku no Jade as well, the fact remains that there was a change regardless of media, and one of the most logical questions to pop up would be, when this change happens. The TL;DR of my findings is that the last time Jade uses “boku” in the manga is up until the whole “I didn’t want it to change” statement. Prior to that, he’s been using it regularly, and switches to “watashi” and formal speech once he’s arguing with Dist about banning fomicry. I’d say it’s an interesting coincidence that the time Jade switches to formal speech is more or less around the same time he’s finally resolved to heed Peony’s words and stop what he was doing.

Speaking of pronoun switches, during this falling out between Jade and Dist, Dist still uses “boku” even if Jade already uses “watashi”. Intentional or not, I’d like to think of it as an interesting way to highlight how Dist couldn’t let go of the past, whereas Jade is already trying to move on and accept what he couldn’t change.

※ As a small aside, there is a small conflict between both Shiro no Ashita and Tsuioku no Jade with regard to the timing of Jade’s speech pattern change. The timeskip in the former where the switch is illustrated takes place two years before fomicry is banned, whereas the latter takes place presumably shortly after Peony deals Jade a reality check punch. One way to reconcile both conflicts would be to assume that Jade’s already started changing up his speech pattern as early as two years before, but isn’t consistent about it. Another thing to note about both media is that the writers for them are two different people--Sara Yajima and Takumi Miyajima respectively, the latter being the person in charge of TOA’s main scenario.

[dimensionslip]

Tales of the Stage -Last Score- Event Report [September 5, 2017]

Went to yesterday’s show at Nakano Sun Plaza! The whole event ran for approximately two hours and was very much enjoyable! My friends and I were seated pretty close to the stage and that definitely added to my enjoyment factor, I would say. More details under the cut!

For the most part, the stage play's contents up to the Absorption Gate were more or less the same as whatever it is was performed during Day 1 of TOF2017. I wrote about that one sometime back. Some differences I remember from the TOF2017 airing would be the Van hypnotizing Luke dance number getting cut short, the Sync and Legretta battle getting shortened. Also, no more Jade vs Van dance battle. At least Jade still got to do his acrobatics, and man, did Van have a lot of dance numbers. I counted three, possibly more. He also gets his human chairs during the Absorption Gate scene.

As for more specific differences between the game and the stage play, they definitely cut a lot of the scenes and edited some bits to make it flow better in a 2-hour adaptation. They also limited the number of cast members, like, only Legretta, Sync, and Asch were around in terms of the Six-God Generals, so Arietta, Largo, and Dist's parts had to be either cut out or relegated--but mostly cut out.

Differences that I can recall off the top of my head are as follows:

Luke and Tear land in Cheagle Woods instead of Tataroo Valley

Instead of Largo, Legretta is the one that uses the fonslot seal on Jade, not that it stops him much because for some reason Jade spends a lot more time doing hand-to-hand combat over here compared to using his spear or artes

The "bring along Natalia or not" scene pre-Akzeriuth goes down slightly differently, with a lot more friction between the girls. Anise was especially extra, it's pretty great ahaha. Poor Guy also got terrorized by the ladies after he made an untimely side comment about them being scary (iirc).

Since the Tartarus isn't really introduced here and there's no core shenanigans, Sync doesn't do the falling into the core thing and commits suicide with what I think to be Guy's sword after it's revealed he's a replica of the original Ion. He doesn't come back after that.

Tear and Ion are the ones that do something about the Sephiroth instead of Luke and his hyperresonance.

Ion and Asch are the ones that realize something is off when Van falls during the Absorption Gate scene

The party is split up during the post-Absorption Gate scene. Luke, Tear, Anise are the ones present for Ion's death, which is super dramatic and a huge tear-jearker. The Anise stage actor was sooooo good in this. Also Mohs goes crazy after the score reading instead (when he learns of the destruction of Auldrant) and seems to explode (and die?) offscreen, because we don't see him again after that. In the meantime though, Jade, Guy, Natalia get a scene discussing stuff regarding the Malkuth soldiers that got attacked, etc. (since the Frings stage actor wasnt here, he got replaced by a generic soldier)

There was no Tower of Rem scene at all and they skipped to Eldrant pretty quickly. They stuck the whole "Luke getting sentenced to death" part before Eldrant, and also stuck Jade's backstory around that part. There's no Nephry to info-dump Luke though, so it's Jade of his own volition that gave it. Just to Luke.

 Also there's this new (?) scene and/or maybe Jade was given the lines of someone else, but yeah as I recall, Luke asks Jade a question after he reveals his connection to replicas, and he replies with something like "Anata wa anata desu" (you're you), and Luke thanks him.

Stuff at Eldrant were spiced up a bit, i.e. the party did get split before fighting Van. We got to see them use their mystic artes at various points, it's pretty great. Jade's Indignation chant was very awesome.

While Asch was getting stabbed like, multiple times by the Oracle Knight soldiers, he got the opportunity to pull off a Rending Saber before dying. It was a sad kind of awesome. ALSO they had Natalia find Asch's body, and boy, was that an interesting and dramatic twist. My heart ached at that part.

Luke actually got to fight Van first one-on-one before getting owned by a Mystic Arte, and that's when the rest of the party comes along and tries to defeat Van. But of course it's all up to the shounen protag to do it so yeah Luke eventually gets to do the honors after he rises up.

Even if there was no Tower of Rem though, they really did the "please come back" post-Van defeat scenes really well. As far as I remember it's faithful to how I remember the lines to be, and heck, even Jade's handshake with Luke was kept. Though speaking of things that weren't kept, I don't think I heard Tear's "I love you" as they were leaving. I COULD BE WRONG THOUGH.

They kept Mr. Ending in the dark a lot, but Luke's armband's pretty noticeable under the coat as with bits of Luke's costume and what not so. Yeah, it’s the Luke stage actor under the coat.

Impressions and some thoughts:

This play is a love letter to fans of the game, I would say. In the sense that it's so worth it to watch for the nostalgia trip over getting a coherent story, I feel. I mean, the story does work, but at the same time they don't really do a good job of making you feel connected to the characters and their plight, so you're gonna need some sort of background like having played the game or watched the anime in order to be able to appreciate the stage play and feel invested in the dramatic scenes, etc.

As for the actors, I'd say people are on point! Anise among the ladies really stole the show though, I feel. I already touched in my old post regarding my impressions of the cast and it more or less stands.

I'm personally a little sad they cut out half the Six-God Generals since that also means cutting plot material and backstory shit in half, but I do understand it's something that can't be helped given their time frame and budget constraints, I'd say. But they made it work, and what they had out there was great and I'm really entertained by it.

And if I were to compare this to the one they performed last TalesFes, I'd say I actually enjoyed the one they did last TalesFes more than the one I watched today. But I think that's mostly due to the surprise factor since I wasn't expecting stuff like dancing Van and acrobatic Jade. In terms of completeness, this one's definitely a lot more "complete" than the one they did last TalesFes.

Still, despite my gripes about the stage play, overall I really did enjoy it! It's something I definitely don't mind seeing a second or even a third or fourth time around. I could only hope that we eventually get this on DVD or BluRay--it's a treat for any Tales of the Abyss fan and I feel really blessed for the opportunity to see this live and up close.