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luvisia · 4 years

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more theories about the outlast trials, part 2, long overdue.

i know that it was rumored that trials was going to follow the style of the co-op game a way out, but up until recently i hadn’t read much about that game, dismissing the claim. however, i definitely see the playstyle lining up with what i had in mind for trials, based upon what we’ve heard from red barrels thus far. an excerpt about the gameplay of a way out from the wikipedia article below:

the interview for the details on outlast trials was also released in february 2020, solidifying the theory of this playstyle in my mind:

clean text reads as follows:

JOIN IN THE OUTLAST TRIALS

it’s a trial run. no, seriously - run!

the murkoff corporation created some pants-running scares for us in the first two outlast games, but it turns out it was making life stressful for test subjects as far long ago as the cold war. the outlast trials is more of a side-project than a third game in the series, and allows for solo scares or four-player thrills.

why the cold war setting? “it was more the idea of doing a prequel,” says phillipe morin, red barrels’ co-founder. “we’ve tried to create a backstory that deepens the mythology of the games. we wanted to dive into that backstory, at the height of the mkultra program. then the cold war became an opportunity to construct a game based on paranoia.”

TRIAL AND TERROR

creating a multiplayer mode was a new challenge for the team, but they wanted to make sure solo play was still possible. “we basically came up with a concept that is flexible, so people can play it any way they want.” the fact that others can join in doesn’t mean the scares will be any less intense.

“obviously, the experience is not exactly the same but it’s satisfying in different ways,” says morin. “the thing is, even when you’ll be playing a game of four players, you won’t be a tight group all the time. stuff will happen, sh*t will hit the fan, and soon you may find yourself separated from the group...” morin leaves it up to our imagination, but the feeling of separation could make the frights even worse.

the outlast trials is still in early production, but if there’s one thing we can count on red barrels for it is, appropriately, a king of unimaginable gore. whatever happens, don’t leave us alone, yeah?

taglines:

SH*T WILL HIT THE FAN AND SOON YOU MAY FIND YOURSELF SEPARATED FROM THE GROUP.

you wouldn’t leave a friend hanging just to save your own life... would you?

from everything that was revealed in this article, trials is most definitely going to be a lore-heavy experience, connecting back to murkoff’s other experiments and providing context on their history and activities. the first thing morin mentions is prequel and backstory, which must mean that these things are a selling point. mkultra ties us back to mount massive, where murkoff conducted experiments for the cia along with rudolf wernicke, eventually birthing project walrider.

it’s also worth noting that this is in an era when mount massive still had female patients, and we see a female test subject / playable character in the trailer. i’m not necessarily stating that we’ll be making a return to mount massive, but the timeline and setting correlates strongly with the possibility.

the following documents and notes from outlast and whistleblower are directly related to or make mention of the cold war time period and mkultra:

outlast:

mkultra cia hypnotic homicide / mkultra program excerpt / project paperclip excerpt / you promised me a rose garden

mount massive asylum / lies / the wernicke exit interview

whistleblower:

god and family / lesser known ecological aspects of humanity (directly ties mkultra to project walrider!)

we may also see a call back to the entire matter of psychosomatic pregnancy if female test subjects are involved in an mkultra experiment that may be tied to project walrider. this has been a huge theme in all the previous games and comics since the original outlast, whether it be mentioned or shown directly. perhaps, seeing as we may play one of these female test subjects, we’ll finally get some clarification on what exactly happened in the situation of characters like lynn langermann and michelle haas? it may be a bit far flung, but lynn’s pregnancy developed in the course of one night. so even if this game follows a similar window of time, it could still be a very real possibility.

the atmosphere of the game is going to be based upon paranoia. this falls in line with mind control, and makes me feel we won’t be able to trust our allies completely. will players possibly sell each other out to save themselves? it’s hinted that we’ll have quite a lot of freedom of choice in this game, as well.

i deduce that each character may have their own campaign, seeing as it’s stated that players will be separated and will likely have their own challenges to face before coming back together as a group. i also have a suspicion that altruism (or lack thereof) is definitely going to be a large factor in this new experiment. helping each other could spell out doom - but does murkoff want their subjects to turn on each other out of fear? a house divided shall not stand, after all...

#outlast #outlast trials #this is kinda scattered but my thoughts are everywhere.#anyways where's my demo red barrels?#* vg: outlast.#mine.

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what-a-messsss · 4 years

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2x3 rewatch

I keep forgetting that Brach is still in S2. Oops. Also, I apparently went to check something in S6 last time I watched something, so it started at 6x2 instead of 2x3 and I yelled. But anyway, on with this mess. “Death Came in Like Thunder” apparently. It sure did.

Ah yes, let us not forget that Branch is MANLEH. This shall be proven to us by him murdering his cousin, Trunk, with big ax. Chop chop, Branch, kill Trunk. But oh no, must also show that he is People Smart, so must also lose because this makes him likable. And many white people clap. Yaaaay. But be sure to say, “I let him win, Ferg,” while your competitor is right next to you, so he almost surely heard you. Good good.

Oh Ferg. Could you look more gormless if you tried? (I mean, probably not, since presumably that was the goal of the actor, so he would have been trying. But still.) Bb.

Heh, nice thematic cut to Walt also chopping wood. And YAY, Henry’s gorgeous truck (and gorgeous self). I’m just going to take a moment to appreciate the fact that Henry rolls up and just helps himself to some of Walt’s thermos of coffee. Because of course he does. But I do so love these touches that they put in that do underline the fact that they are married have been besties for going on 40 years. Also, I love this jacket of Henry’s. The woven top, jean jacket sort of one? Yeah, top 5 costume pieces of his for me. (Also on that list, all basically tied with each other, basically any pants he wears. I am reminded, when they cut back out to a full body shot. Because I am very shallow, and he is very pretty.)

Haaaaaa. And of course Cady talked to Henry before she talked to Walt. Walt is a butthead. And, yeah yeah, she just found out that he’d been lying to her for over a year, but that just proves my point that Walt is a butthead. And we’re back to this whole idea that she left her phone, which just... ugh. No. But Henry’s face when he says that she said that she is safe, and he’s so worried, but still willing to respect her boundaries.

“She is an adult, Walt.” “She’s my daughter.” For fuck’s sake, you jackass, your ADULT daughter; that’s the whole flipping point! Also, that little emphasis on my daughter, pfft. If you didn’t want to feel like she preferred her cool dad to you, maybe try being less of an AAAAAAASSHOLE. And, like, respecting her. Even a weensy little bit.

“Etta Place” I don’t remember if we find out why that’s the ‘assumed name’ that Cady chose, but I’m intrigued. Wait, I just googled. Looooool. She spent years with Butch and Sundance. Nice.

Walt is such a soft touch with teens. *snack crackle pop* that kneecap back into place. Vic starts this scene saying, “The 911 operator,” though, which is interesting, because I was kind of under the impression that Ruby was the main dispatcher, so it would be kind of heartening if she actually had back up with that. ...Or maybe they’re just far enough out that a cell call made would be picked up by a tower farther out and have to be routed back in to the station/them. I have no idea how that actually works. Another rabbit hole for me to totally not go down. Hopefully. Shit. They’ve apparently upped the fine for trespass since the show, though, because it’s $750 (or 6 months in jail) now and Walt says it’s $500.

And once again, we see Vic actually wearing gloves while investigating a suspicious death, and Walt just squinting into the distance helpfully. I suppose “things got bad” in Basque country around WWII, but there has been friction there that dates back before the Spanish Civil War, or even the Carlist Wars the previous century. It did get gnarly with the dictatorship of Franco, and the formation of the ETA in retaliation, though, so yeah. (Francisco Franco is also on the list of people who anybody with a time machine should go back and beat the shit out of.)

Shit, I forgot about the animal death.

Knock knock, no answer. Better just wander in without a warrant. I know that the guy who they know lives there is dead, but still, no fricking warrant; I suppose the worry of a poisoning could count as probably cause?

Gods, but there are moments when I do absolutely adore Vic, and they are usually when she’s taking the piss out of Walt. “Reclusive bachelor chic; you and Marco have the same decorator.” Looool. But also, sad, because Martha has only been gone for a little over a year, and Walt is not the kind of person who would, like, change stuff and get rid of her things, so that’s kind of odd. Maybe Henry and/or Cady went though and put away some of her things to try to help Walt move on? But damn, the ‘excuse you’ look on Walt’s face when she does say it, pffft.

AND AGAIN, Vic wearing gloves, Walt with his bare ass hands picking up the picture of Picasso’s Guernica; can you at least *pretend* you’re a cop, *some* of the time, buddy?

Lol at the barrabilak; they are pretty well by the Rocky Mountains, so it’s probably not all that surprising that Walt’s had some “Rocky Mountain oysters” before.

I had forgotten that Vic had four brothers. But her comment about Sal going off to look after the sheep and how if someone had told her that one of her brothers were dead she “wouldn’t care about any damn sheep,” I don’t know. It kind of annoys me. It’s totally in character for her, which is good, but I think it’s part of what can annoy me about her character. Different people grieve differently, but also, I know she’s only been in Wyoming for a year or two, tops, but how is it so hard to fathom that someone one would be concerned about their livelihood, even in the face of personal tragedy? Just, seeing beyond her own very narrow experience doesn’t seem like something she’s very good at. It would be one thing if she’d framed it as “this is suspicious, and here’s why I think so as a cop,” but it was, “I wouldn’t react that way personally, so it’s sus.”

Sure, be suspicious because there’s a suspicious death and family members are always suspects until ruled out, but approach it like a cop. Or at least think about it from more angles than just your own, not terribly similar experience. You’re a white city cop who can’t (or won’t) adjust to being in BF rural-ville, but these are immigrant shepherds whose family come from a homeland where the cops were just as likely to kill you as answer questions, and you’re side-eying a guy for going to make sure that their meal ticket doesn’t get obliterated?

I need to keep reminding myself that I really did want to like Vic. I really did. She just... they don’t make it easy for me. Maybe she’s serving as an avatar for audience who don’t know about some of the culture stuff, and the audience get answers from her ignorance? But honestly, I wish they’d picked a different way to handle that, if that’s what they were trying to do. Her response to Henry being salty about Thanksgiving still really pisses me off. Because it was shitty and racist, and... do we really need a character basically rolling their eyes and saying, “It was so long ago, why don’t you just get over it,” about something that is intrinsically tied to the genocide of so many people? Why are Indigenous people just supposed to “get over it” but “Remember the Alamo” and “Southern Pride,” and shit? Fuck’s sake. Honestly, that might have been the moment when they lost me on her character. She has moments where she’s awesome, but they never really address her being fucking racist or give her a chance to grow into a better person. Which sucks a lot. Fuck. Ok, that was a lot. Sorry. Back to the actual ep.

AH, nice of you to beam in from the campaign trail, Brancheroo!

Uh, so I paused it to look at pic in the newspaper, and then being me, started to look at the articles surrounding the pic. And the one with the headline “Fans Injured At Local Game” is actually about the Stewart case? From 1x3? I’m guessing that somebody went to the trouble of writing up an article for that for some S1 ep after it and they just plugged it in because when not paused, you might catch “Sheriff Longmire” there and that’s all they need. Especially since the text starts to repeat after the first paragraph. (I am the worst pedantic little shit.) Ooooor, maybe even though it’s S2, it’s hardly been any time since 1x3? The date on the newspaper is March 31, 2012, so there’s a timeline hint.

Awwwwww, once Walt points out the bird, Ferg knows exactly what it is. Occasional twitcher, are we, my lad? “A red-tip meadowlark,” indeed. Oh bb; Ferg’s face when he sees Walt looking at the pic of him with Branch in the paper.

“You go too fast, you miss the little things.” Every once in a while, he actually sort of mentors Ferg. I wish he did more of that, especially since we see later how capable Ferg can be.

Go suck an egg, Branch. Why does she get all the “good” assignments? Maybe because she was actually on the job when they found the body, not campaigning.

OPE. Lizzie’s gift. Yeah, I’d probably choke on that coffee if I were you, too, girl. Better hope that there wasn’t perishable food stuffs in that gift, because that has been in there for a whiiiiiile, hasn’t it. Wait, was Ferg in the office when Lizzie dropped off the gift? Because his face said more than just “Did somebody give Vic a present?” Suuuuper subtle with that whole pushing the drawer closed with your foot there, Vic. Pfffft.

“Cyrano Caballero” How daaaare that skeeve take Cyrano’s name in vain?!?! (I have a thing about Cyrano de Bergerac. It’s quite possibly my favourite play, and I adore the character, and have exactly 0 chill about it at all. I find Brian Hooker’s translation of “The Ballade of the duel at the Hotel Bourgogne Between de Bergerac and a Boeotian” with “Then, as I end the refrian, thrust home,” vastly superior to any other translation that I’ve heard or read, though for the rest of it, I will grant that there are others to be preferred. But that version of his Ballade is exquisite, and I will not be swayed. Holy shit, FOCUS. That is so very much not the point.) It’s not even a throw away line in this ep, it’s just a random, very well chosen, if utterly appallingly insulting, company name. It’s actually incredibly clever for what the business is, and if it didn’t make me so stomping mad, I would applaud whoever came up with it heartily.

Vic’s face listening to this jackass’ spiel is a thing of beauty. “A good woman goes a long way of easing the obvious stresses of your daily life,” the jackass says, cutting his eyes at Vic when he says “obvious stresses,” and I caaaackle.

What is it about this guys’ horrible glasses that just makes him so much more hate-able? I’m not entirely sure, but kudos to whatever costumer put those on him, because they are perfect. In the ‘I want to punch him’ way of perfection.

And after all of that about Walt’s “lady friend,” Vic brings Lizzie’s present. Womp womp. That went super well. Yuuuup, run while you can.

Poor Ferg. Branch manipulates him, Vic ignores him, Walt shuts him down... Poor guy just can’t get a break.

I actually kind of like this motel manager--the one who “doesn’t judge people” and is a stickler for warrants? At least somebody in this county cares about warrants. Also, those doors are actually really pretty. Nice colour, and the carved scrollwork designs are nice.

What an odd shot: the one when they’re coming out of Walt’s office after talking to Skeevy McGrossFace and Rosa. It’s a weird sort of shaky-cam stepping back, just preceding Branch walking, and then turns to follow him when he sit’s on his desk. But it’s a really different style of shot than I can remember, so much so that it’s a bit jarring, especially after the series of nearly stationary close ups that we just had. Weird. [18:42-18-50]

Cady! I haven’t made much note of her costuming before this, but it seems notable that’s she’s only in monocromatics. Especially next to Fales in muted tones, but still some colour, and surrounded by the colourful grafitti of the alley where her mother was stabbed. Nice way of setting her apart from everything.

SHEEPIES! Ooooo, that wagon is so cool. Ah dang, the way that Sal corrects Walt’s pronunciation of his brother’s name is so gloriously passive aggressive. Good for you, my dude. Names are important, and people should have the respect to make the effort to get them right.

Aaaaaand Walt, the definition of Do, Don’t Tell, just shoves the guy to keep him from drinking the possibly dangerous water, rather than, like, using his words. Walt’s gonna Walt.

Iiiiiiiii am a mess, truly. It cuts to an architectural model and I start giggling like a 6th grader, because I know it’s going to be a Jacob scene. He’s not even on screen yet, ffs. HANDS. I’m fine. Totally fine. (That’s totally a lie. I just rewound to the beginning of the scene because I kept giggling too much to pay attention. What the hell.) First time we’ve seen one of the chips, which at this point must be a marketing mock-up, since nothing is built yet. And he actually types, not just doing the hunt-and-peck thing that is sometimes easier on a tablet.

Looking at the weaving that is up on his wall (maybe a rug?) I’m hoping that the prop people actually did buy from Northern Cheyenne artisans. They apparently did most of their filming in New Mexico, so I hope they made the effort to get the patterns right, and buy from the actual tribe they’re supposed to be portraying, I guess? And now I’m distracted by the fact that the random hanging light behind Jacob is at a weird angle?

Look, ever since I realized that the “Hey,” that Jacob does is apparently just A (thanks to it also happening in That Damned Xmas Movie) I am endlessly amused (and charmed) whenever Jacob does it. I don’t know why it makes me so happy, but it does. (This is legitimately embarrassing. How much trouble I am having focusing. Beyond my normal focus issues, which, as shown above, are already impressive. Because thiiiiirst.)

“My boys at the lumber yard did just throw you a campaign rally.” I love how Jacob is basically apparently not just his secret angel-investor, but also a sneaky campaign manager. Did Branch just think shit like the rally just happened? He’s not fricking Ferris Bueller; somebody organizes those. And apparently it’s either Jacob himself, or someone who Jacob appointed to do so.

“I thought you were just a casino developer.” You have noooo clue, Brancheroo. “I prefer to remain a silent partner. White people get nervous when Indians start taking back their land.” Oooooope. Especially interesting because there are previsions for the Tribal Council to purchase land to be Tribal land (Section 6 of Article IX of the Tribal Constitution), but this seems more along the lines of personal acquisition. Though maybe not, because “on the board” doesn’t necessarily equate to being the owner.

The set up of Jacob’s office is so interesting. Functionally for the show, it’s probably for better shooting angles, so that we can see more of Jacob behind the desk while Branch is sitting in front of it, but from an in-the-verse decorating standpoint, bit’s fascinating. He has this focal wall with the gorgeous wall hanging, flanked by floor to ceiling window, but instead of having his desk centered on that wall and directly facing the bulk of the room, it’s at an almost 45 degree angle on a huge rug, and it’s so unexpected. I kind of love it, and want to analyze it for days. Also worth noting is that pride of place is given to the Hotamétaneo’o headdress which is on a stand centered in front of the wall hanging.

How fucking tired must Jacob be. He’s used to Walt... Walting, but then Branch comes in, who he is literally spending his own money to support in his bid for sheriff, and he pulls the same shit of assuming that he’s behind Bad Shit. And then Branch frames it as “bad P.R,” so he’s there to “discuss it with [him] privately.” And then basically threatens him with Walt. I swear. ...there is something a little amusing about Walt being used as the stick in the carrot and a stick method of negotiating. He certainly is enough of a blunt object most of the time.

Oh fuck you so much, Branch. Playing the “can’t give you details about an ongoing investigation” card as though you have some professional or moral leg to stand on after basically blackmailing Jacob with Walt’s vendetta is just such shit. You don’t get to look down your nose at Jacob’s quid pro quo pragmatism when you were the one who came to him for financial backing. You sanctimonious little shitheel. If you didn’t want to deal with Jacob, you shouldn’t have taken his $100k. He’s a business man, and you’re an investment, and not a quixotic one.

“He’s probably the only person to have died from [hemlock] since Socrates.” And then Walt’s incredulous look and her, “Alright, I googled it,” were subtle comedic gold.

Ooooooo, that was a nice little shot. Not quite foreshadowing, but showing Branch’s suspicions and sort of inviting the audience to share them. Walt says his bit about the Army poisoning “Indian wells” to kill them off and get their land, and then we see Branch fiddling with the Four Arrows chip and narrow his eyes considering and slip the chip into his pocket, looking suspicious. It’s a really neat little moment of visual storytelling, no lines, literally three seconds long, just sort of snuck in there, but super effective. Really nicely done.

And again, Cady is in monochromatics. And, shit, just gave Fales Henry’s name. Aaaaaand right after, she realizes that the junkie was killed and realizes that it had to have been one of her dads (or so she thinks).

Sal’s monologue in the cell is a good emotional payoff that plays off of Vic’s comments towards the beginning of the episode. I see the narrative worth of her making them, and how the structure of the episode benefits from it; but seeing those writing elements from the outside of the show doesn’t make me able to like her as a character who said them in-universe. And then the threat Sal makes of vengeance on someone who killed one he loves also underscores the stuff with Cady’s investigation into her mother’s death very well. As much as I gripe about the writing *cough S6 cough finale cough* there really is some damn good writing in this show, and I don’t show enough appreciation for it.

Huh, and now there’s a sort of inverse of that weird shot preceding Branch from earlier, but this one is much more effective and less off-putting. This one [33:00] precedes Walt as he walks back into his office, still a medium close up, but it’s much steadier, and the way it is framed, it does quite a bit to convey his mindset, and he walks out of the shot and we see the three deputies following him in like baffled ducklings, making the shot serve another purpose, too. Which honestly makes that earlier shaky follow shot of Branch even weirder, because this one was so much better.

And then Walt has his creepy little speech about how someone would want to watch the light go out of their eyes and not caring if you get caught. I do appreciate that when he’s talking about the psychology of killing with poison he doesn’t just call it a “woman’s method” which media so often does. It might have been the writers keeping who the killer was abstruse, but it was still more gender neutral. Especially since according to The U. S. Department of Justice's report on Homicide Trends in the United States (1980 to 2008) of all poison killers in that time period, 60.5 percent were male and 39.5 percent female. (Table 5 on page 10.) So that long held idea that even Sherlock Holmes was written to have that poison is “of course” a woman’s weapon is pretty crap.

Awwww, the good old days when Walt paid attention to animals. ...I am still bizarrely salty about the fact that he never named his horse. What a good pupper!

And then we have a classic example of Sneaky!Walt, which always takes people quite by surprise, because he’s usually as subtle as Miley Cyrus.

Also because when he does this, it tends to be pretty fucked up, in a Make Someone Think They’re About To Die way. And then he does His Thing, where he just lays out all of his suppositions, with no proof, only the terror of her thinking that she’s been poisoned and you’re withholding medical intervention to get her to confess. And is, irritatingly, correct about his theories. But I’m pretty sure this qualifies as coercing a confession? She thinks she’s fucking dying. Even Vic looks at him like it’s fucked up, and her moral compass where he’s concerned is... skewed.

They way this reveal was played out, (”How’d they find her so fast?” “Hard to say...”) is somewhat ambiguous as to whether it’s supposed to be that Branch went there to tell Jacob or not, but I kind of doubt it? I kind of figure that the meeting that Jacob was having when Branch rambled in was already with Rosa signing the paperwork. Jacob is smart. So, HAH. Little good your “can’t comment on an ongoing investigation” schtick did.

And then the news that someone in law enforcement has been asking after Henry.

“Lizzie was waiting for you here tonight. You should talk to her, Walt. She seems to think she is in a relationship with you.” ....omgs. The tone. I mean, yes, the blisteringly glorious SASS, but how does one not read that as incredibly shippy? Howwwww?

“You are an honest man, Walt. I would like you to stay that way.” Oh Henry. When did you decide that you weren’t? Was it when you hired Hector? Or was there something before? ...I feel like there were things before that. Hello darkness my old friend.

“It is not your job to protect me.” “It is my job...” THOSE WERE THE DAYS. Those were the fucking daaaaaays. And the emotions on Henry’s face after Walt says, “That was my right,” as though Henry cheated him of something. I am so deep in OT3 feels I cannot even see daylight here. The feels of them having been an OT3 and then Walt pulling this shit, and Henry having to defend his own “right” to avenge Martha? It wrecks me. “A good woman was murdered. A bad man is dead. End of story.”

#Longmire #Walt Longmire #Cady Longmire #Henry Standing Bear #Branch is such a tool #Jacob Nighthorse #The Ferg #Victoria Moretti #Episode commentary #How many tangents did I manage to go on this time?#so many #Martha Longmire #I ramble about shots and framing and narrative too.#It took me so long to do this.#I am such a mess.

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shiny-procrastinates · 3 years

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(re)Watching Magia Record S1 - part 4

part 3 here

Hello everyone and welcome back to our... I don't know how to call this really, I'm more narrating what's happening in the screen than anything, but in any case today we are continuing what we have been doing these last few days.

Last time, we had an episode focused on the Momoko trio, got handed even more mysteries and had a brief cameo of our favorite drill-haired mahou shoujo. So what will this episode have in stock for us? Only one way to find out! (these introductions are getting cornier and cornier, I'm running out of ideas here.)

Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record S1 episode 4

Today, Iroha's visiting a chinese food restaurant on Mitama's recomendation. Well, I suppose even magical girls have to eat sometime.

But before that, let's wind back a little bit.

After the op, we get a little monologue from Iroha about "friends". It's probably obvious by now that she's not the biggest social butterfly out there, but this scene basically tells us that Iroha had no friends besides her missing sister, which just makes this even more sad, honestly. The solitary atmosphere of the first episode was no coincidence.

While dropping by Mitama's, Iroha hears from Momoko the aftermath of the fight with the Chain Witch from last episode. Momoko says everyone who had disappeared had come back safely, and says that might've not been a witch, but something lurking behind the rumor. The trio brings up some other weird rumors while Mitama desecrates a perfectly good cheesecake.

“Mitama-san, why“

Iroha asks if there's some rumor where people went missing and Momoko guesses correctly that she's wondering if her sister didn't get caught up in one of those. Sadly, they don't know any other rumor where people went missing besides the Staircase of Severance.

Oh my god Mitama is eating that thing, looks like the Coordinator's will be closed for a while.

The girls try to brainstorm some ways to look for Iroha's sister but, well...

Like this, Iroha just looks like some weird girl who insists her imaginary younger sister is real... which she might be, I wouldn't put that possibility past this series, but for now we are assuming her sister actually existed.

Iroha pokes in and says she'll do it herself, since she has no idea where to start investigating now and it'll probably turn into a long search anyway. Momoko's not very convinced. Mitama then hands Iroha Banbanzai's flyer and now we are back to the present.

In Banbanzai we meet Tsuruno Yui, Kamihama's (self-proclaimed) Strongest Magical Girl. The size of the dishes are also the strongest. One has to wonder how does Tsuruno explain to her father the "magical girl discount" she has going on.

Iroha eats a bit under the expectant eyes of Tsuruno and, when pressured for a rating she says...

50/100, or 2.5/5 when going by the occidental style rating. Tsuruno's shock here is impressive considering that's Banbanzai's usual rating no matter what it puts out. Hey, consistency is good!

After eating, Iroha apologizes for giving such a low rating despite getting free food, but Tsuruno explains basically what I wrote. Yes, Iroha, you guessed right.

Tsuruno apologizes for not having any hints in regards to her sister and, after getting Iroha to call her by her first name, says she'll try to introduce her to someone that might help her with investigating the strange rumors. Tsuruno is hesitant on the phone at first but quickly gets excited as the person on the other side of the line agrees to meet them right away. And the person they go meet is...

Yachiyo, obviously. She's like "I have no time for this" at first, but is stopped by a crying Tsuruno and ends up telling them about the rumor she's investigating.

The rumor Yachiyo's investigating right now is about the Seance Shrine. Basically, there's a rumor saying that if you visit a certain shrine, write the name of who you want to see on a ema and pray properly, you will meet that person. However, you'll be so happy you'll become unable to leave.

Yachiyo says while investigating she found some posts of people saying they actually met who they wanted to meet who disappeared afterwards. Tsuruno wonders if anyone has been declared missing and Yachiyo points out that even if there was, no one would think to attribute a missing person to a rumor.

Tsuruno has a eureka moment and asks if the Seance Shrine is Mizuna Shrine, but Yachiyo says she already tried and nothing happened... wait, hey Yachiyo, that's dangerous, what if it really was the right one? lol

Yachiyo says she already had low hopes, but if somewhere with so many visitors as Mizuna Shrine was the Seance Shrine, it would already be all over the news with the amount of people that would go missing... which is a very fair point.

So the girls have no choice but to go around and look for a less known shrine. For better or worse, there are a lot of them in Mizuna.

In one of them, Tsuruno finds a stamp rally going on in Mizuna Ward, and asks if that couldn't be a tip in regards to the rumor. Iroha's skeptical at first, but Yachiyo says they might as well do it, since it's better than looking around blindly.

While they walk around, Yachiyo tells Iroha the legend of the star-crossed lovers that was cited in the stamp rally paper. It's the tale of how two lovers of different social standings were separated by death (well, assassination), and then reunited after countless prayers from the princess. Iroha says that it's a lovely story, but Yachiyo doesn't seem to think the same.

Yachiyo then tells Iroha the hidden, true ending of the history, where the princess sacrifices all of the people of the town to their god in order to meet her beloved again.

and magical girls should know that better than anyone else.

A bit later, Tsuruno says doing this almost makes it feel like the old times, but Yachiyo just ignores her. Iroha asks if they've been close for a long time and Yachiyo says they used to be, but they're not anymore. Seeing from Tsuruno's behaviour, though, that's gotta be because of Yachiyo herself.

Iroha comments that even if it was a past relation, she's still jealous, since she's never had any friends besides Ui. Ui was everything to her, so now that she's gone, Iroha feels empty... it's a bit concerning that she feels like that when you consider her sister was ill enough that Iroha had to cure her with a wish. What would have happened had she not become a magical girl?

Yachiyo says, but this isn't the past to Iroha. She firmly believes that Ui must be out there somewhere, so she wants to find her as fast as possible. Yachiyo then tells her that if that's the case, she shouldn't be tied down by her past, she should become stronger, for her sister's sake.

Like that, they finally reach the Seance Shrine...

not. They end up back at Mizuna Shrine, which Yachiyo had already discarded as a possibility due to the number of people that would've gone missing if that had been the case. Yachiyo had thought that there had to be a connection between the rumor and the legend, so maybe they missed a hint somewhere. The trio doubles back for the day.

However, as they head back, something crucial dawns on Yachiyo:

She's a broke college student and today was 10xPoints Day.

Yachiyo gets Tsuruno and Iroha to help her and goes grocery shopping. Yachiyo tells Iroha about the points benefit, but Iroha has no idea what she's talking about, so Yachiyo says she's still a kid... yeah, but I think it would be weirder if a middle schooler knew about this stuff.

Being a magical girl sure is suffering. You get kidnapped from trains and buses, and can't even catch a sale without getting a witch as a freebie. There is no rest.

Here! I can finally comment that it creeps me out the fact that Iroha sleeps with a plushie of this thing. I know it's in this series' style to have weird things going on in the background, but still...

The fight starts and- Iroha why the heck are you going to the front what is that crossbow even for. Yachiyo tells Iroha to stay behind her, but Iroha's holding the idiot ball right now... partly because Yachiyo told her to get stronger, but still. Iroha shoots a few times at the witch, trips, misses espetacularly and almost becomes witch food. Great job, Iroha.

Now, while Iroha's hesitating about what to do, in comes Tsuruno.

Maybe not the best time to be striking poses, Tsuruno.

Iroha screws up once again and sends Tsuruno flying but, as expected of the (self-proclaimed) Mightiest, she still makes short work of the witch (also probably because we're running out of time for this episode).

I'm guessing Iroha's magic in combinations just makes the other person's magic stronger. Kinda lame when you think about the previous two examples, but I guess that's standard for light magic in games... it's already weird enough that their magic has attributes at all but, oh well, game logic.

In the end, poor Yachiyo missed the sale. However, thanks to not being blinded by shiny discounts, she realized something important they were forgetting about the rumor.

Sure enough, just like Yachiyo said, Seance Shrine really was Mizuna Shrine at night. When they walk in...

The extremely suspicious chibi Kyuubei appears. I was going to say it that it only appears in rumors, but the first time it appeared was in a witch Labyrinth, so that's not it either... wait, wasn't it singing a song about rumors the first time Iroha met it? Hmmm...

In any case, the group heads further in, and the rumor very kindly gives them some plaques. Yachiyo tells Tsuruno not to write anything, since they don't know what'll happen and they'd both write the same name anyway.

The plaques turn into something like familiars as soon as they finish writing, and Tsuruno is held back for not writing anything. Iroha hesitates a second with Tsuruno being attacked, but obeys when Tsuruno tells her to go ahead and take care of Yachiyo... I, uh... have a feeling the opposite scenario is more likely, though.

Yachiyo and Iroha go ahead and offer their prayers. Then, when Iroha opens her eyes...

they are at a different place, and what both of them see is...

The people they longed to meet.

Iroha's time has begun to move again.

---- x ----

Aaaand that was episode 4. This time, I wasn't dumb and actually checked the episode was over before starting to write the closing part.

This is probably true of the previous episodes too, but I particularly like how the colors are used in this one. The tale part had not really the same sepia tone of historical things, but more of a celestial yellow tone, and the part at the witch labyrinth in the supermarket has a cute candy-like tone to it. It's not the same subdued kind of realistic thing like in, say, SSSS.Gridman, but there are some good, calm parts in here.

During the rally, when Iroha was telling Yachiyo about not having anything besides Ui, the procession they were walking in the middle of is a reference to Kitsune no Yomeiri I think, but I couldn't really connect the situation or what they were talking about to the tale so I decided to not point it out up there. Do feel free to search about it and draw your own conclusions.

I forgot what else I wanted to say, so I guess I should tie this up now. Did you know? Writing the introduction and close-up is actually harder than writing about the episode itself so you'll have to forgive me for not being able to think up anything besides "see you next time". In fact...

See you next time, on episode 5!

#Magia Record #Puella Magi Madoka Magica #pmmm #pmmm magia record

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jeonchristineimnida · 5 years

Text

Jungkook - Forbidden Love pt. 2

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Masterlist

Genre: angst, sfw, au university students

Rating: PG13

Warning: N/A for this chapter iz a fluffly chapter :”)

Word count: 2657

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader

Chapter Summary: Jungkook lost the resolve to act on his feelings. He tried to avoid Y/N as he tries to keep his emotions in check but Y/N wasn’t having it. She gave him a piece of her mind.

Y/N POV

9PM in Y/N's room

The books are scattered on my desk, lampshade on and laptop's screen showing an empty word document, but I failed to start anything as my mind keeps going back to what happened awhile ago. I look at my hands, still feeling the warmth of how Jungkook held my fingertips as his eyes beg to be understood.

What is it, idiot? Why did you look at me like that?

I feel heat creep up to my cheeks. I shook my head and slapped myself, reaching out to my phone to text him.

Hey idiot, you up?

I placed down my phone, fooling myself to get on with writing my reports as I anxiously wait for his reply.

However, it never came.

He'd always reply to me 10 minutes the latest, but as it's now 4 AM and I finally managed to finish the 3 papers due for this morning. I try to shrug it off, getting 2 hours of sleep before I get ready for my first class at 7:30. I'll probably be running again later, but I need to sleep.

Stupid Jungkook.

What the heck was that look yesterday huh?

You holding my hand can be something we have always done in the past as kids, but pairing it with that look in your eyes just made my heart skip a ---- WAIT NO.

Idiot. You've been friends for this long.

Don't ruin it now, Y/N.

Forcing my eyes shut, I tried to drift into my needed-sleep.

1 week later

I wasn't having it anymore.

If he has a problem with me, why not just face me head on?

He's lucky I don't know where he lives, nor do I know his father personally because if I did, I would have showed up in his house announced and hit the crap out of him.

"Oh! It's Ms. Childhood Girlfriend!" A guy with a boxed smile points at me as he exits the business building. I tried to look away, minding my own business as I sat on the bench near their building. I didn’t want to assume that he was talking about me because as far as I'm concerned, I'm single.

"You're Y/N, right?" Another guy with the biggest eye smile said now in front of me with the boxed-smile guy beside him.

"Yeah? You are?" Confusion cannot be wiped from my face.

"I'm Taehyung. This is Jimin. We're Jungkook's friends." The boxed-smile guy introduced himself and the friend beside him before the two sat on either of my side.

"He isn't telling us about how it went so maybe you can fill us in?" The guy called Jimin leaned towards me, his smile radiating a loud 5-year-old innocence. Even before I could answer, the Taehyung guy had already started blabbing.

"I can't believe that Jungkook would call to ask me how to ask you out. I mean, with that face of his, shouldn't he be so used to girls now? Or perhaps, he really doesn't have any experience with girls. Are you his first girlfriend, Y/N?" He looked excited but my face was blank.

What.

He wanted to ask me out? Me? Y/N? He wanted me to be his girlfriend?

"Hey!" As soon as Jungkook spotted the three of us sitting in one bench, he quickly sprinted to where we were as he grabbed me by the hand, pulling me away from the two. "What the hell guys?"

"Wow, calm down dude. We ain't here to steal your girl. We just wanted some details cause you wouldn't spill." Jimin answered as they both had their hands up as if they got caught doing something wrong.

"Why are you mad?" Taehyung asks with one eyebrow raised.

If I didn't know any better, I'd ask the same question as Taehyung did.

But I know better. He wasn't mad. He worried -- no, panicked. What was he panicking about?

"We need to talk." I tugged on his hand, making him face me. "If you boys could excuse us for today, I'll need to have a serious talk with this idiot. Don't worry, I'll knock some sense into him. It was a pleasure meeting you though, Taehyung and Jimin. Let's hang some time soon." I smiled at them and they took their leave, waving at me and clapping Jungkook's shoulders.

I was now looking at Jungkook and as much as I want to get mad, seeing him made me want to apologize. He looked so worn out, like he's been having sleepless nights.

"Has it been rough? Classes and all?" I asked, pulling him down to sit beside me on the bench where Jimin and Taehyung once were.

"Kind of" He shrugged as he kept his eyes down.

I sighed, getting the file case he was holding and placing it inside my backpack. He simply looked at me as I continue to fix my stuff before I stood up, slinging my bag on my shoulder and pulling onto his hand.

"Follow me." I smiled, pulling onto his hand. As he reluctantly stood up, I started dragging him out of the campus into our favorite arcade in the district.

It only took a little resistance from him before he caved into his own competitiveness. A little provocation got him fired up to beat me in almost all of the games -- except the virtual shooting game.

"I'm winning!" Jungkook perked up when I got hit, loosing 1 of the 2 remaining lives while he still has all three. For the record though, this is the 3rd rematch and I'm letting him win. "Ah, no! Don't hit my y/n!" He shoots the villain aiming at me as we fight in co-op mode.

In an instant, I felt my cheeks warm up as I remember what Taehyung and Jimin told me before Jungkook popped out of no where.

"Feeling better?" I asked after I won the third game since he died within 30 seconds after facing off with the boss.

"Yeah" Jungkook smiled, showing off his dimples that I've always loved seeing. I poked the dent on his cheek, smiling along with him. "But I need to let off more steam." He says, catching my finger as he held it 'til he took both of our bags and led me out of the arcade.

Even without him saying, I already knew where we were going as he practically skipped going there.

"Do you see my bags, do you see my bags, it's hella trophies and it's hella thick!" Jungkook sang as I hyped him in the background.

"Yeah yeah yeah! Whatcha think bout that watcha think bout that" I sang along, jumping with him.

"I bet it made my haters hella sick!" We sang together, banging our heads to the air like metalheads in a concert.

We barely heard the knock from the staff that was delivering the food that we ordered. I was quick to abandon singing(?) as I charged straight for the mozzarella sticks, dipping it in some marina sauce before taking one to Jungkook. He took a second to bite but resumed singing afterwards as he jumped along with the beat.

I went back to the food, took my seat and just sat through Jungkook letting out whatever that was bothering him through singing these tiring songs. I mean, they're dope to dance to, and they're dope to sing to, but doing them both is hella tiring. You have to be legends to do that. (A/N *wink*)

After the song, Jungkook sat beside me, eating the last mozzarella stick that I was holding and then shooting me a look.

"We ordered 10 pcs. I only got 2 bites." He complained but I just shrugged and smiled. He chose a random song to have it as a background music, letting it play as we take some rest. He stuffed what else was left, claiming that he paid too so he needs to eat before I finish everything. I laughed and let him.

"I missed you, idiot. Why were you avoiding me?" I now say, catching his attention. His eyes shows that he understands it was a serious question, but his stuffed mouth just made me chuckle as I took a napkin and wiped the excess sauce at the side of his mouth.

"I wasn't avoiding you." He now says after swallowing the lump of food he placed in his mouth. "I was just… occupied." He trailed off, breaking eye contact.

"Hmm, was it because of a confession?" I asked, his head snapping right back to look at me with eyes wide. "I think Taehyung and Jimin mistook me for someone else." It was now my turn to look away as it suddenly felt hot.

When I wasn't hearing any teasing on his side, I took a peak and saw how he bit his lower lip deep in thought. His fist was clasped tight as he make a conflicted expression.

"Jungkook? Is everything alright?" I softly ask, gently guiding his chin to look at me. "You're hiding something."

"If I'm going to be honest, I'm really just holding back. I've been wanting to confess since high school, but I realized a boyfriend was not what she needed back then. Til now, I'd like to prioritize her happiness over anything else." He answers now, taking my hand and he held it in his.

I can't believe that Jungkook would call to ask me how to ask you out

Taehyung's word resounded as Jungkook spoke. I remember the conversation we had in the roof top 2 years ago. The person he wanted to confess to… was me?

"So I decided---" I cut Jungkook off with my own words surprising me.

"I like you, Jungkook." My heart pounded hard as if it wants to jump out of my chest. I've closed my eyes, trying to steady myself. I've always been scared to tell him the truth, not wanting to jeopardize the friendship we had. However, Taehyung's words gave me a little confidence.

I hope I didn't make a mistake.

I slowly opened my eyes to see his reaction, but his face showed an expression I wasn't expecting.

There was a hint of surprise, however it's easily overtaken by pain. His hand tightly holds mine as a tear escapes his eyes.

"Fuck" Jungkook mutters, eyes closed as a few more tears fall.

"You d.don't have to be bothered by what I just said. I'll cheer for you--" I was stuttering, thinking maybe Taehyung had it wrong and I really wasn't the one he had liked. Thoughts such as making a big mistake was suddenly wiped away when Jungkook pulled me into his embrace, burying his face on the crook of my neck.

"I've always loved you y/n." He softly whispers. "But this... this love of mine just wants you to be happy, and I don’t think you'll be happy with me." he slowly backs up, holding my shoulder at his arms length. His voice was dejected, his face tear-stained. "I'm sorry."

Without much thought, I cupped his cheeks and lifted his face before closing the gap as our lips collided with each other. It wasn't long until Jungkook kissed me back, his hands holding onto my waist as he pulled me closer to him.

"Whoever makes me happy is my choice. Don't go deciding on it all by yourself, idiot." I tell him as our lips part. I catch my breath, not sure if it was because of the kissing or is it my heart rate can't keep up. My eyes can't seem to face him as I did something I never thought I could, but he chuckles and presses me close to him, my face firmly pressed against his chest.

My eyes grow wide at the erratic heartbeat that I thought was mine, but as I look up, Jungkook was looking away with his ears red and cheeks flushed.

"Never imagined you’d be this bold, dumbass." He says with a smirk before looking down as he meets me eyes. I covered my face, not knowing what to do next. "Gah, you're killing me." He laughs as his nose scrunch up before kissing my forehead.

And at that moment, I've never felt more at ease.

As we walk towards my home, our hands were connected together. It wasn't the first time we held hands, but this was the first time our finger were intertwined together. As I look at our hands, I felt him tugging. As I look up, he tilted his head to the side, wordlessly asking me what's wrong.

"It just feels surreal." I answered, biting my lower lip.

"I know what you mean" His voice was shy. Looking at him, he looked the other way with his free hand over his nape.

"Taehyung told me you asked him about how to ask me out," I started teasing, his head snapping towards my direction as his face flush deep pink. "I guess he'll be disappointed to know I had to be the one to ask you out because you chickened out." I was quick to let go and started running ahead.

"You--" Jungkook quickly ran after me. My squeal echoed the empty park as we run, laughter soon filling it. As he caught me, he lifted me up and spun me around. "How dare you make fun of a maiden's heart."

"Such muscular maiden," I commented, holding onto his firm arms. He playfully flexed his biceps, making me laugh as I shake my head.

"Do you know why I built up my muscles in the first place?" He asks, gently placing me down as he guides me to the bench.

"To keep up with your karate, right? Which you're already a black belter if I'm not mistaken." I say with pride even if I didn't do anything. However, knowing the Jungkook from before, I couldn't help but be happy at how much this little boy grew up to be such a fine young man.

"The only reason why I took up karate was for the instance that some dumbass decides to step into a guy's fight again." Jungkook starts, pinching my nose as his scrunches up while his dimple shows. "I can't have that dumbass get hurt for my sake the second time."

My heart swells in happiness as I hear those words.

"You idiot, I could protect myself." I say, wiping my tears of happiness.

"Says the dumbass who trips and hurts herself on a flat surface. In fact, I feel like you're more likely to hurt yourself than other people. Hmm how do I use my karate skills to protect you from yourself?" He says, playfully putting on a 'thinking-hard' façade.

"Such a bully." I muttered but he just firmly takes my hand, intertwining his fingers with mine as his eyes turn into thin lines, his bunny smile prevailing.

"I'll take you home. You're getting cold." He says, standing up.

I didn't want to leave yet. I wanted to spend more time together.

"Y/N?" he called my attention, snapping me back to reality. I looked up to him, getting lost in those eyes. He chuckles shyly, taking my hand. "You can look at me all you want, but let's get you warm first okay?" He teased, his smirk not leaving his face. I rolled my eyes and scoffed but it was a façade. No matter how cold it was getting, my face was the warmest it has ever been.

And at that moment, I've never felt more at ease, not knowing it was a the calm before the storm.

Part 1 | Part 3

Masterlist

#bangtanhq #btswritersnet #goldenclosetnet #ficswithluv #jungkook x reader #jungkook imagine #jungkook ff #jungkook angst #jungkook fanfic

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mbavholidayexchange · 5 years

Photo

To @demonicbutterflies, from @pixiepaintt

Title: Piecewise Equations & The Inner Turmoil of a Mathlete

Rating: T

Summary: It was a day of completely no consequence. Small and tiny against the mass of the calendar; itty-bitty in the grand scheme of chronological order. It was no holiday nor commemoration. It was a Tuesday unlike any other Tuesday to have ever been invented, but to Benny Weir, grand amateur spellcaster and goof, it was the most important day of his life.

It was the day he was going to confess to Ethan fucking Morgan.

Ao3 Link: Link

Content

It was a day of completely no consequence. Small and tiny against the mass of the calendar; itty-bitty in the grand scheme of chronological order. It was no holiday nor commemoration. It was a Tuesday unlike any other Tuesday to have ever been invented, but to Benny Weir, grand amateur spellcaster and goof, it was the most important day of his life.

It was the day he was going to confess to Ethan fucking Morgan. AKA the smartest guy in the whole world. AKA an angel disguised as a human. AKA the person that Benny has been pining over for three years.

In Freshman year, he was just figuring out that he was even into dudes-- he spent most of the year pondering if he liked Ethan as a friend or liked him like that . In Sophomore year, he fawned over Ethan and decided that there was no way the feeling was mutual, especially not with Sarah around. In Junior year, he started out thinking the same, but then-- then Sarah confessed to Erica, and she apparently didn’t like dudes, and Ethan seemed relieved, and he felt like maybe, just maybe, this was his chance. So Benny convinced himself to confess.

The days couldn’t have passed any quicker; he had set a date to confess right after he learned he had a speck of hope (a week ago). Then he blinked, and it was the morning of his confession.

He forced himself to confess before lunch.

That failed.

He forced himself to confess during his last period English class.

That failed.

English class had just been dismissed by the bell, there were no hours left in the school day now, Ethan was still oblivious, and Benny was freaking out. If he didn’t do it now, he knew for a fact he’d back out and hide in his feelings for the rest of his lonely life. He’d done that for two years already; he didn’t want to go back now. Not when he had an opportunity in front of him.

“B? You coming?” Ethan asked, hefting his shoulder bag over his body and ambling to the door. He was probably excited to go home and play the new update of Zombies: Brains, Brains, and More! Benny wished all of his troubles were a zombie apocalypse; that would be infinitesimally easier than what he was going through now.

“Uh-- I--” Benny half-responded, still sitting in his desk. His feet wouldn’t move.

“Benny?” Ethan asked, lifting up a worried smile. He paused momentarily on his journey to the exit.

“You-- I don’t--” Benny managed, pointing a hand to the door. He was shaking.

“Let me just grab my stuff out my locker and we can walk home together?” Ethan promised, walking back towards the door.

“Wait!” Benny yelled, regaining his footing finally, “E, wait.”

“Yeah?”

Benny held his pointing hand straighter, flailing for the right words. He couldn’t think of any Latin with this state of a frazzled mind, so he settled for a simple English spell. Under his breath, sweating with nerves, he muttered:

“ Fire deflection, passionate perfection, grant the door unyielding connection !”

“Did you say something?” Ethan asked. Luckily he didn’t have super-hearing to go with his seer abilities.

“Uh.”

“I’m going to get the nurse. B, you’re worrying me.”

Ethan tried for the door’s handle. He tried again. It gave no budge at all-- not even a sliver of movement in any direction. Benny hesitantly smiled; at least his spell had worked. That was the only thing working for him in the moment; everything else was disorganized mayhem. Just call him Dr. Homo Doom, because his teenage life was descending into a frenzy of unrequited love!

Ethan kicked the door. Immediately after, he scowled tightly and rubbed his foot.

“The door is jammed.”

“Yeah,” Benny nervously responded. Oh God, was he too obvious? Was his plan failing? Was Ethan onto him?

“Are you,” Ethan dithered, choosing his words carefully as he checked Benny up and down, “better now?”

“Yeah. Swell as an Orc in the Highlands of Manoria!”

Ethan tried to suppress a grin at the mention of their favorite fantasy MMORPG. They always made fun of the janky 3D mechanics together.

“Valiant Orc, I shall slay you with my enchanted Ice Protection III Sword of Elysia!”

“Oh heavens above, not the enchanted Ice Protection III Sword of Elysia!” Benny yelled, clutching his chest. He made a pained ‘gh’ sound and collapsed onto his desk, twitching dramatically and trying to hide his giggles.

“Didn’t a new mob just get released?”

“Bro, yes, ah-- spear goblins, I think. Definitely OP. I wanted to play during last class but stupid Ms. Wallon won’t let us bring our phones in the room.”

“Some of us are trying to learn,” Ethan teased, smiling with his eyes, and god did that make Benny’s heart clench .

“And some of us are trying to learn strategy techs for the new meta!” Benny quickly responded. He regarded competitive gaming very seriously.

Ethan sighed. Although he, too, was heavily invested in gaming, he preferred singular player free roaming modes, or, at the very most, campaign modes. Competitive and ranked games gave him too much anxiety. He loved to watch Benny play rankings and rage at smurfs, though.

“Anyway, we should head home. We can play ZBBM?” Ethan pointedly looked at the door, “Can you, uh, do your thing?” He wiggled his fingers, and Benny snorted.

“That’s the issue. See,” he took a deep breath (it was now or never!), “I’ve been wanting to tell you something really kinda important.”

“Okay?” Ethan answered, and that confirmation sent Benny spiraling. This was really, really happening. It wasn’t just in his imagination anymore.

Benny’s breathing quickened, and he briefly considered backing out. Ethan certainly didn’t feel the same way. If he confessed now, he’d lose his best friend. Benny gulped and backtracked.

“Eh, I just--”

And then the door started hissing. And shaking. And glowing.

Ethan gasped. Benny cursed.

“Shit, Grandma always told me English spells were more tricky,” Benny muttered. He flexed his fingers. Something wasn’t right-- he may not be the most proficient spellcaster, but a simple spell like that certainly shouldn’t cause the door to rumble like a giant was full-throttle rattling it.

English spells often had a looser sense of interpretation; something about the translation from the original latin being lost in the magic altered them. He had pronounced the spell with all of the right intentions, but--

But the door was still shaking like an earthquake.

Benny blanched.

“Water pyre, built from needs dire, extinguish this door’s mental fire!”

Nothing.

“Succulent wind, in which all, uh, things end, to my cause a hand you should lend!”

Zero effect.

“Powers from earth, strengthened by girth, to a peaceful door you should give birth!”

Still, no response.

Ethan looked to Benny with wide deer eyes. He had the pinched inner brow expression that meant only one thing: he had been thinking through a problem, and reached a conclusion.

“Did you spell the door earlier?” He accused.

“Uh, heh… the thing is--”

“Benny!” Ethan whined, fretting a hand through his hair.

“I know, I know, I’m trying to find a reversal spell.”

“Because that’s going so smoothly,” Ethan snarked, then paled, “Sorry. I’m just-- agh, I don’t know what’s going on.”

Benny nodded. He didn’t either.

To be fair, he didn’t deserve all the blame. He’d only glanced over the spell once in a decades-old book with more dust than ink-- and then amateurly attempted it. At least it wasn’t a reanimated animal this time.

He could handle a door. Right?

“Let’s just calm down and think about this rationally,” Ethan suggested. He pulled out a chair and sat next to Benny.

Somehow, just Ethan’s very presence soothed Benny’s worries. When Ethan was near him, it was similar to a feeling of… indestructibility. Like nothing could stop them. Benny didn’t know how to feel about that.

Ethan smiled worriedly, always trying to stay lucid in tough situations, and Benny smiled in response. With Ethan by his side, he had no doubt that they could fix this.

“What spell did you use?”

“Well… uh… fire something, made the door lock.”

“Which spell, though?”

Benny grimaced.

“E, you know I have less than one brain cell. I don’t remember. It was pretty simple, though.”

“...Okay.” Ethan sighed, “Then why did you lock it?”

“Oh.” Benny sucked in a breath and froze.

“B?” Ethan asked, scooting closer.

“I-- I wanted to talk.” Benny settled on. Hopefully that was vague enough.

His hands were shaking, so Ethan settled put a hand on his shoulder.

“We can talk. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, just-- nervous,” Benny replied, uncharacteristically grave.

And suddenly the door stilled.

It was clattering viciously, intent on nearly breaking, until it abruptly suspended all movement. It was… quiet. The room seemed to shrink without the raucous noise. Benny and Ethan both stared at the quasi-normal door. There was not even a hint of a glow anymore; no sign of any previous activity.

Benny was the first to crush the silence.

“What… happened?”

“Touch my arm.”

Benny shrilly laughed. It seemed too ironic to be true. Ethan asking for physical contact? At a time like this? Right after Benny had chickened out from his confession? He couldn’t tell if it was bad or good luck, but fate was certainly poking fun at him. There was an irregular bit of hope stirring in the pit of his chest.

“Wha-- Why?” Benny choked out, chuckling.

“Vision,” Ethan said impatiently, holding out his hand.

Oh.

A vision. Not because he actually wanted to touch Benny or anything. Okay. Benny shrugged and touched Ethan’s hand hesitantly. Not that he was paying attention, but it was quite warm.

Benny was snapped out of it when Ethan shook his head.

“Nothing happened,” he frowned. He took back his arm and pursed his lips.

“Okay,” Benny simply responded.

“At least the door’s stopped, though. Maybe it opened?” Ethan got up to check. He paused before wrapping a hand around the handle, taking a deep breath.

He shook it, and the handle didn’t move.

Benny couldn’t help but chuckle deprecatingly. Oh, how the tables had turned on him. He had trapped himself in a room with the boy he was infatuated with, stuck in a crappy school building past dismissal time. It seemed destiny was pulling his leg, and he had no choice in the matter.

Ethan raised an eyebrow at the laughing.

“Nothing,” Benny quickly assured, “Just… We couldn’t even get stuck in a cool classroom like biology.”

“And we don’t have our phones,” Ethan noted, his eyebrows furrowed in thought, “No possible way of contacting others.”

Benny nodded. He didn’t know what to tag on; it was his fault they were stuck, anyway. He didn’t want to worsen it and make Ethan despise him even more .

“I… just give me a minute to think about the situation,” stressed Ethan. Benny nodded again.

Ethan sat back down and tapped his fingers on his desk. A minute passed. Benny watched him think, so lost in thought that he didn’t even notice Benny’s stares. A few more minutes passed, and the crease in Ethan’s brows was only deepening. Benny wanted to help him so badly, but he’d already messed everything up. Not only did his confession go haywire, but he botched a simple spell and trapped Ethan.

He had never regretted a spell more. Not even when he had accidentally hexed Erica’s hair green and she threatened to sacrifice him to the council for weeks. Not even when he spelled Mr. G to give him an A, and his grandma found out. Not even when he tried magicking some of Sarah’s fake blood to taste like soda and tasted it himself. Nothing could be worse than this-- this cacophony of confusion and guilt. God, he really shouldn’t dwell in his thoughts, but he couldn’t help it. Ethan looked so utterly pensive, and Benny just knew that he was the root cause of it.

His worst fears were being realized, and he didn’t have a clue about how to amend it. His relationship with Ethan was the most important thing in his life, and like everything else he touched, he ruined it.

By this time, they would have both been beyond home, probably settling in for dinner and video games.

Benny waited for Ethan to say something-- anything-- because the silence was nearly killing him, but he didn’t. Ethan just kept tapping his fingers. The desk reverberated back at him. Benny was out of the loop.

Time streamed by them fruitlessly; it stole the light from the windows and the confidence that they had. It was on a different, faster river; Benny was left to run after it.

Eventually, Ethan sighed and broke away from his thoughtful silence. He grabbed a water bottle out of his nearby bag and drank from it. He paused and held it out to Benny as an afterthought.

“You thirsty?”

In more ways than one.

Benny nodded, and snatched the bottle from Ethan’s loose grip. He chugged it, small rivulets of water catching his cheek and strolling down. He pulled away after a second and grinned, garbling through a mouth full of water.

“Imdirect kiff.”

Ethan flushed red. His ears turned a rosy shade, and he tugged some hair forward to cover them.

“Huh?” He asked, voice airy with an odd mixture of confusion and hope.

Benny didn’t reply. He was too busy gulping back the water and despairing in self-negative thoughts. He had no clue why he had done that.

Ethan was still staring at him.

Benny looked away, willing his cheeks to stop burning. They didn’t comply. And hindsight was truly a bitch. He refused to meet Ethan’s inquisitive gaze; he stared at the floor and picked at his short nails instead. Somehow, among this entire mess, he had managed to do something completely ridiculous and irrational again . In his peripheral vision, he saw Ethan twine his fingers together tightly, to the point of whiteness (one of his nervous tics). Benny’s heart stuttered.

Neither of them moved or made a sound for several minutes. There was only the combined noise of their breathing: Benny’s stilted and Ethan’s indecisively heavy.

God, nothing had ever been this awkward between them. It was so unusual-- so innately deafening for Benny to not be completely comfortable around Ethan. He was abruptly dunked in a pit of ice water, and he was left to flail in the bitterness. He was so accustomed to the warmth, and a fire was near, but-- he hadn’t the courage to pursue it. So he was silent.

It took everything in his limited willpower to not crack open a half-assed joke about being about as straight as 2 radians (because that was equal to a circle, and Ethan would love a math reference) but he didn’t. He couldn’t let himself ruin their relationship even further. Well-- if they still had a relationship and Ethan didn’t completely despise him by this point.

But then the object of his worries spoke.

“Unless… it didn’t have to be indirect?” Ethan’s voice wavered, pitchy and breaking on every other word, but Benny had never heard anything so beautiful .

Benny sputtered for a second, then managed to choke out a few words.

“Not indirect-- wait, what--”

He didn’t have the chance to finish, because Ethan was promptly burrowing under his desk and tucking his limbs away from view, husking himself into a neat shell. When he wanted to be, he could be very flexible. His shoulders folded between his knees, his head ducked into his chest, and his feet slipped underneath his body. He was nearly cornered into a fetal position, if it weren’t for the tremor in his chest and wild, watering eyes. Benny was all too familiar with these symptoms; Ethan was extremely anxious.

“E, it’s okay,” Benny soothed, forgetting all of his stressors in lieu of seeing his best friend hurting. That possessed the utmost priority.

Ethan didn’t respond, so Benny took a little step forward and continued to talk.

“I promise everything’s fine.”

“Just-- Just forget I said anything,” Ethan pleaded, lifting his head just enough to meet Benny’s eyes.

Benny didn’t know quite how to respond to that. How could he simply forget the most suggestive thing his crush has said to him in the history of their friendship? That moment was already ingrained into his memory, and he doubted it would ever leave. But instead of telling Ethan that, he simply extended a hand.

Ethan paused and took a couple of deep breaths, steadying himself. He took the hand, and Benny gently hauled him up. And then, in the same motion, pulled Ethan into his chest.

“Wh--” Ethan began to squeak, but was quickly muffled by Benny’s classically striped shirt. He relaxed into the hug after a few awkward moments, tentatively wrapping his arms around Benny in reciprocation.

They had hugged before, sure, but it was never truly intimate. Usually it was a quick pull and release, or a light half-hug in pictures. They friendship was never very physically close; that was largely a result of the stigmatic culture that they grew up in. Besides, playing video games together was much more fun than have tickle-fights. This time, though, this hug was different-- it was a mental connection as well as physical.

Benny sighed into the hug; it was such a simple gesture, but it seemed that all of his chaotic fretting was vanquished as soon as he was pressed against Ethan. The naturally subduing aura of Ethan was only amplified through physical contact.

Idly, he noticed that more than a few seconds had passed. Was this too long of a hug? Was he making this awkward? Benny grimaced and pulled back, suddenly feeling bad, but--

Ethan didn’t let him get far at all, tugging him back into the hug with a strength neither of them knew he possessed.

“Stay,” mumbled Ethan.

“Okay.” Benny surprisedly breathed out in response. The things he would do for this boy .

“I’m sorry,” said Ethan, ever-apologetic, and Benny couldn’t help but shaking his head against Ethan’s hair.

“Don’t be sorry. I-- uh-- I wanted to talk to you about-- stuff. Actually.”

“Stuff?”

“Yeah.”

Benny failed to elaborate. Ethan lifted his head just enough to stare Benny directly in his eyes, maintaining fierce eye contact. He wasn’t joking around.

“Stuff?” Ethan repeated. He raised a hand, almost as if he were to tuck back the hair falling in front of Benny’s eyes, but then changed his mind and dropped it.

Benny averted his eyes, opting to stare at the door. The moment was finally here. Ethan was asking him so directly, so intently that he couldn’t bring himself to lie. It was actually happening; he was going to confess his undying love for Ethan Morgan. Where he had been previously anxious, Ethan’s “indirect” comment was fueling him. He was on top of the world with adrenaline.

“Uh, well, there aren’t any cherry blossoms falling around us like, uh, all successful anime confessions go, but-- but yeah. So basically I’m in lo-- I love you.” Benny nervously chuckled. He studied Ethan’s face very closely, noting all of the emotions that cycled through it: first confusion, then surprise, then contemplation, a bit of sadness, and then contentedness. Or what Benny hoped was some form of contentedness. Ethan’s face settled on that last emotion, holding it for a time akin to forever; neither of them moved in fear of… so many things. The unknown, rejection, loss of each other-- But it didn’t happen.

After several long moments, Ethan’s thin smile cracked into a wide grin.

“I love you too, dork.”

“So…” Benny prompted, lopsidedly grinning just as wide as Ethan now.

Ethan quirked his brows as a silent question.

“Maybe we could get started on making it not indirect--”

And then the door shuddered, trembled, and rounded it all off with a clicking noise. It wasn’t glowing or moaning anymore, just… still.

Ethan, who had been curled against Benny’s chest, pulled away and hesitantly stepped toward the door. He watched it carefully for a few seconds, before deciding something in his head and walking up to it. Benny almost called out to him, was on the verge of warning him to not mess with fickle magic or he might get hurt, but Ethan had his hand wrapped around the handle before he could. With a subtle but effective flick of the wrist, he turned the knob, and the door… opened. It hinged into the classroom, revealing the empty hallways behind it, inanimate and soundless as ever. It was so normal .

The next thing Benny registered, Ethan was doubled over laughing.

“E…?” He asked, confused beyond belief.

“I-- It--” Ethan laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Benny didn’t understand at all.

“I had a hunch. It-- Your spell was fire-based, right? Fire is connected to passion, and draws power from intensity and enthusiasm. When you cast it, it… Latched onto your conflicted feelings, and created a warped version of a piecewise equation.”

“E, I don’t get how algebra messed up my magic.”

“Imagine it like this: if you still had unexpressed feelings, the door would be shut, and if you had expressed feelings, the door would open.”

“Bruh,” Benny said, at a loss for words. His magic spell had held him hostage in an attempt to get him to disclose his crush? Shit. He would have to ask his Grandma about that later (if she didn’t kill him for his stunt in the first place). Magic backfiring against him was a lot more worrisome than him merely messing up a spell (which he had assumed he had done).

“It’s okay,” Ethan assured him, “It’s all better now. Just… be careful with your powers, okay?”

“Thanks, Mom,” Benny bit back without any real anger. He was more upset with himself for letting this happen.

“B,” called Ethan affectionately, “Come on. Let’s go home, play some new meta, and forget this ever happened.”

Benny looked up from his inner turmoil like a possum caught in headlights.

“Forget… all of it?” Benny asked.

“No. Not all of it. Forget your worries.”

“Hakuna matata,” Benny weakly responded.

“Forget the feeling that you’d ever have to be scared of me,” Ethan clarified. He stepped away from the unlocked door and returned to Benny’s side. He held a hand up and finally brushed that piece of hair out of Benny’s face-- this time, without any hesitancy.

“I--” Benny started, but then Ethan was getting closer, so close, and--

Well, with the way that their lips connected like two halves forming a whole, and the way Ethan’s arms slid seamlessly behind Benny’s neck, and the way time slowed for their benefit--

There was no way it was indirect.

#bethan #mbav #my babysitter's a vampire #mbavholidayexchange #mbav holiday exchange

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prisonerofthegoldenland · 6 years

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The Lion Fragment that we are shown is NOT the real Lion fragment

Not really a new theory per se, but here’s my own personal analysis, on why I think the lion fragment we are shown could very well be a set up Lion fragment, and not the ‘real’ Lion fragment world. (Full word vomit under read-more as always, for those interested in such things~)

(Continued)

Firstly, before I can dive into why the Lion fragment we are shown is probably not the ‘real’ fragment world. We first have to establish a ‘Real Fragment World’ VS a ‘Set-up Fragment world’.

(Hint: Beatrice’s games do NOT count as set-up fragment worlds, because they have no access to a future nor do they harbor any potential of one beyond the game board. AKA: it runs on a limited time-line that cannot ever be extended, it is by all accounts a fake world.)

So, when I say ‘set up fragment’, what I’m talking about is a fragment world that was built entirely by someone. (coff I wonder coff)

and for one of those set-up fragments, we need not look any further than Higurashi’s Saikoroshi-hen arc. Where the ‘friendly’ neighborhood reboot button, (Hanyuu) is actually able to make a ‘What if’ fragment world for Rika.

For those who have not read Higurashi before Umineko here’s a quick synopsis of this fragment world….(or you know a refresher for those who have read Higurashi)

> It is basically a personally catered ‘hell’ for Rika, where all the terrible incidents have no occurred however, Rika’s life is left in a miserable void. aka: it’s a world where everyone but Rika is ‘Happy’. (Rika has technically made it to her miracle world at this point, only to be taken and placed here, so yeah, let it sink in that, the creator of this world enjoys messing around with people regardless of the outcome, they simply want to observe what happens.)

> All the major characters from the story are there, or brought up.

> The only way for Rika to make it out of this set up fragment world (In order to return to the world she worked for) is by killing her Mother. (Had she not killed her Mother it was implied she would be trapped, and that she would live on in this world.)

> When Rika finally does escape by killing her Mother, Hanyuu notes that despite what she did, she need not worry, because it was simply a ‘dream’. (implying that despite the ‘reality’ and possible entrapment of this world, it was on some level, a fake.)

‘Ok, but what does a Higurashi character that doesn’t appear in Umineko have to do with Umineko or Lion’s Fragment?’

Oh, but you have met Hanyuu because, Hanyuu is actually the theater going witch Featherline Augustus Aurora in all her -annoyingly op- glory.

Meaning on some level Featherline has the ability to make fragment worlds based (what I would guess would be) entirely on what she’s observed from previous fragments. -Like a fan-fic writer of worlds- (Does this mean she is only able to make worlds/write based off other things? Debatable honestly, I can argue both ways, but personally, I think it is very likely.)

& actually her name Feather-line also spells out this power for us

“It suggests a line that lacks clear definition either from having been drawn hesitantly, with lots of small strokes rather than a single bold stroke.”

and if you apply the meaning of her name to her possible fragment ‘making’ powers, it could be a large reason Lion’s fragment world is such a Mismatch of piece’s. (Things that Lion themselves never see’s as out of the ordinary, despite the obvious flaws to Will: aka Shannon & Kanon existing there, as well as Beatrice herself showing up to hand over the gold, etc.)

‘But Bernkastel found Lion’s fragment! & based on what you said that makes it a real world fragment!’

Except I don’t believe Bernkastel found the fragment,(and she certainly does not have the power to put fragments together herself, or at least hasn’t been shown to be able to) Therefore, I think she lied about finding the fragment and ‘adding to it’, twisting our perception by calling it a ‘miracle world’. (seeing as she only ‘found’ this fragment after interacting with Aurora, it’s pretty safe to say she was most likely given it) and being Bernkastel with her inferiority complex, she had to pretend like she had the power, that she really did not possess. (and I can’t really fault her for this, because at any given moment Bernkastel is truly 1 moment away from a mental breakdown, and I mean if your abuser came out of nowhere, and demanded, not asked, demanded, your servitude, with no real ability for you to say no, you would probably be a little on edge too.)

there is a very good post linked on my main blog by sg2tiger (Highly recommend reading) detailing how by all accounts Bernkastel is lying about the horrible enviable tragedy in Lion’s fragment. (Given everything we know about the reality of the world it just doesn’t and can’t work, and it’s basically it’s own impossible logic error.)

…Except now that I really look at it, Bernkastel may actually not be lying at all, despite the obvious impossibility if we go by the real-world game-board limits.

To correct the ‘logic-error’ we would just need to openly acknowledge Aurora’s involvement with the fragment, which would just instantly ‘fix’ all the problems, given we know she can build, based solely on what she knows/has seen. (aka her: I do what I want permit for building fragments)

In conclusion: Aurora probably made everything, as well as everyone in Lion’s mashed up fragment, making it it’s own true world.

#Umineko no Naku Koro ni #umineko #umineko chiru #im back!#theory #an actual theory omg #bernkastel #featherline augustus aurora #lions fragment #next time I will be writing about lion not being the real miracle lion #oh boy #on that note though any time you have a character with god powers things just get very confusing #also I don't say this often but damn the more I think about this the more I'm like poor bernkastel #I really want to do an analysis about her and the idea of power #sdkjdnsjkf #so many new ideas

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i0990 · 6 years

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Koroshiya to Strawberry Review

I bought Koroshiya to Strawberry (Killer and Strawberry) because I enjoyed Kamiaso and the character designs are by Kazuki Yone. The killer and underworld setting also looked promising.

Should take this chance to point out, Kazuki Yone only did the character designs, and stuff like cover art and promo images etc. The actual CGs are not done by her. It was already mentioned before the game came out.

In any case, the problem with this game is not with the art at all, but with the writing. I don’t know how they managed to mess it up so bad but they did. It’s not like the game has no plus points. The character interactions are fun, the bgm is good, and the art is actually still quite nice for the most part.

I think it has to do with the expectation from it being a mafia game. I was expecting something more gritty and action packed, and what I played instead was more of a cafe game with lots of talk about food and only a bit of action. It all adds up to a fairly disappointing experience tbh. I’m actually quite annoyed I gave up Piofiore to play this.

For the first time ever in a review I’m just going to outright say I do not recommend this game. More details below but of course there will be spoilers. To sum up the game: too much time wasted, not enough drama.

There is a lot of complaining and ranting in this review.

*spoilers after the cut*

Plot: Outright the weakest part of this game. There is a common route at first, after which you’ll be asked to choose which guy’s route you want to play. Noin is locked until you complete the other guys. So a game with only 6 routes, all of which are fairly short, and yet, they all share the same generic route. Once you pick a route the key story progression is pretty much:

Incident A => Outing => Present => Incident B => Conflict => Ending

Maybe they wanted to be consistent in their story writing but it ends up being really dull. I don’t want to plan the same assassination over and over again 6 times. Kamiaso InFinite had the same problem where the routes share the same generic pattern (let’s just do everyone’s birthdays yeah), but that’s a fandisc. This kind of copy pasta is just annoying in a main game, especially when it’s not a long game. On hindsight, it makes me glad it’s not a long game. Hasegawa and Noin are the only routes that felt less repetitive, although they still follow the same progression.

The game starts with Ichigo being delivered to Tsukikage, where she’s told she’ll be under their protection. He gives her a smartphone to type on because she can’t speak. Ichigo wonders if this is part of further experiments on her and we see her feeling uneasy whenever someone is nice to her because it all seems like a dream that can be easily destroyed. She’s obviously broken in some way and the guys are killers. So the start of the game was actually quite promising, then as I played it all just fell apart.

The pacing is terrible. Most of the game is just fluff, then suddenly all the conflict is squeezed into the end and feels really rushed. Any tension that occurs in the middle of the route is usually non plot relevant. Like Izuna’s traffic accident, or the locked door in Amon’s route. There’s too much talk about food and coffee. They do discuss assassin stuff like guns and gear etc, but these are not things that are particularly interesting just being talked about. Basically there’s too much time wasted with close to zero plot progression. It’s a game where the guys are hire killers. Where’s the drama? Where’s the angst? >:(

There’s fighting but it’s not well written. For instance in Tsukimi’s sniping scene, the screen blacks out when he takes the shot, after that it’s already them at the bottom of the building. Matsuri then shows up to say she’s taking Ichigo because she thinks Ichigo won’t be happy with Tsukimi, then relents when Ichigo insists she’s happy with Tsukimi. Like ????? The conflict just seems really pointless. After playing the other routes it makes some of the characters’ previous actions more understandable, but if they want to hint at a deeper connection between two chars they shouldn’t do it in a way that ruins the route.

Ichigo does not get her voice or name back in all routes except one. This is a bit of a downer tbh. The romance isn’t very well written, and Ichigo gets attached to the guy very quickly after they are nice to her. It was nice seeing Ichigo get more expressive over the course of the story. Noin’s route, being the final one, is the most informative and has more closure, although the reveal that he’s the boss of Tsukikage wasn’t very surprising. It explain’s Ichigo’s origins. After playing through everything, some of the stuff that previously made no sense is sort of explained, but overall I still don’t like the writing.

Characters: The saving grace that made this game enjoyable. I had the most fun with the character interactions. The guys, despite being killers, have rather colourful personalities. Tsukimi likes making sweets and is terrible at reading the mood. Izuna is like the only sane man in the shop raging at the others, and likes making food with gourmet ingredients. Kurama is a doctor who charges exorbitant prices and isn’t good with socializing. Amon is super exuberant. Noin is a cranky shota and a bit of a tsundere. Hasegawa seems stoic but is actually really sweet. It was funny seeing them make jokes at each other or scolding each other.

The side characters aren’t too bad, but there aren’t many of them. Matsuri is a cool big sis character who looks out for Ichigo in her way. Shirakawa was funny in Hasegawa’s route. Rakia doesn’t show up much.

Ichigo, despite having a blank personality and no voice, was surprisingly likeable. She starts out as this doll-like girl and slowly regains her emotions and starts doing things out of her own initiative more. Some of her responses are also funny, like the time Shirakawa was like ‘Let’s be friends :)’ but Ichigo just went ‘Sorry that will be difficult. Age gap too big.’ Of course her personality is still pretty blank for the most part but for a girl who’s been a lab rat and hasn't been outside for over a year what would you expect. Ichigo is cute XD

System/Interface: This game loses lots of points for having a main feature that as of now, two weeks after release, still doesn’t work -- the broken music player. Broccoli must know about the bug by now, so I can only assume they aren’t fixing it either because they don’t know how to or they can’t be bothered. Or maybe they think if they leave it as it is it’ll force players to buy the ost.

Aside from that the loading time is bad, just like the Kenka Bancho Otome fd. Every time Ichigo recalls something the screen flashes white, then flashes white again when transitioning back to the present. Okay if it’s once off, very irritating when she’s recalling multiple things back to back. Long loading time also means there’s a part of Hasegawa’s route where you will stare at a black screen for a while before hearing a loud sound from the game suddenly.

Don’t think you can toggle skip mode without accessing the settings menu. I found the font a bit small when I started playing but this isn’t a big issue and I got used to it. Instead of Ichigo’s sprite they put a smartphone at the lower left corner. You would think with a heroine that can’t speak a sprite would be good since we at least see her expressions, but nope. Broccoli thinks players would rather stare at a blank phone screen. The only plus feature is the ‘skip to next option’.

Trophy collection is straightforward in general. If you are missing a CG for full complete try replaying the scene where Hasegawa and Ichigo are in the car on their way to buy stuff and select the other options.

Art/Music: The music for this game is really nice. I like it a lot. But I won’t buy the soundtrack because I don’t want to throw money at Broccoli >_> The OP grew on me heh.

The art isn’t bad, despite it not being actual Kazuki Yone CGs. Most of them look pretty good. A few of the sprites are used in the CGs (Tsukimi’s back-facing sprite being the most common) but this isn’t a huge issue. There are so many CGs of Ichigo in various outfits and expressions lol. During one of the fight scenes they used this one:

which was funny because that is totally not the expression of someone freaking out and trying to stop a fight.

Ichigo’s smartphone does make some of the CGs look a bit silly imo but that can’t really be helped.

Look at the poor girl frantically trying to get Matsuri to look at her phone :/

In the end I would say the most frustrating thing about the game is how much promise it had, and how good it could have been. Certain things like Ichigo and Matsuri’s connection could have been explored more. Or a bit more about how the guys got into their profession. Giving the antagonistic organization a bigger presence would have been good too, instead of them being a sort of vaguely mentioned and never seen organisation. If only they had taken the time to smooth everything out nicely and not rush things. It feels like a game that didn’t have enough effort put into it by the company, trying to make up for it with nice packaging.

This is the most disappointing vita game I’ve bought to date and unless you are the sort who doesn’t care about shoddy writing, really, save yourself the pain of playing Korosuto.

#koroshiya to strawberry #killer and strawberry #korosuto #otome game #broccoli #spoilers #korosuto spoilers #korosuto review

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gascon-en-exil · 6 years

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I Liked Fates Before It Was Cool!: Birthright Part 1

Prologue

Opening Chapters

Chapters 6-11, in which Hoshido’s military is extremely disorganized and only regroups because the mere idea of Ryoma is just that awesome.

Chapter 6

Not much to say here. Corrin tells Xander they’re siding with Hoshido against Garon and implores him to do the same, Xander accuses them of being brainwashed and, after repeated refusals, tries to kill Corrin. Following this is a chapter that will probably be finished during the first enemy phase unless Ryoma gets really unlucky. I suppose it makes sense that this is the shortest of the three versions of Chapter 6 as Corrin went to the border already with the Hoshidans. While it’s kind of neat that all the Hoshidan royals are playable on this map as a bit of a preview, note that this is the fourth of just seven chapters in which Ryoma has appeared as a unit prior to his formal recruitment. We get it already, the guy’s an OP powerhouse and a clear favorite of the writers.

This is also where I should probably bring up My Castle, but I don’t have much to say here as it was never a feature I particularly enjoyed. Other FEs have addressed the concept of a base for your army integrated into gameplay far better than this. Genealogy and the Tellius games and others may not let you perv on your units taking a bath or disgust them with your horrendous cooking, but what does that really add to the experience? I know, I know, a bunch of small and scattered stat boosts....

Chapter 7

Oh, silly banter in the middle of an attack while surrounded by wounded and dying soldiers. Never change, FE. But seriously, even if he’s just Cordelia with a dick whose semen produces more Cordelias let’s take the time to appreciate that Subaki is the series’s first playable male pegasus knight. Fates’s take on classes is actually very egalitarian, a fact that often gets lost in its sea of fanservice and subtle story-enforced misogyny and everything about <insert character whose gender/sexuality-related presentation offends you most>. Moving on.

I’m still not entirely clear what happens to the Hoshidan army between this chapter and the preceding one. They really appear to just break ranks and scatter: Corrin and co. go fool around in the astral plane with Lilith, Ryoma and Takumi lead some of their forces toward Izumo (why?), no one cares about Hinoka, and Sakura retreats here to Fort Jinya to tend to the wounded at a makeshift military hospital. It makes sense that the Hoshidan army wouldn’t have the strictest organization thanks to their years of protection under Mikoto’s barrier, but the problem is the game never tells us that and we’re left to infer these things based on the events of the next few chapters.

The Nohrians meanwhile are still on the offensive, but they screwed up by sending Silas’s unit to attack the fort. Silas has an unhealthy attachment to Corrin that frankly rivals Camilla’s, and his abrupt defection here because he wants to hang out with his partially amnesiac BFF undoubtedly bodes ill for anyone associated with him when news of it reaches Nohr. I guess it’s cute in my case that Silas’s obsession with Corrin knows no gender, but the guy probably steals underwear to sniff. Saizo is entirely justified in being suspicious of him.

Paralogue 1

Oh yeah, I forgot all about this chapter. Mozu’s just not as memorably meme-worthy as Donnel, and recruiting her is less frustrating since you’re not forced to make her poke things in her joining chapter. It does make the Faceless seem like more of a threat to Hoshido, although as a consequence playing through this paralogue in Conquest always feels a little weird. This plus the first Castle Invasion were mostly for EXP and support farming. For anyone wondering, I’m going to be keeping most of my characters in their default class sets since I don’t feel like grinding skills or anything elaborate like that. Also, I’m playing on Normal, so I’ve got a lot of latitude in how I play which is how I prefer FE anyway.

Chapter 8

Hinoka sums up my feelings on her and her retainers. Azama’s got some amusing lines and if I knew more about Buddhism his...interesting take on philosophy would probably be even funnier, but that’s about it. And yeah, Hinoka really just does pop onto the scene with no explanation except that she’s also trailing her brothers and I guess everyone really did forget about her. Sucks to be a late development addition.

Iago tosses the conflict ball to ensure the party’s trip to the Wind Tribe village is a rough one, though since Fuga was set on testing Corrin’s worth by sending a bunch of his tribesmen to get slaughtered by their army anyway I wonder why he even bothered. This is a rare case of a desert map that isn’t a frustrating pain in the ass, because it’s small and there are Dragon Veins to reduce the amount of sand. I also like how even on the lowest difficulty of the easiest route the game is already throwing a boss at you with some annoying skills. Fuga’s motivations may be silly, but at least he leaves us with the memory of a good chapter, some cryptic foreshadowing for the Yato, and a shota wind mage who unfortunately continues in the tradition of Ricken stepping away from their archetypical dynamic after Tellius made it just a little too close to explicitly gay.

Chapter 9

Izana, huh...Izana is...

Let’s talk about Zola!

Zola is one of the rare Fates villains who isn’t (always) exactly what he looks like. On first glance he’s just a typical simpering syncophant with a fitting talent for illusions, but he actually comes with a bit of a character arc in Birthright which I have to say I wasn’t expecting. It was almost as unexpected as Leo’s unexplained appearance at the end of this chapter to kick off said arc by leaving Zola exiled. One big problem I have with Fates is how characters have a tendency to teleport around off-screen as the plot demands it, distance between locations or basic geography be damned, but it’s marginally more forgivable here since Leo is shown later in this route to know how to perform literal teleportation.

I believe this is also one of the only times in Birthright where Hinoka gets to do something that affects the plot, so good on her for acting suspicious of fake!Izana. She’ll go right back to being overshadowed by her brothers - including being overshadowed at being overshadowed - soon enough.

Izumo’s role as the designated neutral nation is delved into more thoroughly in Conquest, weirdly enough. Here Corrin and co. get left only with a vague directive to head toward the Bottomless Canyon and some of Azura’s song lyrics. That’s kind of a good thing, because I’ve got nothing on Izana now. I get that he’s an amusing surprise the first time around, but...who wrote him like that?

Chapter 10

Allow me to divert for a moment from the Takumi angst to pick some very large nits with the geography of this game. In the previous chapter Corrin learned that Ryoma and Takumi had been pushed to the Bottomless Canyon, which is nowhere near their location - but hold onto that thought. The canyon is clearly northwest of Izumo, yet the party goes south to Mokushu allegedly in an effort to reach them there. Fates has a bad time in general with giving a good impression of where its events are taking place, partly because the scale of the map is odd and not helped by it being a topographic rather than a political map like in every other FE, partly because there are times like this where the information presented appears to be simply wrong. What’s worse, the major plot development surrounding Takumi’s possession in Birthright does not, at least so far as I recall, necessitate that he have been possessed by Anankos or anyone else connected to the Bottomless Canyon. I’ll certainly be revisiting this when the time comes.

But...whatever. In spite of everyone getting lost except Ryoma (because of course) this is actually a good chapter, with a cramped map filled with environmental hazards to add challenge. The treachery of Mokushu spans all three routes and is one of those set pieces that benefits from development in each of them. Kotaro’s connection to the, er, Christmas ninjas (and elsewhere, Shura) isn’t developed here unless you choose to have them engage him in combat, but that just saves stuff for the other routes.

Chapter 11

Pictured: easily one of the most forgettable playable characters in this game. It’s a shame too, because she’s the only default kinshi knight and her bits of dialogue and few supports offer hints of an interesting backstory that would speak to gender roles in Hoshido. Alas, she’s merely a Corrinsexual.

This chapter itself is filler, but mechanically it’s good filler. Your new OP archer royal gets plenty of targets for his bow, there are some promoted generics to spice things up, and the Dragon Veins can either help or hinder you depending on how you use them. I don’t care for the antagonist fake-out between the opening and closing cutscenes and the chapter proper - where did possessed!Sumeragi the mysterious swordsman go while you were fighting the fliers? - but that’s a minor quibble. Corrin already beat that guy.

A larger problem is with Takumi’s development, or rather lack thereof. As I said last time the events of the opening chapters explain his initial hostility to Corrin (and Azura) quite well, and Mikoto’s death only reinforces that feeling. Why then does that hostility vanish so quickly in Birthright? Just one chapter after recruitment and he’s already turned his characteristic prickliness onto Zola instead, and I don’t recall it appearing much again except in the context of possession. It’s only the route the ends with Takumi as the final boss that allows him space for his feelings to develop organically (albeit in a negative direction), possibly because Conquest is the only one in which he’s not beholden to love Corrin like all playable characters in Avatar-centered games.

Next time: Birthright Chapter 12 - 18

#Fire Emblem #Fire Emblem Fates #Fire Emblem Birthright #FE14

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bloodfromtherock-blog · 6 years

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KAVANAUGH & THE CORONATED CREEPS

Daniel Hutchens October 10, 2018

"It would be naive to depend on the Supreme Court to defend the rights of poor people, women, people of color, dissenters of all kinds. Those rights only come alive when citizens organize, protest, demonstrate, strike, boycott, rebel, and violate the law in order to uphold justice." -Howard Zinn **********************************************

Kavanaugh repeatedly lied to the US Senate under oath during his job interview for Justice of the Supreme Court. These lies have been well-documented at this point, and aren’t even being contested; the essence of the reply from the Republican oligarchy is, “It doesn’t matter.”

And American women at this point have been demoted to second-class citizens by the Trump administration. This is clearly observable. Trump’s attacks on women are relentless; his push toward more restrictive policies on contraception and abortion, his rollback of gender equality pay laws, removal of paycheck transparency, forced arbitration clauses for sexual harassment, sexual assault or discrimination claims...for me, as the father of an 11 year old daughter, this is all a sinister slap in the face. But more to the point, Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court now puts Trumpsters firmly in control of the move to strike down Roe v. Wade. Understand this clearly: female American citizens are considered nothing more than property by the Old Boys Club, and women’s voices regarding reproductive rights and their own bodies are considered irrelevant. In Trump’s eyes, women are cattle to be branded and used as deemed appropriate.

Kavanaugh is staunchly anti-abortion and has no intent of ruling objectively on this issue. When Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, shadily swung her support to Kavanaugh during the hearings, she apparently felt compelled to grandstand dishonestly for the cameras, maybe in deference to the power of the #MeToo movement, considering her stature as a female Senator. Her behavior reeks of a back room deal, after her previous assertions that if Kavanaugh lied he should be disqualified. She helped Republicans by putting a woman’s face on their warped campaign to shame and discredit survivors of sexual assault, thereby aiding Trump’s shitty backlash against #MeToo, and his brain dead catch phrase, “It’s a very scary time for young men in America.” #MeToo is so powerful that people like Susan Collins have to pretend to support it. She said that Kavanaugh would preserve Roe v Wade and legal abortion. Bullshit. “Operation Rescue,” a group working since the ‘80s to “make America abortion free,” and the rest of the extremist anti-woman crowd have all supported Kavanaugh’s nomination right down the line.

The looming abortion showdown is grim news for American women and those who care about them, alright. The notion that there’s some religious or ethical justification behind returning to back-alley amateurs and economically-selective access to these medical procedures is a sleazeball scam. And just for the record, the “religious right” who have supported Trump have completely forfeited all claim on morality, forevermore, end of discussion. Their previous hand-wringing over opposition candidates for sexual scandals, affairs etc.—then their ridiculous postures that “God chose Trump,” and they “weren’t electing a Sunday school teacher,” their transparent indifference to his cheating on all his wives with porn stars, scamming American citizens with rackets like Trump University etc., his history of racist business practices, his shady record of tax fraud and his whole laundry list of decidedly unChristian behavior, in the most basic sense of spirituality and genuine concern for others, which some of our parents actually schooled us about...yeah, those evangelical hucksters are exposed and discredited and can shut their mouths permanently about abortion and everything else. There are people with genuine soul convictions about these issues, but there are also plenty of imposters and their servility to a snake like Trump spotlights their insincerity. Ye shall know ‘em by their fruits, I’ve heard tell.

Of COURSE Trump wanted Kavanaugh on the Court. Kavanaugh has confirmed himself as a “get out of jail free card" should Trump ever be charged with any crime. Not to mention that Trump and Kavanaugh are plainly fellow members of a perverse fraternity we might as well call “The He-Man Woman Haters Club,” with apologies to the Little Rascals. They both have histories of a predatory mindset, insulting attitudes toward women in general (and no, hiring a few females or minorities does not erase acts of bigotry, and none of us fail to understand the concept of “making only a perfunctory or symbolic effort to do a particular thing, especially by recruiting a small number of people from underrepresented groups in order to give the appearance of sexual or racial equality”)…and Trump’s recent sideshow of mocking Dr. Ford was one of the most jaw-droppingly ugly little political performances this nation has witnessed in many years. (Excepting other Trump tantrums, of course.) Not so long ago, such a warped demonstration would have dropped like a stone any American politician from favor by both parties, immediately and with extreme prejudice. Not so in today’s world of Trumpian “alternative facts” and low-rent bullying.

Also revisit the whole Justice Kennedy/Deutsch Bank scandal, and put the pieces together. Plenty of in-depth and sobering articles are available on this subject, and the bottom line takeaway is that Russian money and influence indeed are swaying American policy and elections, and the whole thing is directly tied to the slow-moving Republican/Russian takeover of everything from our Supreme Court on down. By all means, don’t take my word for it, but by all means do your own research and do your own thinking. But these topics expand and branch out mighty far. Let’s snap focus back onto Kavanaugh.

******************************** “The politically convenient, scientifically baseless theory that sexual assault so traumatized Christine Blasey Ford she mixed up her attacker is now something like common wisdom for many Republicans… less than three weeks ago, when the mistaken-identity theory was first formulated, it was so widely ridiculed that a pundit who advanced it on Twitter subsequently apologized and offered to resign from his job.” -Avi Selk ********************************

Some of Kavanaugh’s defenders have criticized Dr. Ford for being “coached” and otherwise manipulated. I have no doubt she got some advice from lawyers, etc., nor that the timing and presentation of her complaints were orchestrated through Democratic channels. That’s the name of the game in Big Time American Politics, folks. But her testimony was believable and compelling, and she retained adult composure through her emotions (it’s tough to imagine the storm of criticism she would have received from Republicans if she had behaved anything like Kavanaugh.) But the implication that Kavanaugh wasn’t also coached (with a professional eye toward manipulating opinion) is high-grade bullshit, or else a stunning level of naivete. Kavanaugh’s TV appearance in which he portrayed himself as a meek little virgin til long after high school, etc., was harshly disapproved of by Team Trump, and they coached him up with specific instructions for the Senate hearing: their advice was that he needed to unleash his anger. And Kavanaugh ran with the “anger” bit and it got away from him; that much-reported nasty temperament of his glared through the cracks in his public facade, and it wasn’t a pretty sight.

Kavanaugh’s face...God have mercy. Now in addition to Trump, we have another bitter, hideous visage to haunt our collective dreams. Understand we’re not discussing aesthetics. I’m referring to that old notion that eyes are the windows to the soul, and that intuitive interpretation of facial displays gives us significant information about an individual’s attitude, sense of humor, empathy...or the lack of it. And we were burned by flashes of Kavanaugh’s inner demons during the hearing. Much like Trump, Kavanaugh’s features contorted into a repellent mask of childish temper, ill-mannered impatience and lurking malevolence. It was a freak show that could have taught Hollywood’s monster make-up artists a trick or two. To the extent that Kavanaugh was moved (instructed) to write a quasi-apologetic op-ed piece after the hearing. But we all know what we saw.

During that hearing he raged at those who had questioned his nomination and he hinted not-so-subtly at retribution. He was prodded by White House counsel Don McGahn, who sat directly behind Kavanaugh during the hearing. The whole performance was sickeningly indignant, unashamedly entitled and arrogant, and stunningly partisan in a way that would have disqualified any nominee from previous years—but again, not so in today’s atmosphere of Trumpian distortion and pettiness.

Plenty of us out here recognize Kavanaugh for who he is. We’ve all known “that guy” in our lives; the spoiled, sneering little punkass who talks differently about women as soon as they walk out the door, and who suffers delusions of superiority, and who no one wants to hear any more shit from down at the corner bar.

Kavanaugh’s appointment was questioned or condemned by vast numbers in this country, represented by such organizations as the American Bar Association, Yale Law School, over 2400 Law Professors nationwide, many former classmates and friends, and the National Council of Churches (which represents 100,000 churches and about 45 million churchgoers.) Not to mention the many womens’ groups, the #MeToo movement, etc. Such outright opposition to a nominee for the Supreme Court is extraordinary, and the fact that said opposition was mocked, belittled and outright ignored by the Republicans determined to ram this nomination through come hell or high water—“we’re going to plow right through it,” as Mitch McConnell claimed without shame—yeah, such utter disregard for mass portions of the population is ominous. (And by the way, Trump’s dumbassed claim that Kavanaugh was “proven innocent” indicates a farcical, childish lack of legal comprehension.)

And of course, the meager FBI “investigation” allowed was nothing but a front. The whole circus was rushed and hushed, with zero perceivable interest in knowing the real truth. If team Trump had any interest in uniting the country or in general fairness, they could have trotted out any of a dozen other nominees, all of whom would even have satisfied the wish list of the conservative right, without all the unnecessary baggage. But there are higher priorities for these particular elected officials than fairness or the genuine best interests of the nation.

To pretend Kavanaugh isn’t a partisan shill now planted in the land’s highest court is preposterous belief in “alternative facts” and simplistic hype. The only ones who are fooled by Trump’s blather at this point are those who want to be fooled. His outright nonsense and habitual lies are easily spotted from miles away, but the sad fact is that his supporters don’t give a fuck. They don’t care if he lies, or demeans women or minorities or stirs up international diplomatic firestorms with “shithole countries”-style verbal diarrhea. As Trump himself famously said, he could “shoot somebody and not lose voters.” It’s strangely, sadly true.

It’s also true of Trump’s new handpuppet, Kavanaugh. To whom the idea of “a personality that is even-handed, unbiased, impartial, and dedicated to a process, not a result” in no way applies. Certainly not at this point, after he ranted about “the revenge of the Clintons,” and openly attacked “the Left,” “Democrats” and (for Crissakes) “the media” during his whinefest in front of the US Senate…beyond the pale, folks. We live in a strange new land, in strange new times.

Post-American, by many accounts. The much-revered and much-hated icon of the Left, Michael Moore, predicted Trump’s election in a written article in 2016. The prediction was often reprinted and ballyhooed as campaign-banner fodder by the Far Right. But they missed the warning flash of Moore’s article, and the unnerving prediction: “And now you’re fucked…When the rightfully angry people of Ohio and Michigan and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin find out after a few months in office that President Trump wasn’t going to do a damn thing for them, it will be too late to do anything about it…Goodnight America. You’ve just elected the last president of the United States.”

Pretty dramatic words, but unfortunately the further we sink into the era of the Trump regime, the less incredible such sentiments sound. We’re witnessing an active dismantling and attempted discrediting of institutions ranging from public education to the Free Press. And the schemed attack on the Supreme Court, again, has proven successful for far-righters who don’t give a damn about being even-handed or protecting an independent judiciary.

Trump said that Dr. Ford seemed “a very credible witness”and “very compelling” on one day. Then a few days later he openly mocked her like he was a dimwitted schoolkid. He gushed about what a great man Kavanaugh is, then the next day said, “I don’t even know him!” It’s all topsy-turvy and bizarre, the truth is treated like a curious artifact from a long-dead age, and Trump’s supporters act like it’s all “normal.” But it’s not. And the glimmer of hope is that there are plenty of us out here who understand perfectly well that Emperor Trump ain’t wearing any clothes. We see very clearly what’s happening in this country, the legitimizing of white supremacy, misogyny, homophobia, and bigotry of every stripe. We see you. We see you and know you and so does the whole world, and so will the history books, baby.

“I know Brett Kavanaugh but I wouldn’t confirm him,” wrote Benjamin Wittes, who had previously published and even admired Kavanaugh. “I cannot condone the partisanship—which was raw, undisguised, naked, and conspiratorial—from someone who asks for public faith as a dispassionate and impartial judicial actor. His performance was wholly inconsistent with the conduct we should expect from a member of the judiciary.”

And the message to women in this country, again, is sadly obvious. “Shut the hell up. Because if you ever dare to speak up about this kind of thing again, we will openly ridicule you and no one in power will ever take you seriously.”

******************************************** “Kavanaugh, though, has a distinct honor: He will be the first justice nominated by someone who lost the popular vote to earn his seat on the bench with support from senators representing less than half of the country while having his nomination opposed by a majority of the country.” -Philip Bump *********************************************

CODA: Yeah. The country is divided in a way it hasn’t been since Vietnam. Extremists are multiplying, and they’re nurturing diseases that were seething under the surface for many years before Trump. And indeed, we’re witnessing a perverse resurgence of tolerance for fascism and white supremacism worldwide. But here in America, Trump is the ringmaster of the new Ugliness; his lowering the bar of public discourse, his smug approval of greed and cruelty, his nod-and-a-wink okey-dokes to racism, misogyny and all manner of bigotry—he has legitimized, pardoned and coronated the creeps, the rotten underbelly of our society, the very worst we have to offer.

Let’s vote some of these bastards out in November, folks.

#Kavanaugh #Trump #SupremeCourt #Resist #MeToo #DrChristineBlaseyFord

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shinyzango · 6 years

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Ok I mentioned this a few times in the past but here’s the thing with me and Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.

I want to love DD, I really do. But I’ve grown with the first 2 games, played them hundreds of times, know them inside out. There is a reason why I consider this series one of my all-time favorites. Yes the games have their flaws (too much dialogue to say an example), but they’re charming. The Lore and characters are amazing. The music is powerful and memorable. The gameplay is fun for being your average JRPG game. And don’t get me started on the amazing sprite work (keep in mind, these cames were for the GBA. Think of Donkey Kong Country. It’s basically the same concept).

Now picture this. After a 8 years gap of no new GS games, Dark Dawn for the DS was announced. To say that I was hysterical is an understatement.

Now let’s not consider the fact that at the time I didn’t have money so I had to emulate it on a flashcard and I had issues finding a working rom file... I played it. I finished it.

...and I was left midly disappointed. There was just so much wrong with the game.

The story is a mess. The Overworld graphics are kinda sucky and it plays way too floaty compared to the past games. The characters are honestly not all that memorable. The gameplay elements that made the previous games so fun are kinda sucky. The music is honestly pretty forgettable (I’ve played DD twice and I can’t remember a single music from it :/). And guess what? Spoiler alert:

HUGE CLIFFHANGER AT THE END. OF AN PLOT ELEMENT THAT WAS WHAT STARTED THE WHOLE GAME AND NEVER GOT MENTIONED THROUGH OUT THE WHOLE GAME UNTIL THE END WITH A “AND EVERYONE LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER--O SHIT WAIT THERE’S THAT THING FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME TO TAKE CARE OF REMEMBER? WELL TOO BAD GAME’S OVER U DOUCHE”

But despite all the hate I have for it, there are some things that I liked a lot.

For example, everything reguarding the battles. The inbattle graphics are outstanding, the flow is fast and fun, and the new mechanics introduced are super fun, making even the most basic weapons you get all that useful and interesting. Also loved how they finally designed every single Djinn instead of using the same default design for all of them. And on a side note, I honestly love Sveta’s design, but as a playable character... she’s waaay too OP imo.

Also another Spoiler Alert: I don’t like how they handled the introduction of the party members. I mean heck, you end up getting the last 2 members basically at the last part of the game so you don’t get the time to familiarize with them and experiment with their classes and their unique Psynergies. Case on point, Himi. As a playable character, she got a unique class type and super cool unique psynergies. But up to that point you already got used to have the other party members as your bread-and-butter squad, so she’s just... there. Also the whole Third Eye and Search Psynergy she got is literally a ripoff of Zelda’s Sheikah Tribe symbol and Lens of Truth respectively, and that has always been my biggest pet peeve in DD.

Oh that’s also another thing that pissed me off. They had this fantastic idea of “spicing up” the Reveal Psynergy from the previous games, my favorite Overworld psynergy, and split it into 2 useless psynergies. Now, for those who haven’t played the first 2 GS games, Reveal allowed you to see hidden secrets in the overworld. See a circle of rocks? There’s something in the middle of it. Use Reveal to see through the invisibility and pick the item. See a bunch of checkable jars and barrels? Use Reveal to see if they hold anything in them instead of wasting your time checking every single one of them. And this mechanic was also used to solve puzzles as it would allow you to reveal useful hints on how to proceed. Now, what did they do in DD? They split it into 2 psynergies: Insight and Search. The previously mentioned Search Psynergy, which is literally only used to open up specific areas in the Overworld and render visible hidden objects, instead of just opening a window upon the unseen. And the Insight Psynergy is literally a hint button. I just shows you what objects are interactable with which Psynergy. So yeah, I was pretty pissed off by these.

...OH YEAH, YOU KNOW WHAT’S ALSO VERY BAD IN DD?

NO BACKTRACKING.

You missed a Djinn or any unique item or equipment? WELL TOUGH SHIT, YOU LOST IT FOREVER. The game works on checkpoints. After you reach certain points in the story, something will make it impossible for you to go back to the older areas.

Now picture me, used to the previous games where even at endgame you could go back to any place in the entire map to recover Djinns or secrets I missed. I play through DD with the intention of going back before the end of the game to recover all the Djinns I missed. Just to discover that I couldn’t go back anymore. I was. So angry that day.

*ahem*

...so, to conclude this long rant over Dark Dawn: I really want to love this game, because it had potential. But there are just so many things done wrong compared to the previous games that just makes me cringe at the mere thought of attempting playing it again.

#zango rants about Golden Sun Dark Dawn

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darkspellmaster · 6 years

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Thoughts on E3 2018 -EA

I’m going to start this out by saying right now that I’m basing my review of Nintendo on what they showed in the Treehouse as well as the main direct. So the score is going to be based on what we know by the end of day three of the treehouse, and the same for the other groups if they had additional presentations after their main show.

So let’s start with EA….Oh EA….

Starting out with the Host Andrea Rene, who I feel got stuck in a rock and a hard place with this weak presser, as she’s known for being a better host for her other appearances. Honestly, I somewhat had to honestly cringe on her segment with Respawn’s developer Vince Zampella due to the weird comment about getting to hold a light saber. Like I don’t know if she was trying to be funny, sarcastic, or sexy here? I was confused with it. Again, I don’t blame her for the conference, but I didn’t feel like she was a good fit for this given the response. Then again, I don’t think that anyone could have made that Conference work.

As for the games shown, I have a few thoughts.

Battlefield V looks nice, presentation wise, but given that it’s mostly a cinematic trailer, we didn’t really get to see a lot of in game footage. What we did learn though from Dice was that the environments are now destructive, and you can dive roll out windows (which might be interesting if you’re into that) as well as having movable artillery (which didn’t happen in the last game) which could be useful if you’re into that. Also they reiterated the lack of Loot Boxes and premium passes, yet didn’t mention anything about a deal with microtransactions. On top of this they’re bringing back a Battle Royal to the game.

There’s not much I can say on this other then what has been said already, although the fact that it’s pretty much what DICE has been doing in regard to the main series anyway. Given that leveling up has some ties to currency, I’m wondering if in lieu of loot boxes they’re just going to microtransaction this game. What has me a bit worried about the Single player aspect of the game is that there’s hints that it’s going to be tied into the live service which makes me think that it’s going to be limited play offline, and for someone that prefers playing mostly off line…

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order had no trailer at all. Just Respawn’s Vince Zampella explaining what it is. I’m not even sure if they were planning to have it be something to be presented (why even mention it if it’s not ready to be?) but it was a really odd vibe with that moment. The game itself doesn’t seem to have a lot going on. What we know was that it’s taking place between Episodes III and IV, and deals with a padawaan that escaped from Anakin’s moment of being nutty and you can use lightsabers. However, unless this is Kaan’s story we’re kind of running into the whole “Luke not being the last Jedi” story thus nullifying the line that Yoda said somewhat. Unless he or she never takes the Jedi oath. I mean, sounds cool, but we don’t even know what sort of type of game it is. We do know it will be out during the Holiday season 2019. So that’s a plus, but I would think that we’d at least have gotten a quick moment of something to see.

Star Wars Battlefront II made me roll my eyes a bit, as it was repeated trailer footage over and over, which personally annoys me, but I guess was the only thing they had to show. So we saw the new Solo Content, Yay –I guess? And learned we’re getting an expansion for the Clone Wars with Obi Wan, Grievous, Dooku and Anakin showing up for that. No surprise that EA had the Director of the game saying that they made some mistakes over EA actually apologizing for their horrible practices. Yeah, no EA, you don’t get a pass for any of the BS you pulled this past year.

Unravel 2 by Coldwood Interactive came out the day of the conference, which was a nice change of pace. I will say this much the creative team was nervous, but showed a great deal of love for Yarny and his new companion. The fact that this is local co-op is a plus, and seems to be a fun game. Already I’m loving the blue Yarny and it looks like it’s going to be a strong story. The one thing that was rather sad about this game is that it’s not coming to the Switch and –apparently according to the development team via Twitter –they don’t have the resources to do that, even though this game and the previous one would have been a good choice for the Switch. The fact that the team said it wishes they could do it makes me wonder if EA is sending any money the way of the Originals teams that they have. If not, they should start considering porting games like this to the switch because I can tell you it will sell even more over on that console then the Xbox and PS4.

Sea of Solitude is yet another Indie that I would say saved the EA presser from falling into a F grade and leaves it at an E. The creative director from Jo –Mei games, the creators of this game from Germany, Cornelia Geppert, was extremely cute and excited to be on stage. Her infectious excitement made people applaud even more when they put the trailer on the screen. The thing that caught my attention about this game is that it covers the idea of depression and loneliness in a very strong and very direct way. The designs of the monsters and the story about a human becoming a bird like creature, which I think has ties to German folklore is really cool and again, I wish this was coming to the switch, although we don’t know at this point if it will or won’t. If EA was smart it would allow for it.

And then EA decided to screw up the love that was being given to them via the indies by pulling out…a mobile game of Command and Conquer.

Command and Conquer: Rivals…I have words about this. The original game series was a Real Time strategy game that had a lot of complexity to the creation of the game play and the set up to maintain and manage your resources while taking out the opposing team. The last game of this nature from the Command and conquer franchise came out in 2013, on PC, and then Victory was shuttered. Which leads us to the new game. Command and Conquer Rivals is mobile and while the team does boast some former members that worked on Command and Conquer a lot of the game play relies on the idea of tapping the smart phone screen. There’s no camera movement so you’re in a static place and can’t see what’s around you to figure out what you need to do. Given the reaction to Rivals so far, it seems like people are not too happy with the situation. This game, apparently, is trying to get in with the Clans like games. Which makes me wonder if we’re going to see a lot of money grabs from EA on it.

Something slightly worse was the whole shoutcast that was put up by EA, and that I wound up skipping because it seemed way too staged. The fact that it’s also a one vs. one deal makes me think that they’re going after the Pokemon go crowd as well.

The final piece from EA was the Bioware game that I’ve been dreading…

Anthem, is…in a word…Sad. I don’t mean it’s sad in the sense that it’s physically depressing to see as it has the same sleek Bioware style, that’s not the issue. I expected nothing less from Bioware and the team behind this game. My issue for the sad comes from the fact that it’s a Game as a Service, or GAAS. Which means it’s on line all the time, and that means if you have crappy internet connections you may as well skip this game. While they mentioned that the game will have no loot boxes, there was nothing about no microtransactions, and, given the nature of the game and the whole “We have content for years to come” it makes me think that this is going to end up catering only to people who like to play Destiny. The fact that normally fans of Bioware tend to like RPGs, and thus more single player affairs over multiplayer affairs makes me think that EA is trying to use Bioware to grab at the GAAS players. Now, on the one hand, it’s true that there are a lot of players that like GAAS games, and I’m not saying that they’re bad. The issue becomes, again, if you don’t have the net for it, and given the FCC crap that just went through it makes me wonder how badly this whole thing will work out. Also if you don’t like Always online games you may as well pass on this because that’s all this is going to be. How do you manage to make Iron Man fighting Monsters seem dull. Great Job guys at doing that.

We also saw notices about Fifa 19, and it’s practically become a monopoly given that Konami and another studio lost their license of the Championship and another tournament from Soccer. Not much changed other than some sort of mini game, and then we had Madden and NBA, and I think that was it. I didn’t pay much mind to a lot of it because after seeing the indie presentation it felt like EA had lost touch with what makes for a good presentation….

So over all I would give EA an E, the indie area of their presser was nice and gave some bit of hope, but the over all presentation of mostly Online games and sports games, felt like EA has forgone making actual games and is now pretty much a version of Blizzard Activison.

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shorthaircutsmodels · 4 years

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Julianne Hough's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles - 40+ - https://shorthaircutsmodels.com/julianne-houghs-short-haircuts-and-hairstyles/ - Julianne Hough's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, The Special posted after. Showed off her new haircut on Instagram. She constantly changes her hair for roles. Lowkey is unfair on how he can pull off any style. He can shake a buzzcut if he wants. The sooner Julianne gets squeezed out of her hair. The more possibilities there will be one day. Celebrity hairstylist Nine Zero would find a way to do business in a salon Riawna Capri. Julianne allows her natural roots to grow to try something different Capri says. Blunt chic bob has never worked together for over years. I love that we can still do something new after all this time. Julianne Hough's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles Julianne Hough's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, seems in vain to deny that all the shoulder dusty hairstyles she has shown us do not suit her. Every style she tried made us see her in a different light and gave her personality a different vibe. Julianne proves that those who think short hairstyles are limited are absolutely wrong. Julianne Hough's Haircuts and Hairstyles Here you will see 12 different and famous Julianne hough short hairstyles which will come in handy when we cut our long hair short. While Hair Trends tended to come and go every season, blunt bob remained one of the most popular haircuts from 2020 through 2021. Julianne Hough's Short Haircuts Julianne Hough's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, What makes the cut so appealing is its versatility. These hair types work well across a range of facial shapes and can be styled in a handful of shapes. Are you ready for the understatement of the century. Julianne Hough blonde hair Julianne Hough has beautiful hair. And we know we agree. years later he was one of the top sought-after celebrities Allure.com and so for thought and inspiration we have collected 37 of his most memorable appearances in the past decade. Remember the coronation braid. Julianne Hough's Short Hairstyles Julianne Hough's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, And black headband days. How effortlessly about a low bun with a nailed crosshatch piece. You need to click on a few things that are abundantly clear. Julianne Hough parted her long blonde soft curly hair, which looked very pretty with this side. Julianne Hough's Haircuts If you're looking for a simple, easy everyday long wavy hairstyle that's comfortable no matter what your hair color is blonde brown dark or other colors, you can try it perfectly. This really is a gorgeous tousled long soft curly hairstyle for women. Jagged layers are cut from the edges and retracted to lighten the length and encourage the movement of soft waves this cut is perfect for summer days. Julianne Hough's Hairstyles Julianne Hough's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, It's fun and easy to recreate the hairstyle at home with the right tools and products, where you need regular fixes every 5 weeks to maintain that long hairstyle and avoid split ends. This round oval square heart is one of the most popular everyday hairstyles for women, perfect for Triangular Face Shapes. Julianne Hough hair color That is love. Dancer and actress Julianne Hough has received a dramatic haircut and looks like a new person. For the past few months Hough has been rocking his signature blonde beach waves. But on Wednesday the dancer debuted an. Julianne Hough's Short Hair Julianne Alexandra Hough's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, Anna Wintour-inspired haircut and is almost unrecognisable. Hough cut all the wavy locks in favour of the blunt bob and bang combo. As designers showcase their Spring/Summer 2020. Julianne Hough hair products Collections and style stars on the streets before and after presentations, it's safe to assume that your attention is currently being channeled across the pond. the ends and long layers of this are jagged cut and jammed with the product to achieve a well-defined look and feel. Julianne Hough's Hair Julianne Alexandra Hough's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, This low fuss yet hairstyle is perfect for a. Long facial frame and is easy to maintain. Take a look at his previous appearances. With a hint of Old Hollywood glamour, Julianne Hough goes to wave softly rolling along the length reserved for her side. A combination of layers is cut from the sides and back. How do you get Julianne Hough hair? Julianne Alexandra Hough's Short Haircuts and Hairstyls, Making this hairstyle versatile enough to wear out and make it wispy or down and smooth depending on the situation. It needs product to keep cool and shine, and is perfect for turning heads on any day or night occasion. It corrects regularly every 4 to 6 weeks to maintain shape. Julianne Hough curly hair Julianne, who has a heart-shaped face shape and a low hairline, looks best with an overgrown fringe and longer layers around the face. This wavy bob creates a beautiful frame for his face and allows him to do his thing by adding his haire natural texture to the body and bounce it all over while softening up his jaw line. Julianne Hough's Best Hairstyles of All Time Julianne Alexandra Hough's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, The brushed surface of her waves gives her platinum. Blonde locks a smooth and glossy look, while maximising body and volume. Julianne Hough hair stylist Of gold and bright blue eyes. This makes it suitable for hair colours with a yellow sole and can go super light as seen here. This platinum blonde tone is hard for most people to pull off but with her complexion and fine Tan This is a very natural look for Julianne. Does Julianne Hough have thin hair? Julianne Alexandra Hough's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, Regular ash toning treatments are required to keep brassy tones at bay. Long layers are cut at the edges of this light blonde mane to facilitate the edges making it easy to tweak with the product to achieve textured ends. The upper middle part smoothed down the contour of the head with this making it a fab to make a rounded face frame. Most Famous Julianne Hough's Short Hairstyles This medium length has well-defined waves from the back and sides to achieve this striking shape, which is best suited to framing a long face for any occasion. The long blasts are swept sideways to soften the face and brilliantly complete the entire hairstyle. What Color Is Julianne Hough's hair? Julianne Hough's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, The product is required to hold and Polish. There is no need for highlighting here as this hair colour looks the most vivid on its own. The deep side part and super swoopy fringe give this short coif appeal. Stunning do is easy to reuse with the right tools and needs strong retention product to keep you in place all day or night. Julianne Hough's Best Short Hair Looks This particular shade of blonde has cool ash shades that give her strands a cool look. Making this mid-length is best suited to compliment a long face worn in loose waves from the sides and back to look at plenty of movement and shape. These long blasts are swept to one side to soften the face and complete the hairstyle perfectly. How do you know if short hair will look good on you? The product is required to keep this style in place all day or night. and you can't be blamed because some serious chic stuff is falling off you've seen Kendall Jenner's fresh blonde hair, right?. But that doesn't mean fashion folks come stateside to a grinding halt. The crop have many stylish moments, and Julianne Hough's bob haircut is testament. Julianne Hough Hairstyles, Hair Cuts and Colors If you haven't had the chops yet, note that Hough's this trend is here to stay in the fall. As a judge on America's Got Talent this season, there was no shortage of glamorous moments as the dancer and actor walked both on screen and on the red carpet. Julianne Hough brown hair Hough stayed true to her plunging style in her glossy platinum blonde lob which slicked back all the way through and into a low ponytail. But in the agt finale, which aired September. How do you get Julianne Hough beach waves? The NBC At 18 star made a shocking and much shorter new do when she stepped up to her photo in a stunning red sequin number and matching op with little red lip. The polished real bob now falls a good couple inches above his shoulders which tends to favour him on the AGT set before grazing those glam sequined ensembles. Julianne Hough Short Hair Pictures Ideas Julianne Hough's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, And according to hough and hairstylist Riawna Capri, she made the decision to do the scene impulsively backstage just before the show's finale. It's the only clue the fans have. She changed her hair a few times but it wasn't as dramatic as it is now. The 30-year-old dancer and actress went with a bold new look that is already turning heads. Who does Julianne Hough's hair? Celebrity hairdresser Riawna Capri first showed off Hough's new look on Instagram and has now shared photos of herself with Hough. His new look is a very short bob with bangs. Yeah, boom. It's a bold look that not everyone can pull off but Hough looks great. Detachment from what you know can be difficult but it can also liberate. The best thing about hair is how to create the game and just get to have fun with it. Julianne Hough hair in safe haven With just a few weeks left in 2022, celebrities are preparing to enter the new year by flocking to the hall for a new haircut. Following Kaia Gerber's a line pixie and Chrissy Teigen's 70s lovemaking, Julianne Hough is the latest star to overhaul her current look. Last week, Hough visited hairstylist Riawna Capri at Nine Zero One Salon in Los Angeles and stepped out with a 90s-inspired blunt bob. How do you get a Julianne Hough haircut? Capri revealed the star's new cut in an Instagram post. Julianne Bob is blunt structured and almost all Capri said in an email is the length of her hair. 90s chic gives us a bit of Claire Danes biting the so-called life/Wynona Rider in reality. Julianne Hough long hair Simple and stylish is a thick blunt classic bob but the modern twist is the way of styling to be super perfect and make just a little flare. Although he was well known for having buttery or platinum blonde. Julianne Hough short hair safe haven Hair Hough toned his colour. Working together for over 10 years, we've never done this kind of blunt super short bob Capri. Classic 90s chic inspired by Claire Danes supposed life and Winona Ryder's Reality Bites. A flashback reference to Danes from My So-Called Life shows the similarity between styles, with Hough only finished with a 2020 twist. The cut has simple blunt lines, which Capri explains. But the way you cut it makes it modern. How do you get the messy hair look for short hair? Julianne Hough's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, I like it a little messy not super perfect with a little flair. There's a new fashion model to follow recently who transformed this blonde mane into waves of fingers from the top for a classic look and feel. It needs time to build your hairstyle and is ideal for the product to hold and shine and for any special occasion. Julianne Hough is a two-time professional champion of ABC's dancing with the stars nominated for a. Julianne Hough haircut 2020 - 2021 Creative Arts Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Choreography in 2020. Of course, Hough's appreciation of her hair can't ignore the importance of her relationship with longtime stylist Riawna Capri. There is only one way to achieve. Julianne Hough new hair Such wonderful looks but the bravery style and lifelong friendships certainly won't hurt. Even if you're too young to get cultural references in the 90s and early 00s, a quick Google search of the best haircuts of the era will show you that these styles are cool again. Can you be pretty with short hair? For example Brad Pitt brought back the same floppy haircut he wore when he was married to Jennifer Aniston only those locks are left out to fall over shoulders showing loose waves added medium lengths to the ends for volume and body. Julianne Hough hair bob Long blasts are swept across her forehead to soften her face and perfectly complete her entire hairstyle. The product is essential for retention and shine, and regular ornaments will help prevent split ends. Julianne Hough natural hair color How short you are about it. The back and sides are tapered into the head while the top is layered and left long enough to wear forward and straight to achieve this head turning style. It is swept across the front to soften the face and completes the whole style magnificently. It corrects regularly every 4 to 6 weeks to maintain this shape, and a small amount of the product helps it stay on the ground all day or night. What is the best product for spiking short hair? These mid-length do ends are jagged to give a textured look and then sway from Root to tip, allowing the back and sides to fall flat for a simple but fab surface. This look is best suited for those with thin and medium hair and needs a small amount of product to shine. Julianne Hough new hairstyle Julianne Hough goes for a romantic look here with long tousled waves. He has a heart-shaped face with a strong jawline, beautifully softened by long loose waves. Julianne Hough safe haven haircut It is secured with a hot cylinder by rolling around sections of fog in front of it and with thermal forming spray until it cools. Roll back the rollers and use a soft furry brush to create rolling waves. Part to one side and then mist with the hairstyle to hold the middle to the finish. Julianne Hough is a triple threat known for her amazing song dancing and acting ability. She is a former judge on America's Got Talent and dancing with the stars. How do you spike really short hair? She also plays Jolene's iconic character in Netflix's Dolly Parton series heartstrings. Julianne and her brother Derek Hough recently filmed a Christmas special called Holidays with the Houghs. She learned to skate for a musical number for the special. It was madness to be thrown like a disc at the Olympics about it. You can't do anything unnecessary to tell Julianne. Julianne Hough became a style icon overnight last year when she cut her long waves for choppy bob, and what I became obsessed with. I'm not afraid to confess. Julianne Hough haircut safe haven Given her style has improved immensely since her dancing with the Stars day but it was her haircut that brought her new look full circle. And while many chose Bob last year, no one succeeds like Julianne. It's all about that perfectly messy texture. I love I want I need. How do you use texturizing spray on short hair? Seriously remember Julianne is another celebrity who would like to try up new styles and look equally glamorous with any of them. Okay, you can say she's lucky to have such good hair, but it's not just about genes. It's about her ability to choose a hairstyle that suits her best. We want you to draw inspiration from Julianne Hough's hair. You can try any of Julianne Hough's hairstyles, which are always an example of good taste. Julianne Hough hairstyles 2020 - 2021 The truth is, it's great when a woman isn't afraid to experiment with tissues. Let's take a tousled structure joined by smooth locks. Doesn't it look great? This was just one example, and there's so much more here. The most impressive hair she wears is wavy bob, which is utterly uplifting and overwhelming. He effortlessly carries all sorts of cool bob. The wavy relaxed one accentuates his special talent to perfection. What are the best hair products to use for a short pixie cut? The tousled ripples that flow through the air echo through her delicate and flawless facial features and silhouette. A Retro wavy person makes him look absolutely noble and untouchable. A gorgeous outfit with slightly curled back braids set a chic chic figure for the overall look. It also lowers her incredibly perfect long straight and wavy hair. Julianne Hough haircut Almost all her hairstyles glow with her look. Now you're obsessed with your hair. Why don't you buy one? Dancing with the Stars alum Julianne Hough is known for her shoulder length very light blonde hair. He also starred in the 2021 drama film Safe Haven. As an American professional ballroom dancer, country music singer and actress, her unique and unique taste in hair and clothes is truly uplifting for all of us and worth imitating. Julianne Hough hair 2020 - 2021 Who says short hair can't be styled. Julianne Hough is a great example of how short hair can have a wide variation of style, like long hair. With short hair braided into a Mohawk you're all ready and ready for a fancy event. Check out these short and cute braided hairstyles. Blunt bobs have been a favorite hairstyle among celebrities this season. Have you seen fresh cuts by Taylor Schilling, Demi Lovato and Mädchen Amick. Julianne Hough hair safe haven One recent lister to cut his hair is none other than Julianne Hough. Hough has Riawna Capri to thank for his new haircut. The hairdresser posted a photo of the awards ceremony on the front Billboard with fresh thick blunt chops in the caption. If you haven't heard of celebrities left and right getting into Bob's life, it's style and it's not going anywhere anytime soon. Hough pays homage to the 90s with a chin-length bob of the same length. Julianne Hough hairstyles short It makes your roots grow a little bit, because who cares. with perfectly imperfect tissue. The thing is here. Bobs should be effortless aka less work and you don't need to look much done. His big chops are courtesy of Star stylist Riawna Capri at Los Angeles-based salon Nine Zero One. The early 2023 and 2020 remix is even ier. Now Julianne Hough is taking us back. The 31-year-old actress has just come into bends to polish a fresh chin length bob piece y and add size to this loosely textured mid-length style. Julianne Hough new haircut Start with roughly dry hair. twist small sections of hair and wrap them around a loosely curled wand while holding a good grip at the end. Once all sections are done lightly tousle and shred with a drop of pomade. Julianne Hough hair in footloose Home and needs product for brightness and grip. Julianne Hough goes out casual or as simple and elegant as making here ideal for a formal night out. Julianne's hairdos look great with heart facial shape and especially have facial features as impressive as these dos. Her medium-thin hair was. Julianne Hough hair images Loosely pulled back into a high chignon that created volume at the top of the head. Strands of hair were swept back and left out to frame her face for a soft surface while it was safe. In general this hairstyle works well for the face shape and low forehead and makes the most of natural hair texture. Julianne Hough safe haven hair tutorial Julianne looks best in beige and platinum shades thanks to her natural dark blonde and tanned skin tone and bright blue eyes. An Instagram post was posted by hough about a week before the finale in which he used a pair of hair-cutting scissors. At least it's clear he didn't cut those golden locks himself. Julianne Hough hair short Follow up with furry ears and Hough cut the wires hidden behind the famous baby blue and pink cheeks and a classic red lip to uncover. But to add some interest she opted for a sprinkling of gold glitter in her piece ensuring all eyes were on the new style spur of the moment. Julianne Hough haircut short If anything this is the brightest example, but a bob is in line for next season. Lady Gaga's highly anticipated new film A Star Is Born premiered last night, and Julianne Hough took the opportunity to show something new on her own. a new bob haircut. Julianne Hough hair colour The dance pro stole the show with her cropped ‘do and bang paired with a white wide leg pantsuit and a beautiful berry lip. Hough's new jaw-length cut has no shortage of texture, and its fringes frame her face perfectly. Authority. We adore Julianne Hough. Julianne Hough rock of ages hair The singer dancer and actress is really a triple threat and recently on Grease Live and her career as a whole to be her gorgeous husband and as we discovered her hair and make-up. All wore these platinum blonde locks down the sides and back to give the style subtle movement and bounce on in loose waves. This comfortable style is easy to reuse with the right tools at home and your hair needs a little product to fly away and tame. Julianne Hough hair tutorial safe haven He takes a formal updo and creates an edgy hairstyle with much interest. Julianne usually keeps her hair medium-length to match her heart-shaped face. Julianne Hough short hair tutorial Here she softens her stronger jawline by wearing a longer side-swept fringe and some return branches. The deep side part and side sweep burst provide some coverage to the forehead while creating a look-out effect. Julianne has light blue eyes and a peach skin tone that makes her most suitable in soft beige blonde shades and icy platinum shades. Julianne Hough bob safe haven Multi-talented Julianne goes for a multi-dimensional blonde base with thin iced white highlights throughout. This gives her hair a natural-looking light blonde shade that flattens her peachy complexion and showcases her light blue eyes. Take an eye. add styling lotion to dried hair with a towel and dry it in various directions using a Denman or ventilation brush, depending on your hair texture. Julianne Hough short hair how to Run the styling cream from the dry hair, create a deep side section and push the fringe to one side. Inspired by the Claire Danes of the 90s, we dare say this is about my life and a modern classic. Even when Julianne tries to be comfortable with her looks she still knows they look unique and personalised. Blunt bob with dyed grey will always shake any short hair game. Hough has long put her hair in the hands of celebrity stylist Riawna Capri who crafted the star's newest and most drastic transformation. Julianne Hough hair extensions I'm obsessed with everything for this fresh death chic. She also tagged Mélanie Inglessis, who created the actress glowing make-up look. See Hough's latest hairstyle in the future. Perfect everyday hairstyle. Julianne Hough makes this hairstyle such fun. Julianne Hough haircut bob As you can see Julianne is rocking the waves as well as making it fun to give some much needed life and volume look. You will need to fix your hair every 6 weeks to keep the ends of your hair fresh and keep the style in shape. You also need to repeat the color every 6 weeks as well to keep the color from fading. Take an eye. Add foam or styling spray at the root and dry with a ventilation brush, removing sections at the root for light lifting. Julianne Hough hairstyle Meanwhile Riawna Capri Julianne Hough's stylist sees her actress as her muse. Maybe that's the reason behind all these super-hot hairstyles. Anyway, we recommend looking at all these beautiful Julianne Hough's hairstyles to find one for yourself. The Riawna Capri stylist actually cuts the rough texture to her hair. Julianne Hough red hair You need the product to keep it funky, and it fixes it regularly to maintain its brightness and shape. "With wet hair it's hard to see the texture and the finish tends to be more blunt, Capri said a dry cut provides a softer line. Julianne Hough hair footloose Instead of thick layers or a blunt bob, wavy ends will make any texturizing spray or pomade applied to the ends to add oomph to the cut. Tighten the hair to hold the product from just above the ears to the tips. Julianna always leaves her hair a little straighter to avoid the appearance of " great hair. How to get Julianne Hough hair New styles such as avantgarde updos for beginners try a signature and recognisable style mid-length of Girl siren red fibers and threads and the beach has maintained a balance that is almost impossible to secure in the waves. The deep side section and side-sweeping bursts give it some coverage while creating a look-out effect. Julianne Hough hair long Julianne has light blue eyes and soft beige blonde shades and a peach skin tone which makes her hair colour best suited for icy platinum blonde shades. Here she goes for a light ash blonde base with thin iced white highlights throughout. Julianne Hough short hair This gives her hair a natural-looking light blonde, which brings out her eye colour and flattens her complexion. This medium-length make Rough Cut Cut then shake to add the body to the roots of the blow and jam with the product at the ends for a textured look and feel. This comfortable hairstyle is perfect for thin ones with medium hair and is easy to manage with regular fixes every 4 to 6 weeks. Julianne Hough hair tutorial Julianne Hough looks lovely here in a simple shoulder length bob with a windblown finish. This â€do high volume style jazz is a great way to add extra volume to a bob up and fine straight hair. Julianne has a combination of heart and square face shapes with a strong jawline. This makes it suitable for soft light styles with too many layers around the face. Julianne Hough burlesque hair Here her do frames her beautiful face while Wispy texture adds a soft surface around the jawline. The deep side part and grown fringe are also ideal for a low forehead and straight hairline. It's a stunning hairstyle with jagged layers cut from the edges to lighten the length, making styling easy for the shape. Julianne Hough hair red This is the perfect style for those with thin to medium hair who want a style with a long facial compliment volume. Another day, another bob. The actress and Dancing With The Stars legend Julianne Hough shed a few inches off her lob to try a blunt bob for the first time ever.

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falneou17 · 5 years

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BanG Dream! Favorite List - 2

I will be adapting someone else’s style and format for these lists as I thought it was a pretty neat way to do this.

It’s the start of 2020, we’re about two weeks away from the start of the third season and... I’ve already switched around some characters’ positioning on the list. And nothing would emphasize this more than...

Favorites

Aoba Moca (2, 1)

Yes, it finally happened! The #1 spot in my favorite list for the franchise has finally been stolen from Saaya’s hands. Moca, the girl who people have assumed is my favorite girl of the franchise since I first made my presence known in the fandom, is finally exactly that! It’s honestly not really what Moca did, it’s what Saaya didn’t do. Now to hope that the newest BlueFlora 4* (which is... ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!) will come home at some point... at least it is a perm.

Yamabuki Saaya (1, 2)

So... long story short... BanG Dream is a gacha game where we have to save up resources and hope and pray that we get the card we want. The one dream card we have been saving months for. ...yeah, Christmas Saaya will probably always haunt my nightmares. At least I still really love her as a character? And, hey... she has a chance to redeem herself in her next limited 4*?

Mitake Ran (3, 3)

Same old-

Hazawa Tsugumi (4, 4)

Song and-

Imai Lisa (5, 5)

Dance.

Loves

Shirokane Rinko (7, 6)

So here is a fun one... I’ve been toying around with a multi-chapter story with Rinko (wink wink hint hint) and once I get past the new writing style I need to adapt for her conversations... she’s a really fun character to work with and use. And, for those who have been keeping track, you’ll notice I have published nine fanfics (and counting) of Rinko; the only BanG Dream girl I have written more stories for is Moca, at eleven. To emphasize that point even more: I’ve only written five fics for both Ran and Tsugumi; admittedly, multi-chaptered ones, so they feel like they have gotten more, but still. So, yeah... Rinko is a ton of fun and I thank @reiriniverse in particular for giving me all the ideas and opportunities to write more Rinko-centric stuff.

Uehara Himari (6, 7)

Himari only dropped because Rinko took her place, but I don’t have any other reason to put her one step lower. She’s still the same old Hii-chan as ever~.

Udagawa Tomoe (8, 8)

Tomato-chin is as amazing as ever. Also, for those who might be wondering why I started calling Tomoe “Tomato-chin”: it came up in passing in a convo I had with a friend of mine of the possibility that Moca, who calls her “Tomo-chin”, sometimes jokingly introduces Tomoe as “Tomato-chin” and it has stuck ever since.

Maruyama Aya (9, 9)

While it does seem like she’s staying pretty static, Aya is actually slowly but surely starting to climb her way up the ladder thanks to the fact that she’s really shining in the new songs.

Wakamiya Eve (11, 10)

Another slight jump, this time for our Bushido-loving gal. All I can say is that the new cards in JP are really doing Eve justice; they are amazing. No, I do not play JP but I do check out the new cards from time to time.

Okusawa Misaki (10, 11)

...being in Hello, Happy World is really a bad thing for her. She’s a really fun character, but with HaroHapi being, well... HaroHapi, everything starts to become slightly monotone in a way. I’m sure people who don’t like Afterglow would say the same thing about Afterglow, but that just shows how much I like the band that has the sole person in the Very Bottom tier in it.

Asahi Rokka (12, 12)

Nothing really new for RAS, for better or for worse, as they’re not in the game yet (or... I don’t think they are) except for a couple of awesome songs. Until we get S3 she’ll probably stay here unless something happens to those around her.

Likes

Tamade “CHU2″ Chiyu (13, 13)

Same as above.

Nyubara “PAREO” Reona (14, 14)

Same as above.

Tsurumaki Kokoro (16, 15)

For now... she, too, has gotten a lot of good cards (the vocalist bias on the developer’s side is real) and that Nico x Nico original song that came out is an absolute bop and easily my fave song of the band, but... we’ll see how long she can outshine the ones around her.

Hikawa Sayo (17, 16)

I still stand by my stance that her immense amount of character growth and development has almost effectively changed who Sayo is on a basic level, but... I can find things to enjoy about the new Sayo as well. Sayo is still really weird to place, though, because I have to consider both old!Sayo and new!Sayo for this. More so than for the others because of all the growth she went through...

Ichigaya Arisa (15, 17)

Like Himari, Arisa didn’t really “drop”... the two below her from the previous entry just shot past her.

Udagawa Ako (19, 18)

While I am still of the opinion that Ako got affected really badly by the two Roselia seiyuu switches, I just... Sakuragawa Megu is just too much fun to drag her character down too much ^^’

Hanazono Tae (18, 19)

Dropping mainly because of the problem I had with her in the previous entry: she’s rather static. Here’s to hoping S3 can be nice to our rabbit-loving gal.

Wakana “LAYER” Rei (25, 20)

Now here is an interesting entry who jumped quite a bit, and I can explain the jump with one sentence: RAS has blown my expectations out of the water. We’ve received a handful of RAS songs since they first started up, and for all the songs they have gotten in their first year-and-a-half or so (when were they first performing? I found records from May 2018 but... eh, whatever) they have... honestly not disappointed me even once. And when a band does well, the vocalist bias means a big part of the attention goes to the singer. Let’s hope S3 can piggyback off RAS’s hype and give LAYER some much-needed growth and development.

Satou “MASKING” Masuki (20, 21)

Same as Rokka, CHU2, and Pareo before her.

Shirasagi Chisato (22, 22)

While she’s still 22nd, she’s jumped up from “above neutral” to the bottom of the “likes”. Like Kokoro and Eve before her, the Chisato cards have been really amazing.

Above Neutral

Hikawa Hina (24, 23)

Hina still has the problem that she gets compared to and related to Sayo so much (for, admittedly, obvious reasons), but her cards have, too, been really good.

Toyama Kasumi (26, 24)

Five words are more than enough to explain this small but significant jump: Only My Railgun Full Version. That cover might very well be the absolute best cover of that song that I have ever heard. And with Railgun being my favorite franchise, you can imagine how many covers of its iconic OP song I have checked out already. The fact that Poppin’ Party stood on stage performing this song live alongside fripSide is just... everything a Railgun and BanG Dream! fan would want in one performance and so much more.

Matsubara Kanon (23, 25)

Poor Kanon is the subject of being dropped to a lower rank because those below her skyrocketed above her.

Neutral

Minato Yukina (21, 26)

How the mighty have fallen. Roselia has really fallen from grace, and with the Roselia songs that came out recently being... okay, “UNIONS” Road is all right, but generally speaking my interest in Roselia as a band has been wavering since... RAS was introduced, really. The cover songs... ironically, they chose songs from popular and well-known franchises that had quite the following, like No Game No Life, Re:Zero, and Steins;Gate... but I never got into those franchises so I can’t appreciate them as much as a fan of those franchises can. And unlike say... like RAS’s cover songs, which are also from franchises I never got into, I... don’t particularly enjoy any of the new Roselia songs, both original and cover songs. The recent Yukina cards are also... they’re not “bad” but they don’t leave me in awe and wanting to save months of resources just for them, either... so... neutral it is.

Yamato Maya (27, 27)

Same old-

Ushigome Rimi (28, 28)

Song and-

Kitazawa Hagumi (29, 29)

Dance.

Very Bottom

Seta Kaoru (VB, VB)

#BanG Dream! Fave List #Falneou17

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