azurajae

[azurajae]

"Make sure to get my good side!"

(twitter)

[azurajae]

I'm back, baby!!🤘

(twitter)

[azurajae]

but it did work 💥

(twitter) | (og meme)

[azurajae]

⚡️Chai-noko Nokonoko Koshitantan🦌

[azurajae]

Bro my apologies not asking this in the 1st question i made to you but what does it say on the poster of HFR: Firmware update product defective and then says other things in somesort of weird letters also how many chapters are you planning for Firmware update

No worries! I actually like getting asks a lot :D (I totally forgot that tumblr had this feature)

By weird symbols, do you mean these?

To be honest, this is supposed to just be seen as complete gibberish, but they actually do say something. It's written with the Inkling font by Eli, which is found here. It's a little distorted, but I think you could try to decrypt it if you want (though I actually don't remember what it exactly says). I was originally going to use Wingdings, but I couldn't get it to look right. I actually had the Inkling font installed for a Splatoon project that never took off, so I just used that instead xD

As for how many chapters Firmware Update is going to have... to be honest I'm not really sure. I think somewhere around the 12-15 chapter range, depending on how things turn out. But I'm willing to extend it or cut it down if I feel the story needs it.

Now i just realize that this was a big project, but I intended this to keep me busy until the Hi-Fi Rush DLC or the sequel and well... I still intend to finish this out though, no matter how long it might take.

[azurajae]

What in the name of god inspired you to make Hi Fi rush firmware update? Also why is most fan comics want to take hi fi rush to such dark tone? (Side note love the comic especially the chapter where Chai has a nightmare)

Ooo, thank you for the ask >< I wasn't expecting one, and it means a lot that you sent one! Thank you for taking the time to read the chapters ^^ I'm happy to hear you are enjoying it!

Firmware Update was originally a fanfic that I had partially written in the style of a DLC. Without revealing too much of what I have planned, it's kind of just my take of tying up loose ends in the main story. Never mentioned this before yet, but I was really inspired by 'Puss in Boots: The Last Wish', which had come out at the time I wrote most of the story, and I think it influenced the vibe a lot too.

Firmware Update was never supposed to be a thing. I had wanted to make it into a fancomic, but I was sort of wishywashy about it. However, I shared my ideas with my friend, @rinto190, and they encouraged me to try to make it. And thus, the fancomic was born! So thanks to Angel for the encouragement and for beta-ing the chapters :D

Also, that's an interesting point you brought up. I think it's just a side effect of a lighthearted story. I've noticed that serious, heavy stories often have fluffy fanfics while lighthearted stories tend to have angsty fanfics. The grass is greener type of thing? It's not always the case, but it's a pattern I've noticed sometimes. It is pretty fun to put characters through new experiences!

Fun fact: the original idea for Firmware Update was actually a lot more lighthearted than the current version and matched the tone of the game. But I'm an angst-lover at heart, so I think the story naturally become a little more angsty because it's what I'm more experienced writing, though I still try to add funny moments because that's what made me love Hi-Fi Rush :D

[azurajae]

Bleeding Heart 🪷

(twitter)

[azurajae]

I perpetually forget to update my tumblr whenever I upload chapters OTL

But I finally uploaded Chapter 6 of Firmware Update! You can find the full chapter on AO3!

This is by far my favorite chapter >:) Please enjoy!

[azurajae]

had to draw the boy

(twitter)

[azurajae]

Thank you so much @TangoGameworks, words cannot say how much happiness Hi-Fi Rush brought me. I hope with all my heart that everyone there can find a new place to call home soon ♥️

I'm still tangoing with my grief, this mini-comic is now canon to the Firmware Update timeline (taking place before the first chapter). Tango-chan might be making an appearance sometime in the future.

I just can't let Tango and Hi-Fi Rush die like this. I won't.

[Twitter]

[azurajae]

I'm so sorry, Tango Gameworks, you all didn't deserve this...

You've all made such cool and great games; HiFi Rush was lifechanging for me. And it will always be one of my favorite games forever.

[azurajae]

a real multiverse of melodies, if you will

[azurajae]

Almsot forgot to post this on tumblr, but Chapter 3 of Firmware Update is now avaliable on Ao3!

This is my favorite chapter so far! I'm so excited to share with y'all :D Thanks for all the support!

[azurajae]

Thinking about the fact that right after Sora finished fighting in what probably a very traumatic war, he fucking time travels to experience it all again, not only as himself, but as different people and inheriting all their pain and trauma in the process. And if you count the first failed attempt, Sora has straight up experienced three different versions of the same damn war and all the trauma that came with all three of them just to make sure everyone he cares about makes it to the end, knowing fully well he was going to "die" in the end.

While everyone else was experiencing their happy ending and a chance to put down their weapons, Sora literally never stopped fighting.

And his reward for all this? Being ripped apart from everyone and everything he knows, with no easy way back home. It's actually incredible that he can still have the mental fortitude to smile in the Secret Episode after all that.

I really hope all this trauma gets unpacked in KH4 or in a future game because I think it's so sad that he has collected all this pain, not only of his own experiences but everyone else's too and now is just holding on to it all.

I want Sora to be happy, but I don't want pain to be hiding behind it.

[azurajae]

Just thinking about how apparently when you share a Paopu Fruit with someone, your destinies are entertwined. For Sora and Kairi, it might foreshadow that they will one day reunite, but honestly, it's already been proven that they shared the same destiny.

Both Kairi and Sora died at the end of KH3 💀

[azurajae]

Y'know, I've been thinking a lot lately about appearances and identity in regards to both Sora, Yozora, and the Nameless Star.

Both Nameless Star and Yozora say that the person we see as Yozora isn't really what he looks like. Nameless Star specifically says his heart was replaced by another and his form had changed beyond recognition.

You know who else had their form changed "beyond recognition"?

When I first watched the trailer, I just couldn't believe my eyes that this guy was Sora. Like I knew in my heart it was him, but my eyes couldn't recognize him. Judging by the reaction videos I watched, many people seemed to feel the same (it was only when he summoned the Kingdom Key that people were affirmed that it is, Sora). Compared to the lovable spikey haired boy we've grown to love, his KH4 appearance, it's almost like night and day.

Nameless Star talks about how her identity and name had been taken from her. Yozora seemed to have lost his identity too, no longer looking like his original form. And now Sora has been changed so drastically?

I know Nomura did say that Sora looks like this because he is in Quadratum, but even if that's true, it doesn't mean that there isn't also a very delibrate reason on why Sora looks like that and not more like... Sora. I know that KH dev team and Nomura is not uncreative enough to not come up with a more faithful realistic interpretation of what Sora looks like. Just look at other modern FF characters and they were able to pull off their older designs faithfully in realistic graphics, so... why the hell does Sora look like Noctis?

Now how does connect to Sora's changed appearance? No idea honestly, but I do feel do something's up. More consequences to do with being banished from reality? Did Sora get his heart replaced by another too? Or perhaps did he lose part or all of his identity like Nameless Star or Yozora? I have like a crack theory where this could all be foreshadowing that Luxu is about to body hop into Sora, but I have no proof.

And for additional theming, there's a whole can of worms with Riku looking almost exactly like Yozora and Kairi's beta footage from the KH1 secret footage looking eeriely familiar to the girl in the Verum Rex trailer. The whole thing about MoM is that we don't know his identity. And then there's also the fact that Luxu literally replaces people's heart with his own when he body hops like what happened with Yozora.

Like, something is going on here... right?

[azurajae]

Happy anniversary to my favorite game c: