#the plot feels just as directionless as the main character

[toomanyassassins]

rdr2 truly has set my standard for westerns too high. i’m tryna find a book set in the old west that isn’t just a John Wayne cosplay. yes the real west was short on women, it was also mostly black men gay men mexican men asian railroad builders, and the women who did live there came from all different walks of life. and what about the themes of exploitation and exploration and the myth of an untamed land vs society, and the brutal force of capitalism and colonialism, where the ones touting freedom from the law are just as guilty of violence as the ones who uphold it? so many themes to explore in the genre that so often get ignored for “lone tough guy shoots up the baddies and don’t need no body”

also when i search for queer cowboy books all i get is dimestore romance novels with terrible photoshop jobs on the cover. some people like that, that’s cool, just not my cup of tea.

anyway, anybody got some actually good yeehaw book recs? ya girl is starving over here 😩

[yamujiburo]

POKEMON SERIES RANKED (IMO)

I get this question a lot and haven't made an updated list with Journeys

Original Series (S1-S5)

Sun & Moon (S20-S22)

Chronicles (S0)

Diamond and Pearl (S10-S13)

Advanced (S6-S9)

Journeys (S23-S25)

Black & White (S14-S16)

XY (S17-S19)

Original Series (S1-S5)

OS had that first season charm. Very unpolished, still finding its footing but super enjoyable for those reasons

Probably the strongest series comedy-wise

That GORGEOUS 90s anime style

Main character dynamics were REALLY strong

Ash's personality felt much more like a shitty little 10 year old which was entertaining

Dub writing was also the best hands down

Sun & Moon (S20-S22)

Honestly tied for first with OS for me

REALLY fun ensemble cast! They do a fantastic job giving each character enough time for you to get to know and care about

Excellent modern anime style that perfectly fit the vibe of the season and allowed for some of the best character animation of the show's run

Finally figured out how to write Ash like a 10 year old again (but in a kind/sweet 10 year old way as opposed to OS)

Very different from previous series in terms of the formula they'd follow. Doing a school series instead of another "8 badges to championship" plot felt new and fresh!

This series genuinely made me cry the most (MEMORIES IN THE MIST!!!!! LIKE ARE YOU KIDDING ME)

Chronicles (S0)

Fun concept! It was really nice to see more of the side characters without Ash there. We get to see more of Misty, Tracey, Daisy, Brock, Ritchie, Oak, Delia, Butch, Cassidy, Jessie, James and Meowth!

Stylistically really nice. Just solid drawings all around and it retained the 90s anime style in digital form more successfully than other digitally done series imo

BUTCH AND CASSIDY!!! Team Rocket centric episodes!!! Training Daze!!!!!!!

Idk how possible it would have been (seems like a TON of work) but it made me want one of these in between each season, where we'd follow the characters that Ash had just said goodbye to for the next region.

Diamond and Pearl (S10-S13)

Series I grew up with! Honestly I was kinda a hater as a kid but having watched it back, I love the series

Love that Ash and Dawn were bros. They had a really fun dynamic.

Debatably peak Team Rocket. They had some of the best Team Rocket centric episodes this series.

Contests were really fun and a bit more figured out compared to the Advanced series

Fun, memorable rivals for Ash (Paul and Barry) as well as Dawn (Zoey, Kenny and Jessilina sometimes)

This is unfortunately where I stopped caring about Ash as much. He feels kinda watered down for the next couple series.

Advanced (S6-S9)

Pretty tied up with DP for me

Really fun series! Still had some of that early Pokémon charm

I appreciated that they put Ash in more of a mentor role for May (but he still had a lot to learn himself).

Ash and May constantly butting heads was really fun

May was a very compelling character to me, being very clumsy, kinda lazy, directionless, not really into Pokémon, etc. But then over time, she comes around and finds something she's interested in!

Journeys (S23-S25)

I love the episodic take as well as the way they let the characters jump around from region to region at random

Goh was a GREAT travel companion to Ash. They contrast each other nicely, have moments where they get on each others' nerves but still get along and have a mutual admiration for one another.

It was fun that they made Goh's thing catching every Pokémon (the motto of the entire series) so they could focus on Ash just training and prepping for Worlds.

Amaaaazing style. Took the great parts of classic Pokémon, roundness of SM and blended em together for a really fun look.

Black & White (S14-S16)

I don't think it's that controversial to have BW this low haha

I did enjoy Iris and Cilan but it felt like the writers didn't reaaally know what to do with them? Also this was their first time in a while not having Brock and it shows. I feel like Brock was successful because he was grounded and lower energy compared to the rest of the kids. Having 3 pretty eccentric characters is kind of a lot. No hate to the characters in the slightest, there was just not as much balance.

I think maybe they leaned on Cilan and Iris for more comedic relief because they killed the comedic relief that was Team Rocket this series. I appreciate them trying something new with Jessie, James and Meowth but I don't think it worked very well lol

XY (S17-S19)

I've ranted about this series a lot LOL. I get the appeal of it, but it just wasn't for me. I felt like it was the weakest comedy-wise and took itself a bit too seriously for my taste

My main gripe is that Serena, Clemont and Bonnie all like,,, worship Ash. By doing so, Ash begins to feel like a side character because we're constantly looking at Ash through their eyes. There's so little conflict within the group so their dynamics feel really flat. I think this dynamic could have worked if they leaned waaay more into Ash being a mentor and maybe feeling the pressure of having to be a role model for the people around him.

Team Rocket very much feels like an afterthought in this series. They did in Journeys as well, but at least in Journeys they were doing something silly and also had a handful of episodes dedicated to em.

Outside of that, the episodes weren't super memorable for me

I think it's just frustrating because there was sooooo much potential character-wise

[cryobabyy]

I’m ngl, I’m having a hard time getting down with the whole “s3 had no character development” take. I think theres a lot of conflation between the actual term character development and positive development. Characters can also develop negatively. In the case of s3, Carmen gets worse, Sydney’s conflict avoidance gets worse, Richie’s identity as a father is changing, Marcus is reckoning with his mother’s death, etc. I don’t think there’s a lack of character development, I think it was more so an issue with pacing. If the pace is off, it can literally feel like nothing is happening.

This season we saw a lot of internal conflict — a lot of shots sequences cut together to represent what’s going on in their heads, subtext heavy writing etc. I think the show also has a problem with substituting a solid plot with subtext. It’s lowkey exhausting to follow along with. For Carmy and Sydney — the two most avoidant characters on the show — their shared screen time felt a bit aimless because you have to constantly consider this intricate ass subtext and apply it to all of their interactions, and if you don’t the scene feels empty. The constant parallels, double-meanings, call backs, etc — it was all just… exhausting. And that’s coming from someone whose special interest is meta analysis lol.

I think you can apply this logic to the plots of all the seasons as well. S1-2 had subtext, but were fairly straight forward plot progression wise. The casual viewer could understand and enjoy the story easily, and the viewer that likes to engage with media on a deeper level can delve into the details.

But in s3, like 80% of the conflict is occurring internally with the main plot of the season being trying to keep The Bear afloat and to keep operating costs of the restaurant within reason, which doesn’t feel super important because the only person telling us it’s important is Cicero — and he’s quite literally just telling us, we never see how The Bear is taking a financial toll on him, he just pops in every once and a while to remind us that they’re in big financial trouble while Carmy keeps wasting food, Tina shops for ingredients that are outside of their budget, Sydney barely brings it up at all, and everyone generally keeps operating as if they aren’t in deep financial shit.

The first watch experience for me was pretty rough, and I frequently asked myself “What am I supposed to be paying attention to? Where am I supposed to look? What is actually supposed to be important? Why does it simultaneously feel like so much is happening subtextually but the plot is progressing at a snails pace?”.

The second watch of some of the episodes was much smoother, but only because I took the time to try and deconstruct exactly what I saw via feverish and unhinged meta analysis on tumblr dot com. I think this is a big reason why this season had less than stellar reviews. The average person does not want to do homework to enjoy a show.

My final consensus is that I don’t feel like it was a bad season. I could tell what the writers were trying to do, but a lot of it just didn’t land. What was supposed to be tense, introspective, and slow-storytelling came across as aimless directionless and confusing.

Here’s to hoping season 4 will be an improvement lol

Less serious shit that pissed me off

- over relying on the Faks for comedic relief

- Pete constantly being the butt of the joke for???? Being pleasant and sweet?

- the way less miserable characters are treated like caricatures

- NO EPISODE ABOUT FRONT OF HOUSE???

- NO EBRA CHARACTER PIECE????

- Sweeps lore being reduced to a filler scene, smdh

- mid build up and no pay off

[that-ari-blogger]

Stray Gods vs Change, Part 2

Why does Stray Gods keep mentioning family?

That was a genuine question, I'm not sure what the answer is. This post is going to be my thoughts and I'd really appreciate some discussion in response because again, I'm not quite sure.

SPOILERS BELOW

So, to say that Stray Gods mentions family dynamics several times is an understatement. Persephone, Orpheus, Hermes, the whole deal with the Idols list goes on. And there is a distinct repetition that comes up. Most of these dynamics are dysfunctional.

The Idol family is the obvious one. The myths of the Greek Gods can be summarised by one main quote from Disney's Hercules, of all films.

Essentially, the Greek Deities are one massive family tree. It doesn't have the healthiest of dynamics (to put it mildly), but they coexist. In Stray Gods, there is a notable absence of Hera and Zeus, the two parent figures of the Olympians. Dameter is also deceased, and her direct daughter is one of the main characters. As a result, the Idols feel directionless, there is no closure there. On a similar note, Apollo's sister is missing as well. Essentially, they feel like a shattered family.

Athena has become the mother figure, although she's not good at it. She's a sister trying to be a parent and you can tell by her demeanor. She's overcompensating and antagonistic and a lot of elder siblings in real life who have been through similar experiences show similar characteristics.

On a different note, Persephone has killed Hades, for understandable reasons. It's a horrifically abusive relationship that ended in bloodshed.

Similarly, Hermes makes a passing reference that i noticed when asked how they knew the old Hermes.

This keeps coming up.

But then we get three relationships I thought were interesting. Grace and Freddie, Asterion and Hecate, and Aphrodite and Eros.

Grace and Freddie are close. Historians will say they were the best of friends. Even if you don't romance Freddie, the two are family. Best friends who live together, etc. If you do romance Freddie, you get an Orpheus plot to bring her back to life, literally meeting the previous Orpheus as you go. But where Orpheus failed his quest because of a lack of trust, you can succeed, or not, I'm not gonna tell you how to save Freddie.

Then we have Asterion and Hecate. First of all, I didn't consent to have my freestyling singing capability so perfectly replicated by my sweet minotaur boy, and Summerfall will be hearing from my lawyers. On a serious note, this relationship is so wholesome and I love it, if you make it work in the story. They are proof that there can be a healthy relationship in this weird world.

Finally, we come to my favourite moment of the entire musical. I've already gone into detail on the Ritual as a song in a different post, so go check that one out (I crave validation from the internet people). But the challenge here is can you soothe this broken family here? Can this work? If you choose the green path, Eros gives a fantastic verse.

"Mother, I've stood by your side, now I no longer see, the purpose of love, when it tears at the centre of me. My arrows are rusty, forget the bow, and I won't be begging you not to go. But when you're away, you leave us a broken home..."

My arrows are rusty, forget the bow. Is a phenomenal metaphor for a loss of purpose, but I would like to focus on the last two lines. When you're away, you leave us a broken home, and you leave me alone. The characters here are aware they are falling apart and they are desperate to try and reconnect, and if you play your cards right, you can help. You don't "fix their relationship", you just give it a nudge. You don't repair the scars in this family, but you convince them to talk to each other.

That, my friends, is a microcosm of the entire plot of the story. Can you fix this broken family? No. But you can get them to talk to each other and convince them to try.

The story goes out of its way to say that some relationships cannot be salvaged. Some families are too far separated for that, but in this situation, you can give people who are hurting a nudge towards peace.

So, why does this musical keep bringing up family? And what does that have to do with the title of this post?

Well, because it is a story about change, and how to move on into a different world. Grace quits college before the story begins and doesn't know what to do, and the Idols have no idea how to navigate the new world.

The theme that the story presents (in my most humble of opinions) is this: "for things to get better, you have to be willing to change." You have to step out of your comfort zone to find the love of your life. You need to change direction and start running together instead of away to find peace with your family. And, you have to take the lessons you have learned and become someone more mature, not necessarily someone different, but someone who is capable of adapting to a wild world.

Part 1

[goldenappledelicious]

Just some EAH/Wicked Rambling

(Also sorry for taking so long to get this out. Hotd season 2 trailer dropped and Dune Part 2 went to streaming so my attention was divided)

So there’s like a lot of jokes about the similarities between Gelphie and Rapple and I kind just wanna make a post talking about those similarities and differences. Just to kind sort through my thoughts.

So the thing is, I think there are a lot of similarities between Apple and Galinda.

Blonde, pretty, wealthy, privileged, and popular girls rooming with a more sardonic, widely hated roommate. And in spite of how the musical kinda playing up the dumb blonde thing with Glinda cover it, Glinda is also very academic. Her rivalry with Elphaba starts due to Elphaba easily getting into the seminar she was working hard to get into.

And they both have that kind of bubbly, slightly condescending even if not usually on purpose manner to them.

It’s just interesting how they do kind of have a similar starting to due to how much they really differ.

It’s kinda funny to me, after that Apple discourse thing, how different I think people in each fandom feel about Apple and Glinda respectively.

Especially considering Glinda does objectively much worse things. Apple, at the end of the day, is still a teenager in high school. Her bad actions, up until Dragon Games, are mostly on an interpersonal level. Even with Dragon Games, her actions were bad, and dangerous, but also informed by the people in power doing very little once they knew the Evil Queen was out.

Glinda meanwhile, becomes an actual important member of the government during the low point of her story. She may not actively oppress the Animals, but she’s a prominent member and reluctant supporter of the group who does.

Apple genuinely believes in and supports Destiny for most of the show. Glinda strongly disagrees with the the Wizard’s rule but chooses her own comfort and safety for much of the second act.

There is a certain amount of distance to Glinda’s actions (or lack thereof) compared to Apple’s. Raven is a Rebel who is actively harmed by the Destiny system. Elphaba is unquestionably mistreated too, but she’s not an Animal. She is fighting for their plight, but not for herself.

Also. Apple and Raven are very much pit against each other just due to the main story of the show. Meanwhile Glinda and Elphaba, in spite of their fluctuating (and at worst far more actively antagonistic than anything Rapple has) relationship, are very much presented as a unit in the musical.

In EAH, the Royal v Rebel debate is the core of the show with Raven and Apple’s relationship being an important element. While in Wicked, Elphaba and Glinda’s relationship and their love for one another is unquestionably the core of the musical, with the Animal oppression plot being more of an important catalyst for the plot to move.

And I just think that helps inform the character’s actions and reception. Don’t really have a point, just kind of some directionless ramblings I was thinking about recently.

[aid-worker-sya]

the more i think about my opinion the more i feel like, man. i liked SOTO... i liked Pre-Nayos SOTO at least. i find the Wizard's Court interesting. i find the new characters interesting and now just... it's over. soon we'll probably have new hub that probably takes up fucking another one of my shared inventory slots (anet container for all the scrolls WHEN) and new characters and a new plot. and the more i think about the more i feel like... we're ending right as it began.

i want to like these new characters more. they were fun for the brief time i got to see them and talk to them and see their side stories flesh out. hell even maybe see the main gang meet Dragon's Watch!!!

like i keep imagining, idk. the finale of Midnight King is more or less Eparch literally consuming all of Nayos (for gameplay reasons we can still play it's just treated as "before" the final story step) as Eparch seeks to obtain god-like power further in the Mists. maybe there's a refugee crisis with the kryptis loyal to Peitha who now need a new homeland: let's say Cascade Woods. Peitha also is now somewhat lost and directionless in the face of what is unconditionally an overwhelming defeat for her and is no longer certain she can be a worthy King for her people. the Wizard Court being forced to reveal itself to Tyria at last as Eparch's threat now becomes world-destroying. and then after a period of 2-3 years irl, the final climactic battle with Eparch to end the Wizard/Demon/Kryptis Saga once and for all to prepare for the next great adventure. a new Saga taking a few years.

but it began and ended.... and it's just over now. and i can't stop thinking almost every issue i have with SOTO could've been resolved with "i wish it had more time. i wish we could think about this for another two years and see it develop." but it's just. it's over. and the dialogue in the Tower even seems to be pretty final. like, i have NO doubt we'll see these characters again, but for now it's just... over.

so i'm genuinely curious. does anyone else feel the same? does anyone else feel like Secrets of the Obscure should have been the first installment of a new Saga, a trilogy or duology of expansions with a more streamlined focus by keeping the same writing team so the plot doesn't change multiple times before moving onto the next? or was it fine by itself?

i'm genuinely curious! and i'd love to hear your reasonings too!

[greatwyrmgold]

Lots of shonen battle manga/anime have huge casts, from Dragon Ball to Undead Unluck. But it's hard to write a crowd of characters. You only have so much space, after all, and a significant fraction of that needs to be earmarked for the primary characters/plot, or else your story feels directionless.

One Piece strikes a balance better than most. First, it establishes that each Straw Hat has their own skill set. And by "establishes," I mean Luffy gets a whole thesis speech about that back in East Blue.

Sure, Oda struggles so hard with making Nami's navigation plot-relevant (especially with Log Poses around) that he gives her a de facto magic staff for several arcs, Sanji's cooking is basically just a gimmick for when he's not kicking people, and Robin's archaeological skills go almost completely unused outside Skypieia and some arcs I haven't gotten to. But each Straw Hat has their own skillset, and that's not true in most of One Piece's peers.

Second, Oda has a knack for pulling off really engaging Massive Battle Events. This is something a lot of his peers try to emulate, but it usually feels like a long series of separate fights that happen to take place in more or less the same time and place.

From a bare-bones structural perspective, I guess a lot of Oda's Massive Battle Events are also a bunch of separate fights. But he does a much better job of making them feel connected, of giving characters goals beyond "beat up all the other guys," of making fights have consequences beyond X character not participating in future fights.

And perhaps most importantly, Oda hands out important decisions and accomplishments to characters other than Luffy. His plan for stopping Doflamingo's birdcage was to punch Doffy really hard until it stopped collapsing. It's up to Franky and Zoro to think of ways to push back while Luffy recovers from his unsustainably hard punches.

The way Oda designed his protagonists and plots, everyone is necessary for the Straw Hats' ultimate victory. Not only does victory rely on people doing a lot of things (Luffy can't be everywhere at once), it relies on people doing different things (Luffy's only good at combat, camaraderie, and consuming absurd amounts of food).

It's not easy to balance 8-10 main characters, to give all of them their moment in the spotlight. But Oda pulls it off.

[coldflasher]

so me and my friend had to put our flash (re)watch on pause for a while bc she broke her ankle so we haven't seen each other in a while, but we finally picked season 8 back up and. god. i don't even have anything funny or insightful to say about it because it's just bad. it's so bad. and i couldn't even put my finger on why it was so bad at first, but eventually my friend pointed out that like. NOTHING happens. the characters literally just stand in a circle and talk. then whenever something DOES happen they go "hey so this thing just happened, hold on a sec while i describe it word for word in case you missed it." there's no action 90% of the time and there's no meta of the week for the most part so every episode feels samey and directionless as we slowly crawl our way towards a resolution of a plotline that isn't particularly compelling anyway

the characters are flat and nothingy. barry, the main character of the show, does FUCKING NOTHING EVER. there was one scene where he was running down the street, which he obviously used to do in every single ep, and my friend was like "holy shit i feel like we haven't actually seen him RUN in ages" and she was right. the man whose WHOLE SUPERPOWER IS RUNNING VERY FAST DOESN'T RUN ANYWHERE ONSCREEN FOR LIKE SIX EPS STRAIGHT. we see him run in and out of rooms but never see a straight shot of him running TO anywhere. WHY?

then there's the fact that the overarching plots are bad. the characters are split into two factions that don't interact at all. iris having time sickness could be cool and interesting and there's lots of potential for interesting character work there, but instead of making anything happen they have her sit on a couch and not touch anything in case she erases it from the timeline.

at one point she literally GOES MISSING and barry just. DOES NOTHING?? im sorry, fuck whatever else is happening, you know if iris disappeared he'd be tearing the city apart looking for her but all that happens is cecile is like "omg barry i can feel that you're sad, what's going on??" and he's like "iris is missing, im worried about her." WHAT!! THEN FUCKING LOOK FOR HER YOU DINGBAT!! i've said this before but s1-4 barry would absolutely beat the shit out of this version of himself if he found out about this

and don't even get me STARTED on caitlin and her almost husband, the skeleton fire demon who eats grief---again, this had the bare bones (pun intended) of an interesting plotline; a meta that feeds off people's grief could actually be really powerful and interesting to explore, but he's a magic skeleton from another universe who tricks her by pretending to be her dead husband so it's just stupid. at one point the characters like "why are we doing this plotline now, 7 years after ronnie died?" and i'm like yes, why ARE we? because again, having caitlin fall prey to the manipulations of a malevolent force that feeds on grief would actually be very topical and interesting if it had happened in, say, s2, when ronnie had just died for the second time. if her grief was fresh and raw and painful it could be conceivable that she'd be desperate enough to go "well i thought he was dead once and he survived, maybe he did it again", and cling to that, allowing herself to be tricked into believing this evil sentient flame skull was really ronnie. but it's been SEVEN YEARS and she literally just got a new boyfriend who has no personality and who we never see again, so it doesn't make any sense and i don't care. also the show keeps trying to convince you to care by having caitlin go "ronnie was such a valuable member of the team, you knew and loved him!!" and it's like... did we though? did we really? he's never made a big impression on me personally. the only character who was close to ronnie and actually knew him was cisco and he's not here. they added a few flashbacks and a proposal scene to try and make us care more about the caitlin/ronnie relationship but they didnt do anything for me because i was too busy staring at danielle's terrible wig. like babes that is NOT what caitlin's s1 hair looked like, did you even try

the skeleton fire demon stuff is actually kind of enjoyable to watch at times purely because it's so fucking ridiculous, the whole thing is a trainwreck, so i did somewhat enjoy getting to make fun of it but JESUS CHRIST IT'S SO TERRIBLE. HOW DID THE SHOW FALL SO FAR. WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED

[mahou-furbies]

My Precure season ranking is here again! Series within tiers are in the order I watched them.

Top tier

Go! Princess Precure - Great characters and a particularly lovable heroine, handles its dream theme well and the princess motifs support it and give the show a memorable and consistent visual look.

Star Twinkle Precure - Mostly great characters, the message is a bit muddy but the space theme holds up well and traveling to other planets gives a nice chance of pace.

Tropical Rouge! Precure - A lot less ambitious than the other two, but has excellent characters and was just a lot of fun for what it was. Has the single best episode in the franchise.

Ok tier

Kira Kira Precure A La Mode - I like the character designs and the main theme is consistent, plus sweets visuals always earns some points from me. Not particularly interesting characters though.

Fresh Precure! - Alright characters plus Setsuna has a great character arc and the story doesn’t do anything offensively stupid, but also doesn’t particularly stand out, introduces a major theme out of nowhere at the end and the colours are really ugly.

Futari wa Precure Max Heart - Slow as molasses and Nagisa and Honoka don’t have a lot to do, but Hikari’s story was unexpectedly good and also unique for the franchise.

Smile Precure! - Fun characters and surprisingly enjoyable "filler" episodes, but not enough substance for top tier.

Futari wa Precure Splash Star - A memorable theme and a great villain side. Main duo is ok but not particularly well developed.

Hirogaru Sky Precure! - I really want to like this because 4/5 of the cast is so good, the character designs are excellent and the ending is great but the story is just so nothing. And Ellee baby form detracts from every scene she's in.

Mid tier

Healin’ Good Precure - Nodoka’s story is one of the best in the entire franchise, however I found pretty much everything else about it boring, and find it has the dullest character dynamics and Asumi is to be the blandest Cure overall.

Futari wa Precure - Nice chemistry with the main duo and a main heroine who feels fresh at this point, but is otherwise kind of generic and especially the second half was pretty weak.

Mahou Tsukai Precure! - Ha-chan is great but otherwise felt pretty plodding, really weak villains.

(lower tiers under readmore)

Meh tier

Delicious Party Precure - Memorable theme but otherwise doesn’t have much that stands out about it. Has disjointed plot elements and I didn’t particularly care for any of the characters.

Yes! Precure 5 - No glaring issues (aside from the fact I don't like Nozomi) but also no particular highlights either, kind of meh all around. Has some nice character dynamics.

Bottom tier

Happiness Charge Precure! - Hime is lovely and the concept of the International Precure is great, but I also find half of the main Cures awful and in the end the show is a directionless mess that doesn’t do anything with any of its unique ideas.

Doki Doki! Precure - Great Cure designs and props for trying with the lore, but the show is far too busy making everything about how amazing Mana is, which consumes everything else.

Yes! Precure 5 GoGo - Unnecessary sequel with a generic story and doesn't really add anything worthwhile to the Cures' character arcs.

Kibou no Chikara: Otona Precure '23 - The stuff on the Cures' adult lives was good but a letdown on all other fronts. Nostalgia pandering without properly delivering. And no new Cure forms!

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

I finished acotar a while ago and I was gonna write a review right away but then christmas happened and I was pretty busy and wanted to enjoy myself so youre getting like two weeks late

It was fine, I really didnt have any strong feelings about the book itself. Like, my main complaints are that it was pretty boring and directionless for most of it and stuff thats mainly related to the next books, if I just look at it as a standalone I would describe it as "not for me, but not that bad"

That is, until we get to Under The Mountain, where everything just gets really stupid and convoluted. That whole section, which is a solid fourth or fifth of the whole book, severely clashes with the sweet fairytale romance that came before it. It reminds me of how all those twilight-knockoff trilogies in the 2010s would have two pretty low-stakes books worth of basically only romance with some weird magic sprinkled on top, and then in the last book it would turn out that the protagonist and her beloved need to Go To War or the world will end except even worse (also now that I think about it, the first three acotar books also seem to be structed like that, so youre getting two shitty plot structures in one. yayyyyyyy)

There was literally no reason for all of that happen, it was honestly just unpleasant reading about Feyre, who had spent the book recovering from her trauma in a way that was genuinely pretty nice to read about, being tortured for three months until she was feeling worse than she ever had before. And some people might say "oh, thats the point, its meant to be tragic" but it didnt feel like tragedy, it just felt tonally dissonant. Also, the entire ending was so weird and dragged out, like that bit where she and Tamlin are staying one last night UTM for some reason and then she talks to Rhysand before they finally leave and its like, BRO dont stay in the Palace of Torments for any longer than you have to, just leave through that portal-tunnel thing

Speaking of Rhysand, he wasnt that bad in this book but Im sure my opinion on him will change. The main thing that sticks out about him is how sjm simply could not resist ALREADY explaining all of his motivations and portraying him as someone whos obviously so noble, despite all the obviously horrific and completely unecessary shit hes doing. Like, theres that scene where Rhysand crushes that guy's brain when Amarantha ordered him to crush his mind and the narration goes "that was actually an act of mercy from Rhysand" ??? that mightve worked better in third person limited where youre working without the implication that the prose is the pov character's actual thoughts, but since its first person and meant to be Feyre's thoughts I was just like "why is she thinking that when she should be thinking 'holy fucking shit, i just signed my life over to a guy who could squish my mind like a grape if he wanted to?!?!?!!'"

Also, theres that scene where Rhysand comes into Feyres cell to "escape from it all" or whatever and he basically monologues to her about his sympathetic motivations and I just. sarah, girlie, you shouldve saved this shit for the second book. Like, rewrite the scene so that he just comes in eithout a word, hes totally unresponsive to Feyre insulting him or trying to ask him what hes doing here, he just sits down in the corner, knees pulled to his chest, he mutters something vague about just wanting to be left alone, maybe he's even got tears in his idk. I think that would be a far more effective way to have him be sympathetic in a more subtle way than just having him monologue his tragic circumstances and noble intentions at Feyre

Thats about it so far, I'll probably start reading ACOMAF in january when winter break is over and I can read it on the bus and in class again

[p5x-theories]

What We Know About Rin

(last updated 8/26/24!)

Yaoling Li, codename Rin, is a freshman college student from Sichuan, China, studying abroad. She joins the team as a "Phantom Idol", or cognitive teammate.

Her files are named with the codename "Tirara" instead of her canon codename Rin. The exact significance of this, if any, is unknown.

According to the SMT Wiki, her All Out Attack finisher text "reads "散虑自逍遥" which translates to "Get rid of your worries and live freely" in Mandarin Chinese from "散虑逍遥" contained in famous Chinese book "Thousand Character Classic.""

Her Japanese voice actress is Ru Thing.

Yaoling is a Confidant of Wonder’s, and seems to be available sometime after the first Palace. Her Confidant focuses on her trying to understand why her parents sent her to study abroad, and what she wants to do or learn while she's here. Yukimi Fujikawa appears during it, as she and Yaoling are next-door neighbors in Yongen-Jaya. Yaoling seems to be on good terms with her, though she worries about Yukimi's strict mother and wants to help. More information about Yaoling's Confidant can be found here.

Yaoling also had a special animated promo video focused on her.

She appears briefly during the plot when she walks out of the secondhand shop in Shibuya, right after Wonder and Ruferu arrive to get a work table there, though all she does is mutter about having trouble with Japanese still.

Yaoling is also sitting in the family restaurant booth next to Wonder, Motoha, and Ruferu's booth after Motoha awakens her Persona, when Wonder and Ruferu explain everything to Motoha. Yaoling isn't shown to have any reaction to this, though, so it's unknown whether this actually means anything or was just a cameo.

Yaoling is very upbeat and enthusiastic, expressing a curiosity towards trying all the new things in Japan that she can, while also running into occasional cultural differences (for instance, asking Wonder where she can buy tea in bulk, which Wonder doesn't think will be an option anywhere around here). She does her best to overcome the language barrier, as her Japanese is passable but far from perfect, but it's still the cause of some of her troubles.

Wonder first helps her out by explaining what some of the labels at the grocery store in Yongen-Jaya mean, and after that, she begins calling him "Sensei", and spending more time with him. She likes learning about where he lives and his own daily life, but isn't overly prying. She also finds it funny that between Wonder and Yukimi, all her friends in Japan are a bit younger than her.

While she acknowledges it's a stereotype about people from Sichuan to like spicy food, she also admits she very much fits that stereotype, and is an avid enjoyer of very spicy dishes. She likely has some basic cooking knowledge in general, as some of her Confidant rewards are new recipes for Wonder. She seems to see their relationship as somewhat transactional in that respect; she feels bad that Wonder is helping her understand things and figure herself out, but she's giving nothing in return, so she starts sharing food and crafting recipes with him.

Her main insecurity seems to stem from her uncertainty about why her parents wanted her to study abroad. She's unsure what she's really supposed to be learning or doing in Japan, and though Wonder helps her try things, she still expresses frustration at her directionlessness, and it seems to be the core issue of her Confidant. After having a fight with Yukimi, Yaoling also begins to second-guess her carefree attitude and stubbornness towards what she thinks is right. Over the course of her Confidant, she begins to understand that it's okay to mess things up, as this is how you learn from them, but it's also important to stay true to your own beliefs, while also taking others' beliefs into account. You can believe whatever you want, but you can't force others to agree with you, you can only try to reach an understanding.

She decides that the meaning of studying abroad is to learn that last point, and in general to gain an ability to compromise between your own sense of "common sense" and other people and cultures' concepts of "common sense". While still enthusiastic and carefree, she feels her time in Japan has helped her mature, and learn more about herself and others.

Rin's Persona Meng Po (based on a Chinese goddess who serves souls a soup that make them forget their past life before being reborn) is categorized as a Curse type, and resists Curse while being weak to Electric.

Meng Po is a Surrender Persona, meaning she’s focused around applying debuffs to gain an advantage, and her trait gives her "Memories" at the start of her turn based on her speed, which turn into "Meng Po Soup" that strengthens her next skill. She has three curse attack skills: the first hits all enemies and lowers their defense based on her speed, giving her Memories, the second hits one enemy (doing more damage if they have a status effect), and will afflict them with forget if she has Meng Po Soup, and the third hits all enemies, and weakens them based on speed (the effect of which is doubled if she has Meng Po Soup). Her passive skills increase her attack based on her speed, and increase curse damage received by enemies whose health is above 50%.

In combat, her melee weapon is a bo staff, while her ranged weapon is an assault rifle. Her Highlight is shown in this video, and hits all enemies, strengthens the next attack to hit them, and has a chance of afflicting them with forget.

Her recommended card sets are 1) 3 of Cups (Abundance) + Knight of Wands (Departure), 2) 4 of Coins (Power) + Page of Coins (Growth).

The game recommends teaming her up with 1) Joker.

[hauntedradiotower]

what does your rid15 fix-it au you’ve mentioned look like… mine feels more like an entirely separate thing based off only the broadest of strokes bc rid15 is. honestly extremely difficult to work with for me bc of it’s weird sequel but doesn’t really act or feel like a sequel 99% of the time vibes 😭

Hey hey thanks for asking!

I’m still putting the plot pieces together honestly. I have a few themes and a vibe.

THE VIBE This was easy; it will be like the Iron Giant. Many beats are similar between that movie and RiD: the start of the show being some guy yelling “Mayday!”, the kind robots who turn into mindless killers when their eyes go red, the lonely kid raised by a single parent in a 50s-diner-looking-setting, hiding robots from society/government, the scrapyard dilf who thinks trash is treasure, etc. RiD has additional plot pieces, but it’s missing any sort of emotional substance. It’s all formulaic. Put these bad guys back in their prison cans forever. It sometimes hints at themes that could be higher or deeper, but doesn’t follow through.

THE THEMES 1. Fear of being useless or incompetent (Fixit’s fears about being discarded as scrap, Bee’s fears about being good enough to fill Optimus’ shoes, Denny’s fears about not being a good dad to Russell, etc)

2. Fear of The Other (Autobots fearing Decepticons and vice versa, humans fearing robots and vice versa) and how to overcome it (kindness? Violence? Understanding?)

3. The inherent value of a living thing (yes even Minicons, YES even Decepticons)

4. Found Family YAY

MISCELLANEOUS I do know the main characters would be Fixit and Russell. Optimus would probably not be in it, aside from flashbacks and/or visions. The Decepticons would be characterized with traits beyond “generic evil/destructive evil/plotting evil”. Maybe they’d be allowed to start their own society on a different planet, just not earth. Bee wouldn’t be confidently settled with a job as a cop at the start, he’d be more listless and directionless. More like Bootleg Hotrod*, but longing for a higher cause again. Sideswipe and Strongarm would probably not be in it. Windblade though…

All of this is subject to change, I haven’t even finished S1 yet. But that’s the bones of it. I’d love to hear more about your AU!

[dragynkeep]

do you think taiyang is a bad father?

I think Tai suffers the worst out of inconsistent and directionless character writing, especially since he's by far the STRQ member with the least amount of time and effort given to him, behind even Summer who was literally barely here for 8 volumes.

Like they wanted to built mystery with Summer. They just didn't care about Taiyang.

And I think people are honestly right in not liking him or being neutral because of this. He's a single father who had to raise two daughters by himself after being abandoned by his first wife and then widowed when his second wife died, leading him to shut down and really fail on being there 100% for Yang and Ruby.

But then they also decided that he was this brilliant dad who Yang and Ruby have no issues with, but then change it again in V5 with Yang calling him by his first name and saying he was never there, and then again in V9 with Ruby now saying that Yang raised her when we're given conflicting information.

Did Tai step back up after a period of understandable grief, with Yang having to do some things as the eldest? Was he a neglectful father to the point that Yang basically had to become Ruby's mother and is rightfully bitter over this?

I also think that some of his scenes are unfairly criticised:

The joke about Yang's arm was only wrong in that Port and Oobleck weren't in the loop, and you really don't make those jokes amongst yourselves when there's company not in on the joke.

Also the backstory of Yang and Ruby sneaking out as kids and nearly getting killed. I know some people think that Tai was so neglectful that he literally didn't see his own kids leaving the house, but Tai was literally at work when this happened. Yang said so in the flashback, she waited until her dad was out of the house before leaving, and since he's a single dad with no one to help, including the alcoholic uncle who is barely there, who could he ask to watch them?

That wasn't an example of Tai's neglect, that literally proved otherwise with Yang having to wait until he was physically not there so she could leave.

And finally him not going after Ruby after Yang left. It's kinda both a mischaracterisation and the writers just... not giving him a good reason not to go.

With Ruby it was reasonable. She ran away without him knowing, just leaving a note, and he couldn't leave when his recently disabled daughter was still with him. Yang also tried to leave with just a note, but he caught her and this is where the reasonable explanations really fall flat.

Because there's nothing left keeping Tai from going with Yang to find Ruby. We know why the WRITERS didn't want him to go, they didn't have a reason for Tai to become part of the main plot, since Qrow was already there to serve that the only role he can fit in, but they forgot that you kinda need an inuniverse reason for why characters can't do things.

Which they didn't. So now we're left thinking "Why is Taiyang just sitting there, watering his flowers, when his two children are out fighting the literal war he's one of the few people that know?"

So a lot of people who already don't like Tai make up reasons about his characters, when it's just simply bad writing.

Why did Tai not go after Ruby and Yang? Same reason why Ironwood suddenly became a one-dimensional villain that bombed poor people. Why Maria and Pietro suddenly vanished from the plot to the point where we didn't even see them when the citizens were rescued, but they made a point to show the racist grandma and the two drunks instead.

Bad writing. Taiyang just feels like they needed a fourth member of Team STRQ and decided to make him Ruby and Yang's dad.

[rei-caldombra]

Uramichi Onii-San- The Woes of the Working Adult - Anime Review

This is a very low spoiler review for anyone reading this who has not seen the show. There is just one section that has direct spoilers, outside of that it’s just general premise and thematic stuff that I talk about. This show is also a slice of life comedy with no proper plot so I would not be concerned about the spoiler I bring up there ruining your viewing experience. 

I’d call this a pretty straightforward comedy with flavoring of adult suffering. Quick synopsis-- this show is about a group of adults who work on a children’s tv program where kids are present on set. Most of the actors are very mentally unwell due to the daily stresses of life, to the point where they can’t even keep their masks on completely for their job. Which leads to very funny outbursts of depressing reality. 

It's really nice having a show about working adults and the mid 20s-early 30s age group that I think of as the earlier proper adult range. This is an age group that is usually just segmented to a few side characters in most anime and manga. As someone who has entered this age group in recent years, I relate a lot to what's going on here and, in a way, fear my approach to the age of the adults on screen lol. There are so many issues of adult suffering that get brought up here. To mention some of them- Numbness to emotions, not wanting to get out of bed, not having confidence that you will be willing to get up in the morning, that urge to go to a random place just to avoid going to work (I directly relate to his experience of his urge to get on a random bus rather than his work bus, but for me its been wanting to get on a random train). Feeling lost and directionless. Stuck in the day to day. Feeling unsatisfied with what your life is making out to be. Thinking you are dull. Pushing through difficult times for a specific goal. Having something you were passionate and successful at before that did not translate into a job in that field. Feeling despair over not being in a relationship, pressure to get married. Not having many friends. Relying on little moments of happiness. Needing to do your job no matter how terrible you feel. Feeling suppressed by society. Annoying unreasonable bosses. Considering a few days off in a row is a momentous occasion. Even if you are not as mentally unwell as many of the characters in this show, if you are a working adult you will have lots of moments that you can relate to. 

While it does bring up these very real and depressing things, don’t misconstrued it as the tone being genuinely depressing or heavy. They really are played as jokes despite the truth to them both irl and for the characters in universe. This is not a show that will bring down your mood. The comedy works super well for me, I think the show is very funny. When it comes to shows that are primarily comedies, it's hard to say much more than that. Directly describing jokes takes away part of their punch for anyone who hasn't seen them already, and loses the context that helps make them funny, so I'm going to avoid bringing up specific segments I really liked, as much as I really want to talk about some of them. All I will say is the main bit of the show is the adult characters reacting to positive/innocent things with a jaded adult perspective. 

You can empathize very easily with the characters through their very relatable and real issues. This does a great job of getting you invested in the characters. I really like the inner monologues we get from Uramichi that show his thought process. The characters largely do feel like they could be real people. 

Having a character voiced by Mamoru Miyano is always a plus, I actually first came across this show because of clips of his character. There’s a lot of famous Japanese voice actors here- the previously mentioned legend, Hiroshi Kamiya, Sugita Tomokazu and Yuuichi Nakamura. I knew I recognized most of the main character’s voices when I first heard them. As such the voice acting is super good. 

I don’t know much about being a children’s programming actor so it is interesting to get a glimpse into that. Such as the detail that the costumed characters' lines during a live show are pre recorded and played through speakers. It's also interesting seeing them adapt scenes to random things happening, like the kids asking certain questions. The characters needing to act and follow a script while also reacting to the chaotic element that is children makes for an interesting setting. I do feel I got a good glimpse into this space from Uramichi San. I tend to really like slices of life that focus on niche subjects. I like getting a glimpse into a space I know nothing about through something more interesting than documentaries or articles. And to me the mark of a good niche subject show is not successfully appealing to people already in that niche, it is being able to interest people who aren’t. If a show can keep someone with no knowledge or interest in that niche entertained, it’s got great writing and execution. And Uramichi San certainly does keep me interested.

I do have one talking point that does require bringing up some examples directly. One criticism I do have is that there's a bit of dissonance between whether you can take what the characters are saying as real or not. There are times when Uramichi will say something depressing while performing on the show and other characters would react as you would expect if someone said something they shouldn’t around kids. But then other times where he does and the characters don’t react as if he did. Sometimes you can assume the camera or audio is not going in these moments but there are moments where you can’t justify that. When they put on the concert is one place you see this. The jokes of the songs going from positive to depressing while continuing to have the energy of a kids song are genuinely really funny. But it does take you out of it a bit because in context that implies the song was actually written that way. Which doesn’t make sense for the in-universe shows writers to do. And it doesn’t make sense for the characters to suddenly not follow the song’s actual lyrics and not have anyone react weirdly to it, including the audience. It tends to leave you thinking something along the lines of “wait, are they just gonna leave that in?”.There is some internal consistency with the children reacting properly at least, as the show goes on the kids replicate the depressing ideas more often. Which is funny and makes sense. This doesn’t ruin things completely, but it does kinda hurt your desire to think about what the characters are doing more deeply due to the lax internal consistency. I think you just have to accept it's loose with these things and that the priority is telling jokes over having a 100% consistent view. It's a bit awkward but I can accept it because the jokes we get out of this are generally quite funny. 

When it comes to art and animation, it’s pretty good. There is extra fluidity during more high movement scenes which are nice to see. There are a lot of great expressions that manage to portray the impression of someone smiling through suffering. The overall presentation of colors, character designs, etc. are good too and fit with the setting of a children's program. I like the variety of hairstyles we get from all the characters. I have no complaints in the presentation department. 

I’ve been enjoying this show a lot! I love these barely functional adults whose hinges are largely broken. It’s very funny and I like the adult themes it brings up. It’s not perfect in its execution at times, which can break your immersion a bit, but what you get from that loose attitude still works. Despite frequently bringing up depressing subject matter that any adult out there will find something to heavily relate to, it manages to keep a very silly and positive tone. This show comes very highly recommended! I hope you are properly taking care of yourselves my fellow working adults. Stay strong and thanks for reading!

Also Kumatani is best boy.

[wherestarsarestillasleep]

second batch of p3p impressions, just met aigis. talk to me abt persona games

-Akihiko is so autism. “hey girl did you know the breaststroke is the most efficient swimming method due to ababaabba” “i have no interest in this information.” autism to autism confrontation

ALSO why is his social link a different arcana than his persona?? Ik in the base game he didn’t have a social link and still had an associated arcana but like, Minato also had a Magician slink and they still gave that to Junpei

also it’s funny that the stat requirement to start his slink has absolutely nothing to do with his own standards

-persona games are so fucking fun and addictive. it’s impressive they’re split into two very different kinds of gameplay and they both manage to be pretty evenly fun and engaging. im way more optimisation brained with this one than 4 and 5 and you can restore your whole partys hp and sp for a fraction of the amount of money you naturally make exploring tartarus and apparently originally if you went to the ground floor tired party members would leave but i guess not in portable so like. It’s just completely viable and optimal to do everything possible in tartarus on one ingame date only in a huge chunk so that’s what i’ve been doing. i was in there so fucking long. the dark "”hour””

-Okay so in persona 5 for the first arc, maybe also the second, you are introduced to ryuji and he fucking rocks. he’s so cool he’s set up to be a really great character i would love a lot and for the duration of kamoshidas palace he is that. also in persona 5 for most of the phantom thieves they have a cool plot focused on them for the dungeon you recruit them and then the writing has little idea what to do with those characters for the rest of the game. the result is ryuji is awesome for one maybe two dungeons and then is replaced by an imposter because his main story focus is over and the priority with his character then becomes making him fit better into the Persona Funny Pervert Bro Character trope which mostly fucking sucks and makes ryuji mostly fucking sucks

Junpei is presumably the character that started that archetype for yosuke and most-of-the-game-ryuji to follow, despite this for the first while he highlights the good parts of that archetype the funny bro who is your friend half and then it got harder and harder to continue liking him as i progressed and then the beach scene was predictably dogshit and added him to the very large pile of persona characters who i have to mentally overwrite significant things about in order to like them

When you first meet him Yukari assumes he’s hitting on you but it seems like no he was genuinely just being nice and concerned about a new transfer student and his social link continues being that he is your bro and he even offers to be your wingman for other dudes with zero jealousy and then his main story dialogue is. not that. And like. I assume he has the same july jealousy arc with the male protag because it is mostly about him generally feeling insecure and directionless but it Really Fucking Looks Worse with femc route when Junpei has more than one case of dialog about how He Should Be The Leader Cause He’s A Strong Man And You Are Girls it looks like THAT’S the main reason he’s so pissy for a while. he does earnestly apologise though. i still want to like him but i hate persona

-YUKARI though yukari is good i like yukari more and more i still haven’t seen as much of her link as some others but she’s thoughtful and outspoken. i dont have as many words to say about her but i like her a lot and that she takes initative on things and called out mitsuru and shuji directly and also apologised for it later as well. also i was very confused for a while why she couldn’t take a single hit when she had the same endurance as Minako that was because she was tired.

-Mitsuru is so cool and pretty and epic. that is all. maybe if you were a Genius she might spend time with you. Fuuka is my friend :). Akihiko is my favourite probably.

Currently Yukari is maybe the least useful party member and fell behind a bit but i like the look of her final skills in the end. Junpei for the last 2-3 boss fights has been almost exclusively rotating buffing everyone else also it is great that he can take a hit. Mitsuru is great for big damage and big heals and I like that Akihiko can passably fill any role you want him to be in at any point

It’s so cool that persona has both constant party members in your actual party members and a constantly rotating party in your personas because fusing newer higher level ones is much more likely than levelling your personas quickly enough to keep up. I made Oberon a while ago and he’s mad good, he’s still statistically up to par with higher level personas and with the skills i have on him he can take any role. in 4 and 5 i didnt pay all that much attention to exploring beyond the basic mechanics but taking deeper advantage of all the very many gameplay options they give you is really satisfying because persona games are difficult enough going out of your way to do all that leaves you well equipped without trivialising, at least this early into the game

-been trying to do all elizabeths requests but 1. i just missed exactly one on accident 2. fuck the golden shadows im not doing that ive managed to enter combat with exactly ONE hitting it from behind and then it had advantage and ran away immediately within battle?? 3. the requests where you get her an item from someone on a specific date i thought that was just the FIRST available date so i missed a lot of those... Also it sucks that enemies only drop items for her requests after you accept the request so I had to go back down floors

-odd that pharos main story link is a couple lower than sees main story link

-winning the low bar of least homophobic persona game. ik i just got past the part with the transphobic scene but i guess they removed it from either portable or femc’s route so I haven’t actually seen that

[arsenussy]

Yes, i'm gonna have to ask for you to pretty please infodump about your persona 5 oc cause i'm obsessed-he's so freaking awesome and your artstyle is gorgeous i just have to know more <3

AAAAAA omg thank you so much!!!!! sorry it's taken me so long, life and all that

okay so. i can't remember what all i have said about him so, you get everything. his name is Akabane Haruto (last, first) (or as my phone wants to keep autocorrecting to, Alabama Naruto) and they’re a 3rd year at Shujin. his persona is Mercutio, and his arcana is The Vagabond which i just sorta made up cause why not

this is long i’m putting the rest under a break

as for more specific and personal info; its kinda depressing but i promise it gets better his whole character is built around themes of isolation, feeling directionless, lack of sense of center or even self, the feeling that you're just kinda floating through life with no substance or impact. existing without interacting a constant gnawing whole where "you" are meant to be inside Haruto wasn't always so husk-like though, of course he was actually a very loud energetic colorful kid he was a lot and they got a lot of flak for their... general manner of existing. too loud, too hyper, too odd, too different, too much so they pretty quickly learned to just stop being that way. kinda turn everything off and he became this reflective thing that would latch onto the expectations of others and spit it back out slowly losing touch with any personality he once had they were pretty popular for a while. kinda. hopped between friend groups, seeming to fit in just about anywhere. but it all had no substance. they were connections but no real relationships. so he formed this pattern of making "friends" and like joining groups and then ghosting seemingly randomly and moving on to the next group leaving everything behind in the dust. scared of getting too close where people may see how nothing he actually is inside and it didn't take long for his peers to recognize the pattern so they got a reputation for being just this super wishy washy ingenuine dude that will lead people on but doesn't actually give a shit so Haruto stops doing that all together and just. kinda keeps to himself. goes full loner mode. and he feels like just a warm body in a room. and he truly feels like theres nothing to him. no substance or skill or talent or unique traits or any traits really he is boring and he is empty and thats just how his life will be. even though in reality they're really just so repressed they don't even REALIZE they are. and then his arc would be about like. reconnecting with who he actually is. finding himself, who they once were, who they've become. finding a center, or at least a path to it. being their own person after trying to be as palatable as possible for so long. making friends. also with other weirdos where he can just. BE. and eventually the world will gain saturation again . which is why the whole metaverse outfit is so striking i think its an incredibly colorful and extravagant get-up. a macaw inspires venetian carnival costume. nothing about that is bland or empty or muted. its bold and bright and in your face and EXTRA and thats who Haruto IS he's just FORGOTTEN and the macaw aspect also still ties in with his tendency to just sorta mirror others. parrot stuff. cause that is still also a facet of Haruto and then the persona mercutio, the character from romeo and juilet (it's been a while since ive dived into romeo and juliet bare with me) he's outside of the two main houses in the story which allows him to mingle and wander. he's just got so much PERSONALITY, y'know? his emotions are one of the things that drives the plot. he's confident and unafraid to just go and let his voice and opinions and personality be heard for LENGTHS of time

i probably have more info and fun facts and whatnot hiding somewhere in my brain, but alas it is almost midnight and i can no longer think so i will leave it at this for now