#well not nothing nothing but nothing that moves kanade forward as a character in a meaningful way

[w1f1n1ghtm4r3]

so i like the april fools shuffle units a normal amount. i have done redesigns for almost all of them and i draw them A Lot.

rambling additional notes on all of the redesigns below

a couple notes if you ever want to draw any of these redesigns for yourself at any point: i'd appreciate being credited for these redesigns (obviously anyone not redesigned i don't need credit for lol) and you don't need to follow my specific skin tone + hair/eye color schemes i have laid out. those are how i personally like to draw the characters and i've included them for anyone who might want to stay completely accurate to my redesigns, but you're welcome to use your own preferred color schemes for the cast when drawing them with these outfits!

now onto the fun(?) stuff

aoharu is pretty straightforward with redesigns, its basically just leoni but with a sun theme instead of stars. adding the image for the color palettes for the unchanged designs just because it has the notes for ichisaki too (their changes were too minor to completely redraw them, in my opinion).

ichika remains entirely unchanged design-wise other than adding a sun pin to her suspenders. saki stays mostly the same too, other than changing the design on her armband and switching her pigtails for a ponytail (in an attempt to seem a little more mature/imitate airi's hairstyle/move on from her childhood self since she's started to believe that honami and shiho want nothing to do with her and ichika anymore).

not too much to say about airi and ena's outfits either, i wanted to go a little more cute with airi and cool with ena, but there's minor changes with both of their hairstyles, with airi switching her pigtails for a ponytail as well (moving on from her idol days but still maintaining her usual sort of style) and ena's hair being a bit longer/messier.

yyj is definitely the most drastic, they're the only unit where i changed every single character... i have a lot of trouble drawing the mmj outfits, but also the lighter color scheme and clover theme just didn't really make sense for yyj to me? so instead i went with a mainly black and character color combo for their color schemes, alongside gold and white to accent it and a more spacey/dreamlike theme. everyone's black and white are slightly tinted with their character colors too!

they're split into pairs for matching accessories, but it doesn't mean much otherwise. kanade and an both have the dangling star charms and a single larger wristband (with those being on opposite sides from each other) as well as no buttons on the front of their outfits, while both hinomoris have the large bows on the backs of their outfits, smaller wristbands on both arms, a legband, and star shaped clips (like the other pair, the clips and legbands are on opposite sides from each other) and they do have buttons. they're split differently for the same style outfits though, with kanade/shizuku and shiho/an being the matching pairs this way.

kanade has the most obvious design changes. i swapped her character color to a medium-light blue rather than red, because tbh she kind of stood out too much if she was still red. she's not meant to be the leader of the unit, she doesn't want to stand out. her hair is a lot shorter than canon and she usually keeps it braided for practice and performances (and leaves it loose otherwise) (both the haircut and style were initially suggestions from shizuku). shes the only member of the unit to wear tights and to lack any star shaped hair accessories.

shizuku i don't have that much to say about, i had designed kanade first and then shizuku to match. its pretty straight forward i think? she's got the tallest socks not counting kanade's tights though.

for both an and shiho i wanted to go a slightly cooler/less feminine direction, while still sticking to the general theme i had going. which lead to the shorts and vest combo! otherwise the only notable change with either of them is that an's changed her clips to two regular gold ones and she's got a ponytail now when they practice/perform, much like kanade's braid.

fts was both very fun and an absolute pain to redesign because on one hand, i can do whatever i want, on the other hand, it's like vbs there's really no consistent theme to carry through everything. except a lot of layers i guess. so my goal was to kind of merge their casual aesthetics with something more vbs-like.

tsukasa wearing his jacket incorrectly was inspired by my own tendency to do so whenever i get too warm. i think he just does it because he thinks it looks cool though (its a little silly and a pain to keep it on but he's committed to the look). also leaving his middle layer as his fish jacket from his casual sprite was a funny little thing i thought worked for him.

with rui my goal was just pockets. lots of pockets. they're probably hiding little robots and tools in those pockets. i should have put more pockets on their pants too but oh well. combine that with wanting some obnoxious bright greens and blues and at least one item that kind of clashed color-wise with the rest (their pants in this case) and this is the result. the sketch doesn't convey it well but their black jacket and pants are both kind of loose, while the green hoodie and tshirt underneath fit okay. also their hair is kind of long if they ever untied it, but no one ever sees that.

hapisen for the most part sticks to their canon sprites, just simplified slightly for my sanity. mafuyu's costume still drives me insane to draw though, that's so many layers to think about.

other than questioning my sanity every time i draw mafuyu, there's only one change from her sprite, which is making her hairtie one decorated with pompoms much like a lot of other parts of her costume. i just thought it tied things together a little more.

the upper half of haruka's outfit is more or less completely unchanged (other than making it fit in a way that looks slightly more masculine), but then i replaced his skirt with pants and gave him boots (wxs meiko, who is the sprite haruka's outfit is originally just a recolor of, wears heels). i figured if i was going for a more princely sort of design for haruka then changing those felt fitting. beyond that he's obviously got shorter hair (a choice he makes after seeing kohane decide to change herself, wanting to embrace the genuine person he wants to be beyond the idol people knew him as) and that's about it. hits this guy with the transgender beam.

kohane's outfit is really just a bit simplified from the original with sizing/proportions of elements adjusted to (in my opinion) suit her better. the ribbons in her hair felt like a cute addition (and i like to give kohane ribbons in general), while her hair length is an in between of her two standard canon ones, longer than the usual one we see but shorter than pre-canon/early mainstory. her glasses are optional, she changes between them and contacts with how she's feeling for the day and what kind of shows hapisen is planning. the more intense the show, the less likely she is to wear her glasses.

kyushumi was kind of intended as niigo but without one member in a mostly white outfit since they don't have someone like kanade who is intentionally trying to save people. although they're also a little happier off anyway, so they don't need someone like that. they're my most drawn shuffle unit, so also probably my most thought-through redesigns.

each design takes slight inspiration from a member of niigo (nene/kanade, minori/ena, honami/mafuyu), but that was just kind of as a personal guide for what kind of vibes to go with for the outfits. they've all got personal touches to them.

nene's hoodie is very loose on her body and arms, but a normal fit in the length, and her shorts are actually long enough to be seen. she just wants to be comfy, she's tired a lot, very low energy girl. glasses because i think nene should wear glasses anyway, so as opposed to canon nene who i like to believe just favors contacts, this nene does not.

minori is pretty obviously similar to ena's outfit, but there's a few nods to mmj in here. she's got clover shaped earrings, the pattern along the bottom of her dress is meant to resemble the tips of the clover leaves from mmj's symbol, and her shoes are just the mmj unit outfit shoes in different colors.

the goal with honami's outfit was simply "how little skin can she have exposed" because i imagine her being more worried about that than usual here. so long sleeves, long skirt, high collar, etc. her hair is longer (for no particular reason tbh, i simply liked how it looks) but still styled the same, and she's got a solid red scrunchie now. the four buttons on her outfit are all meant to look like the moon, two full moons and two opposite facing crescents. also i will never stop joking about the fact that she's naturally the second tallest girl in the cast (not counting vs, then she's third tallest) and i gave her tall heels on top of that. she is towering over all of her unitmates here.

while you're welcome to use these designs for any (non-incest) ships you'd like, i do have a personal list of ships that are canon to my own au with the shuffle units, which is what i originally designed these for. the "canon" ships are

ichika/saki

ena/airi

honami/kanade

akito/touya

mafuyu/rui (qpr)

haruka/kohane

mizuki/nene

however you are not by any means required to follow these specific ships! i have no desire to enforce the ships that go with these, so draw whatever ships you might prefer with these designs. i'm happy to see anything!

anyway if you made it this far congrats on surviving i know this is a lot of text o7 i hope you've enjoy my silly little character design insanities ^^;

[leoneedincorrectquotes]

Thoughts about a second Fes Card for Ichika

So the first round of Fes cards are coming to a close, with only 3 left, and as some have been speculating it's possible we get a second round, starting with Saki's first and Ichika's second. As I am very totally normal about Ichika, I have a few thoughts about how it could look, and potentially tie in to a future character arc/story for her, as well as tie in to the previous Fes trained card. It's gonna be a long post so buckle up. Send in asks if you love it, or absolutely despise it!

The untrained is Ichika passing by other characters in the game, the rest of L/N as well as Kanade and Mafuyu. This directly ties into the side story for these cards. It begins with Ichika in school, talking to Honami and Kohane about how far they've all come. Ichika begins to think about how she really hasn't gone through much in comparison to others, and how she was never able to truly help when they needed it the most (And at this point flashbacks occur relating to the rest of L/N and others she has a close connection to). This plays on her mind throughout the day, and when she gets to Sekai she's early. She notices a fragment, and recognising it after the previous one, decides to head in on her own. The typical blinding light appears before her, and we actually see her in the fragment for a bit. It resembles a long art gallery, but one where the paintings are being worked on that moment. Tins of coloured paint line the floor, and there are spots for the eventual denizens of this Sekai. at that moment, however, there are the 19 other main characters (At this point Ichika has met them all).

This could be the second part of the side story, but there's another good place for it. As she walks past them, they are all absorbed in working on their art, all self portraits. All relate to how they see themselves, and their struggles. So for Saki it's her in the hospital alone, for Mizuki it's being on that rooftop, surrounded by gossip, and for Mafuyu it's nothing but a black void. Some are being secretive and not showing others, some are constantly trying to improve. Ichika arrives at her own spot, inbetween Saki and either Mizuki or Kanade (Last character in the order or last leader). This is the other place I would end the first part.

Miku appears and explains that this is for Ichika to represent herself and her struggles, and show who she is. Once she is happy, she can leave. Ichika struggles for a bit, thinking about who she is and what she want's to show. Looking over at everyone else, though, she has an idea. Flashbacks play of interactions with other characters, how they've helped, and their meaning for Ichika. Ichika collects paints, and begins her artwork. The trained version of this card isn't shown in the story, but is placed here thematically. It's Ichika, or rather her art, with all 20 of the colour's that represent each character, and a 21st for Miku, covering the painting, through her outline. Put simply, it is her made up of everyone else. Miku approaches and asks what it means to her, to which Ichika explains.

She is, more than any other character in the game, someone to who the people around her, and those she cares about, is shaped by. Everyone she is friends with has helped her discover more about herself, understand where to go forward, encourage her. She is made up of the rest of the cast, and will move forward with a small part of each of them. She explains that she will never finish this art, it will always be added to, but that that's okay, that's who she is, someone who is striving to be the best person for others.

Miku smiles, and says that it's time for her to go. Ichika protests, and says that she needs to help everyone else, some of them don't know what they are trying to make, some are scared to show others their art, and some are focused on bettering their art because they need to be good enough. Miku explains that, they aren't there, really. It's just how they are all doing, and how they are feeling. Ichika tells miku "In that case, I will be the one to help them finish their art. To make them feel happy with what they've accomplished, to allow them to take a break, and to know that they don't need to be scared. I won't leave them to struggle alone. Not again"

She leaves, and ends up back in sekai just as the rest of Leo/Need are beginning to wonder where she is. A small memento of her trip remains, that being the painting she made, hanging up proudly on her wall. The story ends with her beginning practice, with renewed vigor and determination

To me, this would effectively counter those who say Ichika has no personality or is boring. It shows that she is caring for others, and gives her something to explore both in her own stories, and in others, as someone who is perceptive to others feelings, and makes sure they know that they are not alone. In future Fes Cards, have Ichika appear, maybe not as herself, but have the Ichika that other's see do as Ichika said, help them make it through, show them that they have done something truly impressive. Ichika is often seen as an audience surrogate, or someone who is seen as the dev's favourite. So why not show that Ichika is someone more, and is a character to love.

[ofauris-archived]

Please note that this headcanon only goes for my versions of the characters of Symphogear. In no way will I force my headcanons upon you.

For the longest time, Melanie mistook Miku for Hibiki.

After she had woken up, she had been visited by Hibiki’s parents. Their words, she didn’t understand until after she learned Japanese... but she knew from their tones and the way they acted that they blamed her for Hibiki’s coma. Melanie hadn’t asked for Hibiki to try to break her fall as she got pierced in the chest by a fragment of Kanade’s Gungnir but...

When she learned Japanese, she understood what they said.

“You should be in a coma, not our daughter.”

Melanie was traumatized by this. She had survived an incident that killed many but had allowed her, Hibiki and Tsubasa to live. Hibiki would be in a coma for months, with signs of recovering. Melanie superimposed Hibiki onto Miku, and had formed a personality for her from what little she knew. To everyone else, she was talking to Miku normally but Melanie was thinking she was talking to Hibiki and Miku was elsewhere every time.

This did cause problems for the two of them up until after Symphogear G.

The image of Hibiki took on its own life for a while after the events of G, becoming a sort of “imaginary friend” for Melanie. This was actually more harmful to Melanie than helpful, as it gave her the guise of someone who had gone crazy. At the end, it was as if she had fulfilled her purpose and was able to go back home.

However, during the universe’s version of events from Lost Song, the image disappeared. Melanie had thought Hibiki died. Therefore, she was afraid. Afraid of facing anyone for killing Hibiki. Everyone knew Hibiki was in a coma, as Genjuro often gave Miku status updates and Miku went to visit her in the hospital. But none of them blamed Melanie.

The only one blaming Melanie was Hibiki’s parents out of grief. Hibiki’s grandmother was more understanding about what happened, and had asked Melanie to thank Hibiki when she woke up. Melanie’s mind had twisted the events to protect her, thinking that Hibiki was okay and that nothing had happened.

But she found out that Hibiki was alive and well thanks to Genjuro during the time Melanie was despondent and unable to really move forward past what had happened. Hibiki didn’t blame anyone, and even considered Melanie a friend because she had accepted the invitation for the second ticket since Miku hadn’t been able to go to the concert (although there was a language barrier, Melanie had nodded to accept Hibiki’s offer, which had started the events of Melanie’s tenure in the alternate, future Japan.).

Melanie later apologized to Miku for everything, and Miku accepted this apology after a while of thinking on it. Because Melanie truly didn’t mean any harm.

But yes, Melanie did think Miku was Hibiki due to the fact she was tired of being treated badly and her mind had made it as such to protect her until she was able to face the truth head on.

[a-student-out-of-time]

Twisted Sister Aftermath Review Part 2

And we are back! Sorry the last part was a bit meaty; I couldn’t really cut bits out and most of the relationship stuff could be covered in the first part. And with this part we move onto the more plot relevant sections. So, seeing as we are going to start on a bad note (you will soon see what I mean by that) let’s hop right in!

Plotly Plot Stuff

Unfortunately, we cannot go one Arc without going back to Mr. Polarising himself, Yasuke. If A Student Out of Time ever gets its own TV Tropes page, Yasuke will definitely get the ‘Base-Breaking Character’ trope to him, because yikes has this guy been debated among Anons. Heck even my original review of Yasuke caused some tension! And to address some of the criticisms I’m been getting about Yasuke being nothing like Byakuya…what I meant was that he is a good ‘Rival/Antagonistic’ character. The villains aren’t going to challenge the Quantum Crew’s views, they know they are bad and they are going to get punished. Tsurugi despite being touted as Hajime’s rival isn’t going to challenge him from a moral standpoint, it’s basically like Sae towards the Phantom Thieves, when one riles up society, the law is going to oppose, and as we know the law is evil, it kinda dampens Tsurugi’s viewpoint. Yasuke though, can challenge Hajime as he’s made Hajime think whether going a Pacifist playthrough is really the best way forward. Given how irredeemable some of the villains are, and that simply imprisoning them might not be good enough, it’s going to be a real test to see if the Quantum Crew can go forward without spilling any blood. Granted Yasuke’s morality is twisted as his only friend is Junko…who isn’t the best of influences, and he is narrow minded in thinking that because his girlfriend is invincible, not helped by how much of a Villain Sue she was in Despair Arc, which is another among many reasons why the anime was a piling hot piece of crap. I used Byakuya as a comparison because really the other rival characters are nothing like Yasuke, and I needed something to get my point across. But the best part about his appearance was the savage beatdown Umeko gave him for thinking that the Many Worlds theory is valid. See this is what I love about this blog, the Mod could just go the lazy option when it comes to time travel, but no they take the time to research a plethora of topics and all the research into quantum physics is so good, it’s like reading a better version of Game Theory. Again, the whole Yasuke Multiverse thing could have easily been avoided if the Mod decided to take a break and not write when they were tried, as it seems to be when the most questionable story choices come from, and used their revised idea of having Umeko toss some ideas to Hajime, Hajime thinking about the Many Worlds Theory and heck even using the fact he played the Zero Escape franchise to get a better idea of time travel so he thought he was SHIFTing, and then when he found out he was wrong, for Umeko to chew him out. Anyway, that’s enough talking about Yasuke, I hope I don’t have to touch this jackarse again in a while, I don’t like him, you don’t like him, the Mod doesn’t like him and pretty sure 95% of Anons reading this don’t like him and just talking about him stresses me out.

Umeko wasn’t the only person to throw punches at Yasuke though because Chiaki had a few choice words to say to him as well. And while Umeko is more of ‘Your knowledge of quantum physics is BS’ Chiaki is more from a morality standpoint that she is very sus about Yasuke’s role in the mess. And think about it, he’s been sus of Hajime and co for a while now, we only have his word that Junko doesn’t know, and that ain’t good enough, and it seems the only reason why Yasuke wants to ��help’ the Quantum Crew out is because they claim his original plan with Junko fails and he wants to ensure there is no chance that the Mindwipe process once he perfects it on Kanade can be done flawlessly with Junko. And again, Yasuke could be secretly involved in the whole plan because the one thing that for many of us is a concern regarding Kanade’s kit to start a school massacre is the BCI containing intel on Class 77-B. You can make an argument about Junko being involved with the other stuff, her analytic talent would have allowed her to create the complicated chemical formula for the addictive, as a model Junko is loaded so she has plenty of money to spend on stuff such as experimental armour on the black market, and her darling sister could have provided the combat data. Yasuke was in Hope’s Peak and would have known that Hibiki came to Hope’s Peak after Kanade was arrested and bonded with Class 77-B. Bear in mind as soon as Junko saw the news that Kanade was arrested, her first response was to call Juu and said she has plans for Kanade but they can wait for now. Obviously, Junko was waiting to see what was going on regarding Kasugano and wanted to test him by seeing how easy or hard he is to break. People often debate why Junko converted Class 77-B and not her own class but I think the reason why she went after them is because of how unified Class 77-B are. As we learn more about other Hope’s Peak classes it becomes clear just how much of an anomaly Class 77-B are in the regards that they are all friends with each other, and have a high level of hope, which of course Junko due to her desire of a challenge went to break them as sending that class into despair would give her the ultimate satisfaction, even more so than her own class. I think Yasuke isn’t going to be talked about for a while because his very presence stresses people out and after how much the Mod was savaged from their last usage of him, they are going to have to seriously rethink how to use Yasuke in a way that doesn’t cause a scrum debate among us Anons.

Still Yasuke did raise a fair point that against someone with no morals like Junko, the Quatern Crew are going to be hard pressed to keep their ‘Thou shall not Kill’ policy. While Hajime claims he has beaten Junko before in the OG timeline and will do so again in the various times Junko has lost, she has played by her own rules and allows room for failure in her plans, because due to how much of a despair fetish she has, the prospect of losing and tasting the despair of losing is too tempting for her. But if Junko realises that Hajime is hell-bend on standing against her, and that the very laws of time are against her, Junko might just go ‘fuck it’ and forgo that prospect of failure and become, much, much more dangerous as a result. Chiaki’s response to this is simple, they just need to expand their ranks and hire more people. In other words, it’s time for the entirety of Class 77-B to know. To some this is a case of ‘about time!’ But there was a reason why Hajime didn’t want to involve the class. He wasn’t aware on how much history can be changed, and as soon as he discovered he can change the timeline, he also became aware that fate is actively working against him, and the more he fights against it, the bigger the backlash. The last thing Hajime wants is his only friends, Class 77-B, to be hurt due to ripple effects of the Ankle Effect. While half of Class 77-B knew, Hajime didn’t go out of his way to tell them, they either forced Hajime to tell them, or they got caught up in one of Hajime’s plans and he had no choice but to tell them. Chiaki got sus of Hajime when he saved Natsumi and Sato and thus he had to spill, Mikan overheard Hajime and Chiaki talking to Umeko about the future, and the only reason Hajime told her is because he knew there was a risk that Umeko could accidently expose Hajime. Sonia and Gundham went to the Melody Rhythm Concert on their own separate investigation because Koroko and Yoruko was talking about serial killers in order to help get intel into Kanade’s mindset, Sonia got sus about all the mysterious deaths around the Otonokoji Twins, and thus got caught up in Hajime’s plan to save Hibiki and stop Kanade. Mahiru and Hiyoko were investigating Kasugano when they got kidnapped by Junya and Haiji, and Fuyuhiko and Peko were the only ones brought in because Hajime needed extra muscle to deal with the traffickers. And it is becoming apparent that changing the future is a task too large for one person as without the help of his fellow time travellers, his classmates that know, Void, and other allies, Hajime wouldn’t have achieved all the victories that the Quantum Crew have enjoyed. And given that Kanade tried to kill them all, its something they cannot hide from their friends anymore and thus its time to spill the truth.

This of course means that the rest of Class 77-B (Teruteru, Imposter, Ibuki, Nekomaru, Nagito, Kazuichi and the Canon Akane) get to meet Void, Another Akane and Sora for the first time. The interactions between them are both sweet and bitter. Sweet because all the Class 77-B interactions are wholesome, Nekomaru and Maku are developing a bromance similar to what Maku enjoyed with Shinji in SDAR2, Akane is done to have a scrap with Maku, Kazuichi is simping for Emma, I hope that doesn’t last, Iroha is fawning over the Imposter, Taira and Teruteru dosed Pornhub, and Kazuichi and Chisa are amazed that Sora exists. But also, bitter because if you noticed, I didn’t mention Nikei. And that’s for a good reason as Nikei didn’t really interact with the rest of Class 77-B, his only interaction is helping Mahiru getting the two horny members (you know who they are) away from each other. We could have had at least an interaction between him and Ibuki as those two actually met before, but nope. This is a clear example on how the other Void members have become comfortable around Class 77-B and warmly welcomed the other class members with open arms and yet Nikei is still gated off. Clearly our Reporter friend here is going for a slow burn character development but one that hopefully will pay off in the end because I will cry rivers of joy when Nikei finally becomes comfortable around Class 77-B. Oh yeah forgot to mention, Chisa and Juzo are in the truth meeting as well. I was wondering if they would be told but it makes sense to tell them as they alongside Kyousuke are doing an internal investigation into the dark under dealings of Hope’s Peak and in Despair Arc came the closest to foiling Junko’s plans to despair bomb the planet. They failed because A) it’s a shitty prequel anime and Junko is a Villain Sue in this and B) she brainwashed Chisa and blackmailed Juzo with his feelings towards Kyousuke dosed with a lot of homophobia, because we didn’t need any more reasons to hate Junko already. Once all the fuzzy feelings are done, the truth is spilled and everyone is horrified, as you would if you found out that in a couple of years’ time the world would end, you are the reason the world ended and you were basically turned into some Anarchist Model’s mind slaves. Naturally some are a little hesitant to accept it, but at the end of the day, its their friends at the end of the day, they didn’t tell them not because they didn’t trust them but because they didn’t need to know and they didn’t want themselves to be hurt by the forces they are up against. Its unclear how many are official Quantum Crew members or just allies, as knowing the truth about the future and being a Quantum Crew member are two different things. Natsumi, Sato, Fuyuhiko, Peko and Mahiru were all offered the chance of membership and they refused for their own reasons, but they didn’t rule out helping the Quantum Crew out if they need their help. Koroko and Kyoji aren’t official Quantum Crew members and yet they pull some serious weight in regards to the various missions the Quantum Crew go on. Chisa and Juzo agree to help as well, and Kyousuke is being left in the dark because he would go and try to kill Junko and we know from experience how well THAT would go. Spoilers: Not very well, just ask OG Juzo and OG Nagito.

Speaking of Kanye West Sans from Undertale on the Nintendo DS, Iroha started to chat up to him as she’s dating Makoto and he’s going to be Class 78’s Lucky Student if nothing changes about his Worst Day Ever, and Nagito drops a bombshell that Kanata is being upgraded from Class 79 student, to Class 78 student! Ever since Toko was sent to the mental hospital and thus means she could never become a member of Class 78, which was already a small class, debate ranged on who would replace Toko, if it was going only be 15 students, or if someone like Hibiki or one of the Voids would replace Toko. Welp the answer is that Kanata is replacing Toko. That’s going to be interesting because I would love to see how Kanata interacts with the rest of Class 78, especially those like Chihiro and Aoi. Obviously, she would be at great risk because she would be in the same class as the Despair Twins but that cannot be helped. But Kanata moving to Class 78 means there is a gap in Class 79. Now this obviously depends if there ever IS a Class 79 because ideally the school will be open as long as Junko is at large but once she is caught and defeated, the next step would be to expose Hope’s Peak, which would be easy because here’s a hint, what did Hajime promise to Nikei to get him on board with helping him in the first place? But call me pessimistic but someone like Junko, the main villain of Danganronpa isn’t going to be caught in a year, and depending how long it takes to defeat Junko, Class 79 might get formed before Junko is defeated. We obviously have a gap, and it depends if say Hibiki goes back to high school and gets scouted for Class 79 because I doubt while all the Voids would be eligible then for Class 79 (Reason why not all would be eligible for Class 78 is because Iroha is a year younger then the other Voids. The Voids as a whole are the same age as the Trigger-Happy Havoc cast, so Iroha is basically similar age to Class 79) That’s something to be tackled another time though.

One last thing before the Arc concludes and it’s the biggest bombshell of them all. So, one might ask, what is bigger than Kanata being part of Class 78? Here’s a simple answer; how about that being a time traveller isn’t the only way to remember the future? Remember when Mikako came to visit her mother? Turned out it wasn’t just a curtsy visit as ever since Mikako had her brain surgery, she’s been having recurring nightmares and the worrying thing about those nightmares is…they are memories of the OG timeline. She drew a picture of Monokuma, which is something that shouldn’t be possible as Junko didn’t come up with the design of Monokuma until she arrived at Hope’s Peak, and the robot version of Monokuma was only made by Junko influencing Monaca, which given that Monaca is more under the influence of the Quantum Crew, means that the Dis Bear more or less is non-existent in this universe. The nightmares are only the start though as before Mikako had her surgery, she met Kanata because Kanata’s adoptive father is the one who did the surgery to remove Mikako’s brain implant, and Mikako noted that Kanata felt familiar, which if Mikako was getting memories of the OG timeline, she should as Kanata was a classmate of hers. Now that Kanata is part of Class 78, she would no longer be a classmate and Mikako also remembered the Massacre timeline as she thanked Koroko before leaving with Yamato for saving her life, which again she shouldn’t have known as that only happened in the Massacre timeline which no longer exists. Mikako didn’t recognize anyone in the nightmares expect for Yamato obviously, but when shown pictures of future Class 79 members like Akane Taira, she noted of them being familiar. So, WTF is going on? I’ll be clear, I don’t think Mikako is a time traveller or a time traveller in the making. If she was, Umeko would have detected that and she didn’t. But what is clear is somehow Mikako is getting memories of other timelines. My best theory is a few factors. Firstly, being the future Ultimate Exorcist, Mikako possesses spiritual powers and maybe said powers provide some immunity to resets, which means that if Hajime has to go up against an enemy who has supernatural abilities, he has to be careful with resetting as its not just time travellers who can remember. Secondly, in the OG timeline, Yamato managed to develop a solution to reserve the memory wiping that Junko and Yasuke invented, and he used it on himself and Mikako. Granted, said machine wasn’t perfect and it did have side effects, Mikako’s emotions got supressed and she had difficulty expressing them and Yamato’s speech patterns got fucked up, but Yamato isn’t experiencing the nightmares like Mikako is. This obviously requires some investigating and probably another goal for the QC to explore in the next arc, but if other characters aside from time travellers can remember the other timelines, it can be both a boon as it means more allies and a bane because all we need is one villainous character to have this ability and then shit will hit the fan. Bonus points if it happens to be Junko. My big worry for Mikako though is that in DRA Mikako gets framed for Yamato’s murder by Monokuma, and he rigged the trial so that Mikako would be executed, forcing her to take poison so that Monokuma won’t get the pleasure of killing her himself, didn’t stop a spiteful Monokuma from executing her corpse though. Her death was on her terms but still recalling being poisoned to death, as Hajime can tell you is very unpleasant and something that Mikako is going to not enjoy dreaming in the slightest.

And with that we have finished Twisted Sister Aftermath! It was lengthier than I wanted but coming off from a plot heavy arc and being basically the spill over from that, it cannot be helped. I will give this a C overall. Normally I would give it a B because it’s not as intense as the previous Arc but the mere presence of Yasuke and the fact that I could see that most of this Arc was the Mod try to remedy their terrible inclusion of him from the previous Arc knocked it down a few points. At least the Mod learnt that you do not write plot when sleep deprived or lacking in energy, as its when the worser aspects of the story tend to be manifested from. Next Arc should be much chiller in tone and I just hope I can cram everything into one submission there. Nikei’s bemoaning that his article about Kanade’s death being too long speaks to me on a personal level. I hope you enjoy this review everyone and see you next time when we hopefully finish with a chiller Arc, and happy Holidays because I believe by the time the next Arc finishes, Christmas would be behind us! -Review Anon

[letstalksymphogear]

Symphogear, EP. 2

Last time, on Symphogear!

An adorable little girl, stood up by her date for a reasonable explanation, jams it out with her favorite pop duo, caught unawares that they are also a monster-fighting syndicate experimenting with the power of sound (the power to make you dizzy) to activate an ancient historical relic. Shit goes south as the jams prove to be too powerful, guaranteeing tragedy amidst an otherwise baller concert. Hibiki is rescued by The Bigger Of The Lesbians before she self-destructs to make sure the entire threat is neutralized, leaving The Smaller Lesbian sad, yet still incredibly gay. Years pass as our protagonist goes to Music School, for Music, to bunk it up with her girlfriend as she tries to figure out what the hell happened. Her prayers are answered when she tries to rescue a little girl and is promptly cornered, activating the same outfit The Bigger Lesbian that saved her had on. Gungnir Dattos all around, The Smaller Lesbian loses her shit as everything goes downhill from there.

Now, where were we?

...right. The piss beacon.

And the person taking the piss.

Hibiki has nary a clue what to do. Symphogears don’t actually come with manuals, you see. They’re sort of a “close your eyes and wing it” kind of experience. In Tsubasa’s case, it’s quite literal.

“FUCK that was COOL AS SHIT, tight as FUCKING HELL”

Take pity on this face. This is the face of someone who’s last memories will be a confused lady wondering why she is suddenly part machine.

“imma save you widdle kid”

Something to note about this show is that all the fighters sing while fighting. Hibiki is no exception, even after being confused about what the hell she’s doing. It helps that her voice actress is a professional singer.

It helps that every voice actress here is some sort of professional singer.

This picture basically summarizes why Hibiki is cool despite being so goddamned dumb. She’s angry, and she’s gonna protect some kids even if she dies doing it. Kanade would be proud, if she wasn’t too busy being dead.

No shit!

Have you ever watched the original Sam Reimi’s Spiderman? Like, the very first one? You know all those awkward scenes about Spiderman learning how his powers work? Hibiki basically does that under crunch time. There’s a long segment about how she’s forced to figure things out while protecting a kid and Not Dying.

It’s going pretty great.

I can’t believe she’s secretly Steve Urkel.

“cannot FUCKING believe that girl my girlfriend saved managed to GET HER HANDS on her FUCKING CLOTHES that I WANTED to ENSHRINE IN A MEMORIAL to her how the FUCK did she do that cant BELIEVE i have to SAVE HER IDIOT ASS because she just CANT EVEN DO THAT-”

Tsubasa, preparing herself as a contender for the World’s Angriest Lesbian, barrels through the Noise in her motorcycle...

...which she smashes directly into the Noise. It does nothing.

Tsubasa has many a motorcycle to smash. It’s a testament to her dedication following her aesthetic.

She fueled the tank completely before smashing it in.

Tsubasa... is petty.

As Tsubasa t-poses to assert dominance (a woman ahead of her time, this first aired in 2012), she comes down ready to kick some ass and vent some frustrations. And frankly? She’s all out of ass.

“oh my god she’s even hotter up close i cant believe it”

“fucking knock-off outfit looks like it came out of a bootleg flea market”

You don’t need to know what happens next, because you already know what happens when someone shows up with a fucking sword ready to sing about their dead girlfriend and the conflicting feelings about seeing her armor pop up again on someone else.

Murder.

Lots... and lots... of murder.

“we’re so fucking useless why do we even exist”

After Tsubasa finishes what could only be described as a massacre, we’re treated to how people clean up the aftermath.

“hey, you know, make fun of me all you want, but at the end of the day, im the one holding the vacuum cleaner, and you’re literally turned to dust, so”

Even this little girl knows shit’s about the go down. Got the tea and everything.

This is one of the minor characters of the series. She works for the 2nd Division. Who is the 2nd Division? You’ll find out soon.

“i didnt die! fuck yeah. today’s a good day.”

“OH WAIT NO-”

Hibiki learns that her outfit unsets after a while, like bideo game. Who catches her mid-fall?

Her new best friend, of course. Don’t be fooled by this look. Tsubasa tragically suffers from resting angry face syndrome. It is, unfortunately, incurable.

“i hate how cute she is”

Hibiki reminds her that this is technically the second time Tsubasa has saved her, which in the large scheme of things, seems incredibly innocuous for someone who escaped a major tragedy many years ago. Unfortunately, time doesn’t move forward for Season 1 Tsubasa. Not for quite a while...

The funny part is it doesn’t even hit her initially. She never actually saw Hibiki personally during that moment, so she actually doesn’t even have a clue what she means.

Look at her. Look at this clown. How could you hate her. Look at that smile.

All the survivors are always forced to write NDAs about what they saw. This grows to comical levels at times, given the scale of what happens eventually. It might as well be the world’s biggest open secret by now.

“aight homies looks like i gotta go home, the wife’s gonna be lonely an-”

Oh.

“sorry holmes but you’re going to gay baby jail like the rest of us singers”

Hibiki’s face is riddled with guilt. The guilt of someone who just saved a little girl. How dare you, Hibiki. This is what you get for doing The Right Thing.

And so she’s taken to “jail.”

“sorry pal but you literally turned into a huge weapon and you have no idea how to use it so!”

And so, Hibiki was never seen again...

Alright, so she really isn’t going to jail. She is genuinely being taken into custody, though. To be honest, this kind of handcuff procedure is sort-of ridiculous for someone who literally just saved children, and you could probably bribe her to join them with a 10 piece chicken dinner, but hey, fuck it. 2nd Division has protocols, and that is to arrest people.

“i cant believe i was a fan of a narc all this time”

The school has a giant elevator that goes deep into the Earth. Also, look at that symbolism. Hibiki’s the only one looking at her own reflection. Deep.

Thanks, Tsubasa.

The interior decorator for this elevator is wild.

Tsubasa forbodes where they’re all going as some ominous, strange, and evil place where joy and happiness die. Where good feelings and innocence are destroyed, and hope is crushed and ripped at the seams.

As it turns out, Tsubasa is just an angsty piece of shit.

So here’s the situation:

The 2nd Branch, which are the people in charge of poking relics until they glow with the power of music to study and harness the power of as weapons to kill the Noise, live in a several mile deep high tech basement of an all girl’s boarding school dedicated to music. This is because, for the record, that the girls recruited to this school have the habit of being a little bit attuned to these relics. Hibiki, a newly christened Gear user, is now being recruited into this organized by Genjuro.

“i never got this kind of party when i was recruited”

“thats because nobody liked you, hans”

“im skipping my soaps for this”

“fucking hate my twin brother hans”

“she?????? gets a party??? SHE. gets a party. I DON’T GET A PARTY. SHE... GETS A PARTY? and i dont get a fucking party. i was literally BORN into this job. NOBODY gives me a damn party. this MORON who CLOWNS AROUND with her SUBPAR SONGS. gets a party. oh my god. oh my GOD. FUCK. FUCK!”

“if this is what its like to get arrested i gotta be gayer and do more crimes”

“I’m not actually surprised. I’m just pretending to be. I’m just really not good at pretending to be surprised.”

“fucking hate this family, im gonna eat all of hibikis cake and cry in my room”

Remember: This show first released in 2012. Ryoko? Trendsetter.

Ryoko’s screen is very dirty and foggy. Don’t ask why. Don’t even remember why I pointed this out. Just forget this point completely.

Hibiki understands that handcuffs just aren’t fashionable.

Genjuro casually explains that they’re the fictional japanese equivalent of the NSA, all while doing magic tricks. Truly a man of many talents.

Tsubasa is already plotting how to vent about all this in her diary, which she addresses as letters of Kanade every time she writes in it.

Genjuro and Ryoko introduces themselves as everyone else apologizes to her, except Tsubasa.

Ogawa also intro- yes, I’m recycling a picture- introduces himself. He’s pretty cool, too, and serves as Tsubasa’s ninja bodyguard, butler, and all around mentor. We never get a backstory on him, and likely never will. It’s best to keep it that way; it only adds to the mystery of who the hell this guy is.

“weird flex but okay”

Hibiki realizes she’s being recruited, after being told she’s being recruited. Given some brain cells remain in her head, she asks the obvious and wonders what the hell happened to her.

“ryoko, care to explain?”

“well, it’s simple. you’re the protagonist now.”

Ryoko, who has no sense of boundaries, subjects Hibiki to a medical inspection. As creepy as her tone is, its to inspect the state of Hibiki’s newly formed gear.

She’s finally freed from that long winded event and returns home to her wife.

“buddy you smell like shit. and french fries.”

“hibiki. you’re not dead, hibiki. come on, get up. i just cleaned this floor, hibiki. hibiki, please. this is genuinely unbecoming of you. hibiki, oh my god.”

“miku please i learned how to kick ass and im tired and please let me enjoy this nice floor”

Tsubasa does the thing real life Symphogear and all related products never actually bother to do.

“god she’s so gay for her but i know she’d never cheat on me so”

Hibiki ruminates on the day she’s had. This is where the really dumb angst comes in. You see, Hibiki can’t tell anyone about what happened, and Miku, now a civilian in her eyes, cannot know about her alter ego Symphogear antics. Hibiki feels bad about this.

“y u no trust me. y u no tell me troof. im wife.”

After a brief heart to heart Hibiki smiles and snuggles her girlfriend.

They’re gay.

“im gonna marry her knowing full well she’ll sleep through the ceremony. god.”

[trashexplorer]

Kin’iro no Corda: Another Sky ft. Shiseikan - Nagamine Route

Name: Nagamine Masunori

CV: Yasumura Makoto

Nagamine is the only new character that never appeared in the prequel as well as the anime - thank god for that ‘cause we don’t need this kind of trash in the series. Basically, Nagamine is the captain of the newly formed Brass Band that quit the Wind Instrument Club ‘cause they wanted to save their own skins instead of helping prove Hozumi’s innocence. 

They’re all basically assholes.

And this here is the boss asshole.

What kind of fuckery is this cg? Add that to the fact that Kanade’s mom coincidentally makes them move into Nagamine’s apartment complex. I mean, Kanade’s just doing her best in low key patching things up with the split club but yo, what a pain it must’ve been to be with this man 24/7. 

I literally can’t help but sneer at his route ‘cause nothing he or the others said became a valid excuse in him just throwing Hozumi and the others into a ditch - he just can’t eat his pride. That’s about it. I have nothing good to say about him.

While Kanade was on her mission to patch things up with the two clubs and getting to know the real Nagamine, the newspaper club constantly snooped around them and finally got a shot of this particular scene above and they post it over the school saying that Nagamine brought a Wind Instrument Club member home with him which proved to be scandalous for two obvious reasons. The Brass Band’s adviser intervenes when the band members were about to disown him HAHAHA LOOK AT THEM THROW HIM AWAY LIKE THE TRASH HE WAS and explains their living arrangements. Anyway, they kind of break-off whatever relationship they have after the scandal was publicized with Kanade shakily declaring that he wasn’t her type and Nagamine throwing the same words back at her. 🙄

A few days before the finals, Kanade comes home to a black out and she doesn’t know what to do ‘cause her mom was away on a trip or smthn so she decides to find the breaker herself. She meets Nagamine just as she loses her way and he leads her to where they can see the moonlight so she wouldn’t be scared 🙄. After a little chit-chat Nagamine tells her that he likes her and OH MY GOD I DON’T CARE.

Fast forward to the day before the finals, Yagisawa gets the message that Iori couldn’t come that night to Yokohama ‘cause he’s dad has been hospitalized and his mom had to watch over him and Iori cannot in good conscience just leave her kid sister alone. If you didn’t comply with Nagamine’s last requirement and play another song for the first perf instead of Jupiter, Iori’s gonna come on time but if you did his route properly then the Shinkansen’s gonna bog down and Iori’s gonna miss the first perf. Kanade immediately runs off to find Nagamine after she gets word that her classmates saw Nagamine alighting the train. She begs Nagamine to go in Iori’s stead to which he refuses at first but says that even if he goes, the match would already be given to Amane. 

Yo, ofc Myoga’s not gonna take his win sitting down so when the organizers told them to prepare for receiving the trophy, homeboy says stfu and let me get on that stage and play. Thanks to Myoga’s pride, Nagamine and Kanade makes it back in time for their first perf. Iori arrives before the second perf and they win. All’s well that ends well.

Afterthoughts

What even was his route?

Seriously.

YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND. I HAD TO RESTART FIVE TIMES ‘CAUSE HE WAS SO DEMANDING AND YOU NEED TO STRICTLY FOLLOW HIS EVENT SCHEDULE. Yo, I didn’t expect to hate anyone in this series. I knew that I wasn’t gonna like Hidou ever since I got news that he was gonna be ft. Amane’s new character but BITCH I LOATHED NAGAMINE. Even more than I did Iku in Starry Sky. Who the fuck even wants to fall for that kind of personality? There’s not a good thing to Nagamine. Yeah, he has conscience but bro, that’s something we’re all supposed to have. What makes you special?

AND I’M SO MAD THAT HE GETS TO KISS KANADE NOT ONLY ONCE, BUT TWICE! MY HARUTO ONLY GOT ONE. AND HE HAS 12 FUCKING CGS WHEN SERIZAWA ONLY HAD 9??? He has more cgs than the returning Seiso character smh. 

Okay but he deserves a title - two, in fact. Nagamine has the worst personality in ft. Shiseikan and the whole series. I rest my case.