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I remember playing Radiant Dawn for the first time, and seeing Sothe’s new design. My immediate thoughts were “Aw, he’s unleashing his inner Joseph Joestar”

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Back in December, I watched the Given live action for the first time (still no luck on finding the stage play I covet). It wasn't an amazing adaption, but I still quite enjoyed watching it despite the issues I had with it.

Something that I found funny though is Ugetsu. I was not expecting him to even be in the live action at all. I was surprised when they started to show the scenes of Haruki pining for Akihiko. I was like "wait, you only have 6 episodes and you're gonna be tackling both storylines?" And then Ugetsu shows up and I'm like "heyyy you're here!"

Only the storyline never goes anywhere.

A hypothetical person watching the live action with no knowledge of the manga or anime's existence would have no clue who this guy is. No clue about his terrible flaws, the toxic relationship drama, the suffocation, the angst of the second arc's plot. Ugetsu is just... there...

As far as this oblivious viewer is aware, Ugetsu is just some guy that shows up, silently kills off Haruki and Yayoi's romantic pursuits, vibes to the concert, and leaves. Iconic.

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A list of my blorbos and a very small summary on why I love them

Dimitri Alexandre Blayddid

My fave character of all time. His arc, his relationships, his backstory, his conflict, his turmoil, HIS VOICE ACTOR WHO DID SUCH AN AMAZING JOB OF BRINGING ALL THESE QUALITIES TOGETHER (my favourite acting performance of all time actually!) I think and write about Dimitri a lot, and there’s just so many things to say about him that deserve their own post.

Jolyne Cujoh

I love her SO much, her heroism in spite of her turmoil, her protectiveness of Jotaro and Emporio, her dynamics with her friends, her stand, her background. Just ahhh! Again like Dimitri, there’s just so much to write about but I don’t want to clog up this post too much.

Lan Wangji

My favourite MXTX character by far. It’s funny - the first version of MDZS I experienced was The Untamed, and when I first saw Lan Zhan, I was like “wow this guy looks so boring, he won’t be nearly as interesting as HuaLian” - well, look at me now with Wangxian as one of my fave pairings of all time, and Lan Zhan’s complex character is a big part of why that is.

Okay, those three are my Top 3 Blorbos, but from this point on, they're in no particular order

Johnny Joestar

Similar to Lan Wangji, when I first read chapter 3 of SBR, I was like “seriously - THIS is our JoJo?” But OMG Johnny’s character development and his bond with Gyro were just so well done! I did end up loving how Johnny starts off as a complete asshole, but as he develops sentimentality across the part (and Gyro in turn - I plan on writing about this theme at some point) he grows into a hero like the previous JoJo’s, even if his motivations aren’t nearly as selfless.

Bruno Bucciarati

I love his duality of both a kind and protective spirit, and a ruthless gangster, and how these qualities work together. His protectiveness of his team (wow I sure do like protectiveness as a character quality lol) his resolve to fight against the boss in spite of fear and danger, his compassion and how this conflicts and combines with his violence. He’s amazing and I love him.

Ryunosuke Tsunashi

He became my favourite character in Idolish7 after Third Beat, I love how he represents the theme of image and falsities in the idol imagery, and how he ends up using this in his favour at the climax. I love his conflicts, as well as his protectiveness of TRIGGER. Also he is one of my top aroace headcanons, which I personally am protective of (but that’s just my interpretation, and others are free to have their own like any media)

Ryunosuke Akutagawa

ANOTHER character who I found annoying/bland at first, but then slowly grew into realising “wow this character slaps!” He can be such a petty asshole, but you end up realising how he was raised into these tendencies in the mafia. Despite his cruelty towards Atsushi and Kyouka, you do end up wanting the best for him once you start to delve into just how much his dependency and eagerness to please is rooted in his background with Dazai.

Haru Okumura

UNDERRATED! I know Haru got screwed over in the arc that was meant to be her own, but her feelings and actions are just so interesting! The scene where she awakens Milady and stands up to her father is one of my favourites in the entire game. I love her being so sweet but also having a dark side, and her whole Beauty Thief schtick was just so cute, how can you not love her.

Ugetsu Murata

I’ve already written in more depth about why Ugetsu is my favourite given character. A chatacter who I thought I’d end up hating (for good reason tbh) ended up being the one I cling to the most. Ugetsu did do terrible things in his relationship but his character represents a person growing from their darkest moments and leaving the toxicity of their life behind, reluctantly as he did so, and he ended up growing for the better. And his growth is just fascinating to me.

Constance von Nuvelle

Again with the theme of duality. I love her grandeur persona hiding a more sensitive, albeit depressed side, although it isn't as simple as manually creating a persona and instead a result of trauma. I love her bonds with the other Wolves (they deserve their own game to themselves), as well as her bond with Mercedes as previous classmates (even if their A-support and ending kept sister-zoning them lol). I love her whole experimental side combined with her very literal mind, especially when she creates the liquorice boots spell. She's a riot and I love her.

Momose 'Momo' Suzuhara

Did I mention personas? Because oh boy, this ray of sunshine packs a whole load of self-doubt, imposter syndrome and insecurity. Yayyyy. I love Momo's ordeal in Second Beat, how he struggles with the feeling that he's just a temporary replacement for Banri, and how this struggle is still evident across the third season too. His relationship with Yuki is just amazing, and I also love the mentor role he gives to Idolish7 too. I love how he wants everyone else to be happy and confident in their careers, even if he struggles to feel the same.

Ranulf

I love his kindness, his humour, and his resolve in battle. It was so interesting in Radiant Dawn to make him one of the more major characters and focusing on how the important role Ranulf has in the army leads him to drop his funnier persona out of stress. His relationship with Ike is so sweet and I love how they joke around with each other, but are also there for each other when things get serious. The scene where he confronts Skrimir, where he takes care of Amy, how he CANONICALLY FIGHTS THE BLACK KNIGHT LIKE 3 TIMES AND SURVIVES. I dunno, I just think he's neat.

Takashi 'Mori' Morinozuka

Mori deserved more screentime - and a relationship arc with Haruhi (have you seen all their little romantic moments in the first 5-or-so volumes of the manga). He's the best host.

Asuka Langley Soryu

Wow I sure love controversial characters don’t I. I’m planning on doing a full write up about why I love Asuka so much. Similar to Ugetsu, she’s a character that seems to be designed to be unlikeable - but as you delve deep into her mind and learn of the circumstances that drive her to be so conceited in her role as a pilot - damn, it just hits hard. There’s just so much good characterization and depth about her that I can’t fit in this one post.

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My behind-the-scenes thought processes in making my Lyon animatic

I wanted to detail some of the things I had in mind while making my Lyon/Eirika "Not Sorry For Loving You" animatic.

Of course the animatic focuses on Eirika and Lyon's relationship the most, however I didn't want to neglect the importance of Ephraim's bond with Lyon either. I decided to illustrate the contrast between Eirika and Ephraim's approaches to fighting Lyon across the game - while Eirika is much more openly reluctant, Ephraim is more stoic - however, his emotional turmoil does shine through his knightly facade in several scenes in the game, which I represented through the ending where he breaks down after they defeat the Demon King at last

Moreover, Eirika finally gets the resolve to kill the demon king following Lyon's destruction of the penultimate sacred stone, assuring herself that she is doing what is best for Lyon by defeating Formotiis. While she lunges at the demon king with full force after the dream-sequence with Lyon ends, I still wanted her to seem conflicted following the battle - and display how she and Ephraim lean on each other in their grief

I really wanted to emphasise the importance of Lyon's relationship with his father - after all, it was Vigarde's illness and death that led Lyon to experiment and allow the dark stone to consume him. It hit me while drawing the second verse that I could apply the lyrics of "Not Sorry For Loving You" not only to the twins, but to his father too. Lyon is "not sorry" that his love for his father led to his necromancy.

As I mentioned in my Lyon analysis, there are multiple interpretations of just how many of his actions were his own, and how many were directly the demon king's. I tried to convey my own interpretation of Lyon's actions being a result of Formotiis corrupting his insecurities, rather than direct puppetry (at least until the end, where he is consumed completely in the final battle).

I wanted to make my own design for Lyon for back when he first met the twins, to convey how much he changed following his experiments - hence the braid, which comes apart when the stone activates to revive Vigarde. I didn't actually draw a full redesign though, but the hair did the job (even if it kept changing in every frame just like Eirika's face and Ephraim's hair - I really struggled with consistency).

Speaking of, I think I only looked up one reference of Ephraim across the whole thing, leading to that weird collar I seemed to decide he has (making his outfit look more like Seth)

Lyon's crown being the only thing left of him serves to fuel the tragedy of him being lost to the demon king, furthering the twins' grief (as far as I remember, his body is gone with the demon king, but I added the crown as an extra punch to the gut to Eirika)

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Not Sorry For Loving You: A Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones Animatic

I'm really nervous uploading this... This is the first animatic I’ve ever made - it took me over a month of work, as well as learning how Blender video editing works (which was very difficult. I also really struggled with moving characters positions and expressions without it looking off.) I've wanted to learn to make animatics for years now, and this is my first real attempt.

I’ve had the idea in my mind for ages, and I hope I’ve done it justice (even if most of my sketches are super wonky 😅 - I focused more on getting down action, rather than making the images clean - which is very noticeable in any battle scenes) Lyon and Eirika are two of my favourite Fire Emblem characters, so I really wanted to depict their story well.

I'll upload another post soon detailing some of my thoughts and decisions from the process of making it. - edit: here it is

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Just found out there are NOVELS of the first 8 FE games

The art is so PRETTY

As if my TBR wasn't long enough, now I gotta re-experience one of my fave Fire Emblem stories in book form.

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Scenes I will never be over: Oath of the Dagger

SPOILERS FOR THE BLUE LIONS ROUTE OF FIRE EMBLEM THREE HOUSES

Okay, there are A LOT of FE3H scenes I will never be over, but there is one in particular that stands out above the rest.

That. Ending.

The first time I saw it, when I first finished my first chosen route... I just sat there SHOOK.

The entire cutscene is silent, aside from Dimitri's small plea of "El." Just SO MUCH was told with no words at all.

And what I love the most is just how open to interpretation Edelgard throwing the dagger is.

Was it a genuine attempt on Dimitri's life? Or was it an acceptance of her own end (akin to Silver Snow), prompting him to kill her?

Does the dagger represent her infinite strive for her ideals, never faltering unless she herself is killed - even more bittersweet is the understanding that Dimitri's gift was a key part of what inspired her to do so.

It even works as a representation of their own ideals. Dimitri, who seeks to reform and rebuild upon the broken systems of Faerghus, holding out his hand to what was once his enemy. And Edelgard, who seeks reform through conquest, meets that hand with her blade.

And something else I noticed is that following the stabbing, Dimitri's eyes are completely obstructed for the rest of the scene, hidden beneath his hair. A representation of his regrets that he was ultimately driven to end his stepsister's life - who in the end he did yearn to reconnect with.

And of course, Dimitri's arc has a big focus on letting go of the past (a big contrast to Edelgard, who always looks to the future). And as he goes to look back to Edelgard's body, Byleth takes his hand. Sharing his regrets in their expression, they lead him forward into the light - just as they did in the rain cutscene following Gronder. And he follows - choosing to leave the last physical remainder of his family behind once and for all.

There is so much more to say about this scene - it is probably my favourite cutscene in the series (although I do also love the Greil Mercs return in Radiant Dawn - a close second). There's just so much said with so few words, and so much for every player to make their own interpretations of. And the perfect bitter conclusion to the tragedy that is Azure Moon.

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Thinking about how Dimitri’s little comment here was likely an intentional effort to get Dedue to open up more. Considering Dedue’s core interest in cooking, Dimitri’s likely wished to start an engaging, personalised conversation, drawing from his own survival training to compensate for his lack of cooking knowledge. Dimitri’s shown to take interest in Dedue’s micro-expressions to help them connect more (such as during dinner cutscenes) and expresses an immediate desire for a more casual, friendly relationship in their early supports. And hey, maybe he heard about how Ashe and Dedue bonded over their cookery. Perhaps a little of his own small talk regarding niche culinary exploits would be a perfect opportunity to see Dedue’s stone-faced-facade finally crack…

And it worked. He did get Dedue to open up…

…by the poor guy exhaustedly telling weed-eater what a total dumbass he is being.

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Convinced Leone Abbacchio and Jade West are kindred spirits

I just think they'd get along well for some reason.

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Every time Abba interacts with Giorno in part 5

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The REAL big questions about Jinu:

“Well not a man, but…”

"HE IS A PRINCESS!"

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Why Lyon is my favourite Fire Emblem villain

While Sacred Stones isn't my favourite FE game (ranking at about 5th), it certainly has one of my absolute favourite stories in the series. For me, what holds up FE8 is its central bond between its three main characters, and how their struggles and tragedies remain at the heart of the story to the end. Lyon is a character that really stuck with me after playing FE8, as I found his character, relationships and antagonism really fascination - leading him to becoming my favourite villain of the series (so far - I'm still making my way through the older games.)

This may not be worded great, and I've probably forgotten a lot of details, but here are some of the main reasons why I find him so great.

His relationships:

For me, playing Eirika's route for the first time, I found her bond with Lyon to be the true heart of the story. Whilst we see these memories from Eirika's perspective (and Ephraim's in his route), we still gain an insight into Lyon's own feelings for them, as well as his insecurities. His love for both Eirika and Ephraim fulfills the loneliness of his childhood, this unintentionally fuels his inferiority complex as well - further heightened by his use of the dark stone.

Seeing the differences between the two routes, you really see the differences of how Lyon sees each twin, despite loving them equally. With Eirika, he wishes to maintain her innocence - in both sympathetic and malevolent ways. While he hides beneath the mask of the demon king for her sake, he also manipulates her naivetie when he asks for the penultimate Sacred Stone (off topic, but this scene is one of my favourites in the series, and I hate how people say Eirika was badly-written, when her actions here line up PERFECTLY with how her character has acted thus far - maybe I'll write about that in its own post another time.)

Meanwhile with Ephraim, Lyon is a lot more open about his own feelings and desires - however, Ephraim's image is a deep source of insecurity, more than Eirika. Due to his battle prowess and level-headed nature, Lyon is plagued by his inferiority - further heightened as the dark stone corrupts his desires.

Thus, his idolisation of both twins - Eirika for her heart and Ephraim for his strength - become an unintentional source of his descent. "Someone like me could never become someone like you. You and Eirika are…overpowering. You blinded me with your radiance. How could I live in your shadows and not seethe with jealousy?"

An overlooked relationship of Lyon's is also his bond with his father - a bond so strong his death caused his descent into necromancy. Lyon's character embodies the concept of positive emotions and memories being corrupted, harming both the self and others. Vigarde's puppet self can be seen as a manifestation of this - he's alive, as Lyon wished, but now only lives as an extension of himself and his deeds. What started as a selfless act morphed into a vessel used purely for Lyon's own desires.

His motivations (and subsequent corruption of them)

Prior to his tampering with the dark stone, Lyon possessed several motivations: to help the people of his country, to gain physical strength akin to Ephraim to do so, to win the hearts of the twins, to support and heal his father. All personal or noble motivations that could have been the making of an FE protagonist lord. However, as I've mentioned, these positive traits are morphed into his villainous motivation. His love is overpowered by envy. His desire to heal and improve his kingdom becomes a desire to eliminate any opposition to his goals - which have ultimately become short-sighted in destroying the sacred stones and gaining the demon king's power - which he even recognises will overpower his soul in Ephraim's route.

His ambiguity:

And the big difference of the routes - how Lyon's corruption is explained and presented to the lord (and the player). For Eirika, it seems as if his body has simply become a meat puppet for the demon lord, the rare glimpses of his 'good' persona either an act or an act of torture from Formortiis. However, in Ephraim's route, while it at first seems to be the same case, Lyon soon drops his mask - revealing these actions to be of his own autonomy. This discrepancy begs the question of just how much of Lyon's actions is the direct control/influence of the demon king, or how much is his own. My personal interpretation is more akin to Ephraim's route. I think his actions were his own, but his insecurities were amplified in his use of the dark stone which led him to such evil actions. Both Lyon and Ephraim wish to protect Eirika's goodwill, leading them to shelter her from some of the darker moments in the story (such as Ephraim trying to take her away after seeing Orson's wife). This leads Lyon to maintain his demonic facade around her, whereas with Ephraim he is able to be more honest, to the point of requesting he kills him when his body is inevitably consumed by the power he seeks. Ultimately, his act is what gives Eirika the drive to defeat him in the final battle - a drive she would have lacked if he had not betrayed her by destroying the stone - "I can and I will. I made a promise to Lyon and I intend to honor it!"

His tragedy:

Just... the entire tragic nature of the conclusion, of Eirika and Ephraim working themselves up to confronting their dear but strayed friend in battle for the sake of the continent. (I really love the sublety of Ephraim's emotions in the last few chapters too - you can tell he tries to be a rock, a goal-minded soldier, but as he faces Lyon's betrayal, you can just feel how broken he is in spite of the strong front he puts up for Eirika. "Lyon is... Lyon is my friend. Forever and always.) Both of the twins retain their fondness for Lyon even after their conflict and his death, promising to fulfil his ideals prior to his corruption. And the epilogue showing their first meeting is such a bittersweet ending to such a good game.

This whole storyline of the bond these three share is what made Sacred Stones so memorable as an FE game for me. I'm of the opinion that if Nintendo were ever to adapt one of the games into a full-length movie, Sacred Stones would be the one to do (blending elements of the two routes of course). This strong emotional core, the complexity of how each character reacts to their disintegrating relationships and the tragic nature of the narrative just makes this story quite special indeed. Lyon in particular is a reason why the narrative stuck with me, and even if FE8 isn't my favourite game in the series, this great story is why I always come back to thinking about it.

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Hear me out: Radiant Dawn x Anastasia AU

Think about it

Pelleas as Anya

Micaiah as Dimitri

“Have you heard what they’re saying on the street? While Mad King Daein did not survive, a long lost son may be alive!”

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Categories on my blog

Subject:

Analysis

Ranking

Art

Memes

Character playlist

Random Thoughts

Scenes I will never be over

Fandoms:

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

Fire Emblem

TGCF

MXTX

Given

Idolish7

Yugioh

Ace Attorney

KPop Demon Hunters

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Why I like Jinu's ending, and how it completes his storyline

Spoilers for KPOP Demon Hunters:

Jinu's a complex character, and his death in the finale of the movie was absolutely heartbreaking to watch. However, I actually think this ending was perfect for the way his character developed across the movie. Whilst I'd love him to somehow return in the franchise's future, I think just for this movie, it was a perfect way to conclude his arc.

Regardless of his sympathetic sides and his relationship with Rumi, Jinu is unquestionably a villainous antagonist for most of the movie. I think its underestimated how big a kill count the Saja Boys had. We see across the whole movie - the train, the bathhouse guy, the RuJinu Shipper, and don't forget the MASSIVE crowd during Your Idol, a crowd of which Jinu smiled with GLEE as he led them to Gwi-ma's mouth. Jinu's motivations were to bury his own shame with his memories, a desire leading him to take all of these heinous actions, but of course his budding relationship with Rumi throws a wrench into these plans. Following "Free," he begins to consider other ways of escaping his insecurity besides burying his memory - his lingering humanity. But of course Gwi Ma, the ever manipulative villain, immediately interferes - acting as a parallel to Celene's role to Rumi, albiet utilising perfection in a very different way. Whilst Celene wants Rumi to hide her patterns (her flaws), Jinu's past mistakes and desperation to hide them are of use to Gwi-ma.

This in turn leads Jinu to betray Rumi - in a manner weaponizing her OWN insecurities during the hijacking of the concert with Takedown. Of course, it pains him to do this - we see in the next scene as he is COVERED in his patterns, representing his intensified shame over these circumstances. But he still betrayed Rumi's deep trust they had developed. This is a tactic of battle ONLY HE could have done, manipulating Rumi's own fears of which she confided in him with. "Why does it feel like I can tell you anything" - they opened up to each other deeply, yet Jinu inevitably chose (reluctantly) to discard it. And we saw how much this TORE Rumi apart, and her rage as she sees Jinu besides the demons acting as Zoey and Mira. This hit her HARD (ultimately leading to her heartbreaking scene with Celene). These actions can't be taken back easily.

And then Your Idol, the masterpiece it is, happens. But despite his regrets, Jinu's attitudes towards feeding the fans to Gwi-ma seem to have not changed - he GRINS WIDELY as he sings "feel the way my voice gets underneath your skin." His reservations are instead focused on Rumi's absence, and his own regretful choice leaving behind the freedom he and Rumi sung of.

Of course Rumi comes to save the day, in turn opening up to her friends, the stadium, and the world as we see at the end where she wears her patterns on full display. As her song states - "My voice without the lies, this is what it sounds like." And this finally brings her and the girls back together as Huntrix. Jinu sees this, recognising his own bond with Rumi, a group dynamic the Saja Boys lack as implied emotionless husks. And seeing this beautiful bond, as well as seeing Rumi in danger, he finally renounces his own terrible deeds and swoops in to protect Rumi, sacrificing his own life to do so.

While Jinu was on the path to redemption following his declaration to make the Saja Boys lose (as far as I remember, no more fans were taken in that period), he took a step back (more like a mile) when he chose to betray Rumi in a means which devastated her. In my eyes, it would have been impossible to comprehend a redemtion resulting in his immediate survival following this scene. (Think of Avatar the Last Airbender: Could Zuko have been redeemed mere hours after betraying his Uncle for Azula's promises at the end of season 2? Instead, he had to work on himself throughout season 3. What I mean with this example is that pacing and a clear demonstration of effort is how redemptions are pulled off - which is why I don't think a perfect redemption would have worked with 10 minutes left in the movie).

Of course it's very important to note that as a servant of Gwi-ma, Jinu had little autonomy. There are TONS of factors that led Jinu where he is in the movie. However it's also important to consider the choices he made in his plans which place him further on the scale of "villain" than "reluctant antagonist."

I think by sacrificing his life, Jinu was able to redeem himself while simultaneously facing the consequences for his actions in the movie, both to Rumi and the fans he murdered.

I think if we get another movie or series, a revival would be a good possibility to work with - perhaps he could be resurrected somehow through Rumi's sword and become a permanent ally to Huntrix - we can then see him finally leave behind the harmful influences of Gwi-ma which manipulated him. We could also see his relationship with Rumi grow - or even develop real friendships with Zoey and Mira, or found his own new boyband (since he enjoys singing and performing, he could explore it as his new purpose in his new life).

But as a standalone movie, I think his fate fit perfectly, heartbreaking as it was.

This movie gives me too many thoughts.

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SUMMER CONSTANCE Y’ALL

COCOOOOO (and Hapiiiii)

POV: FE Heroes fans in June, ready for swimsuit alts

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I’ve WON

FEH HAS HEARD MY DEMANDS

I’m so normal about the ashen wolves!!

SUMMER CONSTANCE 🥹🥹🥹