#fuuka sitting with them like please save me

[princekirijo]

Man every time I see a shitpost with Yukari and Minato in it i think "these kids are such mean girls"

Similarly whenever I see a shitpost with Junpei and Hamuko I think "nightmare blunt rotation"

HELP this is actually so accurate though this is how I imagine their friendships 😭

When it's all four of them together it is complete chaos I love the juniors so much 💀

[allykakamatsu]

Hypothetical P5A

Okay, gonna make this clear right up front, I wanted to make this post for a while but the main reason I decided to do it now is because the Atlus announcement thing is almost here, and also cause I saw a video on this topic by Thorgi’s Arcade (go watch it btw it’s good) and while I agree with a lot of what he said, there’s also some things I’d change, not just cause I disagree, but also cause I think it would be fun. Anyway enough beating around the bush, let’s do this

Gameplay

I’m a firm believer in the phrase, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and the Arena games are already really good so not much to change. That being said, I still wanna change some things. First off though, we are keeping this 1 vs 1, no tag team matches. The arena games already have a lot of Mechanics going on and trying to keep everything as well as some new stuff WHILE adding a tag team button, yeah no let’s not outside of maybe a bonus mode.

This means I can’t add Batton Pass in as a new mechanic to represent P5, but I have a solution, that being Technicals. Status ailments already exist in this game, so how about when you inflict one and do a specific combo you do more damage, also providing risk vs reward as the player with the status will have a better idea of what the opponent will do making them more predictable. Also as for Persona’s, mostly everyone’s will be fully evolved, minus Yu cause him getting a final boss persona normally is a tad to OP, meanwhile the P5 characters will have their starting Persona’s, but they will evolve for big moves, like awakened mode supers and instant kills

I’m also borrowing Thorgi’s Arcade idea of having supports giving a slight buff in battle, like if you pick Fuuka your meter can build faster for a bit, meanwhile if you pick Futaba you’ll get an attack and defence buff. It’s the fairest way to include them without having to make them playable. I know Rise is already playable but this roster is going to have to be small as it is, and being a support doesn’t mean you can’t be DLC later.

Also, we’re not bringing back the Shadow Characters, just, we are not dealing with the likes of Shadow Naoto again.

:readmore:

Story

I am about to cop out a bit here, but Thorgi’s Arcade video had a really good idea for the story so I’ll just link it here https://youtu.be/yyB5rEM9UVU

To summarise for people who don’t want to watch, Nyarlathotep, the main villain from the Persona 2 games, has been gaining strength from all the suffering humanity has gone through due to 3, 4 and 5, and has gained enough strength to create a new Joker to try finish what he started and destroy the world. Mitsuru might think the Phantom Thieves are behind it cause this is clearly persona related and the fact that the leader of the PT’s is also named Joker is public knowledge, Naoto gets largely the same idea, Katsuya and Maya decide to have their own investigation, meanwhile the Phantom Thieves are trying to prove their innocence and help save the world. Nice excuse to bring everyone together, but who will the everyone be?

Base Roster

Okay, I know the dream is getting everyone from Ultimax back plus the new P5 characters, but given Arc System’s standard for small base rosters, I’m not holding my breath. The ideal would be everyone plus who I’m about to say for P2 and P5, but I’m keeping it… somewhat realistic. Anyway onto the actual size, 16 seems fair enough. One more than the most recent Guilty Gear game for a series that had pretty big success so that sound fair enough. Let’s get the obvious out of the way though, all the base 8 Phantom Thieves besides Futaba are making the cut

Okay so that’s obvious but how will they play? Starting off with Ren/Joker, Smash Bros already laid a great foundation with him being very fast on the ground and in the air plus being great at combos, so I see no reason to change that. Also no need for him to be a Jack of all trades either cause spoilers, Yu is coming back and he already fills that role.

As for the others, Ryuji I can see being a slugger charge hybrid. Basically starting out he hits pretty hard but is a bit on the slow side to compensate, but just like any good athlete, give him a chance to warm up, ie do a charge input, and he becomes a lot faster and has better combo potential. Or we could make him a toned down version of Little Mac where he’s great on the ground but he’s in trouble the second aerial combat is involved. Then there’s Morgana who with his ability to turn into cars and the fact he introduces thief tools like smoke bombs, I can see him being a faster but frailer successor to Teddie.

Then there’s Ann who, no doubt, she’s a Zoner, and with her fire she’ll be Yukiko’s sort of successor. However instead of healing, I’d implement the fact that she learns concentrate and have it so the more she charges it up, the stronger her attacks get, but the Meter will gradually go down over the match. Yusuke, as tempting as it is to cop out and say ‘have him play like Vergil in Marvel vs Capcom’, I have a different idea. Namely, take advantage of the fact that Yusuke can learn counter by having him be the defensive specialist, set up ice traps to freeze the opponent, and if they get close, he can either counter or go for some combos.

Then there’s Makoto who would definitely be a grappler. I mean, she practices Aikido and is really strong, she can 100% pull it off. Finally Haru…… TANK! I mean come on, Haru wields an axe, has a grenade launcher, and Melady is literally a dancing tank in a pink dress, it just makes too much sense. I’d also give her a bit of armor cause if she’s slow she at least needs a chance to get her attacks in.

Okay so that’s 7 out of our 16 slots down, and given that one slot will have to be saved for the Evil Joker who would be the villain, we’re halfway done with 3 games to go, lord help me.

Okay, starting this off with P4, I’m gonna give them more than the others purely because they were the focus of the originals and there’s less realistic cuts I can make compared to 2 and 3. To make things simple, every returning character would play the same, and as for the ones I’d bring back for the base roster, we’ve got Yu, Yosuke, Chie and Naoto. Why them specifically? Well Yu is the main character, Naoto being a detective would basically mean she’d be the one getting everyone involved in the first place, Chie is currently training to be a cop as confirmed in P5 so her getting called in makes sense, and Yosuke is the best investigator after Yu and Naoto, he’s always up for a mystery and the second he learns Yu is involved he’s joining in. I just couldn’t cut him.

Now before the really painful cuts, Persona 2 is really easy. Out of Innocent Sin party members, by the end of the series Maya is the only one left with a Persona, and Katsuya is not only older brother of Innocent Sin’s protag Tatsuya, but he’s also pretty important and a detective so he’s definetly the one Maya’s dragging into this. As for how they play, they both use guns like Naoto, but how I’d mix them up is with Katsuya, I’d let him attack while moving (unlike Naoto who has so stay still to fire) at the cost of less combo potential, meanwhile Maya dual wields her guns so she’ll probably play like Noel Vermillion from BlazBlue where she’d more or less just use the guns to get longer reach melee attacks instead of shooting.

Now, for the hard part. There’s only 2 slots left, one of them basically has to go to Mitsuru (not that I’m complaining I’d probably add her anyway) meaning now I have to choose between the rest of the Shadow Operatives/SEES for the last slot. I narrowed it down to the 3 that were in the original Arena cause they’re the most plot relevant, but that still meant I had to choose between Akihiko and Aigis. I ended up deciding on Aigis though cause A, with Labrys not making the base roster someone has to represent the robots of the series, and B, with Akihiko currently pulling a Ryu by travelling to get stronger, it makes more sense that Aigis would be closer and easier for Mitsuru to call up. Honestly I was tempted to bump the roster up to 17 so I could have both of them on the base roster, but this is ArcSystems, 16 is already kinda pushing it.

DLC

Given that this is a modern fighting game, DLC is inevitable. However since this DLC will likely be like Ultimax where the story acts to wrap up loose ends and have a new story, it’s going yo be big, especially since there’s going to be a fight with Nyaraloptep, so go big or go home in this case. Okay so first order of business, anyone who was in the previous arena games who wasn’t in the base roster is getting added back in, it’s only fair. That out of the way, the new faces I’d add are Futaba actually being playable now and the big 4 P5 characters I skipped, Akechi, Yoshizawa, and Sophie. Before anyone asks though, Sophie was added into a Dragalia Lost collab with Koei Techmo not being credited so she’s likely Atlus’s copyright so she's safe to add.

With that out of the way, how would they play? Starting with Futaba, I’d think she’d be the resident puppet fighter, sitting on top of Necinomicon and only occasionally adding in some of her own attacks like a projectile. Also she'd also probably act as a bit of a grappler cause her Persona has tentacles (no hentai jokes please) which have long reach so that'll be perfect for it. Next up is Akechi who I can see as semi being two characters in one. My basic idea is that at first Akechi will be fighting with Robin Hood and he'll be a solid jack of all trades with a slight focus on rush down. However once he goes into his awakened mode he'll gain Loki, which will increase his speed and attack strength, at the cost of his defence, turning him into a glass cannon.

Next is Yoshizawa, or 'Sumi as I like to call her, and her thing will be she's the mobility focused fighter, namely constantly moving around the stage and poking at her opponent while doing it, at the cost of being frail. Finally there’s Sophie who would be a combo focused zoner, as in her standard projectiles (the yo-yo’s) wouldn’t hurt that much on their own, but she can string them together into the fancy yo-yo tricks to potentially do big damage. As for how much this DLC would cost, it’s going to be very big, so €25 to €30 sounds fair

I think that more or less covers my thoughts. I could keep going on about this for a while, but I think this is a good place to stop. Hope you like my idea!

[tacitusauxilium]

My Way Of Saying Thank You |Drabble for my close homie~|

A typical Saturday evening inside the Iwadotai dorm, and SEES had just returned from a very successful and smooth Tartarus run. Everyone had defeated a good amount of Shadows and even defeated a guardian Shadow on the floor they were on. Needless to say, it was a tough battle and when everyone seemed to be at a disadvantage, Fuuka had cast a move called Oracle, a blue ball of light from her Persona coming down to crash on the ground, on impact it would unleash a healing wave of energy which would heal all her injured comrades, not only that, but Oracle’s waves had manifested strongly and ended up knocking the Guardian Shadow right on its back, this allowing her team to finish it off with an All-Out Attack.

He had been switching Persona so much and he could feel himself getting more and more spent as the battle went on, as unique as his ability with the Wild Card was, whenever he would change Persona, it take a chunk of energy out of him each time, especially on the type of Persona he would summon, powerful ones being the most draining. So when her Oracle came down, it had been like a light sent down from the heavens to save them.  Yet again, Fuuka had yet again saved them from getting seriously hurt or worse. If it hadn’t been for Fuuka’s quick thinking, even if it was an act of desperation, she truly saved them, this would Amaze Minato, and make him hold Fuuka in even higher regard than he already did. On the way back home, everyone had expressed their gratitude for her. Fuuka always did her best it had only been over four months since The Priestess had joined but she was already showing how reliable and dependable she was. But, despite that, The fool didn’t think that was enough, no. He wanted to truly show his appreciation. So, when Sunday Morning came, for a change, Minato was actually up early for a change and much to his surprise, everyone else was out of the dorm besides Fuuka, but this was the perfect chance. The only reason he knew she was still here was because he had heard her little high  pitched sneeze from upstairs when he walked to the stairway leading downstairs., It sounded like she was sitting in the upstairs lobby near the girls rooms, likely on her laptop.

With a yawn, Minato left and took a train to the Iwadotai Strip mall to grab some things, then finally, after paying for it all, he grabbed the shopping bags and returned to the dorm. Thankfully, the trains weren’t so packed today so he had plenty of room, actually had a spot to sit, and the trains were all on time today so the trip only took him just over half an hour there and back. Upon his return as he walked through the door and much to his luck, everyone was still gone. Minato would walk up halfway the first plane of stairs, he could hear Fuuka watching a video. With a nod he went to the kitchen and put on an apron. Now when it came to cooking, Minato was average at best, but he still knew the basic idea of cooking, there was no way he was as good as Shinjiro-senpai, but he new some recipes, just not fancy ones. Mostly basics, but he knew what he was doing inside a kitchen at least.

Before he began, he washed his hands thoroughly then started to unbox the various types of fruit, rinsed them under the tap, laid them out on a cutting board and began to cut them evenly. This would take about fifteen minutes or so before he put a cover over them so they would remain fresh while he would tend to the other stuff.  He began to cook rice inside the rice cooker, while that would cook, he cracked some eggs.  The fool would continue cooking for about half an hour before everything was ready. Once that was finished, he walked to the stairs and called up. “Fuuka-chan! Can you down down here for a minute?"  Hearing the fools voice would cause Fuuka to perk up from her laptop. Curious to what he needed, she would put her laptop in sleep mode and closed it, gently setting it down on the coffee table in front of her. Rising up from her seat, she answered back. "U-Um I’ll be right there!"  She picked up her laptop and returned it to her room and set on her her table before exiting and closing the door behind her. The tealnette made her way to the second floor hallway and was immediately greeted with a smell of delicious food.

Huh? Is Shinjiro-senpai still here? I thought he went out with Akihiko-senpai somewhere? She thought to herself as she made her way down to the first floor lobby. Upon her arrival, she was surprised to see Minato waiting for her with his hands tucked away in his pockets like usual. He would greet he with a very small smile. "There you are, have a seat." 

She blinked a few times, she was pretty surprised, their leader was quite mysterious in his own unique way and although she knew he could cook, she wasn’t expecting to actually see it for herself.

On the table next to Minato was a small assortment of breakfast food that he had prepared:  

Fried Eggs topped with Dried-Omulet Furikake

A large bowl of freshly prepared fruit salad, big enough for them to get a bowl out of it each.

Miso soup with mushrooms, slice green onion, Wakame Seaweed all based with dashi broth.

Cooked White Rice wrapped delightfully in Ikura Salmon-roe 

Two empty places on the opposite ends of the table with a cup of freshly made Green Tea  beside them, the steam still seeping from it.

"M-Minato-kun? W-What’s all this for?” She would ask.

“Sit down and I’ll tell you.” He says as he pulls up a chair on the side opposite side across from her.

She would just nod, she could feel her cheeks just faintly starting to heat up as she pulled up the chair and sat down across from him.

 The fool would meet her gaze as soon a she sat down, his expression softening a bit as he saw the curiosity on her face.

“Fuuka-chan, you’ve been doing so much for us lately, ever since you joined us, you’ve been amazingly helpful, you’re support is flawless and I’m so glad you’re here with us.

The tealnette would feel her cheeks heat up, a pink blush appearing on her face, she was so taken back by his words, she wasn’t expecting to be greeted with all this praise, but she could feel her heart flutter a bit at his kind words. She put hands to her chest.

"I know we all thanked you last night, but, I wanted to show my personal appreciation. I’m not as good as Shinjiro-senpai. But, this is my way of saying. ‘Thanks for being here with us, and thanks for everything you’ve done to help me.

She could almost feel herself holding back tears, she was so moved by his kindness, despite not being an expert level chef like Shinjiro was, she could easily tell that Minato still knew what he was doing, it did smell lovely.

"M-Minato..” She would put a hand over her mouth, she didn’t know what to say. With a bright red face, she would shyly downcast her eyes, she couldn’t look at him, she was so flustered.

“Y-you didn’t have to do all this for me you know.” She would speak softly.

“I wanted to, so please, dig in. I made it for you.”

Mustering up the courage she could, she gave him a bright genuine smile and let out a small giggle.

“O-okay!” She put her hands together as did Minato.

A boy, made me breakfast.. I never thought something like this would ever happen to someone like me. I’m happy! He’s so sweet.

Another small giggle.

“Hm? Is something funny?” Minato asked.

She would just giggle and shake her head with a smile.

Minato didn’t really get it, but he wouldn’t question it besides, he had to admit, her giggles were cute.

“Thank you for the food!” She excitedly exclaimed as she began to build her plate.

“Thanks for the food!” Minato added also beginning to make his plate but, he let Fuuka finish making hers first since he knew he’d end up taking a lot more than he should, but he made enough extra in case she wanted seconds at all, but if not he could always give it to her for lunch

The two would begin to have a very pleasant breakfast together, Minato had done a good job, he even surprised himself, but he was just glad she enjoyed it. With the food all gone and their stomachs happy with them, Minato began to collect the plates.

“Thank you for the breakfast, it really was delicious.” She complimented, she really did like it, this made her wonder, what other surprises Minato had hidden away.

“No problem, it’s the least I could do."  He answers and he takes the plates to the kitchen sink and began to start washing, starting with the cooking equipment first as they were the largest to clean. As he did that, he felt Fuuka join his side at the kitchen sink, and she began to help wash dishes. The fool would glance over at her.

"Fuuka, you’re welcome to go ahead and relax. I can handle these." 

She would shake her head, a smile still across her delicate lips.

"I insist, you did make me a wonderful breakfast after all, it’s the least I can do.” She giggled, repeating the words he said to her. This making Minato chuckle a little and continued to clean dishes.

“But, it wouldn’t be very gentlemanly if I let you help you~” He playfully replied.

A giggle as she ran her index finger through the suds of the dish soap, she quickly faced him and poked his nose with her sub covered index finger leaving a bunch on his nose. He would cross his eyes a slightly to look at the bubbles on his nose before running his two fingers through some suds of his own before quickly putting some on her cheek leaving a suddy soapy handprint on her cheek, with a giggle Fuuka would run her whole hand through some soap suds and lathered it on his face giving him a long bubble beard. Minato would cross his eyes a little but to get a better look at it.  The two would look at each other, soap on their faces as Minato blew air from his mouth making all the bubbles go everywhere creating a small mess of water and soap on the counter. The two make eye contact, smile then both burst out laughing, it truly was a heartfelt moment, sharing the laughter with someone you cared about. Minato and Fuuka would clean the rest of the dishes after some playfulness and would spend a tender moment together before everyone else returned.

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

How I think P3D should go down pt 6.

(previous/part 5) Ok home stretch, this’ll cover the ending, but not the epilogue. I’ll have to do that later, and the Q and A will answer any unanswered questions as well. But now I’m going to write a very quick summary of Arena 3 and 4.

Ok so I mentioned before there might be dialogue options in previous dungeons for Mitsuru and Aigis but I wasn’t sure if they should affect the ending or if the ones that do effect the ending are actually at the end. Well if we go with the latter, this is where the dialogue options really start to take effect. Also, right now we are playing from the POV of Aigis.

Ni’s narration/voice over throughout the dungeon focuses on her depression and thoughts on suicide, she claims she’s just so tired and wants to rest, and that she’s tired of constantly being in pain. They get to the end of the dungeon and see Ni sitting on an icey throne, fiddling with what looks like a hand mirror. But the SOs realize something is off, her eyes are yellow and her skin looked like it was turning a blueish tint.

Ni(?): *looks up in notice of the SOs* Oh dear, so you’re the guests that have been causing a ruckus here. Fuuka: That’s Ni-san but….she’s not in control! Akihiko: Just who are you? Not!Ni: My so brash, you know this is a castle and I am royalty. Junpei: I don’t care who you are princess! We’re here to help that girl, give her back! Not!Ni: *scoffs* First of all, I’m not a princess, I’m a queen. I’m the Snow Queen. And second, it looks like we have the same goal in mind. Mitsuru: What do you mean? Snow Queen: You want to help her, I want to help her. Actually, I’m also helping you all the most. So, I don’t see why we should fight. Yukari: And what is your plan on “helping her” entail? SQ: Oh, well she doesn’t want to live anymore, I want a human body. She can’t seem to die by normal means, I’m not normal means, I think you get the picture. Ken: Wha-what that’s not helping! SQ: It’s not? It’s her wish, I’m just granting it. Junpei: Yeah, but no one would really wish for that! SQ: Oh now you’re just being hypocritical…. Children who have faced the being called Erebus. All SOs: *shocked* Aigis: How do you know about that? SQ: Oh us deities know a lot of things about the world. And I know for a fact that you know humanity itself wishes for Death. This girl is just one of them. Aigis: >[That doesn’t matter we’re taking her back] >>>>[I want to hear her tell me it herself.] SQ: Tell you it herself? But hasn’t she already told you? Didn’t you hear and see her most intimate thoughts? Surely you know how she feels more than anyone else! Aigis: >>>[Are you sure you’re not just using her yourself?] >[That doesn’t justify in killing yourself!] SQ: *enraged* ME?! USING HER?! How dare you, you insolent little-I am the one who comes to help the people who are being used! Yukari: Well you did say you wanted a human body! SQ: Yes I did say that, but I never asked her for it. She gave it to me of her own free will! When I told her I would end her suffering free of charge, she told me for the first time in her life she wanted to give something to someone who she knew wasn’t asking for anything in return. Aigis: >>>[I have the same goal….] >[I’m going to get her life back for her] SQ: What? Aigis: I want to do something for her as well….and not ask for anything in return. But to do that I need to speak to her! SQ: Then I’ll just have to end you all right here. I will protect this girl!

A very long dance battle takes place. In the end the Snow Queen is defeated.

SQ: *weak and fading* I’m….so….sorry….I couldn’t….protect…you…. SQ: *starts to collapses* Mitsuru: *runs up and turns her over and supports her head* Ni: *color returning to her face, starts to wake up* Mitsuru: Oh good you’re waking up. Junpei: *approaching Mitsuru and Ni with the others*You had us running around worried silly! Yukari: Phew now it’s finally over and we can go home. Mitsuru: Let’s go back, we have a lot of explaining to do. Ni: *finally fully conscious of her surroundings* Wha? Ken: You must be pretty exhausted, don’t worry we’re here to hel- Ni: NO! *suddenly a blast of energy emits from her, sending everyone flying* Junpei: What the hell was that?! Fuuka: It’s a Persona! But…wait it’s not summoned…. What’s going on?! Mitsuru: Ni-san, please calm down, we’re here to help. Now if you can just come back with us- Ni: *shakily rising to her feet, shadow overcasting her eyes* Go back with you? Why in the hell would I want to do that? Yukari: What? Ni: Where….where is she….where is the Snow Queen? Aigis: We….we defeated her to save you! Ni: *enraged* You…..YOU! YOU SAVE ME?! Labrys: I know what happened between you and my sister is horrible but please listen Ni: Sister?! That thing has a sister? Haha, Oh my god, haha, oh man that’s rich! SOs: *shocked into silence with how Ni is acting* Ni: *finally stops laughing* DAMNIT! Why is it, every single time something goes my way, you bastards come in and fuck it up for me! Yukari: What are you talking about?! I’ve never met you until recently! Ni: Don’t act like you don’t know! Junpei: We have no idea what they hell you’re talking about! Ni: ……I guess it doesn’t matter anymore…. You can keep lying all you want… I know the truth. You took everything from, you put me in a hell hole that I couldn’t escape from. And now you destroyed my peaceful salvation…. No….No screw that. I’m not going back. I’m going to make you pay. Haha, you shouldn’t have defeated the Snow Queen, she was protecting you assholes too you know? *the ground shakes and a hole opens up behind Ni* Junpei: WHAT THE HELL?! *Ni turns around and walks through the portal without looking back, once through the portal closes* Junpei: no….seriously WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?! Is that girl freaking nuts? We come in save her and she start spouting bullshit! *before anyone could say anything else, another portal opened up* Junpei: OH MAN NOT ANOTHER ONE! Ken: Is-is she coming back? *a familiar blue claded woman walks out* Elizabeth: *pouting* Oh dear me it looks like I was a tad too late. Aigis: Elizabeth-san! Liz: Good evening. My my, looks like you’ve all been on quite an adventure! Mitsuru: Excuse me, but….is there anything we can help you with? Liz: Oh, well it’s more on how I can help you! You see I have some great news, some bad news, some very horrid news, and some good news you would all like to hear! I shall now present it to you in that order! Yukari: She didn’t have to say that last part…. Liz: The great news is that, through my research I have figured out a way to release him from the Seal without harming his soul! SOs: *All start talking in excitement* Mitsuru: Oh but what’s the bad news? Liz: Oh well, if I were to release him now the world will end! I still need to find a way to do so-so that Nyx and Erebus can never meet. Yukari: O-oh…. Labrys: And what’s the….horrid news? Liz: Oh well the person who is able to lift the Seal just left in a rage and it looks like they intend on dooming us all! SOs: WHAT?! Junpei: Oh man tell us the good news, the good news! Liz: Well I found this wonderful takoyaki stand nearby- Junpei: THAT’S NOT GOOD NEWS! Liz: Oh well I beg to differ. Aigis: Wait….so….you mean….Ni-san is the key? Liz: Yes, funny how fate works. Mitsuru: But…how is she the key? Liz: Well, I did some digging, but it looks like one way or another a piece of Death was sealed inside Ni during the Moonlight Bridge confrontation. Either because you couldn’t fit it all in one vessel or a piece got away and you had to seal it into another body I do not know. Nonetheless, she has it. Yukari: No way…. Liz: Yes, well, that would explain why her suicide attempts were always futile. The powers that be, be it Death itself, Nyx or Erebus, or another otherworldly force, if she were to die then that key would disappear. It seems that a human soul who was touched by Death is the only way to undo the Seal, as his soul is very similar to hers. They appear to be kindred spirits, I deduce that if things had played out differently, their roles would’ve been reversed. Yukari: Wait, is this what the Snow Queen meant by how she’s protecting us as well? Liz: Why yes, I believe so, and not just you the entire universe too. The Snow Queen is a very neutral being, she must have saw the destructive power of the girl but found a way to resolve it all peacefully so no extra casualties could arise. Akihiko: But why didn’t she just tell us to begin with? Liz: I do not know, maybe she knew you wouldn’t listen? Or she promised to not share more than she needed to because you already invaded this girls’ privacy? Or maybe because she couldn’t… We’ll never know I guess. Mitsuru: So what do you suppose we do now? Liz: I suppose you should go after her and try to change her mind on ending the world, possibly by force if you have to. Aigis: Will you be coming with Elizabeth-san? Liz: Oh no, I fear I do not have the power to go up against her like you all can. I will just go back to continuing my research! *opens up two portals* That one over there will take you to the Seal and to the girl. I’ll come get you once it’s all done. Don’t die now, bye~! *walks through the other portal and it vanishes behind her* Junpei: “Don’t die” she says…. Mitsuru: In any case, we need to relay this back to the others, Yamagishi…. Fuuka: Yes, I’m trying but….there’s….interference…. “Found….apartment…..be….careful…don’t….die” It’s no use, this is all I can hear…. Junpei: “Don’t die” not them too…. Labrys: Sister are you alright? Yukari: Yeah, she said some pretty horrible things…. Aigis: Yes I am fine. She had every right to. Junpei: but it wasn’t your fault for back then! Aigis: That maybe be….but her family did die in the accident caused by my fight…. I must take some responsibility. I want to…I want to protect this girl, to help Ni-san. The same way I promised to protect him.

And with that they head off to go confront Ni. (haha bet you thought the Snow Queen was gonna be the antagonist? Haha psych, it was one of the protagonists all along! 8U But yeah sorry, lots of dialogue there, but I’m not going to have as much after this point. Mostly summary)

As soon as they go through the portal they see Ni in front of the Seal.

Ni: With this, I’ll finally be dead….I won’t have to suffer anymore Ken: But everyone else will be dead, you’re just thinking for yourself, how is that fair? Ni: Fair? What’s “fair?” Here I can hear the billions of people calling for death, just like me. It’s not just Aigis: >[Don’t you want to live] >>>[Do you really want to kill innocent lives?] Ni: Nnng….. Junpei: See? You don’t want to be a killer! So don’t do this! Ni: GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE! I don’t want to be lectured by a group of people who decided they wanted to just ruin my life! AND WHAT HAVE PEOPLE EVER DONE FOR ME? EVERY BOND I’VE HAD HAS BEEN PAINFUL, ALL EVERYONE DOES IS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ME! Akihiko: Again, what are you tal- Aigis: >>>[*cut Akihiko off*] >[*let Akihiko finish*]” Aigis: *looks at Mitsuru* Mitsuru: I understand I…we….and my family have wronged you… And if you want to get back at us, we will not resist. But please, don’t dirty your hands by taking innocent lives. Ni: *taken aback* Wha-what? You’ll let me get back at you? Why? Why aren’t you resisting? *starting to tear up* This isn’t satisfying, my revenge won’t be satisfying if you don’t fight back. I want you to suffer, how can you just submit… Aigis: Ni-san, we want to help you. Ni: No! I don’t believe you! Why would you want to help now! This is a trick! Yukari: Ni-san Ni: QUIT CALLING ME THAT! That’s not my name! Do you even know what my name is? SOs: *silent, they never did ask* Ni: I thought so…..no one has used my real name in so long, it’s always been these damn, unwanted nicknames. On top of that, they make me do things, I’m like their dog. *sobbing* THEY DON’T EVEN TREAT ME LIKE A PERSON! BUT YOU! *points at Aigis* YOU GET TO, EVEN THO YOU’RE MACHINE, A MURDERER! DAMNIT! Aigis: >[Please listen!] >[Your right]

After this dialogue choice (this one doesn’t matter btw) you’ll get either the good or bad end. The bad end has her spiralling more and more into despair, and ends with her unlocking the seal and letting Nyx wipe everyone out. The good end, or well the path, leads to them trying to appeal to her and that they will accept any punishment she deemed fit. She gets overwhelmed by her confusing emotions that she summons her Persona, Death (ok after seeing P5, I thought maybe having her summon it similar to the Phantom Thieves would be a good call foreword, esp since she’s under the same emotional distress that they undergo when they first summon theirs). The song chosen is a remix of Wiping all Out, the person fighting her is Aigis (with her partner being Mitsuru).

 Now…..I won’t lie, I have different variations off for the good ending, but each end with her running away (similar to Sho), to go be alone somewhere.

End 1: She’s able to absorb all of Death into her through the Seal. And escapes with that. Esentially becoming Death herself…or at least a more complete version, and the new Avatar (Nyx is still Sealed so it’s not like, Nyx can break out and use Ni). End 2:She just runs away so that she can be by herself. No special nonsense happening. End 3 (I won’t lie I’m leaning more towards this, with Ending 1 being my backup): Ni lays there in defeat. Wondering why was even the purpose of anything. She tells the SOs to leave her there, she has no fight left, and she promises she won’t undo the Seal. She just wants to be left alone. Before the SOs can even argue with her, Liz comes in. She states that, this might be their chance to save the P3MC. She states that they should be able to seal Nyx inside of Ni. The reasoning Liz gives us is that, the P3MC’s soul can finally return to the sea of the souls, by using the Seal’s power they can encase Nyx inside of Ni, Ni wouldn’t be able to just access Nyx’s power willy-nilly but Ni would be unkillable. After some deliberating, they agree. They undo the Seal, and a dance battle begins. It’s the remixed version of Burn my dread that plays. Everyone dances to it like the final song from P4D (if we wanna be corny, even the P3MC’s soul joins in at the end 8U) With that Nyx is sealed within Ni. Liz teleports them back, but when they come to they realize Ni is nowhere to be found. Liz tells them that Ni wants to be alone to sort some things out.

 I’ll go into more detail about this chosen ending later in the Q and A, but my plan for this ending was to make it feel….unsatisfactory on purpose. It’s not a good nor bad end. I’m kind of going for an Danganronpa Ultra Despair girls thing.

Anyways, to be continued in pt 7 with the epilogue, where it explains some big unanswered questions. 8U

Part 7

[100wordanime]

As the first episodes of the Winter anime march before us pretty much every ani-blogger has been giving their first impressions and a lot of these have been negative. While there are a couple of shows winning people over for the most part people who watch a lot of anime have been universally eye-rolling at some of the shows coming out this season. A small number of people will take this as a sign that the anime industry is dead argument has some grounds whereas the rest of us will simply rearrange our schedules, dig out some titles from our watch lists, and wait for the next season because there is always another season coming.

Rather than look at the state of the industry, or all of the titles that I’ve had the dubious pleasure of sampling this week, I want to look just at the romantic comedies. Specifically I want to look at Seiren, Fuuka and Masamune-Kun’s Revenge (and yes, Masamune-Kun’s revenge is described as a romance and a comedy on MAL).

While the three shows are quite different, they all have one thing in common and that is that they aren’t particularly exciting or at least their first episode wasn’t particularly good. Okay, that and for some reason they all seem to follow the male protagonist rather than the female lead.

Seiren is perhaps the worst offender of the three in regard to having a fairly dull first episode. Admittedly MAL simple says it’s genre is ‘school’ and by that they’ve nailed it. We follow a high schooler about as her goes to school and interacts with people. However, that isn’t really exciting. The high school students in question don’t have a great deal of personality and aren’t really memorable in their own right. Other than his friend, who I only remember because he seemed like the only character with sense in his head, none of the other characters really had any kind of impact.

This show has no particular gimmick unveiled in its first episode (though the Crunchyroll write up would says that “this campus romantic comedy…depicts his pure relationship with three different heroines” leading us to believe that they are hoping that the multiple heroines will be the gimmick). But if that is the cast then surely during the first episode we should have at least met three strong contenders for a romantic lead role and unfortunately we haven’t. The one girl in the class who sits on his desk is probably going to be one but really, other than being a little bit bossy, she hasn’t demonstrated much of a memorable personality and she has zero romantic chemistry with the lead so that possibility doesn’t really entice.

And while a show lacking a gimmick isn’t exactly a death sentence, what else could this story do? Romantic comedies are generally formulaic in design so they either need a clever setting, a gimmick of some sort, or really strong and memorable characters with excellent chemistry to sell their story. Seiren has none of these things. This doesn’t make this story bad but it does make it excessively bland.

Moving on to Fuuka we see this show attempt the comedy aspect of the romantic comedy by delving into some of the worst clichés anime has to offer. Girl runs into guy, guy sees her pants, girl smacks him into the middle of next week (in this case after breaking his phone), this sequence is repeated only the next time the phone goes off the roof, guy attempts to save girl (though in this case she doesn’t need it), boy has only sisters who meddle in his life or dominate him, etc, etc. Some of it is kind of amusing when they play the cliché and then change out the ending but mostly it kind of misses the mark. But, at least it is making some sort of effort.

After establishing the two characters and literally running them into one another, what develops over the first two episodes is a kind of friendship that might be able to develop into a romance (though the guy really needs to make her pay for the damage to his phone). The two characters actually do play off each other quite well. We then also have the other girl, the childhood friend who is now an idol and is clearly holding a torch for Yuu. This definitely gives us hints of conflict or some sort of emotional decision that will need to be made later on though it is impossible to know whether anything will come of this.

Despite having characters who are slightly more memorable and actual chemistry, this show is still fairly bland and this point. It’s checking off the clichés and while it is putting its own spin on some others are just played as they always are and the characters aren’t quite strong enough to make up for the deficit in original story-telling. So yes, more interesting than Seiren, but that show didn’t set the bar all that high.

Lastly we have Masamune-Kun’s Revenge. While I have an issue with even considering anything romantic could evolve from these mean spirited characters, I’ll overlook that and just assume that after pretending to like the girl to win her affections, Masamune-Kun may develop something of a conscience. Otherwise, this show has no business claiming romance as a genre.

Masamune-Kun’s Revenge has a gimmick. The guy was rejected by the girl when they were young and now he is out to get even. That’s memorable and it allows clear establishment of character for the protagonist (even if that character is horrible). So why did this first episode feel so bland?

I know from reading the impressions of others, that some people really enjoyed this. They found there to be some genuinely clever moments and I’ll admit that when the story focussed on Masamune-Kun and his actively seeking revenge (information gathering, plotting, spying) there were some interesting moments. However everything else is more or less forgettable. The loli-mother and the younger sister barely have enough personality between them to make a whole character. I kind of felt the only reason the sister was there at all was so the mother had someone to comment to and so that someone could voice the audience’s disgust at the main character preening in front of the mirror. The classmates all seem like they are desperately trying to have individual personalities but none have quite succeeded. Essentially the school has guys who are desperate to be rejected by a complete cow of a female lead, and girls who are either non-entitites or are followers of the female lead. It doesn’t really draw you into the world of these characters nor does it feel like a fairly believable setting.

While I’m not a die-hard romance fan I do enjoy a good romance story or romantic comedy. However, Winter 2017 has currently served up these three bland contenders and to be honest I’m kind of sad that not one of them is really grabbing me. I’ll probably watch Fuuka through (unless the panty-shots do me in, which is a possibility) but I’m not holding my breath that it will amaze.

Anyway, if I really get stuck for romance I can always marathon Kimi ni Todoke. That has enough sickly sweet in it to forget about any of these shows.

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Friday’s Feature: March of the Bland Romances As the first episodes of the Winter anime march before us pretty much every ani-blogger has been giving their first impressions and a lot of these have been negative.