#Emas number 1 fan

[fangirlintheattic]

EMA & WHITNEY | Harlan Coben's Shelter (2023)

[sageistri]

Jimin had a solo era where he had 10 days of mostly local promo except for Jimmy Fallon for his 6 song EP (1 b-side + 1 title track) in Mar 2023 + 1 collab (with Kodak and Jvke) in the F&F movie franchise in May 2023 + 1 collab with Taeyang of Big Bang in Jan 2023 with accompanying mvs for both collabs + 1 fansong released on christmas week 2023 with 30 hours of notice and recycled footage for its mv + 1 documentary released on weverse in Oct 2023.

JK had a solo era where immediately after hiatus he released left & right in June 2022 with Charlie Puth who's pretty famous in his own right, a world cup song in Nov 2022 and performed solo in the opening ceremony which was watched by 1.5 billion viewers. He then proceeded to release Seven in July 2023 with latto who's also pretty damn famous in the west with Grammy winning producers and an accompanying mv with Han So Hee. Seven is perhaps the most payola'd kpop song of all time - I can't even list it all down without making this ask huge but suffice to say that with all the ads and playlisting on several platforms including tth from day 1 and some help from spotify to keep all his combined versions together instead of splitting them and probably a tiktok heating deal - seven managed to stay on top of global for weeks and netted a bunch of records.

However moving on, JK performs at good morning america, is supposed to perform at the mtv emas (gets cancelled) and announces his next single 3D with Jack Harlow at Global Citizen Fest at NY releasing in Sep 2023. He also has a collab too much with kid laroi and central cee in Oct 2023 with an accompanying mv. After that we're gearing up for his all English album release in Nov 2023 with a 11 track album. He has features from major lazer and dj snake and songs composed and produced by the likes of Diplo, Ed Sheeran and Shawn Mendes. He goes on to perform snty at Jimmy Fallon, Times Square and iHeartRadio live. While none of his songs post seven are as heavily payola'd, they're still very well promoted. In Dec 2023, he releases a remix of SNTY with usher with an accompanying mv. He also features in hots in single I wonder in March 2024. Finally he's released a fan song never let go for festa in June 2024 which is a fansong but has a bunch of benefits usually seen for digital singles but no MV.

Obviously I haven't mentioned everything like their ambassadorships, their single bad decisions with benny blanco (mostly because I forgot about it), smaller promo like suchwita, JK's radio interviews, his visualisers, Jimin's Korean shows, either of their mnet performances, their myriad of tiktoks, their dance performances on youtube, JK's week-long station head parties or accompanying Yoongi on the D-Day tour. Plus as I said I can't mention the full length and breadth of JK's promo compared to Jimin in smaller aspects like number of remixes / remix albums or cd stock because this'll go on forever. And of course this is only the status as of today. We know pjm2 is coming as is probably a documentary for JK and their travel show together. Though I've probably missed out some things for both, I think I've covered the main points of both the solo eras.

There's a bunch of stuff happening here. For one JK's solo era is spaced out very well regardless of who else among BTS is releasing. While other members are clustered in specific times to avoid overlap, JK manages to have the most well spaced out solo era sometimes to the detriment of a member whose promo he might be encroaching on (debatable but I think it's true). The world cup gig which undoubtedly went to BTS being co-opted as JK's solo has never sit right with me but whatever. People can delude themselves about how in demand JK is but the truth is Latto, Jack Harlow and others probably got very well paid for collabing with JK and were certainly approached by Hybe / SB projects rather than the other way around. Same goes for them putting the full force of their marketing department in netting all those performances in the US plus awards. The new jeans controversy gave some insight into how Hybe can use their leverage to net spons, awards and performances when they want to. The fact that most of the collaborators JK had are good buddies with 🛴 isnt lost on any of us. JK's almost exclusive focus on the western market with all English songs is also noteworthy. I haven't even mentioned Jimin's sabotages because I can see how it's debatable but certainly JK's team at Hybe / SB projects were at the least way more careful handling his releases than whoever the hell is running things for Jimin at Hybe even if you don't want to acknowledge the sabotage he went through or the sheer disrespect of having his album release cut off by another members. Also not going into the bs with the delay in Jimin's RIAA certification just so that JK could get that first kpop soloist title or the insanity of Jimin's billboard sales filtering versus JK's premptive itunes preorder for seven before the official announcement of the BB rules change and helpful midweek sales updates that seven had.

After all this, it's amazing that JK's main point of comparison is Jimin. The fact that jjks and armys still feel this compulsive need to compare JK with Jimin after he releases something inspite of JK's peers supposedly being Taylor Swift now (their words not mine) speaks to both how JK was unable to capitalize on his heavy marketing and records versus how much Jimin was able to achieve with Face and Like Crazy.

JK managing to get the most likes on tiktok, staying on charts after heavy playlisting, becoming the darling of kpop stans - notoriously known for being visual stans and extremely fickle, and getting a bunch of kpop awards at the end of 2023 and probably 2024, having the most name recognition among all the members, still needing most of his streams for SNTY to come from Thailand, having album retail sales equal almost the same as Jimin inspite of the huge difference in gross album sales - are these really worthy accomplishments after this extremely long list of moves he's made? Jungkook was very popular to start out with and has always been the darling of armys - to the extent that he managed to avoid getting boycotted inspite of being associated and working with a bunch of zionists for golden. Apart from his new kpop fans, did he manage to net new fans during his solo era though? Or are his main fans still the armys he started out with in the first place from his time in BTS? Is this what anons in your asks think we're supposed to believe is impact?

Impact is what happened after BTS released Dynamite and Butter. A breakout star or single is what Baby was once upon a time for Justin Bieber or Espresso is to Sabrina Carpenter today. You get gp fans when you release good music like Olivia Rodrigo or Billie Eilish. You get critical acclaim when your albums have overarching themes that were carefully constructed and thought out like Beyonces albums. Your solo fanbase becomes more dedicated when you share parts of yourself in your music like Taylor Swift does.

When you make an album with care and dedication, then even when your label doesn't give a damn about you or actively tries to suppress you, your song can still chart more than a year later with your solo fanbase working dedicatedly towards you. That might not be a PCA, but it's a damn sight more valuable imo.

Sorry for how long this got. I just kept remembering more and more stuff to include...

Wow... This is such a perfectly summarized version of the major points and opinions we've all had since jimin's debut... I love it, this is probably the best ask and best post related to this whole thing i have ever read.

It is good for pjms who still ask certain questions about stuff we already talked about and I can never find the exact post where we already talked about it so I'll pin it.

[pyropsychiccollector]

Thoughts on Ace Attorney?

Ace Attorney and Professor Layton were the main games I played in the mid-2000's, outside of Pokemon. They weren't bad, although I confess Phoenix wore on my patience a bit (his origin story is very lackluster). He got better in Trials and Tribulations, but I definitely was not a fan of the spirit medium elements in the series. Call me old-fashioned if you like, but I generally prefer grounded court dramas. Stuff that doesn't heavily involve channeling spirits, seeing victims' final moments, or even magical bracelets.

... Although the last one could be explained pretty reasonably, I think. So I tend to cut Apollo more slack than Phoenix, who's more like a bull at a rodeo and goes where he pleases. I'm also in this apparent minority of people that didn't fall in love with Maya at first sight... or thirtieth sight... or... Yeah. lol Don't get me wrong. I'm cool with loveable goobers. There's just... a number of things that I don't like that much about Maya. The medium stuff is one thing, the running gag of getting kidnapped or framed for murder is another, she doesn't help Phoenix understand crime scenes or law better (she's literally a teenager in that first trilogy, and still a kid at heart in Spirit of Justice), and this incessant shipping with Phoenix by her cousin Pearl is one of the most uncomfortable things I've had to suffer through... XD It's just my opinion, but Phoenix feels more like an older brother to Maya and Pearl. They're related to his old boss Mia, and it's cool he wants to look out for them... I just don't ship Phoenix x Maya. That's just me~...

That said, do I have Ace Attorney ships? Ehhh... A few. I'm not too passionate on shipping in AA. I like Phoenix x Iris. I like Phoenix x Franziska. Mia x Diego, of course. I don't mind entertaining Miles x Kay when Kay grows up a bit (for some reason I vibe a lot more with Kay than Maya, probably just the fact she's a 'thief' and not a medium~...). Gumshoe x Maggey is alright. I like Apollo x Ema. Apollo x Athena is fine. I wouldn't mind Bonny and Betty joining the Wright Anything Agency, though I don't necessarily ship them with anyone... Maybe Apollo, if I was so inclined. Rayfa is cute, but she's a kid. No pedos in this house, no sir. (人◕ω◕)**

I honestly have no ships in the Great Ace Attorney duology, though. I'm neutral to Ryunosuke x Susato, I don't object to them. They are cute. I just don't ship them cuz my mind's on the lovely plots and characters of GAA~...

If I had to do a tier list for Ace Attorney games... Let me see...

Tier 1 (Masterful) - Great Ace Attorney 1&2, Ace Attorney Investigations 2, Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright

Tier 2 (Great) - Trials and Tribulations, Spirit of Justice

Tier 3 (Passable) - AA1, Investigations 1, Apollo Justice, Dual Destinies

Tier 4 (Abysmal) - AA2 (Justice For All)

Obviously, not a perfect tier list. A couple titles in the 3rd category are close to Tier 2 level, there's just some aspects of each game that take away my enjoyment somewhat. I loved Rise from the Ashes in AA1, and I liked the ending of Case 4... I enjoyed Edgeworth's flashback case in Investigations 1 (Detective Tyrell B A D D~). Apollo Justice had sleek designs and a more tempered protagonist I thought. And Dual Destinies introduced Athena and had mostly okay cases....

It's just. The rest of AA1 was meh to me, outside the last two cases. Investigation 1's Case 5 was dragged out so unnecessarily. Apollo Justice's Case 4 felt short to me and tried covering way too many bases; not to mention he kept getting shunted to the side by Phoenix, getting led along by the nose. And Dual Destinies, well... Overall, I just wasn't wowed by the writing. Phoenix was brought back, and Apollo and Athena took backseats; they had cases, but they weren't anything to write home about. By the time you hit the case at the space center, I'm barely sold on the bonds they have. XD Although I will say this: Attorneys interacting are much better than spirit mediums thrown into the mix. For all the criticisms we can throw at Phoenix, Apollo, or Athena depending on people's biases, it's nice to see the Wright Anything Agency get a staff again... Athena might not be level-headed like Mia, but I feel she'll get there in time. In her own way. Apollo's rebuilding a whole judicial system in a foreign land, so his arc's pretty much over. lol

I'd love for more Miles adventures. See more Agent Lang, Judge Courtney, even Prosecutor Debeste... But it's up in the air if they'll ever do a 3rd Investigations game. I've already been proven wrong about ever getting an official localization of Investigations 2, so I'll shut up since Capcom's been on a roll recently. (人◕ω◕) Took them some thirteen years, but they finally brought the best Investigations game over. Or will, in a month's time. Honestly, though? I'll probably be stubborn and favor the Scarlet Study fan translation. That's been around for the past decade, and they worked hard on it. I can almost guarantee you their fan translation will have fewer typos than the official one... But I'm looking forward to having Investigations 2 on a portable console. So. I'm sucking it up. (人◕ω◕)

I've rambled on enough, but the gist is that I'm more for plot and characters in Ace Attorney franchise than shipping. XD Not too surprising that what ships I do have tend to stray from the mainstream favorites (Phoenix x Maya, Miles x Franziska, the yaoi and yuri which I don't touch... and yes, I'm aware of the absurd amount of that in the fanfic community...). I'm built differently from most people, I guess. (人◕ω◕)

And I'm aware some people will have different opinions on my tier list for the games, too. Fite me. I stand firm. (人◕ω◕)

[heatwa-ves]

hi hello i see youve started aa4, what do you think so far?:D

I like it a lot!!! apollo is great the gavins are great. im particularly fond of kristoph because I love evil blonde men I guess . forsure he and phoenix had a thing going on. I like trucy a lot!! she will never be maya and I miss maya sm babygirl please come back.. im on the trial of the third case and like. man there have gotta be laws protecting this random kid. at least an interpreter??? he has no idea what's going on someone give him a hug. the second case was really fun and silly. apollo is trans I know this it came to me in a vision. im plum kitakis number 1 fan. phoenix continues to be the love of my life. I miss maya. klavier gay as fuck why is he going omg I've never felt this way with a man before 😳😳😳 0.5 seconds after meeting apollo and then keeps on quoting his own love songs to him. bro u are not subtle. I miss franziska I miss maya . why are there no lesbians in this game yet 0/10 worst game of my life. I am still ema skyes number 1 hater btw you guys all like her too much

[rosyjuly]

Please ignore if you didn’t have shippy stuff in mind but…top 5 sewis headcanons for your AUs? (singers au, ground hog au, or any other au ideas you might have thought of!) thank you!

omg anon this is so kind, thank you… i’m totally up for it! 

maybe not numbering them because i love all my children equally but bullet point version: singer au, prince au, groundhog day au, vampire au and activist au. also the syntax & punctuation is a mess in almost all of them lol i’m so sorry. under the cut we go because this is incredibly long

singer au

my first f1 fic and arguably (i would argue) my best seb/lewis work. they’re both singers: seb’s music is between foo fighters and the killers (i have never claimed to be original), lewis does very revolutionary stuff in r&b (full frank ocean style). Seb reaches out to Lewis about possible collab on a single he wants to zhuzh up. Lewis (to his surprise, since lewis hasn’t put out a song since his feature on Rihanna’s Anti) says yes. They do it, charts #1 worldwide, they play it at the EMAs and it’s a huge hit, trends everywhere. When seb brings up that they could have lewis on more songs on his upcoming album, he asks for some time to think it over but ultimately says yes because this is the most fun he’s had with music in years (since miss queen Rihanna probably). 

Britta (seb’s manager) agrees that it would be good, but then she brings up touring. Seb can’t just not play a third of the new album and it would be awkward to just leave out Lewis’ verses (they basically sing 50-50 of the songs, sharing the chorus). Seb shrugs (he wants to work with Lewis more than he cares about possible awkwardness of a future tour). Lewis says he’ll think it over, and that night he thinks about how he misses touring, meeting with fans, how he misses singing his heart out in a sold out stadium (and seb sells out so fast, it’s really hot). He thinks about accompanying seb on his Euro tour, how much inspiration that could be for his — if not his music then for his fashion, or he could find new recipes for the vegan cookbook he’s been meaning to write. And seb, seb is fun. He makes lewis laugh but he also listens so intently and he challenges lewis as well, isn’t a pushover but he still treats lewis with so much respect.

anyway he discusses it with toto who has some questions but ultimately agrees that lewis should do it if he wants, it’s a good marketing opportunity and they can pair it with doing more outreach for lewis’s charity. i don’t have much stuff worked out on how they write the album but picture that it’s a lot of shared late nights and almost falling asleep together. 

and then they go on tour! and they sing in the same mic like miles kane and alex turner! lots of tension and shared glances afterwards! and then one time when seb goes to pick him up from his hotel room (yes he does that before shows) he's like. wow. okay now i feel stupid (he's wearing like linen slacks and a white shirt with the arms rolled up -- kinda like miles dresses). and lewis is like oh you want some of my jazz? i have a matching bandana but i feel like it would be overkill for me, here. and he tucks in into seb's chest pocket or ties it on his wrist. and it’s such a defining moment for seb like they. looked like they were together. they matched. 

anyway then tour ends and they have an afterparty with both their crews and it’s so good but also so bittersweet. neither of them are ready to go home to different countries and not see the other. and they are curled together in a booth, lewis’s arm around seb, talking to people, and seb knows that lewis has had bad experience in the past with dating a fellow musician and seb himself is out but has never introduced a long term partner, ever. seb’s fully aware that he’s fallen in love but lewis believes that it’s just a mutual infatuation that’ll fade as soon as they don’t spend every awake moment together. and then seb leans his forehead against lewis’s and he’s like, would you want to. just this one time. and one time? lewis can do. 

prince au 

lol okay as we all know this is a george/alex fic but they are incredibly precious to me. 

mr lewis hamilton (he will be sir, but is mr just yet) is a philanthropist: he runs a sports charity, dabbles in fashion, is a UN ambassador. his husband, a herr sebastian vettel (you assume correctly) is a university professor focusing on environmental/sustainability development.

they met years ago at a fancy reception hosted about “social issues” where lewis was invited for his activism and seb because he teaches environmental governance and is a big deal in international advocacy. the keynote speaker stressed the importance of collaboration and listening to experts in the field and then handed off the mic and ‘unfortunately had to leave for an engagement arranged prior’. seb made an offhand comment about how politicians still don’t know how to practice what they preach and lewis snorted into his champagne flute. they had been aware of each other before but never really talked: but during this event they gravitated back to each other throughout the evening, having the time of their life, slyly exchanging info and gossip. i finally caved and went through my blog and tagged everything here

groundhog day au 

common tag here

oh what else can i share… I genuinely don’t think there’s a big chance i’ll write this because i’m waaay too simple to describe racing well and that’s such a major plot in this… also i’m physically incapable of discussing the ferrari divorce in detail and. yeah. 

anyway after a few dozen loops or so, after talking to mika (maybe it’s not about winning etc etc), seb misses the race: claims that he has a severe stomach bug or something and the reverse driver takes his place and locks himself in his hotel room and gets drunk from the minibar and lewis comes to check on him. he texts first to ask and seb is like whatever it can’t get worse it’s room 306. (in the back of his mind he really believes that maybe missing the race will break the loop so. he’s careful not to sound too crazy. but he’s also drunk.) and lewis is actually worried about him when he sees him in this state, also HIGHLY questioning why seb is drunk if he was too sick to compete. and seb laughs self deprecatingly and says, it doesn’t matter, you always win anyways. lewis stares at him and then says, “it doesn’t matter to me if i don’t chase you down first,” soft but certain. and seb squints at him because, does it really? 

the premise of this fic is that lewis has come to terms with his feelings for seb a long while ago but does not think they are returned, while seb sees their rivalry as an absolute obstacle. “the loser isn’t afforded the same grace, lewis,” seb tells him, once. 

vampire au 

ugh i have a version where it’s seb being a vampire where he courts lewis with these amazing old pieces of jewellery that he’s had for centuries but never cared for them and one where lewis is turned into a vampire and he’s living off synthetic blood and then starts feeding from seb and it’s mostly about post-feeding aftercare. i’ll just put a little snippet here. 

“Do you like drinking from me?” he blurts out the next time. Lewis has his head bowed down and he takes a second to look up at Sebastian through his long, dark eyelashes. His grip loosens on Sebastian’s wrist. He has only bitten Sebastian a minute or two ago and Sebastian doesn’t want him to finish so soon. 

“You don’t have to answer that,” he says, wanting to rectify the situation. Lewis’s eyes flutter closed and for a fleeting second, Sebastian has hope that he’ll take mercy on him and won’t stop, but then he’s pulling away. Sebastian’s wrist feels raw and cold and he can’t suppress a shiver. Lewis closes the puncture wounds with one broad lick and sits up. His eyes are wide and dark and he’s contemplating Sebastian quietly. 

“Seb,” he says, and Sebastian wants to close his eyes, shield himself from the truth. He maintains eye contact instead. “You know I haven’t bitten anyone else but–” His voice falters and he trails off. Sebastian feels a cold grip squeeze his heart. He should have known. These days, what is he enough for? It would be ironic to be enough for Lewis out of all people, Lewis, who has been special in ways Sebastian has categorically refused to explore. 

Stupidly, the non-admission makes him want to cry. Lewis looks– not guilty, not really but remorseful, maybe, for letting it slip. Biting someone else doesn’t have to change whether you like drinking from me, Sebastian wants to say, ask, plead. 

activist au 

lol this doesn’t even have an actual google doc but the premise is that lewis is his actual several WDC self (idk when i want this set) and seb is the director of amnesty international germany and they meet up when there’s an f1 race in germany and hit it off so well. they do lil collaborations - it involved amnesty UK as well i guess - and then lewis takes him as his plus one to the FIA gala so he can talk about human rights issues there and get donors. and then lewis is watching him with toto as he charms everyone and he’s like. oh shit.

[neutrallyobsessed]

I challenge you to make a tier list of your opinion on Ace Attorney ships >;)

Challenge accepted motherfucker >;))))

i did like 5 different lists cause not all them where complete enough to my tastes and then i found this MASSIVE tier list (with a lot of crack xdd) so i was able to do it, fortunally the nrmy week gave me some time to work on this and EVEN THEN some kinda obvious ones were missing so i had to edit them in from the other tierlists, plus stuff i made up lol

also, for it not be too long and mark very clearly my Heterosexual Bias, the list was divided in two, so let's start: (spoilers for investigations cause shih-na doest appear as shih-na)

The OTP category is very self-explanitory, so the second place is all other ships that i like and ship too just not as hard since i have OTPs for the characters already~~

Ohters I like and Im listening have varying degrees of crack but im still considering as potential ships to like seriously

the canon ships acting as a neutral divider, they are canon, you can't complain about that (or you can im just a tumblr post you can do what you want forever). if they arent higher is cause they are not as interesting or funny as the above ships, i still love them very much

then theres the absolute crack that i find amusing but couldnt take to ship it seriously and then ships that are either boring: too tame, lack spice, feel like avoiding being problematic was the priority instead of they'd be cute togheter; or ships that feel a bit too cruel for comfort and i percieve as no longer fun, but sad

this tier list didnt have ema/nahyuta but did have poly ships that included the three so there we go, the only het ships i dont like (2)

finally, the only gay ships i consider to be neat, silly funny friends-to-lovers not overly popular, very cool and epic

And now, the interesting one:

Rangu referenced and teased by canon joke ship goes first of course!

for real tho, there's friends to lovers OR rarepairs OR lawyer x assistant ships, being my go-to in het ships they'd rank higher here

Evil People In Love! What else can I say? When 2 people are down bad for each other and down for destroying everyone and everything whether for revenge or the lulz cause they're bad and they're doing it togheter it's just beautiful~!

anything crack or toxic in a funny way goes next

incest as a neutral divider since being gay is super normal thus uninteresting but adding the taboo incest spice that will NEVER be approved by society IRL will make me a bit more interested but like you know- neutrally

any boring crack or toxic in a unfunny way goes next

and finally we reach my real (yet still neutral) beef with the ace attorney shipping fandom, being the popular ships that get talked about ad nauseum and if you wanna talk about any other ship you get ignored at best or harrassed at worst. Overrated could be the perfect way to describe this ships as they're so oftenly rated over other ships when they're SO LAME AND BLAND AND BRING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. i am not criticizing originality, you know im unoriginal as well, but other fandoms have this something called ✨VARIETY✨ that EVEN IF the boring bland m/m ship still is number one ship of everyone and their grandmas, it'll still be in a relative equal number of fans and content (or directly opposite where Super Popular Ship has like 100 fans producing stuff and literally anything else has like <5, so you only have to block 1 or maybe 2 Super Popular Ships and then is smooth sailing full of variety~)

tl;dr they're annOyedTPs actually they're not bad, they are meh plus the over exposure can really grind someone's gears, second place being not AS popular thus annoying but still pretty much talked about and liked by many people as they are second places to ships in the normie zone

and finally finally what i actually dislike, shipping canonically het married characters with same-sex characters (and not in the funny way)(specially the gay best friend in love with their straight friend, my absolute belothed) or any flavor of enemies-to-lovers, whether it's a tame rivals-to-lovers or a legit hero x villian (stockholm syndrome can be fine but it depends on how its presented....or if it's... y'know funny) or same-age shipping where the characters maturity levels are SO DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT idk it feels kinda icky :////

In any case, i'm still answering asks for particular ships if y'all want a more in depth opinion ^w^

[wellthatwasaletdown]

Well, Mr. Styles led the pack with seven MTV EMA nominations, but he lost most of them.

Not a single award for the song that spent so many weeks at number 1.

He lost Best Song to Nicky Minaj (Super Freaky Girl), Best Video to Taylor Swift (All Too Well (10 Minute Version - Taylor’s Version), Best Artist to Taylor Swift, Best Pop to Taylor Swift, and Biggest Fans to BTS.

[ailtrahq]

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[youngbounty]

My Issue With Narumayo and Narumitsu Shippers

Just to be clear, I have nothing against Narumayo. The only issue I have with it is that I don’t like colleague dating, especially if it is an employee hooking up with their boss. Though, this is only a pet peeve at best and it isn’t illegal. I just consider it distasteful and I feel no different about Justicykes. Though, this isn’t about that or my distaste for Narumayo. I just wanted to make it clear I don’t have anything against anyone that may like Narumayo. You can like whatever ship you want or not like whatever ship you don’t like. It’s your right. Same with Narumitsu, since I am a fan of that ship myself.

That being said, I will call out any BS claims about a ship by those that oppose it. I’m talking about both sides. Just to be clear, the “fans” of both ships that do this are a very small minority compared to the entire Narumayo/Narumitsu fan base. It just goes without saying that the more eggs you place in the carton, the more bad eggs you will find in that carton, even if it is a small percentage or number.

For the Narumayo fans, I am talking about the claim that the opposing ship fans cherry picks reasons from canon as reasons for their ship being canon, even though they’re not proof that the two parties are in love and could just as much equal a platonic relationship. I mostly see this from Narumayo fans towards Narumitsu shippers where they make fun of how Narumitsu shippers depend on the “Unnecessary feelings” line as their reason they support their ship. Point taken, except don’t Narumayo shippers do the very same thing? They depend on the words from a sheltered 8-year-old little girl that doesn’t know how to read, let alone understand what romance is. I’m not going to say we Narumitsu fans never scrape the bottom of the barrel for proof that our ship is canon, but Narumayo fans literally do the very same thing.

Other reasons Narumayo shippers claim their ship is “canon” is because Phoenix is always concerned and trying to save Maya. Again, didn’t Phoenix do the same for Miles in Turnabout Goodbyes? How is Phoenix saving Miles from having his life ruined or getting the death penalty any different from saving Maya from the hands of Shelly De Killer or the Minister of Justice in a foreign nation? What? Because Phoenix saved Maya more times than Miles? Bold excuse. If that is your argument, then I guess Phoenix loves Maya more than Trucy, because he only felt concerned for her safety during the one time she was kidnapped. Phoenix saving Maya constantly doesn’t mean he’s in love with her or cares about her more than Miles or anyone else, just like Miles saying “unnecessary feelings” doesn’t mean he’s in love with Phoenix. Even though I like Narumitsu, I am aware that they are not canonly in love, just like a majority of Narumitsu and Narumayo fans, that cherry pick excuses that probably doesn’t mean romantic, already know their ship is not canon. 

I do understand that many noncanon shippers that cherry pick reasons from canon that don’t equal their ship being canon can come off as annoying. They can get very obnoxious. Though, you cannot claim that your ship is better when it does the very same thing. You’re basically the pot calling the kettle black. The same would go for Narumitsu shippers that are calling out Narumayo shippers for the same thing. The only difference between Narumitsu and Narumayo is the sexuality and backstories of the characters involved in the ship. Though, to the Narumayo shippers’ defense, at least they don’t accuse the other ship of being a pedo ship. Get ready, because I’m about to rip the Narumitsu pedo accusers a new one.

Maya is NOT a minor. She owns her own place, works a full time job, pays the bills and even cared for a child only a year later. Also, being Ace Attorney takes place in Japan, the age of consent in that country is 13 years old, so 17-year-olds dating 23 or 24-year-olds is not considered pedo. Even if you were to call her a minor, by California’s standards, which already has BS laws about 10-year-old little girls being allowed to marry or have sex with older men with parental consent, Maya was only age 17 during the first three months she was with Phoenix. I doubt if he is going to remember Maya being a minor for those three months out of the 12 years they’ve known each other. Count the months between Turnabout Sisters to Turnabout Goodbyes, technically that is three and a half months in total. That is literally how long Maya was 17 years old hanging around with Phoenix. That’s hardly enough time to ask her out on a date, let alone falling in love with her. 

Another thing, people like Phoenix, falling in love with young people like Maya, happens more often than you think. Again, Maya lives like an adult, so it would make just as much sense for Phoenix to be attracted to Maya, especially since she looks almost like his ex girlfriend. Men fall in love with very young women. I’m not going to say it’s tasteful, but that’s how the real world works. In the real world, men like Miles Edgeworth will date young women like Ema Skye. Yes, she was a minor when he first met her. She also grew older and of consent. I’m not saying it’s right or tasteful, but that is the real world. Men love them women young and ripe. Does it make them pedophiles? No. It’s distasteful, but they’re not pedophiles. Falling in love with someone, who is an adult, you’ve only met as a minor for a few months or so before they grew into an adult, does not count. It takes more than a few months to fall in love and even attraction itself isn’t always there when you first meet the person you are dating. With every shipper, you need to think ahead. I doubt most Narumayo shippers have their ship shipped together during the time of the first game. It’s likely they’re shipped together after the trilogy or Spirit of Justice. 

In truth, both Narumayo and Narumitsu ships equally have potential. There’s no reason for either ship to go against each other. It’s petty. Neither ship is canon or makes more sense than the other. They’re equally okay, if done correctly. I’ve seen Narumayo where Miles Edgeworth is supportive of Phoenix and Maya getting together. Same with Narumitsu with Maya being highly supportive. Hell, most Narumitsu fan fictions have Maya as the one trying to pin Miles and Phoenix together like Pearl tried to do with Phoenix and Maya. Now, as I said before, I consider Narumayo distasteful, because of the employee x boss thing and the fact Maya is the younger sister of Phoenix’s dead boss. Of course, my reasons are from experiences and I know not everyone shares mine. You don’t have to like a ship and it can be for whatever reason under the sun, but that’s not a reason to accuse the opposing ship of something your ship does or of something they’re not. 

Before you are to accuse a ship of being a pedo ship, always think ahead. Is the ship of an adult having romantic feelings or doing romantic things with a child? Do the shippers ship them together when either character is a minor? If no for all of them, it’s not a pedo ship. Even if character A has known character B since character B was a minor before being shipped, that doesn’t make it pedo. It might be distasteful, due to the age gap or having known the other character since they were a minor, but it is NOT a pedo ship. It only is when either character in a ship is a minor the moment they are shipped, get together, fall in love or the older one crushes on the younger. Always. think. ahead. 

The same goes for any ship accusing the other of cherry picking reasons for their ship to be canon when it’s not. If your ship is also not canon, then why even call the other one out for cherry picking? Narumayo and Narumitsu cherry pick reasons for their ship being canon all the dang time. Narumitsu’s reasons for claiming their ship is canon are no more reasonable than Narumayo’s reasons for the same thing. I’ll even list the basic excuses Narumitsu shippers use to prove their ship is canon:

“I have been settled with unnecessary feelings,” Turnabout Goodbyes, Phoenix was angry at Miles for leaving him in Justice For All, Phoenix pined for Miles since he was a child, Phoenix became a Defense Attorney because of Miles two times, Phoenix helps Miles with cases more times than anyone else including Maya, Miles had helped Phoenix retrieve back his badge, they fight like a married couple in court, Miles helped Phoenix save Maya the two times she was kidnapped, Miles had helped Phoenix investigate in the two later games, Miles denying wishing for marriage in Turnabout Time Traveler, Miles bringing up Phoenix so many times that I could make a drinking game out of it in Miles Edgeworth Investigations 1 and 2, Phoenix calling Miles ‘Daddy’ in Dual Destinies, Miles telling Phoenix he should ‘strip naked’ in Farewell my Turnabout, the creator saying that Phoenix would find Miles ‘cute’ in a Steel Samurai costume and Miles telling Phoenix “as you wish” for anyone making a Princess Bride reference.

There is more, but those are all I could think of. If you can think of one reason for any Narumayo shipper to believe their ship is anymore reasonably canon than all of the Narumitsu excuses I’ve listed, I may reconsider, but I have found non. I’d argue that not all of these excuses are unreasonable to assume the two parties maybe in love. It still could mean something platonic, but it can easily mean something different, if they were the opposite sex. And yes, it’s the same with Narumayo; some of their excuses are reasonable, but that’s the point. Most of the excuses I listed are obviously dumb reasons like the “strip naked” part, but it’s not unreasonable to think there might be something more between them based on Phoenix pining for Miles or Miles constantly thinking or admiring Phoenix in his own games and comics. The same can be said for Phoenix and Maya. It’s not unreasonable to think Maya might have feelings for Phoenix based on the fact she talked about him a lot after leaving for the Kurain Village in Turnabout Goodbyes. Not my thing, but I can understand why people ship Phoenix and Maya, because I ship Phoenix and Miles for many of the same reasons.

Feel free to comment. What are your thoughts.

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Saturday, October 16th

AURA (leaving a message): Hey, Cordy. It’s Aura. I just wanted to check in, you know see how're you're doing and everything. Oh, you would not believe what’s going on in Sunnydale! DOYLE: You don’t wanna talk to her? CORDELIA: Um, not just yet. She's just gonna ask me about where I’m living and how the acting is going, and I'm just not for leading the parade of pain. I’ll do it when things are better.

~~Rm w/a Vu~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Faithful (Buffy/Faith, T) by ChokolatteJedi

Wrongfully Accused, Wrongfully Caged (Angelus/Spike, Drusilla/Spike, E) by RandomReader14

Precious (Willow, Black Widow crossover, FR13) by Vashti

Ra's al Xander (Xander, DC Universe crossover, FR15) by Balder

Brief notions of long memories (Holland Manners; Buffy & Willow, H.P. Lovecraft crossovers, FR7) by vidicon

[Chaptered Fiction]

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 219 (Ensemble, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure crossover, T) by madimpossibledreamer

Yellow Crayons Break, Too, Chapter 1 (Willow/Faith, T) by emae

A Different Slayer, Part 2: Slay Behind Me Come What May (Rona, A Different World crossover, T) by Vashti (tvashti)

Beloved, Part 4: Focus (OC Slayer, Black Widow crossover, T) by Vashti (tvashti)

Bite Your Tongue, Chapter 20 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by hostile17

He's a Friend from Work, Chapter 9 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by DeamonQueen

Careful What You Wish For, Chapter 22 (Buffy/Spike, Adult Only) by Jws1993

Deeper than Blood, Chapter 5 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Blackmysteria

Gray, Chapter 20 (Buffy/Spike, Adult Only) by Dusty

Have Fun Storming the Castle, Chapter 5 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by SunnydaleSummers

The Burning Wheel, Chapter 5 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Ginger

Holding On to You, Chapter 4 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by MaggieLaFey

Magic Man, Chapter 6 (Buffy/Spike, Adult Only) by Touchstoneaf

Call Me Yours (I'll Call You Mine), Chapter 3 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by lafillesauvage

Stars For Wars Like Ours, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, R) by ashcrashed

A Scoundrel's Fable, Chapter 5 (Xander, X-Men/My Hero Academia crossover, FR21) by ShadowMaster

Winged Shadows of Midgar, Chapter 6 (Xander, multiple crossovers, FR21) by ShadowMaster

Slayers and Trollhunters, Chapter 29 (Scoobies, Trollhunters crossover, FR15) by Starfox

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork: Buffy and Spike doodles (worksafe) by keysmayers

Artwork: Willow and Tara in OMWF (worksafe) by redfairytree

Artwork: Anya (worksafe) by tothetoonandback

Fanvid: Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Disposable Teens by Boo Tran

Fanvid: Buffy Summers || I’ll be good by QueenVampireSlayer

Fanvid: Faith Lehane || Blood in the Water by QueenVampireSlayer

Fanvid: Dawn Summers || LWYMMD by QueenVampireSlayer

Fanvid: Buffy & Spike || Tragic by QueenVampireSlayer

Fanvid: Learn the alphabet with the Buffyverse by Bangel_Boreanaz100

Fanvid: Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1992) || Bring It On by The Careless Chrisper

Fanvid: Willow (+ Tara) - Wrecked || BTVS by BrokenYellowCrayon

Fanvid: To Be Near You - Spike & Buffy by Eliza Edits

Video: Dark Willow Buffy The Vampire Slayer Makeup Look by Planet Marbasia

[Recs]

Willow/Tara fics by SpikeMe4Now4200 by girl4music

[Fandom Discussions]

Buffy book review: Unnatural Selection by hauntedxwriter

On Buffy Summers being a little in love with Faith by herinsectreflection

Does Buffy see Faith as (her) equal or does she still see her as inferior? answered by herinsectreflection

Can we talk about the number of cemeteries Sunnydale has? by jessannperreault

Why do we assume as a fandom the Giles would’ve stepped up to take care of Dawn and the Scoobies after Buffy died? by melonsmessymusings

I wish we’d gotten scenes with Fred, Gunn, Wesley, and Lorne in s5 of Angel in which they talk about Angel’s reaction to Spike by thequeenofsastiel

Best Series Finale: Chosen v Not Fade Away? by Btvs fan

Headcanon sexuality 2 by spikeverse

I love Doyle so much by jdpm1991

An easier way to beat Glory by calgil

Drusilla's arc is a loose end I wish was tied a little bit tighter by InfiniteMehdiLove

Why did Andrew's tears calm the Hellmouth? by paulcosmith

What does soulless actually mean? by full_onrainstorm

24 years is a long time by BlueInFlorida

Are there any podcasts/youtubers etc that summarise the comics? by BleachedAssArtemis

Worst parent by InfiniteMehdiLove

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

Join the editor team :)

[sherry-l]

Why YGO Vrains is such an immeasurable disappointment: a list

First of all, I need to make it abundantly clear that Im a big fan of Vrains – I love Yusaku, Ryoken, Ai, Kusanagi... you see them very often on my dash. I fantasize about the ideal version of Vrains that’s written well, the Vrains that’s fully exploited its potentials, every night in my sleep. I wrote this list PRECISELY because I love Vrains. That’s why I got so frustrated with its cardinal writing issues (and production issues). It physically pains me to hear people calling Vrains the worst and most boring series of YGO – but the fact that I couldn’t argue against that because it’s true pains me more.

And now, an incomprehensive list of the faults of Yugioh Vrains.  

1.      What the fuck is wrong with the character designs (beside that of Yusaku and Ryoken???) Everyone looks aesthetically displeasing – characters in real life look incredibly boring they could easily drown in a crowd of background characters, but their avatars are OSTENTATIOUS. Seems like the character designer had no clue what “less is more” means – blue angel, soulburner, and Bohemann for example, look like they were immersed in a bucket of glue and then dumped into another bucket filled with random accessories.

(from a fan artist’s perspective…Im especially salty about takeru, akira, Kusanagi, and the Knights of Hanois’ designs…like, their designs don’t inspire me to draw. Their personalities might be interesting, but their looks lack the vibrant, enthusiastic energy that the 5Ds, Zexal, and Arc-V characters possess)

(imagine how many fanfics and fanarts of Kusanagi x Yusaku there would be had Kusanagi looked HALF as hot as Ryoken)

And don’t even get me started on the colour palette – whoever decided on the colours just cant make up their goddamn mind! Colour saturation is way off the charts, the range of colour is too wide the audience simply dont know where to focus.

2.      Forgotten plotlines. Yusaku’s link sense? Hanoi’s spy in SOL? The Queen and the rest of the chess pieces? Yusaku’s forgotten memories? The rest of the victims of the Lost Incident? Just to name a few. 

3.      Character relationships are weak to minimal to none. Bonds and friendships – the vital element in all previous YGO series – is practically non-existent in Vrains. Where’s the camaraderie between our main casts (Yusaku, Aoi, Soulburner, Ema, Onizuka, etc…)? They don’t feel like a team fighting the evil together. They’re completely separate individuals who don’t give a single fuck if one of their…acquaintance…dies in a battle. We don’t have heartwarming moments of friendship blossoming and consolidating. It’s honestly such a let down.

4.      Interesting and debatable topics thrown away. The conflict between artificial intelligence and humans could spark so many in-depth discussions, but then the writer just decided its all Lightening’s fault. No morally gray situations, no ambiguity between the line of good and evil. It’s just all Lightening and his petty jealousy… yeah.

Oh and if Ai lives on the world will blow up. Why? Do we have a concrete reason to back that statement? eh...

5.      Overall quality of the animation. I don’t know if its because the animation staff was short on time or low on budget, but for a megacorporation (konami cough cough) that makes billions every year, they certainly are capable of investing more in this anime series. I can count the number of episodes in which the characters don’t look wacky with a single hand.

6.      Character development, wasted potentials. Ryoken is the only character who received decent treatment. The rest of the Vrains cast are all disappointments. Original concepts are cool and promising – Yusaku, a victim of child abuse with PTSD, embarking on a journey to overcome his reclusiveness and learn to open up to people around him? HELL YEAH. Aoi, a teenage idol with depression developing into a more mature and responsible heroine who saves Link Vrains? IM ALL FOR IT.  Soulburner’s character arc is fine overall but personally I don’t feel like it’s expanded enough. Also, there’s the mistreatment of side characters like Onizuka, Ema, Akira, the list goes on. I got so furious just looking at these characters and remembering that they’re all wasted and sidelined.

7.      Incoherent/ random plotlines. IDK all episodes in season 1 (Hanoi’s arc) felt pretty consistent, focusing on a linear theme – Yusaku’s revenge on the Knights of Hanoi. But after that it felt like the writers gave up writing outlines and just wrote whatever he pleased/ considered more convenient for the sake of…a plot…that he had no idea which direction it was headed for. This is reflected in the amount of forgotten plotlines we listed previously.

8.      Weak villains. Kinda related to point 4. Bohemann, Lightening, Windy, and Haru are all one-dimensional, flat, predictable villains with the cliché goal of “destroying humanity cuz humans are dumb and Ais are superior”. Not likeable, not fun to watch, not morally gray (something I expect from well-written antagonists), they are just there to serve as symbol of evil for the protags to defeat.

Honourable mentions - what I personally want to see in Vrains, really. Very biased.

-        The familial interaction between Yusaku and Kusanagi? Brotherhood, perhaps? Without any mention of Yusaku’s parents, Kusanagi is the closest Yusaku has to a brother figure. I crave for some wholesome brotherly moments between these two.

-        More slice of life episodes please.

-        The friendship between Yusaku and Takeru. Please. Please. PLEASE. From the second opening we can see the animation staff CLEARLY intended for there to be a strong bond between Yusaku and Takeru – Takeru probably was written to serve as a Jounouchi/ Johan/ Crow sort of character. Yusaku and Takeru could bond over their trauma and overcome their PTSD together. AND IT WAS SO HEAVILY HINTED AT IN THE 2ND OP!!! fam what the fuck happened to that friendship, Im so robbed.

-        Yusaku and Ryoken’s duel or tag duel. These two haven’t duelled AT ALL since the first season ended. Isn’t Ryoken Yusaku’s official rival? Isn’t it Yugioh tradition for the protag and the rival to duel like, a trillion times? AND ISNT IT ALSO A YUGIOH TRADITION FOR THE PROTAG AND THE RIVAL TO TAG DUEL?????? The fact that Yusaku and Ryoken never had a tag duel haunts me every night in my worst nightmares afjw4ot9wgrk

-        Topologina Nabee

Thanks for coming to my ted talk, this marks the end of my rant on YGO VRAINS DISAPPOINTMENTS. Again, I harboured no malicious intent when I compiled the list – its more like a vent of frustration than actual criticism. I would pay billions to see a Vrains reboot or, if there exists an alternate universe where none of the writing/production issues above are present in Vrains, I would do a Kaiba and build a dimension travelling machine and immigrate there.

TLDR: wasted potentials. wAsTED PoTEntialS. WASTED POTENTIALS!!!!!!

[snkpolls]

SnK Episode 68 Poll Results (for Anime Only Watchers)

The poll closed with 59 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Manga Readers’ poll, click here.

Anime only watchers, beware of spoilers if you venture over to the manga readers’ poll results.

--

RATE THE EPISODE 53 Responses

The response was overwhelmingly positive with 88.7% of responses giving the episode a 4 or a 5. In addition, there weren’t any 1s or 2s this time around. A noted contrast to the previous episode. Suppose Sasha’s death ruined the experience for some.

it epic

I NEED MORE

awesome

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING MOMENTS WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 55 Responses

The scene with the largest amount of reception (18.2%) was the final scene of the episode, where Eren repeats his mantra to himself in the mirror while revealing his new look. Behind that was the reveal that Armin is talking to Annie (10.9%). At a tie (9.1%), people most enjoyed Hange’s eccentric greeting to the Marleyan soldiers and Onyankopon explaining why he believes people are different. At another tie (7.3%), were the scenes where Sasha is enjoying Nicolo’s cooking, and the scene where Eren is washing himself at the sink.

WHAT WAS THE MOST EMOTIONAL PART OF THE VISIT TO SASHA’S GRAVE? 57 Responses

The visit to Sasha’s grave was packed with many tragic moments. According to the responders, the most emotional of those was Connie’s line about losing “his half” (47.4%). Following that we have the scene of grieving Mikasa with 24.6%. In third place is Nicolo’s general grief. Other responses were, in this order, Sasha’s Father agreeing to a free meal from Nicolo, seeing the girl that Sasha saved from a Titan all those years ago and simply Sasha’s family appearing.

AFTER SEVERAL TENSE AND ACTION PACKED EPISODES, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE TRANSITION TO SOMETHING MORE CALM? 53 Responses

Ever since the series started, AoT has had a clear contrast between the content of its episodes. Episode 68 of the series notably contrasts with the prior 3-4 episodes. So we wanted to know how the fans respond to these sorts of things. 32.1% stated that they enjoyed the slower paced episode after weeks of chaos. An equal number of responders (32.1%) noted that although they far preferred the action-based content, they understood the need for the slower episodes. A little over 13% said they actually preferred the exposition-esque content, so they were happy with the change and finally, a bit over 11% stated that they were indifferent. 

I view exposition equally as important as action. 

Watching the show dissect what happened before and after the attack on Marley made everything so clear, I love how they were able to capture the drama of both sequences

I'm definetly here more dialogue heavy epiodes and flashbacks but maybe with a slower pacing. It felt a little messy because the episode was also dealing with Sasha's as well as backstory. I think thst was probably intentional though.

They both have their merits.

Still feels great

WOULD YOU RATHER GET A SURPRISE GREETING FROM EREN & HANGE, OR ARMIN & LEVI? 55 Responses

Marleyan Soldiers got two sets of surprises in this episode. One from Eren and Hange, one from Armin and Levi. The fans would clearly prefer to get one of those from Eren and Hange (78.2%) than Armin and Lavi (21.8%).

ON A SCALE OF 1-5, HOW HAPPY ARE YOU TO BE BACK ON PARADIS? 55 Responses

We recently returned to Paradis Island and according to the responders, it was a much wanted development, with 85.4% giving a 4 or a 5 when it comes to hype about the return to the island.

ARMIN SAYS THAT ONCE EREN INFILTRATED MARLEY, THERE WAS NO OTHER CHOICE BUT TO ATTACK IN ORDER TO PREVENT IMMEDIATE RETALIATION. DO YOU AGREE WITH HIM? 55 Responses

The raid on Liberio is being questioned not only by the audiences, but also by the characters in-universe. Still, when it comes to Armin’s justification for the attack, the majority (69.1%) think that there was no other choice for Paradis, be it because they could afford to lose Eren/Founding Titan or because Marley would have retaliated easily. Others (~10%) think that they either should have made more effort to find Eren before it came to the raid or should have just let him go. 14.5% simply aren’t sure. 

They had no choice but to retrieve Eren, but that doesn't necessarily mean a full blown attack. I think Armin is trying to convince himself here. 

Yes. Marley could have captured Eren and had Zeke or someone else eat him for the founding powers.

DO YOU THINK IT’S PLAUSIBLE THAT MARLEY WILL FIND A WAY TO QUICKLY COUNTERATTACK ANYWAY? 53 Responses

When it comes to Marley, one could wonder if they will attempt a quick counterattack. 67.9% believe so, 15.1% dissent. And 9.4% state that they have been spoiled.  For the write-in responder who feels that we are spoiling via the question itself, we assure you that anything we ask here had once been a matter of debate among manga readers when the corresponding chapters were fresh and we did not know the outcome. We would just like to give anime only watchers the same opportunity to have these debates. 

I don't know.

The fleet has been destroyed, but what about the airforce (if they have one)? I doubt Paradis has the mean to counter that. 

I'm not really sure honestly

This question is a spoiler itself: if you ask this, maybe it means that's what will happen. Thank you.

WHEN EREN FIRES HIS GUN AT THE END OF EMA’S TALK, IT TRANSITIONS TO SASHA TAKING A BULLET IN THE PREVIOUS EPISODE. DO YOU FEEL THAT THE NARRATIVE IS TRYING TO PIN THE BLAME SOLELY ON EREN? 55 Responses

Eren’s rifle shot was juxtaposed with Sasha’s death, showcasing a possible thread in the narrative. Does the narrative believe that Eren is to blame for Sasha’s death? 38.2% think it’s a yes and 45.5% think it’s a possibility. On the other hand, almost 11% don’t think the story is trying to go for that route. 

While I don’t think it’s trying to pin the blame solely on Eren. I think it’s trying to say he shares a large portion of the blame.

He may be partly at fault, but not fully.

Yes. But they shouldn't. Because it was GabBitch who killed Sasha, and GabBitch alone.

DO YOU BELIEVE THAT ZEKE, YELENA AND THE VOLUNTEERS ARE SINCERE IN THEIR WISH TO HELP PARADIS? 55 Responses

Zeke, Yelena and Co. are a set of characters. Are they a trustworthy set of characters? Certainly up to debate. 67.8% believe they’re trustworthy to a degree, at the very least. In contrast to 23.6% who find no trust in them. A select few have been spoiled. 

Mmm Yelena & co. maybe...I love Zeke but he's big sus this season

I think they are loyal to Zeke, and his goal is to get the funding titan. At the moment, this means allying themselves with Paradis, but that could easily change. 

They are very sus, Yelena is especially loose. IDK who they'll be loyal too.

DO YOU THINK THAT EREN WANTS TO USE THE WALL TITANS AS A SIMPLE DETERRENT, OR DOES HE WANT TO FLATTEN THE EARTH? 55 Responses

The possibility of a Rumbling has been brought up more than a few times throughout the series (mostly this season) and the question remains, “will Eren use the Rumbling to flatten the Earth?” 60% think that’ll be the case, in contrast to almost 11% who dissent. 27.3% were already spoiled about the outcome. 

That idiot definetly wants to flatten the earth. Empathy and logic has never been Erens strong suit.

DO YOU THINK THAT EMA HAVE BECOME MORE DISTANT FROM EACH OTHER? 55 Responses

The iconic EMA trio has been together through thick and thin, so something truly must happen for them to “break up”, so to say. Would one say that they have grown apart? 56.4% think so, but only insofar as Eren goes. 25.5% believe that they all have grown apart to a degree. 9.1% dissent to these assertions and a select few have been spoiled. 

Even Mikasa and Armin seem distant! They were coping on their own after coming back to Paradis. 

I like to refer to them as E     MA. lol. Yehhhh anyway- somethings defs off with them.

ARMIN SAID HE DIDN’T SEE ANY NOTEWORTHY MEMORIES FROM BERTOLT WHEN EREN ASKED HIM ABOUT IT. DO YOU THINK HE’S BEING TRUTHFUL? 55 Responses

A whole bunch of people doubt Armin’s statement about not seeing anything useful in Bertolt’s memories (81.8%), though some (14.5%) think the boy’s telling the truth. A select few have been spoiled.

DO YOU THINK MIKASA IS LOSING HOPE IN THE WORDS THAT ONCE GAVE HER STRENGTH? 56 Responses

Long ago, Mikasa stated that one must fight, survive and win. If they don’t fight, they won’t survive and will lose. But with some losses drumming up on the plate, could she start doubting this mantra? 46.4% believe that we cannot say one way or another until we see more. 26.8% don’t believe that Sasha’s death will shake her confidence in that belief and it’s just a brief moment of doubt, in contrast to 23.2% who believe that Sasha’s demise will irreparably change Mikasa’s philosophy. 

No....? I did't even realise she was that close to Sasha. I feel like if she loses Eren THEN she'll lose hope.

what words?

Mikasa deserves better than emo world destroyer Eren!!! She's too pure.

EREN SEEMED TO BE MISSING WHEN THE SURVEY CORPS WERE INTERACTING WITH THE VOLUNTEERS. WHY DO YOU THINK THAT MIGHT BE? 54 Responses

Eren wasn’t present when the others were interacting with the volunteers. Some believe it is noteworthy, others do not think so. 38.9% simply aren’t certain. 29.6% think it’s the SC decision to keep Eren away from Zeke’s followers. On the other, 20.4% predict that it was Eren’s own choice of isolation. A select few have simply been spoiled.

Didn’t notice this until now

Maybe he had already left for Marley?

ARMIN WAS HOPEFUL THAT THEY COULD SOLVE THEIR PROBLEMS THROUGH DIPLOMACY. EREN FELT THAT PEACE WAS NEVER AN OPTION. WHO DO YOU AGREE WITH MORE? 54 Responses

A noted contrast in Eren and Armin’s beliefs was showcased in this episode. 57.4% find themselves siding more with Eren’s anti-diplomatic measures, while 42.6% support Armin’s more peaceful ways.

WE GOT A GLIMPSE OF ANNIE IN THIS EPISODE. WHAT BEST MATCHES YOUR THOUGHTS? 55 Responses

Annie has been encased in that crystal for years at this point, both in and out of universe. Is she going to get out of that crystal? Just a little over 69% believe so, in contrast to the one person who doesn’t. 23.6% were spoiled one way or another. 

Sis is running out of time...it would really suck if her 13 years were up before she even got out of her lil crystal

This has GOT to wake up, surely.

She got a nose reduction surgery

HOW DO YOU THINK ZEKE WILL RATE HIS STAY AT THE HOTEL OF GIANT TREES? 55 Responses

Zeke seemed shocked to find his hotel to be a forest of Giant Trees. An iconic location, seen throughout the series. We asked how you believe Zeke will rate his stay. A plurality (40%) think that he won’t be there long enough to do so. 29.1% believe he’ll give it an average score, in contrast to 23.6% who imagine Zeke loving his getaway! 7.3% have been spoiled.

WHAT BEST DESCRIBES YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT PIXIS ARRESTING THE VOLUNTEERS? 55 Responses

It would appear Pixis detained the volunteers while the SC were away. The majority (52.7%) don’t find it to be a controversial decision, noting that both parties have a mutual understanding between each other. A noted minority (29.1%) thought that it was actually the best course of action, arguing that the Paradisian Military has no way of knowing whether the volunteers are trustworthy or not now that Zeke is here on Paradis. In contrast, 18.2% thought that it was mistake, given how much assistance the Volunteers have provided to the islanders.

WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THE WAY THE PARADISIANS ARE SEEN TREATING MARLEYANS? 55 Responses

We saw some noted mistreatment of Marleyans by the Paradisians this episode. So we asked the responders what their thoughts were on this development. A plurality (47.3%) couldn’t say one way or the other and needed to see more to pass their judgment. 34.5% were open in their condemnation of those actions, in contrast to the 12.7% who were supportive of such activities. 

Cycle of haaaate. No one is justified in acting that way but it's understandable that they do

Some good, some bad. Military police doing the worst of course. 

An eye for an eye ✌

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

I don't know what to say anymore. This episode made me question my previous ideologies regarding the characters

In my opinion, this episode has more fanservice than usual, from the ship moments of Levihan and Aruani, and to the display of Mikasa's ass and Eren's abs, but Mappa is not over the top and can still get the plot moving and still have those moments that can move the viewers.

I believe in Onyankopon supremacy

Even though I love Mappa post timeskip designs, the pre timeskip design of some characters seemed a bit off to me (particularly Armin and Eren). It distracted me a bit from the action. 

Eren standing Infront of the mirror was way better in manga. Mappa need to put more effort. No hate tho. 

Idk, didn't blow me away. I'm seriously concerned for Armin, he's definetly losing it. Appreciated the flashbacks and the new characters too. Onyankopon has captured my mf heart, if he dies, I die too. 😌

Chad Eren

Niccolo x Sasha OTP

What the shit dude…

Gabi will forever be the worst character to me, no matter what the anime tries to do to justify her

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 54 Responses

Thanks again to everyone who responded!

[lesbianmarth]

it’s been a while since i posted about aa but i just finished soj in its entirety tonight. here’s my new list so far

i still have to give thoughts on cases 4 5 and dlc so that’ll be under a cut. spoilers!

6-4: this was such a filler case, almost shamefully so. i don’t know why they thought they could manage to do this in the 4th case when every game with 5 cases has been pretty consistent about making the 4th case plot relevant, sometimes literally just a preamble to case 5. so yeah i think this one was kinda ass

the two things it had going for it: one, athena. in 6-2 i actually got confused about why i ever liked her, because in that case she felt like she was just acting the part of the Peppy Teen Girl With a Rowdy Streak that makes up almost every assistant character. But then as SOON as she started bantering with Simon in 6-4 i was like “oh, THAT’S why i liked her!” was nice to take control of her again.

two, uendo toneido. while i don’t think you can say the DID was portrayed with quite the necessary respect or kindness, it was handled better than i’ve seen other media handle it-- at least it’s not completely demonized. other people have written more on that in better detail so i’m not really the judge, but the basic point is that this witness was mad fun to read, and even the dumb jokes like the changing number of floor cushions were entertaining. thus why this case is in the “hard carried by one side character” tier.

especially since there was like nothing else going on. no connection to the main plot, only two other characters besides uendo, and for some reason the clown tits girl was here instead of the magic show case (and to be honest, she wasn’t enjoyable for me even BEFORE she did the standard aa female villain thing and changed her speech pattern as soon as she fell under suspicion). just a weird, nothing case stuck right around the point aa games usually enter endgame. And especially weird because...

6-5 part 1: inexplicably there are two separate cases in the final chapter and each gets one day of investigation and trial. such a weird setup, and it really shouldn’t work... but i think it kinda barely does. barely. it would still have been better to split it into case 4 and case 5 though.

i have a hard time articulating much on the first case bc it sort of blends together for me. the main thing is that the concept of it being a civil case where apollo and phoenix face off is really good. it was a good change of pace, even though you knew it was gonna be a murder somehow anyway. sarge was reasonably nice, i guess, paul atishon had some good animations and quirks (my favorite being when he tries to just walk away from the stand to avoid answering a question), and the logic of the actual murder was good enough.

but i especially got those strong “oh this is a FINAL case!” vibes during the segment in the cave, and that added so much to it even if not much of it was relevant in the first half of the case. the adventure feel reminded me of some of the (out of context bc i still havent played it) scenes i know from 3-5, which is a good association to invoke imo. and it did a lot to give apollo and dhurke time to bond.

speaking of which, dhurke, holy shit. what a KING. i don’t think i’ve ever liked a dad character in ace attorney this much. he’s so genuine and like down to earth that it’s impossible not to start liking him and believe how much he cares for his sons. the bit where he rescued apollo from the cave flood... i felt it in my heart

6-5 part 2: let me just get this out of the way: ga’ran sucks. her design after she goes full evil is so bad, she’s so malicious that it’s immediately obvious she’s going to be the culprit, her breakdown is ridiculous and just embarrassing to watch, and inga had already established way more charisma as a villain when he did the “those were orders of execution actually” bit in 6-3. with that said,

i actually liked it for the most part. the spirit channeling stuff was excellent imo-- they probably use it to similar or greater effect in 3-5 but as someone who again has not played that, i was surprised and almost impressed by how well it was applied. maya was relevant for something! it feels like it’s been ages!

rayfa was a little underutilized, i think-- her moment of determination where she stops letting ga’ran have control over her was alright but it fell flat bc it didn’t have any weight during the moment. i kept hoping she would like, wordlessly take of her shawl and do the little verbal preamble to the divination seance while ga’ran kept yelling at her to stop, but no, the script can’t be good like that, i guess. and since she didn’t get to be the investigation assistant for long, none of her charm in that role carried through.

but DHURKE!! oh my god! in a game almost devoid of emotional impact, his involvement in this case really hit. the way they painstakingly animated his death, the scene where he makes a promise with maya, and then the weight of knowing in hindsight that everything he did in the first part of the case was after he’d already died and just wanted to see his son again before passing on for real....... it hurt. i felt something during that section. this case would also be hard carried by him if not for the fact that i really liked the murder bits.

amara was good too--liked how they made her suspiciously serene and accentuated it with the lightning strikes to make her look like a hidden murderer character about to reveal herself, only to walk it back and confirm she was being forced to act that way. i thought it worked. nahyuta was boring though, i’m sorry-- i get the motivation with having to be a bastard bc his sister and mom were basically held hostage, but the only time i found him compelling in that mess was the bit where he removed his one fingerless glove and revealed he still has the dragon tattoo. that was it. athena was also completely unused the whole case (not even a single mood matrix? really?) and trucy one again went without any role of importance.

the ending also... yknow, a friend said they had to end it this way bc they never figured out what they were going to do with apollo (since following up on what they started in aa4 clearly wasn’t an option???) and just threw him on a bus to get rid of him. i agree with that-- he really feels thrown to the side, and with that i think trucy’s officially stranded with no hope of any character advancement. and the way they ended the game with phoenix and lamiroir deciding “yeah, maybe NOW we should finally tell those two they’re related” honestly felt insulting lol

but maybe the dlc case will let things go out on a high note...?!

6-6: it was okay.

it would’ve worked pretty well as a filler case in an older aa-- honestly i think it’d be one of the better filler cases, certainly worth replacing the shitty ones like 2-3 or 3-3 or, hey, 6-4. but whether i’d say it was worth paying for... eh.

the time travel conceit was done well enough, i think. the way they tied it back to sorin and pierce’s backstories was nice, and the twist about having two receptions was good, although they needed to treat that as a real twist with much more gravity. when the truth comes out it just feels like “oh of course that’s what happened” rather than a big surprise worthy of the Confessing the Truth theme. it’s sort of important because the case becomes a lot less interesting when you take out the time travel element.

far as characters are concerned, i think they needed more side characters to sell the whole thing-- another sprocket family member or another servant of the household. it felt a little limited-- sorin and pierce are pretty good witnesses and i like their quirks and their secrets, but the only alive woman (ellen) has very few traits and no connection to the deeper story of the case, so she falls really flat. the old aa characters didn’t add much- maya and edgeworth were just there for fanservice, ema didn’t get to do much other than acknowledge for the first time in years that she’s a big edgeworth fan, and larry is annoying as hell like he always is.

and oh my god i actually forgot while i was writing that, how they put in athena and trucy but only used them for brief slapstick where trucy would try to set athena on fire and shit. again-- no mood matrix? couldn’t even try once to fit those two characters into something?

i did like pierce’s transformation into his surgeon form though-- that was really cool. loved him doing surgery on a robot, taking xrays of the lawyers, and his breakdown was fantastic-- he would make a really good culprit if they didn’t whiff the last bit of pathos at the end. i don’t think he should’ve been aiming for revenge on sorin; it would have hurt much more if he was still loyal to the guy and never intended for him to be in danger, but the final “why’d you do it?” talk in the trial just felt flat and one-note, much like the one in 6-4.

... so that’s spirit of justice! not a super positive experience but i’m happy to say it’s done. as much as i want to go and replay dgs, i think when i do go back to ace attorney i’ll be replaying the trilogy for the first time since high school

[precure-stuff]

Aikatsu On Parade Rewrite Part 4(Episode 16-20)

READ PART 1-3 HERE OR READ THE CHANGES TO CANON LIST

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Changes to CANON:

Raki acquires the Constellation PR by studying Amahane’s design method with Sena.

Magic Blood performs Ragtime of The Moonlit Night is performed

Reflect Moon perform in their Jeweling Dresses

 Aoi, Shion and Ako act together·       

 Raki and Sora are good friends(Designers)·      

The Christmas live is Hello Winter Love (Raki. Hinaki. Lily. Juri. Maika. Ichigo)·       

Aikatsu On Parade Episode 16- Remembering Joy

This episode starts with Aine and Mio appearing on TV. PP,HC and Raki are watching and can't seem to find out whats missing. This goes on until Wakaba walks in as the commercial plays on loop. "Huh? You two collabed with Yume?" Mio nods as her gaze remains fixed on the screen. "Then you two should sing together. Mio feels Vivid Inspiration and Aine turns to her. "That's what's missing. We need a song together!"

They send Raki to find Yume and she takes a bus to Yotsuboshi. As she's looking for Yume she runs past a woman carrying beautiful blue flowers. Raki stops and stares up at the woman's red eyes.

It's Hotaru. She mentions that she's on her way to Venus Ark. Raki asks her whether she's seen Yume. Hikaru's sister tells Raki that she'swith the S4. Raki finds Yume,Ruka,Mahiru and Ako. To her surprise they were also watching the commercial.Raki takes S4 to Star Harmony

The song writing process begins as Yume, Mio and Aine start writing As they work away the rest of S4 has fun outside. Maika and Ruka  dance together as Ema talks to Ako about the movie she made. Kirara shows up and her and Ako start to bicker. Yume stops writing and opens the curtain tps tare outside. Koharu is standing behind her with candy and notices something is wrong. She walks up behind her and tells her to join them. She tosses Raki a candy through the window and walks out to meet her. Yume and PP realise they were being too serious and decide to have fun with the song. As they work on it late into the night they fall asleep. Raki and Koharu walk in to cover them in blankets and steal a peek at the lyrics.

The next day Yume and PP unveil their new song together as part of a children’s show on television. The song is Feeling Of Justice and the Appeal is Rainbow Palette Flight. A variation of Trio Flight from Aikatsu Season 3. As the show ends, PP and Yume celebrate at Star Harmony. Hotaru arrives to pick up Kirara in the middle of the party.  Ako asks what they’re up to and Kirara says that Elza seeks an Aikatsu that surpasses all worlds. Ako is confused. Kirara seems a little more serious than usual and that detail unnerves her. The episode ends with a shot of Elza with cards of every idol that has appeared so far( In Aiparade)

 Episode 17- The Explosive Dynamo

The episode starts with Raki looking for inspiration. She plans on designing a new PR but doesn’t know where to start. Aine arranges for her to have a sit down with Chiharu and sadly, nothing comes of it. At the end, a disappointed Chiharu suggests they go outside. “Are we looking at nature?” Raki asks. “No,” Chiharu says, “I simply want to show you something new. It’s a new phenomenon that only happens once a day.” Chiharu leads Raki to the field as Wakaba runs up to them. “You’re just in time.” Wakaba stares up at the dusk sky as three silhouettes emerge from the clouds. The three girls decline as Raki is left stunned by their skill. They eventually hold hands and begin to rotate as they launch their parachutes. They land at roughly the same time to the applause of their audience. “Excellent!” “Yes!” Hibiki and Kaede pose together as Mirai walks nonchalantly toward the girls. She mentions that the timing was a bit off but with some work it would be perfect. Raki asks who the other girls are. “Together we are Dynamo! Hibiki! Kaede! Mirai!” Wakaba squeals in excitement and mentions that Mirai trains her. (She’s more of a fangirl in this rewrite)

Hibiki mentions she needs to get to Venus Ark and runs off as Mirai wipes off her sweat. Kaede pulls flowers out of her hat and Wakaba loses it. She says she can’t wait to form a Friends and get to Mirai’s level. Raki realizes she doesn’t have a Friends unit either. She thinks to herself that Wakaba would be a great fit. Almost as if she read her mind Wakaba wants to perform with her instantly. Mirai is hesitant but says she’s intrigued by the pop they’ll produce. “Would you like to see Wakaba’s stage?” Mirai asks Raki. She agrees but Chiharu mentions its really late. The following morning Wakaba walks into Raki’s room and invites her to watch Dynamo’s practice. They sit by as Wakaba tells Raki all about Love Me Tear. Raki is overwhelmed and simply starts to talk about Dresses. Wakaba shows her the Humming Leaf cards and Raki’s eyes are caught by the Tiroler Tangerine Coord. She adores the lace over the middle of its bodice. Mirai smiles as she sees them getting along.

Dynamo puts on a live that evening for the Star Harmony students. Their song is Nice To Meet You! As for the coords, I like that Luminas sometimes wore somewhat matching coords from their individual brands. So here, Hibiki wears Dazzling Purple Coord. Mirai wears the Arabian Marble Coord. Kaede wears the Parallel Hunter Coord. As they watch the show together, Raki and Wakaba promise to get better together. Wakaba gives Raki a clover and makes a pun about her being lucky. The two promise to form a Friends once they become better idols. The last shot is of the clover pressed into the pages of Raki’s design books. (Coords for this episode below)

 Episode 18- The Jewel of Solvette

Once again, Raki is doing research on dresses and decides to look up Dynamo. She sees a few articles about the members and realizes that she doesn’t know who Hibiki’s partner is. In the Aifriends rewrite I did, season two ends with Believe Me Tear(IB+LMT) VS Honey Palette(HC+PP) Raki looks up Alicia and is left stunned by the Jeweling Dress. There aren’t too many results as Alicia wasn’t as popular in Japan as the rest of Believe Me Tear. She logs onto a Solvette fan site and asks where she can see more of the dress. The fans inform her that the cards were stored in Solvette’s museum as a national treasure. This leads Raki to look for Hibiki as a meand to get to Solvette. The first stop on her search for Hibiki takes her to Wakaba.

“It’s you again!” Wakaba says. She runs up to Raki who asks where Mirai and the rest of Dynamo are. Wakaba tells her that they were training with Kaede at the moment. She asks her if there’s any way to find Hibiki directly and Wakaba mentions that she has her number. On a video chat with Hibiki she mentioned that she could have Raki come to Solvette in a week due to the processes. Raki smiles. Wakaba ends the call and asks Raki to take a break from designing by watching her stage. Wakaba performs This World is Wonderful in the Tiroler Tangerine Coord. Raki adores the stage and tells Wakaba she no longer seems like an idol rookie. Wakaba tells Raki that she’s not much of a rookie either. “You’ve performed with great idols and made amazing dresses”

Throughout the week, Raki sketches in her book as she receives visits from Koharu and Sora. They even bring her a mannequin. As the week passes by, Raki gets a passport and packs her luggage. At the end of the week she heads to the airport and meets Yume when she gets there. “What are you doing here?” Raki asks. Yume tells her that she has someone important to meet there. The two board the plane with Hibiki. Ideally the song, “Brand New Girl” from Prichan would be playing during this whole section to set the mood. As Raki alights she looks exhausted. Hibiki tells her that she must have really wanted to come. The three exit the airport.

The first thing that happens is that we hear a voice call out to Yume. Rola runs up to her and they hug and hold hands (like in the Aistars movie) This is immediately paralleled by I Believe reuniting. Raki nervously walks up to Alicia, fully aware that she’s royalty. Her guards stand before Raki. Alicia turns to face her and asks what she wants. Raki presents her cards and asks Alicia if she would let her perform in those cards. Alicia smiles mildly. She says that she is flattered. After seeing how much effort Raki put into it she claims she can see the love poured into the design. Alicia approves of the cards and lets Raki perform. Raki performs Your Entrance in the Jeweling Dress PR. Afterward Raki is exhausted and has to sleep on the way back to Japan. Alicia returns to Japan as well and tells Hibiki that she sees her younger self’s passion for Aikatsu in Raki. Rola feel asleep on Yume’s shoulder in the seat behind her.

 Episode 19-Return of Rock

This episode opens with a guitar riff blasting through the Dream Academy Dorms. Noelle wakes up in frustration. She knows her sister is up to something and marches off toward her usual training stop. Seira and Rola are having a competition that has been going on since dawn. Yume is huddled in the corner covering her ears as Headmaster Tiara watches with glee. Eventually Seira and Rola both give in as Yume reveals Rola didn’t even eat Breakfast when she discovered a rocker nearby. This seems pointless to Tiara who interrupts and sees the opportunity for an event. She wants to make an event out of it. The opening plays here.

After the opening Raki receives a call from Ichigo. She mentions that Seira will be competing against Rola and would like her to watch. Raki agrees and informs Tamaki. Hariu is present at the time and suggests that Reflect Moon should accompany her. Sakuya and Kaguya join her in the taxi and she sits in the middle back seat. Sakuya instantly sleeps on the window. Raki shows Kaguya the Dark Lolita coord. Kaguya comments on Raki’s growth as a designer.  They arrive at Dream Academy and notice a crowd. The driver comments that some of Rola’s foreign fans have showed up.  There is a big poster on Dream Academy’s building depicting Rola and Seira wielding guitars like swords.

Rola is in her dressing room with Yume and Koharu who gives her candy. Mahiru rushes in to hug her followed by Ako and Tsubasa’s arrival. They reminisce on the events of Rola’s departure in Aistars season 2. Ako tells Rola that she’d better win but Rola says that winning isn’t her goal but rather going all out on stage. Ako huffs and says that she should do her best anyway. She then walks out to join Noelle on the main stage. Noelle tells the audience that Ako will entertain their children until the main event and steps off stage. Ako smiles nervously and asks herself why she chose to do this. Her smile fades when she sees Kirara join her. She brings Caroline with her which really gets the children going and then they perform Please Mary. Kirara wears the Marchen Lollipop Coord and Ako wears the Fluffy Cat Coord.

Afterward we cut to Raki buying merchandise with Akari and PP. They stop by a stand selling unit themed ribbons and Akari instinctively picks a 2wings Ribbon. They all try on other ribbons and have candy pops with Madoka and Rin. Sora and Maria are helping the event run smoothly. Elsewhere, Aria and Rey are walking about in disguises. “Elza wants us to stay focused on her project but we need to have fun too.” Rey tells Aria. They continue to sneak around

With all that said and done, the crowd all gather at the main stage. The clock strikes three and Noelle introduces the two rockstars. Rola walks on from the left with Yume at her side. Seira walks on from the right with Ichigo by her side. “And now, let the event begin!” Rola performs Miracle Force Magic in the Rocking Melody Chord with her season 2 aura. Seira performs Idol Activity(Rock) in the Pinkish Union Coord. Once the stages are over, they both stand on stage exhausted.

The voting begins and the votes are adding up rapidly and stop right in the middle. Noelle announces a tie and the crowd goes wild. Seira tells Rola that if she’s Re then she’ll just be Mi. Rola says that they’ll continue through them and they’ll have a rematch someday. Raki goes backstage and meets Yume,Rola,Seira and Ichigo. They talk a little and we see Raki’s sister outside the dressing room door. She walks away with a smug smile and the episode ends.(All coords used appear below)

Episode 20- Double Moon Miracle

 This scene opens in Elza’s office. Mizuki and Hime sit across the table with Elza holding her head in her hands. Kirara, Rey and Aria stand outside the office eavesdropping with concerned expressions. “You’re time is up Elza.” Hime starts, “You had your chance to recruit Mizuki and I to Venus Ark…however we are still far too powerful to affiliate with an idol school.” Elza tries to retort but her mouth remains shut. “While we acknowledge your prowess, your dream to plunder all the greatest idols is far from reality.” Mizuki and Hime stand up to leave and Elza bangs on her table and holds up a set of cards. Hime turns and smiles, “That power is well known to us.” With that the two moon idols leave Elza’s office.

Cut to Starlight Academy as Mizuki gives Hime a tour. “This is where I started Hime, being Starlight Queen was merely the first step for me. The position is similar to your S4 position.” A few students run up to Mizuki and she gives them her autograph.

“Aren’t you worried that you’ve grown rusty?”Hime asks. Mizuki turns and her aura appears.

“I don’t think so, have you?” Mizuki and Hime turn to face eachother. “There’s only one way to be certain.

Rumors soon spread that Mizuki is back in Starlight. This spreads to the other schools and their students buzz up. Reflect Moon tell the other Star Harmony girls that top idols of the moon will be performing at 4Star. Yozora lets the other girls know and metions even regional idols will be present.

4Star fills up with idols and fans as Hikaru sells them tickets. Anna berates him for still trying to save 4Star financially but he reminds her that her salary will come from the sales. Carol Alice shows up with a camera and reunites with Yume. “Elza wouldn’t come here herself and so she had me record it for her.” She reveals the hidden camera in her bonnet and sits down to watch. Mizuki and Hime perform Start Line in their LPRs. They have two appeals. Double Premium Moon Jewel and Double Premium Eternal Moonlight. The show ends and the crowd is left silenced. The silence stretches out as Hime and Mizuki walk off stage. The whole crowd erupts into applause. Hime and Mizuki congratulate each other and share a cup of tea backstage. They sit across each other on a table and Mizuki places a flower pot between them. “A new Aikatsu is blooming.” Mikuru says. The last shot is the flower pot with a seedling.

[notmoreflippingelves]

15 (I return you the question :D) for the aa ask meme :)

What kind of things are you hoping for in the next AA game?

So I should add first of all, that I’m at the point where I would much rather have Investigations 3 or a one-off spinoff (Mia Fey: Ace Attorney–anyone?  Or  Ema Skye: Scientific Investigations?) than AA7. There would be less discourse around it, and I tend to prefer the games that aren’t afraid to be their own thing. 

But assuming that we’re much more likely to get AA7 (assuming Capcom eventually realizing they can’t just keep releasing the Trilogy whenever), here are a few things.  Obviously, it’s not realistic to expect all of them and in fact, a few of my wants kind of contradict each other. 

1. Apollo stays in Khurain at least until the final case. I think most fans would agree that we’re currently suffering from character overload at this point, especially given that Capcom is also trying to appease the Trilogy diehards by bringing back Edgeworth and Maya, etc. SOJ gave Apollo a nice justification for leaving the WAA (even only temporarily). Let’s not retcon this before we’ve explored the possibilities. (Plus, this is another really great spinoff game idea. Apollo Justice: Khrainese Attorney. With Rayfa or Datz as his assistant.)

2. On a similar note, Athena is leading counsel for at least 2-3 cases in AA7. Phoenix can stay on as her co-counsel and/or assistant. Or we can see her team up with Trucy or Blackquill again. But it would really allow us to see her as a full-fledged WAA partner in her own right and help win over some of the fans that aren’t sure about her (because she’s always in Phoenix’s and/or Apollo’s shadow). Plus, it would get the bad taste of the soba case out of my mouth for the accidental sexism it perpetuated. 

3. It’s unlikely to happen, but I would like to see older Kay. Possibly as a detective. I miss my  little thief. I would also settle for seeing Gumshoe again.

4. Give me the Gavins backstory I was denied. I know there’s something Apparently, Capcom were planning on exploring it before they decided to make DD instead (which I’m mostly okay with as I think DD is one of the strongest games). . Even if it’s just a flashback case with younger Kristoph that doesn’t really give us concrete answers as to *why* everything happened as it did. I feel that we should get something. Or even if they just want to show me tiny Klavier or short-haired younger Kris. 

5. I would like for them to incorporate the mini-sprites feature from AAI for crime scene investigations. I wanna physically  see my little lawyers running around as they look for the next clue.

6. The Big Bad is a Judge.* We’ve had villain prosecutors (several), we’ve had villain defense attorneys (Kristoph and Callisto Yew), we’ve had villain detectives ( Gant and Phantombright), we’ve had villain clients (Engarde), we’ve had several villainous witnesses, we’ve had villainous mentors/assistants/co-counsels (Kristoph again) . I want the whole set.  Give me an evil judge. 

I mean I guess you could argue that Ga’aran did technically make herself judge in the last case of SOJ by pulling “I am the queen; you must obey” card, but she presented herself primarily as a prosecutor, so that’s how I consider her. 

It can be one of Udgey’s many dopplegangers (to give us all a false sense of security) or an entirely new character designed to be a judge for this game.

Let him/her/them be forced out of the trial at the very end and replaced with a new judge/revived MASON system because it’s revealed that they have a huge conflict of interest and shouldn’t even be allowed to  preside. The DRAMA of the eleventh hour evidence coming in and the detective yelling that the judge is the mastermind of everything. I just… give it to me now. 

*(I have not played either DGS game, so it’s possible this has already happened there. But even if it has, I am still owed an evil judge in the main timeline given the number of evul prosecutors I have had to put up with).

[dustedmagazine]

Dusted’s Decade Picks

Heron Oblivion, still the closest thing to a Dusted consensus pick

Just as, in spring, the young's fancy turns to thoughts of love, at the end of the decade the thoughts of critics and fans naturally tend towards reflection. Sure, time is an arbitrary human division of reality, but it seems to be working out okay for us so far. We're too humble a bunch to offer some sort of itemized list of The Best Of or anything like that, though; a decade is hard enough to wrap your head around when it's just your life, let alone all the music produced during said time. Instead these decade picks are our jumping off points to consider our decades, whether in personal terms, or aesthetic ones, or any other. The records we reflect on here are, to be sure, some of our picks for the best of the 2010s (for more, check back this afternoon), but think of what follows less as anything exhaustive and more as our hand-picked tour to what stuck with us over the course of these ten years, and why.

Brian Eno — The Ship (Warp, 2016)

You don’t need to dig deep to see that our rapidly evolving and hyper-consciously inclusive discourse is taking on the fluidity of its surroundings. In 2016, a year of what I’ll gently call transformation, Brian Eno had his finger on multiple pulses; The Ship resulted. It’s anchored in steady modality, and its melody, once introduced, doesn’t change, but everything else ebbs and flows with the Protean certainty of uncertainty. While the album moves from the watery ambiguities of the title track, through the emotional and textural extremes of “Fickle Sun” toward the gorgeously orchestrated version of “I’m Set Free,” implying some kind of final redemption, the moment-to-moment motion remains wonderfully non-binary. Images of war and of the instants producing its ravaging effects mirror and counterbalance the calmly and increasingly gender-fluid voice as it concludes the titular piece by depicting “wave after wave after wave.” Is it all Salman Rushdie’s numbers marching again? The lyrics embody the movement from “undescribed” through “undefined” and “unrefined’” connoting a journey toward aging, but size, place, chronology and the music encompassing them remain in constant flux, often nearly but never quite recognizable. Genre and sample float in and out of view with the elusive but devastating certainty of tides as the ship travels toward silence, toward that ultimate ambiguity that follows all disillusion, filling the time between cycles. The disconnect between stasis and motion is as disconcerting as these pieces’ relationship to the songform Eno inherited and exploded. The album encapsulates the modernist subtlety and Romantic grace propelling his art and the state of a civilization in the faintly but still glowing borderlands between change and decay.

Marc Medwin

Cate Le Bon — Cyrk (Control Group, 2012)

There's no artist whose work I anticipated more this decade than Cate Le Bon, and no artist who frustrated me more with each release, only to keep reeling me in for the long run. Le Bon's innate talent is for soothing yet oblique folk, soberly psychedelic, which she originally delivered in the Welsh language, and continued into English with rustic reserve.

Except something about her pastoralism seems to bore her, and the four-chord arpeggios are shot through with scorches of noise, or sent haywire with post-punk brittleness. In its present state, her music is built around chattering xylophones and croaking saxophone, even as the lyrics draw deeper into memory and introspection, with ever more haunting payoffs. It's as if Nick Drake shoved his way into the leadership of Pere Ubu. She's taken breaks from music to work on pottery and furniture-making, and retreats to locales like a British cottage and Texas art colony to plumb for new inspirations. She's clearly energized by collaboration and relocation, but there’s a force to her persona that, despite her introverted presence, dominates a session. Rare for our age, she's an artist who gets to follow her muse full time, bouncing between record labels and seeing her name spelled out in the medium typefaces on festival bills.

Cyrk, from 2012, is the record where I fell in, and it captures her at something close to joyous, a half smile. Landing between her earliest folk and later surrealism, it is open to comparison with the Velvet Underground. But not the VU that is archetypical to indie rock – Cyrk is more an echo of the solo work that followed. There’s the sharp compositional order and Welsh lilt of John Cale. Like Lou Reed, she makes a grand electric guitar hook out of the words “you’re making it worse.” The homebound twee of Mo Tucker and forbidding atmosphere of Nico are present in equal parts. Those comparisons are reductive, but they demonstrate how Cyrk feels instantly familiar if you’ve garnered certain listening habits. Songs surround you with woolly keyboard and guitar hooks, and one can forget a song ends with an awkward trumpet coda even after dozens of listens. The awkwardness is what keeps the album fresh.

She lulls, then dowses with cold water. So Cyrk isn't an entirely easy record, even if it is frequently a pretty one. The most epic song here, reaching high with those woolly hums and twang, is "Fold the Cloth.” It bobs along, coiling tight as she reaches into the strange register of female falsetto. Le Bon cranks out a fuzz solo – she's great at extending her sung melodies across instruments. Then the climax chants out, "fold the cloth or cut the cloth.” What is so important about this mundane action? Her mystery lyrics never feel haphazard, like LSD posey. They are out of step with pop grandiose. Maybe when her back is turned, there's a full smile.

Who are "Julia" and "Greta,” two mid-album sketches that avoid verse-chorus structure? Julia is represented by a limp waltz, Greta by pulses on keyboards. Shortly after the release, Le Bon followed up with the EP Cyrk II made up of tracks left off the album. To a piece, they’re easier numbers than "Julia" and "Greta.” The cryptic and the scribble are essential to how Cyrk flows, which is to say it flows haltingly.

This approach dampens her acclaim and her potential audience, but that's how she fashions decades-old tropes into fresh art. She’s also quite the band leader. Drummers have a different thud when they play on her stage. Musicians' fills disappear. She brings in a horn solo as often as she lays down a guitar lead. The closer tracks, "Plowing Out Pts 1 & 2," aren't inherently linked numbers. By the second part, the group has worked up to a carnival swirl, frothing like "Sister Ray" yet as sweet as a children's TV show theme. Does that sound sinister? The effect is more like heartbreak fuelling abandon, her forlorn presence informing everyone's playing.

Fuse this album with the excellent Cyrk II tracks, and you can image a deluxe double LP 10th anniversary reissue in a few years. Ha ha no. I expect nothing so garish will happen. It sure wouldn't suit the artist. In a decade where "fan service" became an everyday concept, Le Bon is immune. She's a songwriter who seems like she might walk away from at all without notice, if that’s where her craftsmanship leads. The odd and oddly comfortable chair that is Cyrk doesn't suit any particular decor, but my room would feel bare without it.

Ben Donnelly

Converge — All We Love We Leave Behind (Epitaph)

Here’s the scenario: Heavily tatted guy has some dogs. He really loves his dogs. Heavily tatted guy goes on tour with his band. While he’s on the road, one of his dogs dies. Heavily tatted guy gets really sad. He writes a song about it.  

That should be the set-up for an insufferably maudlin emo record. But instead what you get is Converge’s “All We Love We Leave Behind” and the searing LP that shares the title. The songs dive headlong into the emotional intensities of loss and reflect on the cost of artistic ambition. The enormously talented line-up that recorded All We Love We Leave Behind in 2012 had been playing together for just over a decade, and vocalist Jacob Bannon and guitarist Kurt Ballou had been collaborating for more than twenty years. It shows. The record pummels and roars with remarkable precision, and its songs maniacally twist, and somehow they soar.  

Any number of genre tags have been stuck on (or innovated by) Converge’s music: mathcore, metalcore, post-hardcore. It’s fun to split sonic hairs. But All We Love… is most notable for its exhilarating fury and naked heart, musical qualities that no subgenre can entirely claim. Few bands can couple such carefully crafted artifice with such raw intensity. And few records of the decade can match the compositional wit and palpable passion of All We Love…, which never lets itself slip into shallow romanticism. It hurts. And it ruthlessly rocks.  

Jonathan Shaw

EMA — The Future’s Void (City Slang, 2014)

When trying to narrow down to whatever my own most important records of the decade are, I tried to keep it to one per artist (as I do with individual years, although it’s a lot easier there). Out of everyone, though, EMA came by far the closest to having two records on that list, and this could have been 2017’s Exile in the Outer Ring, which along with The Future’s Void comes terrifyingly close to unpacking an awful lot of what’s going wrong, and has been going wrong, with the world we live in for a while now. The Future’s Void focuses more on the technological end of our particular dystopia, shuddering both emotionally and sonically through the dead end of the Cold War all the way to us refreshing our preferred social media site when somebody dies. EMA is right there with us, too; this isn’t judgment, it’s just reporting from the front line. And it must be said, very few things from this decade ripped like “Cthulu” rips.

Ian Mathers

The Field — Looping State of Mind (Kompakt, 2011)

Looping State of Mind by The Field

On Looping State of Mind, Swedish producer Axel Willner builds his music with seamlessly jointed loops of synths, beats, guitars and voice to create warm cushions of sound that envelop the ears, nod the head and move the body. Willner is a master of texture and atmosphere, in lesser hands this may have produced mere comfort food but there is spice in the details that elevates this record as he accretes iotas of elements, withholding release to heighten anticipation. Although this is essentially deep house built on almost exclusively motorik 4/4 beats, Willner also plays with ambient, post-punk and shoegaze dynamics. From the slow piano dub of “Then It’s White,” which wouldn’t be out of place on a Labradford or Pan American album, to the ecstatic shuffling lope of “Arpeggiated Love” and “Is This Power” with its hint of a truncated Gang of Four-like bass riff, Looping State of Mind is a deeply satisfying smorgasbord of delicacies and a highlight of The Field’s four album output during the 2010s.

Andrew Forell

Gang Gang Dance — “Glass Jar” (4AD, 2011)

Instead of telling you my favorite album of the decade — I made my case for it the first year we moved to Tumblr, help yourself — it feels more fitting to tell you a story from my friend Will about my favorite piece of music from the last 10 years, a song that arrived just before the rise of streaming, which flattened “the album experience” to oppressive uniformity and rendered it an increasingly joyless, rudderless routine of force-fed jams and AI/VC-directed mixes catering to a listener that exists in username only. The first four seconds of “Glass Jar” told you everything you needed to know about what lie ahead, but here’s the kind of thing that could happen before everything was all the time:

I took eight hours of coursework in five weeks in order to get caught up on classes and be in a friend's wedding at the end of June. Finishing a week earlier than the usual summer session meant I had to give my end-of-class presentations and turn in my end-of-class papers in a single day, which in turn meant that I was well into the 60-70 hour range without sleep by the time I got to the airport for an early-morning flight. (Partly my fault for insisting that I needed to stay up and make a “wedding night” mix for the couple — real virgin bride included — and even more my fault for insisting that it be a single, perfectly crossfaded track). I was fuelled only by lingering adrenaline fumes and whatever herbal gunpowder shit I had been mixing with my coffee — piracetam, rhodiola, bacopa or DMAE depending on the combination we had at the time. At any rate, eyes burning, skull heavy, joints stiff with dry rot, I still had my wits enough to refuse the backscatter machine at the TSA checkpoint; instead of the usual begrudging pat-down, I got pulled into a separate room. Anyway, it was a weird psychic setback at that particular time, but nothing came of it. Having arrived at my gate, I popped on the iPod with a brand new set of studio headphones and finally got around to listening to the Gang Gang Dance I had downloaded months before. "Glass Jar," at that moment, was the most religious experience I’d had in four years. I was literally weeping with joy.

Point being: It is worth it to stay up for a few days just to listen to ‘Glass Jar’ the way it was meant to be heard.

Patrick Masterson

Heron Oblivion — Heron Oblivion (Sub Pop, 2016)

Heron Oblivion by Heron Oblivion

Heron Oblivion’s self-titled first album fused unholy guitar racket with a limpid serenity. It was loud and cathartic but also pure beauty, floating drummer Meg Baird’s unearthly vocals over a sound that was as turbulent and majestic as nature itself, now roiled in storm, now glistening with dewy clarity. The band convened four storied guitarists—Baird from Espers, Ethan Miller and Noel Harmonson from Comets on Fire and Charlie Sauffley—then relegated two of them to other instruments (Baird on drums and Miller on bass). The sound drew on the full flared wail and scree of Hendrix and Acid Mothers Temple, the misty romance of Pentangle and Fairport Convention. It was a record out of time and could have happened in any year from about 1963 onward, or it could have not happened at all. We were so glad it did at Dusted; Heron Oblivion’s eponymous was closer to a consensus pick than any record before or since, and if you want to define a decade, how about the careening riffs of “Oriar” breaking for Baird’s dream-like chants?

Jennifer Kelly

The Jacka — What Happened to the World (The Artist, 2014)

Probably the most prophetic rap album of the 2010s. The Jacka was the king of Bay rap since he started MOB movement. He was always generous with his time, and clique albums were pouring out of The Jacka and his disciples every few months. Even some of his own albums resembled at times collective efforts. This generosity made some of the albums unfocused and disjointed, yet what it really shows is that even in the times when dreams of collective living were abandoned The Jacka still had hopes for Utopia and collective struggles. It was about the riches, but he saw the riches in people first and foremost.

This final album before he was gunned down in the early 2014 is full of predictions about what’s going to happen to him. Maybe this explains why it’s focused as never before and even Jacka’s leaned-out voice has doomed overtones. This music is the only possible answer to the question the album’s title poses: everything is wrong with the world where artists are murdered over music.

Ray Garraty

John Maus — We Must Become Pitiless Censors of Ourselves (Upset The Rhythm, 2011)

We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves by John Maus

Minnesota polymath John Maus’ quest for the perfect pop song found its apotheosis on his third album We Must Become Pitiless Censors of Ourselves in 2011. On the surface an homage to 1980s synth pop, Maus’ album reveals its depth with repeated listens. Over expertly constructed layers of vintage keyboards, Maus’ oft-stentorian baritone alternately intones and croons deceptively simple couplets that blur the line between sincerity and provocation. Lurking beneath the smooth surface Maus uses Baroque musical tropes that give the record a liturgical atmosphere that reinforces the Gregorian repetition of his lyrics. The tension between the radical ironic banality of the words and the deeply serious nature of the music and voice makes We Must Become Pitiless Censors of Ourselves an oddly compelling collection that interrogates the very notion of taste and serves an apt soundtrack to the post-truth age.

Andrew Forell

Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society — Mandatory Reality (Eremite, 2019)

Mandatory Reality by Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society

Any one of the albums that Joshua Abrams has made under the Natural Information Society banner could have made this list. While each has a particular character, they share common essences of sound and spirit. Abrams made his bones playing bass with Nicole Mitchell, Matana Roberts, Mike Reed, Fred Anderson, Chad Taylor, and many others, but in the Society his main instrument is the guimbri, a three-stringed bass lute from Morocco. He uses it to braid melody, groove, and tone into complex strands of sound that feel like they might never end. Mandatory Reality is the album where he delivers on the promise of that sound. Its centerpiece is “Finite,” a forty-minute long performance by an eight-person, all-acoustic version of Natural Information Society. It has become the main and often sole piece that the Society plays. Put the needle down and at first it sounds like you are hearing some ensemble that Don Cherry might have convened negotiating a lost Steve Reich composition. But as the music winds patiently onwards, strings, drums, horns, and harmonium rise in turn to the surface. These aren’t solos in the jazz sense so much as individual invitations for the audience to ease deeper into the sonic entirety. The music doesn’t end when the record does, but keeps manifesting with each performance. Mandatory Reality is a nodal point in an endless stream of sound that courses through the collective unconscious, periodically surfacing in order to engage new listeners and take them to the source.

Bill Meyer

Mansions — Doom Loop (Clifton Motel, 2013)

I knew nothing about Mansions when I first heard about this record; I can’t even remember how I heard about this record. But I liked the name of the album and the album art, so I listened to it. Sometimes the most important records in your decade have as much to do with you as with them. I’d been frantically looking for a job for nearly two years at that point, the severance and my access Ontario’s Employment Insurance program (basically, you pay in every paycheck, and then have ~8 months of support if you’re unemployed) had both ran out. I was living with a friend in Toronto sponsoring my American wife into the country (fun fact: they don’t care if you have an income when you do that), feeling the walls close in a little each day, sure I was going to wind up one of those kids who had to move back to the small town I’d left and a parent’s house. There were multiple days I’d send out 10+ applications and then walk around my neighbourhood blasting “Climbers” and “Out for Blood” through my earbuds, cueing up “La Dentista” again and dreaming of revenge… on what? Capitalism? There was no more proximate target in view. That’s not to say that Doom Loop is necessarily about being poor or about the shit hand my generation (I fit, just barely) got in the job market, or anything like that; but for me it is about the almost literal doom loop of that worst six months, and I still can’t listen to “The Economist” without my blood pressure spiking a little.

Ian Mathers

Protomartyr — Under Colour of Official Right (Hardly Art, 2014)

Under Color of Official Right by Protomartyr

By my count, Protomartyr made not one but four great albums in the 2010s, racking up a string of rhythmically unstoppable, intellectually challenging discs with absolute commitment and intent. I caught whiff of the band in 2012, while helping out with editing the old Dusted. Jon Treneff’s review of All Passion No Technique told a story of exhilarant discovery; I read it and immediately wanted in. The conversion event, though, came two years later, with the stupendous Under Color of Official Right, all Wire-y rampage and Fall-spittled-bile, a rattletrap construction of every sort of punk rock held together by the preening contempt of black-suited Joe Casey. Doug Mosurock reviewed it for us, concluding, “Poppier than expected, but still covered in burrs, and adeptly analyzing the pain and suffering of their city and this year’s edition of the society that judges it, Protomartyr has raised the bar high enough for any bands to follow, so high that most won’t even know it’s there.” Except here’s the thing: Protomartyr jumped that bar two more times this decade, and there’s no reason to believe that they won’t do it again. The industry turned on the kind of bands with four working class dudes who can play a while ago, but this is the band of the 2010s anyway.

Jennifer Kelly

Tau Ceti IV — Satan, You’re the God of This Age, but Your Reign Is Ending (Cold Vomit, 2018)

Satan, You're The God of This Age But Your Reign is Ending by Tau Ceti IV

This decade was full of takes on American primitive guitar. Some were pretty good, a few were great, many were forgettable, and then there was this overlooked gem from Jordan Darby of Uranium Orchard. Satan, You’re the God of This Age, but Your Reign Is Ending is an antidote to bland genre exercises. Like John Fahey, Darby has a distinct voice and style, as well as a sense of humor. Also like Fahey, his playing incorporates diverse influences in subtle but pronounced ways. American primitive itself isn’t a staid template. Though there are also plenty of beautiful, dare I say pastoral moments, which still stand out for being genuinely evocative.

Darby’s background in aggressive electric guitar music partly explains his approach. (Not sure if he’s the only ex-hardcore guy to go in this direction, but there can’t be many.) His playing is heavier than one might expect, but it feels natural, not like he’s just playing metal riffs on an acoustic guitar. But heaviness isn’t the only difference. Like his other projects, Satan is wonderfully off-kilter. This album’s strangeness isn’t reducible to component parts, but here are two representative examples: “The Wind Cries Mary” gradually encroaches on the last track, and throughout, the microphone picks up more string noise than most would consider tasteful. It all works, or at least it’s never boring.

Ethan Milititisky

Z-Ro — The Crown (Rap-a-Lot, 2014)

When singing in rap was outsourced to pop singers and Auto Tune, Z-Ro remained true to his self, singing even more than he ever did. He did his hooks and his verses himself, and no singing could harm his image as a hustler moonlighting as a rapper. He can’t be copied exactly because of his gift, to combine singing soft and rapping hard. It’s a sort of common wisdom that he recorded his best material in the previous decade, yet quite apart from hundreds of artists that continued to capitalize on their fame he re-invented himself all the past decade, making songs that didn’t sound like each other out of the same raw material. The Crown is a tough pick because since his post-prison output he made solid discs one after each other.

Ray Garraty