#I'm too old to be making rookie errors

[deweydecimalchickens]

You know sometimes you snap awake with one word very loud in your brain?

Last night's was "NEUROPATHY!", on account of the unfamiliar sharp pains dancing over my knee.

Turned out Perky was making biscuits on my leggings and got his claws stuck.

[madara-fate]

the jump shop changed sakura's age from 17 to 16 in the war https://twitter.com/uchihassasusaku/status/1694437115403067409?s=20 source below. they said japanese fans complained and they changed sakura's age in the games too. but databooks are written by kishimoto right? how did he not change it form the get go? everyone in sakura's class graduated at 12. shino and hinata are from january and december respectively and they're always the same age in databooks except 4th because it ends in october. why did they do that? they also changed obito's age. does it mean kishimoto is stupid and never realized the mistake or jump is trying to change his own version of the events?

Kishimoto didn't make a mistake, he and Shonen Jump had plenty of time to fix any errors regarding the character ages if they existed, but the manga and the databooks remained consistent with them. I'm therefore definitely gonna take their word for it over some random online merch company. Kishi is Japanese; he obviously knows how their school system works, and people should really know by now that the Konoha Academy doesn't follow the same rules.

I mean, in addition to the obvious Databook 4 evidence proving that Sakura is older, all of the Konoha Rookie 9 graduated when they were 12 years old, including Shino (whose birthday is January 23rd), and Hinata (whose birthday is December 27th). Therefore, the Rookie 9 must have all turned 12 in the year prior to their graduation, meaning Sakura is among the older ones, not the younger ones.

This is Databook 1 stuff we're talking about here, and there was a 12 year gap between the releases of Databooks 1 and 4. You'd think that if there was a mistake somewhere with the character ages, Kishimoto and Jump would fix it, but they didn't because there was no mistake, and the databooks and manga remained consistent in that regard.

[missysotomeworld]

Collar x Malice Review (Non-Spoilers)

After a year of playing this game and after hearing so many things about it, I finally managed to play the game. Buying ten Otome games on the switch to get me started, since up until now all I’ve played were mobile games which I still play but I wanted to expand my horizons. I knew Collar x Malice is a “Big” Otome game which is a lot of people’s first Otome and I thought; let’s start with this classic game. Let’s see what I thought about this game.  

Plot  

Set-in modern-day Shinjuku, which once was a bustling city known for its nightlife, but that’s not the case anymore because of a terrorist group calling themselves Adonis. This group deeming themselves the true fighters of justice have taken it upon themselves to rid the world of its sorrows and for people that are suffering every second. So they've taken it upon themselves to kill those that are the very reason before they can cause the people's sorrows. Now it's December and the "Rebirth" of Japan is supposed to happen. On January 1st the day Adonis deems to be X-Day has caused Shinjuku to be under lockdown and no one can leave or enter the city and under strict protocols the police set up everyone on a curfew, those 18 and under must have a chaperon with them when going to school and home. The government redacted laws that had banned anyone from carrying a weapon, so now everyone over the age of 20 can carry a gun as a means to protect themselves. Now it’s December, the police are panicking as they try to crack down on these crimes and are having no luck. Sitting in the middle of all this chaos is 21-year-old rookie police officer Ichika Hoshino. One night Ichika is heading home when she gets a call from her superior that there's a disturbance and is told she needs to put a stop to it until he can come as backup.  She goes to Shinjuku Garden and gets knocked out and wakes up in a church with a poisonous collar attached to her neck and a voice comes from within the collar. Turns out the very organization that the police are trying to catch (Adonis) have given this collar as a way to experiment on her for them to see her "justice" and find out the truth of the crimes. She is told she must never tell anyone about the collar, especially not the police. Thankfully Adonis had the common decency to send assistance in the form of three ex-cops to rescue her. These men were tipped off when a letter from Adonis letting them know a "sympathizer" of theirs is at the church and to go get her. So now Ichika must work with these men along with two more allies.  

Company  

Collar x Malice is created by Idea Factory under the Otomate brand and is localized by Aksys games. It's rated M for its dark themes because we've got ourselves very detailed death scenes, violence, drug references, strong language, and mild sexual content. The game was originally released on the PS Vita in Japan in 2016 and later to the West in 2017 and became re-released for the switch in 2020 followed by its 2018 fandisk "Collar x Malice: Unlimited" only on the switch. I played on the switch and from what I understand there were a lot of grammar errors in the initial release that seems to be fixed for the  Switch re-release but then again, I'm not a huge stickler for these types of problems unless it's broken English and that is where I draw the line. 

Mechanics  

It's pretty rare for an Otome game to have gameplay mechanics so it's refreshing to take a reading break and do activities related to the task at hand and makes you feel like you are a real cop on the case.  There's three different mechanics in the game that will come up sometimes.  

Investigations: This happens when Ichika is investigating a crime scene to find clues to whatever month of Adonis' crimes, she ends up pursuing. You just click around the room when the red and black arrow turns into a target symbol and if you ponder too long Ichika will nudge you to move on.  

[Go to] Elevator: This happens when Ichika is traveling through the police station in the elevator to different departments to talk to someone on that floor.  

Trigger Mode: There’ll be times where Ichika will draw her gun, and this will make or break if you get a bad ending, if you make the shot or not. You cannot save during these events either save when you kind of see lines like "Ichika touches her gun" or if you don't make it you can rewind the conversation. The objective is to aim for the first inner circle of the bigger circle. If you are unsure, that's normal at first.  (Believe me I was confused sometimes if I did it right. I was told if you see a red outline, it means you did it if it's gray you missed or look at the log and it'll say so) If you aren't confident in your skills, you can always go to the shooting range in the police station, and it will show you how to do it without the tension.  

Extras  

There are two collectables you get within the game: there's the Dictionary explaining the police terms and other topics related to the characters and the Materials that you collect the evidence of the X-Day cases within the routes.  

After each Good Ending for each of the LIs you get a short story after the events of the route and once you collect all the CGs you get an extra CG of the guy. And at the end when everything is completed you get to read Episode 0 which tells how the members of Adonis were selected. 

Ichika Hoshino 

I liked Ichika. She's definitely one-of-a-kind type of Mc. She's one of those rare Mc who can think for herself. She's really not the type of Mc you can self-insert like other Mcs, more or less that you can simply put yourself in their shoes because they are more like a Lego piece and you can put yourself into the story, but the Mc usually doesn't have much personality. Ichika is her own character sure you are making the decisions, but they feel like her own thoughts rather than your input. She sticks with her justice and will stubbornly stand by it. She's a skilled marksman and is a smart lady. Of course, she isn't perfect (none of us are) and she's aware of her shortcomings. She's very realistic and when she's in a scary situation she knows much more is at stake, so she stays as calm as possible. That is a strength I don't think a lot of us could pull; most of us would be freaking out if we had a poisonous collar and we were told to follow whatever it says or our lives would end. She's also aware she's a rookie and naturally her department she works in the Special Regions Crime Prevention Office (SRCPO) isn't really in the field like the rest of the police station. The SRCPO handles the public's complaints and checks out disturbances they are called to. So naturally Ichika doesn't have the skills as one may have hoped for since her conclusions, she draws at are probably anyone else could come up with in the grand scheme of things if you want to ponder it. But that doesn't matter much to me since the game kind of makes you think as you play along and it's cool to think (even if I had a walkthrough but I did wonder about stuff). I will say it's thanks to her job she can communicate when the need arises and can gain some information that could be important. Though there's also a nitpick that kind of bothers me and that lies with her younger brother Kazuki, and her communication/listening skills go out the window when it comes to him. Like we get it Ichika it's a scary world out there right now but lecturing him isn't going anywhere and it'd help to just ask him and LISTEN to what he has to say. Now it's not just her fault Kazuki doesn't make it easier for her either like dude its a blessing you get to stay with her you could show some appreciation. Like she cooks for him, pays the rent, and he gets his own room, and he gives her attitude because he's in his "Teenage Rebellion" phase that's not an excuse! Kazuki's behavior depends on the route he's fine. In some other times he's just too cruel to Ichika. I mean eventually they come to some kind of understanding at the end. But these are just minor flaws. I had to sit back and think, and it didn't deter me from liking Ichika. I'd befriend her in real life. She's a breath of fresh air as someone who has her fair share of normal Mcs. Do I call her my favorite Mc? I don't think so, I feel like there'll be better Mcs better than her the more I get my feet wet in my journey of my switch journey. I feel she kind of blends into the crowd especially with the generic appearance, heck she and I could be twins because I have brown hair and hazel eyes as well.  

The Love Interests  

So how the routes split off is that Ichika will team up with one of the guys and investigate one or two cases with them. This game has an affection meter feature that is broken into two parts: Trust and Affection.  It makes sense for it to be like this since Ichika and LI are complete strangers and they need to learn how to work together. The first part is Trust which Ichika needs to build trust with her partner in a way that they can work as a unit. After the Trust meter is full it will restart and start the second part the Affection where the love grows between them. Fill the Affection all the way up you got yourself the Good Ending! There is a recommended order for this game since this game builds overtime and gets spoiler heavy the more you read it so it's nice slowly chipping away at this iceberg of a game in a way that has a natural flow to it. The route order I did was: Mineo Enomoto, Takeru Sasazuka, Kei Okazaki,  Kageyuki Shiraishi, and Aiji Yanagi. Mineo, Takeru, and Kei are the only three unlockable in the beginning. Shiraishi's route is locked until you play at least one of those three and Yanagi unlocks when all the other four boys have been completed since he's the "true" route that reveals all. I don't regret my order choices. I felt it built up nicely over time! But you can kind of choose however you like between the first three and that can probably be done in any order. With that said let's talk about my thoughts on our boys!

  

Mineo Enomoto (23): Mineo was a great first route to me since when I was deciding which way to play since the walkthroughs around said different route orders for the first three, but I ultimately saw someone say choose between him or Takeru. So I went with Mineo since he seemed nice enough since Takeru intimidated me a little. To me, Mineo's route seemed less about Adonis as a whole and more about his problems surrounding the particular case we were investigating because it was a personal thing for him. The whole route was basically him overcoming his problems with Ichika helping him through it. I did like his cute moments, and I chuckled at the banter with Ichika, and I feel because they were relatively close in age, they just got each other. I'm a big history buff myself so him liking Masamune Date (going as far as having an eye patch despite not needing it, now if that's not dedication I don't know what is) Though I've always been a Nobunaga Oda kind of girl (especially in Otome games some people have deemed me Lady Oda for my undying faithfulness to the Demon Lord regardless of game).  

Takeru Sasazuka (24): I feel like Takeru's route is a good explanation of Adonis' actions throughout the month of December since most of the crimes they do relate to the case Takeru and Ichika are investigating. We do get to learn a pretty decent sized spoiler in this route sure I was shocked but that didn't deter me at all but if someone is really sensitive then doing Kei's route is probably a good idea to do since I think Takeru and Kei's route are the most interchangeable out of the three. I did okay with Takeru himself who’s such a smartass and knows it (it helped to get used to the prickly genius because before I played this route, I was playing another character with a similar personality even down to the hair color and loving sweets). I feel he and Ichika really didn't fit well together since he never saw her as an equal and the whole Kazuki stuff was the worst here and Takeru didn't help things which probably made it worse. I know Ichika really did her hardest on this case, but he kept calling her a stupid cat, that doesn't sound encouraging. Like dude cut her some slack it's not her fault she works in a department where these skills are limited and so what if her thought processes are basic at least she is thinking and taking this seriously. I like tsunderes but there's a line that just shouldn't be crossed, like I don't get how they fell for each other. I guess if you buy him enough doughnuts, he'll fall for you. If this game were a visual novel it holds up pretty solid like his background and motives of why he wants to solve this particular case, make sense. But as a romance route I have to say no it's probably one of the weakest out of the routes here in terms of that it felt so thrown in for the sake of this needs to be an Otome game so romance needs to occur even between people that don't go well together. Like Ichika I feel wasn't at her finest like defend yourself I know you are capable of this as seen in other routes then this one. Once your mind is set you don't back down where was this in this route!?  

Kei Okazaki (25): The last of the initial trio definitely has some heavy weight compared to the other two which is why I thought Kei worked best for a third route for me. But I do see Takeru and Kei being interchangeable like I said before. Kei is the odd duck out of the love interests not just his airhead, liking weird snacks personality he displays but he actually works at the police station as an SP officer that's normally tasked with protecting VIPs at events but for some reason, he is tasked with watching Yanagi and the others to "protect" them. They don't know why as previously mentioned SP officers don't protect civilians like Yanagi and Co. so it's odd and it's dangerous since one of Adonis' demands was that police cannot know about the collar or her involvement in this investigation. And with Kei always showing up at random times to check on them it's frustrating and gets on their nerves especially Yanagi in particular. It's also hard since Ichika is a working police officer herself. It looks odd she always goes to the Detective Agency to consult with them on her findings. So, knowing this you may be asking yourselves how a romance would brew between these two and it's definitely an interesting one. Again, the same events that happened in Takeru's route, but they are just shown and kind of thrown away because it really didn't go anywhere for Kei's route. Maybe apart from one event but it was a minor part of the story. As for how I felt about Kei as a character, he really didn't appeal to my tastes. I'm aware he has quite the fanbase. His backstory had really given us some brain food for later when we started putting stuff together but once we figured out his motives throughout the route as to why he sticks by Ichika's side it really got so annoying. I was with Ichika through this. I just wish it was addressed earlier but at least she gave him a good grilling when she put together what he wanted to do. He's an amazing fighter, like he could whip my ass to the ground in a second. He may act like an airhead but that's such a trap that's how he gets you to reveal your secrets because he's way smarter than he appears to be. I guess he's cute with the liking weird snacks or sleeping wherever. But he just isn't my cup of tea. I was too busy frustrated at his antics, but other than those gripes it's an interesting route since it did give us something to chew on for the next two routes.  

Kageyuki Shiraishi (29): I beg of you please do this guy fourth before Yanagi is unlocked! You are free to choose whoever you want for the first three routes but PLEASE for the love of God DO NOT PLAY his route as soon as he unlocks. His route is spoiler heavy central! Everything you see in this route will change your outlook on everything you thought you knew about this game. This route is the perfect lead up to Yanagi's route after he's unlocked after this route! I won't say what this very important information is because it's best to find out for yourselves and just watch your jaws drop to the floor in shock once you learn what this key information is hehe. I absolutely loved this man and his route like Day 1 playing this game. As soon as his first scene happened, I was laughing and going "I'm in trouble". He had me at the teasing like ‘yes sign me up!’ As you can tell I love guys that tease! I love the fox, cunning type of character; the Kitsune in Ayakashi games are my favorite character/Ayakashi always! So, did he meet my expectations? YES! Oh my God Yes! It was pretty much a story of how their relationship changes over time, which I'm a sucker for (one thing to know about me is I love character development in my routes). Kotoho Sakuragawa and Eriko Mukai are Ichika's friends in all the routes and omg they were so funny in this route since they both hate this man with every fiber of their being! Ichika is at her finest in this route and it's exactly what someone like Shiraishi needs in a partner. This had my favorite case as well and sure I had my trusty walkthrough on hand, but I was actively trying to think of where the case was going to go with all its twists and turns! He is hands down my favorite route in the game and my husbando of the game without a shadow of a doubt! Love you my cat loving man hehe!

  

Aiji Yanagi (28): Ah the dad of the crew (though he won't admit it hehe) but he's literally husband/dad material he can clean, cook, and is a sweet guy. As for his role as the truth route we finally answer the undying question "What is the truth behind Adonis' actions?" Does it hold up as a route? Yeah, it does the job okay, but did I feel satisfied with it? No not really, I feel the writing lost momentum at the midway point and just rolled downhill from there. The plot twist they put to throw conflict for the sake of conflict because Yanagi is too damn perfect. Let's add this piece of information that came out of nowhere and make his only real weakness being a chain smoker. If you wanted this plot twist in this route it should have been implemented in passing in all routes it would have had a better effect of why Ichika and Yanagi are an OTP pairing not that they needed a reason they got along with each other from the get-go. The other downer was the ending showdown between the leader of Adonis and the good of the police to decide the fate of Japan! Who is going to win in the end? It was anticlimactic to say the least like it ended like that? I was expecting something more like we came all this way and we got this?  Other than those critiques I liked the relationship between these two like if this wasn't a final route, I may have liked it more. I teared up at the end of the good ending mostly because the music was swelling and the realization of my journey with this game is coming to an end! This route did a good job pulling together everything we learned including the other boys' pasts coming together beautifully! As for how I feel about Yanagi as a character he's just a nice/safe guy that is great to have around but that's just it he's kind of too plain for my tastes. Hehe he's the perfect guy for Ichika!  

Final Thoughts  

Overall I enjoyed my time with this classic Otome game and can proudly call it my first console game!  The story was compelling from beginning to end, always keeping you wondering what twists this game  will take you on. This game felt real looking at what’s been going on around me the past couple of years  like I feel if I played this game closer to its original release I don't think it'd hit as hard or make you think  like is Adonis wrong here? Their methods of showing the wrongs and killing those people isn't right but  what they say regarding the issues the game tackles is one for discussion. What's interesting is that this  game makes you question your own morals like who is really right here and which side should we be  siding with? And to rank the LI overall are: Shiraishi, Yanagi, Mineo, Kei, and Takeru. Out of five stars I  give CxM a 4.5/5. This game is flawless and the reason it's not a five is how the Good vs Evil showdown was a bit of a let down. This game is easily recommendable to anyone of any gender since there's  something about it that can draw anyone’s interests. The romance is low key and you kind of forget it's an Otome because of its level of crime drama aesthetics. So if you like crime dramas, strong female heroine, don't mind low key/slow burn romances, and like serious action packed, this is the game for  you! Thank you for reading this review! Maura out! 

[genevievemd]

Oh, this Olivia hate...

You know what I would like to see? Olivia remorseful saying I'm sorry to Gen. I'd like to see her admit, that she had a crush on Ethan, and took it too far. (ok, after her activity on insta obviously she has gone waaaay too far, so I don't blame Gen for not forgiving her, but in general there's nothing wrong with a crush)

And I'd love to see Olivia being transfered because she does a poor job as an assistant and not because her insta comments on his boss' wife's feed.

Also, it would be lovely, to see a scenario, where some random chick has a crush on Ethan, and instead of being insecure, Gen would be even more proud, that her 'old' husband is stil hot. I would also write, that Ethan could flirt a bit, just for fun, but that would be out of character for him :)))

Hi lovey! Sorry this took so long to answer.

I’m gonna answer this in sections.

Olivia, will eventually apologize to Gen. She’s already lost a friend over her nonsense and she’ll see the error of her ways soon. And G will forgive her because that’s who she is. The only people she’s ever not forgiven is her ex, Ryan, and Landry. So she will hear Olivia out and accept her apology.

And she is being transferred because she’s bad at her job. Ethan wouldn’t move her simply because of some shit online. If that was all it was, he’d have just spoken to her (like he did months ago) and ended it there. But she was terrible at her job, and had no experience at all and was making things more difficult than they needed to be. So she’s being moved for being a shitty EA, not just for shit she commented on his wife’s pictagram.

As for the last part, plenty of people flirt with Ethan, he's hot, and 9 times out 10 it doesn't bother her. The times when it does, is when he flirts back (usually unintentionally) or doesn't it down. And that has everything to do with G's anxiety. Which she tries very hard to control but it does get the best of her at times. Take for example, back in January of the AU, when Ethan was distant, not shutting down Olivia's flirting and then called someone else Rookie, Gen freaked out. The monster in her head took over and she was completely overwhelmed by her anxeity/fears.

So while, she is not insecure 99% of the time, there is always going to be moments where the 1% pops up.

Thank you so much for this ask and your questions and being so invested in my little world. It means so much 💕💕💕