#the VA work is lovely in general on this series

[russenoire]

@ygodmyy20 and @sodasexual, thank you again for sharing this masterpiece with me.

Wirt’s Inferno-- A Comprehensive Guide to Over the Garden Wall as Dante’s Inferno

It is commonly known that Patrick McHale’s Over The Garden Wall is a modern retelling of Dante’s Inferno. Two young brother’s, stuck in purgatory, wander through an Unknown in between as they nearly drown in a lake. The journey they go on mirrors that of Dante’s classic journey deeper and deeper into hell, with each episode representing a different layer. 

So, what is Dante’s Inferno, and how did we get here?

Well, as a VERY Italian individual who also happened to grow up in New England, having Italian stories passed down to me from my Nonna and Nonno, as well as an English major who loves analysis and good old fashioned literary parallels, I can’t help but feel like I was somewhat meant to share this. So here we go. 

Buckle in for a ride, because we are going to hell and back. Literally. 

The Inferno is the first part of Dante’s The Divine Comedy, a 14th century epic poem written by Dante Alighieri. That’s right, Dante is not just the name of the main character. Dante, the author, wrote himself traveling through hell with famous, and even to Dante ancient, Roman poet and philosopher Virgil.

The version of hell we see in the poem is distinct to Dante, just as the Unknown is distinct to Wirt. Is is their vision of what the afterlife, or purgatory, would be. 

So we have our parallel protagonist. Wirt is our Dante figure. Both are nerdy, insecure, artistic, write poetry, wear red hats, and are in love with a girl. 

(Dante is in love with a girl named Beatrice, where our bluebird Beatrice gets her name, and Wirt is technically supposed to be in love with Sarah as the equivalent but as a self proclaimed Wirtrice blog FIGHT ME they both love a Beatrice).

Both, also, have a companion. 

The comparisons between Greg and Virgil are less exact than Dante to Wirt. Retellings, are, after all, just that, it’s not exactly the same or there would be no new story. Greg as a younger brother occupies a different relationship role than Virgil, who is a friend and if anything for knowledgeable then Dante in the Inferno. Like Virgil, however, he is musically/ artistically talented. Greg, we can see, gladly breaks out into improvised songs and gives us chart topping #1 hits like Potatoes and Molasses. Now I’m not sure if Virgil was spinning any beats on their way through hell, but both certainly occupy a similar artistic space.

Next, of course, we have Beatrice– who guides our pair further and further into purgatory. Both are redheads, both are adorable and both make me proud to be a pale Italian ginger. (And as previously stated our main protagonist is in love with them). 

And last but certainly not least, we have the Beast, Over the Garden Wall’s version of Lucifer.

This is more difficult to trace back to the Inferno specifically, Depictions of the devil and Lucifer across various cultures are as old and numerous as my college debt. However, the description of Lucifer in Dante’s epic poem are shockingly spot on to what we see in the Beast’s design

- multi faced

-horned

Some pretty clear imagery was pulled here, with tree branches standing in for horn imagery. Both are tricksters, deceivers, and travel through all layers of hell. The Beast does this through, as Greg calls them, turts). 

The Beast can most definitely be seen as a general symbol for Lucifer, as many villains are, but there is undeniable inspiration from the Inferno’s specific depiction of the Devil. 

Alright, we have our cast of characters. Each character has their counterpart in this retelling, with enough enough clear paralleled characterization and imagery to be a clear reference, while being different enough to be new.

Now, what about the journey? The plot?

The most fundamental commonality between Dante’s Inferno and Over the Garden Wall is that both of our characters take a spiritual, emotional, and life changing journey through some kind of hell, or purgatory. Both of these are tailored to their own unique visions, fears, insecurities, and seen through their lens. 

There are ten layers of hell in the Inferno, and it is no coincidence there are ten episodes of Over the Garden Wall. So let’s go through one by one.

Lasciate ogne speranza, voi che continuano leggere questo inviare.

I. The Entrance/ The Old Grist Mill

Dante’s Inferno begins with Dante finding himself in a strange, mysterious forest, unsure of how we got there– precisely how Wirt and Greg’s journey begins. There is a slight difference, though,  in that Wirt and Greg begin their journey already inside the Unknown, whereas Dante is in the forest right outside the gate to hell. A gate which reads “Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate”– “abandon all hope, ye who enter here”– marks the entrance. The woodsman gives Wirt and Greg the same warning, giving us a sense at the end of the episode that we are finally entering into the true danger of the Unknown. 

This is not an official layer of hell, but the entrance, and at this place both characters are attacked by wolf like animals. Dante is attacked by three different creatures, one of them being a she wolf. At the end of the episode, Greg saves the day. Dante, too, is saved by companion– Virgil. The plot of this first leg of the journey is, affectively, the same. 

(why the image from the literal family show so much more terrifying than the one from the gothic Italian epic through hell I can’t) 

II. Limbo/ Hard Times At the Huskin’ Bee

Limbo is the first actual level of hell, where people who where neither good nor evil are sent to wait. Often this includes pagans who did not believe in God during their lives. They wait for heaven, for salvation and something more. The subtle torture? Is waiting for something that will never come.

In Over the Garden Wall, we go to the town of Pottsfield, a dreary, boring town where we see a distinctly pagan group of pumpkinhead skeletons waiting for the harvest. It should be noted that EVERYONE in the Unknown is supposed to be dead, as seen with Quincy Endicott’s grave being seen in the real world. Yet these are the only skeletons we come across in the entire series. 

What are skeletons a symbol of? Death, but also passed time. It’s a mark of time and erosion. The citizens of Pottsfield have spent so long waiting for the harvest– the newfound salvation that will never come– that they have eroded away into skeletons. They have waited, and waited, and waited.

This video here– made by TREY the Explaner on YouTube, also notes that salvation by Christ is also compared to a harvest often, and that Enoch represents the figure of Minos. 

This is a video I watched in my research which mostly reaffirmed my findings and observations, but also noted some things I missed. I’m not going to pretend like I made this observation myself, and credit goes to TREY for this next bit. 

In the Inferno, travelers encounter King Minos, the Judge of the Damned, when exiting Limbo. He is described a giant, immortal creature who judges those who enter into hell and determines the extremity of their sins. Often depicted with a serpent tail, he wraps his tail around each soul, the number of times dictating which layer they will be sent to. 

Enoch, like Minos, is the leader and judge in this layer. He is larger than all the other townsfolk, who overtly states to With, Greg and Beatrice that he has to “punish them for their transgressions” . He sentences them as they exit, just like Minos. Enoch’s design is also large, and serpenty. Enoch has streamers and hisses, as TREY points out in their video. 

The similarities are actually uncanny when you really look at it. 

Once again, the Enoch observation is brilliant but NOT mine. This is from TREY the Explorer’s video, which was posted over five years ago, and you should go and support it through this link right now. 

III. Lust/ Schooltown Follies

The first level where people are punished, the level of lust punishes those who commit just that, lust. And the concept is all over the place in this episode, with Ms. Langtree– who LITERALLY sings a song called “Ms. Langtree’s Lament” and spends the entire episode yearning. 

Oh, Ms. Langtree, you lustful sinner you.

Truth be told, lust is my least favorite sin/ level in the Inferno. I’m ace as, well, hell, and I often can’t relate. I thought this would be my least favorite episode and parallel due to this, and yet it’s not. 

In the Inferno, souls are blown back and forth by a giant storm. This is meant to symbolize how lust blows people back and froth aimlessly in life. We see this with Ms. Langtree throughout the entire episode. She’s spiraled into a depression, thrown around emotionally to the point she can hardly stand. 

She is, emotionally, blown back and forth. In fact, whenever we enter the school in the episode we hear wind sound effects. The school is the level of lust, and Ms. Langtree it’s main soul.

IV. Gluttony/ Songs of the Dark Lantern

This is probably one of my favorite episodes in regards to following the Inferno, truth be told. Here, gluttons are punished for being gluttonous– overindulgent, wasteful, and over consume.  One of the most common depictions of gluttons is wasting away in a tavern eating and drinking, so it makes sense that this episode’s prime location would be an inn. 

And what do we see? Overindulgent inn customers, who from the moment Wirt and Greg arrive boast about their lives.  We also see Greg indulge in large piles of food, leaving behind stacks of plates. He is constantly eating throughout this episode.

There is more food in this episode than any other one, though it should be noted the people at the tavern are never seen eating it. This is a reference to the punishment of gluttony in the Inferno– though they ate excessively in life, they cannot eat in hell.

Yet that is hardly where the gluttony parallels stop.

For one, the most notable characteristic of Gluttony is that it is constantly raining, and outside of our quaint little inn it is pouring. We see this emphasized when the action is taken outside. 

This circle is also guarded by Ceberus, a three- headed dog from Greek Mythology, and we see a dog guarding the inn by blocking the door. 

It is also important to note that this is the episode where Wirt is labeled as “the pilgrim”. This is a direct reference to him being Dante, as Dante’s journey through hell was said to be a “great pilgrimage”. 

V. Greed/ Mad Love

The circle of Greed corresponds to the episode about rich people whose mansion’s are so big they can’t even tell that they’re connected– what a surprise!

The greed and harboring of wealth is fairly overt in this one, needless to say. In the Inferno, those guilty of greed are forced to push bags of riches for eternity, unalloyed to keep any of it. Endicott is a perfect example of greed. He continues to harbor wealth, believing it will make him happy. 

Yet his giant mansion does not make him happy, and directly leads to the very thing torturing him (the “ghost”). The punishment here is not as direct as in the the other episodes, bur rather more metaphorical. He is emotionally empty and tortured by his cold, money driven exploits. 

Another important plot point in this episode is the need to acquire two cents in order to ride the ferry to Adelaide’s. This is one of the more blatant references to the Inferno, where, like in Greek Mythology, Dante and Virgil must pay two coins to the ferryman Charon to ride across the river Styx and reach the next level of hell. 

VI. Anger/ Lullaby in Frogland

At first glance, this seems like one of the more abstract episodes to compare to the Inferno. It’s where those who were aggressive, violent, and full of rage are punished. We are on a ferry with bassoon playing frogs. 

However, the episode manages to draw some fantastic parallels. The circle of Anger in Dante’s tale is represented by a muddy, swampy wetland. Dante and Virgil do not have to pay to cross the river like most, and take a boat across. Wirt, Greg and Beatrice also do not pay the two coins, since Greg threw them out, and catch a ride on a ferry through the muddy swampland. 

I guess Endicott was right, Greg does have some sense. And we end all rolling in the mud, just like the souls in Anger. 

Speaking of which, you know what else there is a lot of in this episode? Anger.

Anger when there is no bassoon player. Anger and a chase with the frog police. Wirt’s anger when he finds out Beatrice lied to them.

The episode is the central turning point of the series, and it works beautifully with this layer of hell. The exit of Anger in the Inferno is the City of Dis, whose walls separate  the passive sins, from the  active ones. This is the point we have reached in our narrative with the reveal of Beatrice’s betrayal as well. 

I would also like to include another addition from TREY’s video at the end of this section, which I did not observe or come up with myself, which is that in the City of Dis, Dante is confronted by three furies. Like the fates, they are old hags. 

And who do we get in this episode? Adelaide. An old hag, whose scissors channel imagery of the fates in Greek Mythology, who use scissor to cut the string of people’s lives.

VII. Heresy/ The Ringing of the Bell

Heresy, one of the worst sins one could commit in Dante’s time, is the punishment of practicing any faith outside of, in this case, Catholicism (though broadly speaking it is the practice of any religion outside of the accepted one in society, which depends on the context). They are punished by being constantly burned or set on fire.

 In this episode, there is not only an array of candles around the house, but an emphasis on the fire by Auntie Whispers. The entire episode has a pagan, witchy feel– these same candles are arranged in what looks like ritualistic way, perhaps to try and get the demon out of Lorna. 

Which brings me to the most obvious point and reference, in my eyes.

The plot of the entire episode is literally that of an exorcism, casting a demon out of a young girl. 

If that is not a theme of heresy, I don’t know what is. The aesthetic of this episode is entirely what Dante’s hell considers heresy, and the plot of driving out a demon an all too familiar Catholic narrative. 

Magic, sorcery, and witch imagery are more prevalent in this episode than ever, and though more abstract than other episodes I believe the parallel could not be clearer. 

VIII. Violence/ Babes in the Wood

Violence, though fairly self explanatory, is is a bit complicated in the Inferno. It’s broken up into parts, or rings– violence against others, violence against oneself, and worst of all, violence against God. 

The punishments in the circle of Violence are gruesome ones– those in the first ring are left to drown in the boiling blood of the River Phlegethon, since they reveled in blood in life. In the Inferno, Dante and Virgil cross the river to enter the Wood of Suicides, where those who took their own lives are left to transform into trees. 

Oh gee, where have we seen this before? 

The tree imagery is arguably the most blatant reference to the Inferno in the entire series. After floating down a river, the boys wander through the woods. Wirt, having given up in despair, lies down and begins to turn into a tree. They have floated down the River Phlegethon, and entered the Wood of Suicides. 

There is a lot more detail and nuance to the rings of circle of Violence in the Inferno, but the episode follows the basis of Dante’s journey through it quite well. Wirt’s attitude and sadness, his laying down and almost turning into a tree, can even be read as an allegory for suicide.

IX. Fraud/ Into the Unknown

Like episode 5, our flashback episode is one of the more difficult ones to parallel to it’s counterpart in Dante’s Inferno. In the Inferno, the circle of Fraud is complex and made up of various ditches, or bolgias. What’s interesting, however, is that the episode of Fraud is the one what takes place in the real world. 

Fraud is deception, lying, and manipulation, and not only does the episode take place on Halloween– a night full of fraud where everyone pretends to be someone or something they are not– Wirt himself is a fraud. He never shows his true self, due to his insecurity, and in an attempt to win over Sarah.

The episode follows a bunch of teenagers. And what bigger frauds, or pretenders putting on an act, are there than teenagers trying to survive in a public high school?

Thieves are amongst those punished in this circle, and this is the episode where Greg reveals he stole his rock fact rock. 

Both Wirt and Greg have committed sins applicable to this circle. The punishment for this circle is falling down a pit or trench into darkness. And that is precisely how this episode ends– Wirt and Greg falling down into a pit of darkness. 

TREYs video also points out that Sarah’s costume could be symbolic to the winged creature Geryon, whom Dante and Virgil encounter at the end of this circle. Like a bee, Geryon is winged with a stringer, though he was a humanoid upper body. Geryon leads Dante and Virgil deeper in hell, while Sarah arguably leads Wirt and Greg to the Unknown. She is the reason they end up there in the first place. 

Lastly, there is the “eat your dirt” comment from Beatrice, which when researching and rereading the Înferno to look for similarities I immediately thought was a nod to one of the worst punishments in Fraud– deceivers who told lies being forced to eat human waste, as it represents what came out of their mouths during life. This, to my surprise, was also noticed by TREY in their video, and discussed. It is a subtle nod, yet this imagery being in the episode which corresponds with this circle, and never being brought up again, cannot be a coincidence. 

X. Treachery/ The Unknown

The worst layer of hell, where Lucifer himself is found due to betraying the highest power of all, God himself, Treachery is depicted in the Inferno as a cold an barren wasteland. This is a stark contrast to the pit of fire hell is commonly described as. This is because Lucifer’s giant wings beating freeze everything to ice and cause frigid wind gusts. Like in episode three, the weather in the final episode of Over the Garden Wall parallels it’s equivalent in the Inferno. 

It is snowy, cold, barren, and we open with Beatrice being blown around in a giant windstorm. And in this episode, like in this circle, we find the Beast. 

People in the circle of Treachery are punished being frozen, looking upward at the world but unable to move or ge tout of the eternal cold. This is precisely what the Beast does to Greg to fuel his lantern. 

In the end, both Dante and Wirt contort the Beast, or the Devil, in this frozen tundra, and eventually escape and return home. Their journey’s have changed them however– spiritually, emotionally, and in maturity. They have literally been to hell and back.

And so, our retelling of Dante’s Inferno comes to an end. 

Patrick McHale’s masterpiece is more than a retelling of Dante’s epic poem– it is stooped in American colonial folktales, German fairytales, and more. However, the Inferno is most definitely it’s bones, it’s outline, and a core part of what makes this stunning piece of art work. 

[fujouppy]

watched whitepine 1. i think i want to gather all my thoughts on part 1 before moving on to the next installments but oh wow im excited to see where this story goes

[trulycertain]

On Dragon Age & Accents

(My unhelpful tuppence, as an English player.)

One small thing I wish had come up in Veilguard from previous games: the accent worldbuilding. It wasn't always consistent - DA:O only seemed to care about country or race, anyone non-human being generically North American and anyone human being mostly RP English unless they were Antivan; for regional accents, they seemed to purely use them for effect or go with VAs' natural ones. (There are about two bandit NPCs who seem to have badly-done Midlands English accents purely because they're not meant to be very bright; thanks, love Canadians reinforcing that stereotype. Anders being Lancashire seems to be pure coincidence because of his voice actor - you rarely ever hear the accent in any consistent way in other NPCs, and it's completely ignored in his very Southern DA2 recast.)

But by DA2, there seemed to be definite trends: Free Marches could be RP English or North American depending where you came from; dwarves tended to sound North American but there were exceptions for some people raised on the surface; elves tended to be either Welsh or Irish, which matches the "very old culture with a linguistically completely different root from Trade/English". Starkhaven is most definitely Scots.

And then DAI! DAI, my love.

DAI kept DA2's trends, while finally giving us more complexity and regional accents, albeit limitedly (and still with some inconsistencies). Finally, we have a (vaguely Germanic) Nevarran accent! And Miranda Raison did such careful work constructing it! The Avvar, Ferelden's mountain folk, sound Northern English. I'd hazard a guess that several sound Yorkshire, actually - this matches the whole "the Orlesians got up there less" lore in real terms; Northern England and Scotland, particularly Yorkshire, was under Viking rule longer than the South, which became Norman-conquered earlier, and there are subtle dialectal differences to this day. (Similar thing happened with the Celts and Romans, and the Avvar are blatantly Celtic and Pictish). There's a reason that RP ("neutral posh") English is Southern, from the seats of power. Cullen's from Honnleath, somewhere smaller and less Orlesianified, and while it's softened by the character's travel and the VA's own posher bents, there are moments the Northern English accent gets leaned into, a little similarity with the Avvar. It's a coincidence but it works so well, lore-wise. Sera's VA sounds... Derbyshire? I think? which is Midlands/Northern border and sounds more than Northern enough to keep a consistent Fereldan sound. And in terms of NPCs? A lot of Fereldan NPCs suddenly start turning up Northern, albeit less broad in their accents! Have a listen round the Crossroads. I remember Gaider mentioning Dorian wasn't originally meant to be Indian, they sealed it for sure when they cast Ramon Tikaram, at which point everyone went, "Yup, let's run with it", cast his dad accordingly, and Gaider figured that Dorian was either part of a pretty big migrant population (which, other than the Dorian Gray reference, the fact his name roughly means "from across the sea" also makes sense), or quite a lot of Tevene folk natively were. Considering Tevinter started as essentially "mage Rome" and morphed into, even according to the writers themselves, "mage Byzantium" and it's very close to Seheron, which I feel is North Africa/Middle East influenced - Tevene folk being akin to folk of Turkish, Middle Eastern, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and Bengali backgrounds makes a ton of sense.

It is... exceedingly rare to hear working-class British accents in fantasy series at all (unless Brits make them, and then we're still often peasants or generic NPC #2, a la Origins). It is even rarer to have a fantasy series bother to keep immigrant accents and show the moulding of them through the generations. And I can only think of one other video game that has consciously cast British Asian actors, that's how rare it is even in games that supposedly care about representation - despite the fact that Asian folk make up something like 30% of our population.

Now: would I like some more background on why some accents in the Marches sound British and some don't? Yup! Would I have liked to have more regions in the elves' Irish accents and the dwarves' NA? Yup! But do those really matter? Nope! They would have been lovely icing on the cake, but the underlying cake was great. The plot didn't need it. It didn't have to be perfect, and the filtering of British culture through Canadians, and strategic anachronism? Those are things I love about Dragon Age. I loved how much they seemed to be trying and how much they were thinking about the lore. And I loved hearing a "British accent" that finally made sense to me, not played into the long attempts by toffs to stamp out everything North of London or outside England.

And then Veilguard sort of... forgot about it most of it? Adored that we could play as a Geordie! I really, really love them continuing pointed casting of folk with British Asian ancestry for several Tevinters (*waves lovingly at elek and neve*). But then... uh... look! Working-class Tevene people with generic Mancunian accents! To show they're working-class! That's fantastic progress... for Origins. But lore-wise, by DATV we've already shown that Manchester and Northern English accents live... *points at Ferelden* somewhere over there. We're back to "Tevinters mostly sound like generically evil English folk", as in DAO and bits of 2, which, sure, Dorian doesn't contradict - but then why not have everyone sound Southern, like him? Or add a different tint to it? And no, I am not saying everyone should put on bad "ethnic" accents, and I do appreciate the number of American, English and Mediterranean accents in Tevinter showing a very Roman "you're a citizen of the Imperium but you might have been born in one of its several countries" - but…

Gideon Emery's slight Afrikaans tint made a ton of sense with Fenris and what part of Tevinter he was meant to be from, even if it was unintentional; Jennifer Hale's take on Krem was going for English but came out more Aussie to my ear. Something like those could have been really interesting. But that also means that, including Fenris, we've now had several slaves with an accent that reads... quite posh, to English ears. Same with Neve, who is supposedly proudly from the shithole part of Minrathous, but she and several others have very RP "posh" accents (while others like Tarquin and Elek are Mancunian). Now, not everyone picks up their local accent! I am one of those people! I ended up cursedly plummy for a long time! But... we had hints through the series that Tevinter class markers would be very different from Fereldans', but they're now the same, for some reason?

Add that to the fact that they didn't want to make even one VA suffer through doing the Nevarran accent... See, it makes total sense for Emmrich, who's a posh professor who's done a lot of international study and would probably have learned Common as a second language with a very generic, "neutral" accent; he also was very concerned about appearances with his class background and trained himself not to give much away. And I'm sure the Mourn Watch has international students. But no Nevarran NPCs sound pointedly Nevarran? Not a one? Kal Sharok has hints of something interesting going on but it's rare, and the Anderfels is just... full of sad English and American-sounding people. Rivain is supposedly Caribbean and there are a bunch of actors of Caribbean descent they could've cast, but we only have one NPC sound even slightly so? That's when it stops being "Trade is taught with a neutral accent and there are a lot of Fereldan immigrants and slaves in Tevinter" and starts feeling handwavey.

Basically: I wouldn't mind if we'd gone with most fantasy games' "Eh, we cast broadly based on sound, stereotype or none of the above"; I'm very happy to just go with it. However, DAI told me to pay vague attention because the accents meant something. Then DATV has heel-turned and is telling me "Nah, go with it" the way Origins did. My ears are... confused, to say the least. And we're back to "'working-class' has one accent, and characters with something to say who aren't cast as stereotypically plucky underdogs are all Southern and posh", which just... makes me really sad. I don't hear people who sound like me, my family, or my friends growing up, in Dragon Age anymore. I did hear they had a different voice director in DATV, so maybe it's that?

[omagpies]

No way! Another person who has spent way too much time on apex! Who's your main? I'm guessing BH but I don't want to assume. How did you feel about the BH/Fuse engagement? Do you have any heirlooms? Sorry, not very many people play apex on here.

Also, do you have any apex art? If not that's totally cool but I would love to see it!

you have activated my trap card!! many drawings ahead

my main is indeed bloodhound. i also whip out fuse, mirage, and to a lesser degree octane, but mostly i'm a one trick bloodhound. they were what got me into the game in the first place back in season 7 when i heard their 'i'm afraid of heights :(' voicelines (a cool hunter nonbinary character voiced by none other than allegra clark? sign me tf up), and even though i am Very Bad At Shooting and don't actually like battle royale-type games apex stayed my brainrot for over two years. the brainrot is definitely over now and these days i play it as a social thing, but that's how i acquired 2k+ hours lmao

also they released a magpiehound recolor called 'frosthaven' that i gleefully snatched up and have been wearing it ever since (ft the magpie holospray and the magpie mural on their latest map. i think they are catering to me specifically)

i am. truly Not Good. i am here just to clown and gossip and make poor life choices. my impulse control is too non existent for someone whose best skill is shooting a perfect outline around the enemy and not a bullet within

i had SO MUCH bloodhound art over on twitter good god. out of the following two drawings, the first one was bought out by allegra to sell as signed prints, and the second one was reposted onto apex's IG account, and in general this was the one time i genuinely had a blast on twitter interacting with all the devs and vas before everything went downhill both in respawn and on twitter lol. also i have to say, s10 and the whole White Raven thing fed me so. so so. SO well. the existential angst was incredible.

i participated in a couple of zines/projects as well! i have many thoughts about their canonical(!) respawn system and the resulting unimportance of death. adds to the existentialism and to bloodhound's religious themes

overall it was a very, very prolific period for me, and there are many pieces i'm still very happy with to this day

(^ the second to last one is a reference to the fusehound confession scene, and the last one is related to one of my fics, wooden bones (forest deity!bh au))

shipping!!! miragehound was my initial and most prominent ship, and i will never forgive respawn for not expanding on their backstory (their mothers worked together COME ON. they might have met as children! COME ON!!!!! i have a whole series exactly about the What Could Have Been)

their backstory with boone also fascinated me for a very long time, and my friends and i spent many a yap session dissing the dude until we stopped and thought, hey, what if he really was Just Some Guy who made mistakes, what if he wasn't evil, and that's what pulled me right back into the brainrot when i was already starting to slowly recover from it. boone now has a very elaborate backstory and lore and i hope to god respawn never puts him in the games the way we did because a) they don't GET him and b) i don't trust the fandom with him lmao. i'm super down to blabber about him though just say the word. he's everything to me, my big, sad, hairy man

we also invented in-game stuff for him. he had abilities and skins etc etc (the top row of skins is his titan pilot backstory + talos era + 'default' in-game skin)

this diptych still lives rent-free in my head, i think i really won with this one

where miragehound and boonehound flourished, mirageboonehound wasn't far behind! i wrote how it came to be and all. also Рorn. so much Рorn. seriously.

also this was the first time i redrew the twelfth night as my otp. the second one was mouthwashing

fusehound was an absolute delight to watch blossom, especially since we know it wasn't planned and just Kind Of Happened. i felt that lmao. characters be like that. i'm a bit sadge they shelved the whole talos plotline in favor of romance but at this point i gave up on expecting good lore from apex, especially after they fired herr frozenfroh. i didn't draw fusehound nearly as much, BUT i do have one fic that was basically a dream i had lol

honorable mention goes to revhound!! this is the ship that went really hard with artists and writers. deeply painful, deeply compelling, absolutely incredible. mindblowing angst and just as mindblowing рorn, together or separately. best shit. the one ship i didn't write for because compared to the fandom's behemoths i never felt like i'd be able to contribute anything meaningful lol, i just got to sit back and enjoy

bonus: as one of my friends eloquently put it, bh and their bhitches :)

i was going to put in more pictures but hit the 30 images limit!!! my twitter is now abandoned but if you scroll down just a little you can see all the stuff that didn't make it into this post.

apex and bloodhound also REALLY, REALLY got me writing. i came into the fandom already relatively warmed up after a 170k fire emblem fic, but i ended up writing 200k+ for miragehound, mirageboonehound, and fusehound combined. i was unstoppable. it was insane. i've linked some already but you can peep them all here. bloodhound's pov was especially fun to write for, purple prose my beloved

also you asked me about heirlooms! i'm a lucky motherfucker who managed to get one set of shards from the 500th box and another from just the random 0.4% chance. so i have bloodhound's and fuse's as they are my most played characters :)

[bg3-ficrecs]

Thunder reforged: Rolan x Dammon - #BG3 FanFic Review

Review by Aivu (@aivuthedragon)

Happy timezone, dear readers! Today I'm happy to bring you this incredible series of works by velocitross on AO3. What's hotter than a tiefling wizard with a knack for a well-timed thunderwave? Said tiefling wizard having a rendezvous with his tiefling blacksmith paramour, of course.

A note from the BG3FicReviews team: The entire BG3 community was been rocked by the recent controversy surrounding Dammon's VA, including the various fanwork creators who've fallen in love with Dammon, included him in their work, and are part of the LGBTQAI+ community themselves. We want to express our support and love to Dammon fans, Dammon fan work creators, the LGBTQAI+ community generally and all those adversely affected by what's happened. As such, we have decided to feature such works in our reviews this week. Make your love louder than the hate. 💜

As always, mind the tags! Our review is continued below the fold due to the NSFW nature of the content in these works.

This incredible artwork by @arczism was inspired by velocitross's Rolan x Dammon fic Working Steel, which is included in today's review.

Working Steel, the first of velocitross’ three works that include this rare pair, is a masterwork in character portrayal. The author adeptly captures the at-a-glance somewhat incompatible personalities of the two tiefling refugees who fled Elturel together and now reside in Baldur’s Gate. In this work, the relationship between Rolan, the ever-surly wizard and the newly ‘appointed’ master of Ramazith Tower, and Dammon, the gentle yet infernally talented blacksmith of the Forge of the Nine, has grown far beyond mere friendship.

Rolan, frustrated by his attempts to catalogue the mindless chaos remaining after the untimely death of the tower’s former owner, approaches Dammon to ask for his help and visits him at his forge. But what could a blacksmith possibly offer a wizard? Well, a good fuck, for one thing. Rolan is pent-up, impatient, and needs a good lay. And, it turns out, so does Dammon. The smut that ensues is not only blazingly hot but also beautifully captures the tender affection between the two tieflings through not only their words, but small, unique gestures of love and care. (Mind the tails. I mean, tags. No, tails.)

In Up in the Tower, it’s Dammon’s turn to visit the wizard’s domain. But the blacksmith receives a less-than-warm welcome, as the ever-grumpy Rolan becomes highly annoyed at having his work interrupted. But considering Rolan is dressed in little more than his underwear and an open robe, I’m more than willing to forgive him for his surliness. Dammon, however, being the sweet, gentle soul that he is, insists on taking care of Rolan beyond his carnal needs alone. In this work, the relationship between the pair deepens, and the author has wonderfully captured the intimacy of the pair. Lastly, we have Within the Storm. This work takes us back to the Shadow-Cursed Lands as the tiefling refugees attempt to cross its desolate lands on their way to Baldur’s Gate. When the Absolute’s forces ambush the group, Rolan expertly wields his magic to stave them off. But when something happens to Zevlor, the battle takes a turn for the worse. In the chaos, Rolan’s siblings, Cal and Lia, are kidnapped and several of his friends and co-travellers are brutally murdered.

Once at Last Light Inn, Rolan is a fucking mess, devastated by his siblings’ capture. Lost in the depths of his despair and way too much drink, the tiefling wizard finds comfort in the arms of a fellow refugee he’d known since childhood - Dammon. And thus the gentlest embers of affection between the pair begin to spark to life. This lovely one-shot serves as a prelude to the author’s much-anticipated long fic about the pair, their growing affection for one another and what looks to be a truly beautiful love story. If you would like to follow velocitross’ incredible work about the love between a tiefling wizard and blacksmith, please be sure to subscribe to the author on AO3 and follow their work and the pending long fic. We have included a snippet of Working Steel below for your enjoyment. As always, please support the writers of our incredible fandom by leaving kudos and comments on their work. 🫶

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Working Steel

By velocitross on AO3

The ring of his hammer fills Dammon’s ears and his attention as he works. A soft frown of focus curves his lips. It’s a simple enough repair—restoring a blade for the halfling woman standing outside the forge watching him work. Still, there’s a satisfaction to it: the rhythm of his strikes, the heat of the day in Baldur’s Gate warming him beneath his layers of apron and clothing. The ordinary busy noise of the city goes on just outside his focus, a subtle, stabilizing comfort even months after the Netherbrain’s defeat.

When he glances up from his work, a distinct figure catches his eye amongst the passersby. Rolan, with his proud bearing and his regal blue and red robes, coming toward the smithy with a tense, bothered scowl and his tail lashing behind him. A smile touches Dammon’s lips. He knows that look.

“I’ll be with you in a moment,” he says as Rolan comes to a stop an awkward few feet from the halfling waiting on her sword.

“Well, don’t take too long,” Rolan snaps, and then reddens further when Dammon raises an eyebrow at him. “Sorry. I’ll just—I’ll wait.”

Dammon lifts the blade off his anvil to study it. He smiles at the halfling as he passes her the sword.

“Give that a try. Come back if you need anything else.”

She moves off to the side to examine the blade, allowing Rolan to step up to the forge. He stands, arms crossed, his face flushed as he fixes Dammon with his bright yellow stare.

“Anything I can help you with, Rolan?” the blacksmith prompts.

Rolan sighs. He places his hands carefully on the edge of the anvil, glances again toward the halfling woman, and leans in toward Dammon.

“I need . . . Steel.”

Dammon breathes a good-natured chuckle.

“Come on,” he says, nodding over his shoulder toward the building. “I could use a break, anyway.”

[chaifootsteps]

i agree with the statement of, "we shouldn't judge creative leads who are later revealed to be bad people based on their work because its unproductive and there usually is no secret messages that reveal they were terrible the whole time and everyone was too stupid to see it except for the Smartest Bestest critical analysis enjoyers who don't trust any piece of media ever if it has even slightly problematic elements, regardless of the execution or the fact that fiction is a playground meant to explore interesting and darker topics in any way you want,"

but i feel guilty becaus i also genuinely believe there's exceptions for this rule. the guy who made the room is the first one that comes to mind, but only because his depiction of women has been compared to stella in helluva boss, which leads me to the other exception in my eyes; vivziepop.

am i crazy for thinking that though? i just feel like part of why i can never take any charitable analyzing of either series seriously is because they're unaware of what kind of person she is and even if they can still come to a conclusion of, "viv has a problem writing women, abuse, coherent plotlines, foreshadowing and rape," they never seem to wonder WHY that is. it makes me feel like an insane conspiracy theorist when the way i sincerely feel is that viv just writes whatever she wants with no care of how the trials of time will age with it and no care besides indulgence and projecting whatever message she needs viewers to think about her characters so she can sell the most merch of them, thus leading to demons in hell never being allowed to be bad people or being the worst people ever thatre also loved by the writers to a ridiculous degree, without a speck of nuance or maturity in the narrative unless you squint hard with your rose tinted headcanon glasses and copium huffings that inspires statements of, "well, she'll probably address these things and make them better in the next season!"

do you get what i mean? or am i going too far down this rabbit hole? i just want people to open their eyes to this stuff when they notice these patterns, but i feel like it'll never happen until these shows end and NDAs expire so people behind the scenes making her half baked vision a reality with their actual talent go, "yeah she was bullshitting everything on the spot and just wanted to pretend she had broadway besties so that's why these shows suck lol" but i dunno if that'll even happen either. (and im not just talking jane, i mean people like sam and skye and brandon or even the expensive VAs themselves, although the last ones last likely since they gain nothing and arguably lose more by speaking out since they have successful actually professional careers they've worked their asses off for,)

Oh no, shitty people seeding their foulness throughout their works is definitely a thing. It's just when people go retroactively and say "It's obvious they were bad all along because they wrote X, Y, and Z." Because it's perfectly possible to write X, Y, and Z and be lovely in real life.

In Viv's case, she's not a bad person because she writes certain things...she's just a bad person in general and it comes through in the way she writes.

[archivecon]

Announcing our Featured Guests!

Billie Hindle and Anusia Battersby!

ArchiveCon is immensely happy to host these two amazing voice actors for The Magnus Protocol's Alice Dyer and Gwen Bouchard. We'll be hosting a Q & A session, featuring your questions! So if you need to know some behind the scenes shenanigans, character beats, what it's like to work in the podcasting field, and more, ask away! Form here - open until June 12th!

"My name is Billie Lauren Hindle and I am the VA for Alice Dyer in The Magnus Protocol. I'm a Northern English gal and I use she/her pronouns. I am super excited to attend Archive Con as I have absolutely loved interacting with the fanbase who have been so welcoming since I joined the Magnus universe. I am very eager to interact more with the fans so we can know more about each other. "As well as TMAGP, I have a growing career in acting in theatre and film. I starred in the fantastic feature film "Secrets of a Wallaby Boy'', the hit play "Henry's End" and have more film and voice roles in the pipeline this year and next!"

Anusia Battersby is a Manchester-based actor, voice actor, and writer. She studied at the University of Oxford and ALRA North, and has spent the last few years working on a variety of projects within the realms of theatre, film, and audio drama. Anusia can currently be heard as Gwendolyn Bouchard in The Magnus Protocol, the follow-up series to the show from Rusty Quill that started it all. She is absolutely thrilled to be playing Gwen, and can't wait to see where the horrors (and voice acting more generally) take her next…

​[ArchiveCon is a free, fan-run, totally online convention dedicated to The Magnus Archives and The Magnus Protocol, running June 21 - 23, 2024. You must be registered and over 18 years of age to attend and participate!]

[oakdll]

things i desperately want for persona 6

- Femc

I know this is not an unpopular opinion, but I don’t even need a full femc route. It would be nice, but I think it would probably take up too much budget. All I want is a girl model of the protagonist that you can choose and some pronoun changes. It would be so easy to do, I’m begging for this

- Let people be gay

If they are doing a femc route like that, there will probably be romance options for male social links, so just keep that for the boy protagonist route. You literally don’t have to change anything except maybe a few voice lines, but you could also have the VA’s only use gender neutral pronouns. Just let you date every social link (as long as they aren’t like your dad or teacher or something) regardless of their gender.

- Keep the rewind feature from Reload

This is self explanatory, it’s maybe the single best quality of life feature in any Persona game, I NEED it for P6.

- Keep the palace system for the dungeons

The order of Persona games was me playing P5R, then P4G, then P3R. Going from P5’s palaces to the mediocre dungeons in P4 was super jarring. Tartarus in P3R is definitely an improvement, and I might even like it more than Mementos, but palaces are by far the best addition to the Persona series ever. Having unique levels for each arc was a stroke of genius, and if they don’t carry it over to P6 it will almost certainly be underwhelming compared to P5. I do like the randomly generated dungeons, but I think they work best as accompaniment to palaces. Something like Mementos would be great for P6 in accompaniment to Palaces.

- Have a better spawning method for The Reaper

I like to farm The Reaper a lot, and especially in P4, it was TORTURE. Having to open 21 chests and then requiring the 22nd to randomly spawn an enemy just to fight The Reaper was awful. Even the time based ones in P5 and P3 are not perfect. Literally just anything but the tedium of P4. Requiring RNG was awful, you could spend 20 minutes opening chests just to not get an enemy chest on the 22nd and have to restart.

- Have a post game

Sometimes I want to play Persona but I don’t want to have to start a 100 hour new playthrough. Persona genuinely has a great combat system, and I would love to be able to explore Mementos or rematch bosses after beating the game. Maybe bring back the Thieves Den (or something similar) but allow you to re-enter palaces and Mementos after getting the true ending. Something like being able to rematch bosses in the Mushroom Kingdom from Super Mario Odyssey. Maybe also bring the album thing on the couch in Persona 4 back. If you don’t remember, if you went to sit on your reading couch, you could view all of your maxed social links and replay each rank. You could even go to the social links you didn’t romance and see what their romance path was like, or vice versa. It was super cool!

- Keep confidant perks

Having the ranks of non-party member social links grant perks is one of my favorite additions to P5. It can really help incentivize you to prioritize them and go for all max social links. I think the main flaw with Persona 5 was that Atlus underestimates how powerful the perks would be. That’s why the game was so easy, not because of the gameplay, but because Atlus couldn’t balance some players having unlocked broken confidant perks and others having not. It would be difficult, but they need to be able to balance the perks more. Definitely keep them, but don’t let people just blitz through palaces if they have Ryuji’s confidant at rank 7.

- Bring over a rebalanced version of Ryuji’s instakill

Speaking of Ryuji’s rank 7 confidant ability, I want it to come back. It is by far the most broken ability in P5, but it also made grinding SO much more bearable. That said, it needs a rebalance. Make it so it doesn’t work in palaces, only P6’s version of mementos. Make it much harder to get than rank 7, maybe a late game social link’s rank 10 ability. It would still be a broken ability, but it is an ingenious solution to fixing tedious late game grinding. More games should have versions of this ability.

- Keep the completionist difficulty of P5R

I think Persona 5 Royal has the best balance in terms of how difficult it should be to max out all of your social links on a first playthrough. I got all achievements on my first playthrough, but not 100% on social links. I was rank 5 in Strength and rank 9 in Lovers. It was very close, but it had just the right amount of generosity. I think if someone tries hard, they should be able to 100% it on a first playthrough.

- Make it so hanging out with Velvet Room attendants doesn’t take up time

Unless it’s a social link like Marie, I think having it take up time just prevents people from actually doing it. With how valuable time is in Persona, wasting time slots on hanging out with a non-social link character isn’t super viable. In P5R, I almost never hung out with The Twins because it took up a time slot when it didn’t need to. In P3R, I always hang out with Elizabeth because you don’t need to take up a precious time slot to do it. Please keep this!!

- Keep the story based character progression

In P5, most of the character progression happens through confidants. Obviously confidants should have character progression, but it also means that without doing those confidants, the characters are super stagnant. In P3R, almost all of the characters develop over the course of the game without requiring you to do their social link. Junpei develops a bond with Chidori, Yukari has personal drama with Mitsuru, etc. In P5, the only time this happened was Morgana leaving the Phantom Thieves, which is by far the worst part of the game. If they can write the story to be more similar to P3, I think it would be an improvement.

- Battle mechanics

I think Theurgy (or something similar) should be brought over to Persona 6. Theurgy in Reload was very unbalanced, being able to charge Theurgy's before big battles and end it in 1 turn was way too broken. I think Theurgy's should only be able to be charged and used in the span of one battle. You wouldn't be able to pre-charge your Theurgy and Armageddon all the bosses away, as all of your charge would go away after finishing a battle. This way it can only really be used if the battle goes on for a while, making it feel more like an ultimate attack and less like a win condition.

I also want Baton Passes and Technicals to be brought over as well. It can have different names and slightly different functions, but I think they are great mechanics, they just need some balance. Baton Passes and Technicals are also super broken in P5R, especially with merciless difficulty making them do 1.5x damage. Baton Passes were absolutely overpowered. I think this might be a pretty severe nerf, but I think the best solution might be limiting Baton Passes to only work once in a row. Having Baton Pass chains where you hit a weakness, Baton Pass to an ally to hit another weakness, and keep chaining it to shred every battle was unreasonable.

- Have a good challenge difficulty

Persona games (Mostly P5R and P3R) are far too easy. I actually like having the option to make them easy, safe difficulty is a genuinely good addition to the game, however merciless leaves a lot to be desired. I think P4G's option to freely change difficulty settings was pretty perfect, but even then I think having an even more challenging difficulty would be nice for veterans. Give the option to have a TRUELY merciless difficulty, something like Terraria's for the worthy seed, or CHIMPS difficulty in Bloons TD6. I always view those modes as some of the best challenge difficulties in gaming history. They have a perfect amount of challenge for veterans, and having something of similar difficulty in P6 would be amazing. I’m thinking like super boss level difficulty for every boss fight, obviously scaled to the player level though. I want to have to prepare in advance instead of just grinding slightly and shredding every boss.

- STOP ADDING FUCKING PEDOPHILES TO THESE GAMES

KAMOSHIDA WAS GOOD BECAUSE HE WAS ACTUALLY A VILLAIN, YOU DIDN'T NEED TO MAKE KAWAKAMI, UEHARA, AND MS. TORIUMI PEDOPHILES TOO PLEASE STOP LETTING THE MC DATE THEIR TEACHER

[cajon-desastre]

Hola Carmen, me encantan tus citas y los GIFs que las acompañan, suelen ir a la par del tema del día pero me gustaría conocer tu opinión acerca de todo este lío si no te importa comentarlo. Asumo que igual no te sientes cómoda con mi petición así que si consideras oportuno no contestarme lo entenderé.

Siempre me has parecido muy sincera y equilibrada en tus comentarios, un beso guapa.

Hello Carmen, I love your quotes and the GIFs that accompany them, they usually go along with the topic of the day but I would like to know your opinion about this whole mess if you don't mind commenting on it. I assume that you may not feel comfortable with my request, so if you consider it appropriate not to answer me, I will understand. You have always seemed very sincere and balanced in your comments, a kiss pretty.

-------

Hi Anon, thank you for your kind words 🥰

I don't mind commenting, what happens is that I don't usually give much air to these things because what is sought, precisely, is to give them visibility and increase the drama, something that I don't usually lend myself to, only just enough when there are things that are too obvious which you can see here and here.

But you asked me for an opinion and this is what I can give you:

Disappointment and frustration would be the first words.

Ridiculous and hasty the second.

Disaster and control damage the third.

As a fan, it is not the way I would like for people I like to follow and support, but it is something that is not going to affect my life any more than the time I can dedicate to creating content or reading other bloggers. I understand that people may be very upset by the latest events and I see that, above all, they are recent fans, or those who have been there for a short time, for the most part.

I don't know, maybe I've been here for many years and I've seen everything. I am vaccinated against this nonsense that becomes cyclical and that is always a consequence of some previous event that is usually related to the shipper side and the image that is wanted to be transmitted to the general public, not to the fandom that is attentive to any movement or fact.

I have always wanted my attitude to be Zen, trying to take what happens on this side of the fence with resignation and humor. It's also because I try to compartmentalize what the fandom is and what the series and the books are. Enjoying the only thing that is stable within this madness despite Starz's mismanagement.

I could summarize that the situation is more of the same and I do not rule out that, when this situation passes, we will encounter new shenanigans. They seem to be one-tricks, and as long as it works, that's what we'll continue to see.

I also recommend that you read @outlanderskin in this post. Her thoughts are very similar to mine right now.

Thanks for the appreciation and I hope that Google translation makes this understandable 😘

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Hola Anon, gracias por tus amables palabras 🥰 No me importa comentar, lo que pasa es que no suelo darle mucho aire a estas cosas porque lo que se busca, precisamente, es darles visibilidad y aumentar el dramatismo, algo a lo que no suelo prestarme. Sólo lo suficiente cuando hay cosas demasiado obvias que puedes ver aquí y aquí. Pero me pediste opinión y esto es lo que puedo darte: Decepción y frustración serían las primeras palabras. Ridículo y precipitado el segundo. Desastre y control de daños el tercero. Como fan, no es la forma en que me gustaría que las personas a las que me gusta seguir y apoyar, pero es algo que no va a afectar mi vida más que el tiempo que puedo dedicar a crear contenido o leer a otros bloggers. Entiendo que la gente pueda estar muy molesta por los últimos acontecimientos y veo que, sobre todo, son fans recientes, o que llevan poco tiempo, en su mayoría. No lo sé, tal vez llevo muchos años aquí y lo he visto todo. Estoy vacunado contra este despropósito que se vuelve cíclico y que siempre es consecuencia de algún evento previo que suele estar relacionado con el lado shipper y la imagen que se quiere transmitir al público en general, no al fandom que está atento a cualquier movimiento o hecho. Siempre he querido que mi actitud sea zen, intentando tomarme lo que pasa de este lado de la valla con resignación y humor. También es porque trato de compartimentar qué es el fandom y qué son las series y los libros. Disfrutando de lo único que hay estable dentro de esta locura a pesar de la mala gestión de Starz. Podría resumir que la situación es más de lo mismo y no descarto que, cuando esta situación pase, nos encontremos con nuevas travesuras. Parecen ser de un solo truco, y mientras funcionen, eso es lo que seguiremos viendo. También te recomiendo que leas a @outlanderskin en este post. Sus pensamientos son muy similares a los míos en este momento.

Gracias por el aprecio y espero que la traducción de Google haga esto comprensible 😘

[aihoshiino]

So what are your thoughts on the OnK dub? I checked out a bit of it because I'm considering asking a family member who's usually not into anime to watch the first episode with me and she has an easier time watching dubs than subs (even if she doesn't want to watch the whole series, I think the first episode works REALLY well on its own).

Anyway, I'm kinda disappointed with what little I've heard. I feel like Rie Takahashi so thoroughly embodies Ai to me that her English VA just really isn't hitting (no disrespect to her, ofc). I really dig Aqua's VA, but Ruby is another one where I just feel like they don't embody the character very well.

I haven't watched the whole thing yet, just episode 1! I was mostly interested in getting a feel for Ai's English voice performance since that helps me with feeling out dialogue so I didn't really have any motivation to rewatch the series just for the dub past that LMAO

That said... I think it's a bit of a mixed bag! A big part of that is just that the script suffers from Literally Just The Subtitles-Itis which is kind of a big handicap for anyone's spoken performance, because the subs are just not really written to be delivered out loud by performers in a natural way. It also means nobody really has a distinctive character voice in terms of like, phrasing and vocab choices the way they do in Japanese - which is another reason I'll always champion YenPress as the best translation of the series, since it actually retains all that stuff in a very natural sounding way BUT. THAT'S FOR ANOTHER POST...

Another issue is that some of the performances are a bit hit or miss across the board. Generally, I think Ichigo and Miyako were really great, Ai and baby Aqua were good, Ruby was okay but a bit shrill at times and everyone else was just kind of Unmemorably Fine but they definitely all felt stiffer than I would've liked. This has always been kind of a problem with HiDive/Sentai's dubs (at least imo) even when the actors themselves are totally fine in other shows, so I assume this is an issue with the direction they get as opposed to the performers themselves being an issue.

That said, I did hear a few clips of dub (grown up) Aqua and... I don't really think he's a good fit...! Which I feel bad for saying because I know his dub actor is really passionate about the series, but I just think he sounds way too old for him (and yes, I sense the irony). Ootsuka's voice for Aqua is very low and level, yes, but I think he has a very believably teenage boy tone that you can especially hear during his more lively moments. Whereas dub Aqua fully sounds like, a guy in his 30s with a 9-5 and a mortgage to worry about. It's a good performance, it just doesn't sound right coming out of Aqua (to me, anyway).

ALL THAT BEING SAID..... I actually have really come around on Ai's dub actress! I think Takahashi's performance would've been kind of impossible to live up to no matter who it was because it's so iconic and, as you said, such a thorough embodiment of everything Ai is as a character. But I think Donna's take on Ai is really cute and really likable in her own way! If she had a better script, I think she'd really shine.

I also think she absolutely knocked Ai's final scene out of the park, no notes. In fact, ask me on the right day and you might even catch me saying that I kind of like Donna's take on the scene more than Takahashi's. Rie's performance is, I guess, more technically proficient and it has this breathless, angelic quality to it but Donna's is so incredibly raw and human. The way her voice breaks as she says the twins' names and the way she seems to genuinely struggle to get the words 'I love you' out.... ouughhhh it's so good... the first episode kind of is the words 'Aqua, Ruby, I love you' and I think that was the scene it was the most important for them to get right and they absolutely did.

So yeah, overall, I don't think it quite stacks up to the Japanese audio track but I think it's serviceable. A lot of people seem to spend a lot of time performatively shitting on it as The Worst Dub They've Ever Heard, which. fellas, this isn't even the worst modern dub i've ever heard. It's fine. It does what it has to.

[fuckyeahbaldursgate]

Viconia - Plot Support extraordinaire

Just to preface this as I don't want this to seem like I am hating on BG3 as a diehard fan of the original series because I really do love BG3. I've completed it twice now and think it will absolutely be joining my annual rotation of BG1/SOD/BG2 playthroughs but it has its problems, much in the same way that the originals themselves have problems as well.

So after my Sarevok post I wanted to treat Viconia to the same critical analysis as unfortunately I think she also gets the short end of the evil plot stick. I get it, evil characters can be hard to get right but again similar to Sarevok, in my opinion, her character regresses to evil Shar mook number one rather than actually being Viconia. Worse still she's entirely at the mercy of being wrapped up in ShadowHeart's backstory.

Anyway this is a bit of a deep dive into Viconia's issues in BG3. Spoiler warning for both BG3 and BG2.

1. No Grey DeLise.

Again, similar to Sarevok, another prolific voice actor that has done recent video game work seemingly not approached for the role. I can't help but think that some of this is down to the rushed nature of act three generally and Larian just having to get whoever they could for the job in the time that they needed it. Unlike Jaheria and Minsc there's no attempt to mimic her original VA or get someone who sounded like her so she ends up sounding completely and utterly different.

This version of Viconia sounds haughty and stuck up which while the original Viconia VA has a degree of arrogance, she is also pretty sultry. Haer'dalis even comments that she has 'the throaty voice of the most expensive courtesan' and Viconia deliberately plays on the stereotype of the sensual female drow with certain male party members for her own benefit e.g the male Bhaalspawn, Edwin, Sarevok and even Anomen (I cover this a bit here and here).

2. Her in game design...just isn't great.

Let's be honest, combined with the voice, Viconia's design basically makes her unrecognisable. She looks like a generic old drow lady to the point that I did have 'Is that meant to be Viconia?' moment when I first met her.

Now I appreciate there is minor controversy with Viconia's original BG2 portrait (which is probably the most recognisable image of her) because the artist actually used a famous porn star as the base for it.

For info, this was a common practice at Bioware at the time as they used to use lots of different images as bases for portraits. They finally got into legal trouble for it in NWN where due to various copyright claims they had to change quite a few portraits.

More recently, I think that Beamdog actually did quite a good job of recreating a faithful adaption of her original portrait in Siege of Dragonspear while presumbably navigating the original copyright issue.

In comparison to her BG3 portrayal, my first impression was she looks incredibly old. Now as far as I'm aware we've never been given a canon age for Viconia but we do know she was around for House DeVir being defeated by the Do'Urden house so she has to be at least 100 years old by the time of BG1... but her character level is between 2 and 6 (depending on the party's XP) so a relatively inexperienced cleric. With that in mind I definitely assumed she was on the younger side (maybe 200-300?). Either way 5e elves can live between 750 to 1000 years although there are instances in the Forgotten Realms books of drow living to over 2000. Now tack on the additional 120 years for BG3 in my mind it would definitely put her in the middle aged category but not necessarily anywhere near the end of her life. Critically she would be aging much slower than Jaheria but with those wrinkles she looks WAY older than her. I honestly feel cheated of an interaction between the two about how hagged and old Jaheria looks in comparison to herself.

In terms of her outfit, although initially she wears the Sharite mask and hooded outfit, which is good for concealing her identity, we eventually end up with Viconia in a spider adorned dress. This seems like a strange choice given the spider motif when she literally stopped worshipping Lloth for Shar - maybe she's being ironic? The lack of armour,when she's a cleric that knows there's a good chance she's about to have a fight seems kind of stupid. If you do choose to fight her, she then looks entirely comical in her light dress accompanied by an enormous oversized shield and mace.

For me though this really identifies her design problem: her leather armour was a critical part of her original design. Given that we only see portrait style headshots of BG characters, the decision not to include her leather corset with the three straps and the head band is really what makes her unrecognisable. It would be like removing Minsc's head tattoo or Jaheria's braids or Sarevok's armour (which even with all the problems I talked about in my post, at least he got to keep that).

My hope is that some enterprising modder out there makes a more BG2 accurate version of her in future. Larian, please give my lady her leather armour back or maybe even a justicar outfit!

3. Ignores her BG1/2 alignment, motivations and twists her original epilogue.

Now I do appreciate BG3 deliberately assumes that the events of BG1/BG2 are a little bit fluid, which Jaheria confirms this when she talks about the bards that tell stories of her slaying gods or bedding them depending on which one you listen to. But the game goes onto confirm certain events in Viconia's history that don't really make sense:

A.) The game confirms that Viconia did travel with the Bhaalspawn but not for the entirety of the game. Minsc informs you that after trying to dissect Boo she was expelled from the group. I have to admit this story didn't gel with me at all because it implies Viconia is some sort of chaotic evil idiot (reminder: Viconia is neutral evil with a 16 INT score and 18 WIS score in BG2) who would deliberately provoke a giant raging berserker man by murdering his beloved pet. Like that's the sort of thing I could see Xzar (who is completely and utterly mad) doing but not Viconia. What benefit would she get out of it? Maybe it would be a good tribute for Shar but that would be a pretty short term benefit. In fact in BG2 Viconia offers begrudging respect to Minsc for his effectiveness in battle, she knows he's powerful and she wants to be on the right side of that. Minsc for his part does what he does with many of the female characters, particularly in BG2 and makes her a proxy substitute for Dynaheir offering to protect her. That's not to say she won't insult people (Aerie and Jaheria or characters who she perceives as weak often get the brunt of it) but she's generally smart enough to stay out of an actual fight. Important to note that in any of NPC conflicts that end in a fight in BG1/2 (e.g. Kivan, Ajantis, Keldorn) it's never Viconia that's starts the fight.

B.) The Waterdeep cult.

In Viconia's epilogue, which you only get if you kept her for the end of Throne of Bhaal and you didn't romance her, Viconia goes on to do a few things which you can see below (obviously massive spoilers for BG2) :

So it feels like Larian has taken the first part of this ending but nothing else, which really leaves a lot of questions. We know Shar isn't entirely happy with Viconia based on her diary entries so why is Shar still giving powers to a woman that basically killed a whole bunch of her followers? Why is Viconia still working for a goddess that hates her? Why is she so accepting of Shar's plot to groom Shadowheart as her replacement? Why on earth hasn't Viconia got the fuck out of dodge, which is pretty much what she has been shown to do in the past? And this comes neatly onto my next point.

4. Viconia is just a plot device for Shadowheart.

I love Shadowheart and I love her arc but honestly Viconia being the Mother Superior just felt like a way of inserting her into the game in a way that didn't really fit especially when Viconia's diaries in BG3 show that she knows that Shar intends for Shadowheart to essentially replace her as one of her prominent followers/chosen. The whole plot ignores two critical points about Viconia and her backstory:

Firstly the reason Viconia left the Underdark in the first place was because she refused to sacrifice a child to Lloth and Lloth turning her brother into a drider after he saved her from being sacrificed. Now Viconia is many things, she's self serving, cruel and dedicated to her own survival at the expense of anything and anyone else (quintessential neutral evil through and through) but at the same time she threw away her position, caused the downfall of her house and got most of her family murdered to save a child. You're telling me she would then willingly go along with Shar's plan to deliberate plan to kidnap and repeatedly torture a child for YEARS whilst also training said child to replace her? My girl doesn't have many lines in the sand but harming children definitely seems like one of them. I actually wandered whether Shadowheart not liking to harm children / prefers saving them is not just about her being a secret Selunite but also a potential a hint of Viconia's influence.

Secondly, that plot seems to ignores Viconia's other primary driver, which is to survive: it's why she leaves the Underdark, it's why she travels with the Bhaalspawn, it's why she worships Shar and it's why she murders an entire cabal of Shar's followers after one person betrayed her. Now if we ignore that she has qualms about children, you're telling me that she would instead essentially train her replacement to be an amazing cleric who is 99% likely to murder her? I'm pretty sure Viconia would have tried to kill Shadowheart way before her becoming a justicar or simply skipped town as she has done before.

The alternative?

Personally I would have liked to have seen Viconia ultimately involved in a plot to overthrow the Mother Superior or maybe doing something even crazier like going after Shar herself out of revenge following her fall from grace after the events of the Waterdeep cult. Maybe she works with the Absolute to get her revenge and keep her divine powers - hell who better to help Ketheric with the Nightsong in Shar's temple then an ex priestess of Shar?

If not the Absolute then Shar's got plenty of enemies and Viconia has converted before. Maybe she could have joined the team to achieve a particular goal while giving fans of the original series the opportunity to have one of the original evil characters to join the crew. I would have loved to see the contrast with Minthara who is still fairly fresh from leaving drow society and a complete blunt instrument compared to Viconia's more subtle ways. Maybe Viconia would take the paladin under her wing, maybe introduce her to a new patron god (something I don't think is ever explained is how Minthara still retains her divine powers given neither Lloth or the Absolute are fueling them anymore). Shevarash the elven god of revenge, would be a fantastic fit for both of their back stories (which would also be a nice little throw back to Viconia's heated / sometimes fatal arguments with Kivan in BG1) presuming that Viconia could get over her disdain for the elven pantheon by that point in the timeline. The fireworks with Jaheria of course would be grand while Minsc I feel would be very conflicted given his mind's tendancy, as noted above, to sub in any female magic user as Dynaheir.

[je-lurk]

I am trying to learn french on my own. Do you know any good tv shows or movies in French? (with subtitles or without) I like comedies :)

So, uh. I went maybe a little bit overboard. I just spent an hour on these recs. But the good news is the french films I watched are almost exclusively comedies, so you’ll only get that. (I’ll add here that if you want to chat with someone either in French or about any of these recs (or both) my DMs are wide open)

Films (exclusively French classics):

Louis de Funès : La Soupe aux Choux (personal favorite, I’ve watched it so many times), L’Aile ou la Cuisse, Rabbi Jacob, Le Grand Restaurant… (they’re all very good, I recommend you see the others, they’re mostly classics)

Les Nuls/Alain Chabat : La Cité de la Peur, Asterix et Obélix Mission Cleopatre (2002)… (these two are the most iconic)

Jean Dujardin : The Artist, OSS 117 (Le Caire, Nid d’espion (1) Rio ne répond plus (2). Apparently the 3rd one is a little less good)

Other : La Chèvre, Le Grand Blond avec une chaussure noire, le Père Noël est une ordure, le Dîner de Cons (and truly so many others)

Series:

Kaamelott (never saw it but I know it’s good)

Webseries, if you’re into this:

La Flander’s Company : follows the employees of a company leasing supervillains. 5 seasons, the first one doesn’t seem to add much but it’s important world building. And fun. About 10h total? Automatic subtitles and translation seem to be accurate

Noob : follows the Noob guild in the MMORPG Horizon. It’s exactly what you think it is, it’s gorgeous. 11 seasons, 22h. The progression in production is phenomenal

Le visiteur du futur : self explanatory. A good summary would be: « Regarde ces vidéos ! Sinon, voilà ce qui va se passer ! » 4 seasons, 1 film. I have not seen the film but I heard it’s good. Also much shorter than the others. And it has subtitles!

Questions cône : 2 seasons (should be under 10 hours), +1 that comes out haphazardly. I suggest you only watch the first 2 seasons. Not because the 3rd isn’t good but because it’s a completely new narrative arc and it’s far from being done.

I’ll explain this one a little because I just binged it (again) and I think it can be easy to abandon it because of a certain character (I love him but he begins with 0 redeeming quality) and the humor that can get at times super fucking weird and/or immature (but this what happens when you make videos in the 2010’s).

Anyway, now that I’ve talked about the cons, this series begins as filmmaking tutorials, basically. The story gets weaved into it, in part as an example for the concepts we learn. Let’s keep it spoiler free and just say that the concepts explored are super interesting, and the worldbuilding is imo done extremely well, as it works as a subversion of the "tutorial" genre (and generally of the 2010’s french youtube).

I think you should at least reach ep 13 before deciding whether to drop the series.

Tldr: I love it and I need people to talk about it with because I am going mad, but no pressure. If it’s not for you it’s not for you and it’s fully understandable.

Also, there are some videos in this playlist that do not strictly belong to the series (and even some that have 0 link, except the apparitions of some of the characters). You don’t have to watch them to fully appreciate whatever is going on, but it’s additional character interaction in a framework different from the series.

[louiesselfshipramblings]

Secret Level mini-review!!! Because!!!

Not gonna go over EVERY episodes, just the ones I wanted to see.

Dungeons & Dragons: The Queen's Cradle—This was a good start! It was short, maybe a lil TOO short, but it was a nice lil glimpse into the classic fantasy world with fun characters both in design and personality. Hope we see more of them somewhere! Weird a non-video game got in but eh I don't mind.

Unreal Tournament: Xan—This episode led me down a rabbit hole of finding out the Unreal Engine was based on an old game made by pre-Fortnite Epic Games, and it's apparently delisted everywhere? Sucks, but cool it got an episode! I love robot uprisings.

Warhammer 40,000: And They Shall Know No Fear—I know nothing about Warhammer except everything kinda sucks and the giant church mechs. This was a fun episode! There's a simple pleasure in watching a group of guys effortlessly tear through mooks. I suppose I'd get more if I specifically played the Space Marine games, but hey as is I liked it.

PAC-MAN: Circle—Dares to ask the question, what if "Pac" and "Man" were two separate guys? But for real though...I actually liked this one? It's horror, but not over the top, gorey but not for the sake of it. Does it use next to none of the Pac-Man iconography? Yeah. But it kinda works as its own, messed up sorta thing. I wonder if that Shadow Labyrinth game came first, or if the short did. Also, the robot is named Puck! Cause Pac-Man's original name in Japan was Puck-Man but in American they could scratch at the P and make it...ya know...Scott Pilgrim reference.

The Outer Worlds: The Company We Keep—I kept forgetting The Outer Worlds had an episode here...or that the game existed at all. Which is a shame! Sure, I heard mixed things about it, but nice to see Obsidian still making original stuff! Plus that sequel, could be better! For this episode...it was fine. A solid example of tragedy. The ending puzzled me, but in a good way. Coulda felt more connected to the vibes of the game, but def has that humor style in place!

Mega Man: Start—It was alright. Rock and Dr. Light had good VAs. Bomb Man had a cool design. Nice lil easter eggs like the "Dr. W" emblem or the DLN serial numbers, and Rock defeating Bomb Man with an ice power was clever. But MAN...this coulda been so much better if it was longer! It's only like, five minutes! I suppose its good they gave each short a variable time so they had space to tell their story, but I would have loved to see more of this world! The other Robot Masters, Roll, WILY, for god's sake! But that MM2 Wily Castle theme for the credits...oh MAN that's good! Please, make another Mega Man short for season two! Or an animated series in THIS style! Mega Man needs more good animated adaptations after Fully Charged and Ruby-Spears.

Spelunky: Tally—Very cool to see an indie game here, and for one of the OGs! Even if this one takes after the sequel...but still! This one was fun, especially since it seemed to really embrace the idea of being a video game. I'm not super familiar on the Spelunky lore, but the interpretation of the randomly generated caves and the curse that revives them were neat tidbits, and the overall message was very nice! One of the shorter ones, around the same length of the Mega Man and Pac-Man ones, but it's to its benefit. Any longer and it woulda felt dragged out. Honestly, the best way to adapt a rougelike imo.

Concord: Tale of the Implacable—Okay, ya gotta understand I HAD to see this one after Sony's blunder! And, to be honest...this may be the best one between all I've seen??? Like, genuinely!! It's one of the longer ones at around fifteen minutes, and is paced pretty well. Idk if any of these characters show back up in the game, but they were all pretty good for the brief time I saw them? The framing of this being a retold story passed as legend, with an ambiguous fate for the crew was neat and I liked the ending??? I was joking about this episode being so good it might redeem the game, but...well I wouldn't go that far, but damn, this might be my favorite behind the Mega Man and Pac-Man ones??

Playtime: Fulfillment—The last episode, and the only one not based on a specific game, instead being based on PlayStation as a whole. This was a nice closer, tbh! The ending left me a touch confused on what exactly happened, but it was a fun ride, all things considered! Seeing the Helldivers run around and shout about democracy, one of the Colossi from Shadow of the Colossus, Kratos smashing down, and SACKBOY!! I honestly just wish there was more of it! (Or that God of War got its own dedicated episode but that's besides the point). Kinda hope they do this "company" based episode as a season closer for season two, maybe for SEGA or Capcom! That'd be fun!

Overall, a pretty good series! I'd say it's worth my while, plus most of the episodes are under twenty minutes if that, so you could binge it reasonably in a day. Looking forward to that second season. Some sequels would be cool (mainly for Mega Man), but if it has to be only new games...mmmm. God of War, for sure. Mass Effect. Destiny? Donkey Kong, but that's a pipe dream. Nintendo never does cool stuff like that.

[jetsteelyourheart]

My top 5 Crackships

Inspired by my top 5 8 characters thing going around, I want you all to vote on your favorite of my Top 5 Questionable Rare pairs

I will be providing excuses reasoning excuses below the poll, so if you feel like roasting me properly seeing my justifications, do that - or don't!

And remember, they're fictional characters, so it costs nothing to be normal about this and have fun

*Not all of these are controversial, but those that are? watch out!

Excuses:

Zuki:

If you follow me then you know I'm an OG Zutara fan, but on the rare occasions I'm feeling Cannon Compliant, Zuki is my go too ship. This has all to do with the comics, where basically Zuko's only confidant is Suki and you get wild panels of them looking at each other like this:

I was devistated when Korra came out and it seemed like Sokka and Suki didn't last, but if the above is why, then I'll take it.

Stobin:

I am going to get so much flack for this one I think. BUT. Consider: The cannon ships in the show are generally not well written. I like Hopper/Joyce, I like Max/Lucas, but Nancy/Jonathan and especially Mike/Eleven do literally nothing for me, they are so bland. I do see the irony that one of the things that makes Stobin well written is because its one sided on Steve's part because Robin is gay. But their interactions are literally the reason to watch the show if you ask me. Pushing past these excuses though, I just kinda dig the ship. In my head its an open poly situation for certain, but sexuality is so wild and fluid and weird, and Gold Star status is gatekeepy at best anyway, so like, why the fuck not. I had a great aunt who had an open marriage with a gay man, (big beard behavior) and they had kids and did everything together. Its like... Platonic soulmates + if you will. And that's what I want for Stobin. Platonic soulmates + and a big ole polycule surrounding them. Or maybe its just my incoherent bisexual ass talking

(If I could put fan-art with the polycule in it I would but I wouldn't repost someones art like that... so I'm stuck with cannon images)

Zacknei:

No one has played this game. When people think Zack, they either ship Cloud or Aerith, and honestly I ship both those as well (though ClAerTi will always be my top for them). But I love Cissnei. She has big Sydney Sage energy for me, and all of Zack's emotional beats in the second half of the game surround her (...or cloud) not Aerith (just for the record). Also if you join all the fanclubs and work hard you get invited to your own fanclub and I'm pretty sure there's evidence that Cissnei is the president which is hilarious. I just love their interactions and was DEVASTATED at the end. Analytical Girl & PuppyDogHimbo is a beautiful ship dynamic. Also Rick Gomez will always be my Zack Fair VA. I hate the new guy so much (and its not his fault!! Sorry man!)

Aquarella:

So the section is really short. But my god. Cinderella and Aqua have the most chemistry of any character in that game series bar none. I'm including Riku and Sora in this. I'm including Roxas and Axel. Ok, not really this is not the hill I want to die on. BUT. At least in Birth By Sleep, this is the emotional high-point. Aqua taking her hand like a gentleman at a ball? The way Aqua saves Cinderella from getting run over by her demonic carriage??? The way she lovingly protects Cindy's body with hers? Did you see Prince whats his face doing any of that ? NO. And then. If Aqua were a guy everyone would've seen it when this game came out (but I guess gay people weren't invented until 2015 or whatever.

look how devastated Aqua is when Cinderella goes to Charming at the end. IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THEM.

Sorayla:

I really do like Raylum, but this is a poll on my hot take rare-pairs, not cannon compliance. Let me start off by saying, no, I haven't seen this season yet, it only came out twelve hours ago whats wrong with you? This pair grew on me starting in Season 4 after the time skip. I think it goes along side my preoccupation with tough smart girls and their dumbass golden retriever himbos. They have a nice trajectory, and with Callum going a lil dark and edgy on us recently, I like their banter a lot. Especially in Season 4 I was surprised by them and I crave more adventures with the two of them alone. I don't think it will ever happen, but I like it none the less. They bring a certain... Sokka & Suki vibe to the party that I'm here for.

Anyway, I tag @ebbilayart @retiredficwriter & anyone who decides to do it!

And if no one feels like setting themselves up as a target, that's good too!

[liaromancewriter]

My Creator Top 5 of 2024

These are the fics that I love with all my heart, and that’s why it’s so hard to choose.

For @choicesficwriterscreations Creator Top 5

1. The Next Chapter

I will never not enjoy writing about Ethan’s inner thoughts and pre-OH life.

2. Magical

Maxenna will always hold a special place in my heart even if they don’t make my Tumblr most read fics.

3. First Day

I would totally read an OH spin-off that was focused on Sienna. Of course, it wouldn’t have Max Valentine, so maybe not.

4. Sex and Pizza

I saw a scene in my head of Ethan and Cassie just being playful in bed, and the fic took off from there.

5. Perfect Day

I wanted to write this fic last year, but didn’t have the time or the inspiration. I wasn’t letting another fall season go by without doing so.

[furinana]

Brief interview with the JPN voice cast of SMT IVA

Some fun VA talk alongside localization tidbits.

Taken from the official website. Translated by furinana

Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse – TOPICS

Special Project for Voice Actors

Hiro Shimono, who plays the main character, talks about his thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as the main character this time I personally love the Shin Megami Tensei series... and of course I also played IV (laugh)! So, I'm overwhelmed with emotion for being able to play a main character of Megaten!

[2] The main character's lines that left an impression on me The main character generally doesn't speak, but this time we recorded some lines (I can't go into details yet...). The one line that stuck with me was, "I want to be neutral"*. Megaten fans definitely feel an indescribable charm in the word "neutral".

*[TN: Originally "僕は、ニュートラルでありたいんです" In the interview, neutral is spelled as ニュートラル however in-game it's written as 中庸 chuuyou (lit. middle path)​ but still pronounced as "neutral". I added the ENG localization for comparison]

[3] A message to everyone waiting for the release I don't know how things will turn out, but I hope you enjoy the world of Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse. As a fan myself, I'll be waiting with my 3DS fully charged!

[Note: Hiro Shimono is well-known for making roles of young boys (usually the bratty types), is a recurring duo with Flynn's VA Yuki Kaji and even at his age is considered to be "cute enough to be a girl" thus often crossdresses for the audience. On top of that, Shimono loves fried chicken. Nanashi eats fried chicken made of demons...]

A message from Shuichi Ikeda, who plays Dagda, regarding this work.

[Q] A message to everyone waiting for the release I eagerly antecipate the day when I can meet you all as Dagda. Please look forward to “Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse”.

Tomoko Seike, who plays Asahi, shares her thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as Asahi this time She is a simple and straightforward girl who doesn't lie. The more I acted, the more I fell in love with her. Meeting Asahi has allowed me to learn and grow a lot, and I would like to sincerely say "thank you" to my family and friends that I cherish so much.

[2] Asahi’s lines that left an impression on me "Muu." It 100% expressed Asahi's cuteness but it's a word I don't normally use, so it was very difficult.* *[TN: in the JPN version of the game, whenever Asahi feels displeased with something she goes muu. A close ENG equivalent would be a cutesy "grr"]

[3] Message to everyone waiting for the release Each and every character in the series is an indispensable presence, and the feelings of all of them come together to create a work that shows off a beautiful landscape filled with love and hope. This is my first time trying out voice acting, so it's a work that I became very attached to. I hope everyone enjoys it.

[Note: Tomoko Seike was originally a stageplay actress with Asahi being her very first role as a VA (however she's been inactive since then). She considered her favorite color sky blue and her biggest wish was to provide healing and power through her performances]

Shintaro Ohata, who plays Navarre, talks about his thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as Navarre this time

I never thought the day would come when I'd get to perform as Navarre again! Specially after what happened to him (laugh). I had a lot of fun playing him as a green-something this time. My first role as a green thingie.

[2] Navarre’s lines that left an impression on me

I said "gununu…" a lot* (laugh). *[TN note: Navarre's personal onomatopeia for when he's in a pickle. It's like a "nghh"]

[3] A message to everyone waiting for the release

This work felt both new and similar to the "Megami Tensei" that I played when I was a child. I hope you all enjoy it! Please join us in welcoming this green guy.

Kenjiro Tsuda, who plays the role of Krishna, talks about his thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as Krishna this time

It was a lot of fun to play such an impactful character!

[2] Krishna’s lines that left an impression on me

His difficult lines were remarkable (laugh).

[3] A message to everyone waiting for the release

We hope you enjoy it to your heart's content! Thank you!

Yuki Kaji, who plays Flynn, talks about his thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as Flynn this time

Last time, since I was the main character, I hardly had any lines… But after the release, I actually played the game myself and now I've grown quite attached to the character, so I was happy that I was able to speak a lot this time.

[2] Flynn's lines that left an impression on me

How do I say it... I was mesmerized by the fact that I had the privilege of playing many different types of Flynn. I can't go into details because I don't want to spoil the story, but I especially enjoyed playing "Flynn who is Flynn but isn't Flynn" (laugh). I hope you'll all listen and find out for yourself!

[3] A message to everyone waiting for the release

Shin Megami Tensei IV is back in a new form! I think it will be enjoyable not only for those who have played the previous game, but also for those who are starting a new game…but! There's still time! Please do your homework and review the game thoroughly until the release date! Thank you!

Hiroshi Kamiya, who plays Jonathan, talks about his thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as Jonathan this time

I was very happy to meet Jonathan again after a long time!

[2] Jonathan(Merkabah)'s lines that left an impression on me

All of Merkabah's lines are devilishly inflexible and extreme, and however correct they may be, they are difficult to empathize with, so it was challenging to make them sound good!

[3] A message to everyone waiting for the release

A world beyond Shin Megami Tensei IV is waiting! Those who played the previous game will have a deeper experience, and those starting with this one will enjoy it as something completely new! Please give it a try!

Katsuyuki Konishi, who plays Walter, talks about his thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as Walter this time

I'm happy to be playing Walter again. I never thought I'd get to see a continuation of their world, so it was fun.

[2] Walter’s lines that left an impression on me

I'm in a different position than before, so I hope you'll take a look at that as well.

[3] A message to everyone waiting for the release

This is the follow-up to Shin Megami Tensei! That world will be returning once again. Have fun with your favorite party.

Miyuki Sawashiro, who plays the role of Isabeau, talks about her thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as Isabeau this time

This was the first recording in two years, so it felt nostalgic, but it was also refreshing to portray Isabeau as a more grown-up and unhesitanting character.

[2] Isabeau’s lines that left an impression on me

Her reaction when she is overwhelmed by Asahi, her junior (?). It was unlike anything we've seen before coming from her.

[3] A message to everyone waiting for the release

This will be our FINAL* (as planned)! Please stay with us until the end!

(TN: reference to how the title is known in Japan, Shin Megami Tensei IV FINAL)

Michiko Kaiden, who plays Maitreya (Miroku in JPN), talks about her thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as Maitreya this time

Despite being a human, I had the opportunity to play a Bodhisattva. Although Maitreya is a Bodhisattva, he* is a frightening character who you wouldn't want to meet or fight. Although I struggled with the lines that were full of Buddhist terminology, it was a rewarding and interesting role to play.

*[TN note: Maitreya's gender is sort of ambiguous considering 1. Aside the female VA, Maitreya uses gender neutral speech 2. Doi intentionally designed Maitreya with a feminine, motherly even androgynous image 3. Maitreya's design resembles famous TV personality Matsuko Deluxe (a female persona of a crossdressing gay man) which is sort of a meme between Japanese fans]

[2] Maitreya's lines that left an impression on me

Maitreya's are more like "sermons" than lines, and every one of them is filled with teachings… It's difficult to narrow it down to just one. I hope you'll also enjoy his unique way of speaking.

[3] A message to everyone waiting for the release

The long-awaited sequel! The unexpected developments and depictions had me constantly reading the script, and my heart just kept pounding. I hope you all will experience this excitement too!

Atsushi Miyauchi, who plays Odin, talks about his thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as Odin this time Odin has a variety of emotions and ulterior motives existing alongside each other, so it was a very rewarding role to play. Although he was a demon, I felt a melancholic human quality to him, and I loved how indescribably heartbreaking it was. [2] Odin's lines that left an impression on me “…Only one can be the real deal, and the winner is always by their own.”*

I love this line, which is filled with Odin's nobility and pride.

*[TN: Originally "...本物は一人で良い 勝者は常に独りだ"]

[3] A message to everyone waiting for the release This was my first time participating in the series, and I was fascinated by the worldview it offers. It's a very interesting game! I hope you all enjoy it!!

Junpei Morita, who plays Fujiwara, talks about his thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as Fujiwara this time He has a hidden passion inside him, and interacts with people with a carefree demeanor. I played the role hoping to express that kind of charm. I perceived him as a likeable character with a relaxed attitude. [2] Fujiwara’s lines that left an impression on me

"We'll definitely… stand under the sun together while looking at this blue sky again."* A line that speaks about hope of reaching the surface.

*[TN: Originally "必ず…また一緒に太陽の下で、あの青い空を見上げよう"]

[3] A message to everyone waiting for the release

Humans want to be human. And what exactly is to be human? Try to find out through Fujiwara and this game.

Mie Sonozaki, who plays Nozomi, talks about her thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as Nozomi this time When I voiced Nozomi previously, her visual image wasn't completed by then. So I was free to voice her however I wanted, and even though she only appeared in challenge quests in the previous game, she's now been promoted to a main character! I'm really happy that Nozomi is loved by the players. Thank you. [2] Nozomi’s lines that left an impression on me "It's okay for humans to get lost."* Nozomi is the type of person who casually says important things, but I may have become a little too emotional when recording the lines...

*[TN: Originally "人間は、迷ってもいいんだよ".]

[3] A message to everyone waiting for the release “Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse” is even darker than the previous work! Take good care of Nozomi who will be joining your party.

This time, there's more than just a standing sprite! Please play the previous game again before the release and look forward to the new one!

Miki Ito, who plays the role of Danu, talks about her thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as Danu this time

The one known as Mother Goddess was a difficult role. I tried to portray the character with a sense of tolerance, but also wanted to incorporate a cold dignified atmosphere. [2] Danu’s lines that left an impression on me "Wield ●●●●●. Pierce the very heart of ●●●●"* (Note) Important story information has been omitted.

*[TN: The full sentence is "Wield Ame-no-habakiri. Pierce the very heart of the Cosmic Egg"] [3] A message to everyone waiting for the release Hello everyone. I'm Miki Ito, who plays the role of Danu. It's a game with a mysterious and interesting worldview. Please enjoy it thoroughly! See you again somewhere ♡

Rei Matsuzaki, who plays Napaea, talks about her thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as Napaea this time She was very cute and since they told me I could act however I wanted, I performed without any restraints ♪ [2] Napaea’s lines that left an impression on me There isn't a particular line that stuck with me, but I remember Napaea having a unique accent because she has a peculiar way of ending her phrases*. And that's what makes her so cute!!

*[TN: The tic is the のよさ noyosa part. It's an intensifier similar to Naruto's dattebayo. An ENG equivalent would be the character constantly going "(something), you know!"] [3] A message to everyone waiting for the release

I'm so happy to be part of this series again! I've played many other characters besides this girl, so please enjoy the game and try to find them!

Toshiki Masuda, who plays the role of Hallelujah, talks about his thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as Hallelujah this time A man among men! This character truly depicts the kind of lifestyle that any man would aspire to. It was a great experience that made me think, "I want to grow into a person like that!" Thank you! [2] What lines from Hallelujah left an impression on me

None! Or rather, I want to say there are so many that I can't decide on just one!

Through the second half of the game, Hallelujah’s lines become more determined, resolved, and responsible! I want you to listen to those! [3] A message to everyone waiting for the release

I was both happy and nervous when I heard that I would be appearing in the latest installment of the long-running Shin Megami Tensei series. I look forward to the release together with everyone!

Takeshi Maeda (miscredited as Tsuyoshi Maeda), who plays Gaston, talks about his thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as Gaston this time

It was a lot of fun. As the younger brother of the eccentric and short-tempered Navarre, I was hoping to be able to subtly sense the unique atmosphere that Mr. Ohata portrayed while playing the role in my own way. Gaston was a character that underwent some pretty drastic character development, so that was interesting as well. [2] Gaston’s lines that left an impression on me "You really never learn, it’s SIR Gaston! Respect your elders!"* Sorry for the weird scene. *[TN: Originally "君は全く学習しないな。ガストンさんだ。年上を敬いたまえ!"]

[3] A message to everyone waiting for the release I'm Maeda and I played the role of Gaston.

The Megami Tensei series, which I've been playing since I was a child, is getting more and more interesting. Many people with different points of view engage in a fierce battle this time as well.

Please come and watch the struggles of the main character's team and Gaston, who are all at the mercy of the situation.

Thank you for your support.

Misaki Kuno, who plays Toki, talks about her thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as Toki this time Toki, who was raised as an assassin by the Ring of Gaea, was difficult to play because she was a child who rarely showed emotions. However, the scene where she gets tempted by many different colors of the Aether was really fun!! [2] Toki’s lines that left an impression on me I put great care in the lines when Toki, who was only thinking about completing her mission until then, gradually started opening up to the protagonist. [3] A message to everyone waiting for the release I did my best efforts on playing Toki, so I hope you'll look forward to her. Thank you very much!!

Chafurin, who plays Mido, talks about his thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as Mido this time Well, I'm a Synthesis Pot*, so to speak. Wahahaha...

*[TN: 合成の壺 seems to be a reference to the most valuable pot you can find in the Shiren the Wanderer series. You insert pieces of equipment inside it and the end result is the strength of the materials combined.] [2] Mido’s lines that left an impression on me

"Welcome to the Cathedral of Shadows, where demons gather…"*

*[TN: Originally "悪魔が集いし邪教の館へようこそ…" Cathedral of Shadows in Japanese is 邪教の館 which can be something like Mansion of Heretical Religions] [3] A message to everyone

I'm also looking forward to the release. What is this feeling? I'm so excited! ♪ (Note) This comment was received in the summer of 2015.

Junichi Suwabe, who plays the role of Abe, talks about his thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as Abe this time I couldn't help but be like, "They had that kind of relationship!?" [2] Abe’s lines that left an impression on me It would be a spoiler, so it's a secret. If I had to say, it would be "everything." [3] A message to everyone We hope you'll give it a try. Thank you!

Yuko Kaida, who plays Burroughs, talks about her thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as Burroughs this time I'm happy to meet you all once more as Burroughs. [2] Burroughs’ lines that left an impression on me "It's no good. I'm getting an error"* This time, Burroughs's only appearance looks somewhat human. Actually, alongside this one I played another role where I was able to give my all, so I had a lot of fun. *[TN: Originally "ダメ、エラーが出ちゃう"] [3] A message to everyone We have an astonishingly gorgeous cast of voice actors this time too! I was so surprised. We hope you enjoy this voiced Megaten the fullest once again!

Cho, who plays Dr. Matsuda/Stephen, talks about his thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as Dr. Matsuda/Stephen this time Hey folks! Dr. Matsuda and Stephen were completely different characters, so I had a lot of fun. I wanted to expand the role of Dr. Matsuda more. Next time I'm asked to perform as Dr. Matsuda, would it be okay if I change the dialogue to suit my own taste? [2] Lines that left an impression on me Matsuda is like, “Hey folks” Stephen is like, “Hello there”*

[3] A message to everyone Hello there, my name is Stephen. Thanks to you guys, we can meet again. I am looking forward to it…. For pete's sake!

*[TN: Originally "どもっす" for Matsuda and "やあ" for Stephen. Matsuda speaks with the polite auxiliary verb -ssu used in colloquial speech, which shows slight respect for the listener but doesn't convey an intellectual image. There's no way to closely convert those to English so I just used what the localization came up with]

Atsuko Tanaka, who plays Gabby/Gabriel, talks about her thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as Gabby/Gabriel this time It's an honor to play Gabby/Gabriel again! [2] Lines that left an impression on me "Our Lord, the most merciful and gracious, has deigned to give you a chance"* *[TN: Originally "寛大にして慈悲深き我らが主は 貴方たちに機会をお与え下さいました"]

[3] A message to everyone I played Gabby/Gabriel in this title as well. I cannot wait, but please wait. (Note) This comment was received in the summer of 2015.

Mugihito, who played the role of ●●●●, talks about his thoughts on this work

[1] Acting out as ●●●● this time It's best not to say too much about the character I play. I'm looking forward to meeting you all in the game. [2] A message to everyone Sure enough, when I got requested for the role, I became worried that a human being would get punished for playing it (laugh).

That's why I put a lot of effort into my performance, so please come and check it out with your own eyes and ears.

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