#this river is called! BUT. counterpoint. maybe it could

[pagesofkenna]

I've got to name the like mountains and rivers and things in my book's setting, and since i'm working with fantasy creation gods here i'm now outlining the steps in 'gods creating a populated world' to figure out when these land features would have been first named

[tiramochi]

The katana Kaikokusaku pulls her like she's the counterpoint to its melody, a sleek, elegant construct of black and gold, and the space in which it exists is tenuous, bizarre, a pocket of still water amid the currents. It hangs suspended in the murk like a sacred relic, the shintai of a shrine. More mundane objects litter the riverbed underneath, silt and sprawling weed and a conch shell, patterns too familiar; she looks, looks again.

“Oh,” Kingyo says, sinking to her knees.

Its surface is already dulled and rough to the touch, fragile without the pulse of vitality within. The only remains of the conch spirit who’d followed her through the battlefield, and then disappeared shortly after, Kingyo now realizes, to give her life to the blade. To sustain the lifeforce inside it with her own.

She thinks, I never knew your name. And then at the katana, with gold slivers spiraling about its blade, with the entirety of his soul bound within its confines. I never knew yours, either.

Lord Arakawa is a title, and not a name.

But Kingyo takes the katana in hand and he is there, he is there, a sudden startling presence like being steeped in warmth, wrapped in summer winds. Tangible, yet insubstantial. If she fell back she would be able to touch him, to come up against his chest – there is only water.

She makes up her mind; Kaikokusaku dislodges easily from its stasis, falls into her arms. It’s selfish, but Kingyo has always been selfish, and besides, the Arakawa River would be nothing without its people. Better that it can be with them, and with her.

If she cries at all, the tears are whisked away by the currents, out to the open sea to mingle with the salt.

Maybe this is what it feels like, to drown.

* *

Her bones still ache. The sea roars through her.

She stands on her toes, and feels something give. Sometimes, when she’s caught unawares, she takes a step and teeters, unsteady on her new legs. Losing a dancer’s poise, perfectly balanced, for the fumbling of a newborn, like a fish that has forgotten how to swim.

So Kingyo rediscovers her body by force. She does the steps as she’d seen him do, feet thump-thump-thump on the rock, following the shade of her past self, too, a small child practicing with a stick. Extend and swing. Shake off the brittleness in her limbs, the feeling of fracture with every movement.

His hands cover her own. She twists and sees him looming and suddenly she’s small again, craning her neck to glare into his eyes.

Shorty, he seems to say. Don’t overdo it. You’ll never get taller like that, if you break your body before it has a chance to grow. He taps her head with two fingers.

Is that how you treat a lady? Her voice builds to a squeak despite her best efforts. So undignified!

What lady? I don’t see any lady here.

Kingyo knows he’s laughing at her, but nothing shows in his face. Perhaps his eyes are warmer. Perhaps the lines around his mouth are less tight.

“It wouldn’t kill you to smile,” Kingyo grumbles, then realizes her mistake. Bites back her next words, furtive, because there’s no one to hear except the wind and the sword, thrumming quietly in her hands.

* *

Kingyo rules a fractured kingdom. Not quite the world, but acceptable, for now.

Later on, she realizes just how lonely it is.

The water youkai are strangely pitiful, displaced and shrunken; they look to her for guidance. We want to go home.

It’s too dangerous to return, Kingyo tells them, and the miasma hasn’t yet gone from the waters. There could be enemies left, so I have to get stronger, first.

And he is dead, he cannot protect us. They weep. Lord Arakawa is an ideal to them; shining, flawless, faceless.

He said that I had spirit, Kingyo says. He gave me candy and told me stories through the night.

* *

At the river’s estuary she finds clusters of white chrysanthemums sheltered by an outcrop of rock, windblown petals edged by salt. Kingyo comes back the following day, having nabbed a flask of sake from Seimei’s stores – she doesn’t think he’ll mind. She finds a peach too, a whole one ripe and yielding under her fingertips, and takes a bite out of it just to check. Fruit is a valuable commodity, anyway.

Together it makes a pile in the flowers, sake and half-eaten peach and Kaikokusaku settled center stage. A makeshift funeral. Kingyo is no priest, but she can do this much. The sky yawns overhead, painfully blue, warms her too-long hair, her dirt-smudged cheeks turned up to the sun. She feels him too, in the blade, but quiescent.

“To the biggest dummy in the universe,” she begins. “The dummy that threw his life away.”

She doesn’t know what to do with the sake; there are no cups, as her foresight hadn’t extended that far. Her grubby fingers slip on the smooth lacquered surface of the flask, because she knows it isn’t for her, not really. Guilt makes her movements clumsy.

The first taste is – dry, it parches her mouth. Another gulp and the flavour filters through, the subtle bloom of apples but warped, somehow, metallic in a way that makes her face scrunch up and her eyes water.

Kingyo thinks, adults enjoy this. She thinks that he would have as well, so she drinks it in place of him. It leaves a warmth in her belly that does nothing to allay the space cradled by her ribcage. She huddles inwards, compresses herself infinitesimally small.

“Big meanie,” she mumbles. “Bully. You always hit me with your stupid fan, and right on the head, too, and called me ‘shorty’.” Sluggish indignation colours her tone. “Probably the reason I never ever grew up…”

“But you saved everyone.”

She remembers the aching tenderness of his final look. This is the last battle, he’d said, and then stood with his back to her, awfully breakable. Suppressing the tidal wave of monsters, over and over with no recourse, then holding against their leader with the shark’s smile and a sword lined with teeth, and even Kingyo with her dreams of grandeur could admit that it was futile. She watched him flag, falter, watched the cursed blade grip and tear into his shoulder with its fangs, watched as he, as he –

“You’re the hero,” she whispers, curled up on her side. “Heroes never die. They can’t.”

And with that she falls asleep.

* *

Once, there was a girl, and her love for the Emperor caused her to drown herself, in a pond rimmed with irises and horsetail, weeping willows trailing their branches into the water. The Emperor, stone heart moved by her death, brought his courtiers to its banks and wrote poems for her passing.

There was a speck of truth to it. Lord Arakawa knew these things, as he knew everything about the water, each stream and burble, tells them to Kingyo when she demands a tale.

“At Kasuga,” he says, and hums. Even Kingyo tires out from anger, sometimes, and he settles next to her, at a respectful distance and his fan safely out of reach.

“I grieve to see, her hair tangled as in sleep, floating there now like jewelled waterweed, on Sarusawa Pond.”

They never found her body. But he says, contemplative; perhaps her spirit was consumed with grief, and lingered there. Perhaps she became one of ours.

“She’s a dummy,” says Kingyo, with all the surety of the very young. Sacrifice for nothing.

Once, there was a girl, older now, and wiser. She changes the words.

* *

It waits for her. And who would Kingyo be, if she didn’t try?

“You’ll give me what I want.”

She cuts with no ceremony, opening herself up, a neat gouge bisecting the length of her forearm, wetting the edge of the blade. Kaikokusaku drinks in the blood like it’s starving for it, then chases the tail end to come across Kingyo’s youki underneath, heavy and rich with salt.

As soon as it reaches in – Kingyo pulls.

Kingyo is not a princess, but a queen. Not just a queen, but a lord, a conqueror, and she demands that it obey. Kaikokusaku’s hilt judders in her grip, unmaking itself in its desire to appease her; frozen metal liquefies and scorches her palms, clenched as the rigor mortis of the dead. She might be dying, but if she’d thought harder about it then the fear would have locked her in place. There is no space for fear.

No space for fear.

There is only the taste of the sea, the power that she claimed, that took her in turn and made her strong when she proved herself unshakeable, eternal as the fact of the tides. A building pressure in her ears, pungent brine whipping her hair into her mouth, her eyes, blinding – but she pours in her anger, her memories, too, and calls.

The water stills.

It resolves into a figure. He is solid, and so very real; the same tenderness is in his face, like sunlight seen from the ocean floor, soft as the flicker of fireflies.

He opens his mouth, and says –

[thismightbewynn]

Wahoo, saw some of @deniigi‘s lightening prompts and the little impulse gremlin in my head yanked my chain and here we are, let’s go wahoo!!!  I did go a little hamwild with it though so big oopsies there but also I regret nothing and so I will not apologize!  Very long though, so I’mma slam dunk some of this under a read more.

-

“Foggy,” he nudged lightly.  “Foggy.  Foggy, Foggy.”

The accused raised his brow.

“What?”

“Take it back, Foggy.”

And back down the brow goes.  Up went the corners of his lip.

“Naahhh.”

This guy.  Ugh.

“You’re disgracing me, Foggy,” he said, without even a little bit of pouting.  Not even draping himself over a door frame or anything.  Certainly no theatrics.  “Slandering my name.”

“Denial is just the beginning, Mattias Murdock,” Foggy said into his cup, as if covering his smile would work on a blind man’s perception.

“My name is not Mattias.”  A pause.  “And I’m not old.  Take it back.”

“Okay, Matteo.  I believe you.”

That wasn’t taking it back.  That was active disbelief and dismissal.  These were things he could not have; not on his dignity, and certainly not on what little was left of his life.

He had little life left to live, not because he was old, but because he was going to die young, burning out fast and dancing forever.  Probably in the river somewhere, actually, but his poor life choices weren’t the issue here.  The issue here was Foggy’s refusal to withdraw his poor opinions, despite the stellar counterpoints Matt had beautifully presented just now.

It’s whatever, though.  It’s fine.  If his word wasn’t enough for this argument, then he’ll just find someone else to support him.  It can’t be any harder than finding a witness for court.

-

Spidey was doing a wonderful job.  Great work, really.  He didn’t know what was going on, since he came with zero context and bags of ulterior motive, but it sounded like general crime fighting with a hint of reptile.  It also sounded like he was just wrapping up.

He did something that was probably a salute.  He couldn’t keep track, nowadays.  Spidey was constantly trying out different salutes from a list he’d compiled from all four corners of the world wide web.  He was on a quest to find the ones best suited to make him look cool and respectable, he explained when Daredevil asked what all the hand waving was about.  He tried out a different one every week because he was weighing the public’s reactions to them.

The public was confused but charmed by it.  Matt, being part of the public by day, was not immune to this effect.  Apparently nobody was.

“I love you, officer.”

He pumped his chest twice and did the salute of the week again.

“I… sure, you too.”

The officer awkwardly imitated him.  Spidey’s heart beamed with joy.

“Well, I gotta go now.  Take care, ¡adios!”  He saluted again before he left.  The officer’s responding heartbeat indicated surprise.  Spidey had likely literally disappeared again.

“Why are you here?” he whispered, without really whispering at all.  He was awful at it, despite attempts to teach him otherwise.  He’d get the hang of it sooner or later, regardless.

“Just conducting a private survey,” he said, turning around, cane rhythmically tapping against the sidewalk.

“If this is about your costume, you look like if Shadow was designed to imitate Knuckles instead of Sonic.”

Matt had no idea what any of those words meant in that order.  He made no plans to understand or pretend to understand.  There were more important things at hand.

“Spider-Man,” he started.  “What was your first impression of me?”

“Honestly?  Cool but scary.  I thought you were gonna accuse me of murder and I’d be, like, yessir that sounds about right.”

“And now?”

“Uh, can I say something first?”

“Go ahead.”

He paused in thought, carefully chewing on the offered silence that was to fuel his thought process.  That was good.  Thoughtfulness and honesty was important for testimonies.  They were also important in general, but right now, he was looking for a testimony, so whatever.

Spidey’s heart beat steadily.

“I know it’s easier said than done, but you shouldn’t care too much about what other people think.  I mean, obviously it’s important, but I think being able to back yourself up is just as important.  Like, it’s great if other people believe in you, but you gotta do it too.  Self esteem, you know?”

Aww.

Useless for what he came for, but.

Aww.

“That’s great,” he said.  “But not what I’m looking for.”

Spidey sighed something tired.

“Well?” Matt pushed.

“Honestly, you’re a grumpy old man.”

That was worse than useless.  That was actively detrimental to his case.

“Wish you weren’t grumpy, though, but maybe old people are just like that.”

Said the kid who put way too much research into salutes.  And also, he’s not old.  Goodbye.

-

“The fuck are you asking me for?”

The younger the individual, the more valuable their opinion to how old he wasn’t.  If he asked someone older than him, of course they wouldn’t call him old out of bias.  If he asked someone of the same age, he would sacrifice what little was left of his dignity between them.  It had to be one of the wee ones.

“I’m conducting a private survey.”

Wade squinted.  Matt pretended not to notice.

“I’m not asking you.  I’m asking Eleanor.”

“You know everyone’s old to her, right?”

What--

How did he--

Whatever, it’s not important.  His opinion doesn’t matter right now, he’s not a wee one.

“Knock yourself out, dude.”

Eleanor Camacho had too much brutal honesty in her.  It was borderline rude.  His heart was bruised and she didn’t even give a shit.  She had an elaborate, extravagant torture system thinly disguised as a training regimen for her small brigand of action figures.  Little did they know, they were not saviors, but puppets meant to wreak havoc for their small, merciless god.  Anything or anyone who interrupted her was the scum of the earth, and was treated as such.

Of course her opinion was skewed.  She was upset.  People generally don’t say the nicest of truths when they’re upset.

This wasn’t working.  He needed to find someone in a good mood.

-

MILES: hey, did i say something wrong??

MILES: whatever it is i’m sorry

MILES: nevermind, foggy just told me you’re having an aging crisis

MILES: good to know you’re okay though!!

MATT: I am not having an aging crisis and Foggy is a liar. And yes I am perfectly okay thank you for noticing.

MILES: don’t worry dude, you’ll get over it!

MATT: Miles I just said I’m okay.

MILES: i freak out every birthday because growing means more responsibilities, but that’s a crisis that just runs out after i have some cake

MILES: and like, you’re done growing, so that’s it! these are all the responsibilities you have and you already know how to handle them. so i guess my advice is to get some cake

MILES: or something that is not cake, i don’t know what your tastebuds like. maybe you like to eat raw fish i don’t know

MATT: Miles, I appreciate what you are saying, but that is not the problem and you are not helping.

MILES: what’s the problem then?

MILES: is it because foggy said you’re old? because i’m sorry but he’s right

MILES: actually i’m not apologizing for telling the truth. you’re old, man

MATT: I’m going to block you.

MILES: you always say that but you never do it and honestly i don’t think you know how

MILES: you know why that is? it’s because you’re old and that means you’re technologyphobic

MILES: don’t worry, peter is old too but he’s not technologyphobic because he’s a nerd. you can ask him how to block me, i won’t mind! i just hope you can figure out how to unblock me on your own lol

MILES: i won’t judge if you have to ask peter how to unblock me too, you old people gotta stick together

MILES: no response? gone to ask peter how to use the youth gadgets your old man brain cannot comprehend i see

-

MATT: Miles is becoming too bold for his own good.

PETER: did he call you old? That’s okay he calls me old too, it’s like the opposite of making fun of how young he is.

PETER: also i heard about your aging crisis from him and honestly? Good luck dude

That was a private survey.  It was supposed to be private.  He remembered saying it was a private survey. 

PETER: may says that you can defeat feeling old by acknowledging that time passes and figuring out why being old feels like a personal attack to your emotional security

This was the worst.  This was exactly why that survey was private.  He made a silent pact to himself not to ask Miles anything ever again.

MATT: I see where Miles gets his bad influence from.

PETER: don’t blame me when miles gets all his advice from may

PETER: he says mine is faulty and full of holes which i guess is fair but like ouch you know?

MATT: No, I don’t.

MATT: Also, while I have you here, what was your first impression of me?

PETER: i’m not participating in this bye feel better soon

MATT: Peter answer the question

MATT: Peter hey

MATT: PETER

-

He was mourning the ongoing death of his youth and vitality.

“Are…  Are you okay?”

SAM.  SAMUEL.  DEAREST SAMUEL BLINDSPOT CHUNG.  FINALLY, A YOUTH HE CAN TRUST.

He immediately abandoned his mourning activities.

“Sam,” he said, with much urgency, leaning his weight against his palms on the desk.  Sam’s spine straightened to attention.

“Yeah?”

“What was your first impression of me?”

“Uh.  I don’t know, mostly just scared shitless?  But also really, really excited.”  A pause.  “And then mostly respect after that.”

Good, good.  No mention of old age.

“And now?” he continued eagerly.

“Uhhhhhhhhhhh.”  Sam creeped backwards.  “Uhhhhhhh.  You know what?  I’m just gonna.  Go.  Think about my answer.  And then come back later when I have it.”

NO.  SAM.  COME BACK.  UGH.

Matt sunk in his chair again, stuffing his face into his desk to hide his misery from the world.

Foggy came in.  Sam did a little dance with his head bouncing around behind Foggy’s back, trying to discreetly figure out what was going on.  He was failing at both.

The root of the problem leaned on the doorframe.  The man who watered that root was covering his smile with a mug, like it actually hid anything.

“You okay, buddy?”

“Fuck,” Matt bemoaned to the wood.  “I’m old.”

"That's what this is about?" Sam muttered to himself in the background.

“If it makes you feel any better, so am I.”

It didn’t, but it would if Foggy knew how to block people.

-

Thanks for reading <333 

Also, clarification: old age is mattphobic on account of the fact that having crunchy bones makes it hard to break other people’s not-crunchy bones.  Dementia?  Ain’t ever heard of her, that a new baddie or something?

Also also, I think Matty here has communication skills but like, he’s not good at using them when he’s being fueled by spite and selfish deeds or whatever lmao.

Anyways, have a good one !!  (This is also on the ao3 btw, if you wanna go check that out for whatever reason)  

lol (lots of love)!!!!

[foxghost]

Bai Yu’s reading of “I Like” by Zhang Xiaofeng

白宇 | 榜樣閱讀 | 正文閱讀張曉風的作品《我喜歡》

It’s pretty long, so I’ve translated in paragraphs and left timestamps in between each. Full translation under cut. (Video is not subbed as I post this)

00:13 What is the meaning of life? Humanity has always pondered over this question. In the 19th century, philosophers of existentialism suggested that every person should give their own life meaning, to live passionately and sincerely, to treat others with sincerity, to discover the beauty in living, to admire minute, real happiness. You will find that, in early morning dew dripping between grasses, in the varicoloured light of the sunset cooled and mellowed by evening breeze, all of it is this world giving back to you with sincerity.

00:44 Hello everyone, I'm today's reader, Bai Yu. The piece I'm reading today is an excerpt from the celebrated prose essay writer Zhang Xiaofeng's "I Like." And now, we enter the reading segment.

1:03 I like being alive; life is like this, so brimming with delight.

1:09 I like the sunshine in winter, the way it unfolds in the hazy fog of dawn. I like that portion of mild and distant serenity; I like that light and heat given without clamour. Come noon, the playground is full of people leisurely sitting, sunning; that primal and genuine imagery always manages to profoundly touch my heart.

1:30 I like to tread narrow mountain footpaths in the spring breeze, with strawberries solicitously, diligently blooming and clustering with fruit like red lanterns all along the way. I like raising my head to see the sharp points of young buds on the tree tops; the youngest and most tender yellow green blushing with a hint of innocent pink, as if preparing to offer something, to present something. That poise so weak and yet overflowing with life would often teach me some of the most beautiful truths in its wordlessness.

2:00 I like to look at a patch of neatly laid out, glossy and shiny field full of young shoots. Those tiny seedlings lining up tightly together are like a finely woven rug, knitted to completion by gathering so many blue-green feathers, always rousing my desire to lie down atop of it.

2:17 I like the eternal days of summer; I like to sit alone on a windy balcony near the mountains at dusk. In the little valley, wind cutting through the rice paddies makes waves through the water, and the beautiful fragrance of rice surges forth like raging torrents. Slowly, the magnificent red wispy clouds of sunset are washed clean, and the gentle night stars ascend to their places one by one. I like to admire such a staged set; I like to sit in that comfortable box seat.

2:45 I like to look at the hills full of reeds as they brighten in autumn wind cold and mournful — on the hillside, by the water, so beautiful, forlorn. That time, Liu told me that in a dream he gained a line of poetry: misty trees flowering reeds joining the white of rivers. The conceptual imagery is beautiful to the extreme, but the level and oblique tones are hard to pronounce. He wants to put together an entire quatrain, but he does not have the heart to change it. He wants to write a counterpoint and tie it into antiquity style, but however much painstaking effort he puts in he could not come up with an adequate line. And so even today it remains a single line of poetry; a kind of beautiful and isolated artistic concept.

3:28 I also like dreams; I like the enjoyment of fantasy I can have in dreams. I keep dreaming that I can fly, that I can jump over hills and streams. I keep dreaming of fantastical colours and pleasing figures: I dreamt of a brown steed, its glossy mane rising with the wind; I dreamt of flocks of wild geese resting in clusters of grass by a river bank; I dreamt of a sea of lotus flowers, entirely boundless, flaunting their nebulous fragrance and beauty far and wide — these are all things I have never seen in my everyday life. The most unforgettable was that time I dreamt of watching the sunrise on an unbroken chain of purple mountain peaks; they must not have been purple to begin with — it is only the bluish-green jade of distant mountains reflecting the red sun as it begin to rise that such a peculiar scene could be realised in a dream.

4:20 In between night reading, I like to open the curtains and look at the sky, to look at a vast sky brimming with stars, as brilliant as a garden full of spring flowers. I like even more to watch the slightly swaying lamplight in the bends of distant mountain paths: so blurry and veiled; so feeble and delicate. Could it be that among them another person is also reading in the night?

4:40 I like the dry river banks even more so, with climbing plants growing all over that reaches up to a person’s shoulder. At sunset, as far as the eyes can see are endless white stones possessing such a feeling of boundless melancholy. The stones are all stacked on top of one another, folding even the fervent moods of a person’s heart layer upon layer. I like that kind of mood — as if you’re listening to someone calling out in a ravine, the unending haunting echo that bleakly repeats and repeats.

5:07 I like what other people don’t notice, like the cypress that no one pays attention to on the lawn. Every time I walk by it I must stop to sniff at its thread of clean sweet scent, to take a look at its humble bearing. There are times I suspect whether it is humble, for maybe it doesn’t even know the existence of the dragon juniper. Perhaps even though it knows of the existence of the dragon juniper, it doesn’t consider the difference between what’s grand and what’s commonplace; for in truth, there isn’t much difference between what’s grand and what’s commonplace.

5:48 What I like to the utmost, with a liking bearing a few parts awe and reverence, is the ocean. That vastness, that lofty distance like diluted ink, all of it enchants me. And that majestic ambience, that steadfast manner, and immeasurable depth, always raising its wordless challenge towards humankind.

6:10 I like home; I never knew before that I would like home this much. Every time I come back from the outside, the moment I laid eyes on that narrow red door I would be filled with such happiness and pride. I have a home — what a wonderful thing that is!

6:26 I like — I like. All this, I like with a deep fondness! I like how in my heart I can be filled with so many kinds of ‘like’!

6:49 I like this essay; it contains a sincere fondness of life, it reveals what the author saw, what gave her heart delight, and as you read it you can feel a sense of tranquility. It is a very beautiful essay. I hope that everyone can like what I shared. In the end, I am going to recommend a book, it is Yu Hua's "Alive." I hope that everyone can pay close attention to life itself, to treat the world with sincerity, especially to treat oneself with sincerity. Just like what the essay said at the beginning, "I like being alive; life is like this, so brimming with delight."

---

TN. “I Like” is one of my favourite things, so I also made a full translation of it. The tumblr post for that is here.

I didn’t sub the above video because I didn’t want to time 8+ minutes of uninterrupted speech. If anyone wants to sub it with my script, feel free to do so.

[aion-rsa]

My Hero Academia Season 5 Episode 21 Review: Revival Party

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This My Hero Academia review contains spoilers.

“What is…a normal life?”

“Normalcy” is often viewed like it’s some congenital defect in My Hero Academia and there are plenty of characters in the series who view a lack of special abilities as a confirmation of inferiority. Granted, My Hero Academia exists within such an exaggerated world that there’s a sliding scale of what qualifies as “normal,” especially when it comes to the context of society’s villains. Contrasting opinions are presented on which villains are acting “properly” and have the best vision for not only the state of villainy, but society itself. 

In this case, this translates into a deadly battle royale where might makes right and the ideology of the strongest villains will dominate. It’s a very solid foundation on which to build an episode, but “Revival Party” becomes an even more exceptional installment of My Hero Academia for how it effortlessly mixes its high-minded ideas with non-stop action, intimidating Quirks, and provoking character development. Who would have thought that a group of misfits led by an edgelord with stringy hair and dry skin would have such depth?

“Revival Party” engages in a fascinating look back to the chaotic days of when Quirks first revealed themselves as well as the public’s response to these massive changes. Among the many opinions on what to do with these powerful individuals, the discourse towards liberation–rather than suppression–was one valid perspective that ultimately went overlooked. It makes sense that a good deal of the public would believe that this introduction to Quirks is completely natural, so the same rules should also apply to their use. There’s obviously a lot to police when it comes to these powers, but it’s believable that others would want these changes to just naturally evolve.

Destro is an individual that My Hero Academia has allowed to lurk in the shadows through flashbacks and cryptic threats, but “Revival Party” provides a substantial look into the radical figure. Destro’s unwavering convictions were funneled into his incendiary manifesto, the Meta Liberation Army, which continues to inspire Quirk users in dangerous ways even long after the loss of Destro. However, unbeknownst to Destro is the news that he had a child–Re-Destro–who is more than willing to take up the mantle of his father as he challenges Tomura Shigaraki and the League of Villains’ way of life.

Up until this point the threat that the Meta Liberation Army poses has been more nebulous and mustache twirling in nature, but Re-Destro’s threats to Giran finally show their hand a little. “Revival Party” addresses that the major obstacle that the League of Villains face is that their Nomu supply has run out, which basically reduces them to a bunch of angsty cosplayers. This is a fair advantage for Re-Destro to try to take advantage of, but it also reflects just how little he knows about the League of Villains. Granted, the Nomu have become their primary means of force, but there are still tremendously valuable Quirks within the League. Shigaraki’s Decay remains one of the most destructive powers in the series, but it’s not as if his support is stuck with Quirks like Earphone Jack or Tail (apologies to Kyoka Jiro and Mashirao Ojiro).

The ultimate trial by fire begins when the collective forces of the Meta Liberation Army, whose numbers exceed 110,000 faithful followers, launch a surprise ambush on the League of Villains. It’s exciting to see this well thought out plan go into action and it immediately gives this meeting a different flavor than all of the previous showdowns between heroes and villains. Such chaos ensues that it honestly wouldn’t have been an issue if an entire episode was devoted solely to this battle and its barrage of unexpected Quirks. It’d even act as a suitable counterpoint to how so much of the beginning of this season focused on a showcase of what U.A. High’s Class 1-A and 1-B can accomplish.

There have been some dangerous encounters featured in My Hero Academia, but the moments where the League of Villains precariously venture into Deika City honestly feel akin to when Martin Sheen’s Captain Willard and his forces first boat through Vietnam’s Nùng River to parlay with Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse, Now. This is unfamiliar territory where everything is a potential threat and there is non-stop attention placed upon these intruders. Even though large spans of this “My Villain Academia” arc are set in the past, it’s still one of the more suspenseful sequences that the series has put together.

My Hero Academia’s five seasons have conditioned the audience to believe that the League of Villains will come out on top and overcome these enemies, just like they’ve done with Stains’ forces or Overhaul and the Shie Hassaikai in the past. However, “Revival Party” starts to suggest that maybe the Meta Liberation Army will actually succeed, or at the least, seriously change the makeup of what the League of Villains look like. There could be a major shift in the series’ villains as these two opposing forces slowly eliminate each other or progressively coalesce into one dangerous organization. It’s still too soon to tell, but the situation already feels highly uncomfortable. Whoever is left standing will be more motivated to enact righteous change than ever before. It’d be fascinating to look at a new version of the League of Villains where both Shigaraki and Re-Destro share leadership and precariously work together towards a larger mission to reform society.

The larger fight between the League of Villains and the Meta Liberation Army gets broken up among its many players, which results in the always-entertaining Himiko Toga receiving a ton of attention. Toga has been compelling and terrifying ever since her first appearance, but she becomes the obsession of Meta Liberation Army’s Chitose “Curious” Kizuki and the subject of much deeper scrutiny. Curious is a captivating villain who benefits from an explosive Quirk, but most commonly leans on journalism skills to define her character. Curious attempts to relitigate Toga’s past and in many ways it would be appropriate if this episode were called “Himiko Toga: Origins.” 

Important context is provided for this wild character, which also speaks to how she’s very much been a victim of circumstance through her life and arguably never stood a chance at normalcy. “Revival Party” is incredibly useful to help understand why Toga is how she is, as well as what exactly she gets out of her involvement with the League of Villains. The visual of a young Toga gleefully sucking and chewing on the head of a dead baby bird is also easily one of the more disturbing visuals that My Hero Academia has ever produced. The hybrid of Toga and Uraraka that she temporarily takes on during the height of battle is also another evocative image from this powerful episode. 

Toga and Curious engage in one of the episode’s best battles and Curious comes across as unhinged as Toga, which is seriously difficult to do. There’s a raw, visceral nature to ever attack that lands between these two. Curious’ efforts to cripple Toga’s power reserves by turning blood into bombs is also a brilliantly evil strategy. “Revival Party” spends a lot of time on Curious, but it feels justified and that a serious defection from Toga could be on the way. Toga’s role as a “villain” is put under scrutiny, which in turn triggers serious reflection through her ride-or-die ally, Twice. On that note, as crucial as Toga is to the Meta Liberation Army’s plan, it appears that Twice serves an even greater purpose since his Quirk can be re-appropriated to make more copies of Re-Destro and basically guarantee that he never completely perishes since there are “back-ups” available. 

“Revival Party” never stops moving and all of this mayhem is just so much fun. The series feels energized by this shift in perspective and such heights are reached that turning “My Villain Academia” into its own spin-off wouldn’t be the worst idea (or imagine the potential in a new My Hero Academia feature film coming out, but that it’s entirely focused on the League of Villains). My Hero Academia would seriously suffer if it completely removed its villains from the equation, but it’s clear that these complex characters have reached a point where they demand more screen time and that the typical glimpses that the anime provides are no longer enough. Audiences are at the point where they want to see “Twice: Origins” or Gecko’s entrance exercise to gain admission into the League of Villains.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

My Hero Academia continues to triumph with its dedicated focus on its villains and “Revival Party” is just a riot in terms of plotting and visuals. It remains a risk for the series to spend so much time out of its comfort zone, yet entries like this are proof that it’s the whole universe of My Hero Academia that’s intriguing. Whether the series follows heroes, villains, or something in between, it still delivers action-packed excellence. 

The post My Hero Academia Season 5 Episode 21 Review: Revival Party appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[jewelwriter]

My Two Coins:  My argument on Defense

Disclaimer: "My Two Coins" are to be read as such, someone's two coins about the topic at hand. IF at any point you disagree with it or agree, remember they are just my coins about said topic and the value you have of it will differ from my own because of religion, upbringing, beliefs, and logic based on your own experiences. Do not assume my coins are the international equivalent for it may be considered of a lesser value in the bank of public exchange. Thank you.

“Why didn't you complain about the previous third versions/sequels/whatever that did the same thing? That shows you are biased against Gen VII.“

I’m saying it Once and I’m saying it again.... BIAS MY@$$!!!

Welcome ladies and gentlemen. You've found a wild Jewelwriter.

And I’ve been given this a lot lately with some of my more personal allies and I feel like I have got to defend myself once again.  Though it’ll be in response to each of the criticism that I’ve been sent my way along with extra notes to go with my replies.

=1=

"The removal could be to like you stated, the Framerate is poor. It also doesn't help that they weren't even popular in the first place. You queue for a triple or rotation battle in previous generations and you can be sitting there for maybe 30-40 minutes? Think about it, the game is all 3d, that is a LOT of space being used up and compressed for code and other information."

The patience some people have is sad when I look at it.  (Though makes me wish that my time would have been included for that)  I've considered that 3d animation takes time but at times the Pokemon have vanished when attacks are used...trainer included.  So it could have worked still to a degree.  This is the most bendable of points since the programming isn't easy.

-

And I mean it as the Programming that probably is going to be a problem when trying to get certain things into a certain space but then again they had managed to do it before to fit a number of details into the game so it isn’t as easy to do but it is possible if by working edges to smooth them out.

=2=

"Super Training was bullshit and I never used it. The change of pace for Island Trials was due to the face Alolan didn't follow the rest of the world in the system. The Gen I pandering is to be excepted as the region is neighbors with Kanto. The Ultra Beasts were an interesting twist on Pokémon Legendaries/Mythicals And really, the whole story. I'm sorry to say this, but it sounds like she is bitching over spilled milk, crying because she wanted another dull Pokémon Game.”

Super Training wasn't bs because it honestly will tell you what EVs you are giving which is a lot more than what the islands are doing.

Doesn't excuse how they aren't as filling as the trainer battles and Gym battles.  The fact would be one of the more filling battles that were given with the gyms was oddly a Gen 3 battle (the 7th one oddly...better known in Emerald for having 4 Pokemon to worry about.) so in a way I wasn't in as much a headache with the Gym system and more with the Trials.

I might as well see Mt Moon with how that seems to be that close to Kanto with all those Pokes.  I mean there are other generations that deserve some love and barely got any (Gen 5 especially...I mean Audino for the only mega poke?  And I could count nearly 19 of them before you get through half the islands.) so it would help to see more mon that isn't just restricted to Gen 1 remixes?

Cosmog was an interesting concept.  The Ultra Beast had some promise, but the story was about LILLY and her mostly needing your help to find answers while you randomly get the story pointed to you instead of the main goal of it being on you when the boring part of her quest kicks in.   Followed by Edgy the wannabe rival that tries to be the blue you wanted at the last minute when the Professor did a better job of that and he was more interested in seeing you grow out of anyone else.  And that's on top of the fact that I accepted that Hau wasn't going to be the strong battler rival of the game.  So excuse me for being factual on something that was done wrong and judged the game on its own before comparing it to the rest of the legacy which this is the weakest by far.

-

And how can one defend this one since they literally have you working around everyone else and barely have anyone really interested in you as a true trainer to watch grow sans the professor when you begin.  Hau is the friendly fighter who’s just trying to grow beyond his Grandpa, Edge Prince Gladion is a last-minute fighter using an apparent god fighting Pokemon that apparently got a type power up stronger than yours.  At least the professor fights you on your level of sorts.  Ultra Beasts storyline kind of is left to the aftergame and barely anything really revealed about them.  The only one that kind of gets development before you get it is Cosmog who kind of goes with you all over (though it tells you something when Lilly is able to carry Cosmoem) so it’s workable.

=3=

“Seriously, Sun and Moon got me back into series after the disappoint of X/Y. I liked the story, but at the same time, X/Y was just boring outside of it. Same old same old. I mean, I love it when you beat the champion and then the old King himself AZ appears and challenges you. It just seems she hates everything new they are trying to do."

I honestly felt more enlightened to Pokemon thanks to Black and White and X and Y felt like more the most completed revival of the series that people wanted out of the Black and White.  And sure I understand there are risk and reward for trying something new but when the new fails it is time to call it out on THAT and at least wait to see if it gets better or worst.  I'm kind of happy that you can hatch 19-24 eggs in one time, happy you can get rare items and stones to sell and use for your Pokemon to evolve, and I'm happy that they added more ways to battle with the Battle Royal and made it that you are the champion and are defending your belt against different trainers instead of just taking on the same foe again (Fun fact: for the mission of that sort I took it on and did it 5 times which I took on Hau, The Dragon Rocker, the Professor, Team Skull's former babysitter, and the kid on route 1. :P ) so excuse me for seeing the negatives outway the positives but when it is true... it is flipping true.

-

And I’m not kidding about it since I had to hunt for the reasons why I liked Gen 7 instead of finding it flowing out like a river of water.  If Orre was more memorable than alola then there’s a problem.

=4=

"Platinum and Emerald were done in literally half of a year. And B2W2 had worse footing then Sun and Moon. If that is not a paste job, I dunno what is anymore. I'm just going to stand on my ground of that, a majority of the Pokémon Community is spoiled. I mean, look at Kirby games. Most of them are nearly similar in gameplay and theme but always get extreme praise. There is very little hate towards it, so why on God's Green Earth is Pokémon getting it?"

-.- (GOD that is so incorrect.) Time for a bit of a time check...

Gen 1: September 28th, 1998 Yellow: October 19th, 1999 ({=Unexpected here.  Then again I was moving during this time.)

Gen 2: October 15th, 2000 Crystal: July 29th, 2001 ({= Here is under a year.)

Gen 3: March 17th, 2003 Emerald:  May 1st, 2005

Gen 4: April 22nd, 2007 Platinum: March 22nd, 2009

Gen 5:  March 6th, 2011 B2/W2:  October 7th, 2012

Gen 6: October 12th, 2013 ({= I had to flinch at how short this date was.) ORAS:  November 21st, 2014 ({= Only thing comparable for the time.)

Gen 7: November 18th, 2016 Ultra S/Ultra M: November 17th, 2017

They only did going under a year twice... and that's before the 3rd comes up.   I'm one of the few that try to make my own Pokemon from the ground up and the only thing I hate worst than this generation is what is flipping going with Smogon so think of it like this: I might hate Gen 7 (Which might not change my mind when the newest of it comes out and I got to work with it.) but I rather play with that than step anywhere near Smogon at all costs.  Sure competitive Pokemon is a mess but I would want that to grow and be more diverse than what I'm seeing from the worst of the community which is in that area of toddlers.

-

And I’m being truthful here.  I REALLY despise Smogon with such a fury that it makes My gen 7 hate I got to look like a cake compared to a Snorlax dinner that is the fury I have for Smogon.

=

And that’s EACH and every counterpoint and I will still defend my argument to the end since it is under a year...and in a way, I expected more in a way from Game Freak, The Pokemon Company, and the people that know their history and support them.  I might be one voice but after all the things that went wrong with this one I’ll be glad to get out of vacation mode in Pokemon.  Write to me if you feel like I’m write, right, wrong, or mixed in some way.  After all THIS is a text box.

As for me... this wild one runs away!

[endeavorsreward]

Orlandeau is not a Problem

So, when it comes to fans playing Tactics, you generally have two schools of thought regarding the Thunder God, Count Cidolfus Orlandeau: either you love that he’s a “cool badass” that can kill nearly anything in the game, or you’re mad that he makes the game too easy.

But why is Orlandeau so strong? I don’t mean in the fiction - we take it as a given that as Barbaneth Beoulve’s close peer and his position in the Order of the Southern Sky, it makes sense enough that he’s tremendously powerful. What I mean is, why does the game make him so powerful? And actually, why does that make perfect sense?

At the most fundamental gameplay level, Orlandeau exists so that people who really struggle with the game to make it to the end if they’ve been losing party members left and right. Of course, most people who’ve made it through Dorter and Riovanes are probably fine by that point, but the game works in the way its inspiration Fire Emblem does, introducing new units until the end, just in case. Which is fine. But Orlandeau, as befits his station, has pretty much everyone’s moves and Excalibur to boot.

And I do think it’s a little unfair to Meliadoul, who joins shortly after and cannot compare (on a technical level, I mean). Especially in the game’s original release, when her powers were functionally useless on monsters. But I think that was somewhat intentional - Orlandeau is overpowered, so they give you a unit afterwards who isn’t so that you needn’t rely upon him if it will harm your game experience.

But: why make him so powerful at all?

The reason is that Yasumi Matsuno doesn’t necessarily overvalue game balance in favor of a game experience that reflects the story he’s trying to tell, which in my opinion is a far more valuable point of view.

In Tactics Ogre, which is a much more balanced game overall, Matsuno still made characters who were far, far more powerful than other units due to the roles they played and what their “canon” strengths would suggest (and honestly, Canopus and Arycelle are far more impressive in their games than Orlandeau is in his, speaking as someone who thinks they’re all pretty great). I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen someone who plays games complain that when a powerful character joins a party in a game, they’re suddenly less impressive - call it the “Magus from Chrono Trigger” problem, maybe. These are the same people who’d complain here, generally speaking.

But Orlandeau arguably makes the entire rest of the game a breeze, and it was if anything amped up in the re-release. So what is Orlandeau’s role in the Tactics story that justifies this?

Let’s back up a second: what is Tactics about? What is Ramza’s journey?

Tactics is about two young men who diverge at an early age and take different paths. History favors Delita as a hero, but we learn that he is no hero at all, regardless of the final outcome of his radicalization. We are told instead that Ramza is the hero, and we follow him, checking in on Delita periodically as he manipulates events to best suit him.

Ramza and Delita start out sheltered from the world. Delita less so, but he has not been forced to confront the full reality of his situation either. The death of Milleuda Folles catalyzes their change, and their split occurs when Tietra dies. Ramza becomes devoted to preventing any more unnecessary sacrifices, and Delita ostensibly does as well, though it becomes apparent that what he really wants, deep down, is to destroy the society that made the sacrifice possible and remake it - as he literally tells Ovelia. This difference is fundamental because Ramza himself famously says:

“I have no wish to change the world. But nor can I stand by while men suffer and die on the whim of some select few. Do you truly believe you can change the world? Not even I am so naive as that.”

Ramza’s trajectory as a protagonist is interesting. He operates somewhat in metaphor, and a lot of people don’t like it, because he spends a lot of the plot tracking down magic rocks while Delita actually interacts with politics and warfare. But the biggest poison in the realm isn’t the petty nobility, it’s the lie surrounding Ajora Glabados, and as Ramza unravels it, he basically purges Ivalice of sins. Most of the Lucavi basically represent sins - arguably this gets goofed a bit later because Adrammelech should represent avarice - fitting for Dycedarg - while Belias is representative of Wiegraf’s wrath (and also thus why Belias is perfect for Ashe’s main Esper).

Ramza is given a specific charge by his father at the game’s onset that defines his role and character journey:

Take care of your sister. And show these brothers of yours what it is...what it is to be a knight...

This becomes his outline and thesis statement for the rest of the narrative. “Take care of your sister” takes until the game’s conclusion to complete, but what does it mean to be a knight in Ivalice? It’s not Ramza’s behavior at the game’s onset, but the decision he makes at Zeirchele and the decisions he makes afterwards make him a hero. And after Riovanes, where he slays the hero that fell, and sees the Galthena siblings offer a counterpoint to the relationships Ramza and Delita had with their own sisters, he is a different man when he sees Delita himself for the last time. Directly following this is the battle at Fort Besselat, which has been teased for half the game.

The game has been talking about Besselat since Delita first grabbed Ovelia, and at the time it was believed to be impregnable, the ultimate battle. When Ramza finally arrives, the battles are simple, showing his growth. And what he does when he gets there is open the sluice and let the Zeirchele flood the plains between the two armies, preventing the upcoming battle and halting much of the Church’s plan. While Folmarv and his agents still have Alma, still plan to resurrect Ultima, the plot is in many ways over in this moment.

I mean this sincerely: while for many people this battle is not especially notable, this is the climax of Ramza’s tale in many ways. Arazlam is tracking how Ramza was the true hero of the War of the Lions, and with the battle halted and Larg and Goltanna murdered shortly thereafter, the war is fundamentally over.

Water seems to be a recurring motif for Ramza in the way that the gull overhead is one for Delita. Delita claims to move against the current, but in the end it washes him away. Ramza and Delita constantly meet either next to or separated by water, depending on the scene, until at last in the chapel they are equals again.

And the other character most represented by water is Ajora and her poisoned well. Unlike that foul water and the plague that killed so many (Delita’s parents were killed by a different plague outbreak, but that disease keeps being referenced and Ultima can’t ever be far from thought - even in XII, plague kills Ashe’s brothers and Vaan’s parents and sets that game up the way the plague in Romanda sets up this one), Ramza in this moment associates himself with cleansing water - a rush of river water (the same river where he rose from his torpor and declared “No more like Tietra”) and thus a worthy opponent to Ultima, who is the final boss of the game.

And so, directly following, in a game with precious few fully-character-based moments, the game pauses for Cid to reminisce about Ramza trying to lift the sword, and how much older he is now, and how he has fully taken up his father’s mantle. This is important, because in Cid’s eyes, Ramza has done it: he’s the hero now, Besselat has proven he’s worthy.

And so Cid joins him, and because Ramza is the hero and is worthy, the game is no longer difficult. Why should it be? He’s succeeded in his role. At one point, young Ramza could not lift the sword, but if you play Ramza as a sword-wielder at all, he can now hold Excalibur itself (holy elemental, just like Ultima).

The thematic point the game is trying to make here is more important than the game mechanics themselves, because the game is actually about certain ideas. If the game being too easy from that point is a problem, you certainly don’t have to bring Cid into battle with you. After all, he’s already said that you can do it alone.

[okayideas]

I haven’t started arranging the Mikado Entertainment System Act Two second drafts yet, but I’ve made notes for myself on what points of the first draft seem to need looking at. None of the Act Two songs seem to be calling for a thorough tear-down and rebuild like some of the Act One did, but Hero Shot the Food will get major synth-instrument changes and Miyamoto, Miyamoto will get major structural changes. I think every song has at least one detectable change required, so I probably won’t skip blogging any second drafts.

I’m attaching my notes below. Notes you find incomprehensible are probably referring to internal details of the synth engine or to my own internal names for process steps.

brave the wave one lair: * intro is great * possibly shrillness? * bridge around 1:20 - check rhythm against score and also against actual performance * check if "allied" has an incorrect slur a little after bridge * last iteration (around 2:10) doesn't differ enough from earlier ones until the bass cuts out * check if last note follows score

the son who plays: * possibly too much noise channel? contextual final-pass question. * less bass during the first "I mean to rule the earth", make it sound more solo-ey * speedup is good

sprites are drawn with some delay: * chords seem wrong, check if they match score * if chords do match score, reduce polyphony or open the harmony to rein them in * should have _some_ bass early on, not save bass as a concept entirely until later * some kind of clickyness going on around 1:23, check if I abused tremolo * is the bass following score? even if so, see if there's something more interesting to follow

hero shot the food: * this is throwing off the loudness/debias algorithms! * make bass pulse width less extreme, maybe raise bass an octave * sounds very muddled, after fixing bass use less filtering * interesting enough for its length

miyamoto, miyamoto: * past notes: "For the album version, I’ll do some significant revision, probably involving some combination of changing the tempo, adding syncopated counterpoint or percussion, adding variations to repeated sections, and cutting some repetitions." * intro sounds good in isolation, but could afford to be faster * miyasama part maybe has too much stereo separation or something? * loop to second miyasama part seems structurally unnecessary * either cut second miyasama part or make it a different instrument * too much noise during katisha * try a different sound for the bass hits, they sound distracting * (but keep how they worked around in a notes file, it's an interesting sound) * loop around 2:00 definitely needs to change to a variation, maybe tempo boost * check if ending follows score

punishment select: * past notes: "I might come up with a better name for this one later." * name is fine * whole thing could use small tempo raise * noise channel is too clicky, soften its envelopes? * really does not need to be four minutes, overall tempo raise will help with that * too much noise around 2:30, possibly the last-verse noise kicked in too soon? * try raising the pitch on the accents * too much noise around 3:40, possibly there should just be less noise on all those bits

the circuitry fried: * past notes: "I did something with the percussion/white-noise track on this that I thought was clever at the time, but on relistening it just sounds persistently out-of-sync. For the album version I’ll redo that channel entirely, and maybe modify the bass rhythm as well." * overall level is too loud! check if normalizer already fixes this * high pitch could be louder when it is not the lead, softer when it is * make the bassline more staccato * yes to redoing noise and bass; throw them out and look for something appropriate in the actual score.

three kilobits: * past notes: "I feel very good about this one. I might add a little breathing space between phrases, or some subtle dynamics on the percussion track, but this is probably very close to what the final album version will be." * yes to keeping this pretty close * shorten percussion noises, have silences between them * check around 0:51 for a wrong chord * at 1:02, check if a "but" syllable is missing, possibly add it even if it's not in the libretto * final noise is too emphatic

a tower of platforms and springs: * past notes were not song-specific other than explaining where the third verse was found in the score * this was a normalization outlier, figure out how I was using waveforms differently and bring them in line with other songs * first note too shrill? * build up to bassline more gradually? * check tonality around 0:24, might have a bad chord * too much noise around 0:32 and 0:48 among other places, maybe turn down noise all around * high note at 0:38 could use more emphasis maybe? * from around 0:55 high notes in general could use more emphasis * too shrill at 1:22, possibly even a wrong note somewhere around there or just after * solo around 1:35 maybe should be down an octave * volume of last verse might need to be set separately

boss 0: living eye * stick with decision to start where it does, do not take in more recitative or cut the working recitative * fine-tooth comb first 20 seconds for note errors; possibly it just IS that dissonant, as written * take out drumbeats around 1:10 and 2:09 maybe * check 1:22 for wrong chord * too much noise around 1:50, or other waveform weirdness? * tempo raise is good * look into the buzzing around 2:39 and other places * around 2:58 is bass being too repetitive?

on a tree by a river: * past notes: "I’ve usually been respecting syllable-count differences between verses, but in this draft I forgot to do that. I will probably go back and line the notes up with the lyrics more closely for the album version. * intro crescendo does not sound era-appropriate, figure out a different way to kick the song in (there's a style of c64 music that would have started that way, but this song is not otherwise that style, and it probably would have used duty-cycle modulation instead of direct volume control) * lead seems way too loud, but possibly this is just a matter of album normalization * the weird tit-willow sound still seems like a good idea to me, but maybe I need to take down the highest notes even more * yes to slowdown for last verse * last verse seems to have gained too much bass and/or percussion? the volume is fine but the pattern seems distractingly fast * decrescendo likewise not era-appropriate (a chiptune in an album context could have it but only if the rest of the album does too)

game over/ending: * past notes: "As straightforward reprises of songs make less sense in the context of an album than they do in a stage show or film, I decided to keep the final track interesting by changing the rhythms substantially." * yes to weird rhythm shifting, and to my specific choices in how to do it * bass for "he's going to marry yum-yum" part should probably have the same thing done to it that I do to "hero shot the food", whatever that is * this version of "goin to marry" isn't doing extra repeats, and this is correct * "threatened cloud" bass lead should be more like a straightforward square wave, less intricate-sounding * threatened cloud maybe needs higher pitches on the high voice * transition between the two parts is good other than questions of cloud's voice choices * silence at 3:02 is good, don't remove it * is it possible to make the final beeping even more of a generic 1-bit wave than it already is?