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wedreamedlove · 4 years

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Xu Mo - Character Study

Preserving this from Reddit. But the comments are always interesting, so I’m dropping the link here.

This post will include content up to Chapter 18. Plus some calls, dates, and ASMR in the CN server. I always quote from JP and CN (because I have major issues with Elex’s translation).

Also, this is an extremely long post. Last I checked it was about 7,500 words so get comfortable if you’re going to read this LOL.

BASICS

First, I don't think I'd be wrong in saying Xu Mo's character is the most polarizing out of the four men and I believe this is due in large part to cultural differences and how the localization handled that. Putting aside my constant harping about subtleties being dropped, I was enlightened by @sharinluna about an aspect I didn't consider, which is Xu Mo's "social class".

Face, social status, rank, and hierarchy are - and still is - very important in Chinese culture. Easy examples people can relate to are respecting elders and the prestige of being a doctor, banker, lawyer, etc. But I can't stress enough the reverence that is given to these "high" social statuses. How this applies to Xu Mo is that he comes from a lineage of literati that would place him as someone in an upper class status, in addition to his own achievements.

Xu Mo was born from a scholarly family. His parents were highly talented and leading researchers.

In the eyes of the public, Xu Mo is a young and remarkable neurologist and a guest professor at Lianyu University. He is serious and persistent towards his scientific research, which is how he's obtained extraordinary achievements. At 26 years old, he has already obtained achievements that most people wouldn't get in a lifetime. There is no other word better to describe him than "genius".

[CN Profile Translation]

The English definition of literati leads you to intellectuals, but this doesn't carry the weight and history of how literati, or basically scholar-officials, were people appointed by the emperor to carry out day-to-day duties and to help govern the country. I guess the equivalent would be a noble who carries out noblesse oblige. Cultured people with scholarly achievements were very respected in historical China and also acted as role models for the common people.

So, going back to Xu Mo, because we're in modern times and he doesn't have an overtly obvious title (to those not in his field of work) he just comes off as a gentle, unassuming, humble, scholar with an air of sophistication and professionalism from his background. Think of a noble, without any airs.

This is reflected in his polite and modest speech (I will be bringing an updated post on this over to Tumblr to go into more detail about modal particles; the important thing is that Xu Mo NEVER smirks unless he's Ares and even that could just be a cold smile). Not to mention all the descriptions about his elegance and refinement. Heck, he even has a Chinese tea ceremony set in his room, including the tools to make tea [CN "In His World" Event].

Xu Mo's classiness, for a lack of a better word, also emphasizes the purposeful contrast of seeing him do common, mundane things. Like watching cartoons to understand humans better [CN Profile]. It's like how Li Zeyan, with his more understandable poshness from his riches, would be contrasted with mundane things. But, if we were looking for another analogy, Xu Mo would be old elegance and Li Zeyan would be nouveau elegance.

Anyway, Xu Mo also has another trait given to him that's a classic in female-oriented Chinese media and that's being a "black belly; 腹黑". For those who are more familiar with Japanese, it's basically the same word as "haraguro; 腹黒".

Black bellies are people who act nice and unassuming on the outside, but they're sly and manipulative (and at times cruel) on the inside or in secret to other people.

Essentially, they're two-faced but while English has a negative connotation with this word it's normal and accepted in Asia (likely because of the concept of face). The majority of male leads in Chinese novels are all black bellies. BTW, the origin of the word comes from how you only notice their black belly after you're eaten up by them LOL.

So, how this works in female-oriented media is... well, there's many combinations. For example, they can be nice to everyone, including the heroine, but secretly vicious against those who hurt the heroine. Or they're nice in public, but show their sly cunning to the heroine. Mix it however you want! They also like to tease the heroine in all sorts of ways, like leading them into verbal traps to see them flustered.

There's some crossover with black bellies being abusive, cruel, or yandere towards their heroine, but it's not necessary for black bellies to be like that. Just think of these as being Venn diagram circles with overlap [example of a sweet black belly is Xiao Nai from the Chinese drama LoveO2O, also a novel].

Returning to the main topic, you can easily see how this applies to Xu Mo. He's nice and elegant... except for when he's not. It's how he can have this gentle and refined air, but then turn around and be a massive flirt and tease with the heroine (flashing his black belly). Then he goes and turns completely black when he's Ares LOL.

Now, after giving background on Xu Mo's character archetype, let's move onto my other sections.

MAN OF JUXTAPOSITIONS

I wanted to call this section "man of contradictions" at first, but then I thought that might mislead people. Basically, this is all about how Xu Mo is a man of dualities.

[Main Story 13-22] The scarred man describes Ares as being the only person who can be trusted in BS, and yet Ares doesn't hesitate to go against Hades and incapacitate him. I'd argue that this places a wrench in BS' operations, so there goes being the most trustworthy person in BS (although, granted, BS sounds like they're a writhing mess of people with their own thoughts and ideas about how it should be run).

Xu Mo is a gentle teacher to MC, patient and taking the time to explain concepts she doesn't understand or provide novel ideas to her; however, he also gives her the worst betrayal and you can almost call this the harshest of lessons.

For all his image of being an intellectual scholar, as I've mentioned in the previous section, Xu Mo is surprisingly "physical". [CN Archery Date] shows that he's ripped and knows a taxing sport like archery, and in [Main Story 16-22] he straight up kills the goons with ice shards (even if it's in a mental arena).

[Main Story 8-23 & 9] bombards you with light and shadow descriptions. Actually, this imagery follows Xu Mo everywhere but it's most prominent in these chapters. He's always standing at the intersection of light and shadow, or light shines down on one of his sides but casts the other in shadow.

[Main Story 9-14] I will be forever salty for Elex dropping the ball here, but Xu Mo's eyes are described to contain a sense of humanness and life. Then, in [Main Story 12-22] he is described to have an expression lacking any emotion and human warmth. Human descriptions contrasted with inhuman descriptions.

Mm, you just have to love delicious juxtapositions and how it emphasizes his duality of being both Xu Mo and Ares. Two sides of the same coin.

Once again, I didn't want to call these contradictions because I don't believe one of these negates the other. It's like how we code switch in different scenarios. You can be a nice person, but vicious when your bottom line is crossed.

These sides of Xu Mo don't overturn the core of his character or his through line: loving the MC, ruthlessly ambitious for the sake of his goals, and naturally gentle (shown in the way he treats animals and people not in the way of his goal).

But, if you do insist on seeing one side of these as lies, then Xu Mo once said:

"Besides, lies have just as much power as the truth. The true nature of things can be indirectly reflected in the world of lies [...] It is because these lies exist, that one can get closer to the truth."

[Main Story 12 Call: Truth and Fiction]

REVERSING "GOOD" IMAGERY

I haven't been quiet at all about how much I love the evocative imagery Xu Mo gets, but an interesting thing I've noticed is how "positive" imagery is twisted into "negative" imagery when it comes to him. It's brilliant.

[Main Story 13-8] MC leaves the building, after interviewing the elevator Evolver man with Xu Mo, and dazzling light shines down on her, yet she can't feel the slightest bit of warmth. This chapter literally sets up Xu Mo's reveal as Ares through positive imagery turned negative. Not to mention warmth disappears into coldness.

In [Midnight Date] there's a rope with thorns tightening around Xu Mo's heart. In [True Love Date] there is a delicate rope tightening around his heart. I will eat my shoe if this isn't a reference to the red string of fate that binds him and MC together. But, as you can see, it's causing him all the suffering in the world.

[Main Story 13-19] Iridescent, the pen, was given to MC and she ends up using it to threaten her own life. Not only is it Xu Mo's symbol of love (more on this later) but pens aren't supposed to be violent weapons. There's the saying that pens are mightier than the sword, because pens write down ideas that are supposed to convince people peacefully. So, a symbol of something non-physical and literary is now a physical weapon of violence and force.

[Main Story 8-23] Xu Mo tucks MC's hands back under the blanket when she's in the hospital, but MC describes a "cold sensation" touching her before she sees that it's his hands. So, Xu Mo has bad circulation or low temperature. Normally, in otome games, the men are supposed to have warm hands (encourages feelings of security, safety, etc.).

[Main Story 9-18] also talks about how Xu Mo's fingertips are freezing, but this is probably more because of the context of the scene.

To be honest, I'm iffy on the last two points about cold hands because it's a common description I see in Chinese novels, where the male lead is described with a cool temperature or cool breath. So, it sort of sounds like it can be a positive descriptor? Of course, there's also male leads who run hot to show how passionate they are LOL.

Or maybe cool descriptions are used to emphasize a character's rationality but when things get hot and heavy they start to burn in temperature and it's supposed to make you go "OOH! HE'S LOSING CONTROL!" or something.

In any case, Xu Mo being of cold temperature is a distinct thing because Gavin is generally described with warm temperatures (because he's a hotblooded military man). The only time I can recall Gavin having a cool description given to him is the tip of his nose in his birthday date, but come on the nose is the extremity of extremities!

Lastly, Xu Mo also needs a special mention for this point:

[Main Story 16-22] The opposite happens here with imagery reversion. Death, normally a frightening concept, is flipped to be a good thing. To escape Xu Mo's dream you need to die. Dying is another way to live.

SYMBOLISM

First, I think it's interesting to note that despite Xu Mo being a "villainous" character and having all this light and shadow imagery (metaphor for his inner conflict), he's ultimately described with light. He has spatial and solidifying light (?) powers that manifest as white light rather than dark shadows.

It's also cute that he shows his two sides with his WHITE lab coat or his BLACK trench coat.

Second, water is pretty much THE imagery to go to for enlightened, virtuous, and refined people. Heck, Lao Tzu in Tao Te Ching, a fundamental text for philosophical and religious Taoism, connects water with 7 virtues:

Dwelling with the right location: water goes to the lowest point, thus a humble person should emulate this. Arrogant people always try to go to the top.

Feeling with great depth: truly virtuous people are like deep pools of water. You can't see everything about them at first, but as you get to know them it's like discovering a treasure and this should encourage you to cultivate depth in yourself too.

Giving with great kindness: rivers flow across the land nourishing everything in its way; once it's done its work it moves on without waiting for praise or recognition. This is the virtue of unconditional kindness.

Speaking with great integrity: water, when calm and undisturbed, reflects its surroundings perfectly and so should people reflect the truth with the same degree of accuracy.

Governing with great administration: water benefits everyone equally, because water doesn't pass judgment on anyone. Give everyone the same level of basic courtesy.

Handling with great capability: water has great versatility and nothing can block its way; it can flow to the left, right, under, over, etc. It's also not limited to just its regular form and can be steam or ice.

Moving with great timing: summer rains never fall in winter, and winter rains never fall in summer. Water demonstrates there is a time for everything and that everything can occur in its own time.

Remember how I said scholar-officials in historical China are basically like role models and nobles who help govern the people under the emperor with noblesse oblige? This is why scholar characters go hand in hand with water imagery, because it's supposed to emphasize their virtuousness.

So, because Xu Mo is a scholar-type character, the same goes for him. He has SO MUCH water imagery going on for him, and it carries the above weight behind it. I've probably missed some, but here's a list of the ones I can recall:

[Main Story 9-11] MC falls asleep on the bus and, as Xu Mo watches her, the emotions in his eyes are like swelling ocean tides at night.

[Main Story 9-14] MC's dream about Xu Mo has her falling into an ocean.

[Main Story 9-22] MC ends up in Xu Mo's memories about the accident that killed his parents and it's raining.

[Main Story 11-6] Xu Mo brings MC Chinese bellflowers and MC feels that they're fragile, as if the petals are thin ice that'll break if she touches them.

[Main Story 13-4] Xu Mo's voice is like the morning fog evaporating in the sunlight.

[Main Story 13-8] During their talk about MC wanting to continue her investigation, calm waves drift in Xu Mo's dark eyes.

[Main Story 13-19] This is tangentially related to Xu Mo because these descriptions apply to the MC, but it happens after the Ares reveal. She feels like she got pushed into an ice cave, she feels like she's drifting in an ocean, and when she thinks about Xu Mo her memories overwhelm her like a flood and she feels like she's going to drown.

[Main Story 16-16] Xu Mo gets to kill Hades' goons with a copied ice ability. The writers didn't have to give the goons an ice ability; they could have had metal powers, or fire powers, but nope it was water-related.

[The Promised Date] Xu Mo's eyes are like ocean tides at night. When he's abroad he experiences heart pains and finds his shirt drenched and stuck to his back, giving him the illusion that he's drowning.

Third, Xu Mo also has a lot of flower language going for him. Technically, the other guys have flowers and plants associated with them too (for example, Gavin with white lilies and gingko leaves), but I think Xu Mo gets more LOL.

[Main Story 9-14] Red spider lilies appear in MC's dream about Xu Mo. These mean sad memories, mutual longing, separation, graceful purity, beauty of death, endless love, a precursor to death, and a call to the netherworld. The sadness and mutual longing is because the flowers and leaves of spider lilies can never touch; meanwhile, their relation to death is because they bloom punctually around the autumn equinox when people sweep graves.

[Main Story 11-6] Xu Mo gives the MC Chinese bellflowers, which bloomed out of season, when she's at the hospital. These mean eternal love, sincerity, yearning, or hopeless love. The reason for this double meaning is because Chinese bellflowers represent happiness, but only some people can seize their happiness while others miss it, are unable to grasp it, or are unable to keep it.

[Blossom Event] Xu Mo gifts a gardenia to MC, which is called Garda. In Chinese, gardenias mean tenacious, eternal love, waiting for you for a lifetime, and our love.

[Blossom Date] Xu Mo and MC go look at peach blossoms together. Not only do they quote a poem all about a bride serving her clan, groom's clan, and her groom (including having abundant fruit if you know what I mean), peach blossoms themselves mean being a captive of love.

[Under the Mistletoe SSR] Mistletoe, duh. Normally, I'd look at Chinese flower language but they're clearly using the common meaning of mistletoe: love and enduring love to those who kiss under it. Plus, if you refuse a kiss beneath it then you'll get bad luck LOL.

[CN Promise You a Lifetime SSR] Xu Mo's wedding card has wisteria in the background. In China, it means intoxicating love, dependence, born for love and dying for love, obsessed with you, the happiest moment, and indulging in love.

[Golden Days SSR] Xu Mo's flower card, but I can't find a consensus on what the flowers are. Some people think its oleander but they only bloom in summer and fall when the card is about being in the springtime. Oleanders mean a curse and to watch out for danger though.

I personally think they're apple blossoms (blooms early spring and summer) and they mean "trap". Apple blossoms are so beautiful people want to eat them, but their body is poisonous. People represented by this flower look loyal and honest on the outside, but they're sharp and have a thorny tongue. Those who get too close risk being stabbed and only smart people will find their viciousness interesting LOL.

Come on, it's totally not a coincidence that all of Xu Mo's flower symbolism is just a neon sign about how in love he is with the MC. Eternal love is repeated like a billion times. The only odd one out is his flower card, but it still suits his character:

Under his elegant and gentle face, there hides an inexplicable dark side which is the most deadliest poison.

[CN Profile Translation]

Lastly, Xu Mo has a fox as his animal representative. Foxes are pretty much universally associated with being tricksters, masters of illusions, and cunning. It's amusing because, in Asian folklore, they also like to transform into beauties and seduce people to consume them. Sometimes, the nine-tailed fox is associated with auspiciousness though!

[Official CN Animal Figures] Xu Mo is a fox, Gavin is a dog, Victor is a cat, and Kiro is a bear.

[CN Dream Flower SSR] Xu Mo's West Moon card shows him as a fox demon and scholar.

[Main Story 9-14] Xu Mo quotes the fox's line from "The Little Prince" and MC imagines seeing a fox bounding through the wheat fields too.

I think people can see why foxes are so fitting for Xu Mo but I also want to add that, despite me going on about how virtuous scholars are, in order for scholars to survive the swamp of politics in court, these scholar-officials needed to be extremely sly and cunning and it's actually a good thing to be a "wily fox".

In fact, in Chinese novels, usually the honest and genuine characters are... not the main characters and they reach a tragic end or, if they are main characters, they have to be protected by other cunning leads because good-natured people cannot survive in a mortal world filled with greedy people and their materialistic desires. Laughs hollowly at how all my honest military men biases die horrible deaths or get ruined because of this blunt personality.

Hey, check it out, with Xu Mo's historical Qixi card, [CN Vermilion Lip SSR], and his West Moon card, there's two explicit references to how he's the scholar character.

STORIES OF YOU AND ME

Now, Xu Mo brings up three major stories throughout the game in various places.

First, there's "The Little Mermaid":

[The Little Mermaid ASMR] I was on the fence as to whether Xu Mo relates himself to the Prince or the Little Mermaid, but now I think he's the Little Mermaid. He's different from humans but longs for them and wants an eternal soul.

[Overseas Date] Here we learn that Xu Mo can't yet understand the Little Mermaid's selfless, brave, and devoted love (sorry, but you're way too insatiable, my dear) however he finds himself understanding her last choice. That he can continue loving someone despite the pain they bring him (the Little Mermaid's pain every time she uses her legs).

It's, uh, pretty somber that the version Xu Mo has in his head is the Andersen one where the Little Mermaid dies. He also ends the story there and doesn't add the part where she turns into a daughter of air and still has a chance to get a soul after 300 years to go to the Kingdom of God.

Second, there's "The Little Prince" and its a damn good reference. So, this book is actually MC's favorite book and it's about a little prince who raises a rose on his planet, B612, and falls in love with the rose. But he catches the rose in a lie and gets hurt and, even though they reconcile, he leaves the planet to go on a journey.

On the Little Prince's journey he meets all sorts of people with obsessions and learns life lessons through them, but the most important one he learns is how to love his rose. He crashes down to earth though and meets the person he tells his story to (thus creating this story), but before the Little Prince can return to his planet he gets bitten by a poisonous snake and that's it. The narrator likes to think the Little Prince made it back to his planet and rose though.

In [Sound of Silence SSR Call: The Little Prince] Xu Mo mentions how The Little Prince is MC's favorite book. He also compares MC directly to being the Little Prince and how she's growing like the Little Prince through her experiences. I have a crack theory that MLQC's story could actually mirror this somewhat, especially about MC learning the meaning of love and how that'll save the world LOL.

In [Sound of Silence SSR Call: Beautiful Moonlight] there's another mention to the Little Prince where Xu Mo asks if she can find B612, the Little Prince's home planet. They both hope the Little Prince made it back home.

In [Main Story 9-14], like I mentioned above, Xu Mo quotes the fox's line and it goes: "The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat".

However, let me explain the context and show the full quote. So, the Little Prince meets a fox in his journey and the fox tells the Little Prince to tame him to "establish ties":

"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world..."

[...]

"My life is very monotonous," the fox said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat."

The Little Prince agrees and tames the fox. But when he has to leave the planet:

"Ah," said the fox, "I shall cry."

"It is your own fault," said the little prince. "I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you..."

"Yes, that is so," said the fox.

"But now you are going to cry!" said the little prince.

"Yes, that is so," said the fox.

"Then it has done you no good at all!"

"It has done me good," said the fox, "because of the color of the wheat fields." And then he added: "Go and look again at the roses. You will understand now that yours is unique in all the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me, and I will make you a present of a secret."

[...]

"Goodbye," said the fox. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

"What is essential is invisible to the eye," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.

"It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important."

"It is the time I have wasted for my rose--" said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember.

"Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose..."

"I am responsible for my rose," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.

Isn't this conversation good? I remember reading the Little Prince a long time ago and found it super sad, and now that I'm re-visiting this story again thanks to Xu Mo... well, I understand it better but it's still melancholic LOL.

But, anyway, if we replace the Little Prince with MC and the fox with Xu Mo, this conversation is really interesting. See, the fox is indelibly marked by the Little Prince (like Xu Mo by the MC) and they have made this unique connection between them that will hurt both of them when it comes to the end.

However, this pain doesn't mean their experiences wasn't worth it and that it didn't mean anything. Like the fox says, now he has these memories of the Little Prince that makes life worth living. The fox, before he met the Little Prince, found his life boring and monotonous, but now things are given meaning when they didn't have it before.

On a totally random note, in [CN "In His World" Event] people have taken pictures of Xu Mo's shelves and now we can get an idea of his reading material. It ranges from literary classics (Ayn Rand, Oscar Wilde, Vladimir Nabokov, Charlotte Brontë, and lots of Chinese authors), to research papers (Genome-wide Polygenic Burden of Rare Deleterious Variants in Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy), to things like encyclopedias on flowers, etc.

It'd probably take you years to get through his reading materials LOL. The other guys also have books in their rooms, but I don't remember them clearly. I do know that Gavin has sci-fi books though! Totally not biased. But, I'm sorry, I don't really like reading sci-fi...

Third and last, the most referenced story throughout the game is probably the one Xu Mo made, "The Artist and the Butterfly". I feel like most of us know it by now, but I'll do a translation for those who haven't had the pleasure of getting [Drowning in Love SSR] and its two calls [Artist and Butterfly] and [The Only Color] and because Elex's version is riddled with errors.

Once upon a time, in a secluded castle, there lived an artist. The artist's paintings only had two colors: black and white. It wasn't because the artist loved these two colors, but because in his eyes there were only these two colors in the world.

The artist believed the world to be depressing, so all the other colors were meaningless. But, one day, a butterfly flew in front of him and the artist saw with shock that on the butterfly's wings were all sorts of beautiful colors he had never seen before. The fluttering of its wings made the colors even more lively and charming, and so the artist painted it for the entire day, never tiring.

But the sensitive artist was also afraid the butterfly would one day grow tired of being beside him, and so he thought about catching the butterfly and putting it in a glass jar. Like this, the butterfly would never be able to leave him.

Then, we move onto the conversation portion in [The Only Color]:

Xu Mo: What do you think of this story?

MC: Um... you can't laugh at me when I say this.

Xu Mo: I promise I won't.

MC: I feel like the artist is very relatable.

Xu Mo: ... Relatable?

MC: Mhm, although I don't understand his actions, I can see that he's really stifled and sad. Now, can you tell me what happens after?

Xu Mo: Actually, this is what happens after. Or rather, this story doesn't have an end.

MC: Huh?

Xu Mo: Are you disappointed?

MC: So, not every story has an ending...

Xu Mo: The artist continues to try and catch the butterfly, and even I don't know whether he caught it or not. If I see him again, I'll ask him for you.

MC: Turns out this is a real story?

Xu Mo: Yes.

MC: If you're able to meet that artist, you have to tell him this for me. That he actually doesn't love the butterfly, does he?

Xu Mo: Why do you not think the artist loves the butterfly? If you love someone, aren't you supposed to move heaven and earth to bind them to your side?

MC: But this is too selfish.

Xu Mo: Hah, yes, even I find it selfish. But if he doesn't do that, the artist will likely lose the butterfly. And then his life will be like how it was before; the whole world would just be black and white.

MC: If he really loves the butterfly, then he wouldn't want to see them suffer. Maybe I'm too simple, but for me genuine love is simply loving that person, as an individual, and I wouldn't need a relationship with them. I'd just want them to be happy.

Xu Mo: If you were this butterfly, and there was someone who wanted to confine you to their side so they could keep you together with them forever... would you be willing?

MC: No... I don't think I'd be willing.

Xu Mo: Indeed... exactly what I thought you would say...

MC: Xu Mo... I want to ask you...

Xu Mo: Mm?

MC: Is this story about you?

Xu Mo: I couldn't be the artist, and I definitely couldn't be the butterfly. But if I really did encounter the one and only color in my life, then I certainly wouldn't let them go.

MC: Why?

Xu Mo: Why?... I don't know why either... You don't need to dig to the bottom of everything.

MC: Xu Mo, I'm a bit sleepy all of a sudden...

Xu Mo: Sleep then. Don't be afraid, even if you have nightmares, I'll be here for you.

Gods, I'm going to be endlessly salty over Elex's butchering of these calls, but whatever. WHATEVER.

This is LITERALLY the story of Xu Mo and MC's relationship. And, with this, we are shuffled immediately into my next section.

COLORING EACH OTHER

In [New Light Date] Xu Mo asks "Can you teach me love?" and in [Main Story 5-6] he also asks "Then, will you change me? If we get along together."

The answer is a resounding YES. MC has changed him indelibly, like the tamed fox, and there is only one unique her in his world; he's left the same mark on her, making him the only unique Xu Mo in her world.

(Not to mention in his [CN 2nd Anniversary VIP message] to the players Xu Mo literally says "It's as if under your guidance I've learned how to love".)

In [Firefly Date] Xu Mo talks about how the lights of the fireflies are a danger sign to other creatures (because fireflies eat everything during their larvae form). Then in [Rainfall Date] he thinks the exact same words, that the colors he's seeing emerge into his world because of the MC are a DANGER SIGN but he cannot bring himself to care.

It is not metaphorical in [Rainfall Date]. He's colorblind!

The "Mo (墨)" in Xu Mo's name (许墨) was once his mother's favorite word. This word represents pen and ink, a literary family, and the black and white world in his eyes.

His world is black and white and only by your side can he see colors.

[CN Profile Translation]

Then in [Afternoon Date] there is this exchange:

MC: What do I look like in your eyes?

Xu Mo: ... Colored.

MC: Huh?

Xu Mo: In my eyes... you're full of colors.

So, now that we know MC literally brings color into his life, I'm going to bring back his pen, Iridescent, that he gives MC [Main Story 13-10]. It's a symbol of his love because there's a line that comes from a movie called "Flipped". The Chinese name for the movie "Flipped" is the same as the Chinese name of Xu Mo's [Lovestruck SSR].

“Some of us get dipped in flat, some in satin, some in gloss... [...] But every once in a while, you find someone who's iridescent, and when you do, nothing will ever compare.”

Iridescent is how he sees MC. She literally brought the colors of a rainbow into his black and white world [Rainfall Date].

Now, when we think about his line in "The Artist and the Butterfly" we get... MAJOR ANGST. Because, contrary to his words about not letting the only color in his world go, he lets the MC go again and again and again:

He doesn't catch MC in [Main Story 13].

He saves MC from Hades in [Main Story 16] and then takes advantage of the dream erasing her memories, so she'll have no ties to him or BS (until the next time they meet on the field again, I guess).

Heck, to take this further, in [Memory Palace: The Night Before] Xu Mo traces his previously wounded eye and thinks about how he can barely remember MC's colors and he's going to lose it completely when they meet at the news conference. Then in [Main Story 16-22] MC sees his past all in black and white.

Xu Mo has given up on keeping her colors in his world...

On a side note, I also think he's giving up vividness in his world. In [Rainfall Date] it's implied that the cheerier MC is the brighter her colors are and, I assume, the colors in Xu Mo's world?

There's an intriguing fact in his [CN Profile Translation] too where it says "His sense of taste isn't too sensitive, but it's not completely absent either." What if that fades too when MC isn't around?

Papergames has also mentioned that Xu Mo has glasses he wears to help him see colors (so he can drive safely LOL) but we don't actually see him wear them much except for when he's doing scientific stuff. Perhaps this is a sign about how little he cares about seeing colors in his world if he can't see them naturally (MC-induced colors).

But, hold on, this is a section about how Xu Mo has equally changed MC (it's just, perhaps, more tragic and more obvious with Xu Mo because he only has MC, the sole color in his life, while she has three other guys just lost a friend, mentor, and love interest).

In [Blossom Date] there's an exchange where MC tells Xu Mo that, like how he's told her to take her time growing in front of him [Main Story 9-2], she wants him to take his time going through life. She's echoing his words (and teaching) and, in response, Xu Mo's eyes darken and he thinks about how he's "staining her purity in his colors".

In [CN Archery Date] Xu Mo teaches MC how to handle and shoot a bow and they end up having a mini competition where they both hit bull's eye and get a draw. He's given her one of skills (and a piece of him) again.

Xu Mo continuously gives MC things that he has never given anyone else:

In [Snowy Night Date] he reveals his actual birthday date to MC.

In [Hot Spring Date] Xu Mo reveals that he's never celebrated his birthdays like this, until now with her. Because they probably reminded him of his parents' accident.

In [CN Nightmare's End ASMR] Xu Mo barely remembers his childhood memories (or his real name RIP), and yet he doesn't hesitate to share these memories with MC.

Tangentially related, but I want to throw in here how Xu Mo and MC are described sometimes as having eyes only for each other. I'm sure there's more mentions, but I can only remember these two:

[Main Story 13-8] "Xu Mo didn't respond. He stared at me with a complicated look and I was the only one reflected in his eyes."

[True Love Date] "The girl, with her clear black eyes opened wide, stared at him. The one who was reflected in those eyes was him alone."

My romantic and poetic explanation here is that, because they have pieces of themselves in each other, they're drawn together like magnets!

RUNNING ON PARALLEL TRACKS

In addition to coloring each other with pieces of themselves, MC and Xu Mo are also quite synchronized. He still leaves her confused at times with his intellect, but she can give back pretty good. I will continue to quietly blame Elex for unflattering descriptions of the MC, especially after that call up there, WTF.

For example, [Blossom Date] has Xu Mo quoting a classic poem "Tao Yao" with stanzas 1+2, and MC follows with stanzas 5+6, only for Xu Mo to flirt with stanzas 11+12 (thanks to @love-p for this translation):

1 桃之夭夭 Fresh is the peach tree,

2 灼灼其華 vibrant does it bloom.

[...]

5 桃之夭夭 Fresh is the peach tree,

6 有蕡其実 abundant its fruit.

[...]

11 之子于帰 The betrothed comes home,

12 宜其家人 she serves the clan well.

Then, while Xu Mo doesn't say this unprompted, in [Main Story 13-15] he connects the writing on the wall to 1 Corinthians 13:12. "For now we see through a glass, darkly..."

Then in [Main Story 16-12] MC quotes 1 Corinthians 13:2 at him: "If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing."

However, despite being able to follow up with each other like this, [Firefly Date] shows how Xu Mo and MC have philosophies that differ on a fundamental level, and this ultimately puts them on opposing sides.

Xu Mo believes in mistaken Darwinism, the strong survive and the weak perish, and he also upholds a strict utilitarian view about using people's lives for the greater good of humanity.

The progress of science is often accompanied by many failed experiments, and towards those failed experiments Xu Mo will feel regret. But at the same time he believes that it is a kind of honor to contribute to a better future for humankind.

[CN Profile Translation]

MC believes in helping people out, not just leaving them out to struggle on their own, and she respects and believes in the innate dignity of human life and choice.

We see in [Main Story 16-9] that Xu Mo and MC have another debate about their philosophies and it ends without a victor, again, but also them realizing that both of them wouldn't sacrifice the person they love (consolation prize LOL).

There's also an amazing moment in [Main story 16-12] where MC quotes something Xu Mo told her in [Main Story 13-17]: "Only those who have felt pain and despair can reach the truth of this world. So, even if you feel pain, there's no need to give up on what you want to do. Even if that source of light were to disappear, it would immediately regain its light."

It hurts because, what was a motivational speech for MC, is now used against Xu Mo. It further resolves MC about her principles, but the way she throws his words at him to hurt him like that... yikes. To the both of them, honestly, since Xu Mo wasn't playing nice at all there in assuming her hesitance about answering meant she would sacrifice her loved ones.

Anyway, we see that this understanding and knowing (coloring) of each other lets them hurt each other just as bad. I mentioned in a previous post about the [CN Archery Date] that it's interesting to see their relationship as a metaphorical draw. They take and give to each other, constantly, throughout the story and it shows that they're equals. Running to some place, but not being on the same track. We can only hope they're heading to the same place and that they won't branch off and go further and further away from each other (but he's a love interest, so it should be?? okay??).

On a side note, Xu Mo quotes "Graveyard by the Sea" in [Firefly Date] (I've linked an amazing English translation that comes with an analysis of the original French version).

TL;DR is that the poet realizes timelessness does not exist and that, because his mortality is ever looming, he must go out and accept the challenge of life (carpe diem!) because immortality might not lie beyond the grave. You only get this one chance in life and the future is uncertain, so do everything you can to achieve what you want to do.

This is actually another good reference to Xu Mo's ruthless ambition and why in [Blossom Date] MC wants him to rest and take his time moving forward slowly, much like how he tells her to take her time growing with him.

Uh, I realize I may have taken you guys off guard by suddenly bringing up ruthless ambition again but:

[Blossom Date Translation] Xu Mo reveals how much he worked his ass off when he was younger.

Xu Mo: Yes, I skipped grades.

Xu Mo said that casually, without any pride, as if it were someone else's business. But I was deeply impressed.

MC: You spent all your high school years studying?

Xu Mo: At that time, yes.

MC: Why?

Xu Mo: Silly, there aren't that many why's. It's the same as how you were when you were taking your entrance exams, there were things I needed to do.

[Main Story 13-22] "Ares had a smile cold enough to send chills through someone. The blood that flowed to his mouth made him stand out even more bewitchingly, like a flower. He raised his head and ambition roiled in eyes that were deeper and darker than twilight."

[2nd PV] Xu Mo has a line in Chinese that goes "我贪得无厌　想要你的全部" which I believe English translated as "I am insatiable, I want all of you" which is... um, sure. I mean it works! Perhaps it doesn't fully convey how it's like endless greed, the desire and want for more, never being satisfied, and always hungering. That is what insatiable means, but I don't think the word is used commonly enough for people to click onto all of that.

CONCLUSION

LORD, this is massive. Not including this conclusion, whoever has read down to this point has cleared around 7,500 words, so congratulations.

Anyway, obviously, this post isn't supposed to be all "this is the one and only true interpretation of Xu Mo's character" but I wanted to provide some background from a native (?) context that might have been overlooked, because I don't think scholar archetypes are as common in English and Japanese media (the second culture people are probably most familiar with if they're playing otome games?).

Like how you can point out "ah yes, the tsundere, the yandere, the megane, etc." in Japanese media, the scholar archetype is someone you could spot at a glance from a line up of Chinese characters. If I had to choose a similar type they're probably like megane characters... except their EQ and IQ are both high, so they're not cold, logical robots.

Coming back to a summary of all my points, Xu Mo is a complicated scholar archetype and the game also enjoys spicing this concept up with things that contrast sharply against it (the sexuality from his fox characteristics). He's gentle, refined, and knowledgeable, but also has a black belly that shows when he flirts and verbally traps the MC to fluster her (not to mention all his manipulations behind the scenes).

Every scene he appears in seems to say one thing, but show another, and his references make me want to cry when I end up digging too deep in them. Meanwhile, the silence between the lines of his scenes, words, and actions, scream so loudly with evocative and symbolic imagery.

Feel free to dislike him, but I don't think it can be denied that he's a very intricately written character, and that's what all the fun is about liking him and deciphering his raison d'être.

As an aside, I will acknowledge that I've skipped over other references that I couldn't fit into this post but there were things like the [Roman Holiday] movie he and MC watched in [Main Story 5-6] and the song he sings in [True Love Date], "When I Fall in Love", and its relation to [Sleepless in Seattle], perhaps? But @sharinluna has good posts on these already. I haven't watched any of these, so I won't bother to reveal my ignorance on them LOL.

Lastly, I just want to leave everyone with these two lines from Xu Mo, because it draws such a beautiful circle:

So, in his [2nd PV] he says "我贪得无厌" which I mentioned above was something like "I'm insatiably greedy".

Then, there's a call where he says "谢谢你、成全我的贪心，希望你可以相信，无论是过去，还是未来，能让我倾尽所有想要独占的，只有你一人" which translates to "Thank you, for fulfilling my greed. I hope you can believe that, regardless of whether it's in the past or future, the person who's made me want to exhaust all methods to monopolize them has only ever been you."

Such a beautiful full circle, right? You can imagine him saying this at the end of the game or at a wedding, right? EXCEPT IT CAME FROM A KFC COLLABORATION CALL. YES. KFC. I'm crying and I feel like my soul took a hit. It doesn't count... it doesn't count as canon material does it... I mean, he's not talking about the chicken, because this is in response to a confession you get to write as the player, BUT STILL. LOL.

(I secretly laugh at how English would handle that, since they gave him the "I am insatiable" line. "Thank you for satiating me"? HAHA).

Nah, perhaps the true circle is him asking in [New Light Date] if MC can teach him love and then telling us that we've taught him in love in the [2nd Anniversary VIP Message].

#mlqc #mlqc lucien #love and producer #mr love queen's choice #mlqc xu mo #love and produc(ing) meta

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quietlysatan · 5 years

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Can Your Friends Do This? - Watermelonsmellinfellon, AO3 (Though OP said they cross posted on FF.net too)

Link: Here!!

Rating: Mature

Favorite Quote(s): Because I love The Avatar show

"First, there are more than one dimension and more than one universe. Foolish mortals are the only ones to assume they are the only forms of intelligent life in their respective universes. This Earth we are on resides in a different universe altogether and consists of nations of people who possess an affinity with the elements. Some are born as mixes of two and use chakra to create new elemental affinities or abilities. This planet Earth parallels another planet Earth in another dimension of this universe, where there are only four large nations and each represents either fire, water, earth, or air, and with beings able to bend their own element to their advantage."

And these ones because these four are important.

1. "A lot of suicidal people didn't really want to die, they simply wanted the pain to cease so that living once again seemed worthwhile."

2. Hari was very firm on her decision. She'd always been the one rescuing people and never once realized that maybe she should have been rescued.

3. “Despite his wish to be Hokage and to be a hero, I realized that someone needed to rescue him first for that to happen. And so I took the job."

4. "I've lost many people, and while it doesn't coincide with what others will tell you in life, it actually does get better. There aren't enough hours in the day to keep thinking about what you've lost. There are jobs to do, and people to watch over, and even your own health to consider. You won't have the time to recount every mistake you've ever made. And the pain from their distance will eventually dim and become tolerable. The only way it wouldn't get better is if you keep thinking about it all the time. People who are always depressed over the loss of loved ones are usually the very same people who think about them all the time, which ends up keeping them in their depressed states, to begin with. And then there is no progression."

A Fucking mood from Hari/Harry Potta/Potter

“I don't like exercising. I'm not meant for it."

Because Sasuke is an adorable little shit, which is, as always when it comes to him, The Best

Naruto was teaching someone Taijutsu? It was laughable at best, though he didn't actually laugh. That would ruin his image as the strong and silent loner. He couldn't afford for people to think he was nice or anything.

Because this is something important and personal to ME specifically

"This is all sweets. But they are sugar-free sweets. There are foods you can eat that will give you the energy you need without having a negative effect on your body. Bananas are a good snack. Watermelon, lettuce, leafy green veggies, they all have a lot of water in them. They fill you up quickly, can keep you hydrated, and because most are made of water, you aren't consuming fats and oils. Though do not replace every meal with these things unless you take vitamins and supplements on a daily basis. While there is nothing wrong with being vegan, a lot of vegans forget to take their supplements and vitamins. They especially need those because they keep so many important foods from their eating schedule."

Another Mood

To make it worse… she'd gotten her monthly visit from TOM. She named it TOM in memory of a certain arse who caused her a lot of pain and grief. Her Time of the Month, TOM, liked to mock her for at least five days out of every month and this month was terrible.

And last, but not least, the best thing I have read since I woke up

Potta Hari's cousin was not romantically involved with anyone, or so his sources said. Perhaps marrying someone to her would offer a better chance for an alliance between their clans?

A knock startled him from his thoughts, and he had to compose himself quickly. "Yes?"

"A letter has arrived for you, Hiashi-sama," Kosuke said from the other side of the door.

"Come."

The letter was handed over within seconds, and Kosuke was gone immediately.

When he finally got to the message however, he had to smirk in amusement. He should have known that making plans about a Seer wouldn't go as expected.

Dear Hyuga-sama,

No.

Respectfully, Potta Runa.

And this

Was Danzo literally the only bad person in this world who was bad naturally and not because he had some unfortunate upbringing, was bullied or was manipulated into being bad?

Basically tbh

Words & Chapter(s): 287,295 words and 20 chapters, unfinished, but worth it

Summary: Tsume Yuki's, 'Ain't Never Had a Friend Like Me' prompt.

Master of Death Hari is sealed inside a genie bottle and tossed into the Veil. Only the interference of Death stops her from being enslaved. When Naruto comes into possession of the bottle and frees Hari from her prison, she gets attached and decides to help him, changing everything we know.

Score: 13, this is very amusing, and has no qualms with having humor AND seriousness whenever. Not to mention, I could honestly go back to the very beginning and read it all over again and I’d still love every moment of it in all honesty.

Pairing(s): Hatake Kakashi/Female!Harry Potter, as well as Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto, background Anko Mitarashi/Luna Lovegood

Warning(s): For all that this looks like a lot of warnings it’s just because this fic is well over 200K words, and it’s not nearly as bad as all these warnings look. There’s no major character death (Technically. A few from the HP universe passed before our MC even came into our universe. Still, only casual mentions so far)

Always a girlHarry still had to deal with all the abuse of her counterpart. The ministry betrayed her (Shocking. I know.) mentions of (CANON) past childhood abuse described three-quarters of the way through chapter three, then again in chapter four, no worries though it’s not graphic or gratuitous.

Mentions of death, and the things and ways that death may affect someone (This is a naruto universe crossover fic soooo, I don’t know what you were expecting honestly. At least it’s not as subtly/suddenly angsty as FMA fics get.), attempted murder that fails because Hari is the Mistress of Death (... Is Master not gender neutral??? I thought it was... Still, Mistress sounds cooler and more dangerous)

Mentions of porn, off-screen lemon, etc.

There IS a bit of fat-shaming from certain characters, but they eventually learn better, there are also mentions of children, and others, on diets, and also that have unhealthy eating habits and why they’re not good regardless, as well as the effects of being on a diet while also doing various exercises and rigorous training regimens, but not to worry, it slowly but surely improves.

Manipulation and grey morals, (Again shocking, I know.) which is great because my morals would go very dark very quickly if I were Hari (Because this is a crossover, and she is in Japan/The Elemental) and I’d for some dumbass reason decided to return to my original world (THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN THIS A HYPOTHETICAL WHAT-IF), but Hari doesn’t which is always amazing

World/Dimension displacement. Figured I’d add that just in case, personally I love those types of stories but you never know.

Kidnapping followed by attempted murder fails spectacularly. It is quite amusing to see for my inner sadist.

One of Hari’s family members passed away due to cancer, but it’s a small mention and there’s minimal angst because it happened years ago. The others seemed to have died in a war with the goblins which is only occasionally mentioned here and there.

Someone tries to enslave Hari as a genie. It does not work. Death seemed upset that someone thought that would work at all in the “Like, honestly, who the fuck do you even think you are???” kind of pissed

Danzo and ROOT exist. Sadly.

Also “ the lives of the many are more important than the lives of the few “ is something that seems to be a basic background of the morals of this fic. I know some find this detestable, but I would like to point out that, it’s true. It’s really fucked up, but unless that One has some very important and necessary ability, they are less important than the five-hundred and forty-two. Shitty as it seems.

There’s technically a war. If you could call the opposing sides... attempts a war. No major casualties or uber gruesome happenings though.

There are some injuries, of course, their big but not graphically described as far as I’ve seen up to the current chapter limit.

Pros: GREAT FUCKING WRITING!!! Great research and really immersive too!!!

Hari and Naruto because each others precious people, and Harry protects Naruto as best she, a civilian and witch, can.

The Japanese That Doesn’t Need To Be Written Because You’re Writing This In English And It Doesn’t Make Sense And Is Awkward isn’t present which is always a plus.

It’s really unique and different from what is normally written in these situations (Not that there’s anything wrong with what we normally get!!!) from how a female main character reacts (Very Harry Potter-ish) and whatnot to her romance with other characters to her friendship with them, and also I love the way her relationships are with everyone! It’s just, so, refreshing for a female MC to be written like this, like getting that first bite of watermelon in the middle of summer, and jumping in the pool, or a drink of hot chocolate in the middle of a snowy night.

Not to mention! The way Hari interacts with the world around her and manages to change everything even though she wasn’t trying, and the way she still isn’t overpowered regardless for all that she can use her magic at will. UGH!!! IT’S JUST SO GOOD

Aesthetic: It’s like drinking fresh lemonade after a hard days work, like swimming in your best friends pool after you finish your homework, it’s like a warm cup of tea after a stressful day, and cuddling up to a friend or lover, like dancing to your favorite song while you’re all alone in your kitchen. It is like being alone, but not lonely, ad being with a few good friends but not ignored. It is freeing and refreshing and relaxing and exciting and new and old and so much more. It feels happy, for lack of a better word. Very, subtly, happy.

Gif Aesthetic: Oh my god yes, this is Hari

and this is what the romance in this fic reminds me of

and this somehow reminds me of several characters at once

And this one too sometimes, which is nice

and this (Except Boruto doesn’t exist obviously, I think this fic was actually started before Boruto even came into the picture actually) is what the fighting looks like

except for when it looks like this

Hari and Luna fucking everything up while everyone else watches and decides it is safest to just, not interfere with the crazy witches.

Hari, Death, and Luna/Runa planning who to fuck up protect next

Every single Rookie Nine without fail

(Scroll back up and look at how cute the slimy kitty yawns!!! She’s so cute!!!)

#SasuNaru #Sasuke x Naruto #Naruto x Sasuke #Harry Potter #Female Harry Potter #Harry x Kakashi #Satan has great taste in: SasuNaru #Satan has great taste in: Harry Potter #fluff humor and angst fic #bisexual Harry Potter #Harry is an adult btw don't worry #and NaruSasu is young but cute as shit #they're so oblivious #it's fucking adorable

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nightcoremoon · 5 years

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Top 10 Badass Female Characters in Fire Emblem Fates (in my opinion)

10- Reina/Peri

Okay so the reason why there's two people in this slot is because they're literally the same archetype. They love blood and killing and violence and blah blah blah, BUT ALSO they have at least some levels of depth and complexity to their character to keep them from being boring one note death machines. Problem is Reina doesn't have any supports with anyone so you don't get to know much more about her, but she protected your mom. Peri protects your older brother. Anyone who keeps your family safe is definitely badass.

9- Kagero

Ah Kagero. You get captured all the freakin time but that's not your fault. You're still the best dread fighter hands down, and definitely my favorite ninja (Kaze is too fragile and Saizo is too slow and Soleil is unavailable to a path). Plus she's an artist and while she may not be the best painter she still loves it and enjoys her hobby. She's a loyal servant and an even more loyal friend, and would put her own life on the line to protect your brother.

8- Anna

Can't fault a girl for war profiteering. Strong independent woman don't need no man, been around the block for centuries and across kingdoms, crack shot with a bow, gold farmer, feisty redhead, runs circles around the L crew, I could go on. She's always on my team and is supported by MC for dem stats and the unity ability in pretty sure procs make a killing but idk. Regardless she's still gr9.

7- Arete

She gets killed like four times before finally going down, and that first time was fairly heroic honestly. Definitely one of the most important people in regards to lore.

6- Camilla

What list would be complete without the best sister??? No not because of her giant tiddies (awesome to look at they may be) or the giant ass window (also awesome to look at) or even the weird incest thing going on (I guess from a Japanese lens that's awesome too but eeehhh) but because she's actually a great combat unit especially if she spends a couple levels as a hero getting those skills. Axes AND magic AND an attack buff means she should always be out on the field. She may be insane and has a lust for blood rivaling Peri, but she's a good sister, a good ruler, and a good unit.

5- Soleil

Oh yes. FUCKING SUPERB YOU FUNKY LITTLE LESBIAN! She's a big glass cannon so I always make her a master ninja and god is she a good ninja. She never gives up even in the face of innumerable odds, she's got great stats all depending on who her mom is, she's SUPER FUCKING GAY FOR GIRLS, oh yeah and she's a teenager leading a band of mercenaries; how fucking cool is that?

4- Rinkah

Stomp on me like you stomp on enemies. Oni savages are like fighters with better stats and both blacksmiths and chieftains have some top notch skills and she's the only one in the game who can do that naturally. She's an adamantly staunch advocate for her people, and makes leaps and bounds of character development through her supports. She's also clearly the most visibly sculpted lady sans for maybe Effie and anyone packing that much solid muscle has got to be pretty fucking awesome.

3- Hinoka

Real talk tho Hinoka is the actual best sister slash mom. Proof? Setsuna and Azama are both still alive somehow. The providence that protects them from traps and getting choked to death has got to be the pegasus knight. She's the second best female offensive lance user in the game (excluding knight/cavalier/merchant/basara/etc who have different roles than pure adjacent physical lance-based dps), especially if she A+'s either Camilla or Setsuna and S's either Xander or Silas. She's got enough variety to her that I feel the Lucina seal would simply be wasted on her. My only complaint is that without reclassify she kinda sucks but hey, just buy a freakin heart seal.

2- Scarlet

VIVA LA REVOLUCION! Tragic you can only use her in one path. I romanced her in my very first playthrough to give stats to my Kana (and also because I knew it would be my only chance to really use her). She deserves so much better than to just be fridge stuffing to give Ryoma that manpain. Dammit Japan. At least she's got the coolest armor design.

HONORABLE MENTIONS TIME!

Azura: the fucking queen of Valla who carries the plot on her shoulders. literally the most important person in canon. deserves better.

Felicia: accidental badassery still counts, right? slap on a flame shuriken and watch heads roll.

Hana: best samurai. like lon'qu but actually with personality. rough and abrasive but has a heart of gold.

Beruka: cold blooded contract killer trying to learn how to feel. similar to Reina/Peri but she doesn't kill for fun, she kills to survive. she's just really good at it.

Lilith: f

Cassita: she bakes you cookies. SHE. BAKES. YOU. COOKIES. okay. when will your fave ever? except for camilla, she baked you cookies too, but camilla has crippling depression, mommy issues, a whole lotta weird borderline incest stuff going on (even though you're adopted so it's okay according to japan... oh, who am I kidding, I fucked leo to have dragon forrest and because FOLGERS COFFEE COMMERCIAL). anyway. cassita only knows that you're armed, dangerous, here to kill the king, and once knew her darling elise, but she shelters your entire fucking army and then BAKES. YOU. NICE HOT FRESH CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES. bless her big beautiful heart. you can be badass without kicking someone's ass.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST

1- Oboro

fuck, man, she is just the best. best outfit, best stats, best combat ability, best class, and has a personality and hobbies and interests and likes and dislikes and flaws... I literally cried a little bit when I had to kill her in conquest. she is my favorite character in the whole game and she just kicks so much ass. I can't adequately put it into words, it's just... agh, she's great. 10/10

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fly-sky-high-09 · 5 years

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So... I really missed playing gbf it seems.

As much as it’s like “yet another jrpg where characters (even male ones) are dressed ABSOLUTELY NOT combat suited even when they claim they are” (granted, there are both male and female characters in perfect amount of armor, just not as much as, you know, a fantasy fighting game would find necessary by logic), and as much as it looks like literally any japanese character gacha game ever, I just...

It somehow feels warm and like home. I know this is a weird way to describe such games, as there are A LOT of characters you actually get to meet through fate episodes and events with rewards even, but that’s just it! I get to MEET these characters, and even if it’s often bizarre (I’m looking at you R characters that my MC just somehow always decides to adopt lol), I get to know these characters, their personalities (even the obnoxious ones), I get to... interact with them.

When I set up party members it really feels personal and why they are there with me. Even if they aren’t I’ll always look at the list of characters and go “aww” over those that really grabbed my heart with their personalities and stories. They are rather fun and well thought of characters, even if they are certain basic archetypes of ones, there is always something fun about them.

It feels like home because all of these characters look like they truly care and love being around MC. Even when you dislike their personality *glances at Vira* I adore their characters and how they are interacting with everyone else or MC. I often find myself imagining in between scenes where I pick up on how my MC acts on the given situation and towards some characters.

I love imagining how my MC (gbf!Illiam lol) would interact with everyone on the crew and what sort of relationship she would have with them. I kind of went outside of cannon a bit too regarding her backstory that game presents at the very start and seem to set as a goal but not too much. Often I wish I have more time to draw these interactions, since game itself doesn’t give you much options when selecting dialog and such. Since I play this game with a friend, I have even more of those when both of our MC’s fight together in events XD oh well, maybe after I graduate *plops*

Anyway, I love this simple game very much, I’m not even the kind to go nuts over SSR’s (even tho some element teams really need it *sobs* Charlotte save me, my water team is dying...), nor am I obsessed with rewards and rank levels and such, I can honestly just spend hours watching and reading and imagining stories this game offers and there are... SO MANY... I did called it a never ending book at some point, I can always find SOME story to read, whether it’s the character or the event or the side story or the main story... I always have things to do and imagine. Plus, game rewards you for progress real good~

Now, if you excuse me, I’m on a task to “swoon” Cassius (spoiler: I’m doing a terrible job, I literally asked a Moon person “what’s gravity”, that’s basically a racist joke......)

#furi plays gbf #gbf #heavily considering making a side blog where I'll spam gbf stuff #both my play and fandom stuff

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atypicality · 6 years

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Edye, Kira, Clovette, Vix, and Rufion

Edye

Full Name: okay so none of my OCs have last names,, embarrassing i know. he’s named after a neopet as that’s how i formed his character (this is progressively getting more embarrassing). his name is pronounced “eddie,” and an interesting fact about his name is that the part “dye” (pronounced “die”) is a nickname for dionysus, a god that has definitely influenced his character.

Gender and Sexuality: male, he’s bisexual

Pronouns: he/him

Ethnicity/Species: he’s latino and he’s human(??)

Birthplace and Birthdate: i literally have no idea (i feel like i should look into astrology and choose his birthday according to his personality…he’s probably a leo or a gemini and he was clearly born somewhere in latin america. i was thinking ecuador but i’m biased bc i lived there lmao),, he’s 22 though

Guilty Pleasures: reality t.v. and romcoms

Phobias: (i’m not putting the names of each phobia bc no one knows what that means) emotional intimacy, being buried alive, and abandonment

What They Would Be Famous For: i could see him being an actor with a horrible reputation

What They Would Get Arrested For: anything ranging from drug dealing to kidnapping (he was supposed to return vera to the shadow realm, for example). i wouldn’t put much past him

OC You Ship Them With: aliah and rufion (i like him with vera platonically)

OC Most Likely To Murder Them: nora bc she has to deal with his bullshit

Favorite Movie/Book Genre: action and comedy

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: pointless sacrifices. they died, dammit! let that count for something!

Talents and/or Powers: he’s an illusionist, meaning he can warp reality (or one’s perception of reality) and trick people. he can also make portals and fly/hover to some extent.

Why Someone Might Love Them: he’s a party animal and he’s fun to be around. he’s also pretty loyal to the people he cares about.

Why Someone Might Hate Them: he’s a no strings attached kind of person. he can be very apathetic and insensitive.

How They Change: he goes from being a villain to being the sidekick of the MC (vera),, i’m so proud of him

Why You Love Them: he’s the classic asshole/misunderstood bad boy turned good…he’s a huge loser that accidentally became cursed and now has a cult following and he’s just hilarious to think about.

here’s a mix i made for him

and his three shipping mixes lmao (aliah)(rufion)(vera)

here’s the cult mix if you want to listen to that 😂😂😂

alsoo i have a sidekick mix

and i’m literally developing two more for him (villain / hero arc, respectively)

can you tell that he’s my favorite

Kira

Full Name: just kira (hi, just. i’m nina)

Gender and Sexuality: female, heterosexual

Pronouns: she/her

Ethnicity/Species: she’s mixed: japanese and black. she’s a human

Birthplace and Birthdate: she was born in japan (city whomst) and she’s 27. probably a gemini or a scorpio

Guilty Pleasures: chocolate/sweets in general and creeping on social media if that counts

Phobias: she suffers from body dysmorphic disorder and suffers from fears that accompany that, such as not being good enough, etc. she also hates bugs, especially spiders.

What They Would Be Famous For: despite her bdd, she’d definitely become famous for being a beauty vlogger/youtuber. her ‘mask’ (aka whatever it is people with bdd do to help themselves cope with their body’s appearance/perceived flaw) would be makeup and she uses her powers to give herself the illusion that she’s someone else (in terms of appearance, if that makes any sense).

What They Would Get Arrested For: shoplifting (idk if you can be arrested for this but it’s the only thing she would do)

OC You Ship Them With: will a lil bit tbh. they’re the mom-dad pair

OC Most Likely To Murder Them: no one lmao

Favorite Movie/Book Genre: romcoms and horror

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: white people doing stupid things in horror movies, the most aggravating definitely being having sex/making out while danger is imminent

Talents and/or Powers: she’s an illusionist and can make portals like edye. she’s also a makeup artist

Why Someone Might Love Them: she’s super sweet and a good listener.

Why Someone Might Hate Them: people misinterpret her as shallow

How They Change: she betrays the Good Guys for her benefit but is forgiven. she also seeks help for her bdd and stops using her powers to alter her appearance (her makeup still serves as a mask though, her insecurities and anxiety don’t disappear overnight)

Why You Love Them: her struggle with self-love is so heartbreaking and she’s so strong and admirable.

Clovette

Full Name: clovette. some people call her clover. she’s also a neopet.

Gender and Sexuality: female, pansexual

Pronouns: she/her

Ethnicity/Species: she’s asian and a human

Birthplace and Birthdate: she was born somewhere in southeast asia. she’s 20 and probably an aquarius

Guilty Pleasures: sleeping in and staying home all day

Phobias: she has a fear of flying and the ocean. she suffers from social anxiety and is afraid of large crowds.

What They Would Be Famous For: she’d be a kickass video game developer

What They Would Get Arrested For: probably doing something illegal online (piracy maybe?)

OC You Ship Them With: maybe with nora

OC Most Likely To Murder Them: no one!!!

Favorite Movie/Book Genre: science fiction and fantasy

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: white savior trope

Talents and/or Powers: she doesn’t have any powers but she’s great at coding and game design and she’s a talented artist.

Why Someone Might Love Them: she’s really funny when you get to know her.

Why Someone Might Hate Them: she comes off as judgmental but she’s really not

How They Change: she’s initially scared of travelling from her island (boats? Horrifying. airplanes? Terrifying.) but then she’s forced to move and has to face that fear plus the fear that comes when you don’t know anyone and have to form new relationships.

Why You Love Them: she has so much potential for growth and she’s so cute and inspiring

Vix

Full Name: i have to pick out a really basic white girl name for her but she goes by vix and vixen is her villain name (edye doesn’t deserve a villain name).

Gender and Sexuality: female, heterosexual but the kind of straight girl that will kiss other girls for male attention.

Pronouns: she/her

Ethnicity/Species: she’s white and a human

Birthplace and Birthdate: she was born in paris, she’s 21, and she’s probably a pisces.

Guilty Pleasures: kissing girls uwu, eating way too many tubs of cookie dough ice cream, and erotica.

Phobias: she’s scared of birds and the deep sea. she’ll enjoy going to the beach but she won’t go in the water because then she thinks of sea monsters and other unknown terrors hidden in the unexplored ocean. she’ll go to a pool, though.

What They Would Be Famous For: she’d be an actress or a journalist

What They Would Get Arrested For: robbery, possibly arson

OC You Ship Them With: no one

OC Most Likely To Murder Them: edye

Favorite Movie/Book Genre: film noir and slasher films/thrillers

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: love triangles

Talents and/or Powers: she uses love magic and mental manipulation.

Why Someone Might Love Them: she’s clever and really determined.

Why Someone Might Hate Them: she’s a bitch.

How They Change: she’s initially shy, awkward, trying to make her way through life. then she falls in love with someone (*coughs* edye *coughs*) and gives herself a makeover. she goes from innocent civilian investigating something to villainess and cult leader. 10/10 transformation

Why You Love Them: i don’t lmao. i like that she fits the femme fatale archetype. she’s a really interesting character. she also unironically calls herself vixen, so there’s that.

here’s her mix

Rufion

Full Name: rufion (pronounced rough-ee-an). he’s also a neopet (he looks so ugly rn because he’s my lab rat).

Gender and Sexuality: male, homosexual

Pronouns: he/him and they/them

Ethnicity/Species: honestly i have not thought about where he’s from at all but he’s brown (we love ethnically ambiguous characters in this house! /s). he’s a human.

Birthplace and Birthdate: [me seeing birthplace: owo what’s this?] he’s 23 and he’s probably a capricorn.

Guilty Pleasures: does ordering a lot of takeout food count? he stays up all night playing video games and loves reading comic books. he also really likes baking sweets (he’d probably be a really good cook but tbh he’s too lazy)

Phobias: he’s scared he’s going to die in his sleep and stays up all night as a result. if someone told him the effects of lack of sleep on his health he would definitely panic

What They Would Be Famous For: he would definitely be in a band. fuck

What They Would Get Arrested For: He Would Never Be Arrested. Next

OC You Ship Them With: edye

OC Most Likely To Murder Them: vix

Favorite Movie/Book Genre: he doesn’t really like watching tv/movies but superhero films

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: bury your gays

Talents and/or Powers: he’s good at fighting.

Why Someone Might Love Them: he’s really nice, super optimistic, and honest. he’s hard working and responsible. he’s a huge nerd basically

Why Someone Might Hate Them: people might view him as naive and annoying.

How They Change: he’s a sort of private investigator but then he takes a…peculiar case and then………………..he catches feelings lmfao. there’s definitely some side-switching/ambiguity in his future

Why You Love Them: he’s just trying his best honestly. idk how to articulate it but he’s kind of like xD as a human being.

#ask #clearbluewaters #ref #c

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jongieslegs · 7 years

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[Fan Account - Kim Sungkyu Mini Fanmeet and Live]

Sungkyu’s mini live event! Namba Hatch, Osaka, Japan, 4 Oct 2017 disclaimer: all comments here are as I understood with my lower level japanese and korean, so apologies for any mistranslations!!

Ticket and Fanclub event info Inspirit Japan members got priority ticket sales and a small discount, plus the chance to enter two events: 1. you could submit a video question, which was used in the show (more on this below) 2. ten people could win a meet and greet with Gyu before the show! Event tickets were all assigned seats, no standing. My seat was 1st floor, row G, but other fanclub members I know got row O and even 2nd floor, so it really was a lottery for seats.

Intro After the lights dimmed, There was no video intro or speaker intro, Gyu just simply walked on stage and began to sing the opening song (Kontrol) Loved hearing and seeing him like this, with no dancers or distractions, just Gyu and a mic. He concentrates so wholly on his songs, he's half hugging the mic with his arm and it really looks if he has his eyes closed for most of them. He only looks up as if to realise we are there much later in the song. wow. How I love that voice. I think other ppl have listed and videoed all the mini-live songs, so I’ll give more detail on all the non-song moments!

After 3 songs the lights go up, and he says hello in Japanese, and the mc and interpreter come on stage and beckon him to sit down on a chair. He sits, and immediately chugs water from a bottle with a straw, and says how happy he is to come to Osaka, even though he feels nervous. The (female) interpreter sits behind him and translates what the mc says into korean, as well as what Gyu says into Japanese. great idea as Gyu doesnt have to worry about trying to speak Japanese and we can just hear his natural Korean. He’s a bit more nervous than I expected, and hesitates a lot at first when he talks, he’s a little shy - used to the other members bumbling around him I guess! But he’s super cute, especially when he laughs, which is a lot tonight. Fan questions The first stage event is 'Sunggyu please teach/tell me’, where four fans (via the fanclub) recorded a video message to ask Gyu. At first we didn’t shout loud enough when this segment was announced, so the mc made us do it again, and Gyu looked very amused by us being told off by the mc. The first q is a girl who wants to know if theres any food he doesn’t eat much, or can't eat. He’s really REALLY hesitant in answering, like saying 'um... I...' and pausing, then 'um...' like he really can’t think of an answer. Then finally he and the mc talk about beef and beef dishes a lot. I think he said he did not eat beef as a child, and these days it is expensive - but I got lost on other details. The second girl records herself playing 'back' on the piano and asks what song he’d like to sing to a girl? (on a date? to woo her? not sure) she’s on the 2nd floor so he strains forward off his chair to wave at her! Firstly he praises her piano playing, then he ends up singing the chorus of 'be mine' acapella to the mc (who is pretending to be the girl) he laughs midway his song, but even does the hand gesture on 'oh!' (YES!) The third fan is a nurse and recorded her video at the hospital- she wasn’t in the audience tonight. she said she’s learning korean and wants to know his favourite word or phrase. again he was really slow and hesitant to answer, but eventually talked about a word that means friendship/you use with close friends (??) and he mentioned using it with the infinite members in his answer. If I see a J-inspirit tweet about this one I’ll RT - the details were a bit hard for me to catch. The 4th girl asks, 'you are a superstar, but what do you do to relax on your days off?' His reaction was so funny, he began: 'because I'm a superstar...' and sat up and crossed his legs really flamboyantly haha I think he really liked that question. When relaxing at home, he says he watches game of thrones season 7, and also plays games. Then the mc suggested, doesn’t he think of Inspirit? and he quickly said 'oh yes, of course, number one is thinking of inspirit, then game of thrones, then ... '(but he was laughing, such a cute liar) Hoopla. He just can’t. Sunggyu had to play hoopla (land a hoop on a stick with a number) to play a random game. oh boy. he was so bad at this game! first of all, the front row fans told him off for being too close to the number board, and he was like 'What!!' the MC too was really shocked they were so strict, lol. then he stepped back and threw, and literally missed every single time, so then he stepped really close and threw all of hoops in the box until finally he got one. his reward- 2x speed dance! at first he looked aghast, but then just laughed and put his ear mic in and was like 'ok. come on!!' he didn’t know which song it would be. it was be mine, and he did a great job-- and looked so cutely pleased with himself when he stopped, a satisfied grin of like ‘nailed it!’. back to the hoops. oh dear. he threw them all at close range and still, still!!!! couldn’t get one! he crouched down briefly in mental breakdown mode, but the mc just blatently slid one on for him lol. his reward-- the mystery box! the mystery box was a cute brown toy dog that walks and barks- you know the kind. omg he was so funny, he looked terrified as he put one hand in then yelled 'what!!!' 'what is it??' 'its moving!!' after a few attempts to touch it he couldn’t guess, so they let him do it again, this time with both hands. he jumped again as he touched it, and even sniffed his hand (???) but then seemed to hear it barking, moved his ear closer to the box. so then he guessed correctly, and laughed like crazy when the box was turned to face him. he said 'no way-- it felt different!' and then held it, said 'cute' petted it, then suddenly pretended to go to slap it, lol. a girl in the audience won the toy after he drew her seat number from a box.

the mc assisted him (basically put the hoop on the numbers as he was hopeless) to get another two rewards. The first was a group photo with us all. He turned away from us to face the camera, but remained standing, which would obviously block a huge part of the audience, lol. So the cameraman was like ‘hey! sit down!’ and he laughed, kinda embarrassed, and did so.

The second reward was he could draw signed posters for 2 people, but he drew 3 winners instead, so 3 won, hehe. He read the winner’s numbers out in Japanese, and tried speaking a little Japanese to the winners, just the odd word, but he does try! Kyu is so funny to give gifts. (I've noticed this before, he keeps a real physical distance when he gives a prize, unlike L or Jjong who hug or pet fans' heads easily) as he handed people their prizes today, he really looks like the professor formally giving the graduation certificate, like very low bowing and holding out the poster then shaking their hand formally then bowing again. when people won from the 2nd floor, they took a bit longer to get there, so he extended a hand very gentleman-like and helped them up onto the stage - to ‘aaah!’ from inspirits, lol.

Photo time We were given three minutes to take pics, and like the Tokyo shows, he spent each minute at a different part of the stage, and smiled and posed and crouched down a few times for people’s cameras. The stage lights were sooo bright that even though my eyes could see him well, my ipad couldn’t - but other friends got some nice shots, I’m sure plenty will be going around!

A Gyu survey The last prize lottery of the day was for a survey we had to answer and put in a box before the show. the survey has questions all about Gyu. The mc told him noone got all the answers correct, and he was like 'ah, I’m a difficult guy--'

q1- is there a food you haven’t eaten this time in japan? a-ramen q2- on long flights what do you do? a- sleep. he uses an eye mask. (one of the options was talk to the infinite members- heh yeah right) q3-which animal do you think you are like? a-cat. everyone seemed surprised and Gyu was like 'what! why are you surprised? Am I not?' the mc made him do a Japanese cat noise and paw-like gesture (Cats in Japan say 'nyan’) he did it quickly and reluctantly lol. q4- what do you do first thing on a morning? a- drink water. he says he loves to drink water, and his throat always feels dry after sleep. the mc pointed out how nice/interesting his throat looks when he swallows so we got a closeup of him doing that, and he just laughed, like ‘doesn’t everyone look that way?’ q5- immediately after the first tokyo mini live, what did gyu do? a - thanked the staff.

He drew three winners again for signed posters. one winner from 2nd floor had put her name on the survey form as 'sunggyu-chan'. this really amused him and the mc. when she cane to the stage he said in formal japanese 'nice to meet you... sunggyu-chan?' lol. When the games were over, he talked a little about what he’s working on now - just everything he already said at the tokyo meets, a solo concert and album, musical, plus infinite comeback and album. He said he wants to be known as infinite’s leader but also the singer kim sung kyu. He’ll work hard for both things and wants to come to osaka again. To finish up, he sang the last two songs, including ‘Because’, (whoop love that older tune) then he waved to everyone, like very cute crazy big grin two-handed waves, before leaving the stage. Hi-touch time! We had to leave our seat with our stuff and line up to high five him on the way out of the venue. Staff were strict about having absolutely nothing in your right hand so you could hi-five him easily. A small screen hid him from view. When I got around it, he was standing behind a table, with staff close by either side. He had a cute small smile, looked kinda tired but also happy. The way Japanese hi-touches work there’s really no time to talk (or think-), so i just grinned and said 'Sunggyu fighting!' as i touched his right hand. Resisted the huge urge to grab it lol!

No candy for us, unlike Myungsoo’s fanmeet, but that’s cool - hearing Sunggyu’s vocals and seeing his cute yet surprisingly shy self on stage was reward enough!

That’s all for this time-- thanks for reading as always!

#sunggyu #sungkyu #infinite #fanaccount #kimsungkyuosaka

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sillyfudgemonkeys · 7 years

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@pandorargyneis Yeah that’s what I think with Yusuke too...... But they could’ve used a demon tbh, doesn’t have to be a “god” (technically Satanael isn’t a god, he’s a fallen angel). He could’ve had a famous Kitsune as a Ult Persona (other japanese ones are Tanuki and Kappa). Ex: Kuzunoha, Tamamo-no-Mae, Hakuzōsu, (or for Korean/Chinese lore) Daji (oh Daji you beautiful crazy thing you), or whom I personally like Huxian aka the Chinese Inari (or if you want a western ver Reynard the Fox). (I know, Daji/Huxian go against the “all Japanese vibe” but....Huxian is just too good to pass up ;w;)

I know most are female (with the exception of Huxian who people can decide if it’s male, female, or unknown), but gender of the Kitsune shouldn’t be a problem, I mean it wasn’t for Futaba. 8U And his mask would’ve been a great way to foreshadow it, I mean they did that with Ryuji’s “He’s a monkey” jokes already. Esp with Huxian, Futaba’s jokes on Inari would’ve been a great foreshadowing of Yusuke literally summoning Inari, but by the Chinese name.

I’m sure there are other small/minor gods that are also tricksters in Japanese mythos that Atlus could’ve found. It’s unfair that all the guys (plus Futaba) get “well known” trickster gods, while Anne/Mako/Haru don’t (also love how Atlus states that “Hecate fits Anne so well” but then doesn’t explain ANY of it, of course maybe it’s on a different page but it’d be translated by now so I doubt it).

It doesn’t help that they literally have used Susano-o in all 6 gd games (counting P2 twice, and not counting the spinoffs). 2/3 being anyone/MC can summon, but 1/4/5 being designated to a party member (with P4 giving him TWO forms). Ngl I thought Amaterasu was the most prestigious and biggest god in Japan, not Susano-o, so I wonder why Atlus seems to love the guy so much. But I also don’t see how Susano-o fits Yusuke at all..... He’s not violent (not like how how the game portrays Anne/Mako/Haru), he’s not crude or thuggish (that’s Ryuji’s M.O.), he isn’t excitable/childish/fun loving guy (can’t describe it, but it’s whatever Yosuke is)..... In all honesty Yusuke isn’t an asshole, so why does he get one of the asshole-iest of all the Japanese gods? Like Mark and Yosuke fit one aspect of Susano-o, but not Yusuke other than “we needed a Japanese trickster god to fit the rest of the theme.” Ngl, Yusuke is how I would picture Tsukuyomi acting (prim, proper and such). Which is all well and good, but I feel like it sacrifices....character for Yusuke.... *bangs head against a wall* ;w;

As for Futaba, haha yeah tbh I’m glad someone got Prometheus, but I can’t enjoy it considering almost everyone else has me super salty. ;w;

#pandorargneis #silly replies #silly responds #i know Reynard the Fox is a little controversial but I haven't read too much into him as to why so sorry if I upset anyone #i do know he originally wasn't controversial but was later demonized for some propaganda #i kinda wish that futaba's ult was the transformer......considering it's just a ball.... 8U #but again like the last post maybe there's something i'm missing #which is why i haven't made individual posts yet cause i want to keep researching

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obfuscobble · 7 years

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Quan Zhi Gao Shou

People are calling Quan Zhi Gao Shou the future of anime and superior to Japanese producer led animation but, my dudes, it’s just the same level yo. Y’all focusing so much on the pretty fight scenes that you’re ignoring the massive budget and time cuts elsewhere: awkward 3d models for bg characters, NUMEROUS reused bits of animation within the fights, flipped animation, wide shots with FX and smoke to cover up what would otherwise have to be animated, good ol gainax mouth hiding, overuse of still shots for a quarter second longer than is appropriate, etc. This does not make Quan Zhi Gao Shou inferior to Japanese anime; it’s just more of the same tricks with prettier snippets of fight animation backed by its obvious corporate backers.

There’s a reason this is one of the few anime that can have an uncensored McDonald’s logo: they literally advertise McDonalds’ food, call it delicious in dialogue, and make shilling for McDonald’s a “desirable character” intro. The plot has actually stopped to advertise McDonalds. It’s being done very well and seems in character as it’s written, but you have to be blind to not realise that these corporate sponsorships (including from drink makers and other entertainment companies) are what’s allowing the level of animation you admire. The cans that are left blank are cans that have ad space not yet paid for. Yes, this is indeed the future of anime. Just in a different way. (yeah i know japanese anime has started doing this too)

However, Quan Zhi Gao Shou is doing one thing much better than anime I have watched recently: character writing. You can still see the old tropes in it, but each character trope is softened by “reality,” thereby bringing it back closer to the realistic character depictions that started each trope way back in the day. Do we have an MC who is an omnipotent pretentious ass? Hoo boy yes we do, but he’s shown on screen to have earned his skill as a 25 year old professional with 10 years of experience in his job instead of a miracle teenager. Do we have a red haired tsundere who is sharp with the MC? Yeah, but she’s sharp with him because he’s a pretentious ass, and she’s giving him a job and a place to stay so he could maybe show her a little more respect plus attention to her feelings. None of which are romantic. Do we have a kawaii quiet girl? Indeed, but she’s not crushing on the MC at all and is driven by her own search for challenge in combat and life instead of being a wallflower. Do we have an idiot brawler boy? Yes and he is good and perfect and you will not bad mouth my son. Do we have a girl next door type with long hair and a yamato nadeshiko grace? Yes, there is a girl fitting that trope, in being the oldest female companion of the MC, but she’s a fellow professional who didn’t try to date him and whose skills he calls on with the shared bond of friendship and years fighting together. Do we have a calm and calculating nemesis who has a power limiter on otherwise he’d be too awesome? We have one, and he’s being fleshed out as a man who has sacrificed himself for his teammates, and he’s opposing the MC not for his own personal gain and glory, but to help his team and to rekindle his suppressed sense of battle style and joy in combat. Do we have a god damn rookie hunter? Yep, more than one, and one of them is in the middle of a redemption arc which is super rare for that character type.

Mmm, that character development. Mmm, that main character who has finished puberty and has an adult life. Mmm, that worldbuilding that allows so many little tropes and even advertising to be believable in context. MMM, that lack of a harem thus allowing female characters to be humans. This is what Japan needs to take a good long stare at. Free yourself from tropes or break them. Think hard about your worldbuilding so that you can explain each character’s actions without an asspull and so that the viewer is immersed without asking too many questions because you’ve already answered them. Try not to do it with so much sideline coach babble and onscreen text explanations like Quan Zhi Gao Shou does, but we’ll start where we can. I hate to be saying this, but even Quan Zhi Gao Shou’s in-character McDonalds advertisements enhance its world since they come in the context of quickly snagged unhealthy gamer fuel or corporate sponsorships aimed for by characters to supplement their income. (sort of like tiger & bunny)

Back to ragging on Quan Zhi Gao Shou though: it suffers from an editing style common to many mainland Chinese films since 2005 or so, where characters speak very fast and the cuts move likewise. This tapered off significantly after episode 6, allowing for more still shots (usually in order to save on animation though) but I can still feel this directorial influence. It takes a little getting used to if you’re more acclimated to Japanese or Hong Kong editing, or even if you’re accustomed to the equally fast paced and jarring dialogue/cuts pace of American output which is yet different in exact style. I’d say that fast American editing is influenced by actual film trailers and advertisements, whereas mainland Chinese editing is influenced by Hong Kong mo lei tau slapstick. They’re both trying to pack a lot of content into small packages, but mo lei tau has always had more of a stream of consciousness feel to its joke pace which is carried into these new editing styles. I’m not an editing expert, mind you; this is just me as a layman analysing. Chinese fast editing makes me want to take a hold of a sleeve, carefully remove a hand from its copy of Maya, and gently say “please, calm down, your effects are pretty and I want to hear your story but I also want to rest in emotional moments to allow them to impact me.” American fast editing makes me want to take a hold of a sleeve, body slam the editor, and shout “STOP IT. PUT THESE SHOTS IN ORDER.” while stealing their palette of film filters forevermore before the whip crack from Johnny Test can hurt me again. (johnny test is a canadian show btw but it still suffers from horrible editing)

Also I’d prefer Quan Zhi Gao Shou dubbed into Cantonese because then I could more or less follow it without subtitles taking up too much of the screen. My Mandarin is terrible. (wow watch me ask for the moon right lol) Chinese is not a language; it’s a language family thx. I’m aware that this Cantonese preference is 100% due to me growing up hearing it. Humans tend to prefer the familiar and I guess I’m a scrub. At least I’m not asking for it to be dubbed into Superior Harmonious Japanese Ohhhh like so many weirdos in the comments section do though. . . chill, y’all: it’s a Chinese anime so it’s going to be in Mandarin. . .i s2g. . .

So all in all, I give a positive rating to Quan Zhi Gao Shou! It has me wanting to see the MC and his companions succeed. None of the characters annoy me. This is rare. If you ragged on SAO or Familia Myth in the past, give Quan Zhi Gao Shou a try to see an MMO setting done in a mature manner and a modern context. If you don’t like anime based on games, you’ll want to give Quan Zhi Gao Shou a pass though, as gaming knowledge and the pro e-games corporate world are integral to its plot. But yeah: pleasantly surprised.

#quan zhi gao shou #analysis

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sailormiyoung89 · 7 years

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hi there! from your url, i'm assuming you're a Sailor Moon and kpop fan? Just wondering as a fellow fan when you discovered them and how long you've been following them? What's your top 10 anime/kpop artists? And what are your opinions of the Sailor Moon reboot and kpop in general? (P.S. what does the 89 stand for?)

Hey :) You guessed right, SM and kpop are my obsessions XD I first watched the english dub of Sailor Moon when I was...idk like 4 or 5. Then when it went off air I didn’t watch it again for YEARS. I lived in the middle of the countryside and didn’t have a computer till my uncle passed away and we got his. I was about ten. But because we were so isolated, we only had dial-up till I was like...16. At which point the FIRST thing I looked up was Sailor Moon XD

I’m not certain when exactly I got into kpop. I was a fan of Kesha’s and was listening to her song, Run Devil Run and scrolling through the comments when I saw a lot of people debating whether this or the SNSD and Girls’ Generation versions were better. I’d never heard of SNSD or Girls’ Generation but decided to check them out and find out for myself - it didn’t take me long to discover that SNSD and Girls’ Generation were the same group XD (Incidentally, please don’t ask me to chose which version is better. I refuse XD).

I don’t know exactly when this was - I THINK the first half of 2012.

Top 10 anime: I actually haven’t watched a whole lot of anime. I start them and get a few episodes in and then just get distracted XD

10. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica. If you like shoujo anime, you probably know about this one but it’s kind of a dark magical girls anime :)

9.Another. It’s a horror mystery anime....I actually kind of want to rewatch it now that I think about it XD

8. Deadman Wonderland. It’s about a boy who’s framed for the murder of his classmates and is imprisoned in a kind of Battle Royale/Hunger Games style prison. I actually named my dog after one of the characters in it, Shiro (and also for the Japanese tale about the dog of the same name who lives with the elderly couple).

7. Digimon. Back when it was Pokemon vs. Digimon, I may have loved my pokemon red (and blue and yellow), but in terms of anime, I always preferred Digimon. The digimon just seemed to have a lot more personality compared to pokemon. Plus I adored Kari (Hikari in Japanese).

6. Cardcaptor Sakura. After Sailor Moon had gone out of my life as a child, we would occasionally rent videos and dvds from Xtravision and there was always a CCS one. When I first saw it, I thought that maybe it was that other one I watched as a child or something. After the first time, I realised it was definitely something else but I would always pick it up anytime we rented a dvd.

5. I’m going to put Naruto here. Not because I ADORED it or anything and I definitely don’t think it’s the best but despite the fact that it must be one of the longest airing anime, it’s one of the few that I actually saw through to the end.

4. Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I think it’s just one of those GREAT anime that should be a staple for any anime fan to watch.

3. Full Moon wo sagashite. It’s a shorter anime about a young terminally ill girl who gains the ability to transform into a singer and fulfill her dream of being a singer. I won’t say anymore except that if you ever watch this one, make sure you have tissues.

2. Death Note. I remember being SO blown away by it when I first watched it when I was 17 - I actually convinced a LOT of people in my class to watch it XD

1. Sailor Moon. Without question.

Top 10 kpop artists:

10. Ladies Code

9. Sistar

8. BlackPink

7. GFriend

6. Pristin

5. EXID

4. F(x)

3. Twice

2. Mamamoo

1. SNSD

Opinions about Crystal:

....I REALLY wanted to like it :( I didn’t though. It moved too fast. Sure the anime had a bit too much filler but taking away ALL the filler and just plowing through plot full speed ahead was far too far in the other direction. Personally for me, characters come first and the plot comes second. It’s not that the plot is unimportant but you have to give me reasons to care about the characters - reasons that don’t hinge on things I know about them from other adaptations. Plus I’m not a massive fan of SenShi. I’ll take some VenusXKunzite but other than that, I’m not interested in pairing up all 4 girls with all 4 guys. Like you’re telling me that 2 of them didn’t like the one person? Or everyone was liked by SOMEONE? 8 people are not just gonna pair off that simply. I watched the first season and could feel my interest going away episode by episode. I watched the first episode or two of R and while that was a LITTLE better, that was because I was already predisposed to adoring my lost little baby Chibiusa.

All that said, I did watch S and enjoyed it a bit. It’s still far too fast paced. Breathing every now and again isn’t bad but they just don’t seem keen on doing that. But I did like it a bit more and will check out at least the first couple of episodes of SuperS. I know also that there’s been a lot of discussion about the animation quality and even though I lack any kind of artistic talents, I can see that the animation hasn’t been great. And it DID get better for S. But honestly, I don’t care. I would take stick figures. All that’s important is that I’m given a reason to love these characters.

Kpop in general? That’s so vague XD You want my general opinion on an ENTIRE music industry? :P

Okay well I like kpop. We’ve established that much XD And I’m sure you could tell from my top 10, it’s the girl groups I’m here for. There weren’t any really when I first started listening to kpop that I knew of and I am 10000000% here for girls being friends (or more than friends. lbr, there have to be SOME lesbian kpop idols. There are literally hundreds of female idols) and loving and supporting one another. The thing that really appealed to me and why I can’t tell you exactly when I started listening to kpop was the reality shows. I mean Western artists don’t really have reality shows AND variety shows AND modelling gigs AND mc careers AND acting careers. Kpop idols just seemed to be able to do everything!! The one I spent the first six months or so watching over and over again was Hello Baby. I was completely enamored with it :) Only after I finished watching it did I start to wonder ‘hey, I wonder if they’ve done anything recently...and I googled and found out I missed the debut of their first (and only official) subunit. All because I was watching a show that they’d filmed years ago that I could’ve watched anytime....

And lol. For most people, if they have a number at the end of their username, it’s related to their date of birth. For me, it’s ‘89, as in ‘1989′, the year my bias Tiffany Young Hwang was born. My original tumblr username was ‘SailorMushroom89′, ‘Mushroom’ being a reference to ‘brighter than Mushrooms’, Tiffany’s -butchered- intro when she first debuted. (I don’t know if you’re a Sone but it was back before Tiffany’s Korean was fluent and she was SUPPOSED to introduce herself as ‘brighter than Jewels, Tiffany’ but mispronounced jewels and introduced herself as ‘brighter than Mushrooms, Tiffany’).

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lumiyuki · 6 years

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my top 10 underrated anime

& the last 5 are my top favorite anime

*title link takes you to the show’s MyAnimeList page where you can find a summary.

10. ano natsu de matteru (waiting in the summer)

genres: comedy, drama, romance, sci-fi, slice of life

episodes: 12

why you should watch it: not your usual leads. v unique story and visually pleasing. lovable characters (kaito, my son). heart wrenching end… i cried

9. princess tutu

genres: fantasy, magic, romance, drama

episodes: 38

why you should watch it: a fairytale that’s hella dark… it’s cute, funny, but DARK. and for the complete 360 fakir’s character does like damn

8. lovely★complex

genres: comedy, romance, shoujo

episodes: 24

why you should watch it: super funny and not your usual leads with a very different and appealing dynamic. you will fall for otani, it’s a fact

7. soredemo sekai wa utsukushii (the world is still beautiful)

genres: adventure, romance, fantasy, shoujo

episodes: 12

why you should watch it: nothing like any shoujo you’ve seen b4, i promise. an awesome female lead. levi’s character is v complex and you will love him

6. hourou musuko (wandering son)

genres: drama, school, slice of life

episodes: 11

why you should watch it: its all about gender identity & it does a great job imo. talks about a lot of issues concerning gender and i loved it so so much

TOP FAVORITES

5. pandora hearts

genres: adventure, fantasy, mystery, shounen, supernatural

episodes: 25

why you should watch it: atmospheric and dark and heart wrenching. It has many references to alice in wonderland. It has some of the best characters ever. pro tip: continue with the manga, just TRUST ME. absolutely fantastic. cried like a baby at the end. watch the anime and you will be hooked on the story and it’s characters and will want even more, i promise

4. romeo x juliet

genres: fantasy, romance, drama

episodes: 24

why you should watch it: crossdressing juliet (who is no longer a princess) is now the towns hero of justice. romeo is the prince with a shit father/king. it’s NOTHING like the original story. Shakespeare is even a character in here like… just trust me. i loved everything about this anime. oh yeah, the op is also a beautiful japanese rendition of you raise me up and it’s GORGEOUS

3. tsuritama

genres: comedy, sci-fi, slice of life, sports

episodes: 12

why you should watch it: the mc (red hair) has cannon social anxiety. his bf (far left) is a pure and v cute alien who loves flowers. also, a poc main w a duck and glasses wearing tsundere. bright and happy and fun. there is literally no other story like it. i tear up when i hear the op because i loved it and the show so much

2. chihayafuru

genres: drama, shoujo, school, slice of life, sports

episodes: 25 (season 1) & 25 (season 2)

why you should watch it: AMAZING female lead, AMAZING story, learn japanese culture, *cough* fall in love with taichi *cough*, become invested in karuta… its basically a sports anime too, which is a plus. you have the whole making a club, recruiting members, the prodigies, the naturals, literally everything. it’s so beautiful, too. the animation is unique and soft. seriously go watch it now, i bet you a million dollars you’ll love it

1. kimi to boku. (you and me.)

genres: comedy, drama, romance, school, shounen, slice of life

episodes: 13 (season 1) & 13 (season 2)

why you should watch it: hilarious, relaxing, heart warming, fun… one mc does’t give a shit about gender norms (see below), one is from germany, there’s two cute twins (one of which is totally in love with first mc i mentioned), & a “normal” stubborn megane. i could rewatch this show forever and ever. the comedy is gold and it’s also super cute and perfect to watch when you’re feeling sad. it’s my ultimate feel-good show and i recommend it to everyone!! it’s a must-watch.

*honestly….. if anything, watch it for this angel:

Shun, the purest boy to ever exist :’)

#sorry for typos!#enjoy :)#anime recommendation #underrated anime #top favorite anime #kimi to boku #tsuritama #romeo x juliet #chihayafuru #pandora hearts #wandering son #hourou musuko #the world is still beautiful #princess tutu #lovely complex #ano natsu de matteru #not yuri on ice

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omgpengwens · 6 years

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I’ve been saying I’ll do it for a while, but at last I managed to do a Hyper Japan for the whole weekend! (well, a whole weekend with a break on Saturday evening for Band Maid because, y’know, everyone co-ordinated so well with their organisation. See the post about the Band Maid gig here). If you don’t know what Hyper Japan is, see my previous posts on it here, here and here. I’ve decided to split this down by the days this time, so one post for each day. I guess you’ll just have to skip the bits that don’t interest you? So without further a-waffle, lets kick this off with Day 1!

This was the Friday session, starting at 12 midday. I must say the organisation this time was kind of confusing initially and a bit odd. So on arrival, we were in a kind of giant shelter away from the venue where the tickets were checked and wristbands given. It took me a while to even find where I was going because of the poor directions I was given by the staff. In the end, I checked the website again to find out where I was supposed to be. Once priority entre had gone, we were then herded into the next queuing bit where we were checked for wristbands/offered wristbands(?!) So what was the point of the first bit?!

After the faff-fest that was the entry into the venue, we were searched and sniffed by the passive search dog. I thought this was a good thing. Its unfortunate that its needed but its good that they’ve thought of this to keep people safe. One thing I noticed when I got in to the venue was that it was smaller than summer (in the summer we queued in this room!) and it was hard to tell because the venue was different but also I think smaller than the last Christmas event. This time it was entirely on one floor as well, the balcony wasn’t in use. I was quite surprised by the layout and the fact that the live stage wasn’t in its own room as it generally is. The zones were set out relatively logically and I liked how they were named this time (such as the gaming/anime zone being Akihabara and the kawaii zone being Harajuku).

The first thing I often do is have a cursory wander around just to see what is where. As it was lunchtime and the food smelled soooooo good, I decided to get myself something to eat. There weren’t many food stalls this time around and I thought that it was kind of cheeky having the venue’s cafes open. Surely that defeated the object? I decided to indulge in a bubble waffle. It was tasty and super messy to eat, but oh so worth it. I think I’m in love.

After greeting my friend and getting her fed, we re-visited the stalls and did a spot of shopping. See my day 1 haul photos in the paragraph below!

I was pleased to see some new exhibitors as well as some of the classics. I saw that Maz’s Boutique was there which was awesome. Some of you may recall I first encountered Maz’s Boutique at Em-Con earlier this year. The bows I bought then are still regularly worn as part of my outfit as I often refer to as “toddler chic”. I invested in some more bows and a choker this time. I also bought some chokers from another stall, Jane Nevermore. Not only are these chokers awesome, but as I tried one and it was a bit on the small side, she put me in some extra links right then and there! I bought 2 to go with my 2 purple cyberlox sets. And what trip to Hyper Japan would be complete without a visit to he Fuzzballs stall?! I invested in some stationary (that I probably didn’t need) and a tote bag (which I needed by the end to put my shopping in….)

One of the main reasons I go to Hyper Japan is to watch the musical acts. Not only do I get to see bands I already know about and enjoy, I also get to discover new bands that I like. Some acts I go to see just out of curiosity because hey sound like they’d be interesting. I also like to watch some of the other performances. The set out of the Hyper Live stage area was just plain weird this time. There were several rows of chairs approximately halfway back which just appeared to be in a random place. There are some acts you see that you just don’t sit down to watch. It would be just plain silly, but if you stand you want to be at the front, but if you do that you’re in the way of the people sitting down, although they can watch the screens. This dilemma first became apparent when I (out of morbid curiosity) went to see Banzai Japan. This is an all-girl idol group. I know what you’re thinking, not at all my style, and you’d be right, but I’m nothing if not adventurous. So we entered the audience area and were handed folding fans that were part red, part white (in line with the girls’ outfits). As we approached the front of the standing crowd and looked around, I suppose we shouldn’t have been suppose that we were surrounded on all sides by middle aged men. Yep, that’s right. Middle. Aged. Men. I had a similar experience watching Band Maid last year. Fair enough if they are into that music but you would generally expect this portion of the audience to be teenage or pre-teen girls. Well, that’s my expectation anyway (like when I was younger). I’m not one to judge and I know that you get the same effect but the opposite way round at visual kei gigs.. Although the music can be heavy, and you may expect some males, its predominantly females watching the show. What was entertaining was the crazy fanboying that was screamed loudly in our ears, presumably from the die-hard fans or from their hyper team or whatever. I found this hilariously funny and was reminded of Gintama (if anyone has seen that anime). I can’t even describe why, but it really did tickle me. They were certainly a fun performance with a lot of energy. Describing them as having “spirit” was pretty accurate I must say. They tirelessly performed a number of songs with well-choreographed dance routines. I was exhausted just watching them.

An interesting performance in the form of DJ Takaki and Hibiki Ichikawa (a shamisen player) was the next one I watched. A combination you wouldn’t expect to work so well, but I could listen to this for days. Both incredibly skilled performers in their own right, but when you put them together, something just clicked. It was Gestalt. The sum of the pats became greater than the whole. Its these types of performance that are just one reason this festival is awesome. You just don’t see it everyday.

Next I saw Xmas Eileen. They were described as a “Mysterious J-Rock band”. Again, they weren’t technically wrong. Initially it said on the schedule that only 4 members would be present but it seemed all of them made it over. I don’t even know the best way to describe these guys….I’d say maybe a mix between Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit and some hint of Slipknot with the masks, the visual performance and the fact I’m not sure what half the members really do (and I say that as a long-time Slipknot fan). There’s definitely some fun and silliness and the fact that no-one in the band has a name and they have one guy referred to as “the performer” who literally just dances and hypes the audience. I don’t even….For this, we were all stood up, I ended up right at the front, which is an intense place to be when you don’t know what’s expected of you. Thankfully I appeared to be next to a super fan who showed me what to do. I haven’t laughed this much in a while, it was a really fun performance (laughing mainly at my own ineptness at dancing and following directions). The band also like being close to the front of the stage, which always makes me a bit “wha!” out of discomfort. That’s the best way to describe the emotion it makes me feel…The band are relatively newly formed but they didn’t seem to let that impact their performance. Their MC was a mix of English and Japanese, but they were merciful and kept the Japanese relatively simple. I decided to save my meet and greet with these guys until Sunday as I wanted to see Mutant Monster (with missing them the Saturday for Band Maid). So I remained at the front and centre.

I saw Mutant Monster at last year’s Christmas Hyper Japan. A 3 piece female punk band, inspired by old school British punk. These awesome ladies have so much stage presence and personality on stage that its hard to not get swept away by their utterly infectious brand of music. Each donning a Mutant Monster shirt dress and paid of well-worn classic Doc Martens, they truly showed everyone exactly how its done. Their set list was a mix of older songs plus a taste of their new album Nekokaburi. After their performance, the meet and greet queue filled up insanely quickly and fans had to be turned away (many of whom argued the decision with the queue controller). I just managed to get in to get my CD signed but the queue for photos was crazy long so we decided against it. And that concluded my day! My feet were tired and worn out already!

A full weekend of Hype! Part 1 I've been saying I'll do it for a while, but at last I managed to do a Hyper Japan for the whole weekend!

#2018 #alternative #anime #Banzai Japan #Christmas #culture #food #Fun #happy #Hyper Japan #JRock #Lifestyle #London #manga #music #Mutant Monster #random #rock #shopping #Xmas Eileen

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