#while takaya's is from the movie

[brokehorrorfan]

4K UHD Review: The Guyver

Following in the wildly successful footsteps of Batman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Guyver takes a (relatively) grounded approach to its outlandish source material — in this case, a Japanese manga series — without divorcing itself from its comic book roots. Produced by Brian Yuzna (Re-Animator, Society), the 1991 film is directed by special effects wizards Screaming Mad George (Society, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master) and Steve Wang (Predator, The Monster Squad).

As the Star Wars-esque expository opening crawl explains, mankind was created by aliens as an organic weapon. The evil Chronos corporation is further developing a technology that allows humans to change into "super monster soldiers" known as Zoanoids for world domination. The only viable defense against them is The Unit, a piece of bio-booster alien armor that increases a human's natural powers a hundredfold, turning them into The Guyver.

Mark Hamill's top billing may lead you to believe that he's the titular hero, but he instead plays a supporting role as a CIA agent investigating Chronos. The real lead is Jack Armstrong (Student Bodies) as Sean Barker, an amateur martial artist who's the only person that can activate The Unit. When his girlfriend (Vivian Wu, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III) is endangered, Sean utilizes his newfound powers to take down Chronos and the Zoanoids.

Armstrong is a bland lead, but it's not entirely his fault. In addition to a mustachioed Hamill channeling Colombo, he has to compete with several scene-stealing character actors. Re-Animator's David Gale chews the scenery as the malevolent head of Chronos, briefly reuniting with Jeffrey Combs as the company's scientist, Dr. East (get it?). Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes) plays Gale's right-hand Zoanoid with Jimmie Walker (Good Times) as his rapping goon. Linnea Quigley (The Return of the Living Dead) cameos as a scream queen.

But the real stars of the show are the creatures, the designs of which showcase boundless creativity. The Guyver looks like Ultraman by way of Clive Barker, and each Zoanoid adopts a different animal's traits. While a number of other artists were employed to pull off the myriad of monsters, George and Wang's fingerprints are all over the effects, imbuing the alien superhero movie with some disturbing body-horror.

Jon Purdy's script deviates significantly from source material not only in terms of story but also tone. While some of the manga's dark atmosphere and violence remain intact, it's undercut by goofy humor in an attempt to appeal to a younger demographic. Fans of Yoshiki Takaya's original creation were no doubt disappointed (Wang attempted a bit of a course correction with his 1994 sequel, Guyver: Dark Hero), but the tonal confusion is actually charming.

Originally cut down to a PG-13 rating in the US, The Guyver has been newly restored in 4K from the original, R-rated 35mm camera negative with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 options for Unearthed Films' 4K UHD + Blu-ray release. Far removed from the days of Jaws and Alien in which the monster was largely hidden in shadows, George and Wang put their creations on full display — and even with a crystal-clear restoration, the in-camera effects shine.

Two new audio commentaries are included. The first is a lively one with George and Wang, moderated by Budget Biomorphs: The Making of The Guyver Films author Dom O’Brien. It's not the most informative track — the filmmakers admit to not having seen the film in over two decades — but they're enjoying themselves so much that it hardly matters. The second commentary features creature crew members "Evil" Ted Smith and Wyatt Weed, who delve into the nitty-gritty of the effects.

Yuzna and George each sit down for thorough new interviews. Yuzna reveals that he's been approached about a remake, but the rights are complicated, while George's infectious energy lasts the entire 56 (!) minutes. Creature suit camera test footage is included with commentary options from George and Wang or Smith and Weed, while outtakes and a gag reel feature George and Wang commentary.

Other extras include: alternate title sequences in English, German and Spanish; English, German, Spanish, and French trailers (all carrying the alternate title Mutronics); and extensive promotional and production galleries. The collector's edition also comes with the soundtrack CD composed by Matthew Morse (Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker) and a booklet featuring liner notes by O’Brien and Morse.

The Guyver is available now on 4K UHD via Unearthed Films.

[nero-vanderwolf]

It was a sickening thing. 

The sound of death. 

In those old war movies with the strapping young blonde kid with the blue eyes and dreams of becoming a hero, when that kid gets shot down to show the horrors of battle or the heartlessness of the enemy, the gunshot rings out loud and clear, whistles through the air like a death knell. 

Ken never heard the bullet. 

He doesn’t realise what’s happening until it’s too late, until Shinjiro-san is crumpled and unmoving on the ground and he’s staring at Takaya through blurry vision streaked with red and there are footsteps thundering along to the roar of the heartbeat in his ears. 

Sanada-san falls to his knees as Shinjiro-san stirs, chokes something out through bloodstained lips. He smiles, his teeth red and a trickle of scarlet running down his chin, and Ken thinks he’s going to be sick. 

Shinjiro-san’s eyes flutter, go blank as his gaze fixes on the pale green moon above them, and Sanada-san shakes him as though to wake him up from a daydream. 

Why were bodies always shaken? Was it to confirm the worst, to gain even an ounce of closure in knowing that the person in your arms had passed in comfort- or was it to dispel their fears, to try and bring the person back from whatever dream they had passed into? 

He tries not to vomit as he thinks of his own mother, cold and lifeless and limp against Ken’s tiny hands. His fists curled into the once-white blouse on his mother’s body, shaking her shoulders the way he would to wake her up when she had forgotten to give him his morning hugs. He shook and shook, begged and screamed for her to wake up, despite knowing that loving smile on her face and blank look in her eyes would never shift. The blood on his palms would cool and crack, and his mom would never wake up. 

He had shaken the body in denial. He couldn’t accept it, so he had done everything to deny it. He still did- acted too grown up and spoke too little of his mom and now the blood on his palms was cooling and cracking, and he was no closer to dispelling the churn of his stomach than he had been when he stepped away so he didn’t have to hear everyone’s sobs. 

He had done this. He hadn’t shot Shinjiro-san, but what difference did it make? He had brought Shinjiro-san out here, and even if Takaya hadn’t interrupted, he still planned to kill Shinjiro-san. 

He had planned to take himself down too, planned to join his mother all too readily. He had accepted the fact that he would feel the blood on his palms run warm and wet before it cooled and cracked- he had planned to be long gone before he ever felt that happen. 

He curls up in the shadows, scratches incessantly at the peeling red on his skin, pointedly ignores how it feels like he’s scratching away Shinjiro-san’s very existence, the impact he had on Ken’s life. 

He stops scratching. The texture is disgusting, and he knows his palms will be stained scarlet for a while after this, and he knows he’ll show up to school with bloodshot eyes and a bad attitude and horrible focus and he’ll be sent to the dorms for the rest of the day and maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. 

It was a sickening thing. 

The sound of grief. 

Wails like sirens echoed through the alleyway, baying of a hound keened alongside the noise, the racket surely alerting every late-night commutor to the anguish of these walls. 

The sky was no longer that horrible sickly green, Shinjiro-san’s long-cold body no longer washed out and sallow, Ken’s hands now even redder. He slips further into the darkness before anyone can realise he’s gone. 

He doesn’t hear them talking about him as they carry Shinjiro-san’s body out. They’ll put him in his room for the night, Mitsuru will stay home on sickleave tomorrow to arrange the funeral, and Ken will stay as far away from the dorm as he can. 

Ken always questioned where a person went when they died. His mom had always told him they went to Heaven to play with angels. Makoto-san said they went to the moon, like astronauts to explore what they couldn’t while they were alive. 

Astronauts... The name meant ‘sailors of the stars’, according to Fuuka’s Fun Fact Friday. Was his mom a star-sailor? Or did she stay on the clouds in Heaven to watch in horror as her son scratched scarlet off of his palms and lurked in shadows and tugged his S.E.E.S jacket further around himself as night settled once again over Tatsumi Port? 

If he was dead, he wouldn’t bother watching the living. He certainly wouldn’t watch himself, a miserable failure of a son and teammate, leaving in the shadows two corpses to drag their ways after him instead of one. 

That night, he dreams of death. He can still smell the rot, see the bodies in his field of view. He can see blood sprayed across the floor of the alleyway, pooling at his feet and dripping from somewhere. 

He touches his chest, feels the familiar pinpricks of broken glass and hisses as he draws his fingers away and they pull back scarlet. The blood is still on his palms, shifting and swirling to stay there while his hand is upright. It cracks and peels and drips down his arm. He wants to be sick. 

He feels a pain go through his leg, then another, and another, until he’s on his back staring up at a pale green moon and someone is beside him screaming, begging for him to just wake up. 

But he can’t. Because this was always the plan, wasn’t it? 

Come here. Kill two figurative birds with one literal stone. 

The blood leaks through his fingers and his coats and he knows this is it. The plan worked, never mind the screams of grief that surround him, the echoes slithering into his ears like the whispers of the dead. 

Ken wakes up cold and alone. Nothing new there. 

He’s been in the alleyway for two days now, trembling and sickly and so, so close to ripping off the rest of the redness on his palms, the last flakes that cling stubbornly to his skin, like the universe is telling him that he needs to remember what he did for as long as he can. As if he doesn’t plan on doing that to begin with. 

He hears footsteps echo down the alleyway and curls into himself, tries to hide himself in the shadows he lurks in. He sees Sanada-san crouch in front of him and he wants to scream, cry, do anything except stare at him like a spooked animal. 

“Do you really think Shinji would want you hiding out here?” 

Ken wants to throw up. The mention of Shinjiro-san makes his palms tingle and his stomach churn and the whispers in the back of his mind grow louder. 

“He’s dead. He can’t want anything anymore,” Ken mumbles. Because of me. 

That last part goes unsaid. As does everything else Ken has ever thought regarding death. Regarding S.E.E.S. Regarding his mother. 

“But if he were alive, what do you think he’d say? He’d tell you to get up, to hold your head up.” 

Ken looks up at Sanada-san. His eyes are misty and he has his arms open as though for a hug and there’s a smile on his face like he didn’t just watch his best friend die. Because of Ken. 

Sanada-san knows this. He knows Ken asked Shinjiro-san to come to this alley to kill him. He knows Ken is the reason his best friend is dead. He knows this, and he still waits with open arms. 

Ken can’t stop himself. He throws himself into Sanada-san’s arms, the dam breaking and tears spilling over. He’s acted too grown up for too long, he hasn’t thought of his mom when she was alive in years, he hasn’t been doing anything but wallowing in death. 

Maybe it’s time to bask in life. 

The blood cools and cracks and peels away, and the skin underneath is clean.

“I’m gonna live, Sanada-san. I don’t- wanna die anymore, I’m gonna- gonna live. H-he saved my life, I don’t wanna- don’t wanna give it up so soon,” he splutters out between hiccups. Sanada-san rubs circles in his back while he cries himself out, hugging him close. 

Ken’s fists bunch up the fabric of Sanada-san’s shirt, clinging to him like a lifeline. He’s spent too long in that alleyway, surrounded by death- he’s started to feel like a corpse too. But now, being surrounded by warmth, being held close and being able to hear a heartbeat that isn’t his own... It’s nice. 

“...Why do you live, Sanada-san?” He asks. The question he’s always had- why do people persist time and time again, tragedy after tragedy, determined to live despite it all? The question.  

“Right now? For Shinji, and my sister Miki. In the future? ...I hope to live for myself. For my friends,” Sanada-san murmurs into his shoulder, still rubbing those circles into his back. The answer. 

“I think I’m gonna live for my mom and Shinjiro-san. Do you think he’ll watch over us both?” 

Sanada-san huffs out a laugh, nodding. When they pull away- far too soon, a voice whispers in Ken’s mind- he looks determined. There’s a smile in his face and tears running down his cheeks and he’s holding Ken like a proud dad would hold his son. 

And Ken can feel something change. His stomach drops and his head feels light and he can smell Shinjiro-san’s cologne and cigarette smoke faintly on the air. 

And his Persona has changed. He no longer wants revenge. He wants to live- he wants to live for the sakes of the two people who mattered maybe the most to Ken in his life until now. 

He meets Sanada-san’s eyes and smiles as best he can. He still feels sick to his stomach whenever he thinks about Shinjiro-san, but he knows he’ll be okay. No more revenge. No more vengeance. No more death. 

Now was the time for life. And he intended to make the most out of the one he had been given. 

OH MY GOODNESS KEN AUUGHHH this is so well written sammy auahhghh idk how to explain it but it really feels like. disoriented. in a good way. like youd feel disoriented watching someone die yknow. ALSO YAYAYYY KEN LIVES i love ken and akihikos dynamic theyre so AUGH hes gonna live and hes gonna enjoy it 🫵

[kaisertheadvisor]

Alright, I'd thought I'd share with you all my "Persona 3 Holy Grails" of media that I'd like to see show up someday. Who knows? Maybe one day we'll get some of these high quality assets. But for now, we'll have to rely on scans, Internet Archive, upscales, and various social media posts till then. But let's get started!

#1. The high quality, uncompressed cutscenes.

While fan upscales do exist for the OG cutscenes, and people were generous enough to extract many of the Reload cutscenes and post them in high quality (thank you PC version), I would like to see the original masters for many of these cutscenes. We know they do exist, since Atlus has used them in promotional material, but when we will see them, is unknown. (If they ever do an English release of the P3 Movies, they better include these cutscenes as a bonus feature, just saying.)

#2. Highest quality character renders.

In order to promote Persona 3 on various material, Atlus would use various renders of the characters that I'm sure many P3 fans are familiar with.

However, there are some characters that don't currently have such high quality versions of their character renders. So far, high quality scans of Elizabeth's render and a rare Ikutsuki render (used on the original version of the P3 website, the games OST booklet, the manual, several trading cards, magazine articles, print ads and the booklet for "A Certain Day Of Summer") have been preserved for example, but I'd kill for the high quality assets to be found one day.

However, the most notorious case of characters not having high quality render assets are the entirety of Strega. The renders do exist online, it's just that, their quality is much to be desired.

Again, would kill to see high quality assets release someday.

#3. Unreleased character sheets for cutscenes.

If you have the P3 Artbook, they have the model sheets for the Protagonist, Yukari, Junpei, Mitsuru, Akihiko, Fuuka, Aigis, Koromaru, Ken, Shinjiro, Ikutsuki, Takaya, Pharos and Ryoji used in the anime cutscenes.

However, we don't have the model sheets for the characters casual wear (used in the Yakushima trip cutscene and several scenes in The Answer), Kotone (for the P3P opening as well as several in game CG's), Aigis's Answer armor, blue dress, and school uniform, Elizabeth and Theodore, Metis, Igor, Natsuki (used during Fuuka's awakening, albeit VERY brief), and Takeharu (used during 11/4's events). Granted, since those characters were sparingly used in the anime cutscenes, they may have not had their model sheets published, but again, who knows?

It should be noted that some frames and drawings from the anime cutscenes were used in some promotional material (for example, the P3 website used silhouettes of Yukari, Junpei, Akihiko, Mitsuru and Fuuka taken straight from the opening), so we'll have to wait and see what comes forth.

#4. Original Persona Assets

So far, Atlus managed to give us the high quality assets for the initial Persona's that were used in FES and were reused again for Reload's promo's.

Not only that, but many of the high quality assets for the ultimate Persona's were also preserved online, thankfully.

However, there is also the "original shading" versions of the Persona's, which last I checked, were used in the 2023 port of Persona 3 Portable, and so far, the high quailty rips of them are cropped.

I'm also hoping we can get even higher quality versions of the renders of Polydeuces (promotional pose), Juno, Messiah and Psyche. (though I am betting we're gonna get a high quality Psyche render for The Answer DLC, mark my words)

And of course, we still need the high quality official art for Strega's Personas as well.

#5 Ad Scans (or even better, high quailty digital versions of this material)

If anyone has some Japanese magazines, I'd love to see high quality scans of many a Persona 3 Ad.

CONTINUED IN REBLOG

[ciel-bell]

My thoughts on Shinjiro and the changes made in P3P

I wrote this analysis to post on reddit, where I feel like the sentiment towards the changes made to Shinjiro's arc in Persona 3 Portable are more negative. But I thought it was worth posting here as well.

Long post under the cut:

(Major spoilers for Persona 3 up to October 4th.)

The changes that Persona 3 Portable made to Shinjiro and Akihiko’s arcs by allowing you to save Shinjiro from death are understandably controversial. I completely get why people don’t like that change, and think it cheapens the game’s messages of death or ruins Akihiko’s arc. However, I’d like to explain why I think it makes the story work better in other ways.

Persona 3 deals with the acceptance of our inevitable deaths, of course, but the enjoyment of the lives we have is a key part of this. The game tries to depict the dangers of not just accepting, but almost worshipping death through the Nyx cultists that show up later through the game.

Shinjiro’s outlook on life is not as extreme as these characters, but can still be compared to them. I think that he can be best compared to Chidori: both live their lives with the overwhelming knowledge of their imminent deaths, avoiding connection with others because of it. They’ve basically both resigned themselves to living as if they are already dead, with Chidori following Takaya’s orders and not ever considering another way of living; and Shinji not acting or helping SEES until his past regrets are staring him directly in the face, making him feel like there’s absolutely no other choice.

But while Chidori connects with Junpei and manages to feel the joy she’d pushed away, even if it’s only in the last few moments of her life, Shinjiro just… dies. He doesn’t have a moment where his views are questioned or challenged. He doesn’t grow past his passivly-suicidal mindset. His way of “living” is never questioned. He dies as he planned, even saying “this is how it should be” as his last words.

This is probably entirely intentional.

Shinjiro’s death serves as a cautionary tale for Ken on how his life could turn out if he keeps devoting himself single mindedly to hate and revenge, without letting himself live and love others. The resolution Shinji never got in life is transferred onto Ken.

However, I don’t think that this works as well as Shinji reaching that conclusion himself. Ken’s character arc is kinda... abandoned after this point? He comes to the conclusion that he wants to keep living in a way that Shinjiro didn’t get to, and then… that’s it. He’s pushed to the side for the rest of the game. (I feel like the movies fix this, but I want to focus on the games for now.) Ken’s social link in P3P tries to address this by focusing on him deciding what kind of life he wants to live as the next step of deciding that he wants to live. But, uh, the SL takes a turn at rank seven or so, messing with the development it was trying to set up, and cementing it one of the most uncomfortable social links ever lol.

In P3P’s main story Ken gets most of the same development that he gets in the other versions, but Shinjiro gets more character alongside him.

This character, whose every aspect is so intertwined with death and his coming end, from his Persona’s design to his relationships to others to his every line of dialogue, is forced to live. His social link is basically him getting his last will and testament in order. He tries to get the members of SEES to take care of themselves, because he knows no one else will do it when he’s not there. His second to last rank is just him asking Kotone to talk with him as long as possible, so that he can be content with that last happy moment with her before he dies. In his last rank, he asks Kotone to take care of Akihiko in his stead. And at that point, in his eyes, everything is done. He’s done all he can for SEES, for Ken and Aki specifically, and he trusts that Kotone will be fine and will still be happy after he’s gone. He’s even gotten back the watch that he was sure he’d never see again. The game makes this conclusion clear as well: you’re at Rank 10, so there should be nothing more to do. From a pure gameplay perspective, and from Shinji’s perspective, any other time you try to spend with him is a waste. If you try to talk to him after Rank 10, (only possible on 10/2 or 10/3, right before he dies) you get a message saying “It doesn’t seem that your relationship can get any closer than it is… Would you still like to spend time with him?”

His impending death and his acceptance of it are so baked into the narrative that the game itself seems confused that you’d try to keep spending time with him. Shinjiro, of course, repeats this sentiment.

But he spends time with you anyway, whether you do his romance route or not, defying the path that he’s set up for himself. He’s tried to exist in the world without really living in it, basically living through the most elaborate suicide plot in history, but strays for that for a moment because he’s grown to care for Kotone.

But it isn’t enough to change his outlook completely. During the romance scene, he says that “this isn’t how it’s supposed to be.” If you try to hang out with him the next day he basically refuses to talk to you, says that it would be a waste and that you should spend time with the others.

He is still resigned to his death, and acts in much the same way he does in Male MC’s route on 10/4. He still protects Ken, still gets shot, still says “this is how it should be,” a direct contrast to the line from the romance scene, and he… doesn’t die.

The one event in his arc that it seemed so sure everything was moving towards, and it doesn’t happen. He doesn’t die. Kotone’s actions flip everything on its head. The bullet is even blocked by the watch you have to give him before seeing Rank 10, an obvious physical representation of their relationship and how it's beginning to change his outlook.

Is this kind of cheesy? Maybe?

But I think that it’s also meaningful.

After that he basically vanishes from the story other than a couple mentions of him being in a coma for the rest of the story and a missable NPC on 3/3 saying that he got out of the hospital lol. This is kinda underwhelming.

BUT in new game plus there’s a conclusion to all of this! He shows up in the last moments of the game and finally gets to talk to Kotone again. He talks about how he saw Kotone in his dreams the whole time and it gave him the strength to keep going, a reversal of his line in the romance scene lamenting that she’s “all he can think about, day and night.” Then the game ends with him saying this:

“I’m glad I met you.”

This single line encapsulated so much of the game’s themes for me. He’s saying that he’s glad he didn’t die in that moment, that he’s gained a life worth living, that even if having known her brings pain in the future that it was worth it for what little time they got together. He’s learned once and for all that life is worth living.

We get none of that if he dies. Instead, we get a Shinjiro who, while compelling, acts as more of a plot device and a springboard for Akihiko and Ken’s stories than his own character. His original arc captures the inevitability of death, yes, but I feel like it missed the imperative component of the importance of life. So the existence of P3P as an alternate scenario where he is more fleshed out is valuable to me.

I don’t think these themes would have worked as well if the route we saw portrayed in P3P was the only version of the game. The fact that we see the flip side makes this version of Shinji’s arc stand out more. The fact that we’ve seen him die before highlights how fated it was to happen, and the wonderful anomaly that his second chance at life is.

However, while I think that Shinji’s survival improves his own arc, it does lessen the impact of Akihiko’s arc. Akihiko’s resolution was still undeniably meaningful to me as someone who started with FeMC’s route, but the original version of it probably works better. But I think it’s fine that the game trades Aki’s arc for Shinji’s in this way, as the original version of Aki’s arc still exists untouched in the male route. FeMC’s route is a complement, not a replacement. It does some things worse, and other things better in their place.

[twilightknight17]

Yesterday on P3Re: sadness, desperately wishing Kenji would butt out, and a question for Atlus.

Fuuka has been staying up to monitor things during the Dark Hour, since we don’t know what’s going to happen now, and gets a reading from the base of Tartarus that she recognizes as Strega. This is a shock to everyone, since as far as they knew, Takaya and Jin died after their fall from the Moonlight Bridge.

I’m more shocked by the fact that navigators can hijack each other’s communication channels.

We immediately head for Tartarus, and find Chidori there alone.

Time for a boss fight.

Chidori, I think, fits somewhere between Mitsuru and Fuuka in terms of persona powers. She’s clearly got navi abilities that are stronger than Mitsuru’s, but also offensive spells and physical attacks.

(The axe on a chain is cool.)

But this boss fight isn’t normal, and after a while, Chidori stops.

Being around Junpei has changed her. For the better, I’d argue. Anything other that Takaya’s assassin club is an improvement. But it’s also given her a whole new range of feelings that she really wasn’t ready to cope with.

Now that I think about it, Chidori’s arc is pretty similar to Makoto’s in the movie. Give someone a person to care about after they’ve had nothing, and they’re going to be scared of losing them.

But, as is becoming routine for big emotional moments, Takaya and his gun are here to ruin it.

Honestly, being around Chidori has been good for Junpei, too. He’s been growing as a person now that he has a Someone he wants to fight for beyond just the team. It’s nice.

Unfortunately Takaya’s gun is still real and he just fucking shoots him.

Junpei finds himself in the hospital, where Chidori is actually being 100% honest about her feelings for once. It’s a mental thing, because she’s using her healing abilities to bring him back.

But the problem is, as Fuuka points out, her healing requires energy proportional to what she’s healing. So to bring him back to life… it’s going to take a life.

Junpei, understandably, freaks out, and instead of a normal persona evolution, he gets a fusion. I’m assuming because of how Chidori transferred her life force to him, if we’re going literal with it. Or maybe it’s just a metaphor. Either way, it’s great.

Takaya and Jin wisely decide to make themselves scarce, because Junpei is ready to kill. And… there’s nothing more we can do. Fortunately, Monday is a school holiday, so we don’t have to go, but Junpei spends all day locked in his room.

There’s nothing any of us can say to help.

On Tuesday, it’s the start of career experience week! Which I’m realizing is the sort of thing I’d like to have. Go and try out a job in a low-stakes environment to see if you vibe with it.

Unfortunately, Minato is stuck working at Wild Duck Burger. Which is basically free work for them and a hideous uniform for us.

Four days of this. God. At least the week is flying by.

Wait, is that Ryoji’s voice?

No. Please. It’s the last day. Don’t look at me in this stupid outfit.

...oh. Yeah, of course we can.

Kenji, who is also working here apparently, butts in to join us, because apparently our breaks are at the same time. So he’s also here. Ryoji wants to talk about Junpei; apparently they were working at the same place, and Junpei didn’t even show for the first day.

Yeah… I don’t know how to explain, dearest. It’s an entire backstory.

...Kenji, get out. Go away.

He does go away eventually, and Ryoji admits that he was worried about Minato, too.

I dunno if I’m doing “just fine”, but it wasn’t as hard a blow to me as it was to Junpei. It’s sweet of you to be worried, though.

But it’s okay. I’m gonna go slam through any bad feelings by killing stuff in Tartarus. We’re almost to another border floor, which means the last document is here!

Oh, hey, I was right! The antiques lady did used to work for the Kirijo Group. Nice.

Now we can just fuse some personas, and we’ll be ready to head home for the night.

…Liz, are… are you okay?

Welp, career experience week was kind of a bust, but at least we finally got Junpei out of his room. We want to help, and it’s not healthy for him to wallow alone.

The hospital sent over Chidori’s sketchbook. She apparently left it behind.

Junpei, the person you were in love with died in your arms. You do not have to ‘snap out of it’. No one is asking you to get over it right now. We just want you to let us help.

He says we won’t understand Chidori’s drawings, but I think we can understand perfectly.

I guess I should check in on my social links… How are things, Maya?

...so, the ethics teacher doesn’t even LIKE her fiance? Great. Wow. This school is so functional.

Ryoji is over that evening, but he’s hanging out with Junpei. I can’t even be mad, because Junpei’s mood has improved significantly.

I’m glad he’s doing better. It’s going to take a while to get back to normal, but he’s not being crushed under the weight of his grief anymore.

Back to school Monday, hang out with Chihiro, back home to the dorm, and…

Hon. Babe. Love of my life. TELL ME that you’re coming over and I’ll be here. We’ve already established that I’ll ignore all my social links for you. It’s like you’re getting more shy after Kyoto. Is it too hard to talk to me after realizing you’re in love with me? :P

Aigis doesn’t like that he’s here so much, though. And she’s acting weird.

No. You are a person and you are our friend. Don’t talk like that.

And lastly, Mitsuru has stayed up past midnight to take a phone call, with some interesting info.

So, Atlus, what was that about wanting to maintain the core P3 experience? Because there was no way to save Chidori in original P3. That didn’t come til later.

I wonder what I did that saved her. Was it buying the flower?

Either way, what a bunch of bozos. “Core P3 experience” my ass.

Oh well. December is next, and I am ready to get my heart broken! Bring it on!

[greatsealed]

have you played fes or portable? it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on how they differ from reload to you!

oh i grew up playing FES & p3p!!!! i would love to go off

i won't lie, persona 3 is an extremely nostalgic and comforting game for me, so i was honestly terrified about a lot of p3r's changes. i remember reading articles months before the game came out about how all of the voice actors for SEES were new and how all of the tracks were gonna be remixed and i was legitimately terrified. i grew up with the original cast and got so attached to them/their careers that i looked up other media that they were in. to this day they are voice actors i can recognize and name right away!

the original soundtrack for p3 is so iconic too and i thought it'd lose its charm when it got remixed, but boy, was i wrong. the new battle theme (it's going down now), the lyrical changes to burn my dread - last battle, even the exam music and changing seasons. UGH, changing seasons has to be my absolute favorite of all of them... adding lyrics to the most catchy part is the best thing they could have done.

i will say (and this might be nostalgia talking), i am still really sad that yumi kawamura got replaced as the singer for nearly every song. i think the main songs that mess with me are the ones where her iconic vocals are replaced ("deep mentality" Specifically doesn't sound right with the new vocals imo), but on the whole, i like a ton of the new songs and the remixes.

onto things that aren't surface-level changes, lmao-

i absolutely adore the screentime they added for strega. they played a part in persona 3, but they were always in the background. chidori got 90% of the screentime. seeing takaya have a crisis over his feelings for the protag & jin being super codependent with takaya was SO good. hearing more about their reasoning and their backstory being more fleshed out ugh;;; the bit with the prototype evoker fucked me up especially. and seeing takaya eventually resort to using an evoker in his boss fight? HURTS

(aigis vc) RYOJI RYOJI RYOJI, DEATH DEATH DEATH. the original game (while playing as the male protagonist, at least) did not focus on the relationship between him and the protag, like...at all. which is so funny because they made it a highlight in the manga AND the movie! i've always loved ryoji to bits, but i've also had to rely a lot on the femc's route and the movie to think about how they could have bonded in the original :( thank god reload gave my boy more content because he NEEDED it. ryoji's connection to the protagonist should really be emphasized in every piece of media, and they FINALLY did it. also just about every day before i reached november, i would rant to my husband about how "there needs to be more ryoji/protag content. it doesn't HAVE to be on the level of "i'd love you even if you were a boy" but i need SOMETHING." and then atlus smacked me with "i want to be something more" and i LOST IT. THEY DID THE THING. atlus embracing the romantic tension between them MY BELOVED. (in case it isn't obvious, ryomina is my favorite ship)

SHINJIRO. the first time i played persona 3, i really didn't care for him (i've never liked characters who are stand-offish and constantly push people away without apparent reason). it was only after i realized the greater backstory that i learned to appreciate and sympathize with his character, and imo, one of p3r's greatest additions was the ability to interact with shinjiro and ken before shit goes down. shinjiro's plotline where you try to convince him to go back to school is devastating, especially when (spoilers) you find a re-enrollment form filled out in his room. absolutely fucking HEARTBREAKING. i already cried during his death (way more than i did in the original game, which is kinda crazy), but damn, they got tears out of me AGAIN with that one. i also noticed that there's a lot more foreshadowing and it is SO effective. i already went off about this on my shinjiro blog, but damn, they fucking nailed it with him.

FRIENDSHIP ROUTES!!! i can't tell you how frustrating it was trying to balance social links between all of the girls. it made me lean more into focusing on yukari (best girl) and nobody else lmao. one of the points of persona 3 was that social links were near-impossible to complete, and they really realized that goal with the girls imo. however!! getting to see the protagonist opt for friendships is really sweet. i love seeing a good rejection where neither party holds a grudge or feels humiliated. it's a really nice touch, especially because i've always wanted to see how friendships would pan out between the mc and the Gorls.

general quality of life changes & the addition of theurgy. i love that theurgy had more depth to it than just a "super move;" looking at the personality conditions is so nice and adds more to the characters than they already had. seeing that shinjiro's resolve deepens when his hp is less than half made me so :'))))

those are big things i love about p3r's changes. aside from the protag not being able to change weapons (my favorite part of original p3), i think the biggest complaint i have is that they left out the answer (p3p has been ported to modern consoles, so you can still experience the femc's route, but the answer is ONLY on ps2 to this day), and even then, i've read that they're planning to add it as dlc.

i've said this before and i'll say it again: i know people have gripes with the answer, but i absolutely adore it. it's the most realistic portrayal of grief among the dorm, which hits differently for EVERYONE. every single change to their personalities makes sense, especially taking their reliance on the protagonist into account. it's made so much more obvious in p3r (which i love), but everyone cares deeply about the protagonist. losing him is a devastating blow. and then aigis gaining his power? yukari is SO justified for being distraught and jealous. that's the realest shit i've ever seen.

also the fights between them because they can't decide whether to go to the past or look to the future...the entirety of the answer is heartbreaking because it hits so hard. yukari, who (aside from aigis) was hit the hardest by losing the protag, obviously wants to go to the past, back to a time when he was alive. the others either want to compromise or move on. the answer is about accepting life's hardships and finding a way to move on and that's beautiful. it's always hit so hard for me.

that's not even delving into metis and aigis UGH... i could go off about the answer forever.

as for p3p-

i played p3p nearly every day when i was in middle / high school. i'd bring my psp to school and play it religiously. i still remember blasting "heartful cry" on my ipod and playing p3p on the bus, lmao.

it's not my favorite iteration of persona 3 now (p3p was good for travel + when i was in school and needed something to get me through the day), but i do have a soft spot for how much effort was put into the femc's route. i will say that i'm not as devastated as a good chunk of the fandom that the femc isn't in p3r or even p3d, but i do love her character and i hope she's also eventually added as dlc (if they're gonna add the answer, then why not add femc again?). i'm really glad she was included in pq2 though, ESPECIALLY because there were so many validating twin moments between her and the male protagonist :')))

i will say, as a final note, that p3r REALLY nailed the feeling of original p3, but i think it made me way more emotional with how it was executed. i've PLAYED the game a million times! i knew every plot detail, i knew exactly how the game would play out (aside from the new additions), and i STILL sobbed several times by the end of the game. i've said this to my husband, but p3r was so well-executed that i felt like i was playing the original game for the first time!! and as someone who has experienced the game MANY times, that's such an incredible feat. i adore the remake. i'm so glad that none of my initial fears were warranted.

for once: thank you, atlus.

[beantothemax]

It was a sickening thing. 

The sound of death. 

In those old war movies with the strapping young blonde kid with the blue eyes and dreams of becoming a hero, when that kid gets shot down to show the horrors of battle or the heartlessness of the enemy, the gunshot rings out loud and clear, whistles through the air like a death knell. 

Ken never heard the bullet. 

He doesn’t realise what’s happening until it’s too late, until Shinjiro-san is crumpled and unmoving on the ground and he’s staring at Takaya through blurry vision streaked with red and there are footsteps thundering along to the roar of the heartbeat in his ears. 

Sanada-san falls to his knees as Shinjiro-san stirs, chokes something out through bloodstained lips. He smiles, his teeth red and a trickle of scarlet running down his chin, and Ken thinks he’s going to be sick. 

Shinjiro-san’s eyes flutter, go blank as his gaze fixes on the pale green moon above them, and Sanada-san shakes him as though to wake him up from a daydream. 

Why were bodies always shaken? Was it to confirm the worst, to gain even an ounce of closure in knowing that the person in your arms had passed in comfort- or was it to dispel their fears, to try and bring the person back from whatever dream they had passed into? 

He tries not to vomit as he thinks of his own mother, cold and lifeless and limp against Ken’s tiny hands. His fists curled into the once-white blouse on his mother’s body, shaking her shoulders the way he would to wake her up when she had forgotten to give him his morning hugs. He shook and shook, begged and screamed for her to wake up, despite knowing that loving smile on her face and blank look in her eyes would never shift. The blood on his palms would cool and crack, and his mom would never wake up. 

He had shaken the body in denial. He couldn’t accept it, so he had done everything to deny it. He still did- acted too grown up and spoke too little of his mom and now the blood on his palms was cooling and cracking, and he was no closer to dispelling the churn of his stomach than he had been when he stepped away so he didn’t have to hear everyone’s sobs. 

He had done this. He hadn’t shot Shinjiro-san, but what difference did it make? He had brought Shinjiro-san out here, and even if Takaya hadn’t interrupted, he still planned to kill Shinjiro-san. 

He had planned to take himself down too, planned to join his mother all too readily. He had accepted the fact that he would feel the blood on his palms run warm and wet before it cooled and cracked- he had planned to be long gone before he ever felt that happen. 

He curls up in the shadows, scratches incessantly at the peeling red on his skin, pointedly ignores how it feels like he’s scratching away Shinjiro-san’s very existence, the impact he had on Ken’s life. 

He stops scratching. The texture is disgusting, and he knows his palms will be stained scarlet for a while after this, and he knows he’ll show up to school with bloodshot eyes and a bad attitude and horrible focus and he’ll be sent to the dorms for the rest of the day and maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. 

It was a sickening thing. 

The sound of grief. 

Wails like sirens echoed through the alleyway, baying of a hound keened alongside the noise, the racket surely alerting every late-night commutor to the anguish of these walls. 

The sky was no longer that horrible sickly green, Shinjiro-san’s long-cold body no longer washed out and sallow, Ken’s hands now even redder. He slips further into the darkness before anyone can realise he’s gone. 

He doesn’t hear them talking about him as they carry Shinjiro-san’s body out. They’ll put him in his room for the night, Mitsuru will stay home on sickleave tomorrow to arrange the funeral, and Ken will stay as far away from the dorm as he can. 

Ken always questioned where a person went when they died. His mom had always told him they went to Heaven to play with angels. Makoto-san said they went to the moon, like astronauts to explore what they couldn’t while they were alive. 

Astronauts... The name meant ‘sailors of the stars’, according to Fuuka’s Fun Fact Friday. Was his mom a star-sailor? Or did she stay on the clouds in Heaven to watch in horror as her son scratched scarlet off of his palms and lurked in shadows and tugged his S.E.E.S jacket further around himself as night settled once again over Tatsumi Port? 

If he was dead, he wouldn’t bother watching the living. He certainly wouldn’t watch himself, a miserable failure of a son and teammate, leaving in the shadows two corpses to drag their ways after him instead of one. 

That night, he dreams of death. He can still smell the rot, see the bodies in his field of view. He can see blood sprayed across the floor of the alleyway, pooling at his feet and dripping from somewhere. 

He touches his chest, feels the familiar pinpricks of broken glass and hisses as he draws his fingers away and they pull back scarlet. The blood is still on his palms, shifting and swirling to stay there while his hand is upright. It cracks and peels and drips down his arm. He wants to be sick. 

He feels a pain go through his leg, then another, and another, until he’s on his back staring up at a pale green moon and someone is beside him screaming, begging for him to just wake up. 

But he can’t. Because this was always the plan, wasn’t it? 

Come here. Kill two figurative birds with one literal stone. 

The blood leaks through his fingers and his coats and he knows this is it. The plan worked, never mind the screams of grief that surround him, the echoes slithering into his ears like the whispers of the dead. 

Ken wakes up cold and alone. Nothing new there. 

He’s been in the alleyway for two days now, trembling and sickly and so, so close to ripping off the rest of the redness on his palms, the last flakes that cling stubbornly to his skin, like the universe is telling him that he needs to remember what he did for as long as he can. As if he doesn’t plan on doing that to begin with. 

He hears footsteps echo down the alleyway and curls into himself, tries to hide himself in the shadows he lurks in. He sees Sanada-san crouch in front of him and he wants to scream, cry, do anything except stare at him like a spooked animal. 

“Do you really think Shinji would want you hiding out here?” 

Ken wants to throw up. The mention of Shinjiro-san makes his palms tingle and his stomach churn and the whispers in the back of his mind grow louder. 

“He’s dead. He can’t want anything anymore,” Ken mumbles. Because of me. 

That last part goes unsaid. As does everything else Ken has ever thought regarding death. Regarding S.E.E.S. Regarding his mother. 

“But if he were alive, what do you think he’d say? He’d tell you to get up, to hold your head up.” 

Ken looks up at Sanada-san. His eyes are misty and he has his arms open as though for a hug and there’s a smile on his face like he didn’t just watch his best friend die. Because of Ken. 

Sanada-san knows this. He knows Ken asked Shinjiro-san to come to this alley to kill him. He knows Ken is the reason his best friend is dead. He knows this, and he still waits with open arms. 

Ken can’t stop himself. He throws himself into Sanada-san’s arms, the dam breaking and tears spilling over. He’s been acting too grown up for too long, he hasn’t thought of his mom when she was alive in years, he hasn’t been doing anything but wallowing in death. 

Maybe it’s time to bask in life. 

“I’m gonna live, Sanada-san. I don’t- wanna die anymore, I’m gonna- gonna live. H-he saved my life, I don’t wanna- don’t wanna give it up so soon,” he splutters out between hiccups. Sanada-san rubs circles in his back while he cries himself out, hugging him close. 

Ken’s fists bunch up the fabric of Sanada-san’s shirt, clinging to him like a lifeline. He’s spent too long in that alleyway, surrounded by death- he’s started to feel like a corpse too. But now, being surrounded by warmth, being held close and being able to hear a heartbeat that isn’t his own... It’s nice. 

“...Why do you live, Sanada-san?” He asks. The question he’s always had- why do people persist time and time again, tragedy after tragedy, determined to live despite it all? The question.  

“Right now? For Shinji, and my sister Miki. In the future? ...I hope to live for myself. For my friends,” Sanada-san murmurs into his shoulder, still rubbing those circles into his back. The answer. 

“I think I’m gonna live for my mom and Shinjiro-san. Do you think he’ll watch over us both?” 

Sanada-san huffs out a laugh, nodding. When they pull away- far too soon, a voice whispers in Ken’s mind- he looks determined. There’s a smile in his face and tears running down his cheeks and he’s holding Ken like a proud dad would hold his son. 

And Ken can feel something change. His stomach drops and his head feels light and he can smell Shinjiro-san’s cologne and cigarette smoke faintly on the air. 

And his Persona has changed. He no longer wants revenge. He wants to live- he wants to live for the sakes of the two people who mattered maybe the most to Ken in his life until now. 

He meets Sanada-san’s eyes and smiles as best he can. He still feels sick to his stomach whenever he thinks about Shinjiro-san, but he knows he’ll be okay. No more revenge. No more vengeance. No more death. 

Now is the time for life. And he intends to make the most out of the one he’s been given. 

[styxisms]

General:

Muse Name: Makoto Yuki Age: 17 Race: human Weapon/Arcana: short sword / fool / universe Faceclaim: tba

Personality:

Positive Traits: intelligent, adaptable, gentle, loving (when he gets there) Negative traits: aloof, standoffish, distant, socially backwards, quiet, reckless, self-destructive. Skills: Violin, drawing, cooking (he learns from Shinji), combat, running/sprinting, using a sword, strategy Likes: music, feeling needed, sleeping, animals Dislikes: loud noises, crowds, being touched Summary: Makoto is very distant at first. This fades as he stays with sees a bit. He has pretty serious mental health issues due to his history. Makoto is a good person with who is very emotionally distant. He does typically only spend time with people when he has something to gain to start with. Again, this fades as he "comes alive" throughout the game.

History:

Makoto was only 6 years old when driving home late at night with his parents. One second, he was asleep in the backseat, the next he was crawling out of the burning wreckage of the car they were in. The world around him had changed and shifted into a nightmare. No one was around aside from a girl fighting a monster and --

…. A dream. One that he had plenty of times. Each time, the girl got more difficult to see. Until it was discarded as childish imagination. And Makoto always had a vivid one. He was sent from various foster homes. Seen as a difficult child due to his seemingly unwillingness to speak, disturbing drawings, and self destructive tendencies. Makoto had given up on ever belonging anywhere. He didn't care about living or dying. He went through the motions on auto-pilot. Until he joined SEES.

Family: Yuki Airi (mother, deceased), Yuki Rikuto (father, deceased)

Verses:

To the unknown I go against my sorrow: Follows the main story for Persona 3 with heavy inspiration from the movies and reload. Goes from the start of the game to the end on the rooftop.

Cover your eyes and hide in the dark: Following the events of the game if Makoto chose to kill Ryoji and forget everything. Most of his bonds with SEES outside of his classmates is gone and all of his development is erased.

With all of my unanswered prayers: Verse where Makoto joins Strega. He doesn’t get “accidentally” put in the SEES dorm. Instead, he goes to the boys dorm. He stays pretty reclusive until the night of the full moon. He sees Pharos and sneaks out of the dorm in the hopes of seeing him since he thought he left the dorm. There he is attacked by the big shadow. Despite not having an evoker, when he is almost killed by the Shadow, Thanatos awakens but Makoto can’t control it. This leads to the shadow being killed by Thanatos more or less being a huge risk to himself and everyone around them. Takaya manages to stop him and “rescues” him. Due to this, Makoto is asked to join up with them instead. Feeling obligated at first, he joins. He has almost no control over his Persona at all, making him incredibly dangerous. The ONLY way he can easily control it is with the pills Takaya gives him Now, Makoto’s issues worsen and his feeling of not fitting in gets worse. The only time he feels comfortable is during the Dark Hour. He makes no friends at school and retreats into himself, his only real contacts being the other members of Strega. While Makoto is still a sympathetic character to an extent, he is incredibly selfish in this verse. It is very much a villain verse.

YOUR WISH: Persona 5 Royal verse. This verse takes places during the events of Persona 5 Royal. Heavily plotted out with Irons. The Answer never happened in this verse and all of SEES ended up growing up and going their separate ways. When Maruki took control (or before if a character met him and confided in him), Makoto was brought make to life. With no memories after the rooftop, Makoto reappears in the world. He instantly knows something is wrong. His biggest concern is to solve the mystery of why he is back before his absence can allow Nyx to come back. This verse takes place roughly 10 years after the events of Persona 3. I am willing to plot out things with Persona 5 or 3 rpers. Though if I am interacting with Persona 5 rpers, I will assume a lot involving the P3 cast solely because of the affiliation the verse has with Irons and his muses. this is his metaverse outfit. credit to the artist. also he goes by midnight if he joins the thieves

THE DAY AFTER: Makoto survives verse. Makoto doesn't die on 3/5. Maybe as a gift from Ryoji or Igor, or through his own stubborn will... Makoto is split. While much of him became the seal, he is still at least somewhat tethered to his body. After the rooftop, he falls into a coma with little hope of waking up. Despite pessimism from the doctors and no real known cause medically, he is basically in a vegetative state for at least a month if not longer. He does eventually wake up. He struggles, at first, with eyesight and moving around. But eventually he regains some semblance of independence. Makoto is alive but has severe issues. He had chronic exhaustion and pain that seems to have no cause. He is incredibly sickly and struggles after any strain physically. For the most part, he is living on borrowed time. He could die in a day, in six months, in a year, in ten years. But it doesn't really matter to him, because all he wanted was more time with the people he loves. He isn't afraid of dying because he knows it's all worth it to protect the world he grew to love thanks to SEES.

LOST WITHIN MYSELF. Persona 4 verse. makoto in this verse is more or less a shadow that is the part of makoto he refuses to accept (the part of him that resents his fate and wants to live) which is why he appears in the tv world randomly. He just is able to leave and use a persona because makoto himself is the seal but is aware of him and is lowkey like...able to see through his eyes despite him (p4 makoto) not remembering the events of the game that well. like he remembers it up to like... the end of the game but his memories are incredibly choppy. which is why he acts more like early game makoto. so in this situation, makoto can see what the other makoto is doing so while he is technically a shadow, he's also partly makoto. so he is a persona user but he is…. significantly weaker. he can't use multiple personas as easily. he still is a badass but he is like… not near end game makoto level. he remembers bits and pieces. but his memories are very fragmented.

IMPORTANT:

Makoto has a leadership role in SEES and it is SOLELY for combat. He usually just goes with the flow otherwise. He is very powerful and is really good at fighting with his persona or without it due to his time in tartarus. He takes his job as a leader very seriously and wants to protect the people he is leading!

Makoto engages in some very upsetting behavior. Mainly various forms of self harm. I will always tag this as it is also a trigger for me so i know how important it is to tag. Please be safe.

MUSE TAG

[tsuki-sennin]

Starshine Hoshino continues his epic saga!

And after that... from what I've heard, a somewhat uncomfortable clingy childhood friend story. My favoriiiiiite..

(Oh and also further information we learn about the Dark Sisters and what is in the big scary hole in the Ouroboros Realm I guess)

Spoilers, I guess...

-Spoooooooooky ghoooooooooooosts~! And our only help is Kajiki and fucking Jugglus Juggler.

-"Does anybody here hate the chief? :<" isn't a question you should ask over the chief's body, I feel.

Kajiki: "Among us..." Rinne: "Dude, he's not-" Kajiki: "AMOGUS-!"

-Huh

-"Burn the wizard! Burn him!"

-"No fightiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing~!"

-Kamen Rider Gotchard taught us that humans were the real monsters.

-...how many people have made that joke?

-Rinne...

-Renge-san...

-Spooky little ghoast~!

-Nana...

-I

-What is that pose, who decided that

-Oh, Nana knows something, don't she?

-Imagine telling your friends that you were stuck posing with Takaya Aoyagi for a bit.

-Hello, Atropos~!

-What do you think about, Rinne-chan?

-"You suck. :<"

-Oh Christ, the fox.

-Oh, Appareskebow! Haven't seen that one in a while.

-The shrine...

-Watch out for snakes wha-

-That was a long shot

-Hello, Nana

-A whole other level of Malgam, perhaps?

-Man, Hotaro's really mixing it up today.

-Exorcise them!!!

-YOOOOOO RENGEEEEE

-Cosmic Chemies united! Light the darkness and strike at evil~!

-Okay, sure Mr. Ninetails.

-Welcome home.

-T

-The kitsune...

-Onsen!!!!

-Huh...

-Guess our troubles are over?

-Kitsune-sama...

-Think I've had enough of god foxes for a while.

-Occult Detectives.....

-Mr. Hoshino...

-"He's gonna go crazy... :<"

-YEAAAAAAH

-Fuck real estate speculators~!

-Thanks, Nana :)

-Alright, next episode

-Romeo and Juliet for Xbox Live

-Byeeeeee Juggler, I'll miss youuuuu

-Senior year, bro! Good on ya, lad.

-Rinne-chan, Kajiki-kun, good orning~!

-There she is, the transfer student.

-Tsukumo Sana- Er, Tsukumo Seina.

-Ohhhh, wait! That's Kanon Matsuzawa! She played Shiro Ogami in Revue Starlight and the Water Rail Orphenoch in the new Faiz movie.

-"Oh no, you two know each other?"

-"F-Fate?????"

-Good for you, Kajiki :)

-Already muscling in, eh Seina?

-Even Geryon's creepy homunculi feel sorrow.

-Ohhhhhhhh

-That's one big bastard.

-"My da

-SO SOSOSOSOSOOSOSOSOSS

-SONOZA?????? KIJINO./???????

-Oh, it's Shinnosuke Takahashi and Hirofumi Suzuki playing themselves, I see

-HOW DID I NOT HEAR ABOUT THIS LAST WEEK????

-Comedy...

-Ahhhhh, I see... putting the surprise cameo that wasn't in last episode's trailer contrasts super heavily with the dire state of the drama club.

-Romeo and Juliet. Forty thousand men and women everyday.

-To find that Gotcha...

-"I'm not a leading man, but... Okay!"

-We studied Romeo and Juliet extensively in one of our lit classes. I was Mercutio.

-Crosscasting, Hotaro! You've got a lot to learn, son.

-Hi Minato-sensei.

-Lachesis...

-Oh hi Clotho~!

-Little sisters got conflict.

-Going all out right away, huh lady?

-I see... Clotho's championing the form as all powerful, and yet even as a being made out of Geryon's alchemy strong enough to fight Gotchard even untransformed, she can't handle Dread at maximum power.

-"You're really hurting my feelings, Spanner... :\"

-Romeo and Juliet...

-Ten seconds and you cry.

-Hello, Seina-chan~!

-Y-You remember that too, huh?

-He's 1% of a man and she's 99% likely to have Chemy Trouble! Rinne-chan don't stand a chance~!

-Okaaaaay, I'm gonna have to ask you to tone it down a bit Missy.

-Kudo...

-THEY ATE HIM

-A bond of brotherhood reinforced by malice.

-"Uhhhhh..."

-"Still the same lonely little girl you always are."

-Rinne????

-Just like that, eh? How about that?

-She was frozen today!

-I know Rinne's a teenager, and I realize that her relationship with Hotaro is integral to the story, but like...

-Man, idk, there's gotta be some smoother way to go about this.

-"I done fucked up."

-"I'm going to kill your ass. For my Dad!"

-Okay, I see what they're going for now

-It's all these different elements coming together to cause a reaction.

-Since I'm here, I guess I'll keep going

-"She's dead, Rinne."

-Believe, Kudoh!

-MoonCerberus, yay~!

-One fast doggy

-Be thawed, girly!

-Welcome home, Blizzammoth~!

-Yippee~!

-Kyoka-san...

-Yeah, who is that guy?

-Meikoku no Ou...

-"Hi Dad :)"

-"Do it. End them. Kill them all, my dear daughter! Oooooh~!"

-Ah, yep, Romeo's murder of Tybalt. Guess they are being thorough.

-Tsukumo, c'mon girl

-Hero?

-Ah....

-I suppose it's quite serendipitous that the Alchemist Association didn't accidentally wipe those memories too.

-New Malgam dropped

-Hello again, Spanner~!

-He got Splatooned

-Awwww, Spanner...

-Kamen Riders, yes~!

-To hell, children~!

-These're some fun camera and editing tricks here

-Rinne...

-"You did it, moron~! You killed your friend~!"

-OH????

-A trick~!

-Exgotchalibur~!

-Oh yeah, solar eclipse. We had one of those.

-I didn't get to see it, I lived too far away.

-What's Your Fire, once more~!

-Hoooooo! Heat!

-This is how Romeo and Juliet ended, right?

-Ma

-Mackraken.....

-"Yeah sorry I can't watch this anymore."

-We saved~!

-Drama Club is saved forever~!

-"Go away."

-"Moooooom, c'mon! I made that! What an unfunny joke!"

-Keeping her creepy sadism on our side is good.

-OH HELLO?????

[ochazos]

VERSES

To the unknown I go against my sorrow: Follows the main story for Persona 3 with heavy inspiration from the movies and reload. Goes from the start of the game to the end on the rooftop.

Cover your eyes and hide in the dark: Following the events of the game if Makoto chose to kill Ryoji and forget everything. Most of his bonds with SEES outside of his classmates is gone and all of his development is erased.

With all of my unanswered prayers: Verse where Makoto joins Strega.

He doesn’t get “accidentally” put in the SEES dorm. Instead, he goes to the boys dorm. He stays pretty reclusive until the night of the full moon. He sees Pharos and sneaks out of the dorm in the hopes of seeing him since he thought he left the dorm. There he is attacked by the big shadow. Despite not having an evoker, when he is almost killed by the Shadow, Thanatos awakens but Makoto can’t control it. This leads to the shadow being killed by Thanatos more or less being a huge risk to himself and everyone around them. Takaya manages to stop him and “rescues” him. Due to this, Makoto is asked to join up with them instead. Feeling obligated at first, he joins. He has almost no control over his Persona at all, making him incredibly dangerous. The ONLY way he can easily control it is with the pills Takaya gives him Now, Makoto’s issues worsen and his feeling of not fitting in gets worse. The only time he feels comfortable is during the Dark Hour. He makes no friends at school and retreats into himself, his only real contacts being the other members of Strega. While Makoto is still a sympathetic character to an extent, he is incredibly selfish in this verse. It is very much a villain verse. It’s still being worked out, as I am only now getting into the meat of Strega being in the game in reload and it’s been like 10+ years since I played the original game lol.

YOUR WISH: Persona 5 Royal verse.

Persona 5 Royal verse. This verse takes places during the events of Persona 5 Royal. Heavily plotted out with Irons. The Answer never happened in this verse and all of SEES ended up growing up and going their separate ways. When Maruki took control (or before if a character met him and confided in him), Makoto was brought make to life. With no memories after the rooftop, Makoto reappears in the world. He instantly knows something is wrong. His biggest concern is to solve the mystery of why he is back before his absence can allow Nyx to come back. This verse takes place roughly 10 years after the events of Persona 3. I am willing to plot out things with Persona 5 or 3 rpers. Though if I am interacting with Persona 5 rpers, I will assume a lot involving the P3 cast solely because of the affiliation the verse has with Irons and his muses.

this is his metaverse outfit. credit to the artist. also he goes by midnight if he joins the thieves

THE DAY AFTER: Makoto survives verse

Makoto doesn't die on 3/5. Maybe as a gift from Ryoji or Igor, or through his own stubborn will... Makoto is split. While much of him became the seal, he is still at least somewhat tethered to his body.

After the rooftop, he falls into a coma with little hope of waking up. Despite pessimism from the doctors and no real known cause medically, he is basically in a vegetative state for at least a month if not longer. He does eventually wake up. He struggles, at first, with eyesight and moving around. But eventually he regains some semblance of independence.

Makoto is alive but has severe issues. He had chronic exhaustion and pain that seems to have no cause. He is incredibly sickly and struggles after any strain physically. For the most part, he is living on borrowed time. He could die in a day, in six months, in a year, in ten years. But it doesn't really matter to him, because all he wanted was more time with the people he loves. He isn't afraid of dying because he knows it's all worth it to protect the world he grew to love thanks to SEES.

[jinandtakaya]

Inktober Day 2 - Divided.

It always bothered me that they didn’t fight (and die) together in the games/manga. At least the WM and movies changed that but the movies also changed so much that I didn’t like so...

This one is super simple because I’m tired from work. Also, for the record, I don’t plan on this being an entirely Takajin Inktober as not all the prompts really fit, but that’s just how it’s worked out so far. It will at least be all Persona, if I actually manage to keep doing it.

[kursed-arcana]

Fruits Basket Prelude Review

Fruits basket prelude. The values of modern times may change, but past media doesn’t.

The relationship of Kyoko and Katsuya is controversial amongst fans of the series, especially the anime onlies who flooded the fandom as result of the reboot. What is important to remember is that fruits basket is both a series from another culture, and another time. The 90s and early 2000s was a different time. Teens dating slightly older adults wasn't viewed the same way and the further back you go, the more common it was. From The Sound of Music, to Sabrina the Teenage Witch, you see it. Add in the fact japan is a different culture which changes at a different rate and you should get the picture. And for the record, the story is self aware enough where starting drama accomplishes nothing. Kyoko literally makes a Lolita complex joke at Katsuya's expense.

Let's all remember this is a work of fiction as well and enjoy the show. While we may relate to these characters and love them, they aren't real. And fiction is where we explore fantasy. A student teacher romance itself, being a popular romance story trope.

Before we tackle the prelude, let's address the recap and epilogue.

The recap, while unnecessary does provide some nice insight into kyo's point of view. For those of you who were dissatisfied with some creative liberties the final season took regarding kyo "forgetting" his connection to Tohru and Kyoko, despite it being clear through out the earlier seasons and even during the final itself, that he didn't, this clarifies that he simply tried to put it in a box and not think about it. Is it a lazy retcon because TMS got called our for their bs and realized they created plot discrepancies that weren't there? Probably but we'll never know for sure. At best this recap serves the purpose of emotionally prepping the viewer to cry during the movie and reintroduce the context regarding kyo's bond to Kyoko. Something that wouldn't have been necessary if they final season was given the full season order it needed.

At worst, it's just a cheap and pointless time killer eat up runtime while barely spending any money. It's also a minimalistic approach to trying to restore the emotional impact this background story had during the manga and how the later content would play off this tension, both during Kyo and Tohru's character arcs. Not that tms / production committee saw much value in those, despite them being the protagonist and love interest.

Now Takaya sensei hear our pain about the final season rushing though content and not properly delivering the resolution to character arcs and the story. And she took this opportunity to provide a nugget of joy to anime and manga fans alike. That's right, a new brief epilogue from therapist. I mean mangaka.

While the epilogue is brief, it hits all the right notes. It builds on Tohru and Kyo’s graveside conversation and shows a glimpse at their married life. The happy couple is living their best lives, working hard, panning a trip back to the family and being all lovey dovey. Its everything tms cut out of the main series. It's thrilling to see some of the sweet kyoru content we deserved. Thank you sensei.  You never fail to deliver when you're needed. Now please pick up that pen and get back to Liselotte. If you're truly done with furuba and furuba another your fans need you elsewhere.

So let's dive in to prelude now. Katsuya Honda is an interning student teacher and the fantastic woman we all know and love, Kyoko, is a middle school senior. Their paths cross at a time where Kyoko is young, rebellious and emotionally volatile. She is the crimson butterfly, the girl gang member feared by her peers, and underneath her tough as nails facade, is just a broken girl from an unhappy home.

This is the story about how this girl became the emotional pillar that helped save Arisa, Kyo and of course Tohru. And the person who saved her? That's right, Katsuya Honda. He saw in Kyoko, the same emotions he hid beneath a mask of his own and when she broke down and cried, he fell in love. It was her raw honesty that reached him. And while their situations may have been different, they were still quite similar.

While she had chosen to put on a tuff girl act and gall in with a bad crows in order to hide her pain, he had chosen to give into the demands of his controlling and judgmental family and put on the act of the dutiful and obedient son. Even his decision to pursue teaching was in order to please those around him, be they family or the expectations of the other teachers. You can see the moments he drops his mask. He removes his glasses (which are fake and part of his facade) and swiftly flips the switch into a dark prince type character. He takes Kyoko pointing out his bad behavior as a compliment every time. Because she sees the real him along with the fake him and enjoys it. Just like how he sees value in both versions of her.

 The two of them spent many lunch breaks chatting and growing closer. She never once attended his class. Even after he revealed he would be leaving the school and not pursuing education, she couldn't bring herself to face her peers judgement by entering a classroom. But luckily for her this twisted teacher wanted to keep meeting her.

His belief in her, reach her. It helped guide her to a better path. And helped teach her that she is worthy of love. But this better path and desire to change was held back by her past. Her decision to leave her gang, stole her opportunity to attend high school and got her disowned by her family. But luckily for her, Katsuya provided the home she needed and with the blessing of her father who just wanted her gone, married her.

We spend just enough time witnessing and enjoying their life together to become attached to their bond, their marriage and their parenting before tragedy strikes and Katsuya abruptly passess away. It leaves you wanting more, a feeling painfully shared by Kyoko as she is reduced to an empty shell of the woman she was before. She falls into so much darkness that she essentially forgets about Tohru entirely.

This story is as much a commentary on societal expectations as it is a romance. Both Katsuya and Kyoko were forced to hide behind masks as they came from two very different, but very troubled homes. They were judged by their family, each others families, their peers, but with the support of Katsuya's father who had lightened up after the death of his wife, they were able to move forward, determined to prove everyone who judged their relationship wrong.

"Show them you are happy because you are together"

That’s right people, even within the story their relationship is judged as wrong. And anyone who is looking at furuba as some black and white morality story seriously needs to rewatch it again. After katsuya's death,  insults at hurled at Kyoko by both his family and her own father. And while the movie didn't show it, the anime did reveal that they even insulted tohru, choosing to say hurtful things like she probably isn't even Katsuya's son. We spent 40 minutes on a recap but couldn't even have crucial content like that put in cause reasons.

Now I want to take the time to discuss something very important. The poor planning of the series that tore the final season to pieces is not solved through this movie alone. And the poor planning continues here. The time spent on the 40 minute recap, could of easily been spent animating content that directly ties into Kyoko's death. Kakeru's arc and connection to Tohru were repeatedly foreshadowed throughout the second season. Manga spoilers follow, so please only continue if you're OK with that. This would of been the perfect opportunity to fix one of the biggest mistakes of the final season, which was not adapting the content revealing what this connection was. Kakeru's girlfriend, Komaki, who was also mentioned several times, is the daughter of the man who killed Kyoko with his car. He attended Kyoko's funeral and went off on tohru for acting like she was the only person who lost someone in that accident (all before Komaki could nock some sense into him). An act that would play a part in Tohru beginning to hide her grief behind her happy go lucky attitude for most of the series. The final season did Tohru's background and character arc a disservice in many ways, and while this movie at least restores some of it, it does not fully deliver or resolve the issues with the final season.

I'll see you guys when tms and the production committee come back for more ovas, movies or whatever else they decide to do to bleed more money out of us. There's still entire chapters that were left unadapted and plenty of half chapters and skipped scenes, so here's hoping for a director's cut. Otherwise, be sure to check out the manga. You won't regret it. The story deserves the be told infull and that's the only way to experience it as of now.

And for anyone wondering if they'll adapt furuba another, the sequel series, kakeru and komaki's child is a player, so it shouldn't be adapted without a proper adaptation of their story arc.

Please make sure to like my review on mal

And if some of you'd be interested in hearing more of my thoughts, please let me know. I had a lot more I wanted to say but thought it was already pretty long for a review. I'm more then happy to write a bit more analysis though if asked.

And please excuse typos. I'm still doing everything from my phone. I held onto this review for over a week to make corrections but got lazier the more time went by.

[roseprincessarts]

Fruits Basket -- Friendship and Feels Sketchdump

Here is the sketchdump of my favorite anime Fruits Basket! This is from the 2001 version of Fruits Basket that I got to watch lol. I'm sorry for the not-so creative title for the sketchdump of these drawings, but here is the sketchdumps ^^

1. Tohru reading a novel while having a frappe from the local café. I find her cute and pretty calming when she is reading while having a frappe <3

2. Kyo and Tohru have a comforting hug, maybe when Kyo tried to calm down, Tohru comforts him with a hug. Just the fluffiness that fits <3

3. Yuki taking a calm, restful nap after being tired, maybe after going shopping with his brother and Tohru, or something, whatever you think why Yuki wants to take a nap, maybe imagine whatever you think :3

4. Cat Kyo and rat Yuki taking a restful nap, and Yuki makes sure he doesn't tick Kyo off too much XD

I actually finished the original series of Fruits Basket (2001, 4 years before I was born xD). And I will be watching the newer version back in 2019, two seasons and the movie when it comes out ^^

What y'all think?

Tohru, Kyo, Yuki and Fruits Basket ©Natsuki Takaya, Akitaro Daichi, Studio Dean and Funimation

Artwork ©SuperShadowSilver

No copyright infringement is intended

Used: Lowe's customized pencil, regular costumized designed pencil or mechanical pencil (this was days when I drew this)

[skeysesil]

Tomoya Nagase - Kiryu Kazuma

So, for almost a year now I've been yelling about how SEGA used Tomoya Nagase as model for Kiryu in Yakuza 0 and had the audacity to deny, making the fandom connect Takaya Kuroda to the character he's voicing and his looks. BUT I am here to show you the truth, because not only did Tomo serve as an unwilling model, the 2005 drama "Tiger and Dragon" in which he starred played also a role in the development of the first Ryu ga Gotoku game, the infamous PS2 version.

If you're ready for the ride of your life, you know what to do.

And if you haven't played RGG/Yakuza Kiwami yet, skip through because this includes a minor spoiler.

We're all familiar with Kiryu's features and how sharp his bone structure is throughout the series, but pay attention specifically to his lips, the placement of his cheekbones, eyebrows, and overall physiognomy.

handsome motherfucker

NOW have a look at the real life "Kiryu Kazuma"

Tomo is quite known for his portrayal of Yakuza characters in the early 2000s jdramas; "Tiger and Dragon" had a run time from April 15th to June 24th, 2005, where he plays the role of Toraji Yamazaki, a stereotypical yakuza who is hoping to become a rakugo (comic) storyteller. The irony of the situation is that his best friend in the entire story is a designer named Ryuji. [if you know, you know]

Does this "aesthetic" look familiar character-wise? thought so too

now some random information that is really important:

Tiger and Dragon came out in the first half of 2005, while PS2 Yakuza was released on December 8th the same year

Tomoya and Kiryu have the same place of birth and height

due to some problems, I can't upload a video, but in an episode of T&D, Tora is called and walks on his kyodai [Tsuruko] who is threatening another yakuza at gunpoint, taking charge of the situation and the role of a shield, demanding his brother to leave snatching the gun from Tsukuro's hand, he awaits the police to break into the building, getting cuffed and sent to jail, obviously for a crime he didn't commit, does it sound familiar? OF COURSE! it's the same script presented by SEGA with the death of Dojima scene where Kiryu covers up for Nishiki, sending him away with Yumi, getting sent to the joint for 10 years

ONE more ironic aspect that has to be pointed out is that in the 2007 live-action Yakuza movie "Like a Dragon", Kiryu was played by Kazuki Kitamura, WHO starred together with Tomoya in "Tiger and Dragon"; I guess this is the perfect representation of SEGA trying to decide who to choose to play the mighty Dragon of Dojima on screen

0 versus Kiwami, anyone?

I could go on and on about this, and frankly, I am not the only one who says that Tomo could've easily portrayed Kiryu in an RGG based movie, but unfortunately he is now retired from the entertainment industry so...huge loss.

If anyone is interested, I can also make a post on how SEGA used Tomoya as a model for Nishiki as well, using both his image from the late 90s and his character Sakaki Makio from the hilarious drama "My Boss, My Hero", juuust let me know. [I'll throw in a bonus, don't worry]

Thank you for coming to my TED talk, enjoy your ride back home.

[haleigh-sloth]

What do you think of the notion that Hori might be ending the series earlier than expected because he knows Bones and Shueisha/Jump are franchising the hell out of MHA, what with 6 more movies still in the pipeline and an ever-increasing amount of spin-off mangas, all of which he'll feel compelled (or be heavily pressured) into creating tie-in side content for alongside writing the main manga? Or am I overestimating the impact this side stuff actually has on Hori's workflow?

Well first, I don’t think this is sooner than expected really. He said he had intended for the final act to be five volumes, but obviously miscalculated lol. But regardless that tells us he’s serious about ending it now. He’s been trying to end it. In fact, I think it’s possible he’s been trying to end it for a while:

The title here seems kind of finale-ish. It’s only volume 11 (Kamino arc chapters). This kind of matches up with his original intent on not doing villain profiles at first, but then the story “evolving beyond that”. He’s changed his mind a bunch, but I think he’s wanted to get close to the ending for a while now. But the war arc didn’t leave off on the note he wanted, because it couldn’t. So here we are, watching him try to wrap all of that up.

So, I think BNHA needs to end. Like soon. But I’ll get to that. What I’m more interested in knowing is exactly how much input does the author have into the spin off content, light novels, movies, etc. I know they ✨say✨ that Hori has to give the final stamp of approval before things are published. But does he? Like does he read through it all before saying he approves? I’m certain he does some of it, or maybe little parts of everything, but all of it? I ask because it seems that the man can’t even get a firm grip on his own main story line. The editor is ruining all kinds of stuff with his own input, so why should I believe the side content is actually thoroughly run through Hori and that he has the final say? Also, with that impossible schedule I just don’t know how that would be possible. I mean yes you can make time for anything, but there is a LOT of side content coming out constantly. So idk, I’m skeptical of that. I’m also skeptical because it’s interesting how there is NO side content for the villains. And I’m not saying “the villains are better so we deserve content for them 😤😤”, I’m saying that they are legitimate characters with prominent parts in the story so it just makes me wonder if Hori himself doesn’t want to risk certain characters of his getting misrepresented in side content that isn’t written by him.

So branching off of that, I do feel that it’s a bit soon to see just how fast we’re barreling to the ending. But it’s possible that maybe he is ending it sooner than what the story led us to believe in order I preserve the main story he created. Meaning, the sooner he ends it, the less chance of another fucking movie interjecting.

But aside from that, I feel that he’s ending it simply because it needs to end. Like, I’ve never understood why people want stories to just keep on going forever. I get not wanting to leave the world of the story, and that’s where the side content comes in (if you’re into those, I’m typically not). But I’ll never understand people wanting a story to be ruined by being drug out just for the sake of getting new content. Also, if it wasn’t obvious—Hori is reaching his limit. It’s obvious with the sudden breaks he’s taking. Scheduled breaks? Normal. But suddenly not making the deadline because of his health? That’s pretty unacceptable tbh. Not on HIS part, but on the people demanding him to work non stop til he drops dead. Idk how he makes a chapter a week. I really really don’t. But it’s also obvious in the story. The writing is getting incredibly lazy. The last chapter felt like straight up advertisement, and idk where we’re going with this American hero lady. But everything else from that is just being so sloppily handled. He’s tired.

I would much rather him end it sooner than later so that his drive to actually give us a good ending doesn’t die out. Like at a certain point, I’d be worried he’d stop caring about the ending altogether. Luckily, I think he cares a great amount. I also think he really likes his villain characters a lot more than he lets on in interviews and stuff. It’s obvious in the story. So I do think he is going to try to nail the ending for every character, but I’m lowering my expectations for the nitty gritty details on the path to that ending.

Idk that you’re overestimating the impact it has on his workflow, because if he really REALLY does give the final stamp of approval before all that side stuff is published, then wow. What a fucking work schedule. And I thought I had it rough working in CPS. Lol. But I personally am skeptical of just how much input he gives into Team Up Missions and Vigilantes. Vigilantes is it’s own thing entirely and I can’t imagine him basically overlooking two separate mangas. Team Up Missions is just about the kids (if I remember correctly? I don’t read it so idk for super sure) so it’s not hard to make content for them. They’re easy. Lol. The light novels, I feel is a little more realistic for him to have a say in those since those are released way more sparsely than the other content. Those, I believe he looks over. Everything else I’m kinda “hmmmm idk”.

But anyway, I think it’s ending because it freaking needs to. That being said I do hope he’ll give like, little surprise epilogue chapters later down the line. Like how is Shigaraki doing? Toga? How are Touya and Shouto with their family, how are Midoriya and Bakugo doing as heroes, stuff like that. But like….a bit of time after it ends. Kinda how Takaya did with the extra fruits basket stuff. Just surprise us here and there lol. Unrelated, but I hope Hori writes something else later. Only this time with everything he wants and because he’s already become wildly successful, he won’t need to adhere to editors if he doesn’t want to. I feel like if he had free reign of his story, he’d make something really really good. And I hope he makes something later with all the elements he wants. But before that—REST. Lol.

[wits-writing]

Ultraman Z Ep. 2: “A Warrior’s Principle” (TV Review)

(Original Air Date: June 27, 2020, Director: Kiyotaka Taguchi, Writer: Kota Fukihara) 

The second episode of Ultraman Z, “A Warrior’s Principle”, takes some time to familiarize the audience with the setting of STORAGE. The dynamic between Haruki, his co-workers, and Ultraman Z gets elaborated on this time as they deal with the threat of an invisible monster, Neronga, that feeds on electricity. With a new power plant set to provide their city with clean energy, the team, along with Ultraman Z, need to find a way to track and stop the monster before it absorbs the energy from the plant.

[Full Review Under the Cut]

Coming hot off the momentum of the first episode, “A Warrior’s Principle” takes the time to build the audience’s familiarity with the procedural operations of STORAGE and the full story behind Zett’s arrival on Earth. Seeing the operational staff of STORAGE outside of our main cast goes a long way in creating a sense of reality around the idea that they are a fully functioning government team and not just a half dozen quirky characters that happen to own a giant robot. Though there is a stronger impression of who these characters are in the beats between dealing with the threat of Neronga. Early on we get a better glimpse into Yoko’s personality as we see her arm wrestle one of the maintenance workers for the right to date her, winning effortlessly. Yuka also gets a few more beats to establish her tech and monster research focus when she insist she could easily invent something better than the new clean energy power plant in their city.

Haruki’s part in the story and his relationships within STORAGE focused on most this time is with the increasingly enigmatic Captain Shota Hebikura (Takaya Aoyagi). After Haruki’s defeated by the invisible Neronga while piloting Sevenger, the captain finds the rookie practicing his karate and challenges him to a sparring match. Hebikura’s swift moves let him catch Haruki off guard several times before he’s able to hit the captain back and his captain leaves him with the old martial arts movie lesson of relying on more than one’s eyes in battle. The way the captain moves and speaks to Haruki, along with his general demeanor in the previous episode, suggests there’s more to him than he lets on. While the Ultra-fandom has already speculated about that, considering who’s playing the character, I’d prefer to hold off on that until the show itself gives some answers.

We do get some answers on other matters during a conversation between Haruki and Zett. First thing that’s made clear is how the now merged pair can communicate as we Haruki walk into a door of light where he can talk to his new partner in a pocket dimension. This conversation includes insight into why Zett and Zero were chasing Genegarg last time. Zett explains that monsters across the galaxy have become infected with “Devil Splinters”, increasing their power and driving them into mad fits of destruction. His home planet, the Land of Light in the M78 Nebula, developed the Ultra Z-Riser and its medals, infused with the powers of past Ultras, to deal with the threat. Genegarg attacked the planet and ate the medals, so they chased the shark monster until they reached Earth orbit.

Zett theorizes that destroying Genegarg scattered the medals, so gathering them back up needs to be a priority. Haruki’s also told not to worry about the medal-holder he’s wearing on his belt, since it’s made of a material that humans can’t see, which as a way for the writers to cover their tracks for why people don’t immediately see through Haruki as Ultraman Z’s human identity is decent. There’s also a wonderful comedic bit where Zett explains to Haruki that he’s 5000 years old and gets flustered when Haruki decides he needs to be less casual with him now and apologizes for any disprespect. Something I’m less keen on is Zett saying Haruki wasn’t able to transform in his first encounter with Neronga because his spirit wasn’t “heated enough”, which feels more like the writers saying “we need to save the Ultraman fight for the end of the episode.”

That fight goes back to how this episode displays how STORAGE operates as a team. We see them have a meeting beforehand to go over Neronga’s strengths and weaknesses, identify the new power plant as its next most likely target and determine they need to track and stop the monster before it reaches the facility. Yuka developed a weapon that can disperse the electricity that Neronga already absorbed, Haruki and herself make up the ground team to plant a tracking device on the invisible monster, while Yoko uses Sevenger to launch Yuka’s new weapon. Even though they have a rough go of it and Haruki transforms to deal with Neronga directly, the plan still works. It feels like a team effort between Ultraman Z and STORAGE. That sense of teamwork is something I hope to see throughout the battles in the series. There’s even a bit of internal teamwork with Haruki and Zett, as Haruki uses the lesson Hebikura taught him and tries to sense Neronga without relying on sight. Though it does lead to a bit of unintentional humor when Zett’s asked to close his eyes, but since the suit clearly can’t it’s visualized by Ultraman Z looking at the ground.

“A Warrior’s Principle” expanding on the lore of the season and giving us a better idea of how the ensemble of characters work together keeps the energy of the first episode going without needing to be as action focused. The enigmatic nature of Hebikura and Yuka excitedly going off to dissect Neronga at the end of the episode make them the ones I’m most excited to see more from. Yoko’s more of a mixed bag so far, since the show feels the need to balance out her no-nonsense persona with the running gag of her being attracted to older men. Which has a payoff at the end of her developing a crush on Ultraman Z after he saved her during the fight with Neronga. A crush only deepened when Haruki tells her the giant is 5000 years old. Though that does lead to the reminder that Yoko has her hands on the Ultraman medal, vowing to keep it safe for him.

That tease also doubles with the next episode preview showing we’ll soon see the debut of another form for Ultraman Z.

If you like what you’ve read here, please like/reblog or share elsewhere online, follow me on Twitter (@WC_WIT), and consider throwing some support my way at either Ko-Fi.com or Patreon.com at the extension “/witswriting”