#neo twewy week 1

[voicefromthecorner]

Rhyme: You think you're making progress and then you hit a wall.

Neku: Break it down.

Shiki: You're starting to sound like Beat.

Neku: Never mind.

Beat: It's a good plan!

[bravadoting]

I wonder who ruined things so badly that Kanon closed recruitment to the Variabeauties.

Was it a disaster she witnessed in another team or something she experienced personally? How do you deal with someone acting as a deadweight in a life-or-death situation?

It’s gotten to the point where she would say, “Thanks but no thanks” to the Legendary Player himself — seemingly one of her best options of escape — because of her trust issues.

Bonus:

[betagrove]

Such mixed feelings on neo twewy so far

[mageknight14]

What It Means to be Friends: The Differences between Neku/Beat and Rindo/Fret 

I’m feeling in the mood for another TWEWY analysis post and for today’s topic of discussion, this will be centered around Beat and Neku’s friendship in comparison to Rindo and Fret’s own and how they contrast in very interesting ways that are reflective of their respective game's writing styles.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Neku and Beat didn’t exactly get off to the best start in the beginning of their relationship in the original. Hell, if anything, they flat out disliked each other. Beat saw Neku as nothing more than an emotionally distant asshole who made his little sister feel bad for trying to help him out and Neku saw Beat as nothing more than an overly emotional idiot who’s way too energetic for his own good and initially wants nothing to do with him.

There are little cracks that start to form in the walls between them, however, where their respective duos start coming together to help each other out in the Game and they start to form a little friendly rivalry between them. Mostly on Beat’s side since Neku could care less. However, that bit of bonding gets interrupted by a cruel twist of fate: Rhyme’s sacrifice and subsequent erasure. In which Beat, in a mix of grief and desperation to save his little sister, begs to and subsequently joins the Reapers, much to Neku and Shiki’s shock.

And then, Kitaniji asks Beat to do one task to show his dedication to the Reaper cause: kill Neku! (and Joshua). Initially, Beat tries to draw upon his dislike of Neku from the start of the game to motivate himself into completing his task but he just can’t go through with it no matter what, a feeling that only gets worse when Neku gives him Rhyme’s pendant that he dropped, thus invalidating Beat's previous resentment towards him. Seeing Neku go out of his way to return something precious to Beat even after he had antagonized him throughout the week causes Beat to drop his animosity completely and the next time we see him, he’s rescuing Neku from a unwinnable scenario by becoming his partner in Week 3.

From then on, we see Neku and Beat’s dynamic start to become more whole, opening up to each other more and helping the other through their struggles and ultimately culminating with them becoming genuine friends by the end. By the time W3 starts, they’re the only actual Players left in the Game, in the middle of a life-or-death situation, AND have the entirety of the UG after them due to Kitaniji activating Emergency Call. With circumstances like those, it’s no wonder they become as thick as thieves. Beat relies on Neku to help keep his head on straight and set him on the right path so that his temper and rash personality doesn’t end up screwing them over when things get rough, something Beat can't afford whatsoever when it comes to his mission of trying to save Rhyme.

Likewise, Neku relies on Beat to help keep his feet moving instead of allowing him to wallow in his own head when aspects such as Hanekoma potentially becoming the Composer becomes emotionally and be strong enough to catch him when he stumbles and falls. On top of that, he also trusts Beat’s emotional intelligence and honesty in matters such as when Beat convinces him to spare Uzuki and Kariya.

You see this dynamic persist in NEO as well even after all of the time they spent separated, in which Beat is heavily implied to have physically searched for Neku throughout all of Shibuya (remind you of anything?) and even take up some of his aspects, like the headphones, to honor his friend. And considering how Neku has helped him save his little sister and supported him when the chips were down, it's honestly no wonder.

Beat even flat out admits to Nagi that he was in some measure putting up a front to mask his fears and doubts and is quite calmer when Neku is around compared to NEO’s weeks 1-2. Not that his hot-blooded energy is gone but he notably isn’t as prone towards picking fights or shouting. Meanwhile, Neku is out of the loop after having been away for three years but Beat is again there to pick him up where he falters and help guide him around. The two of them are best friends through and through.

By contrast, we have Rindo and Fret, whose dynamic is quite different from Neku and Beat’s but is nonetheless just as well-written. I think the start of the game does an excellent job at setting up their relationship, where their early dynamic is fully on display in which Fret drags Rindo around and Rindo just casually goes with it despite internally bitching and moaning along the way. Like Beat and Neku, their friendship is mutually beneficial towards the other but in a much more casual and "shallow" way that’s very interesting.

They both want to be around one another in order to cover up for each other’s faults and their flaws feed into a loop that prevents the friendship advancing so that they don’t have to try but when it actually comes under serious strain, the flaws are exposed. Rindo being closed-off and content with just letting things stay on the surface level is perfect for Fret since he doesn't need to address his true feelings whatsoever and also fulfills his desire for someone to talk to because Fret is a pretty social guy and the class clown, letting him ignore his own problems. For Rindo, Fret allows him to also fulfill his desire for social companionship while not digging too deep and delude himself into thinking he’s autonomous and avoid the hurdles that comes with decision-making, which Fret is aware of and fine with because he’s more of a follower. The restaurant choice at the beginning of the game is a perfect example of this. At first glance, you think it’s just Rindo making a choice until you realize that it’s mainly Fret narrowing down the choices for Rindo without his input and he’s perfectly okay with that.

You also see this pop up again when Fret makes Rindo the leader of the group ALSO without his input so that he doesn’t have to get emotionally invested in the role and put the spotlight on himself. And initially, both are content with this and continue this dynamic throughout the first week of the Game, that is until shit hits the fan in Week 2. With the stakes becoming far more apparent and serious than they initially thought, and having to start another Game after getting cheated out of their victory, along with Sho just flat out ditching them and leaving the team to fend for themselves, tensions start to rise high between Rindo and Fret, which this ends up putting a strain on their relationship and we see the flaws in the friendship get exposed.

They start becoming more casually dismissive of each other’s interests whereas before they were just cool with whatever with Rindo not giving any regard to Fret’s interest in fashion and Fret mocking Rindo’s friendship with Swallow out of frustration, where Fret is pushing for Rindo to do anything regarding them considering Swallow's obvious involvement in the Game, and Rindo doesn’t want them to get upset so he pushes the issue away for later. Whereas Rindo is getting frustrated with Fret's self-defeatist attitude while not doing anything to help out with the situation that they're in, thus having them go back-and-forth and arguing with one another.

What makes this hit harder in hindsight is that this aspect was always apparent when you look back at the beginning. They bicker, like, a lot and the most noticeable example in W1 is the Nagi argument, where Rindo doesn’t see how she can help, worried about being held down by strangers, while Fret pushes for recruiting her, worried about having to handle a tougher burden on his own.

The part where they were in the ramen shop at the start of the game also does a good job at setting up this kind of relationship. Fret didn't know that Rindo played FanGO or was friends with Swallow, which heavily implies that they don't know that much about each other before entering the Game and later on, you see how Rindo constantly keeps Fret at arm’s length and opens up mainly to Swallow while Fret didn’t even talk to Rindo about his best friend that committed suicide. And in Week 2, these aspects become far more pronounced and the two become far more prone to taking passive-aggressive shots towards one another, culminating in their argument at the end of W2D4. I think what Rindo says to Fret in particular here is pretty telling of how he doesn't think that Fret is taking the situation seriously in spite of him actually showing otherwise what with his constant prodding. It's also hilariously indicative of Rindo's hypocrisy considering how he's constantly relying on others' input before making any actual decisions on his own, such as with Swallow in the very next scene and the day after.

However, despite all of this, they still do genuinely care for each other. Rindo’s first use of Replay was spurred on via wanting to save Fret from getting flattened by a truck and Fret is always pushing Rindo towards becoming more and more decisive in small ways. Most notably, when everyone except for Rindo gets erased by Soul Pulvis and he’s the only one to make it back to the UG, who’s the first one he calls out and tries to look for? Fret.

I’ve seen some people complain about how Rindo and Fret’s friendship doesn’t feel especially deep when compared to some of the other relationships in the series when I’d argue that’s the entire point. They’re not childhood friends who know every single thing about each other from the start unlike some JRPGs out there or a duo who starts off hating one another before gradually becoming closer to one another due to the stakes of the situation they’re in. They’re really casual school friends who keep each other at arms’ length out of an attempt to keep themselves protected. Their relationship is interesting to analyze because it's layered, much like a real friendship would be, due to them dealing with their own personal issues. And yet it never feels like one can just call it shallow or deep and have either be a definite despcriptor, just a well developed bond. Fret is still reeling from his previous best friend’s suicide and Rindo has social anxiety out the ass so their bond makes perfect sense.

And on top of that, they do gradually become closer to one another. Fret starts taking Rindo’s interests more seriously, even becoming disgusted at Motoi on Rindo’s behalf and sad for him as well as showing understanding to him concerning his Swallow situation.

And Rindo starts taking Fret more seriously as a person, with W3D3 being a prime example. He brings up the possibility that Kanon is acting strangely and might be possessed, brings up calm, rational points that the others have no choice but to agree to and doesn’t try to force Fret to keep his feelings for her down, rationalizing that there might just be another way to save her and assuring him that it’s ultimately Fret’s choice because he respects his input. And when Fret shows up anyway to try and save Kanon, he doesn't hesitate to support his buddy in his endeavors and does his damndest to help. On top of that, he becomes far more supportive towards Fret’s interests, particularly with EleStra, and is happy for him.

I think that shift from the ingenuine to genuine is what NEO excels at with its character relationships and by the end, you can really see Rindo and Fret really coming together as friends that genuinely respect and trust one another.

Neku and Beat’s friendship is much more bombastic and in-your-face while Rindo’s and Fret’s friendship relies on the more little details and I think both work well for their respective game and themes. You have the story of a distant and hostile kid having developed into a more personable young man using his lessons to relate with a seemingly gruff and bullheaded guy only to find a shockingly self aware young man who hates himself and lost his only support become more sure of himself vs. the story of two seemingly close friends grinding against each other due to their underlying issues surfacing, deepening their bond through their honesty and growing self-awareness. The first is more conventionally written while the second is a bit more subtle and requires deeper inspection in order to get the full picture.

[alto-tenure]

10 Fic Recs for International Fanworks Day

In honor of this year's Feedback Fest and 10 years of International Fanworks Day, have 10 fic recs! Multifandom, and in no particular order. I tried to keep this as spoiler-free as possible so you can be here for any of the fandoms included.

1) and to those gods, i will speak bluntly by @argentsunshine

Zero Escape, Clover & Snake, Snake/Santa, 44.3k words

Canon divergence AU in which Snake and Clover go through door 5.

2) Rough Waters by Sinna

DCU, Tim/Bernard, 1.7k

In which Tim struggles to reconcile his sexuality with the fact that his parents would not approve of it.

3) Ensemble by @celesticnova

TWEWY, Eri/Shiki, Eri & Hazuki, 33.6k

Eri plays the Game, with Hazuki as her partner.

4) Totez Flaming Trainwreck Re:past by Darkblaw & oddvector

TWEWY, Coco/Tsugumi, Shiba/Hishima, Coco & Hishima & Shiba & Tsugumi, 41.8k

Title font not copied for screen reader compatibility. Post-NEO. The Shinjuku reapers try to get along with each other, some more successfully than others.

5) Tenacity by @sixtyfourk

Professor Layton, Flora & Katia, 2.5k

Wherein Flora comes with Katia to Folsense and helps her uncover the mysteries within.

6) inside the timeless cage by @detective-piplup

Professor Layton, Layton & Luke, 8k

Where Luke is stuck in a timeloop surrounding the week Unwound Future takes place in.

7) Batman for Dummies by @havendance

DCU, Tim & Helena, 38.5k

Canon divergence AU focusing on No Man's Land where as a result of Helena and Tim having a closer relationship, Tim is Robin for Helena's Bat.

8) Six Minutes by @nirvanai

AITSF, Date & Ryuki & Tama, 7.5k

Between the end of the final confrontation and the credits, Date Psyncs with Ryuki.

9) lingering at dawn by elijah_was_a_prophet

DGS, Susato/Rei, 6.1k

Post-canon. In which Rei is the one to leave.

10) Self-Inflicted Immolation by Kitisonfire

Ace Attorney, Miles & Larry & Phoenix, Miles & Gregory, 33.9k

A study of Miles Edgeworth, from childhood to Turnabout Sisters.

[howlingday]

My idea for a potential DEATH BATTLE! #8

2023 Dec 12, 26, 27, 30, 31

2024, Jan 1, 2, 19, Feb 8, Mar 14, 24

MASTER POST

Thumbnail art

P3 Hero vs Neku Sakuraba (Persona vs TWEWY)

The Reaper will claim someone's soul permanently today!

FIGHTER 1: The P3 Hero, the Wildcard Messiah that ended the Dark Hour.

FIGHTER 2: Keku Sakuraba, the Shibuya Saviour in the Reaper's Game.

Wiz: Memento mori; remember that you will die. Time never waits and it delivers all equally to the same end, be it by aging or a bullet.

*insert clips of playing chess with Death from The Seventh Seal, Grim from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Maddie, Death from Castlevania*

Boomstick: So, take off your headphones and remember to make bonds and connections as they make life worth living. The world ends with you, so it's up to you to expand it. He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick.

Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win... a Death Battle.

PREFACE (What to know): So, Season 10 just ended and its final episode gave a teaser for Season 11 showing the Fool, Death, and The World tarot cards. Many suspect that this hints towards a Persona MU, which could be this one as the P3 Hero is represented by the Fool, Death, Judgement, and Universe Arcanas (The Universe is the Thoth Tarot equivalent of The World), and even though I started another suggestion as of me writing this, I wanted to this suggest this one as soon as I could. I get that it is not yet confirmed or denied. However, I want to get it out on the slight chance that it is the planned episode.

As of Pi Day 2024, Persona 3 Reload has been released, DLC has been announced, and Persona 6 is rumored to be released in 2025.

Also, I am not giving the P3 Hero a specific name. The SMT Wiki, Persona 3 Movies and P3 Dancing call him Makoto Yuki, but I don't like that name because it means that there'll be two Makotos if we involve P5 and three if we involve P2. I get that their names are spelled with different kanji to denote different meanings, but other sources from ATLUS call him by different names: the PQ2 Artbook calls him P3 Hero and the P3 Manga calls him Minato Arisato. For brevity and ease, I'll be referring to the character of today as P3H.

ANALYSIS OF ARSENAL (What I will be giving them):

Consider this to be part of the preface as this will cover something that you should know. To have them at their absolute best, I will take P3H at his endgame and Neku with his powers and experiences from NEO.

For the sake of the argument and animation, both will fight on their own, so no navigators, All-Out Attacks, Light Puck, Cross Combos, Fusion attacks, Mashups, or Killer Remixes. Any thread that Neku wears will have the effects of Final Remix or NEO. I will also use the affinity system from P3 Reload instead of the one from P5R, which although expansive, P3's battle affinities make more sense to use since we're talking about the P3 protagonist.

Both have vast arsenals that the player can choose from. P3H can have a bunch of items that can restore his health and SP, the Ultimate Personas and skills or Fusion Spells/Theurgies like Primal Force, Armageddon, Infinity, High Counter, Arms Master, Spell Master, Regenerate 3, Invigorate 3, the ultimate weapons and items like Lucifer's Blade and the Omnipotent Orb, or he can have none of that. PQ and PQ2 are canon, so do I include the status circle moves, Link attacks, or the game-breaking Heroic Gemini? Neku can have game-breaking threads, Psychs, and Pin Sets like Dope Line+SOS Boosting threads + Wild Boar Resonance which can one-shot a lot of bosses, the Eden Set which grants total invulnerability, the Darklit Planets Set, the Yearlong Ensemble, and the Black Cat set, all of which are supremely powerful, or he can Week 1 pins and clothes. How the heck will I go over their arsenal and skills?

The best way to go about this is to max out their stats and analyze this fight twice. The first battle will be analyzed using a traditional playthrough setup, and the second will be using the absolute best equipment and tools they can reasonably access (no PQ stuff).

WHY:

Connections (What do they have in common):

1. They are known for being or at least appearing antisocial or asocial but learn to make genuine connections and friendships. Said friendships give them power. Examples for P3H include: 1. Social links unlocking the Ultimate Personas of an arcana, 2. Social Links boost the EXP gained when fusing Personas of their arcana. Examples for Neku include: 1. Shopkeeps and cashiers can give you details of some clothing threads and/or give you access to more powerful clothing, 2. Fusion attacks can be performed, 3. A Player who fails to make a Pact will be erased if they don't have a partner within a certain given amount of time, and a player who has made a Pact is erased seven minutes after their Partner is erased. Said friendships helped them overcome the final bosses of their game which only served to reinforce the themes of friendships and connections. This is further emphasized by the fact that the mobs of their games, Shadows and Noise, are manifested from and/or attracted to negative thoughts. Said enemies also include a "Reaper": P3 has a boss Shadow known as The Reaper, and TWEWY's Noise creatures are created by other Players of the Game called Reapers.

2. Both have an intimate history with death. During the majority of P3, P3H had Death sealed within him. At the end of his journey, he sacrifices himself to become the Great Seal. He is also orphaned due to the death of his parents, and in the P3 Movies, Makoto witnessed their deaths. Neku is traumatized by the death of his best friend (even though this is from the events of the Another Day timeline). He has also died at least twice; he was shot dead by Joshua, came back to life, and was shot again by Coco.

3. Both wear headphones and even use a similar MP3 player. P3H uses one from Sony's NW-S20x series and Neku's seems to be based on Sony's NW-S200. Their music players are used to symbolize their lack of social skills or meaningful connections at the beginning of their journeys.

4. As minor as it is, both are a sort of "Chosen One" or hold unique positions in their power systems. P3H is a Wildcard, so he can wield multiple Personas, which only those who have formed a contract can do. Neku is the Proxy of the most powerful being in Shibuya and his high Imagination allowed him to use a lot of psychs during the initial Reaper's Game.

Personal reasons (Why I want this battle/like this MU):

I consider this MU superior to Joker vs. Neku. Aesthetically, P5's style meshed better with TWEWY's graffiti and urban aesthetic, and there is also the Shibuya connection with similar themes of reaching out, forming connections, and defying the game you're in, but then P3 Reload was released. There are also the connections mentioned above. I also think this MU is more appropriate thematically due to the themes of death and broadening one's world.

THE FIGHT:

Art and animation: 

It'll be in 3D unless someone can get their hands on P3H sprites. The models do exist for both characters: P3H has models from all his games and Neku has models from KH DDD and NEO. However, the following pieces of art by u/Crossover and u/Ok_Administration_45 respectively show that the sprites do exist.

To get the most out of P3H's Wildcard ability, I will give him some of his roster from the P5R Full Moon Challenge Battle and some extras.

1. Orpheus

2. Thanatos

3. Messiah. 

4. Orpheus Telos to represent his max strength

5. Helel for Armageddon.

6. Satan for Armageddon.

7. Vishnu for Infinity.

8. Ananta for Infinity.

9. Sigfried for Scarlet Havoc

10. Mithras for Scarlet Havoc

Neku will use a mix of psychs that are iconic like Shockwave, Massive Hit, Force Rounds, Pyrokinesis, and Cure Drink as well as pins related to him specifically (in NEO, Topo the Talented, Black Hole Bunny, and Hotaru can only be obtained if Neku is the one who maxes out their pre-evolved forms) 

Possible setup: 

We open by looking at the sky. black as pitch, and the full moon's pale light beautifully shines down. However, this does not mean peace, especially not for the leader of SEES or the Composer's former proxy. We cut to the top of the 104, our teenage heroes have already engaged in a fight, and not just with each other. P3H is fighting animals with tattoos for limbs and Neku is fighting masked humanoids with shadowy skin. After cutting down the black armies, they face each other. 

"Ready?" P3H gets into his battle position again.

"Yeah." Neku prepares himself with new pins.

FIGHT! :

1. Shockwave vs Sword. The two teenagers engage. Neku uses Shockwave, creating a blade, and clashes blades with P3H. P3H gets a good slash and stab in, knocking Neku back, but Neku charges in, landing in a horizontal slash, a vertical slash, and then uses Stellar Flurry, finishing his combo off with a Lance Lunge, knocking P3H back instead.

2. Neku then uses Pyrokinesis, engulfing P3H in flames. Yet, P3H is barely affected, taking slight damage. He grabs his Evoker and quickly points it to the side of his head. "Persona!" After pulling the trigger, Orpheus is summoned and he casts Blazing Hell, surrounding a large area in front of him in fire and heat.

3. Neku takes massive damage, and P3H rushes in to use Orpheus' physical power, but Neku quickly backs away and uses his Force Rounds. P3H dodges the energy bullets as he closes in on his foe and switches his Persona. "Thanatos!" The Death God comes out and slashes with lethality and precision, capping the combo off with a Brave Blade, slashing hard and wide, but Neku narrowly escapes yet again. Neku senses something odd about this guy... "Focus... Open up your senses..." His Soul is varied, and there are a lot of powers within, but they all have different affinities and weaknesses that he can exploit. He needs to be careful, and maybe he'll win. He switches to Hotaru and meets Thanatos' slashes with his own, hitting the Persona with its weakness to Light, dizzying P3H a bit. Neku charges up a Massive Hit psych. "Goin' up!", and P3H is sent flying this time.

4. P3H quickly picks himself up and feels the power of Theurgy. He grabs his evoker and summons the power of Sigfried and Mithras, the Scarlet Havoc. The scarlet razors and slashes are so fast that they blindside and overwhelm Neku. P3H sees his opponent is down. "Come forth, Messiah!" and he uses Debilitate on Neku, Heat Riser on himself. "Siegfried!" Using Concentrate, he then uses Vorpal Blade.

5. Neku uses a Healing psych but barely hangs on after the brutal slash attack, but he switches his pins again to a Doomed Life, Doomed Attack, Doomed Defense, and Doomed Mobility combo. P3H notices that his buffs are effectively nullified, and he even starts to feel weakened. Neku then uses an Entanglement psych, but P3H very-handedly dodges, until Debilitate and Heat Riser wear off. Neku then easily catches P3H, using his Black Hole Bunny, dealing strong damage. 

6. Neku then charges Topo the Talented and fires the missiles, but P3H breaks free of his confines and switches personas again to "Orpheus Telos!", tanking the damage soundly.

7. Neku senses extreme power from the Soul, so switches his pins to Over the Top and a combination of Apport and Psychokinesis. All his pins in Reboot are quickly filling up again. He combines Psychokinesis with Apport to summon meteors and even f*cking subway trains and throws them all at P3H who sees the incoming attack, but he's low on health. He pulls his Evoker, summoning the power of Ananta and Vishnu, and casts Infinity, protecting himself from the powerful strike. By this point, he's almost out of SP, but he's far from dead. Neku sees this, so he uses a Healing Aura and Inspiring Aura psych combo to heal and buff himself up and switches Psychs once again, this time to a combo of Nexus Ray and Laser Inferno psychs.

8. With a Concentrate, P3H charges up his magic energy while Neku raises his arm, and charges the energy at the end of his hand. Messiah unleashes a charged Megidolaon and Neku fires his Ray/Laser amalgamation. We get a wide shot of Shibuya and the 104, and we see a giant flash of light. Both teens are still standing, but very close to dying, panting. Thank goodness for Endure.

9. P3H wins by sheer overwhelming force. Neku has exhausted most of his pins, and they're not rebooting fast enough, even with Over the Top. He switches pins again, but P3H summons Messiah again and casts Salvation. Neku tries to attack, but with a summon to "Orpheus Telos!" and he holds off Neku for enough time for the Theurgy gauge to charge. He uses an SP recovering item and uses debilitate again, and Neku is crippled yet again. P3H summons Helel and Satan, thinks of his dear friends, and casts Armageddon. Neku is unable to use any healing psychs in time. His last thoughts? Shiki, Beat, Josh, Rindo…

10. Ending 2: Neku wins by wearing down his opponent. Neku uses Grave Marker quickly to knock his opponent off balance, and he's able to launch attack after attack, keeping his adversary on the backfoot. P3H can't even switch his Persona, His Theurgy is ready, but as he tries to grab his Evoker, Neku binds him with Entanglement. Over the Top really came in handy. Neku, thinking of his friends, charges up a final attack like in the TWEWY fight against Draco Cantus. P3H sees oblivion, but he only thinks of his friends. He didn't tell Junpei, Yukari, Mitsuru, or even Aigis goodbye...

11. The winner takes the loser's headphones and music player (call them "World Expander's Music Set '' or "SEES Music Set"). If Neku wins, then he also picks up a pin that looks like the Gekkougan High emblem named "Full Moon", and all of these are top-tier gear. The winner does not get to simmer in his thoughts because he hears the sounds of swarming creatures behind him. He turns his sight to the amassing Noise and Shadows around him. "I'll live on for the both of us." They lunge at the black armies.

12. KO!

RESULT:

Strengths and weaknesses:

P3H:

+ Is more powerful as he fought Nyx, who could affect the population on a worldwide scale as opposed to Anguis Cantus, Draco Cantus, Dissonance Tapir, or even Phoenix Cantus, all of whom would at most affect just Shibuya. Even if he fought Nyx with a team, P3H is still more powerful. At most, it can be highballed to say that P3H is a planet buster since Nyx, once fully completed, could destroy the Earth, and P3H stopped this fully powered Nyx.

+ His magic is arguably stronger than Neku's psychs. This is especially true for skills like Ragnarok, Pralaya, Infinity, and Armageddon.

+ Sword allows for greater range in close combat.

+ Has resistances and immunities with Null, Void, and even recovery with Drain or can redirect attacks with Repel. Items like Omnipotent Orb or Tome of the Void can Null damage or status effects.

+ Has instant death/kill options such as Maeigaon, Door of Hades, and Mudoon.

+ Megidolaon and other Almighty skills bypass resistances. If treated like in mainline SMT, then all Pierce skills will also bypass resistances except for repelling.

+ If given access to all his passive abilities, then he can likely passively recover and outlast his opponent with skills like Invigorate and Regenerate, return damage with High Counter, reduce damage a lot with Firm Stance, increase hit rate with Apt Pupil, reduce the cost of his skills with Arms Master and Spell Master, double evasion rate against all magical attacks except Light, Dark, and Almighty with Angelic Grace, flat out nullify, repel or drain most of Neku’s psychs, amp his own attacks and odds of inflicting status conditions, survive certain death with Endure and Enduring Soul (these stack), and increase damage with his own weapon with Weapons Master.

+ Heat Riser and other Enhance skills increase his own Attack, Defense, and Agility/ Hit/Evasion rate or reduce the opponent's.

+ Dekunda removes inflicted debuffs, Dekaja removes the opponent's buffs.

+ Rebellion and Revolution increase Crit Rate.

+ Tetrakarn and Makarakarn put up barriers.

+ Charge and Concentrate can boost the damage of their next offensive skill.

+ Life Drain can recover a small amount of HP from a foe.

= Comparable speed as both have dodged light-based attacks,

- Theurgies take a long time to charge up.

- Abilities like Regenerate and Invigorate don't recover a lot of HP and SP.

- Buffs/debuffs, Tetrakarn, Makarakarn, Charge, and Concentrate are not permanent and wear off after a certain amount of time or upon using their next offensive skill.

- The high-class attacks and Recovery skills require large amounts of HP and SP respectively.

- Instant kill options have a low success rate.

Neku:

+ If given access to all his pins from the first game like Mega Man is given access to all his weapons, then Neku has the edge in versatility (sheer number of psychs and affinities) and invulnerability (Eden set), so he can overwhelm P3 and exploit his weaknesses.

+ Greater mobility and can even teleport (more so if he is given access to Flowmotion).

+ Edge in range due to ranged attacks.

+ Most pins work by cooldown and don't drain HP, so even if they're exhausted, they'll immediately begin to recharge. This includes the healing psychs of Aqua Barrier and Dark Barrier, and even NEO's Healing Aura as well as the buffing psych Inspiring Aura. This all pairs well with the Over the Top psych which reduces reboot time by 40%.

+ Turbo psych increases the amount of uses per pin, adding extra longevity to the pins.

+ Can cripple his opponent by inflicting negative status effects like Immobility or Airborne to immobilize, HP Drain to continuously reduce the target's HP by a percentage. The Doomed psyches also reduce the opponent’s Attack, Defense, and/or Mobility. These don’t count as mental ailments so Unshaken Will does not nullify them.

+ Debuffs on opponents last longer with the Blight psychs.

+ Psychs like Nexus Ray and affinities like Time and Gravity could count as Almighty skills and thus bypass resistances and passive skills. Other psyches like Stellar Flurry can count as Pierce skills (I already mentioned the significance of Pierce skills).

+ Is more experienced.

+ Threads increase his stats, nullify or reduce knockback. There are also threads that increase his stats more when in low health (Second Wind, Steely Resolve, etc.), increase the capacities of psychs with abilities like Reinforced Chains, Stranglehold, or Synergy, provide skills like Resistances to poison, shocks, or burns, Regen and Auto-Charge (allows the release of psychs that require charge up time).

≥ This is a big stretch, but Neku could find the weakness of the Personas. Neku can read minds with the Player Pin and is even able to scan Soul by the time the events of NEO happen, and Personas are seen as the manifestation of the soul.

= Similar speeds as they both have dodged light-based attacks.

- Most healing pins have a limited number of uses (Already mentioned which ones don't). Those that don’t have a limited number of uses cannot be used until fully recharged.

- Cannot bypass Infinity.

- Does not have abilities or equipment that can completely nullify, absorb, or redirect damage.

Ending puns:

"P3H shouldn't take it personally, but he faced his Mass Destruction."

"Neku may have been psyched up, but he was left Twisted."

MUSIC:

Name: The Reaper Hour

The name refers to the Dark Hour and the Reaper's Game. It is also a nod to the Reaper Shadow and the Reapers.

Art: Look at Yate's "My Dread Burns with You" and simply add their MP3 player to the art and you get the gist of the art. If you want an original answer: take the Reaper symbol, have it wear Neku's headphones, and have it use an Evoker. Around where the "neck" would be the Sony MP3 player. In the background is a giant Midnight Hour clock being broken like in P3.

Sound: TWEWY's rock + P3's hip hop. The opening sounds like Twister, but when the combatants engage, the music shifts to a mix of Mass Destruction and Hybrid (The sound of Hybrid + the instrumentation and lyrics like that of MD). When the battle reaches its climax, the music sounds like Burn My Dread like it's the P3 Final Boss, but it has elements and lyrics like those of Calling. Death is calling the protagonists, but only one will heed the calling.

FINAL THOUGHTS AND WORDS

Imagining the fight was pleasant, but the preface was a nightmare. Worse still, my increased workload meant I couldn't finish this when I wanted to, and I could rarely find the energy to work on this. Getting this out before the announcement of Season 11 did not make this any easier, not that I could actually do so. I apologize for the long time between posts and for any inconsistencies. Still, I had fun, and I wanted to pay respect to characters that I look up to. They taught me that even if making connections is hard, it is never impossible, and that not reaching out only makes life worse. Friends help us, and whether or not bonds are the answer to the question of life, they should help us grow. Some will harm us, some will leave, but is that a reason to cut yourself off from the others?

THANK YOU AND I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS!

Psych affinities -> Persona affinities:

No affinity and makes bodily contact = Physical

No affinity and is ranged = Gun (P5) or Physical (P3)

Burst = Nuclear/Nuke (P5) or Fire (P3)

Darkness = Curse (Eiha, P5) or Darkness (P3)

Electric = Electric

Fire = Fire

Gravity = Almighty

Kinesis = Psychokinesis/Psy (P5) or Physical (P3).

Ice = Ice

Light = Bless (Kouha, P5) or Light (P3)

Poison & physical = Physical

Poison & ranged = Gun

Sound = Wind

Wind = Wind

Time = Almighty

----------------------------------------------

Sadly, I can only barely account for one of these contenders since I did play The World Ends With You, though my time with it was very... forgettable. Not a lot for me to grab onto, to be honest. BUT that doesn't detract from this great idea of yours! Hopefully, we'll get another Death Battle in the near future.

[emonewtype]

The (not very) Liveblogging of Neo Twewy continues

Got a little bit overzealous between posts and made it all the way from W1D6 to W3D5 with no updates, here are some thoughts:

1: As was expected, pi-face left at the start of week 2. Thankfully he gave his stuff back on the way out, I always get worried about temporary party members stealing gear.

2: I admit I was thoroughly fooled by the masked up "Neku" turning out to be Beat. Though If it was him I would have never stopped complaining about the hair color change. It was the phones that really sold the disguise.

3: On the topic of Beat, I'm not sure if its just him having more voiced dialogue here, not being bitcrushed by the DS, or what, but I don't particularly like his voice here. He doesn't sell being young or being hip very well.

4: Trend I started noticing with Nagi but became really apparent with Beat and later members. New party members coming in with lower stats than existing ones and due to the way food orders work, having no way of fully catching up. Annoying.

5: Love the concept of Homing Rockets as a psych, shame its a bit unwieldy in practice. On the other end of the spectrum, Psychic Shotgun is/was kinda nuts for how versatile it is

6: Motoi turning out to be a bastard was handled pretty well, not much telegraphing him to be actually malicious as opposed to just a fake-deep kind of person before the reveal, but a lot of the time that's how it goes down in real life too.

(playing this part while scrolling past coverage of James Somerton's ongoing meltdown hit a bit different)

7: I don't think I've ever had a boss crowdfund a power up before, real funny gimmick. Despite how long the fight took I didn't take a screenshot for some reason.

8: The whole Plague Noise plot and the way characters talk about it, even Rindo wearing a mask all the time, makes me wonder how much of this game was planned out prior to the pandemic, and how much was intentionally playing into current events.

9:

(I'm no gorowase expert, but even I can tell that Neku's life is Shi-Bu-Ya)

Character starting stats seem to have something funny going on with them, makes me regret not getting a screenshot of any of the other members stats to see whats up there. (if anyone has any insight as to the other numbers or characters, drop it in the replies or reblogs if you want)

10: Mentally kicking myself for not getting any good screenshots of Leo Cantus with his armor on, had me thinking "every so often Square Enix invents Ifrit FinalFantasy again"

11: Between the higher tier noise getting more aggressive attack patterns and the entirely self imposed suffering that is running 4 jinxed point boost abilities, difficulty is really ramping up. I'm starting to fear even singular bear types now.

12: The way people are described being pulled into the UG while alive and what happens to them strikes me as a very Kingdom Hearts-y "memories are a two way street" adjacent thing, and that similarity has me wondering if this entire thing is some kind of "Data but not exactly a Simulation" thing like Re;Coded. Would explain Rindo's power and give an out for Shinjuku to be "recovered" like data on a hard drive being "erased" but not actually overwritten yet, if the story decided to go that route

[scramble-crossing]

Ntwewy Ask Game

Inspired by @hectopascals twewy ask game

Best and Worst of Week 1

Best and worst of Week 2

Best and worst of Week 3

Favourite Another Day challenge (Rhyme's Reduction, Sho², or Coco's Time Trial)

Top 3 boss fights (and which one was the toughest)

Best battle quotes

Favourite team

Favourite Shinjuku Reaper

Character from the first game you wish came back

Who had the biggest glow-up with their Neo design? (Bonus: Who wore it worst?)

Name your top 5 pins, restaurants, and brands

Do you have a particular play style (like focusing on long range vs short range, laying bombs, or sending missles)?

Screenshot your usual team setup (players, pins, and threads)

Favourite social network sidequest

Favourite sticker on your graffiti wall

Favourite new track (bonus: which first game track got the best remix, and do you think it's better than the original?)

Character you think had the best arc

Character you think had the worst arc

Overall, do you prefer the first game's cast or neo's?

Did you have any theories that turned out to be true? Which ones do you wish came true?

Do you want a neo anime? If you do, what's the one thing it absolutely must have?

Original Twewy or Neo?

What would you want out of Twew3?

[lapinparka]

Another reason I really want to write that Joshua + Shiki parallels post is because of how I saw people saying Shiki was the least developed of the OG main cast a little while ago, and that made me... really sad lol. I know a lot of people see her through the lens of NEO's writing, which treated her character pretty badly, but Shiki's arc in TWEWY itself is really something special, and she's the most narratively impactful character alongside Joshua. There's so much love and care put into her story, to the point that Week 1 is primarily about her while Neku ultimately ends up acting as support, and I wish that's what she'd be remembered for more than the unfair treatment she gets in the sequel.

[drizzileiscool]

BIG GIANT POST ABOUT MY EXPERIENCE PLAYING TWEWY!!!!!!

CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!

NO I HAVE NOT PLAYED NEO YET!!!! I AM POOR!!!!! PLEASE DON'T SPOIL ME ON IT!!!!!! I've played some of the demo though!!!!!

I first decided to get into twewy last month. I saw that there was a switch version available, but I was unable to play that version. I did, however, have a ds emulator, but after talking to some people I realized I probably would've gotten arthritis playing it on emulator.

When I was just about ready to give up, I decided to watch the first episode of the anime. I enjoyed it a bit.

I was then told to not watch the anime.

So you may be wondering.. "How did you play twewy?"

I played the mobile version. Solo mix. Yeah that one. The one not available for current gen phones.

I found a link to a modded version on an old reddit thread that was updated for current gen android phones, and one of my friends helped me get it set up, and I was finally ready to play.

During my first few hours, I didn't actually like neku all that much. Honestly, he was a dick. i remember what you said about plushies, neku. i will not forgive this as a plushie enthusiast.

While playing the game, I was under the assumption that I would get to change partners whenever once I unlocked it. Rhyme seemed cool, so I was hoping to get to partner with her.

And then the game killed her off.

Despite not knowing anything about rhyme, she was still my favorite character. Besides beat of course, but that's later during week 3.

I remember that I was crying when I first saw her death. I was all like "why did they make such a cool character design, just to kill her off?? that doesn't make sense."

earlier today I saw a tweet on twitter that said "cute cosplay idea for couples!" and it was a rhyme cosplay and a shark costume and I nearly lost my shit laughing, so I guess I'm over it.

When week 1 was ending, I remember feeling like "wait, that's it?" of course, I was wrong.

anyways week 2 now uhh uhhhhhh-

when I first met joshua and learned that I could scan him I was all like "huh???". also excellent foreshadowing there, square enix!

also JOSHUA IS A FRUIT YOU CANNOT TELL ME THIS PERSON ISN'T GAY JUST LOOK AT HIM

at this point, I didn't really know what to expect anymore. the game broke one of its already established rules, "players can't scan other players" so I had no idea what was coming next anymore.

SHO MINAMIMOTO IS HOT!!!!

uhhg. don't got anything else to say about this week except I genuinely thought hanekoma was the composer.

I was extremely shocked to learn that joshua killed neku during this week, and was even more shocked to learn that it was a misfire (and then I learned it wasn't a misfire but that's in week 3 and we haven't gotten to that yet!)

WEEK THREE!!! BEAT TIME!!!

alright, before I started week 3, I actually didn't like beat all that much. that changed a LOT during week 3. he is now one of my favorite characters.

later that week, I had finally learned joshua was the composer and was actually extremely shocked lol.

oh uh I also got spoiled on how beat and rhyme got hit by a car from ign so uhhhh oops

SHO SOMEHOW GOT HOTTER!!!!

I beat the game. I loved the credits theme (and will rewatch the credits later) and really liked how neku threw off his headphones to symbolize how he won't shut himself off from the world anymore.

10/10 game, really enjoyed playing it!

also there was a scene early on where neku went up to a reaper and said I know what you are and I didn't get to screenshot it :(

so.. yeah! my experience with twewy! good game! one of my favorites now! getting neo soon!

[zero-on-the-clocktower]

Apparently mobile Discord is cutting off my bio, so here’s a pinned post with my info.

Hello! I’m Zero, I’m 20, any pronouns are cool with me, and I’m an OC creator, ttrpg gm/player, and also kinda a writer and doodler. I mainly post about my OCs and or ramble about my current fandoms here.

The bios of my three main OCs can be found here! https://www.tumblr.com/zero-on-the-clocktower/744814389865086976/ive-made-little-drawings-and-bios-of-my-three

TWEWY (Currently watching a friend play NEO TWEWY and we’re in the middle of Week 2. No spoilers, please!) Faves: Shiki, Sho, Neku, Eiji, and from NEO so far, Fuya and Kaie.

RTVS

DougDoug

Bungo Stray Dogs

Faves: Ranpo, Fitzgerald, Louisa, and Ango.

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist

Faves: Nomi-Nomi, Tangent, Cal, and Dys.

Leverage

Faves: Parker, Nate, and Sterling in a love to hate kinda way.

Vocaloid

Faves (Vocal Synths): Meiko, Kaito, Hibiki Koto, Flower, Gumi, and Yuuma.

Faves (Producers): Teniwoha, Surii, Miyamori Bungaku, Nyanyannya, Wotaku, Yurrycanon, and Shu.

Milgram

Faves: Kazui, Shidou, and Mahiru.

Return of the Obra Dinn

Paradise Killer

Methods: The Detective Competition

The Pale Beyond

Faves: Nutlee and Kasha.

Liar Game

The Apothecary Diaries

Fate/Zero

Faves: Waver and Iskandar.

Honkai Star Rail

Faves: Qingque, Dr. Ratio, Huohuo, Yanqing, Clara, Arlan, Black Swan, Sparkle, Sampo, and Screwllum (playable when?!)

Gnosia

Faves: Remnan, Gina, and Setsu.

Detective Conan (I am so behind on the manga but I love it)

Total Drama (Currently watching Season 1 of the Reboot. No spoilers, please!)

Faves: Gen 1: Bridgette and Harold.

Gen 2: B and Dawn.

Gen 3: Jasmine and Sammy.

Ridonculous Race: Sisters, Ice Dancers, and Goths.

Reboot Cast: Damien, Zee, and Bowie.

[manofmanymons]

Ignore me real quick I'm just thinking about something I've already said before again

I still want to understand the phenomenon that is twewy and survive both giving their characters extremely unlikable traits BY DESIGN that are supposed to humanize them/be satisfying to watch them work to overcome but ONLY twewy fans never hating or holding grudges against the characters for it

I have seriously never seen a twewy fan hate neku for trying to kill shiki after she saved him, beat for always picking fights and betraying neku, or even joshua for the being the most insufferable manipulative boy to ever have lived and also murdered people

In fact they're like three of the most popular characters in the fandom across both games even though (other than beat) they were barely even IN the second one

Hell rindo and shoka are like the most unpleasant characters in neo and people love THEM too

-clarification that i love every single twewy character i just described despite insulting the shit out of all of them

But you're telling me people would seriously hold a grudge against ryo for being scared of a giant bug after getting isekai'd onto murder island and being a little bit of a jerk as a coping mechanism

Like is it just because twewy is a standalone game and not part of an existing franchise so the only people who talk about it are the ones who played it and loved it for handing you a group of assholes and saying "now learn why they're like this, empathize with them, and be proud to watch them grow"

I joked before that people should be required to play twewy before being allowed near survive but like actually genuinely why does it feel like twewy fans are more patient, empathetic, and understanding

They'll say "look at my pookie" and it's the crazy guy with the god complex who turned on his friends and trapped a bunch of teenagers in a battle royale for weeks on end because in his defense he was being manipulated

But some survive players can't even handle kaito being Kind of Mean Sometimes like i am not even exaggerating i feel like week 1 neku is worse than him outside of the harmony route and ryo combined and NO ONE cares

Boy was wholly uncooperative, was snappy with EVERYONE, and LEGITIMATELY TRIED TO MURDER HIS OWN PARTNER but does anyone hate him NO because he was a dumb teen who was scared and lashing out after being entered in a crazy death game against his will who learned to open up and trust his friends

[devilsurvivor-2-recordbreaker]

Something I find really interesting about neo twewy story and how it's reflected in gameplay

Spoilers ahead

When Minamimoto joins the party and rindo and the others call him their mvp and then suddenly when at the end of week 1 into week 2 where now your one player shorter it really feels reflected these early days.

You only have three players now and by this point you as the player have created this good system of back and forth that deals high damage and synergizes between party members. But, atleast in my perspective, suddenly getting sent back a step was a shock and relearning to adjust to combat without that forth player feels terrifying and scary.

For a parallel it makes me think of moments in kh1 where in oblivion castle your striped of your keyblade and your party and have to rely on your bare wits and the beast to survive to confront riku and reclaim your keyblade. It's powerful cohesive writing.

This isn't a very unnoticed detail but I really like how the narrative dread ties back into struggle. I feel like im on day 1 all over again trying to learn how to use these buttons. Its great.

[rainbow-nijisaki]

1, 9, and 17 for the ask game!

character(s) that first caught your eye/first favorite character?

When I first picked up the game, I really wanted to like Joshua! In all honesty, character vibes was a big factor in whether I engaged with media or not back then. And Joshua landed closest to what I typically looked for in a character (based solely on design vibes). Note I say closest, because back then my taste in characters was actually a little different than it is now.

What I got was...a surprise, to say the least.

I didn't like him immediately. I wanted to, but his, well...prickly nature was quite a bit different than what I was used to at the time. That said, as week 2 went on and I learned more of his story (fabricated or not), I was fascinated. By the time week 2 ended, this character I had wanted to like but wasn't sure if I would had so completely grown on me I was quite possibly obsessed. He single-handedly changed my taste in characters, design and personality. He's lived rent-free in my head ever since and quite possibly owns the place, since he seems to be the one making the rules on whether anyone else can stay, and for how long.

So yes, I admit I have trash taste in characters now, and it's very much his fault.

Over time, after many cycles of character analysis (and my own character arc that was...not all positive), I even came to find him quite a bit relatable...but this is redundant information, since that's literally question 17.

9. what platforms have you played twewy (and/or neo) on? if multiple, what’s your favorite?

For TWEWY, I've played it on the original DS, Solo on ipad, and Final on Switch. My fave, far and away, is the original - the game was really made for that system and it uses all the perks of the hardware with aplomb. I actually broke the A button on my DS lite playing TWEWY, haha. Being able to control both partners at once, with the old fusion star/cards system, not only feels great to play, it's also very nostalgic for me.

I do like Final for what it is though, if only because you can attempt to get the chaos of the original by playing solo multiplayer, and if not, the multiplayer in and of itself is fun if you have someone to play with. Being able to share the experience with someone else makes Final worthy imo.

NEO I played on Switch as well. I can't make comparisons because I haven't tried it on other platforms. I'm not much of a PC gamer and don't have a PS4.

17. what character(s) do you relate to the most?

TWEWY is full of relatable characters, so this list isn't going to be comprehensive. I think most of the playable cast is relatable in some way...but as this question says "the most," I'll try to narrow it down.

I think this would be more fun without context, so I'll say

with a side of

and a dash of

Have fun trying to diagnose my personality~

[mageknight14]

Not sure how to phrase this but my hot TWEWY take is that NEO has more fleshed out character relationships and subtle writing than the original.

I’ve seen a lot of people disregard NEO for seemingly not having as much "depth" as the original when it comes to its themes and character writing but it genuinely does, it’s just a lot less upfront about it. I think the main thing about NEO is that its writing style will fly over some people’s head because of two things:

1. It’s a sequel to a game that spelled out so much of its core themes and character development that you’d have to be blind as a bat in order to miss it so when NEO goes for a much more subtle approach, it’s not going to reach everyone.

2. The game very much relies on you analyzing and replaying the game in order to get the most out of it and discover the depth for yourself in a genre in which most people will just beat the game and call it a day.

Hell, this even extends to the game’s combat: it’s incredibly deep, not just compared to the original, but a lot of Japanese ARPGs in general with how synergistic its various options are but it relies on you actually analyzing the mechanics despite how simple they appear to be at a glance.

One of the things I immediately noticed upon replaying the game is just how many details there are that requires you to have context from the end of the game and especially the secret reports before truly understanding them. NEO does this thing where they show you the ramifications of and RESULTS of a character arc, with the actual buildup to it being shown, not told, through character interactions and minor changes in behaviour that you're probably not gonna catch unless you pay attention, or you're playing it through a second time and therefore have more context to do so.

Shoka is one of the best examples of this aspect of the game’s subtle characterization in action, because what you see in the game after she joins you is actually after her character arc. Her moments of personal conflict and deciding what to do is actually primarily in week 2, and you will never notice or really realize the significance of things like Shoka being so upset over Motoi on Rindo's behalf, because she's Swallow and knows how much he cares about him until you experience it a second time around. Not to mention the hints towards her fairly depressive home life and state of mind, as well as lack of regard for her own life except for when it concerns the people she cares about.

It made me realize that with the way Rindo’s time travelling is handled, where you see a bunch of supposedly inconsequential details that you understand only when you have to go back and connect them all, that the WHOLE game is written like that, which is most obviously seen with characters like Shoka, Susukichi, Fret, and Kanon once you reread it all.

These scenes with Kanon are a pretty good example where in the second timeline, she already knows about Fuya challenging the Ruinbringers whereas before she didn’t and it’s interesting when you consider the parasitic relationships the teams have with each other due to how they have formed an unspoken agreement where the top 3 teams (sans Ruinbringers) keep their footing by sending new teams to last place, which the Wicked Twisters screw up just by existing. It’s small but it really shows just how much thought the devs put into the characters’ individual mindsets.

[voicefromthecorner]

Honestly, it’s just kind of fun to hear Aaron Spann reciting this classic line in full for once. And hearing it a second time for a separate introduction three years later has just doubled my curiousity about who exactly “Mother and Father” are and why, if my memory serves me right, Joshua refers to them each time in the present tense.

Flipping RINDO! He actually looked that up! Gosh, there’s been way too little of Rindo doing Rindo things lately! I can’t blame him for forgetting the few times the Composer has been mentioned and he never actually got an explanation before now. Honestly, Shoka’s reaction is extra priceless because she knows exactly who he is and if Shinjuku is anything like Shibuya in this regard, she’ll know that the Composer’s identity is basically extremely exclusive access knowledge. And then this guy shows up and is just like “Hey, how’s it going? I’m the most powerful person in the city, by the way.”

It’s hitting me that this moment and reveal must make for a very interesting experience for NEO-first TWEWY players. In general, sure, the Composer thing happens quite suddenly with only a slight amount of build-up compared to how big of a deal he is in the first game. But also for someone to go from NEO to TWEWY. I can’t begin to imagine what that must be like:

“Okay, end of Week 1. Getting a handle on the Reapers now, I guess that sunglasses guy is the Conductor. He’s mentioning the Composer so I guess we’ll meet Joshua sometime later down the-Wait... There he is. Huh...”

I also have to wonder at this point where the rest of the Wicked Twisters are. I’m assuming when Shiba left that they quietly agreed to give Rindo and Shoka some space but are they still nearby? I can’t get rid of the image of them talking things over, giving a few concerned glances over at the other two every so often and then Neku just looks over and goes “Wait a min-Uh oh.” For all his mentoring, you can’t prepare anyone for Joshua.