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Every time my sister and I play this game, she either says “the rent was DUE” or “she really put her whole pussy into that line” 😂

A lot of times, you see people praising the sub/Japanese version of JRPG. And while I do agree that there can be glaring localization/translation issues, that doesn't takeaway from powerful moments like this.

Kari Wahlgren sells the absolute fuck out of this scene with her acting. You can feel the anguish in Raine's voice, her betrayal, her heartbreak. I'm just surprised this scene wasn't in the main story, but it's one of the few times where side events are voiced in this game. If they had to choose a scene to have voice acting, I'm glad it was this one.

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Colette’s 5☆ and 6☆ images from the Orchestra Gacha (September 30, 2018 to October 12, 2018)

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Calendar of Auldrant

Though I do not know if other games in the Tales series go by a similar date and day naming system, this will primarily be Tales of the Abyss. This is a long post!

Here is all the information the game gives regarding the calendar.

The Days:

This is a funny nod towards the origins behind the names of the days of the week. Rem is light and the “Sun” in Sunday is directly referencing the Sun. It's pretty neat that both reference a form of light. 

Similar situation with Lunaday and Monday (Luna- Moon, Mon- also Moon). 

Ifrit(also spelled Efreet) is Fire. Potentially in Korean the Tuesday equivalent translates to “fire day” according to Wiki about Tuesday. I don’t speak or read Korean so I also checked WordReference and found similar characters in some of the words like rage, wrath, ire, (further down that provided list) great fire. So it potentially could be a fun nod to that, can’t completely confirm. 

Undineday is water day. In Japanese and Korean Wednesday also translates to Water Day. Yes, in WordReference the Japanese character used in Wednesday is used for water so this seems fairly straightforward. In Korean I also found a bit more difficulty as the characters are widely used in many words, there are some water-related words in the sea of words the character appears in so I wouldn’t completely dismiss the possibility. 

Sylphday is wind. Thursday is a reference to Thor, the god of thunder. The wind would relate to stormy weather that thunder and lightning often appear with. 

Loreleiday- Lorelei. Friday- the greatest day of the week. In Auldrant Lorelei is considered pretty great! Just kidding, well partially. Friday comes from Freya, the goddess of marriage and love. Lorelei is a godly figure in the world of Abyss. Though Lorelei may be caring, it’s more related to sound and memory. Daath in general is fairly religious, following Lorelei, with the Order of Lorelei. In Christianity, Good Friday is a widely celebrated day. In Catholicism, all Fridays during Lent, you can’t eat meat (but it is supposed to be all Fridays to abstain from meat not just Lent). This being Friday's equivalent does make sense with the more religious aspect of the day (since Sunday was used for the more straightforward “light” connection).

The Gnomeday-Saturday connection is fairly nonexistent. Gnome is the element earth in Auldrant. Saturday is a reference to Saturn (God of Time), sabbath day (for romantic languages), and bath day (Old Norse). I will be honest, none of these fit. Sadly, it may be a case of “just put it in somewhere.”

The Months:

There are 13 months in Auldrant. As far as I can tell, there is no official count of how many days are in each month.

If we ignore Lorelei Decan for a moment, the rest of the months go forward and reverse except for Rem Decan and Luna Redecan (which is in place of the counterpart of a potential Rem Redecan). The order of Rem, Sylph Undine, Gnome, Ifrit, and Shadow are not in the order of fonon numbers. The number order of this month list is 6, 3, 4, 2, 5, 1, 1, 5, 2, 4, 3, 6, 7. I am assuming Luna and Rem are two sides of the same coin and are referencing the same fonon so they are both the 6th fonon. There was close to being a pattern of taking a number, halving it, adding one, and halving it again but they ran out of whole numbers to continue that.

The first half of the year has the postfix Decan and the latter half Redecan except for the Lorelei month. This could be because Lorelei signifies that a new year will arrive, so it has the postfix Decan. Lorelei is an important figure in Auldrant, especially Daath, so a month that stands out in the name of Lorelei would be fitting.

To think of a wild interpretation of the months, it could represent a person’s life or the year’s lifespan. The beginning starts with the sun, a new beginning. The person/year goes through the experiences of their life, experiencing all it has to bring (with fonons making up the world). The center point of the person/year’s life is the Shadow months. At this point, they are no longer young and will have to figure out what to do for the rest of their life (a very shadowy midlife crisis). They reminisce about their life and go back to relive the experiences of their youth until the sun sets and the moon rises. The end of the line. Then as all 7th Fonists do, they return to the Fonbelt, to Lorelei. Then the cycle of fonons can begin again. 

Or a more logical explanation of the months could represent the cycle the memory particles go through when traveling through the Fon Belt (The Planet Storm). Then to encompass all the Fonons Lorelei represents the final one of the 7th Fonon.

Anyway, all the months can comfortably fit 58 days in them but there is a remainder of 11 days to account for in the year. If we add a day for every other month starting with the first month, that would leave 4 days remaining. I do not know a logical placement for these days, so I will add them to Lorelei Decan. The month count would be Rem Decan- 59, Sylph Decan- 58, Undine Decan- 59, Gnome Decan- 58, Ifrit Decan- 59, Shadow Decan- 58, Shadow Redecan- 59, Ifrit Redecan- 58, Gnome Redecan- 59, Undine Redecan- 58, Sylph Redecan- 59, Luna Redecan- 58, Lorelei Decan- 63. (This will be helpful for some calculations later.)

The Year:

A year in Auldrant is 765 days. That is 2.1 times longer than our calendar year. If we compare that to our world, Jade would be 70, Guy 42, Natalia 36, Tear 32, and Anise 28. Dang does Jade look great at 70 haha! I do know the 765 days is a pun because that number sounds somewhat like Namco in Japanese. In this world, I assume people age at half the rate (My condolences to all the Auldrant parents with tantrum-throwing toddlers). Since the year is twice as long, Luke being locked in his Manor for seven years and the time skip in the story would be way longer than originally believed. Nothing like Auldrant continuing to be worse and worse, right?

Birthdays:

Can't have a ramble about a fictional calendar without talking about birthdays! From around the internet, the birthdays of the characters are listed as follows: Jade- Sylph-Redecan 22, Guy- Efreet-Decan 41, Natalia- Rem-decan 37, Luke- Lorelei-Decan 48, Tear- Lorelei-Decan 1, Anise- Shadow-Decan 46. Going along with my guess on how many days per month, the day each character is born in this: Jade- 607, Guy- 275, Natalia- 37, Luke- 750, Tear- 703, Anise- 339. (Basically, add up all the days of the months prior and add then the day of the month they were born). The birthdays I got from fan sites that supposedly got them from a QNA. I do not know the accuracy of these but for the purposes of the rest of this, these are the dates used.

I have noticed that there are assigned birthdays for the characters per our calendar year. Jade is Nov 22, and Luke is Dec 25th. I found these from fan sites and repeated them across the internet. Again with these, I do not know the accuracy, so I did my own take on the potential calculations.

There are a few ways to calculate the birthdays of these characters with our own: Divide the year by two (2.1 to be more accurate) and get an approximate answer, place our calendar year onto Abyss’, and count the days (for example there will be two Decembers).

The first option is easy. Divide the day they were born by 2.1 to get the day they would be born on Earth. It would land the characters birthdays like this: Jade- 289 (Oct 16), Guy- 130 (May 10), Natalia- 17 (Jan 17), Luke- 357 (Dec 23), Tear-  334 (Nov 30th), Anise- 161 (Jun 10). These are pretty close to the associated birthdays with Luke nearly being a Christmas Eve baby and Jade being born in fall.

The second option is also easy, for any character whose birthday is over 365, subtract 365 until it is a number below 365 and find the date associated (For example, if a character is born on the 366th day, they would be born on Jan 1st in our calendar). It would land the characters birthdays like this: Jade- 242 (Aug 30th), Guy- 275 (Oct 2nd), Natalia- 37 (Feb 6th), Luke- 20 (Jan 20), Tear- 338 (December 4th), and Anise- 339 (December 5th).

Despite the numbers not exactly lining up (there will be human error on my part with calculations and rounding), if people celebrate Jade's birthday on Nov 22 that's completely fine by me! It's a fictional birthday anyway! If it means more Tales of the Abyss art and content, Jade's birthday could be Feb 14 for all I care!

This was just something fun I've been thinking about when I learned about the calendar of Auldrant! And might as well try to put all my thoughts together for a big ramble. Hope you all enjoyed!

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The reunion

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wait, guy, you have to be joking! a shrimp fried this rice? do you really think im that gullible?

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I just had THE most girl dinner dinner.

A cup of instant oatmeal, a slice of spice cake, and a pickle.

💅🏻💅🏻💅🏻

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You know, that really makes a lot of sense. It really sucks though, because I feel like regardless of who comes back in the end, someone is going to be unhappy. Whether Mr. Ending is Luke, Asch, or some strange blend of the two, it’s kind of a hollow victory. I wish they could have both been able to live on - Luke to continue his journey of self-discovery, and Asch to realize his life can move on and be good even if it’s not the past he’s wanted to go back to. On that note, I feel like Asch has a lot to learn from Luke.

Even though Luke was constantly asserting that he knew who he was towards the end, a lot of things really drove the point that a part of him still classified his existence as “replica” in an almost codependent manner. I’m recalling the scene where he yelled out that he “can’t live” without Asch.

There’s so much I want to dissect about their characters both individually and regarding their relationship with one another.

I really need to finish the fanfiction I’m writing lol….

like. i think a lot about luke's relationship to death & dying & self sacrifice and how it eventually, in the end, did become his choice in the sense that he came to terms with dying, even if he didn't truly have much of a choice in the grand scheme of things. he had seen it as his choice, to give his life up for everyone elses, and he had been able to do it without being afraid. but then i think about asch and i think. it wasn't the same for him. he never once mentions it but its so clear in his actions and his words that he doesn't see a future for himself, to the point where he often seems desperate to die, because he is afraid to live. it fits quite well, with them being mirrors, and all.

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Headcanon #6

Duke Eckhart's name!!

What if Duke Eckhart's name is actually 'Duke'?

Making him Duke Duke Eckhart?

It's an actual name too, so isn't it totally possible and a really plausible theory?

Just imagine

---------------------------------------------------

Former Duke Eckhart, looking at his newborn baby: Look at my son! He's got the fine features of a great duke!

Former Duchess Eckhart: Indeed, he's lovely, sire. He's everything I imagined our baby to be...

Former Duke Eckhart: Have you any ideas for him, my love?

Former Duchess Eckhart: I thought up a really long list of names for our child before he was born, but oh my! None of them seem to fit this wonderful child. Do you have any ideas, your grace? You've always been the creative one of the two of us...

Former Duke Eckhart: Hohoho! That is right!

Former Duke Eckhart: For this handsome child who already looks to be worthy of succeeding my title, why not name him Duke?

Former Duchess Eckhart, smile wavering: Duke...?

*Duke Eckhart coincidentally giggles and smiles up at his mother*

Former Duke Eckhart: Haha! How's that? He seems to like this name I have so graciously bestowed upon him!

Former Duchess Eckhart: It's perfect, dear. The name of our little duke... shall hence be Duke!

---------------------------------------------------

It makes so much sense.

I'm going to write a whole bunch of fanfics about this now.

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Okay I’m not really even into Pokémon but I love this 😂

in the hypothetical pokemon world i think asch would just dress like a team rocket employee

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These are so amazing!!! Yuri is S L A Y I NG

But…where is Regal? 👀

Tales + Traditional Japanese outfits (和服)

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I just want to thank my past self for making a detailed outline of the fanfiction I was writing like two years ago, because I couldn’t remember Jack shit about what I originally had planned.

Update incoming!! 🫡

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Ohhhhh fuck, how did I never connect those dots!!! That’s crazy, man. It makes so much sense!!

an observation i made about van's lies

Van: I would presume a hyperresonance occurred. Luke: A hyperresonance? You mean that thing that blew us to Tataroo Valley? Van: Yes, that was also the power of hyperresonance, though in an incomplete form. Luke: Master... What's happening to me? Van: Haven't you ever wondered about your kidnapping and the way you've been forbidden to leave the mansion? Luke: That's because, you know, my father's worried about me... Van: No. It's to keep you--the only person in the world who can cause a hyperresonance on his own--on a short leash here in Kimlasca. Luke: Wait, Master, hold on. I don't understand what you're saying. Just what is "hyperresonance," anyway? Van: A hyperresonance is a power that occurs when two Seventh Fonons interact. It can destroy and reform any matter. Normally, it occurs only under special conditions, with two Seventh Fonists present. Luke: But I can cause it by myself? Like what just happened? Van: Yes. With training, you could control it at will. It would be useful in war. Your father and the King both know that. That's why Malkuth wanted you. Luke: Are you saying I've been held captive in my own home as a weapon?!

---

Later, in Baticul's Dungeon:

Van: You probably assumed this trip to Akzeriuth was a simple matter. But in fulfilling that role, you will become Kimlasca's pet dog, trapped on a leash in Baticul for the rest of your life. Luke: Why? You're the one who told me I'd be free if I became a hero. Van: But going to Akzeriuth won't do. You heard Yulia Jue's Score, did you not? Luke: Yeah. It said I'd bring prosperity to Kimlasca and stuff. Van: The Score continues. "The youth will turn power to calamity and be as a weapon of Kimlasca." Those in the upper ranks of the Order believe you will bring war to the Rugnica Plains. Luke: Me, bring war...? That's ridiculous! Van: Yulia's Score has never been wrong. Not once. I want to save you before you're used for war! [...]

Luke: Master, how come you're so nice to me? Van: ...Ah, that's right. That was lost with the rest of your memory. Luke: ...Did I say something before? Van: When you were young, you told me you wanted to go to Daath with me. You underwent cruel experiments for the purpose of hyperresonance research and you wanted to run away from this country. That's why on that day seven years ago... I kidnapped you.

...

OKAY SO TUMBLR'S TEXT EDITOR IS KINDA HELL HERE and honestly this won't be super in-depth, I mostly wanted to highlight a thing that stood out to me regarding Van's manipulation tactics. Not necessarily in the "how" (which is ultimately just "only I can be trusted") but in the "what" of the narrative he chose to construct in order to do so.

First Lie: there's a lot of emphasis on Luke being turned into a weapon for Kimlasca which...is a pretty effective scare tactic, given Luke's reaction. And is also extremely shitty of Van given that on a second playthrough on we, the player, know what Van has planned for Luke at Akzeriuth -- and it's the very reason he created Luke in the first place.

To an extent though, of the two lies I'm highlighting...this ultimately has some basis in truth. Kimlasca knows Luke's Score (even if they don't know he's a replica) and have known for years. Van's still omitting some Very Key Details and intentionally setting Luke up for More Of This Specific Lie In Baticul.

Second Lie: He chooses to say that Luke was previously experimented on and used by Kimlasca...the nation that also held onto him for seven years. And for some strange reason...these experiments are a thing Luke has no memory of and seem to have Just Stopped Suddenly.

There's no evidence that Kimlasca has ever experimented on Asch for his hyperresonance -- though there's a side-manga that makes it clear Van did this to Asch. Strangely, Asch himself never mentions Kimlasca performing experiments on him, so there's seemingly no evidence that Kimlasca was involved in experimenting on its own citizens.

Which makes it really wild that when put on the spot and asked "why are you so nice to me?" the immediate lie Van comes up with is "you were a test-subject for hyperresonance research".

It's just one of those "why would you come up with that lie?" moments that make me wonder...

...

oh.

right.

Dude whose traumatic childhood backstory is "was used as a test subject for hyperresonance research and then used as a weapon for war" growing up and then choosing "you were a test subject for hyperresonance research and are absolutely going to be used for war" as his narrative for manipulating the boy he's preparing to use for war?

Man.

MEGA FUCKED UP.

...

Also this is a small aside, but the image I used at the top of the post seems to be the only moment the camera is showing us what Van sees which...in light of the other parts of his manipulation we see?

I find it fascinating they made the choice to have Van look at Luke as he repeats "A hero... Me, a hero..."

It makes me wonder where Van got the idea to use that lie too.

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Thank you, Iroh's VA.

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WHERE ARE THE NORMAL MEN

I just want a nice, Catholic man who is ready to get married and start a family, and won’t cheat on me or do drugs. A man who will actually care about me and himself. A man who has interests and dreams, and a personality besides fishing or hunting or football. A man with substance and heart.

Jesus, Lord, why is it so hard to find??

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A White Future, Volume 2 Episode: Ion, Sync, & Florian Translation Part 1

Whelp, here’s the results of my months-long project into translating the Sync/Ion/Florian sections of second volume of Shiro no Ashita. As always, I used various machine translators and looked up kanji when I was unsure. I also used the translations done by hikari318 on the now deleted taleslations LJ.

This first part is the prologue of their section, and covers Anise finding Florian at the Absorption Gate.

Please enjoy.

* * *

Keep reading

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Focus on what you are creating now. Manifestation is not just sitting around and trying to attract things. You have to actually do the work that creates the space and energetic alignments that allow your dreams to manifest into physical reality.