#dont force romantic subplot down my throat

[r0adkil1]

Not a fan of carmy/sydney, do I think it'll happen? Yeah probably. Am I gonna be happy about it? No not really!

[kareofbears]

Thoughts on Shusumi as a ship?

i think ive stared at this ask long enough to type out something half decent 

short answer: no, sorry not for me, but its not her fault.

the rest is under the cut because i love to prattle

long answer: ive talked about this before and ill keep talking about it, which is the tragedy of yoshizawa sumire’s character. basically atlus decided that they wanted to make sumire the perfect girl in the entire game. she has to hit every single box on the waifu checklist without fail.

they introduce her as the mysterious character--she saves joker right  at the beginning of the game and its supposed to be a shocking moment for returning players because ‘why does joker need help from some girl oh my she must be so cool!’ and immedietely youre supposed to be intrigued by her and her mystery. but then right after they do that, they re introduce her by doing the most stereotypical archetype of the male love interest saving the cute small girl from a creepy man to show how good of a guy he is and in that moment Atlus had locked themselves into an uneven power dynamic between shusumi--she feels indebted to him because he saved her! so she has to work hard to make it up to him! classic anime trope because dudebros love that whole ‘girl throws herself at me because of how amazing i am’ thing. and its supposed to be a fun play because ‘how fun, they saved each other’ but honestly sumire literally did not need to save joker in sae’s palace because???? what??? it just doesnt make sense?????? even the game couldnt explain that part properly afterwards. 

and to add insult to injury, they make her call him senpai. theres this trope in anime called the imoto trope which translates to “little sister.” this could be non-sexual/romantic but many times it just means that a girl looks for guidance to a male figure in her life so he can “protect” her so she feels indebted/reliant to him, etc. the fact that shes the only one calling him senpai makes her perfectly slot into the imoto trope. it’s tripe. its annoying. its demeaning. it’s especially infuriating because futaba is already the imoto figure in this stupid game and she works perfectly without a romantic subplot. they just want to give akira another leg-up over sumire for the dudebros because dudebros eat that kind of shit up

and thats the most annoying thing!! 

look, i love yoshizawa sumire with my entire heart. shes a great character with an incredible backstory. ive written a lot of fic about her. i love her. shes great. Atlus knows shes great--they made her great because in order to make a perfect waifu you need to make her three dimensional because the dudebros would never accept a half-assed waifu because jeez who do you think we are

but. atlus did this horrifically infuriating thing where they know sumire is great BUT they did it in a way where she will never ever be better than, or threaten the power and competence, of the player.

its like they’re (atlus) playing the most infuriating game of im not touching you when they were trying to make sumires character. they make this character and she’s super cool (but not rude! because if shes rude then shes a bitch and she wont be waifu material!) and she’s a badass (but she isnt as good as joker! because he still has to be the most skillful character for some reason!) she has to be pretty (but she can’t be interested in shopping or makeup because shes supposed to be smart and not like other girls!)

because atlus miscalculated while they were developping sumire--because they were so desperate in making her a three dimmensional character (because remember, she can’t be one of those normal girls, she has to be different), they erased who she was to the point that she isn’t a character anymore. she’s a girl that’s ten tropes rolled into one--she’s the badass good girl, she’s a girl with a   tragic backstory so akira can ‘fix’ her (her flaws are all accounted for and fixed and that is not a good thing in writing but i wont get into it now). its like they wrote this great backstory for a character and then panicked that you might not like her, so they shoved in twelve other tactics to make her likeable.

she’s pretty, she’s deep, she’s perfect. she’s hollow. Yoshizawa Sumire only exists to be a love interest in persona 5 royal. 

she can’t stand on her own legs as a character because she isn’t a character--she’s only there to be akira’s perfect other half; from her metaverse outfit, to the weirdly frequent and often one-on-one hangouts the two of them have, to their boss battle??? (oh yes a boss battle is necessary so that these two characters can move past whatever feud they have so their relationship can strengthen and they’re even more perfect together, etc, its another way atlus is forcing us to see how great sumire and akira are together) 

and that’s why i dont like shusumi as a ship. because why in hell is atlus trying to shove this “perfect waifu” down our throats when its supposed to be the player’s choice? we as the players have no choice but to see sumire constantly. its like atlus doesnt trust us to see how great their new character is on our own--which is a shame, because ironically if they had given us less sumire screentime i probably would have like how she was used way more. 

atlus tried too hard, and that was the cause of sumire’s downfall, and by extension, the downfall of shusumi. 

short explanation part two: anyway shusumi isnt for me because it never stood a chance against akiryu

if you like shusumi, great! good for you. but if i was, say, a shuann shipper, i would be so so so annoyed because its like atlus just shafted all of their other characters to make room for their shiny new one.

I don't like shusumi because the result was not enough given the sheer amount of screentime that that had together. It did not justify how much time and development it took away from the other characters. Atlus weakened it's own game by devoting so much of it to shusumi.

[saeriku-blog]

I understand the disney couples in that 2.8 ending movie Cloud and Aerith? Ehhh I ship her with Zack. Just because they had a damn interaction in KH2 does not make them canon. I am not against that ship, both the characters deserve much better then they did in the final fantasy games. I am seriously in denial. I dont like Roxas AND Namine together, they don't even have chemistry, its absolutely forced down my throat because of Sora and Kairi which is also forced to me. I understand Sora and Kairi had moments together, but what annoys me is how forced it feels. Kairi does not even remotely feel developed enough strongly. She is just used for some romantic interest or damsel in distress. SHE NEEDS DAMN CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT SQUARE DON'T THROW HER INTO THE TRASH JUST FOR A FORCED ROMANTIC SUBPLOT. MAKE HER A KICKASS FEMALE CHARACTER. MAKE HER INDEPENDENT AND FIGHT FOR HERSELF AND HER FRIENDS. I want to know more about Kairi! Tell her story, SQUARE. Prove to me she deserves Sora's respect. Not just her looks and how sweet she is. I want more. I am angry to the fact that they don't give us much background on why we should ship them together. I understand the moments they had, but seriously? Thats not enough at all. Not nearly enough for me to see them together. These are just my silly thoughts and opinions, yes salty, but its how I feel. I just hate. Absolutely hate when forced romantic subplot is forced down my throat or a character just develops because of how they like someone romantically. I understand they are fictional characters, but to some of us its all we live on to survive the outside world cos of what some of us are going through. So, come on Square. Prove to me Kairi is a respected enough and developed character. Prove to me that she isn't just some pretty princess, that shes a strong princess. And give us reasons, more actual proof on why we should see them as canon. Not just some fluffy moments.