#writing fantasy is cool cause you can just drop random details about the world that aren't explained and don't need to be explained and it

[jontaro-kun]

“A night at the Sleeping Squire”

I wrote this story months ago but here it is now, it doesn’t have a plot or anything it’s just me exploring characters.

     Chef was the first to arrive at the tavern, as always, wanting to be sure that he and his friends got a good table before the rush came in. It was a midsummer night at The Sleeping Squire, a Friday night if he remembered correctly.

      It would take a while before they arrived, as they lived far from Stonewood. About one or two days away in a carriage. They only visited on special occasions like a birthday, successful hunt, a well-paying job, or whenever Chef was in the mood for a vacation. He always thought the food could be better, though.

      He looked around at the other patrons of the bar, which were illuminated by the warm orange glow of freshly lit candles and fireplaces. Stonewood by itself is a very vibrant and lively place, as are the Knights who call it home, but the taverns are where their culture is amplified tenfold. Valkyr, Elves, Knights and all of the sort bustling about, drinking and laughing and singing shared by a mug of mead and a sliver of seared runehorn. On this night, in particular, the atmosphere was extra jubilant.

      “Must be a special occasion for them too.” He chuckled to himself as a waitress walked towards his table.

      “Can I get you anything, hun?”

      “Just water, for now, I’m expecting some friends.” As was his tradition, always being the first after all, water was free anyway.

      As she walked away his attention turned to the entrance, which had no doors and revealed the city streets outside as two people walked in energetically, the sound of a charming bell ringing throughout the tavern anyway. One was wearing a metal mask over wild, green, sharp hair. The one next to him had dark blue skin, glowing eyes of a lighter shade, and vibrant orange hair, he was adjusting his collar as he walked in. They both looked around before locking eyes with Chef, excitement plastered on their faces, or at least, one of their faces. The other was wearing a mask after all.

      “Come here, my boys!” Chef said, motioning for them.

      The sharp one took his half-helmet off as he sat down next to him. “Sorry we’re late, big man. Story thought we were going to a different tavern called The Laughing Dragon.”

      “Well excuse me, it’s not my fault they sound so similar. Tavern names are always ‘The something something blahblahblah’.” he said as he raised his hand to signal a waitress.

      “You might be right but Laughing Dragon and Sleeping Squire sound completely different.”

      Chef gave out a laugh, “I’m going to have to agree with Blade here, my boy.”

      Story politely asked for a cold mug of milk, which was his favorite. He made extra sure to ask for it cold, the others thought he was weird for always being meticulously specific with things, but after the incident of his 15th birthday, he never made the mistake of not specifying cold.

      Blade was different, at first he asked for a mug of ale, then a pint of mead, then a glass of fine wine with steak, but he ended up getting water, he would worry himself with the decision later in the night. His arms were still sore from the day before.

      Chef asked for another water.

      The bell rang throughout the tavern once more. This time it was someone in a long flowing coat, maroon in color, with gold accents. They had an air of mystery to them as they walked through the entrance as if someone with a fine taste in the magical arts had decided to partake in the festivities of The Sleeping Squire, however, the main giveaway was the wizard hat of the same color. His bright violet eyes shone through the shadow of the visor, and upon seeing the other three knights, happily shouted in excitement, breaking into what seemed like a mix of dancing, walking, and otherwise a very outgoing personality as they made their way to the table. He placed his hat on the table along with a pouch that jingled as it plopped down.

      “Apologies fellas,” he said with a chuckle, “but I saw a game of dragon dice out in the streets and I wanted in.” He tossed the pouch to Chef, “Lucky number 6, Falcon eyes.”

      “I counted on it, my boy.” Chef said, smiling and signaling a bartender, “One ale please!”

      “So Blade, my man, you still sore from the hunt?” he nudged him in the shoulder.

      “Yeah a little, Huntress was too busy setting up the trap to notice that the bastard was hunting us too. It’s horn almost went right up my-”

      “So Story! Are you planning on entertaining these fine folk tonight?” he interrupted while he laid back and crossed his legs.

      “I hope so, Shuffle.” Story twiddled his thumbs nervously, staring at his drink and then back at Shuffle, “I’m gonna tell them about what happened the other day, but with my own twist.”

      “Is it gonna have the part where the horn-”

      “Yeah, but I can’t just SAY that.”

      The table broke into laughter and the bell rang again, two more entered the tavern. One was tall and wearing a thick black fur coat with a visored helmet. The other was short and seemed to have all the defining features of a bunny rabbit, despite not actually being one, and seemed to bounce with every step. When they saw the others the tall one gave a nod and walked towards them while the bunny excitedly waved and skipped to their table.

      “Oh my god guys outside I saw the cutest little Knight ever!” she said as she took a seat next to Story.

      “Bunny, don’t you say that about every child you see in this city?” Blade said, sarcastically.

      Bunny reached for one of the mugs before the one in the black coat smacked her hand away. “Maybe I do, I admit, but this one was wearing a cute tunic with a flame pattern. Maybe their affinity is fire!” She almost zoned out near the end of her sentence, she was always quite the hyper one.

      “That’s uhh, quite the deduction. We should call you Detective.” Story said.

      The one in the black coat sat by Chef, he looked rather sluggish and disinterested in the conversation. “This is a good table, distant, quiet, not in anyone’s way.”

      “Just the way you like it, my boy.” Chef always took his friends into account when making decisions. “So Bomb, my boy, do you happen to know where Huntress might be?”

      Bomb looked around, shrugged, and pointed to the corner of the tavern with a large group of patrons causing commotions. They looked to be either celebrating or cheering on something taking place within the center of the crowd. They suddenly burst into laughter, shouts, and the clinking of mugs and glasses, the others could see within the crowd that an arm wrestle had taken place between an orc and a rather muscular woman.

      Blade and Shuffle immediately got up to join the crowd, cheering on the woman as loud as they could. That woman was Huntress, it turned out she was in the tavern the whole time.

      Once they all gathered at the table again, drinks ordered, food served, and the music at the tavern as cheery as ever, they made their toast.

      Story stood up and clinked his wine glass of milk, “I desire to prepare a toast for some one most special and important to all of us. 'tis chef's day of birth! a friend to most, a father to us. As well as a close acquaintance to the kitchen halls. Shall he hast a fortunate day of celebration!”

      The table exploded with cheers, clinks, and hoorahs.

      “I swear, each year the toast gets longer and longer and it’s great.” Blade said while trying to keep Bunny from drinking.

      “Just a bit of practice before someone starts a telling of the Legend Knight.” Story smiled, looking around anxiously at the other people.

      Huntress laughed and downed another mug. “Are you gonna tell them about the hunt we went on the other day? HA, that’s a good one. My favorite part was when the beast snuck up behind us and Blade almost got it in the-”

      “You two seem very adamant on me describing that part in full detail.” Story sighed as he stood up.

      “I’m just saying, that Runehorn was a tough bastard and that was like, the most dangerous part.” Blade looked around the table, “Where is….Chef and Shuffle?”

      Bomb pointed to another corner of the tavern. “Shuffle is heckling another cheater over there, Chef is watching them, and not sure if you wanted to know but Bunny got into someone’s drink and now she’s drunkenly singing with the band over there.”

      On another corner of the tavern was a telling of stories and adventure. Story had completely captivated a group of patrons as he retold the events of the hunt, and he made sure to include the details that caused the whole bar to burst into laughter. Story had always been one to wait until the party already started to practice his craft, tonight was different. You could say that it was a moment of motivation given the celebration of Chef’s birthday, but you could just as easily say it could be related to the group of girls sitting near the bar where he performed.

      But alas, all nights come to an end. The first to leave was Bomb, having purchased a keg to take back home thanks to Shuffle’s earnings. Then was Huntress, carrying Bunny on her shoulders, Bunny was clearly in a completely different world at that point.

      Story pointed at them leaving and asked Chef, “Didn’t Bunny only get to one of our half-empty mugs?” To which Chef replied with a joyous laughter.

      Gone was Shuffle and Blade, who said they would head straight to the inn but were instead headed for the marketplace. Most likely to buy food for Chef to cook in the morning. Story went after them, but he probably just wanted to spend more time in the city, it was always beautiful at night.

     Chef was the last to leave, as always, wanting to be sure that all his friends got to the inn safe. There was, however, a tab that needed to be paid. 

      "Well, I'll let them repay me through dish duties!" He laughed, pulling out his wallet.

[itsclydebitches]

God I'm so glad to talk about the game lmao. I also finished it! It was fine Ig I think the start of the game was so fantastic so my expectations were a bit much but it was fun! I loved playing as Ciri and just zapping all over the place, wish we could do that more.

But yeah I completely agree with you on basically everything that you said lmaooo, Yen is just unbareable the more I learn about her and the things shes done/the way she treats ppl, I just don't see what I'm meant to like, even if Geralt wasn't the Best person, he deserves so so much better, Idk how I'm gonna read the books if this romance is canon there too, hopefully it won't bother me too much. She so far doesn't really have any redeeming qualities, even her small moments of humour and wit are sort of "yeah okay but it's not fun when you do it cause you just spent the past few moments berating someone for daring to try and help you so like" I actually ended up sort of liking triss the more I talked with her and Yen, she at least apologises for her wrongs (which are still massive holy shit) and doesn't rly treat geralt like shit (same with Kiera, I think thats how her name is spelt, shes cool), they both kinda fuck over geralt but they own up to it which I can at least respect, still not a fan but they're okay, at times. God the women in this game are either really fucking cool or just a bitch, usually in a not fun way The game came with both dlcs! havent really touched them cause the ending was a bitttt of a let down, I thought I wasn't near finishing cause I put it off for so long lol so my bad, probably will get into them tho! And im on ps4 so no mods :( the exp shit would be so good, the last boss fights were really easy though? I think I was level 34 (I wanted to wear my good armour lol) and the quests are level 28 so maybe I was a bit over leveled but some random mobs in world beat my ass just before the main quests so idk lol. Do you get to hang with Ciri at all post game? They're so damn cute together

Out of curiosity which ending did you get? I was pretty satisfied overall (witcher!Ciri ending for me) but I remember thinking that the last couple of plot points were pretty rushed. Though tbh, looking back I’m not sure if that’s actually the case, or if things just felt fast to me because I missed so much buildup trying to keep track of the basics. Now that I know the characters, world, conflicts, etc. I keep coming across lines and details that make me go, “Oh, THAT’S what we were referring to!” for plot points that previously felt like they came out of nowhere.

Playing Ciri is so much fun though. I enjoy zapping around as well...even when I accidentally zap myself into some guy's sword XD

I’m constantly told Yen gets better in the books (something, something major character development) and I’d be lying if I said that “The Last Wish” didn’t turn me off, but I personally stopped reading due to more than just Yen. The epic just didn’t grab me. The short stories absolutely, but I didn’t like the writing as much in novel form, heard a lot about future plot points I had no interest in/made me very uncomfortable, didn’t want to read a bunch of Yen being Yen prior just to getting a development I may or may not like… there was a lot that made me drop the books, so I’m not exactly in the best position to be recommending them, or even warning against them from an unbiased perspective lol. I might give them another shot sometime, but for now I’m happy with the games and fandom content.

I’m liking Triss a lot more on my second playthrough too (especially how selfless she is regarding the other mages) and I always liked Keira. I think the game did a good job of making her kinda selfish and manipulative (as sorceresses are wont to be in this world), but not to such an extent that you’re utterly repulsed by her actions. Her conflict is “I want to not live in squalor the rest of my days and am willing to mislead a friend to achieve that. Also foolishly trust a mad king that, if I go through with it, ends in my horrific death.” With the resolution being like, “Oh, someone else will give me a place of safety with something as basic as clean bedding? Sweet! Yeah, now that I have some security, company, and comfort I’ll use this research to cure a plague, nbd.” Keira is a great example of TW3’s argument that if you choose to help and nurture people, good things will happen for everyone, and it doesn’t ask you to ignore anything really awful to get there. I can very much stomach “You kept some info from me and put me to sleep for the night” in a way that’s far harder to do with, “You actively misled me for months while I had amnesia, cultivating this fantasy relationship” or “You callously disregard another’s culture and torture our daughter’s friend through necromancy.”

Depending on the choices you’ve already made, you can hang out with Ciri for like, one cut scene in the DLCs lol. But it’s indeed a cute one! Basically, if you didn’t romance either Triss or Yen and Ciri is still alive, you should see her again. I’m absolutely that fan that if CDPR decided, after this many years, to randomly add more TW3 content, I would in no way be opposed. I want more time with Ciri, with Regis, there’s a character from the second game named Iorveth who was supposed to reappear in TW3 but had to be cut and that tragedy will forever haunt me. Forget the mess that is Cyberpunk, just keep making more Witcher content!

[somegirlsnerdywords2]

Anime i’ve Watched

That begin with a D (Part 1)!

Yep this is how i’m going to bring over all the anime and manga i’ve watched and posted about on the old blog. It’s not so detailed but it will have to do. Anything new I watch or read from this point on will have their own posts.

Dance with Devils:

Genres: reverse harem, demons, supernatural, romance, vampire, shoujo

Synopsis: Ritsuka Tachibana has always been a good student, so she is completely shocked when she is suddenly summoned by the student council. Even more, they seem to think of Ritsuka as a troublemaker. Led by the handsome Rem Kaginuki, the student council—also consisting of Urie Sogami, Shiki Natsumizaka and Mage Nanashiro—tries to question her, but it soon becomes clear that they have ulterior motives.However, this is only the beginning. When her mother gets kidnapped, her life is turned upside down, and Ritsuka gets drawn into a world of vampires and devils. Both groups are searching for the "Grimoire," a forbidden item allowing its owner to rule the world. The return of her brother Lindo from overseas gives her hope, but even he appears to be hiding something. In a world filled with secrets, Ritsuka questions whom she can trust in this dark musical tale, while the handsome and dangerous members of the student council compete for her attention.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 8/10

Finished airing in 2015 with a total of 12 episodes. 

My Thoughts: One of the better animes in the reverse harem genre. Little bit of fantasy, drama, romance. This one was actually a musical... or at the very least had a notable amount of musical numbers throughout the series. I do love me a good musical. To be fair this anime had some big issues, though if you’re just looking for a bit of halfway decent reverse harem fun this should suit you just fine!

Darling in the FranXX:

Genres: action, drama, mecha, romance, sci-fi

Synopsis:  In the distant future, humanity has been driven to near-extinction by giant beasts known as Klaxosaurs, forcing the surviving humans to take refuge in massive fortress cities called Plantations. Children raised here are trained to pilot giant mechas known as FranXX—the only weapons known to be effective against the Klaxosaurs—in boy-girl pairs. Bred for the sole purpose of piloting these machines, these children know nothing of the outside world and are only able to prove their existence by defending their race.

Hiro, an aspiring FranXX pilot, has lost his motivation and self-confidence after failing an aptitude test. Skipping out on his class' graduation ceremony, Hiro retreats to a forest lake, where he encounters a mysterious girl with two horns growing out of her head. She introduces herself by her codename Zero Two, which is known to belong to an infamous FranXX pilot known as the "Partner Killer." Before Hiro can digest the encounter, the Plantation is rocked by a sudden Klaxosaur attack. Zero Two engages the creature in her FranXX, but it is heavily damaged in the skirmish and crashes near Hiro. Finding her partner dead, Zero Two invites Hiro to pilot the mecha with her, and the duo easily defeats the Klaxosaur in the ensuing fight. With a new partner by his side, Hiro has been given a chance at redemption for his past failures, but at what cost? [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 6/10

Finished airing in 2018 with a total of 24 episodes. 

My Thoughts: Ohhhh how I wanted to love this one. After Kill la Kill I have the highest of hopes for anything Trigger releases but unfortunately they tend to fall short of my expectations... such a shame. The art, animation and themes were fantastic but that’s about where the good times end in all honesty. I will never forgot just HOW they operate the mechs.... those images will forever be burned into my memories.... so thanks for that I guess?? This series had it’s moments and wasn’t a complete dumpster fire but overall it just wasn’t anywhere near the masterpiece I hoped it would be. The disappointment factor probably took a few points off in the end. 

Deadman Wonderland:

Genres: action, sci-fi, shounen, horror

Synopsis: It looked like it would be a normal day for Ganta Igarashi and his classmates—they were preparing to go on a class field trip to a certain prison amusement park called Deadman Wonderland, where the convicts perform dangerous acts for the onlookers' amusement. However, Ganta's life is quickly turned upside down when his whole class gets massacred by a mysterious man in red. Framed for the incident and sentenced to death, Ganta is sent to the very jail he was supposed to visit.But Ganta's nightmare is only just beginning.The young protagonist is thrown into a world of sadistic inmates and enigmatic powers, to live in constant fear of the lethal collar placed around his neck that is slowed only by winning in the prison's deathly games. Ganta must bet his life to survive in a ruthless place where it isn't always easy to tell friend from foe, all while trying to find the mysterious "Red Man" and clear his name, in Deadman Wonderland.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 6/10

Finished airing in 2011 with a total of 12 episodes. 

My Thoughts: Just go check out the completed manga is you’re interested in this series and watch the anime for more content. Pretty cool premise with decent art and music but is incomplete and very unlikely to receive another season.

Death Note:

Genres: mystery, police, psychological, supernatural, thriller, shounen

Synopsis: A shinigami, as a god of death, can kill any person—provided they see their victim's face and write their victim's name in a notebook called a Death Note. One day, Ryuk, bored by the shinigami lifestyle and interested in seeing how a human would use a Death Note, drops one into the human realm. High school student and prodigy Light Yagami stumbles upon the Death Note and—since he deplores the state of the world—tests the deadly notebook by writing a criminal's name in it. When the criminal dies immediately following his experiment with the Death Note, Light is greatly surprised and quickly recognizes how devastating the power that has fallen into his hands could be. With this divine capability, Light decides to extinguish all criminals in order to build a new world where crime does not exist and people worship him as a god. Police, however, quickly discover that a serial killer is targeting criminals and, consequently, try to apprehend the culprit. To do this, the Japanese investigators count on the assistance of the best detective in the world: a young and eccentric man known only by the name of L. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 9/10

Finished airing in 2007 with a total of 37 episodes. 

My Thoughts: If you’re an anime fan and haven’t at least heard of Death Note you may have been living under a rock. Or maybe the only reason you know this title is because of that dumpster fire of a live action western remake... if so I am so so sorry. Strong beginning with an alright end. A great psychological series overall though. Unique and iconic. 

Death Parade: 

Genres: game, mystery, psychological, drama, thriller

Synopsis:  After death, there is no heaven or hell, only a bar that stands between reincarnation and oblivion. There the attendant will, one after another, challenge pairs of the recently deceased to a random game in which their fate of either ascending into reincarnation or falling into the void will be wagered. Whether it's bowling, darts, air hockey, or anything in between, each person's true nature will be revealed in a ghastly parade of death and memories, dancing to the whims of the bar's master. Welcome to Quindecim, where Decim, arbiter of the afterlife, awaits! Death Parade expands upon the original one-shot intended to train young animators. It follows yet more people receiving judgment—until a strange, black-haired guest causes Decim to begin questioning his own rulings. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 9/10

Finished airing in 2015 with a total of 12 episodes. 

My Thoughts: Now this was an interesting one! Here we have the concept of death in game form. Each episode a new player is introduced and our leading pair takes them through their chosen game. Morality, mystery and a dynamic leading pair are what drive this character driven series. You’re sure to experience a wide range of emotions while watching this anime and the opening theme was pretty good as well. Why not give it a go if it sounds like your kind of thing!?

Denki-gai no Honya-san:

Genres: comedy, seinen, slice of life

Synopsis:  Umio is a shy kid who just started his part time job at a manga store smack dab in the middle of the city. But his lifestyle isn't as glamorous as the neon lights that illuminate the city. Umio's closest friends are his co-workers who are all unique characters, to say the least, and although they're nice people, they have their quirks. They are a tight knit group of friends, have nicknames for each other and spend their weekends inside, sheltered from the extravagant scene happening on the outside. (Source: MU)

My Rating: 10/10

Finished airing in 2014 with a total of 12 episodes. 

My Thoughts: Something light after this unusually heavy themed list. A lovable cast of characters drive this situational comedy and it’s an abosulte joy to watch each and every one of the antics they manage to get up to. A great series to bang out on a day when you aren’t feeling so great and need a little something to lighten your mood. You’re unlikely to find any deep life lessons here but it’s sure to tickle your funny bone. 

Devilman: Crybaby:

Genres: action, demons, horror, supernatural, ONA

Synopsis:  Devils cannot take form without a living host. However, if the will of an individual is strong enough, they can overcome the demon and make its power their own, becoming a Devilman. Weak and unassuming, Akira Fudou has always had a bleeding heart. So when his childhood friend Ryou Asuka asks for his help in uncovering devils, Akira accepts without hesitation. However, to Akira's surprise, the place they go to is Sabbath: an immoral party of debauchery and degeneracy. Amidst bloodshed and death, demons possess the partiers, turning their bodies into grotesque monsters, and begin wreaking havoc. In a reckless attempt to save his best friend, Akira unwittingly merges with the devil Amon and becomes a Devilman, gaining the power to defeat the remaining demons. Though it grants him great power, this new partnership awakens an insatiable and primeval part of Akira. Having the body of a devil but the same crybaby heart, Akira works alongside Ryou, destroying those that harm humanity and his loved ones. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 4/10

A 10 episode ONA that finished airing in 2018

My Thoughts: And we’re back at it with the dark stuff... I was not a fan. The art.animation had some real cool moments as did the music but it was just a bit much in my opinion. Rushed and nonsensical with characters I couldn’t care less about. Gratuitous violence and nudity. To be fair there are plenty who enjoyed this anime, unfortunately for all of you I was not one of them.

[burnouts3s3]

Kingdom Hearts 3, a review

(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, don’t take anything I say too seriously. Just the facts 'Cause you're in a Hurry! Publisher: Square Enix Developer: Square Enix Business Division 3 Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP): 59.99 USD How much I paid: 59.99 USD Rated: E10+ for Alcohol Reference and Fantasy Violence How long I played: 24 Hours which includes watching the (skippable) cutscenes to complete the game on Beginner Mode, the easiest game mode. Microtransactions: None! Dual Audio: No. Only The English Dub is available. What I played on: A Regular PS4, not a PS4 Pro Performance Issues: Say what you will about Tetsuya Nomura’s writing, the graphics are as beautiful as the current generation can muster. Some pixilation of hair tip details. Choppy framerate animation of heartless during mass army scenes. Featured Worlds: Olympus (Hercules), Toy Box (Toy Story), The Kingdom of Corona (Tangled), Monstropolis (Monster’s Inc.), Arendelle (Frozen), The Caribbean (Pirates of the Caribbean), San Fransokyo (Big Hero 6) My Personal Biases: I’ve played Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 to death but haven’t managed to beat the spin-off titles (358/2 Days, Birth By Sleep, Dream Drop Distance) and mainly kept up with the series by watching the various cutscenes on Youtube. My Verdict: Kingdom Hearts 3 feels like a bookend, at least for certain characters. So while it closes off certain plot points for the spin-off characters, others are sure to get another decades worth of peripheral media thanks to Tetsuya Nomura’s convoluted and at times nonsensical storytelling. It’s also a great deal shorter than the previous games if you cut out the cutscenes. My fondness of watching Ratatouille’s Remy control Sora through a cooking mini-game notwithstanding, I wish there was more content here. Wait for a sale or the inevitable ‘Final Mix’.   Kingdom Hearts 3, a review  

The Kingdom Hearts franchise has managed to create numerous best-selling games across multiple platforms while weaving a tale that manages to incorporate characters from the Walt Disney Corporation and Square Enix into a narrative that deals with the enternal struggle of light and darkness. It also manages to have the most convoluted, overwritted and confusing storytelling to the point where George R.R. Martin would call overly complex. With the multiple mechanics, retcons, side stories, side characters and mixes and remixes, one would require an encyclopedia knowledge to keep everything straight. Tetsuya Nomura has managed the impossible of taking Disney characters and making spout paragraphs upon paragraphs of confusing exposition referencing other games that are almost necessary to gain any sort of emotional investment out of. I consider that an accomplishment considering this is a game where your two most frequent sidekicks are Donald Duck and Goofy. So after all the spin-offs, the side games, and the peripheral media with a decade in the making, this is “Kingdom Hearts 3”. So for those of you who haven’t kept up with the series, aka, normal human beings, Sora underwent a Trial but failed said Trial because he has not unlocked the power of Waking (Because this is Kingdom Hearts and in Kingdom Hearts, there’s always a convoluted reason why Sora is reset to Level 1). So Sora, Donald and Goofy have to visit various worlds so Sora can level up and also learn the power of Waking. Meanwhile, Riku and King Mickey are trying to find Aqua so she can find Ventus and Terra. Meanwhile, Kairi and Lea aka Axel are training under Master Yen Sid to become Keyblade masters. Meanwhile, Organization XIII are planning to unlock Kingdom Hearts yet again.

If the following paragraph confused you, be prepared to get even more confused as various Organization XIII members appear, give vague and confusing exposition before disappearing. Tetsuya Nomura, when he isn’t giving his characters leather outfits with an overabundance of zippers, has managed to write entire scenes revolving around plot mechanics, metaphors come to life, time travel and retcons. I’m not one to judge but at the point where Mickey Mouse is expositing backstories, character motivations and plot mechanics to the audience, I began to wonder if the targeted audience was still children. Gameplay wise, the game hasn’t changed much from Kingdom Hearts 2. For the most part, you’ll still be defeating Heartless using the Keyblade and physical attacks. As you level up or defeat story bosses, you’ll unlock abilities you can equip with Ability Points (or AP). Just as well, meters such as Health Bars or Magic will also increase. Using Magic for spells such as Fire or Thunder will use up a portion of Magic Points (MP) while using Cure to heal yourself will use up all your MP. When all MP is used, a pink bar will be depleted over time before MP is restored. They even keep some gameplay elements from spin-off games. Pressing Square near a pole will make Sora spin and attack. Using the Focus bar, Sora and aim and shoot, unleashing multiple ranged attacks. Crafting is the same as usual for the Gummi ship and synthesizing items with the addition of finding ingredients for a delightful cooking mini-game with Ratatouille’s Remy. You can create food which Sora can consume for temporary Stat increases. Returning are character limit breaks and unison attacks with the Triangle button. Pressing Triangle will unleash a team attack that does extra damage. New to the game are the ‘attraction attacks’. Hitting an enemy with a green marker allows Sora to summon attraction rides (such as Splash Mountain or a Carousel) and does area attacks. I didn’t really like these elements because it felt like blatant advertising and often not very useful. Remember all those cool context commands from Kingdom Hearts 2, like reflecting Xigbar’s shards, lassoing Demyx’s clones or Jumping on Xaldin? Those are gone and all the commands are just party based. The only unique ones are locked with guest characters such as Rapunzel lassoing the trio and spinning them around. At the same time, I really felt that the Disney portion of the game, aka, visiting the various worlds, was really lacking. The choice of worlds this time around didn’t really entertain me. Using movies that were already in 3D CGI felt really redundant to me, though credit to where credit is due in that the worlds of Monsters Inc., Big Hero 6 and Toy Story at least take place after their movies have finished. But Arendelle and Corona take place ‘during’ the movies so I’m just sitting watching scenes wholy lifted from the movies themselves. Here, they just recreate whole scenes from Frozen and Tangled but with the in-game engine. And however you feel about those various movies (FYI, I like Frozen but I felt that Tangled was a missed opportunity), it just seems like a waste of resources. Like, watching Kingdom Hearts recreate Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, The Nightmare before Christmas, The Lion King, The Pirates of the Caribbean and Mulan felt ‘iconic’ because it was translating a work not found in CGI to CGI and it was a cool sight. Just recreating scenes from Frozen and Tangled aren’t as cool to me because those various movies were already similar to the animation styles found in the game. Just the same, I found the boss battles lacking this time around. Before you were fighting against villains in Disney’s past. You got to fight Captain Hook with Peter Pan. You got to fight Ursula with Ariel. You got to fight Scar with Simba. Here, you’re just fighting random Heartless only bigger. I was expecting to fight Hans with Elsa but… didn’t. I was expecting to confront Gothel with Rapunzel but… didn’t. The only boss fight with a Disney Villain was Davy Jones and I really liked it. Still when the final chapters roll around, I did feel a tear in my eye seeing various characters reunited and seeing various villains finally bite the dust. CAVEAT: Ugh. This is one of the most frustrating reviews I’ve done. Fact is, for a AAA title, Kingdom Hearts 3 does a lot of things better than a lot of games. There’s no tacked on DLC, there’s no constant online mode and there’s still a plethora of content that justifies 60 dollars. But, I just don’t like how much shorter the game is and how even revisiting the 7 worlds, the one I genuinely like was the Caribbean one (and I don’t even like Pirates of the Caribbean). Verdict: Fans: Full Price. Everyone else: Wait for a Sale, Rental or the inevitable ‘Final Mix’.

[sakurarisen]

2, 11, 12

Questions Often Left Unanswered: Mun Edition

2. Are there any plot tropes you are sick of/refuse to RP? If so, what are they and why?

Honestly, I dislike tropes like... A list might be easier here. XD

-Random person is so uber strong but has no idea they’re uber strong, but sure they’re the only person on the planet who can save the world literally by themselves nobody else in the plot matters in the end - If there’s ONE person with all the power who’s the only one who can do it... What’s the point in having other characters around?

-’I’m so cute, let me boss you around for no reason and be a jerk even though everyone thinks it’s cute and get away with it for being sweet’. If someone is being rude, a jerk, whatever, they need to face repercussions for it? It’s not okay to be a jerk for no reason?

-Anything with a plot where the primary focus is on cheating/characters having to ‘rekindle their love’. Hard no. Miss me on this, especially without talking about it first.

-Stalking, love triangles, forcible romances (in the vein of ‘I kidnapped you/you have to marry me because someone said so’/’I said you have to be with me only’). In my opinion, just a way to hurt someone or cause drama for no reason or rub it in someone’s face ‘neener neener I got the date and you didn’t’. There’s nothing wrong with having a wholesome friendship and relationship for once.

-Elemental magics = elemental areas. I.E. someone has a control of ice magic then their hometown is an icy, snow covered wonderland while fire magic means you came from a desert or a volcano. Very overdone to me.

-’Person sucked into a new world and is now the hero’. I get the desire for it and why people like this one, and I get it’s an entire type of anime and manga, that people like the fantasy of feeling like you could visit a new world.. But it’s always done the same way that I’ve seen? There’s very little in the way of differences between stories and how it happens and it’s just... Tiring, sometimes.

I have others but for the sake of saving some for future asks of this, I’ll save them. XD

11. What’s your biggest pet peeve when it comes to RPing?

Stealing. I don’t mean ‘hey this is cool and I take inspiration to do something similar’ - That’s fine! That’s even BETTER if you’ve asked the person you’re inspired by, so you’re making something unique for you without copying them and seeing if they’re okay with that to begin with. What I mean is just blatently taking something from someone and applying it to your own portrayal word for word, or even just changing tiny details so “it’s not a direct copy I didn’t steal it!”. Yes, yes you did. That’s still stealing and it’s still beyond wrong. Don’t do this. Usually the person you’re stealing from knows and isn’t happy about it, and yes, even the ‘but I changed a detail!’ still causes harm.

Stop. It. It doesn’t make you cool to clone someone. It doesn’t make you smart or better than them, especially if you’re doing it for an extended period of time. Knock it off and be original - Do your own thing. It’s not that hard.

12. What’s your biggest pet peeve when it comes to the fandom you RP in?

Having super overdone graphics and icons, super tiny/split icons, everything as a washed out and hard to make out PSD, etc, gushing about how much the muse is loved and how great the character is and how much they love them...  And then just not rp’ing. Like maybe doing a post or two but then dropping it or abandoning the blog completely a month later. Or literally won’t do anything but look for/collect/push for ships and won’t write with anyone else who they can’t ship with. Over the top purple prose comes in second - I get why people enjoy it but I personally don’t like needing a dictionary to figure out someone tilted their hand and laughed for an entire paragraph? No shade to anyone who likes it! Y’all do you <3 I’m personally just not super into it and would rather just... Get to the point of the action?

[theticklishpear]

I'm trying to come up with aliens for a space fantasy story, but all I really know is that I need some aliens for plot reasons. Any tips on where to start?

Addition to my previous question about creating aliens: how do I make them feel like more than random additions to the story’s population (I need aliens in general for a Reason, but haven’t figured out more than that)? Any thoughts on integrating them thematically, etc?

There could be two tacts you’re asking about here, and I’m not sure which you’re hoping for, so I’ll touch on both.

Culture Building:

What plot purpose do they serve? It’s not the best way to grow cultures, but you can start by thinking about what things you were intending to have them do and then grow backwards from there. Let’s take an example: You need them to interfere with the travel of the characters.

What kind of people would want to interfere with travel? Is the travel through their area? If so, then these may be a territorial species that takes affront easily at perceived slights such as others assuming they can pass through their territory without asking first. Okay, so they’re easily offended and willing to fight for what they believe they have a right to, and they’re quick to anger. Perhaps that can translate to quick to act as well, that they’re fast buggers. What would make them fast? Is it a physiological something or a technological piece? Is it their ships that make them quick or is it that they have spider legs that carry them across a room in a swift scuttle of movement?

You see where I’m going? You can kind of start to make inferences and leaps based off the trails you start forming in who these people are that can take you into what they might look like physically and how they might act when face to face with your characters.

Appearance:

Appearance is sometimes tied up with culture, but it’s much harder to reverse-engineer this detail in the way that you can kind of reverse-engineer the broad strokes of culture and a peoples’ ideals, so unless you have a really clear idea already of how their culture would impact their appearance, I suggest you mostly just start throwing words at the page and seeing how you can make them look interesting. This is a project in character design in an artistic sense more than the anthropological or writing sense, so sit down and think about what would look cool. What kinds of creatures have you always wanted to write with but never had a good excuse? Do you want them to be animal-based or more humanoid? Or do you want to try something with an entirely different physiology? Start throwing adjectives at the page and see which ones sound interesting together. Purple, spines, bug-like arms, stripes, made of living stone, carries children to term in a clear sack from their back, small eyes, no eyes, thick curly hair–not all of them will work, and not all of them will work together, but you can mix and match details until you’re able to start seeing an image in your mind of some kind of creature. Try writing a stripped down description–not in a scene, just a description–and see if the image it brings to mind is something you want to explore. If not, try again. Go out and look for artist’s renditions and concept art and take cues from them–not direct draws, but inspiration with tweaks. You can choose to develop a culture out of that if you want to, or you can simply drop them into your plot events.

Finally, perhaps the easiest way to start forming these is to start with a base of an archetypal race. It’s not great, and you definitely don’t want to leave them as strictly the archetype, but it can give you a foundation to work off of initially that you can grow out further into something more based in being people and less in ideas of tradition and ideals. So you might have the isolationists, the trade aficionados, the warriors ready to fight anybody, those guided by their religious prophecies, those who welcome anyone and help as much as they can, those who make their livings servicing ships that wander into their space (space mechanics, if you will), those who aren’t trusted by anybody because you always seem to come away without your purse, those who have some cause they stand behind, and a thousand other possibilities. Then once you have kind of their core, you can start growing out their motives and how they live so that you can start to understand how they might interact with your characters and whether they’d serve the plot point you need them to.

To integrate them a bit more than simply those plot points, try to weave in references to them or even appearances earlier in the stories and see if you can work them into later scenes as well. The more you can blend them into the rest of the story and weave the tapestry of the world to include them, the more they’ll feel natural. Seeing one of their ships at space dock or hearing a news report of a rebellion going on on their home world, even mentioning that they used to be a part of a ship’s crew before they decided to go home for a vacation and never came back will help. Foods that might have come from their world are a great way to start introducing things about their culture, references like, “You sound like a [whatever],” will help make it seem like these aren’t just out of the blue but species that others have heard of, that exist as part of the universe of the story.

I hope that’s helped a little bit. It can be pretty daunting, but it works just the same as worldbuilding when you’re working with a ground-based world, just with more diverse physiology. Let your imagination run wild. You can refine later. Good luck! -Pear

[orsonfoe]

11 questions

RULES: Always post the rules. Answer the questions asked, then write 11 new ones. Tag 11 people to answer your questions, as well as the person who tagged you.

1. When you had a bad day how do you cheer up? or if you had a bad experience, how would you cope or solve? depednign on whats going on i doodle( from actual drawing to just scribling) or put my head sets on and listen to music while pasing. 2. You just received travel tickets to visit three places, each for a week! Where would you go?  ....disneyland/world , france, and japan. 3. What’s the most fondest memory of your childhood? with out going into to much detail one of the times the whole familiy got together and the was no family drama. 4. What’s the thing you’re very proud of? I have had a hand in my nieces and nephews likeing old cartoons. stuff from the 90′s like tiny toons, loony toons, and hanabarbara cartoons. which result them having odd taste for modern day cartoons.(they dont like teen titan go very much but just watch) 5. What would you tell your past self from 5 years ago? And what would you tell your future self from the future 5 years? tell my past self some familir troubles that i would love to avoid. forcus more on art and give some tips/talks to get over my art blocks. and winning lotto numbers. future self i would most likely wait and ask whats going on before i tell him stuff. 6. What kind of movie genre are you most into? Do you have a favorite in this genre? fantasy,sifi,myster,animation, horror these genre can combine and enterchange themself but i a bit picky with horror cause i dislike the terrorfying monster killing the teen for no other reason then their teens. cant pick a fav at this moment in time. 7. ALIENS HAVE ARRIVED! They’re looking for you and are convinced you’re the most important human being on the planet! What’s your impression on this? what would you say or do with your new galactic friends? I would laugh for a good while in disbelive. then go about the universe taking picture drawing and trying not to get killed or start a galitic war. 8. What food and drink would you only eat/drink for a month alone? Beef strew. dont know why but i could eat that stuff non stop.drink.....dr pepper i quess. 9. Who do you wanna meet so badly!? Betty Page back in her hay day 10. What kind of movie would you wanna see that you think has never been done before? a Zombie horror movie with the zombies being mythical base not some super virus. it offer a new kind of throeat since the undead would be more dangerous and taugher to fight. a actual mystery to why the died are rising besides some scienectist  dropping a beaker. 11. Tell me a cool random fact. I love facts. Not sure if I told you this but this is my go to fact when typing these thing on the internet. I speak with an accent. Im not from another country or from any place in america where there are know accents. dont got a texe accent or a new york city, sourthern accent ect. But do to resons my speach was very off when i was young and need to do speach therapy and as a result i speak and sound differently and result in an accent. I fun to see how people interprit my accent.

MY Questions:

1) what is you name? (can be your first, nickname, or a name you would like to go by)

2) what is your quest?

3) what is your favraoit color?

4) what is a raido show or pod cast that you like to listen to?

5) what is you current fav song?

6) what sort of theme song would you like? is it like a boss battle in a game. the opening to a tv show? you theme when you do something epic in a movie? feel free to post a link to a song to help show wht you want.

7) a mythical creature has apeared and will be following you all over the place. what is that mythical creature?

8) whats  game you loved to play but dont play much anymore for what ever reason?

9) you get one aspect in life to go as you want. like you got your dream job. you cant be stressed out no matter what. what is that aspect of life?

10) Can you dance?

11) Do you get annoyed or scared by these tagged ask things?

I tag:

@aibelin tagged me. @03mika03 @atomictiki @akiyokawaii @catwithbenefits @renaissancevulpes @atopfourthwall (dout he’ll do this im just running out of name for here.

[thejpfdude-blog]

The Upcoming Fall 2017 Shows I’ll Be Watching

WHAT? Yes, I’m back! Long time no see. I’ve been busy with school, so unfortunately I have a huge list of episodes to watch (that let’s be honest, I’ll probably never get to).

But yeah, hopefully I’ll be able to start writing TWiA posts again and start watching stuff on a weekly basis. To start that off, there’s this post: the annual “looking at what shows I’m watching this season post”.

A reminder of the usual thing I say in these posts:

I might watch some other shows that are good or drop some shows if they aren’t good, but that’s for the future.

Like always, I’m organizing these shows into three categories: Full Chance are shows I’m giving the whole season towards, Short Leash are shows I’m giving three or so episodes towards, and One Shot are shows I’m giving one episode towards. As we progress towards categories, expect less words for each anime as I lose interest in writing. Also a reminder that MAL links to the shows are on the titles for those interested.

Before we start, a general comment about next season: it’s honestly looking pretty bare for somebody like me who likes them slice-of-lifes/comedies/romances/moe shows. Other than the few shows I have on Full Chance, there’s nothing I have a shred of hope towards. Even some of the Full Chance shows are questionable to me to be honest. But hey, some shows could still be good, and I’ll go into more detail about that below. So with that let’s get started with this post, starting with...

Full Chance Shows

Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World - The Animated Series: Well, I tried to watch the original show from 2003, but that was during my blue period. But apparently it’s okay, because this show’s actually a remake/sequel hybrid thing. What I got from the info given to me was that it will adapt some new content, but it’ll also remake some of the stories from the original series. So not a full-on sequel, but not also a full-on remake either. A little of both.

Oh I should probably say what this show is about. Well it’s kinda hard to describe. The best way I can put it is that it’s an adventure about a girl (who I thought was a guy) and her talking motorcycle traveling throughout the world, experiencing many distinct places. Sounds boring, right? But from the one episode I watched, it was actually super interesting. Now this show doesn’t offer much in terms of action, but it’s a nice relaxing watch that occasionally really makes you think. It’s also episodic, if that concerns you. I would definitely recommend watching this, or starting off with the original series. After all, you still have time to catch up.

Love Live! Sunshine!! S2: Who woulda thunk: not even six months ago, I shunned anything idol. But now, this is honestly tied with Shokugeki S3 as my most anticipated anime of the season.

I feel like I shouldn’t really describe this show: after all, if you don’t know what it’s about, you probably shouldn’t be watching anyway since it’s a second season of a spinoff series (though I honestly find the spinoff to be better than the original anime-wise). Just know it can be described in two words: SCHOOL and IDOLS.

I’m not expecting this show to be great - after all, I’ve never scored any Love Lives higher than a 6. But I’m still expecting some fun slice-of-lifey moments that’ll be even better now that we have the full cast of 9 members doing their thing. And honestly, that’s all I want in a show sometimes. I also honestly expect some more increased drama similar to how S2 of the original series contrasted with S1, but hopefully the slice-of-lifey moments make up for that. I’m also secretly hoping this isn’t the final season of the anime, but guess we’ll find out about that.

Mahoutsukai no Yome (The Ancient Magus’ Bride): So this show looks super interesting. Plot-wise it doesn’t really look like my type of show, but digging deeper it sounds pretty cool.

Basically the story is that we have our main girl Chise who has no hope in her life only to meet a magus who makes an offer to her to be his apprentice and his bride (wowzers).

Sounds pretty fantasy, which isn’t really my schtick. But apparently from sources, I’ve heard this show is actually quite the opposite: it’s more a darker fairytale-like slice-of-life with a evolving narrative, which I’m all about. Plus the PV was pretty hype, so that’s nice. There are prequel OVAs already out, but I haven’t had the time to watch them yet, and they aren’t too necessary to watch before watching the main series. Still, go watch them if you’re interested. I might do the same.

Osake wa Fuufu ni Natte kara: So this is one of the few times where I can say that I read the source material before the anime came out (hopefully I can say the same later when Kaguya Wants to Be Confessed To gets an anime...). The best way I can describe this show is Alcoholism: The Anime.

Well, not really, but it’s pretty much like that. The main character is a reserved office worker who likes drinking alcohol. Unfortunately she becomes cute when she does so (oh no the horror) so she only drinks the concoctions that her husband makes. Some cute stuff, and if the manga’s any indication it’ll be a nice short watch. Already confirmed to be a 5-minute short, which is good because honestly the manga doesn’t offer much other than an occasional “aw that’s cute I guess”. I’m not expecting much, because honestly the last few chapters were pretty eh for me. Plus I don’t know how well the manga’ll translate into anime. Well still somewhat excited for a nice little short.

Shokugeki no Soma S3: So, it has come. After season 2 my hype for this died down a little, and so I’m cautiously excited about this installment. All that I’ll say is that as long as the show is able to balance the intense food battles with the funny slice-of-life moments, it’ll be a pretty good bet to be a favorite of the season. Though I am a bit worried that manga readers say that this portion of the story is when the manga started getting a bit questionable, hence the lack of hype for the show from said audience. I’m not too confident on that front though - details and all that are a bit unclear because I didn’t want to go into too many spoilers. But anyway, excited for some more food porn.

Short Leash Shows

Animegataris: So the general gist of this show is that a new girl shows up and makes an anime research club in school, slowly getting more and more interested in the medium (boy I can relate). Though there is one thing that confuses me from the synopsis, and that’s this part: “while they stand against the student council's continuous efforts to disband their club, and they ignore the impending end of the world, they talk about anime...”. Uhh... yeah that seems like it was brushed under the rug... like what? That part makes this seem different from your typical high school show (a la Konobi). Interested to see what the whole deal is with that since nothing from the promotional images or the PV shows anything referencing that. Plus the fact that this is an anime original series means nobody knows what’s gonna happen. Though otherwise not too remarkable of a show, and I’m not expecting too much from this.

Blend S: Oh boy another CGDCT. My favorite. 

In all seriousness, I do like this genre, but I don’t know about this one... Basically at first glance it looks kinda like a GochiUsa style show, but it’s a bit different from that. Yes, there are cute girls working in a cafe. But this is a bit different: the girls working there play out a role: for instance, we have the main character playing the sadist role. There’s also the classics such as the tsundere, the imouto, and so on. A bit like a maid cafe actually. I think what’ll make or break this show for me is whether or not the girls keep up their roles outside of work, or if there’ll be times shown when they aren’t so... typecast. Sorta similar to one of my favorite YouTube channels out there, Cow Chop, where they obviously play out a role during their videos, but we can see times where they’re actually genuine in videos like the Behind The Scenes or their podcast. Other info is kinda limited since like Animegataris, this is an anime original show. So I guess we’ll see how it plays out.

Boku no Kanojo ga Majimesugiru Sho-bitch na Ken (My Girlfriend is a Faithful Virgin Bitch): Uhh I can explain. So I’ve been told this show is basically similar to Seitokai Yakuindomo where it’s Sex Jokes: The Anime. Basically a guy confesses to the most popular girl in school in desperation, and she accepts. Only this girl is pretty deadpan, and in an effort to be the perfect girlfriend she “optimizes” her behavior, usually too far on the sexual scale to the dismay of MC. Comedy ensues, and so on. I’ve read some snippets of the manga, and it’s your standard “person does random stupid thing and MC responds”, AKA the boke and tsukkomi routine. I’m not sure how well that’ll go considering I’ve seen complaints that it’s just endless gags, which the recent Aho Girl showed me I’m not really about. But hey I’ll give this show a chance, because who knows?

Just Because!: Why am I watching this? Just Because!

I’m so sorry.

Ok, with that out of the way this show looks decently interesting. Guy comes back to school as third year right as graduation approaches. Apparently this causes four students’ lives to change in some way. Sure.

Looks to be drama-y, based on the PV I saw, but I don’t know too much about this show otherwise. One thing I can say is that those uniforms are comfy as heck, and I’m all about that. Though I’m not all about the character designs: the faces look a bit questionable. But I’m sure I’ll get used to it. It’s not Koi to Uso levels of bad.

Konohana Kitan: Oh boy another CGDCT, but with wolf girls. Wow.

Okay well this time I’m not being sarcastic. I’m not about the wolf girls, cat girls, whatever girls trend. Basically it’s your standard new girl comes to work at place, and slowly gets along with others. But apparently according to the synopsis it’s through “her simple cuteness“. No I’m not lying, go see the MAL page.

Well might as well give it a shot I suppose.

One Shot Shows

Juuni Taisen: Normally I wouldn’t usually watch these types of shows, but a friend of mine convinced me to give at least one episode to this one. Sort of a battle royale where 12 people who share names with the Chinese zodiac members fight for one wish. One interesting thing to note is that this was written by Nisioisin, the same guy who wrote the Monogatari series. So from that it has some good potential.

Kujira no Kora wa Sajou ni Utau: At this point I’m kinda getting tired, so I’ll just say this is a fantasy show. The PV looked super interesting though, which is the biggest reason why I’m giving this at least one episode.

RoboMasters the Animated Series: College students + RoboMasters competition = anime? Sure why not.

And that’s all for this post! Not as many shows as last season, but I think there are some potentially good ones in this batch, plus maybe some more that I haven’t listed here. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next post!