#it's good to see heroic japanese characters

[yuikomorii]

// I’m making this post, as a result of seeing way too much hate and misinfo regarding every character. Nobody stops anyone from voicing their opinion but the need to degrade a character, while providing BAD reasons or stating incorrect/out-of-context facts about them only for the sake of internet validation, is such a loser move.

We’re all in this fandom to have fun and even if you have something negative to say about a character you don’t like, keep it to yourself or in private with your friends.

Ayato:

“I don’t like Ayato, he’s overrated”, omg you’re just sooo different! Definitely not like other girls/guys!

Everyone is allowed to dislike whatever they want but if Ayato is your least/one of your least favorite DL characters, then your opinion ISN’T valid. This is a franchise full of abusive characters and he’s literally the most heroic love interest. Why would you hate the hero…?

“He’s dumb and annoying”, says the person who spends their time insulting FICTIONAL characters. 1) Japanese fans like dumb characters, since they come off as endearing; 2) Ayato outdid everyone throughout the routes.

He did more good than all of his brothers and saying that X, Y or Z deserves the main role more, is fake fan behavior because at this point you’re just setting up your favs.

Kanato:

No, you’re not cool for calling him ugly. It’s okay if you’re not into that type of characters but his design is not bad at all.

“He had no development”, he does in CL. It’s not major but it can still be visible.

The whole Teddy thing might be annoying to some of you, but his fans get why he acts that way. Let’s not forget that he is a victim of neglect.

Yes, he was sexually exploited too. Don’t forget this x2.

Laito:

“I hate Laito so much, he was so cruel in HDB 😢”; stop living in the past and move on already.

His development shouldn’t be overlooked only because your opinion about him was formed on something that came out more than 10 years ago.

He’s still the most fascinating DL character and I get that he might make some of you feel uncomfortable but don’t project your triggers on a character that’s merely made after a trope.

Shu:

No, it’s not Shu’s fault for the way Reiji acted. Envy is never a good reason to hurt someone.

“Shu roasts the heroine the most!”, I get that it’s rude but his insults are actually funny?? A bunch of people will like him for being brutally honest or a jerk because it’s literally a game for players with masochistic fantasies. They WANT to be roasted by good-looking men. That’s the point.

“Shu is lazy and stupid, he’s the only one who failed his school year”, genuine question: If you were an immortal creature that doesn’t need food or sleep to survive, would you still care about grades? Besides, he’s really smart.

“Shu doesn’t care about Yuma, he just feels guilty”, in LE he sacrificed himself for him and reincarnated merely because he wished to meet Yuma again and get on well with him in another life—

Reiji:

“He hurt Shu and Yuma”, well yeah but he was shown plenty of times regretting it and trying to fix things. Stop reminding this to Reiji stans because that conflict is already closed.

“He is so mean in other routes”, obviously?? If you don’t teach him how to love, he won’t suddenly act nice towards anyone.

Without him Yui would fail her tests and the Sakamaki household would be in chaos.

Subaru:

“W-What do you mean baby Tsundere is not soft innocent virgin boy? 🥺”; he has never been like that, that’s how YOU perceived him. Stop acting so shocked every time Subaru does something bad because he’s still a vampire after all??

Also, why are so many people reducing his character to Kou and/or Yui—? He’s much more than that and has his own interests, struggles, likes, dislikes, and so on.

“He’s irrelevant”; Diabolik Lovers has 13 love interests, they can’t make everyone extremely important to the general plot. Just enjoy a character as it is, it’s not that hard.

Ruki:

The cat jokes were funny when the Meow Meow Vampire art came out but MOVE ON. I hate that scene and Ruki was in the wrong but come on now, that’s not even the worst thing he has done and MB happened in 2013.

I understand not liking Ruki as a person, because he’s mostly not a good one, but this doesn’t mean he’s not a good character.

“Ruki deserved what happened to him in the past because he was cruel towards everyone”; while I agree that Karma hit him, I wouldn’t say any child really deserves to go through that. He was just a spoiled brat, who most likely wasn’t taught by his parents about modesty or kindness.

Kou:

“He was so cruel in MB 😣”, and HE HAD DEVELOPMENT! He’s not the same anymore, nobody is.

“He overreacts”, sometimes he’s not in the wrong and has all rights to be angry.

Kou isn’t afraid of going against Ruki, even if he’s the brother he admires the most, as long as he knows that what Ruki is doing isn’t good.

Yuma:

“He beat Yui up in the MB bad ending!😡😡”, it’s a bad ending for a reason, lol.

Pretty reminder that Yuma always tries to help others with Kou and Azusa, and was even willing to save the ghouls in LE.

“Yuma doesn’t care about Shu”, did we play the same game or…?

Azusa:

“Azusa is so horrible, he threw Teddy in the fire!”; and he only did it to save Yui, it was not intentional.

While not all his actions are good, keep in mind that he never means any harm and is overall such a sweet guy.

“He is too clingy”; I know that might not be everyone’s cup of tea but is it really worth hating a character just for wanting affection?

The Tsukinamis and Kino:

“They were too easy to defeat in DF!”; Dark Fate wasn’t entirely about them to begin with. Most routes focused on the boys’ internal struggles with their trauma and how to move past it.

“Kino is sometimes mean for the sake of being mean”; it’s almost as if he’s the ✨villain✨

It’s dumb questioning the morals of characters supposed to have an antagonistic role.

“Kino hurt Ayato in LE”; out of all characters who have wronged Ayato, at least Kino felt bad and wanted to apologize.

Yui:

“She’s dumb and ugly”; Japanese fans literally love her for being an idiot because it wouldn’t be fun to see the heroine being the best at everything or not making mistakes at all. Plus, her design is definitely not ugly.

Stop creating your own version of Yui in your head and ending up disappointed when she doesn’t act the way you expect her to. No, Yui is not OOC for liking being bitten, having a low learning ability or saying things she shouldn’t in the wrong moments. Nobody is perfect and everyone has their own kinks and flaws.

“She’s too innocent”; she’s not?? If you really want to see her thirsty, go play Ayato’s routes, especially the heaven scenarios.

“She’s weak”, she’s the opposite. Yui is one of the most mentally strong DL characters.

I can’t understand people who hate on heroines when they’re present in all routes and are the most positive characters.

[arceus-insanity]

Something I never particularly liked about Endeavor's atonement, is that he never gave or gave up anything he actually wanted.

Like Endeavor was always willing to risk his life and limb as a hero, so any life-threatening risks or bodily harm he receives is just part of the job he was always willing to do from the beginning.

Him building a house for his remaining family members, only he won't be there?

Endeavor never cared whether he lived with his family or not, all that mattered to him was creating the strongest hero in Shoto.

So he never showed any want to be with his family until Shoto was already on his way to being a great hero.

It was barely an afterthought to him that was never followed through on.

The ending only makes all this worse, because it looks like he replaced each member of his family that he lost with heroes, the people he really wanted to be around...

Fuyumi = Burnin, onima = Natsuo, Hawks = Touya

Shoto on the path to heroic success.

And Rei there too, I guess for some reason???

Just wheeling him around...

Do you feel similarly or different about all this?

DING DING DING We have a winner!

Endeavor never has to sacrifice anything, he never chooses his family over his precious number one spot. He only even remembered they existed after he got his Precious.

And something I noticed is he is full of shit, and believes his own shit.

Like he thinks that 'oh I'll make a house for all my family members to live in' (Which we never see happen, so once again empty bullshit as always). But he never asks them what they want, it is incredibly bold to assume they would all want to live together, or even be able to with their careers, and if the kids want to start their own families. We also know Shoto likes traditional Japanese flooring, but what about the rest of them, and does Endeavor even know that?

One thing I've never seen anyone call out is his manipulative gaslighting speech to Natsuo after being rescued from Ending. He says that he didn't save Natsuo because he didn't want to make like Natsuo feel like he has to forgive him, only to without hesitation force him into a hug. So fucking much for respecting Natsuo's autonomy.

And this ain't the first time this lazy coward has froze when his kids are in immediate danger, we see him standing safely outside the flames with his fire resistance while Touya who's weak to fire burned on the peak. With Endeavor of course claiming 'he did everything he could'.

We also find out he harrassed Fuyumi into giving him Shoto's, his fucking masterpiece, number. Which he uses to text Shoto, in the middle of not just his workday, but fucking class hours! So much is wrong with this, this doesn't make him look good or show any atonement or redemption. What it does is make me think a lot less of both this excuse of a human being and his daughter (The start of her enabler arc). He's doubling down on past behaviour, quite stupidly I might add. And why the fuck did he need to get it from Fuyumi? Presumably, he's the one paying for the phone, he should just have the number from that!

Once again this man openly admits he only offered the work-study to Deku and Bakugou to manipulate Shoto. And constantly favors him when it comes to teaching. Understanding Deku's word vomit isn't difficult, even with him stupidly over-explaining it

What we don't see (or hear of) is him doing anything for or with Fuyumi, the only kid that wants anything to do with him (despite her character profile saying she resents him)

He is constantly given credit for shit he actively isn't doing!

But he and the narrative constantly throw him a pity party the second consequences are even hinted at. Not to mention he is also constantly rewarded for his (non-existent) efforts, Shoto chooses to work with him, Rei forgives him, Hawks, Burnin, Best Jeanist, etc are around to lick his boots clean and make sure he doesn't have to face any of those hinted at consequences. Boo fucking Hoo, the League (and specifically Dabi in this) deserved to win, and by the end, I was convinced that they would have been better for society

[angy-grrr]

more than repressing feelings, I think Izuku tends to not think about himself in general -about how others could actually be interested in him romantically for example- and usually keeps many things to himself, sometimes out of necessity. Its like he is completely clueless, truly unaware, and knows to put his feelings to the side in order to be good at heroics, but doesn't suffer from this decision as he lets himself feel those emotions.

To compare, Ochako did suffer from her feelings because they were dictating her career and decisions, who she was, and prefers to pretend she directly doesnt feel them at all; Izuku suffers from them when something really hurtful happens and becomes way too much to handle. Maybe Ochako's feelings arent that big, but they grow out of her repression; Izuku feels his feelings freely, but they are so big already he has trouble handling them.

But who is Izuku outside of it?

There's this misconception, out of translations and not understanding the clues of the original Japanese text, of him repressing and thinking his feelings for Katsuki are gross however turns out he likes them, he doesnt reject them at all. He knows others would see Katsuki's behavior as gross and inappropriate, and yet he acts like him instinctively. This is what he held back when he fought for the second time with Katsuki, and the reason why he lost.

When he had to stop thinking about Katsuki's death, it was the best decision to ensure he would fight against ShigAFO without losing control -it wasn't a negative thing from him, just the best option. This is why Katsuki told him in the memories ep to not think about unnecessary stuff, because he can't stop thinking about those; this is also why he had to get away from the Himiko Ochako Tsuyu fight, because he wouldnt be able to ignore those things.

Katsuki on another hand is able to fight while thinking of emotional memories, and while he died in that moment

I believe there's something going on with Katsuki tho, the little smiles he has given were strange in my opinion, like melancholic, and we still need to know what's going on with his heart just. Being able to handle so much when it exploded.

Idk if we will get a word about Izuku's reaction towards his corpse -sometimes mangakas and comic writers do that, using the rage moment on its own to explain what the character feels when a loved one is hurt instead of giving time to explore the MC's sadness.

Izuku is a hopeful character, but he has a big heart full of emotions and there's something he hid from Katsuki as we saw in their second fight, and I have no idea if this will be brought up. He seems to be focusing more on heroism at the moment -he is sending the message to Spinner like Shigaraki wanted, he talked with Ochako about the topic focusing mostly on a hopeful future more than expressing internal conflicts, and asked mentors and figures of authority about what could be done.

Some people pointed out these chapters are going back to the beginning, and I believe it would be a nice detail to go back to All Might and Izuku and, finally, to Izuku and Katsuki.

I would love to see a more "simple" approach with a bkdk scene; with this I mean to go to the beginning beginning, outside of heroics, just them and the river.

[devildomwriter]

“…Excuse me? You don’t know TSL? And you call yourself a human?! Just how clueless ARE you?! How could you not know?! Just the fact that you don’t know TSL alone is proof that you’ve been wasting your life! So, I’m going to do you a favor and teach you about TSL. Make sure you pay attention! The Tale of the Seven Lords, otherwise known as TSL, is a series of fantasy novels written by Christopher Peugeot. It’s a heroic epic spanning 138 volumes, and it’s the most widely-read fantasy series in the world. There are even theatrical versions, an animated series, and feature films, too. And it’s been translated into a total of 182 different languages. The 1990s theatrical version was an utter disaster, owing to the fact that they added several characters that were NOT present in the original manuscript. At the time I was like, “this producer totally needs to crawl into a hole and die!” But then the 2015 version came out, and it was AMAZING! Better than amazing! If you ask me, it showed that needlessly cramming a female lead in there alongside Henry was a bad idea. That’s not what he needs. What he NEEDS is a friend who really understands him, and the 2015 version proved that.

Also, the most vital element of the story is that each of the Seven lords is so unique. They’re all so interesting in their own peculiar way. That’s what makes TSL so great! The lords are all brothers…the oldest is called the Lord of Corruption. He doesn’t come across as being so bad at first, but he’s always plotting and planning in secret. The second oldest is the Lord of Fools, a scumbag who’ll do anything for money. The third oldest is called the Lord of Shadow, a brooding recluse. The fourth oldest is known as the Lord of Masks. He masquerades as a high-status, upstanding member of society, but underneath it all, he’s an inhumane monster. The fifth oldest, the Lord of Lechery, only ever thinks of sex. The sixth oldest is the Lord of Flies, and he only ever thinks of food. The seventh oldest, called the lord of Emptiness. He’s weird…you never know what’s running through his head! It seems most people like the oldest lord, the lord of corruption, the best. Everyone always talks about how great he is. But not me. I like the third Lord way more. Of course, I like Henry too. He’s the protagonist. He’s almost as great as the third lord. The second Lord is total scum, a hopeless degenerate that leads a life of extravagance and indulgence. He’s always causing trouble for the third lord. He’s got these magical pigs that can give birth to solid gold piglets, and he treasures them above all else. So Henry goes and talks to the pigs, and using his wit and powers of persuasion, he convinces them to leave with him. Then, he leads every last one of them away, and presents them to the third lord as a gift! Wow…I mean, they’re SUCH GOOD FRIENDS you can almost feel it! It’s enough to make you cry! Oh, and then there’s that one really awesome moment when the two of them realize they both like and respect each other, and they high-five! I just LOVE that part, you know? I wish I could have a moment like that. …I wish I could be like the third lord. I may be a recluse like him, but we’re totally different, because he’s got an amazing friend like Henry. Check it out. See that goldfish in the fish tank there? He’s actually named Henry. I love TSL so much that I couldn’t help naming him after the main character. But I cant really high-five a goldfish, can I?

The original author of TSL, Christopher Peugeot, he’s actually a human, you know? That’s why I’m so jealous of you guys. Humans are so lucky, you’ve got subscription services that let you watch your favorite anime anytime, you can go to Akihabara whenever you want… Why do only you guys get to experience all the good stuff? I mean, humans’ whole concept of pleasure originally came from us demons, you know? We gave it to you. So, why can’t we have a little bit of it back now, huh? I mean, I want to be able to go to a Japanese maid café, too. I want to hear the maids welcome me as if I’m the master of the house, and have them draw ketchup hearts on my fried rice omelette, to experience the magic of it all. I want to cosplay as Henry, and then go stand in the center of Akihabara, or maybe that one building in Tokyo that’s shaped like upside-down triangles. And once I’m there, I want to perform Henry’s super-powerful signature finishing move for all to see and say the incantation that goes with it. I want to shout it at the top of my lungs!...Actually you know what? I want to BE Henry.”

— Leviathan’s longest TSL rant (Chapter 1-13)

[dekusleftsock]

Hey, so you said in your tags about how katsuki is a freak in his own way, could you please expand on this idea a little and when it comes to Izuku?

Sure!

I actually made a post about this very concept semi recently but that post also didn’t really have organization lmao

The main reason I’ve always thought Katsuki as “a freak” as I dub him is for the very foundations of his personality. I think the main reason why no one in the western fandom looks at him and sees him for his (kinda) socially inept aspects is because of a combination between cultural differences and the nuances that hero society throws into Japan specifically.

It’s well known that Horikoshi’s story/world is heavily influenced by American super hero comics. Superman, Spider-Man, Harley, Poison Ivy, Bat-man, Captain America, ant man, etc. are all very obvious influences throughout the story, with characters like Allmight often feeling like a combination of Superman and Captain America.

The reason I bring this up is because the very aspects of these super hero comics is kind of in direct contradiction with Japanese society, especially as those heroics within the world affect the society around them.

Heroes are this curve ball thrown into a society that teaches its citizens to be polite, complicit, and quiet. That’s not to say that this is necessarily a “wrong” way to have a society, but I think it’s with this context that Katsuki’s character (and therefore the intentions behind it) become clearer.

Heroes are bright, loud, and powerful. But long before Katsuki was a hero he already was these things; how does that affect his social life? How do the people around him treat him in the context that he is both not a hero nor having of a quirk? If heroes are the “exceptions” to the society around them, and Katsuki is not yet an exception, then he is an outcast, right?

It’s this context that I feel most people forget. Katsuki understands the people around him, he’s very observant and nosy, but he also just doesn’t care. He is unabashedly himself at all times. Those jokes Aizawa made about keeping him out of the spotlight showcase this perfectly, Japanese society expects a certain standard for the social context around him��which he actively ignores.

It’s a very ironic aspect to his character given that most people admire and/or envy him. It puts a whole new light on izuku saying that he was the one “actually in his life”, that Izuku may have admired him before his quirk for simply being himself. Not to mention how it makes sense that he would believe izuku was looking down on him for admiring him before his quirk, because Katsuki was bullied! I think that’s an often overlooked detail given that he only became “acceptable” to most kids around him when he gained his quirk. The memory this is showcased in is entirely Izuku’s pov, which is heavily biased in the sense that he admired Katsuki. Getting jumped by kids two years older than you though is so weird, and I can’t help but wonder if the perspective might’ve changed were it in Katsuki’s pov.

To me, the idea that Izuku’s memories of Katsuki being this social god come from blind childlike envy and admiration, especially as the contextual things happening (Katsuki is a REALLY big hero fan, he’s rude, he doesn’t remember people’s names, actively terrible at making friends at UA for a good couple weeks, getting bullied to even a minimal extent) in comparison to the words being told. You are told by Izuku that Katsuki is amazing, brilliant, talented, energetic, crass, and in reality (especially when they enter UA), to most people Katsuki is annoying, loud, mean, a little intimidating, and not nearly as cool as he thinks he is. His friends spend the entirety of the beginning of their first year actively making fun of him for thinking he’s tough shit when he so obviously isn’t.

And I think the biggest most important part to this “Katsuki is a bit of a social outcast” discussion, is that the villains thought he was like them! They thought he would hurt people because he screamed “die” and didn’t like winning when he felt he didn’t earn it.

The only reason Katsuki is not as much of an outcast as, say, Izuku, is simply because he won the lottery. He earned that extra point. He caught that curve ball to Japanese society and honed it into something greater.

And, see, Izuku can’t really know/comprehend that Katsuki would be, I don’t know, unpopular to any extent (shown in the beginning of the series when he’s freaking out on the bus that HES being complimented and Katsuki is being insulted), because to him Katsuki always acted like a hero. And in a way, he does! But it’s in the way that hero society throws that curve ball, contradictory to social norms, and of course it makes sense why they still happened at all; the past was dangerous! It was life changing! Disparity and violence and death, desperation fueled this huge monumental change. And what is izuku “I don’t know how to make people like me” Midoriya going to do when this kid, Bakugou Katsuki, acts like one of the heroes on TV? He’s not gonna call the Geneva convention and ask why the hell this child isn’t acting like a normal citizen—he’ll admire him to such a visceral degree because it’s almost like he was born a hero.

I like the concept that, because heroes and villain are cut from the same cloth, relatively similar in concept and strength and past hurts in their history, that this also affects how they are socially. You are outcasted by society: you want to oppose societal norms to live freely as yourself and others as theirselves, you want to make sure everyone can smile at the end of the day because sometimes you or your parents couldn’t, you want to be the best because someone told you that you couldn’t, you want to be just like the hero on your TV, who inspired the hero in your life.

Also you need to be at least a little bit of a freak to be listening in on people’s business all the time because it involves your childhood friend/rival to literally any degree. Like bro what is wrong with you come HERE BBG LET ME PICK YOUR BRAIN APART PIECE BY PIECE

More side note: idfk where I got the Geneva convention thing. I was just thinking about how mha has genuinely had violations against the Geneva convention

[the-golden-comet]

✨OC Origins Name Tag Game✨

Thank you for the tag, @katenewmanwrites , @willtheweaver , @mysticstarlightduck , @the-letterbox-archives , @lychhiker-writes , and @kaylinalexanderbooks ! And thank you for both the tag AND the game, @pixies-love-envy ! Though, I think people will be disappointed to hear most of these are just my brain saying, “Yeah I like how that sounds”

I want to know how you came up with your original character’s names and personalities. Are they based on people in your real life? Are they straight from your brain? Are they a mix of several people?

Speaking of….

Peter Hart

So obviously “Hart” and “Heart” having a double meaning, but a “hart” is also the name of a male deer in England, and I see Peter as a handsome young buck. A leader of his pack, looks gentle enough, but will absolutely gore you with his antlers if you get too close.

And the name Peter? Brain said: “What’s a good name that Benjamin can yell in a British accent? Peter. That’ll do.” Also lots of pirates with names consisting of “Pete” (though Peter hates this nickname)

Benjamin Bartholomew

(If anyone is named Benjamin Matthias Bartholomew, I apologize in advance for what I’m about to say)

I basically asked my brain: “Pick the most pompous, pretentious, princely sounding name you can think of.” And this is what it came up with. Also his initials are BB, and he is, indeed, BB ✨

Ali

“Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” from Scheherazade’s 1001 Nights.

Noah

The Story of Noah’s Ark (his eyes are olive-colored)

Tenshi

Japanese for “Angel”. Bro’s name is literally Angel.

Tyrell (Tyr)

Named after Tyr the Norse God of War, Heroic Endeavor, and Justice. Also “Tyrell” means “stubborn,” and he ABSOLUTELY is.

Tagging (no pressure): @fortunatetragedy (curious about Sullivan, Royston, and Khalid Abandonado), @autism-purgatory , @alinacapellabooks , @gioiaalbanoart , @wyked-ao3 , @drchenquill , @lychhiker-writes , @honeybewrites , @deanwax , @sunglasses-in-the-bentley , @jev-urisk ,+open tag! ✨

[battybiologist]

Despite being my favorite prosecutor of the series in my favorite games of the series, I do have a huge problem with Barok van Zieks' writing, and it's his racism. Not that I mind that character flaw, but rather how it's handled.

In the game, Barok is racist towards Japanese people. Mind you, most of the English characters are too, but Barok is not only openly hostile and contemptuous of Japanese culture, but he's also the only character for whom this is a focus point. Later in the game, he overcomes that racism through his legal battles and budding friendship with Ryunosuke, our Japanese protagonist.

That's not what I have a problem with. That would lie in the origin of this racist behavior.

See, unlike the rest of the racist characters in Great Ace Attorney, Barok is prejudiced against Japanese people because of his tragic backstory (big red flag).

When he was younger, Barok actually liked Japanese people, and was even good friends with one, Genshin Asogi, until Genshin was revealed to be the Professor, a serial killer who murdered several members of the judiciary, including Klint van Zieks, Barok's older brother who he idolized. From that point on, Barok had a deep mistrust and hatred of all Japanese people.

That part sucks ass, because the key to Barok stopping being racist is proving that while Genshin did kill Klint, he did so in an honorable duel which Klint accepted, because he was the real Professor and Genshin knew it was the only way to bring him to justice.

This implies at best that Barok would have never been able to overcome his bigotry without the proof of Genshin's innocence, and at worst that his bigotry would've been justified if Genshin really was the Professor.

But the worst (or best, depending on your relationship with headcanons/mods) is that this is so easily fixed, and in fact, the game almost gives us the answer wholesale:

The reason the Professor's true identity was not found is partly due to the efforts of the villains of the game, but also because the rest of the characters involved in his case, including Barok, put Klint on such a pedestal that they unconsciously rejected any evidence of his guilt.

If we want to highlight that moral (?) by contrasting it with our fix to Barok's racism problem, we can simply answer a question that naturally comes to mind with this set up: Why was the British judiciary, including Barok, so quick to write off Genshin as the Professor? Sure, he killed Klint, but he killed him with a katana, while the rest of the Professor's victims died of bite wounds. The game answers with the same Klint pedestal logic as before, but I think it should be because Barok and the judiciary are racist.

It's such a simple change, and yet it makes Barok's story so much better from a narrative and sociopolitical standpoint. Barok prides himself on seeking the truth, a deeply heroic quality in Ace Attorney. So the fact that his own prejudice, something he didn't even care to question for his great friend Genshin Asogi ("one of the good ones" in this scenario), caused the obfuscation of the truth would be devastating, and that devastation being the end of his bigotry would stay in line with the heavily character-focused writing of Ace Attorney and yield a much better message in addition of "racism is bad": societal biases left unexamined can blind us to reality, leading us to make awful mistakes that go against our core principles.

It also has a bunch of additional perks: Seishiro's anger would become additionally relatable for many POC, it would be a great and honestly ballsy commentary on law enforcement to make for the most popular VN series, it would create a nice parallel with Soseki Natsume's arrest, and it would add an interesting touch to Stronghart's characterization, what with him being racist (and a well-written racist at that) in the games already, but also becoming aware of said racism in others and using that to his benefit in our version.

Anyway, don't let the multiple paragraphs of criticism fool you, I'm making this post because I love these games to death

[tomyo]

A long examination of Amy and her character treatment.

This was initially a YouTube comment lol.

I truly loved the Sonic x dub cast but it really always came down to an issue of script and possibly the voice director. It always stung to me how much vitriol Amy used to get and while I like how she is better treated (being more recognized as one of the core 4), I do miss the sassiness she was given in the 00s. Sonic is meant to be kinda edgy and often in the anime he’s portrayed with immature traits because he’s a teenager, Amy often was the counterpart to that, a modern posh girl who was stubborn about what she wanted but not solely defined by that. I don’t think it was revolutionary but I do think compared to the Japanese ideal woman, Amy would be more akin with trickled down gyaru culture (Mat[ure] gal, something in line with the image of posh spice). It’s unfortunate that headstrong translated probably somewhat to boy crazy and desperate to an English audience and where Sonic’s immaturity was toned down removing that feeling they were on the same level. Often my biggest issue with her modern voice is she comes off as a knock off mini mouse (more so in the earlier games with her current English VA).

Maybe ironic is it sounds more alike to her Japanese portrayal which also ironically I’m very conflicted about since it somewhat aligns her more with cream age wise. But what I do like about it is the difference in character portrayal. If I were to guess Sega’s stance on Sonic and Amy it would be two people loosely dating, similar in the way Mickey and Minnie are a couple but that validity fluidly changes depending on the situational need. Keep in mind that Amy’s first portrayal is as a version of Sonic’s girlfriend. Given that there was apparently a valentine’s plush bouquet of the two I think to some degree they’re meant to be as such. When it comes to the Adventure era to just before generations, the context of this relationship is greatly changed between languages. American Sonic often gave off the feeling of a laid back but heroic guy who puts up with a girl because he is too kind and she’s too pushy. And I think even just the voice direction plays into that perception because of how they sound a different maturity than the Japanese portrayal. In Japanese, Sonic is often more playful and less uncomfortable than he sounds in English. A great example is adventure 1’s park segment when Amy gets excited for free couple entry, in English Sonic is clearly annoyed and calling her a pain while in Japanese he’s caught off guard but going along with it. I’ve only just been digging into the Sonic X sub but the comparisons I see give off more the feeling that Amy is casually dating Sonic and regularly fighting with him to take her on dates (gonna point to Goku and chichi in this case). He cares about her enough to go to her place first at the end of the first season but reflexively avoids responsibility, she’s the scary girlfriend always mad at him. Specifically pointing back to episode 52’s ending, they use a song associated with specially the relationship between Amy and Sonic that also is explicitly romantic (and in terms of the song presumably reciprocated) when she asks him to tell her He loves her and the lip flaps of his unheard response *could* match up to “Aishiteruze Amy” (my conjugation isn’t that good and google isn’t helpful but to me vague knowledge a more casual masculine way to say I love you) and a white rose which symbolizes “chaste love”.

Ultimately I read their relationship being Amy trying to find compromise with Sonic’s free spirit. They’re by no means official and probably never will be because it’s not in Sonic’s priority (in his game portrayal). The most I think that would ever become of him being with someone would be almost completely out of the picture and light hearted at best.( But that is also due to him eternally being 15/16 as for now. ) Amy trying to get him to spend time with her and show some reciprocation is I think all Sonic X Amy is looking for. But going back to my thoughts on why Amy got so much backlash for the longest time is I don’t not think the first wave of Sonic fans in America understood that. The image of who Sonic is was completely treated different and even before Amy (who you could technically call the second character created in game universe) could appear stateside, the U.S. already created the answer that “Yes, Sonic is interested in romance and here is the type of girl he likes.” My feelings toward Sally always lie in, I did not hate Sally but I hated the way fans pointed to Sally as the reason to hate Amy. It doesn’t help that when Amy was introduced, she was defined by being young, bratty and blind to Sonic not loving her back. She was the little sister trying to steal your boyfriend and the age gap they share was even more so focused on. Even with just the English dub of Sonic media, it was leaning into the concept that boys should feel disgusted at the ideas of romance that isn’t as prominent in Japanese media. It paints the picture to the average 90s Sonic fan that “Amy will never be his type because he’s more interested in a cool mature girl like Sally.” Of course the same comic that particularly created that shipping divide collapsed leaving Amy once again to be the sole main girl that now had a fandom known for hating her. Already doing a whole reset with Colors on scaling back the grand stories and cast, by the next time we really saw her in generations she was just…….dainty. I remember being very effected by her Disney princess hand posing in Lost World. To be honest she hasn’t been that deeply tied into any mainline stories too much, at least not in her modern styling but to also be fair, I’m trying to enjoy Forces despite being late to the game (There was a decade gap of buying a major console) and while I have seen pretty much the full extent of her rep in Frontiers, I’m holding off on dream team currently(also want to play the murder of Sonic on my own time). From the way I look at it, this has lead mainly western media to define her character and often working off said issues that previously arose with her portrayal. As much as I love Sonic Boom, I see Amy’s straight forward pursuit to awkward denial of even feeling that way as nothing less than an absolute failure of her character. That mixed with making her the “The girl annoyed with the boys because she’s just so much more smarter and sophisticated than them” just switching her to a different girly stereotype that ultimately pacified her, then further extending into prime emphasizing how nature loving she is in a way that again really just feels like a Disney princess cliche. Ultimately she’s become “The nurturing homebody who is a little annoyed at the brutish guys she’s around and doesn’t want to address having feelings for her guy friend because that would just bother him.” Maybe it's just aging to that point but its come to a girl minimizing herself is more frustrating that a girl obsessed with a guy. I get why they chose to pivot her in that way but it often also feels directionless.

Actually looking back at all the media that sparked this, even Sonic X doesn't feel that bad as she was made out to be. Granted I'm only a 7th of the way in but she's not often making a huge deal about sonic as much as sonic is the heavy hitter especially with knuckles gone and he's not taking his duties seriously. But it's also interesting to try and see what's going on in the Japanese dubs of the games now that I also have a decent hold on the Japanese language. Sonic adventure 2 gives the impression of her being a part of the crew just constantly not caught up in what's going on. Naturally she'd be invested getting her beloved out of prison but he is so tied up in what's going on that he (and tails) don't stop to fill her in before she's also a wanted criminal. Notably as well, when the island is set to explode, where sonic says "I got to warn the others!" Others is addressed as "Amy-tachi". The word the Japanese use for we is "Watashitachi" which is the word for I with Tachi denoting people with them (watashi can also be replaced with of pronouns if you don't use watashi). It took my by surprise that between tails and Amy, sonic refers to any instead. Something about Japanese sonic makes Amy feel more a part of the group and part of me cries the many ways English sonic fans did not get it.

Edit: I have now played The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog and the writing team GETS Amy. I'm starting to wonder if Amy's Disney princessness is due to most of the media being kids shows right now and this was a steam game (mainly aimed at an older crowd). What's best is if plays well into the whole "Sonic is a bad boyfriend" concept I was talking about, he forgets her cake and is panicked. But Amy is also much more aligned with her old portrayal, she's excited and a little hot headed. Clearly she's had to organize a lot but also lavishes in it being her birthday. She doesn't over obsess on Sonic but she's definitely happy that he supposedly brought her cake and she gets to avenge his "murder". At the same time she's happy to be with all of her friends who clearly care enough to go along with this, even people you wouldn't expect like rouge and shadow. I know Blaze travelling dimensions is a joke but yeah it is crazy she did that for Amy who I think she only really knows though the Olympic games(I've only just started Rush). A murder mystery feels also such a good take for her, it's something extravagant but also a little occultish. Aligns really well with someone into tarot.

[prinz-vassago]

Ok I'm so obsessed with "Dai Nippon Gothic" and Suehiro Maruo's artwork and manga, I ended up getting a lot of inspiration from that to continue Akumu's mistery lore. I'm doing characters for the secret occult club investigating her death. They're called "Mugen no Kagi" (夢幻の鍵) or just "Fantastic Dream Key". I'll post the other members during the week bc I think each one deserves a post only about them, so here's the first one: Gou Kurogane

His backstory may contain some extreme/disturbing topics, be warned:

Gou is a 17 y.o teenager who is part of the secret occult club that investigates the entity Akumu. He is fascinated by death in every way. Coming from a traditional family and a lineage of samurais who served the Shogun, he follows a strict code of honor since he was a child. His family has a strange tradition of preserving the corpses of men who brought honor to the family in a sacred room in the house. His dream is to bring honor and die heroically in the war to have his body mummified alongside his ancestors, keeping the illusion that "war is honorable" due to his family tradition and the nationalist education given by the schools during the Showa period. He constantly has the job of serving food to the corpses and taking care of them as if they were alive.

Gou's father divorced his mother when Gou was very young and lost himself in alcoholism and prostitutes. Because of that he rarely sees his father and was raised most of the time by his older brother, who has a toxic and abusive relationship with him. Gou's brother is an imperial soldier, and constantly puts pressure on him, saying that "he will never bring honor to the family". Even though he gets excellent grades and being very good at swordsmanship, his brother invalidates his success, and nothing ever seems to be enough to please him. Although, Gou greatly admires his brother's position in the army, and dreams of becoming a soldier just like him and is deeply ashamed of his father and has vowed not to end up like him.

Despite all the problems and oddities, he is a very respectful and modest person in public, which makes people see him as someone exemplary in society and they don't even imagine his creepy side.

All this fascination with death made him start looking for more answers in black magic, and so he joined the secret occult club. Out of all entities and Yokai, he has the most interest in vengeful ghosts (like the Yurei type of ghost) and the Gashadokuro (giant skeletons made of the skulls of people who died in the battlefield). He is constantly desecrating warriors' graves and taking their skulls in the hopes of one day summoning a Gashadokuro. He doesn't usually work with curses and tends to focus more on summoning disturbed spirits and finding definitive ways to invoke each one of them, recording everything in his summoning notebook. He believes he can free Akumu's spirit and find out what happened to her.

*I don't condone the japanese imperial army and their actions nor the act of desecrating graves/disturbing the dead. The character is just inserted in this specific moment in history. Take his attitudes and traumas as a critique of how nationalism and extreme traditions affect people's minds in the worst way and how war is romanticized by some people.

[dizzyhslightlyvoided]

Oh god

I was imagining a slower version of The World Revolving, my brain decided it kind of sounded like a "bad guy's theme music in a cartoon where it slow pans over his fortress/lair/whatever whenever it cuts to whatever he and his henchmen are doing", and then a mental image just sprang fully-formed into my head of a cursed 90s Deltarune cartoon. You know, one of those not-particularly-accurate 1980s and 1990s American cartoons based on Japanese video games -- like, the "ExcUUUUSE me princess" Zelda cartoon, or the Mega Man one where Protoman is one of the bad guys, or Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog -- except based on Deltarune.

I can just see it now. King and Jevil are the main villains, but as per executive mandate, King keeps mentioning his wife and the show ships Jevil with Queen, just so we know they're heterosexual (King's wife never appears onscreen and it's not clear whether they're divorced, she's dead, or she's just elsewhere). Queen is constantly switching between being a good guy and an independent bad guy. Spamton is a cowardly good guy whose get-rich-quick schemes keep causing minor problems, and his character design and personality are completely different apart from his color scheme.

Kris is depicted as male, has a deep voice, and won't shut up about being manly; "he" displays very few heroic traits and is clearly only the central protagonist and party leader by writer fiat. There is never any sign of the player-soul or Gaster. Susie is just a full-on villain working for King alongside Lancer, whom she constantly bullies and clearly hates; she's replaced in the main trio with Noelle, who conjures axes and swords made out of ice for the purpose of having climactic duels with Susie, and multiple writers clearly wanted to ship them together, but the executives mandated shipping Noelle with Boy-Kris instead, so the Suselle is subtextual and the Kriselle is just bad. Ralsei is called "Asriel", but is otherwise unchanged, and there is no mention of Kris's brother; inexplicably, the character with whom Noelle has the second-best chemistry after Susie is Asriel-Ralsei.

Asgore and Toriel have the same voices as King and Queen, but the show never actually does anything with this and offers no explanation; there are no other references to Darkners being objects and toys in the real world. The series finale involves Kris, Noelle, and Asriel-Ralsei casting Snowgrave together, in an act which is described as the culmination of their heroism. Berdly is red.

[raxistaicho]

find it funny the edelcrits are still going after you and this red character. How did u get looped in racist accusations, didn't one of them write that one horrid throuple fanfiction that was racist af to Claude and a total character annihilation of edelgard or is it someone else away from their circle?

Good luck as always

No, you're thinking of Reynaattheend, she's on the same wavelength in terms of analysis of the game, but since she's not on Tumblr (to the best of my knowledge anyways) I wouldn't call her an Edelcrit.

Her fic is pretty dang yikesy though, featuring such wonderful features as,

some Nabateans leaving Fodlan to go "fix" other nations and being the apparent source of all religions (not beating the colonizer allegations at all)

Dimitri being a white savior for Claude

Byleth struggling with her emotions to hysterical woman levels and constantly relying on her two boyfriends to save her from almost getting herself killed (to give an example, Byleth struggles for page upon page against the Death Knight only for Dimitri to show up and one-shot him)

Just... everything to do with Edelgard

The Agarthans and Almyrans, despite their cultures very strongly and clearly leaning Greek and Persian, having German and Japanese as their languages, as though Reyna just thought any foreign language was as good as any other.

Byleth taking measures to hide Rhea's knowing distortion of Fodlan's history.

Sothis's destruction of two city states being lauded as a good thing for which holidays should be thrown (because I guess it was a Sodom and Gomorrah situation where literally every living soul in both cities were evil and deserving of death, meaning double genocide is heroic!)

Characters just swearing constantly because I guess she thinks that makes the fic more mature

Really glad to see people are starting to treat her fanfic with a more skeptical eye, I've done my bit to help push things along there.

[katyspersonal]

Micheal zaki describing Messmer and calls him a hero in the interviews then show him committing multi war crimes in the trailer was so funny ngl. i wonder if he actually meant to describe messmer in that way or he was goofing around by saying that he will not be a villain

Yeah, this is a little strange given what we were shown! I double-checked and it doesn't seem like an error EITHER!

Taken from here ( x )! Now, if you check the original Japanese script of that interview ( x ), you can find this exact question:

英雄 DOES mean a hero! Like, the brave warrior doing great dids kind of thing, or a superhero, or like opposition to a 'villain'!

Granted, Miyazaki also considered Fauxsefka (character from Bloodborne) a hero! She is a researcher, "saving" people by turning them into cosmic Kin so they physically can't become beasts! I can definitely see his logic here and even agree with it, but it is worth to mention that it is unethical and many people consider her evil. We could assume that Miyazaki has a really unique perspective on what makes a hero!

This question in particular though refers to 'atmosphere' of brave battles. Like... by that logic, battling dragons and giants was ALSO "heroic tale", so Miyazaki could refer simply to Messmer as a demigod with war motif, rather than morality of his actions!

We can't know whether Miyazaki means the perceived grandeur of bringing war, that was a "good" thing in myths inspiring Elden Ring, or it is his particular vision of heroism at act! What and who Messmer was burning could have been "evil" life forms that Marika defied, to better OR worse. Messmer's war might go Fishing Hamlet route of concealing a horrible unjustified cruel massacre.. OR it could be a bit like burning of Old Yharnam but if beasthood was no one's fault and Just Happened!

[kaibutsushidousha]

With the Heian chapter of FGO soon approaching NA, I thought it would be good to make a refresher post reminding people of the basic concepts behind the main Heian cast of characters. Kinda long post. Enjoy.

Minamoto no Raikou

This character presents herself as a prim and proper lady who never misbehaves and reprimands those around her for their misbehavior. This concept is taken to somewhat of an extreme, with her attempting to force herself into a very emotionally sterile lifestyle, to a point beyond what she can humanly handle, leading to some really messy slip-ups.

The reason for overwhelming self-regulation is that this character is a mixed-blood of human and oni. And one whose oni traits are remarkably ancient and powerful, at that, so can't afford the risk of allowing herself overtly emotional responses to anything, or the consequences will be severe. Her inability to function like a normal human is a consequence of her attempts to remain human.

Another key character trait of hers, usually at the forefront, is her pseudo-incestuous infatuation with our hero Sakata Kintoki. They aren't actually related in any way, she just overlays her conscious romantic feelings with a family framing because she's a freak like that. She's also a frequent target of jokes about her chest size.

Sakata Kintoki

The protagonist of his cluster of characters. He was born and spent his early childhood deep in the Japanese mountains until he was brought to the big city and adopted into the house of the character above, Minamoto no Raikou, because his birth lineage makes him a powerful asset for oni slaying. One of the powers granted by his genealogy is the Pure Eyes, which makes his irises blue and allows him to see things others don't.

Despite his mountain background, his story is set years after he's already grown accustomed to civilization, but his childhood years still left him a man without concrete goals. That said, this is not a bad thing, as he's ultimately content with his simple everyday life.

Being the protagonist of a monster vs human setting, he naturally embodies the heroic virtues of compassion and willingness to be a bridge between both sides. And of course, he gets his fair share of both human and monster love interests.

Shuten-douji

Sakata Kintoki's main love interest. She's the most powerful being on this sub-cast, but she's actually a weakened state of something much greater. Contrary to the restrained half-onis, this character is portrayed as fun-loving and unstoppably free, although she still has principles she strictly follows about the nature of her species.

Her first interaction with her love interest involves him trying to slay her. As someone who always saw herself as invincible, she got very interested in his real prospects of killing her and developed a deeper relationship over time and mutual demonstrations of violence. Despite this, she's actually very insecure about the long-term viability of human/inhuman relationships and ultimately chooses to keep her distance from her love.

Ibuki-Douji

The older and more powerful entity Shuten-douji used to be. She has a far more solemn and dignified presence at first, but at her core, she's noticeably still the same character as her more recent self.

In this specific story, she's more of a setting element and plot device than a proper character, but she gets to show her personality in other stories.

Ibaraki-douji

Mainly a comic relief character but with a sweet deal of tragedy hidden under the surface. She's a loser woman whose key draw is being a loser woman, but that doesn't make her any less capable of gruesome on-screen violence. Holds a huge one-sided grudge against Watanabe no Tsuna, to point this could be considered a core element of her character.

Her personal story is that of a human forced into an oppressive environment due to a suspicion that she had monster blood in her veins, until she reached a breaking point and chose to become the monster she was suspected of being. With that, she gained power and freedom but remained essentially a loser leagues below the level of her aforementioned Watanabe no Tsuna rival (although their shared history enables her to cause meaningful psychological damage).

Watanabe no Tsuna

A remarkably skilled member of the monster-hunting organization and somewhat of a senpai to Sakata Kintoki. Tsuna was born as a common peasant who was perfectly fine with staying that way until the character's first encounter with non-humans changed their life.

The narration surrounding Watanabe no Tsuna loves to describe the character's non-human hunt as thoroughly machine-like, reflecting the character's habit and ability to shut down emotion and perform full self-dehumanization for the sake of a mission. Though one exception to this comes with Ibaraki-douji, as Tsuna's greatest trauma and regret is the incident that orphaned Ibaraki.

Ashiya Douman

A character presented by the narrative as a dark mirror to Sakata Kintoki, but in a that still lets him stand out well as his own character with a completely different background and personality. Character foiling aside, he also has a literal spiritual connection to Kintoki.

We actually don't see much of the actual Douman-born Douman because he spends most of his on-screen time possessed by an ethereal being who can be considered another incarnation of himself after experiencing death many times.

The flesh-providing Douman is presented as a very implicitly tragic figure in his limited screentime, while the reincarnator Douman (called Limbo for differentiation purposes) is remarkably knowledgeable of the magical secrets relevant to the overarching plot and serves as a neat window for the things to come. Limbo was also somewhat of a simp for Ibuki-douji before the events of this story made him change his mind.

And one key aspect all versions of Douman share is their comedy relief aspects, which are centered around him being the unwanted member of his group or him getting easily excited and losing the ability to shut up.

Murasaki Shikibu

A lady-in-waiting to a noble lady. Has something of a sisterly relationship with her fellow lady-in-waiting Sei Shounagon. She's actually the more naturally excitable of the duo, but the dark circumstances of her work environment made her somber, outwardly dispassionate, submissive, and courteous to a fault.

Sei Shounagon

A lady-in-waiting to a noble lady. Has something of a sisterly relationship with her fellow lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu. She's actually the more naturally introverted of the duo but since the person that she cared about the most started to lose her smile, Sei Shounagon became a constantly cheerful silly girl in a questionable attempt to make her feel safer and remind her of the good times.

She went through some really bad times in the past, but her compassionate understanding of the heart of the lady she served and the knowledge about onis she gained from personal experience prevented her from acting out of hatred towards the one who made her suffer.

My favorite character in the entire game, by the way.

[intrepid-fictioneer-7]

I've come to the conclusion that, in my humble opinion, Higashide is the writer in TYPE-MOON who makes the best ships involving Heroic Spirits.

Which might sound really weird. After all, the central couple in Fate/Apocrypha is Sieg/Jeanne d'Arc, and it's a pretty divisive one. No offense to those who like it, but it's always a dynamic I thought made no real sense narratively and didn't have much chemistry. Sieg on his journey of self-affirmation and personhood didn't need a romance (except maybe with Astolfo, with whom the dynamic is much more fun). Jeanne, the historical figure who rejected a marriage proposal, wore male clothing, and whose famous nickname refers to her celibacy, getting into a romance just never vibed with me (especially when it felt like the parallels/relationship between her and Shirou Kotomine were far more relevant). Add to that the ending copying Last Episode without what made LE have a strong impact, and it makes the whole even less appealing.

But despite that, Apo is also the work where there is the surprising ship of Shirou Amakusa and Queen Semiramis of all people: the semi-legendary Assyrian queen credited with making one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world falling in love with the young charismatic Japanese Christian who rebelled against the shogunate and failed. It's a very strange crossover ship between two people who never could have met if not for being brought back and it somehow works in being endearing.

(Achilles and Atalanta kinda count I guess, but it's a one-sided ship with little reasoning, that I care so little about, and is eclipsed by the more compelling foils each get, Chiron for Achilles, Jeanne for a Jackie the Ripper-driven mad Atalante.)

Higaside having grown and improved as a writer by the time of FGO, what followed this growth was him not doing a repeat of Sieg/Jeanne, but writing better ships mostly involving Servants. Asterios the Minotaur and Euryale the Gorgon; last Byzantine emperor Constantine IX and fictional Popess Johanna; heck, you can even see the relationship between Mordred and Dr. Jekyll this way (it also works as simple close friendship). Being characters from usually completely different mythologies and historical cultures, there is care done to make it clear why they fall for each other and as a result these couples are very different from one another instead of being the same formula everytime. In a game where a lot of (female) Servants are made to fall for the last Master of Chaldea for sometimes very little reason, these are a breath of fresh air.

For all my problems with her, Sakurai does something similar, though her ships are usually people who canonically were together in their legends: Sigurd/Brynhild, Aslaug/Ragnar Lodbrok, Julius Caesar/Cleopatra, Ozymandias/Nefertari, Tomoe Gozen/Kiso Yoshinaka, etc. They can be one note and there is a repeated thematic tendency of hers of writing "inhuman woman discovering humanity by falling in love", but they tend to be very cute and I easily understand that these people are in love even beyond death, so I root for them to reunite. Higashide also has "canonical" pairings, but the results are more muddled here: Siegfried and Kriemhild are adorable as a divorced couple where there are clearly still feelings, no matter what the tsundere wife says. But Rama and Sita are just...there. I understand the point of their separation, but it's not very engaging and Rama essentially disappeared after the American Singularity, while Sita was yeeted to Arcade. A mark against Higashide, but not as bad as Sieg/Jeanne and overshadowed by the numbers of better ships he wrote in FGO.

And there's Orion and Artemis, where I'm split. Super Orion and LB Artemis was really good and poignant. Orion the teddy bear and ditzy Artemis are a realy bad joke that overstayed its welcome.

FGO prioritizes Master/Servant relationships, both because the last Master of Chaldea is a blank slate for players to self insert into, and also because human×Servant is the type of ship Nasu specializes in (Shirou/Saber, Rin/Saber, Kuzuki/Caster, Caren/Angra Mainyu, and to a lesser extent Bazett/Cu, Yukika/False Assassin, and Ayako/Medusa in FSN; Fate/Extra as a whole; Ritsuka/Castoria in FGO). But even there Higashide made better choices than when he penned Sieg/Jeanne. Charlotte Corday is a surprisingly well-done choice for her archetype, it seems like it's going to be another Kiyohime but no, he actually makes her a good character you get attached to.

And then there is Kadoc and Anastasia. Words cannot describe how much I love them, how their personalities clash and complement each other in the best way, how aesthetically good they look put next to each other, etc. And it's not even just that we got a MasterxServant relationship outside Ritsuka, though that helped.

Basically, Higashide has become my go-to source for good ships, especially intra-Servants ones where Ritsuka is not involved and characters are allowed to not orbit around their Master. Sakurai also provides in that last aspect, but Higashide is doing that and also giving that crossover flavor you see in things like that one Cartoon Network ad with Johnny Bravo and Velma, and that works really well for me.

[toweringclam]

Harrow Nova's mental illness

Harrowhark's mental illness is such a vital part of her character and I think any AU that doesn't address that is Doing It Wrong. However, under different circumstances, her issues would likely manifest in different ways. But how? As is, it's somewhat difficult (by design) to pin down what exactly her delusions are, since most of them have some material support in the story, and I think that's very important to Harrow Nova.

Basically, everything she sees and believes should have enough support in the story itself that it becomes difficult or even impossible to truly separate what is true from what isn't. Vibes only here. Like does Harrowhark have a truly special relationship with Alecto? Probably not, actually. Alecto loves everyone, and she loves with teeth. That sort of thing.

So what are Harrow Nova's delusions? Granted we're working with a very tiny sample here but I think the answer is clear:

Grandeur, manifesting as being chuuni as fuck.

Chuunibyo ("eighth grade syndrome" in Japanese) is often seen as a punchline. Kids who think they can throw fireballs or give themselves more heroic epithets than Achilles are funny, right? Well...what if they're serious? Most kids know it's fake and are just trying to be cool, but what if they actually believed it? Based their whole life around it? It happens, it's not good, and mocking them online is NOT HELPING. (It's not funny, stop it)

But think of the tone of Chapter 40 with that in mind. Read it with the knowledge there are two different layers of unreliable narrator. Try looking at it from another character's perspective. The weird little gremlin got out of her cage and is now swinging around a pelvis on a chain, calling it a holy relic. Worse, she's somehow got her hands on a sword. She declares herself with a bunch of titles and challenges the Cavalier to a duel. He draws to defend himself, and everyone scolds him.

This is normal for Harrow. It's probably an escalation, but no one acts like it's her fault. They react with pity, not scorn.

So while mainline Harrowhark developed religious and persecutory delusions due to her station, Harrow Nova developed grandiose delusions from hers. From talking to people who suffer from grandiose delusions, they can actually serve as a defense mechanism. The world is cruel, but if you're The Special, you WILL get through this.

Is that actually the Chain of Samael? It could be. Does it have any special powers? Probably not, but maybe. WE know the creche slaughter happened, and she thinks it did, but wouldn't it be in Priamhark and Pelleamena's best interest to try to gaslight her on that? Is she officially a cavalier secondary? Is she even that good a fighter or do people just not want her to hurt herself?

From her perspective, it's moot. This is her reality. Those are questions for Gideon's perspective.

[yellowhollyhock]

1 & 10, 1987 Leo for the character ask?

1 why do you like/dislike this character

HIM BABY 🩵

Ahem I mean uh. Swords or something cool akdjdhs

For real though 1987 Leonardo I feel so much embodies the things I love about Leos across the franchise. He sees his brothers' strengths and believes in them wholeheartedly. He always does what he believes is right no matter how difficult it's going to be--and often this looks like protecting people even when they might hurt him (the punk frogs episode is make me emotional 😭). I love that he's always having his brothers climb through windows, and when Donatello asks why they couldn't take the stairs he says "this way is more heroic." I love how Raphael lowkey makes fun of his corny lines but also seems really fond of them ("don't you wish you could pull off a line like that" <- raph to the audience after Leo says something like 'you won't get away with this!') and Leonardo actually starts kind of checking with Raphael after he says a line like that! Like this unspoken 'how was that one? was it heroic? 🦸‍♂️ was it silly? =D was it both i think i'm getting pretty good at both'

Or also when he says to the villain "How stupid do you think we are?!" and Raphael's "No, no--Leonardo, never leave yourself open like that"

Just the implication that Raphael is in fact trying to kind of coach Leonardo to help him seem cooler aldndbskdjb.

He's so courageous and really in control but he presents as this squishy little guy. And he is! him baby! but he is also so competent. He could be quite scary if he chose to but he doesn't. And it's so important to him to keep Master Splinter's rules which I just think is sweet. Plus also he does have a lil sass in him too especially when he talks to bad guys.

Also his crush on Lotus Blossom is just adorable. I love that he doesn't try to reform her he's just lovestruck for this assassin for hire. And the fact that they meet because she was hired to take him down and upon meeting her he's immediately head over heels. And Lotus as a joke line about 'you do not approve of my career' but I think she's also serious, like she has a dangerous life and she doesn't want to bring it to him. But he doesn't care, his life is already dangerous, which so many people don't see because of his optimism, and just. akdjshshaj.

10 could you be friends with this character

Leonardo would be very easy to be friends with. He's just a kid whose primary core motivation is to do what's right. Plus he likes history, I don't know much about Japanese history but that makes it even better because I could learn from him.

also especially when I was a teenager I find it very relatable to have everyone assume you're silly and naive because you choose to be optimistic and kind. My siblings and I went through a lot as kids, and it's kinda worse as kids because everyone still treats you like you've never done anything hard in your life and your kindness must be the result of your lack of experience instead of something you fought to learn with teeth and claws. I see the 87 turtles dealing with that, especially Leonardo.

anyway yeh we could be friends :)