#to use his ghost powers to steal one last puzzle piece :3

[ridiasfangirlings]

Years have passed since the the slates were destroyed and everyone's life is moving on. The dead characters get to visit the living world as ghost who can't speak to any of the still alive characters but they could talk to the other ghost. For a few days they get to see what the world has become and watch how the loved ones they left behind are doing. Nothing's perfect but in the end, their loved ones are happy and so they're satisfied.

Isn’t this a bit like what happened in Circle Vision, except I guess actual ghosts this time instead of whatever was going on there. Assuming the ghosts can’t be seen by anyone either, maybe this is an Obon thing and everyone actually did get to come visit their loved ones. Like imagine Homra is setting up things for Obon a few years after the end of ROK and Anna kinda looks up at one point with this thoughtful look on her face. Kusanagi asks if she’s okay and she smiles and says it’s nothing. Floating nearby Ghost Totsuka notes that of course Anna would sense they were there, hasn’t she grown up to be a good girl. Ghost Mikoto is smoking a celestial cigarette and just looking down on everyone, he nods and says he figured they’d be okay. Totsuka says Kusanagi looks like he’s doing well too, he’s busy as always. There aren’t any drinks left on the counter though, waiting for people who can’t drink them, and Titsuka complains that here he was thirsty. Mikoto smiles and says it’s fine though isn’t it, that Kusanagi doesn’t need to put those out anymore. Totsuka smiles gently and says that’s true, King was especially worried about Kusanagi but here it seems there was no need after all. Mikoto denies being worried but he says that’s fine, the living shouldn’t be looking back at the dead all the time. Totsuka agrees and says he supposes they should go, unless Mikoto wants to check on the Blue King first. Mikoto smirks and says that guy will be fine too, he doesn’t need ghosts watching him (over at Scepter 4, Munakata sneezes and goes back to his puzzle, with ghost Kusuhara quietly expressing his gratitude beside him).

Meanwhile Sukuna’s stopping by where jungle’s hideout used to be, with some flowers for Hisui. Maybe Douhan is there too accompanying him, just to keep an eye on him while Yukari is elsewhere, and Sukuna’s just quietly looking unsatisfied as he sets the flowers on the ground. He’s gotten taller and maybe he’s learned some things but he doesn’t want Hisui and Iwa to be forgotten either, he feels like someone should be here to mourn them. Ghost Hisui is watching and thinks that even if his dream failed he’s hopeful Sukuna has found a new dream he can believe in. Iwa leans against him and says the kid should be fine, Iwa wishes they could have taught him more but there’s only so much time any person has after all. Hisui agrees, saying that what they ultimately wanted was for people to be happy and at least Sukuna seems to be on his way to achieving such a thing.

Yukari himself is over at Ichigen’s grave when Kuroh walks up with his own flowers to deliver. Yukari greets him and Kuroh notes that this is a time of year for ghosts, isn’t it. Yukari is curious if Kuroh believes in such things and Kuroh says he doesn’t know, but he’s felt a few presences gently watching over Shiro and Neko in the last few days. Yukari laughs a little but doesn’t say anything against that, just noting that Kuroh seems to have his own sense of inner beauty as well, to feel such things. Kuroh says he’s still weak in many ways but he’s growing, and he hopes that any presence watching over him is pleased. Yukari teases him for being so serious and then notes that the air is gentle here, as ghost Ichigen moves to give them both a quick embrace before floating away in the wind.

[writings-of-a-british-fangirl]

Change Is Good (Zuko x Reader) [Everything Has Changed Part 2]

Title: Change Is Good Summary: You and Zuko follow your destiny, which leads you to Aang and his friends. As you expected, they're not happy. But, can you change this? Warnings: A little bit of angst and a tiny bit of violence Request: One of my lovely followers wanted a part 2 so here it is!

A/N: Part 3 is now out!!

PART 1: EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED PART 2: CHANGE IS GOOD PART 3: CHANGING SPIRITS PART 4: A HEART OF CHANGE

Zuko~Change Is Good

You felt the nerves climb up your body. Sure, you were confident in what you were doing: it was the right thing, but that didn't make the prospect of being caught by the Fire Lord or Azula any less terrifying. Zuko had promised to meet you at the pique of the solstice. Part of you didn't want to think about what he was going to do before that point, but you had some suspicion: he was going to confront his father. That left you with one important thing to do: commandeer a war balloon.

     You began scouting out a war balloon. It had been left unattended unlike the others, and it was the perfect opportunity to steal your get away vehicle.

    Confidently, you strolled over to the balloon. You began to pretend work on the balloon, tinkering around with the edge of the basket. The metal looked fine, but that's not what you were going to tell the soldiers.

    "Hey! You there! What are you doing?" a fire nation soldier yelled.

    "Just as I suspected! It's been perforated!" you exclaimed, "I'm afraid you're going to have to use a different war balloon, boys."

    "What are you talking about?"

    "Your balloon! It's not up to scratch with the others!" you exclaimed, "You better join the others in another balloon- you don't want to miss out on the glorious opportunity to capture and defeat the Avatar do you?"

    "I-No," the soldier said.

    "Well, run along. Princes orders. Can't have any balloons not taking off."

    "Yes, of course."

    Once they moved along, all you had to do was wait for Zuko to arrive. As time more time passed, the more your nerves had crept in. What if Azula had gotten to him? What if his father had? Maybe you should've gone with him? Should've helped him? But, just as you were about to question everything, you heard someone shouting your voice. Swiftly, you turned around.

    "Zuko," you smiled, "You made it."

    "Did you doubt me?"

    "Not at all Prince Zuko," you teased.

    "I thought I told you to stop calling me that," he sarcastically replied.

    "Whatever," you murmured, "Just get in."

    You hated to admit it, but you'd missed Zuko. You'd missed the back and forth you were used to. For a long time he was basically your only friend. Since being back in the Fire Nation, you'd barely had any contact with him: it was lonely. But, now it seemed things were going back to normal. Or, at least, there was the possibility of going back to normal in the future.

---

"Do you know what you're going to say to them?" you murmur to Zuko, "When we find them?"

     Zuko was staring off into the distance. Judging by the direction Appa was flying they were heading to the Air Temple. It was familiar to Zuko: he had been there at the start of his journey to capture the Avatar. The irony of meeting the Avatar again here to ask him to join him was not lost him. He hung his head a little and thought about your question: what was he going to say to them?

     "I... I was hoping I was going to think of something on the way there," he told you, "I'm not expecting forgiveness from them but I need them to know I've changed."

    "He might not like it but he needs a fire bending teacher in order to stop this."

     Zuko just nods. He knows you're trying to help; you've always tried to help him, even when he pushed you and Iroh away, even when he didn't deserve it. When he first got back to the Fire Nation, he thought it would all fall into place. He hoped, no he needed, his decisions to be validated. Zuko so longed to fall back into his old life and fit like the last piece in a puzzle. But, even with his father's acceptance, it wasn't right. He couldn't help but think back to his mother, and to you. You were just as protective over his as his mother was. When Azula would pick on his, you'd defend him with loyalty he could only wonder how he earned. And, even after his mother disappeared, he still felt some sort of comfort from you. Of course, as he aged, you became more than family.

    He'd never vocalised that, thought.

    Rejection hurt, and Zuko knew he wasn't strong enough to lose you again. So, for now, you would remain friends. Even if it hurt him to know one day he would have to let go, and let you go into the arms of another.

     What Zuko hadn't realised is that you'd done the exact same thing to you. You'd let him slip away and you saw him slowly get closer to Mai. You saw the way he lit up around her, and you were forced to come to a realisation you'd always dreaded: you were replaceable. Not only were you replaceable, you were forgettable. And, the saddest part? You didn't even mind: if it was anyone you thought deserved kindness in his life it was Zuko. Even if you couldn't be that love in his life, at least he was being loved.

    That's why it felt so odd now: where did you stand? How had he left Mai? Had he even left Mai? Or, when this is all over, would he just return to her again? It was too risky, you had decided, to tell him about how you felt, so you kept quiet.

     "Hey, look, we're here," you hear Zuko say, and you raise your head.

     "I remember how it looked the first time we came here," you say, "Maybe this time we can actually appreciate it. Especially when they'll be an actually airbender to show us around."

     "I don't think we've earned the VIP tour yet," Zuko says, "But, hopefully, we'll at least get to stay."

---

This was going to be a lot harder than you'd thought. Of course, Team Avatar were never going to accept you like welcome guests, but you hoped they would at least see why you were necessary. Aang needed a fire bending teacher: here you were, two fire benders. But, they had refused and you'd gone with Zuko to set up camp for the night.

    "So stupid! Why did I say that?" Zuko complained.

    "Zuko, don't say that-"

    "-No, they were right," Zuko interrupted, "I don't think they're ever going to except us. Except me. I don't know what to do. I've never felt so lost... I know this is the right thing to do but it's so hard."

     You walked closer to him, only a hands' touch away.

    "That only means it's worth doing," you say softly, "You know your destiny, Zuko. We're just going to have to be patient."

    A smile barely ghosted across his face, but you still caught it.

    "What would I do without you?"

    "Crash and burn," you teased, "Literally. Now come on, Prince, get some sleep."

    This time Zuko didn't correct you on his nickname. In fact, he found it quite endearing- not that he'd tell you that. He looked down and away from you so you wouldn't see the blush across his face. He coughed under his breath, and nodded, agreeing to go to sleep. But, he didn't think he'd actually get much sleep.

---

It seemed even when he wasn't trying to be dangerous, Zuko couldn't help his nature. He was startled awake by Toph, and instinctively threw a bolt of fire towards her. It lapped the underside of her feet, burning them on impact. Despite trying to apologise and run after her, he was forced backwards with rocks, and eventually gave up. You stirred when you felt a wave of heart, mostly likely from Zuko.

      "What's going on? What happened?" you asked Zuko as he stood to the edge of your make shift camp, his shoulder hung in shame.

     "I burned her."

     "What? You burned who? How?"

     "Toph," he explained, "She came to speak to us I think... But, I lashed out when I heard noise, and I burnt her. It was an accident I swear! But..."

     He trails off.

     "I don't think they're ever going to accept me. Not after I burnt Toph... And, all the other times I've wronged them," Zuko said, barely audible, "It's hopeless."

      "Don't say that!" you cry out, "We'll- No, I'll go speak to them in the morning when the situation has settled down. I'm sure Toph will understand it's an accident."

       Although it wasn't ideal, Zuko needed sleep. He did his best to fall back asleep, but was only plagued with nightmares. At some point they faded and he began to dream of his childhood, and of you.

      You'd grown up together, despite the fact your family wasn't royalty- far from it, in fact. However, your mother was close to Zuko's mother. Your father was a soldier who died shortly after your birth, so when your mother reached out to her old friend Ursa, and explained her situation, she opened up her heart and her home to you. Ozai barely noticed you and your mother- if it didn't concern advancing his power, he didn't care. So, you did your best to stay out of his way. However, you didn't stay out of the way of his son, Zuko. From an early age, it seemed like you were kindred spirits. He was your best friend, and practically family after your mother died from a severe flu.

      Of course, living in the royal palace didn't come without it's challenges. Zuko's sister was one of them; Azula had it in for you the day you arrived it seemed. You had a suspicion she was jealous of how fond her mother was of you. She liked to pick on Zuko, and revelled in how angry you would get. But, then she would turn her attention to you. Zuko would try and defend you, but you had a fierce spirit and would always push back against her. She scared you but that didn't mean you wouldn't fight back.

      Zuko had always admired that about you. In fact, he admired most things about you. His mother had noticed too. She liked to tease him about it, jesting that she thought the two of you made the cutest little pair. Back then of course, the thought hadn't even occurred to him, but now he couldn't help but think his mother was right.

    When Zuko awoke, you were nowhere to be seen. His first instinct was to panic, but he soon found the note you'd tucked right beside him. It read: 'I've gone to speak to them. Don't worry! I won't be gone long, and hopefully when I'm back we'll have an alliance or at least lunch. ~Y/N.' He read over the note and fell back in his sleeping bag. He hoped you wouldn't be long.

     It had been far too long since you had first left, and Zuko was beginning to get worried. He thought it was just his over thinking when he heard the distinct yell of your voice: you were in danger!

---

"I know you don't trust Zuko-"

     "-Or you," Sokka interrupted.

     "...Or me," you corrected, "But I need you to at least listen to me. We've done some terrible stuff, and I know that we can't make it up to you, but I need you understand he wants to help. I want to help. You don't understand what its like being raised around Fire Nation propaganda-"

    "-We don't care," Katara said.

    "You need to understand-"

    You were interrupted again. Only this time it wasn't Sokka, it was the rumbling of the Air Temple. Your stomach sank- it was Combustion Man. Your heart sank. You didn't come here looking for a fight today, but if that's what you had to do, you would.

     "Everyone take cover!"

     "Why should we listen to you?" Sokka snarked.

     "It's the assassin you idiot! I'm trying to help you!" you yelled, "Now take cover! I'm going to give him something to fire at!"

     The gang watched you as you used your fire to strike at the assassin. You launched yourself into the air, using fire to throw yourself further. With a loud thud, you landed on the cliff edge, adjacent to the assassins. Using a sprint to build up power, you ran at him. You threw fire ball after fire ball, hurling all your power at him. You run was cut short but his hand around your neck; he held you off the ground as you struggled. Your fingers grappled with his, struggling to get him off you. You began to gasp for air. You heat up your hands to a scorching temperature, and ram them down onto his wrist. He flinched back and threw you down beside him. You hit the ground, and felt the wind being knocked out of you. You slid down the small ledge on the cliff, and began yelling for Zuko.

    You felt the ground shift beneath you. The cliff was weakening and was about to break. In your weakened state, you tried to dig your hand into the side of the cliff, but you were far too tired to hold on. The cliff gave way and crumbled beneath you. Your scream was almost deafening.

    "Zuko!" you yell out, scared for your life.

    That's when you feel an arm around you, and your body come into contact with the cliff again. You opened your eyes again: Zuko. He saved you! He had used a vine to swing in and grab you, saving you from falling. You breathe a sigh of relief, but not for long. There was a deadly assassin to take down.

    "Of all the assassins, you had to pick a combustion bender?" you ask Zuko.

    "I can still drop you, you know," Zuko warned.

    You rolled your eyes and began climbing the vine with Zuko's help and guidance.

    As soon as your were stood up again, the winding had almost wore off- enough, at least to fight back. You and Zuko had always made a good team, especially when it came to fighting, and today would be no different. You began creating walls of fire, and forcing them towards him. Zuko doing the same. You were getting pushed back but still prevailing. That's when a boomerang came flying around the corner and hit Combustion Man dead in his third eye, sending him falling backwards, you watched him fall to the ground with a thud.

    "I'm never letting you go off on your own again- you make terrible decisions," you say looking down at the assassin on the ground then back to Zuko.

    "You know what, I'm okay with that."

   "Thank you, by the way," you say, "You know, for saving me."

    You exchanged a look together then made your way over to the gang. They were a little hesitant, which you had expected, but there was a different emotion in Aang's face. You looked to Zuko and then to the group, ready to face their judgement.

    "I never thought I'd bee saying this, but I think you were meant to be my fire bending teacher Zuko."

    You couldn't help but smile a little.

    You listened to Aang as he asked the rest of the group how they felt. Although Katara wasn't happy, you and Zuko were let into the group.

     "I won't let you down!" Zuko exclaimed.

     Zuko watched them leave, and then turned back to you.

    "Is this what doing the right thing feels like?" Zuko asked, "It feels good."

    You nodded, "We should've been doing this all along. Besides I prefer your hair a lot more now than the pony tail you had during your angst phase."

    You laughed at his offended phase before walking after the gang, so they could show you where your room was. Zuko let your comment sink in then protested, jogging after you.

   "Hey! I thought you liked the pony tail!"

[sanjuno]

Meta Fic rides again

I'm a little stuck on how to word something in my Nano 2020 project so I decided to take a break by trying to read “Scum Villain’s Self Saving System” again and failed horribly because I got to the part when Binghe comes back and my interest died a quick and messy death for yet a third time. Someone write me a giant pile of gen-fic and LiuShen AUs to heal my heart.

Here, I’ll start us off:

Spite and Fury (or; PEDW is a hive of Scum and Villainy)

So bitter-old-man!Madara dies of old age after he passes his Epic Revenge Plot over into Obito’s keeping, and the Sage’s knockoff-brand cycle-of-transmigration peels Indra’s chakra out of Madara’s soul - which results in dying!Madara having a screaming ragefit that sends his spirit-and-chakra careening through the void between worlds

At which point shattered-and-fragmenting-more!Madara gets into an altercation with the System and since the System is a little bitch it tosses Madara into the worst possible Fate it can think of (see: PEDW)

Transmigration bullshit and Sharingan fuckery smash into each other in a gigantic clusterfuck of asspulls

Madara is missing bits because Indra’s imprint got ripped out

The Shen Jiu base soul is missing bits because torture and previous abuse of his character by the System

The resulting villain amalgamation is Not Pleased

Instead of landing in the divergence point chosen by the System - aka the Qi deviation fever shortly after Binghe arrives at Cang Qiong Sect – we instead have the jigsaw puzzle mashup of Mads-and-Jiu land in baby-slave Jiu’s body

The good news is Madara and Jiu stop fragmenting because they end up woven together - they’re stuck together as an almost-single person only with two different sets of memories

Character exploration is going to be an EVENT

Also the Madara part of them is really happy with the silky smooth hair

Also Yue “lets-Binghe-kill-him-because-he-thinks-Shen-Jiu-is-dead�� Qi is cast is a much better light when compared to Senju “stabs-his-sworn-brother-in-the-back” Hashirama

So Mads-Jiu plays it close to canon for the first few years - the only real difference is that he tags his Jiejie with a tracking seal for after he escapes from slavery - he’s not leaving his ability to find her again up to chance or developing a reputation as a whoremonger if he can help it

When he gets bought by the Qiu is when Mads-Jiu starts being a manipulative little shit like we all know he is

Xanatos-pileup-or-bust!Mads-Jiu basically lets Yue Qi escape alone because he NEEDS Yue Qi to become Cang Qiong Sect Leader for his long-term plans to work properly

So Mads-Jiu warns Yue Qi that if he has to be CAREFUL because cultivating is dangerous and if Yue Qi comes back missing any pieces then Jiu will cut the EXACT SAME BITS OFF HIMSELF

And so Yue Qi is EXTREMELY safety conscious and the life eating sword drama is avoided entirely

Of course he’s also taking longer to reach his initial strength levels than in canon because he isn’t rushing

So there’s nothing like Yue Qi showing up early to trigger a plot divergence alert in the System

</mwahahaha>

Mads-Jiu is more pragmatic regarding Qiu Haitang’s so-called innocence this time around - and so he arranges for her to catch the Creeper Qiu bro abusing and assaulting Shen Jiu

Haitang is HORRIFIED AND DISGUSTED to see what her brother is doing to her fiancé and also TERRIFIED by the fact that he talks the entire time about how sweet it’s going to be when it’s HAITANG under him

The Qiu burn on schedule but Haitang kills her fair share - double Qi deviations FTW!

The system does not notice such a minor change in the background events - Jiu kills the Qiu, burns down their house, and Haitang survives the fire with vengeance raging in her heart

Mads-Jiu kills the demonic creeper that was hanging around because ew no and also keep your hands of Haitang

Again, it’s too close to canon for the System to notice - Jiu killed him in defense of a “childhood friend” so hahaha again

Instead of being used as a stalking horse by an evil master Mads-Jiu runs off with Haitang to track down and rescue his Jiejie

Shenanigans ensue

Afterwards Mads-Jiu “has an idea to help find Qi-ge” by asking around for him at the Immortal Alliance Conference

Of course there are more shenanigans and Yue Qi saves all three by claiming that they’re Cang Qiong disciples - so of course he drags all 3 of them back with him and wibbles at the current Sect Leader until he lets them all join

Still (mostly) following canon! Ha! So no “punishment” events get triggered in the System (which is mostly dormant because the Protagonist isn’t born yet XP)

Qiu Haitang was supposed to join a Sect! Jiejie got sold on schedule! Shen Jiu killed the Qiu and his “first master”! Yue pesters his Shizun into letting his sibling(s) join the Sect in an unorthodox fashion!

But the devil is in the details

And the devil’s name is Uchiha Madara

Jiejie ends up as Peak Lord for Talisman Peak because magic and seals saved her before

Haitang ends up Peak Lord for Hidden Peak because she refuses to be caught unawares by a dangerous secret ever again... also because she’s a mean sneaky bitch and owns it

Having more than one sibling for the Sect Leader to blatantly favour means less wholesale resentment directed at Mads-Jiu as well

However the Jiu part of them has memories from PIDW and also SVSSS - so he knows that shit is going to get horrible once Su Xiyan gets knocked up

Obviously the answer is to seduce all of his fellow peak lords into a glorious polyamorous clusterfuck so as to promote skinship and pack bonding and harmony among the sect leadership

(It worked for PIDW Binghe with his wives and SVSSS Shen Yuan with getting Bing-mei to chill his tits after all and nobody can trip you into bed quite like a shinobi)

And so Cang Qiong’s family aesthetics get rocked so hard that instead of panting after his Shizun baby disciple Binghe decides to seduce his peers...

... and his rivals

... and other sect’s disciples

... and the occasional demon

Mads-Jiu is really proud of his baby demon lord but makes sure not to single Binghe out - instead every Qing Jing disciple gets rewarded and punished at the same time

It promotes bonding! And teamwork!

And prevents the utter destruction of Mads-Jiu’s chrysanthemum via oversized demonic pillar!

There is totally going to be an extra where Mads-Jiu realizes that the average size of a male cultivators pillar is DANGEROUSLY EXCESSIVE

NOBODY NEEDS THAT MUCH PILLAR

Even HIS pillar hasn’t escaped the curse

BIGGER IS NOT BETTER!

How the fuck is he supposed to fight if he can’t even wear pants comfortably!?!?

(No wait come back Mu-shidi this shixiong is sorry it wasn’t mockery it was a perfectly reasonable tantrum that was a long time coming now stop sulking your dick is very pretty let shixiong make it up to you~)

And at some point there will be a wild Bing-ge who appears to cause trouble with a mirror that’s intended to temporarily transform people into the form of their last life - he aims it at the native Bingbing to get him out of the way so he can steal the “nice” Shizun

It would have been Pom time for Bingbing but Mads-Jiu pushes him out of the way

And cue giant explosion of dark Qi as a bonus expansion pack of Madara’s 10-tail Jinchuriki time with powers-and-memories gets downloaded into Mads-Jiu

Mads-Jiu the “Heavenly Demon Demi God” drops several mountains worth of flaming meteor rock on the invaders and then goes on a giant flaming skeleton rampage against Bing-ge

... Bing-ge has changed his mind he doesn’t want this Shizun take him back and oh gods the shrieking

How does he shriek so loud? Doesn’t he need to breathe?

... ok so Shizun breathes fire that’s good to know

Whelps time to bravely run away

And then the amassed sects need to figure out how to calm down the rampaging hell beast

The youngest Qing Jing disciple is brought out and told to cry for Shizun

Actually-a-broody-hen!Mads-Jiu whips around and starts fussing over his baby student

Because baby why are you crying stop it tell Shizun who hurt you and he will BURN THEM TO ASH

The last bit I have an idea for involves Mads-Jiu getting yanked though dimensions because Edo Tensei where he instantly twigs to what is going on and pushes the “righteous cultivator” skin to maximum strength

He shoves all the baby ninja behind him and keeps barrier spamming the zombie army - because ew no stay away from the children resentful corpses

Zetsu is included in the zombie army shall not pass smack down

Zombie!Tobirama is appalled because wut? Wasn’t this supposed to be Madara’s zombie? What is happening?

And I dunno something where he “notices” the resentful energy surrounding Danzo because stealing the eyes of the people you murdered is bad karma

So Mads-Jiu does a spirit thing and the ghosts of the Uchiha rips Danzo apart while screaming about his guilt in full view of the entire Village

And then Mads-Jiu goes home because filial little Bingbing came to get him and he’s not enjoying upending the shinobi social order nope not at all whom exactly do you take him for?

... Yes he’s done and ready to go back to his spouses now he’s sure the ninja have all learned better than to raise living corpses now anyway

The end

=/=

[ae0nx]

FRUITS BASKET ‘19 EPISODE 23 VS FRUITS BASKET ‘01 EPISODE 19

Ok! We’re finally here! We’re at the beginning of the storm! I’m so nervous... I didn’t know how to do these comparisons especially the storyline in the 2001 version not syncing up completely with the 2019 version. But I’m just gonna try and puzzle piece my way through it, ‘kay? :)

-------------------------------------------------------------

Also, just some notes that I wanna state about the 2001 version so I don’t keep repeating myself for the next 2-3 weeks:

- I love love love the opening. It breaks my heart and heals it every time I hear it and the images of the characters by doorways/windows/alleyways looking outward and always to the side of the frame is a great artistic choice and metaphor. Also, the lyrics are just simply... everything. ‘Let’s stay together always...’

- Some of the colour choices in clothing (or even the hair) that the characters have are... interesting. I definitely find myself appreciating the newer version as you can tell they put more thought into it, even if I do think the power ranger assigned colours are kinda silly. But really? Kyo wearing pastels?! No way. ...But I kinda love it anyway. Outfit Appreciation: 2.5 stars.

- I adore the music box sounding background music. It really adds a lot of whimsy to the show and kinda reminds me that Fruits Basket in a lot of its elements takes inspiration from fairy tales. 

- The English dub voices obviously sound different and in comparison to the 2019 version, you can really tell how much they’ve all matured as VAs. ESPECIALLY Laura Bailey and Jerry Jewell.

- I also adore how ridiculous and mostly comedic the 2001 version is. Which makes the later turn in the anime so much more heartbreaking and tough to watch as it comes as such a shock compared to the tone of the rest of the anime. Unbalanced? Maybe so. But on a shallow kind of level without thinking too hard, I can enjoy it.

- I love 2001!Shigure. Again, it’s a shallow choice and I don’t deny he’s a lot more interesting and fleshed out in the manga/2019!anime. I just like 20-something year old, new-father-to-two-teens-but-he’s-not-like-a-FATHER-he’s-a-’cool-older-brother’ who likes to laze around the house in his kimono and ISN’T MENTALLY TRAUMATISING THEM. Well, without meaning to anyway... AND LOOK HOW CUTE HE IS.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Right! Let’s get into it! 

This is me knowing the future trauma I’m going to have to go through with this anime.

But in all seriousness, the 2019 version really captured Tohru’s depression a lot better. Especially with the later scene where she breaks down in front of Kyo in the bedroom. A+ crying from Laura Bailey, I really felt it this time. As I said, the 2001 version seemed like it didn’t wanna deep dive too much so I’m glad we get a deeper in look to the complexities of Tohru this time.

It might be a translation ‘nothing’, but I find it interesting that Kyo felt like he jinxed her. Especially linked with his comments to Kagura later about how he feels ‘no one should want to hang around him’. I mean we’ll get into the reasoning for this most likely in the next two episodes but you can probably guess why... Poor kitty.

(Also side note: Do you think that’s why - out of everyone that has been bullied in this anime - Kyo seemed the least affected by school bullies? Is it cos of his experience within the Sohma family and his curse, that he almost expects that everyone he meets would treat him like that? It’s interesting because Hana had the same thought process towards her own bullying but she never fought back... But Kyo did. I might just conclude this thought as it just being in his nature to fight back, but we’ll see...)

Also, 2001 giving us Kyo freaking out in cat form about Tohru’s fever was pretty funny. Man, they really did do an overkill with the transformations back then...

2001 really was not good at showing the gradual progress of Kyo controlling his anger around Tohru as much as the 2019 version. Yes, in the 2019 ep, Kyo was still annoyed that Tohru wouldn’t just relax and concentrate on getting better but my God, Kyo is sooooo shout-y and yell-y in this version! And I don’t wike it lol.

However I shouldn’t shit on the moment too much. I do think 2001 wanted to show us that Kyo saw how receptive Tohru was to Shigure being calmer and nicer and it kind of influenced him to take more of a gentle approach to Tohru later. Kyo being influenced by Shigure is... questionable... but whatever, it’s got good intentions! (I still like the 2019 version better)

Momiji with the oversized work outfit! He’s so adorable I could cry.

- I’m kinda bummed that the 2019 version didn’t include the ‘Kyo stealing leeks from Yuki’s garden’ moment. It’s a hilarious moment (especially with Yuki’s reaction) and it is just PEAK ‘it’s not stealing if you’re taking it from family’ energy that I adoreeee and stand by lol

Really, 2001!Kyo... are you five years old?

‘ 🎵And at most... I’m sleeping all these demons away...’

‘ 🎵But your ghost... the ghost of you it keeps me awake’

Kyo seeing ghosts of Tohru is both unintentionally funny and dramatic in both versions to me, I’m sorry. I’m really just a child.

Where do I start? Kyo being ever so dramatic with the goggles and the face mask... Shigure with the all-knowing troll look. 2001 really gave us some gems and I think we all tend to forget that.

Plus...

I. LOVE. THIS. BROTHER. DYNAMIC. (I know it isn’t accurate don’t ruin the fanfic going on in my head)

- Tohru being depressed that she wasted Yuki’s time and didn’t fulfill her mother’s wishes makes me wish she was more so just concerned about herself and how she’s gonna pass for herself? But it is very much in her character to do so, so I guess I’ll let it slide. And I guess Kyo said what I said in well... his own unique way of giving advice.

- But when it came to the actual soup porridge scene, I lean more towards the 2019 version. There’s so much said in Kyo’s body language and Tohru’s own inner thoughts. She’s really falling in love with him and she doesn’t even know it!!! 

THAT PEEK FROM HIS ELBOW?! COME ON!!! STOP IT. MY HEART. these dumb fuckin kids...

I loveee the 2019 porridge moment so much more, but this moment right here just ELEVATED the whole moment. It says so muchhhh without saying much at alllll and ohhhh this poor boyyyy...!!!!! It really took a fluffy moment and just stabbed me in the heart and I guess I respect you for that? Thanks...?

I’m so glad the 2019 version is feeding us in stupid made up songs. *chef’s kiss* haha

- I’m really glad that Kisa calls Hatori ‘uncle’ in 2019 and not ‘grandpa’ like she did in 2001. Cos as someone in their mid-twenties that shit was straight up offensive lol

The Momiji and Kyo moments are always so heartwarming in this version. My faves. <3

- Also I dunno why but I really liked Hatori, The Doctor Who Smokes in the 2001 anime. It didn’t make sense but quite honestly if anyone in this anime chose to smoke to let off some steam, it should be him. (Not an advocate for smoking)

---- Right! No more 2001 comparisons cos the episode that is equivalent to this part of the episode is also riddled spoilers for the next 2019 episode so... just normal review from here. ---

Why is it that Yuki’s insults against Kyo always hurt so much more?! They are both terrible to each other but for some reason, I always feel it more when Yuki verbally backhands Kyo. Maybe it’s the way Eric Vale practically venomously spits out these words or maybe it’s cos Yuki kinda has more privilege than Kyo so it feels like he’s kicking a literal homeless cat.

- Also, my poor boy! Definitely felt myself sympathising a lot more this time around to how weak he was feeling.

Lol I felt that exasperated breath. At least this time, Kyo doesn’t call Tohru’s umbrella ‘a sissy girly pink umbrella’. A minor improvement? (So, I might of watched a bit of the 2001 version of episode 24...)

...Need I say anything? <3

- HEADLINE: Shigure ships Yuki/Tohru and Kyo/Kagura? What is he up to...

- Kyo shouting at Kagura in the middle of the supermarket was a shitty move but Kagura mooshing his head in response was great... what a terrible but very entertaining couple lol

- Kagura’s ‘If I told you, you’d cry...’ is giving me all the heart pain. How many times can I say that I’m not ready...

I’ve seen people in the tag compare this moment to his porridge moment with Tohru and while I agree, it does seem like Kyo just naturally wanted to help Tohru compared to Kyo feeling obligated to hold hands with Kagura. But errrrm.... I just think Kyo is a good kid haha. And while I do think he CLEARLY holds Tohru in a very treasured and locked away place in his heart, he just doesn’t like it when girls cry around him and will do anything to stop it. I also think he does care about Kagura, and that he’s more so annoyed that Kagura doesn’t seem to get that he won’t love her in the way she loves him (and well... her being a tsundere lol). But I could be wrong! I’m a walking manga amnesiac as always...

*HIGH PITCHED SCREAMING*

Talk about FINALLY. They really named the episode that and made us wait until the LAST SECOND OF THE EPISODE TO GIVE US THE WORDS: ‘You look well...’

What a tease.

And we’re not even gonna get into the preview for the next episode and how three words made me tear up minutes before I had to go to a party on Friday night.

Wow. This might be the longest review so far. I don’t doubt that next week’s will be longer lol. The reason why I wanted to do the 2001 comparisons will probably make more sense next week and I will also say my thoughts on the 2001 version of the events with the umbrella and Kagura and Kyo’s date next week before I go into the review.

Jeez, this took two hours to write. WHY DO I DO THIS?!

[ciathyzareposts]

Crusaders of the Dark Savant: Gorn and Scumbles

As I arrive in a new dungeon,the game again tells me my own thoughts.

             My trip to the Holy City of Munkharama didn’t last very long. I mapped the small temple area, but my progress was impeded by a series of doors that had cups attached to them–they clearly want me to drop something in. There was also a group of four urns in each corner of the temple that also clearly want something.

Progress to the east was impeded by an inability to swim multiple squares at a time. There was a wishing well that had this riddle:

           I know a thousand faces, and count the tallied heads, feasting bright upon the eyes, of the may who have died. Wielding well a mighty power, who hath but humble stature, masses fall upon their knees, to scarce behold my only side!

           The game asked what I wanted to shout into the well, but I didn’t know what it was looking for. If the text is supposed to be a riddle, I suppose the answer might be COINS, but somehow this didn’t occur to me when I was there. I left the temple exploring the forest to the south, but overly-difficult combats turned me back.               

Nothing in particular. Is shouting in a well something you typically do?

             A few of my characters got extra levels during this process, and my alchemist finally got something I’d been waiting for: a mass-damage spell. In this case, it was “Acid Bomb,” which does damage to every enemy in a group for several rounds in a row. I decided to head back to New City and try storming the jail one more time. This time, it worked. I defeated the Dark Savant’s groups of guardians and troopers and got the jail key. There was a colored keypad blocking access to the jail, but I figured out the code from a “black wafer” I had previously found in the city.                 

Rescuing this prisoner set off the entire “Gorn” episode.

          The prisoner turned out to be a Gorn captain named Boerigard, who said he had been betrayed while trying to find a secret fortress called Orkogre Castle. (The game is inconsistent and sometimes spells it “Orkorge.”) Upon further questioning, he begged me to travel to the castle and warn the Gorn king that “the Dartaen Alliance is broken.” He gave me a letter to show Lord Galiere–the Gorn we all have the hots for–and thus get safe passage through the forest.

I returned to where I had met Galiere and showed him the letter. He let me pass but warned me that the Gorn Empire was embroiled in a civil war and that I’d find plenty of hostile Gorn. He also mentioned that the Gorn wizard Murkatos had recently been assassinated.            

My map of the land I’ve explored so far.

           The land beyond Galiere opened up into several large branches. Orkogre Castle ended up being just a short way to the northwest, but owing to my exploration pattern, I got pretty far afield before I found it. The road split into major northeast and northwest sections, and only an increasing combat difficulty kept me from exploring in those directions indefinitely. Ultimately, the combats had the effect of funneling me to Orkogre, but it took several hours.                

These guys were way too hard for me.

               Orkogre Castle took up several small underground levels. I had to find a series of keys and levers to open the necessary grates to move forward. One puzzle involved a caged ape, to whom I had to give him a bunch of bananas (found elsewhere in the dungeon) to get him to open the lever to his cell. There were numerous combats with hostile parties of Gorn.              

Using keys to open a door.

           The level culminated in an encounter with the old Gorn king, who sat feebly on his throne. I transcribed his speech to give you a sense of the game’s long-winded approach to text:

          So the gods have decided to put the old king out of his misery at last, eh? Look you now upon this soulful guise, but once it were not so. How the orchard blossoms have faded in the fields. Though my army still stands strong, their strength is but a shallow weakness, for their spirit is broken. And now they wage war upon themselves, having lost that fleeting essence which fuels the heart and makes possible all loves and desires. The vision of their destiny has been broken. Shattered by the crushing presence of you who come from the stars. What grim irony that your visage now stands so mockingly before me. Shall you be the ghosts of my tormentors to haunt my dreams in the hereafter? Or merely be you that come to put the sword in my heart and end this mortal suffering. I see it all now, so clear. Worlds within worlds continually unfolding. The boundaries of time crossed and overlapping as easily as one might step from the garden into the forests. Like simple fish in the oceans, flipping and darting, living out their days unaware of the unseen universes which lie in the sky above their heads, so near and yet so far. How likened unto every man, that all these galaxies swing and orbit around him, continually in his sight and yet never seen nor glimpsed. Save that small portion which leaks into his momentary vision and births a thousand tales of miracles and divine conception. I pray you, grant this King these ramblings. Would that I could take my mind and thrust it upon you! But instead am forced to fling only the feeble stones of words. But tell me strangers, what cause brings you this day? 

         Finally, I had my chance to tell him that THE DARTAEN ALLIANCE IS BROKEN, only to get hit with another monologue:

         What’s this?! The Dartaen Alliance at end?! Then the prophesy is indeed come. So be it. We shall all play our part as was foretold. And meet in the infernos of the hereafter. But perhaps there be slack enough for dangerous sport with the oracles in this. For who is tosay that an end is naught but a gateway to some new beginning. And the pages yet unread be but deliberately concealed! !think I see much mischief in the fates. And perhaps it not be too late to learn their game. But what say you, be you willing to take a part?

              YES, I offered, and got a key to his treasure chamber, where I might find a “sacred piece of parchment.” The king decided to rouse himself and “find sport amongst [his] troops.” I later encountered him a few times in the hallways, where I amused myself by selling him the various bits of weapons and armor I’d looted from his own castle.            

Selling the king a cuirass from his own armory.

            It isn’t just the volume of text, nor David Bradley’s bardic aspirations, that make the readings a little tiresome. It’s more the way the text is presented, about 10 words at a time in a huge font, every sentence ending in an ellipse. It frequently looks like you’re done, because a sentence will end three words into the screen, but then it just picks up again on the next screen, as if the developers wanted to make sure every sentence started on a fresh screen. When you see it all written out above, it perhaps doesn’t look so bad, but when it’s being fed to you one line at a time and you don’t know when it will ever–for gods’ sake–just end, it’s like Chinese water torture.

When you meet an NPC, you sometimes just get dialogue options. Other times, you get options to do things like steal, trade, and share lore. I haven’t done much with the latter, but when I tried it with the Gorn king, he gave me several pieces of information, some of which seem like they conflict with each other:

              Mick the Pick has formed an alliance with King Ulgar. (Ulgar is the king giving this information to me.)

Our party has been fighting Mick the Pick at Orkogre Castle. (Mick the Pick is a ratkin NPC who I encountered but couldn’t get anything useful out of.)

The “Legend” Map is rumored to be hidden near Old City.

Captain Boerigard has been sighted at Lost Temple.

Captain Boerigard has been sighted at Ukpyr.

             The king’s chest was a bust. I opened it to find it empty.”Someone else has been here recently,” the game noted. Some commenters warned me that this could happen. I only hope it’s both possible to get the item later and obvious when the opportunity appears.

Continuing to explore the castle, I was attacked by the spirit of the wizard Murkatos. He had some powerful draining attacks and it took me a few attempts to defeat him. As he faded away, he told me (as part of a long speech) to seek the Tomb of Vilet Kanebe in the church of Nyctalinth. “There you will find a hidden part of what you seek.” His rooms had a lot of magic treasure and a Bonsai tree.              

“Borne of Gorn” would be a good name for a rock band.

             During this process, I lost about one-quarter of the combats that I fought (meaning at least one character died, a condition I couldn’t cure until the end of this session, when I found some resurrection scrolls). I’m finding the combat system a lot more frustrating than previous titles in the series. First, there’s a lot of variability to the difficulty. I remember this was true of Wizardry VI as well.You wander into a square and face 4 Gorn leaders, 4 Gorn shamans, 6 Gorn rangers, and 6 Gorn lancers. Thoroughly trounced, you reload, re-enter the same square, and get 3 Gorn rangers.              

This was one of the unlucky times.

           But even the easy battles are never throwaway battles. The game is genre savvy. It knows you can rest after every combat if necessary, so it’s not content to try to whittle down your hit points with endless parties of easy foes. And thus you can’t just blow through the combat with a series of physical attacks. With every other enemy capable of poison, paralysis, blinding, itching, stamina drains, or something worse, you have to strategize almost every battle. This almost always means casting at least one spell.

There are a lot of useful spells–so many that I’m only beginning to explore them. I’ll leave a longer posting about magic for later. For now, suffice to say that the mana bar is a bit misleading,because you really have separate pool of points for each spell “realm” (fire, water, air, earth, mental, and divine). Within each realm, you can only cast one or two spells (at least, at a decent power level) before needing to rest again.

In the rare case that you do just want to use physical attacks, the animations and sounds slow things down enough that you can’t simply hold down the ENTER key and blow through it.              

Three of these hateful bastards destroyed me.

             I don’t want to complain too much because so few games offer truly tactical combat. Crusaders is a bit exhausting in the number, lengths, and intensity of the combats, but I suppose that’s preferable to games that offer no tactics at all. 

The final issue is that character development doesn’t seem to make as much difference as I feel it should. A couple of my characters are maxed in their primary weapon skills, but it doesn’t feel like they hit more often or do more damage than when they only had 25 points. Of course, it doesn’t help that leveling slowed to a standstill after everyone passed Level 9.

At some point, I noticed that Gideon had enough points to change from a fighter to a lord, so I made the switch. Now I’m toying with moving my bard to a proper mage; I feel like my major weakness in combat is a lack of traditional mage power. The problem is that I’m still getting plenty of use out of his lute, but then again my alchemist has a “Sleep” spell now and plenty of points in that area. I’m also running out of reasons not to switch my thief to a ninja. I was thinking about doing both when they cross Level 10. As for the rest, I sort of like their existing classes, frankly.           

Bix puts a bunch of T’Rang to sleep.

            I’m not sure I put enough time into thinking about how to handle class changes strategically. When you switch, you lose a lot of attributes (to the minimums of the class you’re switching to) but not your health, stamina, mana, spell points, spells,or skills. Part of me feels that the best way to “game the system” would be to keep switching at Level 2, thus keeping the number of experience points needed for the next level low and maximizing the frequency with which you earn points to put into skills as well as new spells. Then, after switching a lot at low levels early in the game, finally settle on one class for the bulk of the game and try to get a high a level as possible. Unfortunately, I didn’t approach it that way and will probably have most characters switch only once and some not at all.             

My lord has managed to gain some high attributes since switching to this class.

          Miscellaneous notes:

           My characters haven’t really aged much since starting the game, but I have no idea how far I am, and all the resting is giving me the heebie-jeebies. I wonder if there’s any real chance of dying of old age.

I got so sick of not being able to swim more than one square at a time that I spent a lot of time swimming and resting (since the skill goes up with use). Almost everyone is over 50 in the skill now, but I still can’t swim more than a few squares without stamina running out. I’m guessing you can never build the skill to such a level that you can swim long distances with n trouble.

The game re-uses a lot of art. At least 6 creatures use the “giant bug” animation and at least that many use the “giant black bird” animation. This makes it hard to keep track of the enemies. I always forget whether a “Dragon Rook” is worse than a “Vampire Rook” or vice versa.

It’s frustrating that you can’t target specific enemies. If a group has 4 enemies asleep and 1 awake, I want to target the awake one, not spread my attacks out so that everyone wakes up.

I’ve learned to hit the “search” key at just about every environmental message. If there isn’t something to find, there’s often a supplemental message. 

                           This is exactly the sort of place you want to hit the “S” key.

            For my next move, I can go back to Munkharama and try the potential answer to the riddle. I still have several squares in New City for which I need keys and clues. When I was there, I wasted some more time with Professor Wunderland but still couldn’t figure out how to get the key to the Old City. If this is something I should know by now, I wouldn’t mind an explicit spoiler. Finally, I have at least three forest directions (two north of Munkharama and one south) left to try, in addition to the poppy fields near New City that I still have no way to navigate.

I really don’t know how any of this stuff ties in with the backstory yet. My party seems to have gotten embroiled in local matters and lost sight of the whole Astral Dominae business.

Time so far: 23 hours

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/crusaders-of-the-dark-savant-gorn-and-scumbles/