#the protag getting into lots of situations where hes the nice guy to step in and protect a girl can get a bit on the nose and wtvr

[waywardsalt]

wait wait wait im making a connection here. p5 protag initially gets in trouble and falsely accused of assault when he stops shido from assaulting that woman before the story begins and this fucks his life up a bit. in the rank 8 confidant scene with sojiro we have futaba’s uncle try to approach futaba, who is clearly upset by him, and the protag moves in front of her to protect her, and the uncle trips(?) and threatens to accuse the protag of assault and sue him, like what happened with shido at the very beginning. but this time sojiro and futaba are there as witnesses and sojiro immediately called bullshit to protect the protag. the protag’s dialogue options after the event are apologetic and like he’s making excuses for why he got in the way, like he’s still afraid he’ll end up the same way he did with shido. but this time he has sojiro to protect him (and futaba) and this time his interference to protect someone does not end in a false assault accusation and instead he is backed up by and supported by the people around him who are a sort of foster family for him, he’s not alone and kicked to the curb they have his back hang on. hang on. is this coherent. it’s a like the incident that caused the protag to be falsely accused but instead of the one he protected testifying against him and everyone turning against him and refusing to back him up this time he has the support of the people who care about him. hang on

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Yuma & Astral > Yugi & Atem. Fact

As usual, my disclaimer. Yugioh DM and Yugioh Zexal were the only two Yugioh series I watched completely. I watched DM in the dub and Zexal in the sub. If I had known about the sub as a kid, I would have watched DM in sub :'(. But I was not watching the whole series again. I have watched several sub clips though so I have a fair idea of the Yugioh DM sub.

Now that I have listed my credentials...let me start what may be a hot take.

I love both partner pairings though I like Yugi & Atem more just because I was never a huge Astral fan. But objectively, Yuma & Astral are the superior pair when I look at their story arcs.

The problem with Yugi & Atem is that Atem feels more like the main protag than Yugi. It was not until the Memory Arc during the Yugi vs Bakura duel that it hit home that Yugi was meant to be the main protag. Sure, Yugi has his moments but Atem does all the heavy lifting. Yugi and Atem had great teamwork in the Pegasus duel and it was epic to witness. But otherwise, Yugi does not really have any memorable duels until the last arc. Yugi only duels when Atem is unavailable (eg. in the Bandit Keith duel) or for emotional duels (eg. possessed Joey). Atem is the guy who ultimately defeats the main players: Bakura, Pegasus, Kaiba, Marik, and Dartz. Yugi is basically Atem's support guy and is delegated to the background. Which is why I was never a huge fan of their ceremonial duel. It felt totally unearned to me. First, Yugi has the advantage of knowing Atem's deck while Atem has little knowledge of his. Frankly, the ceremonial duel is quite forgettable and underwhelming. The main moments were Yugi defeating the Egyptian gods and that last symbolic move with the Ressurection of the Dead card. I like Yugi but he never felt like the main character of the story. Atem fought all his battles for him. When things got tough, Atem took over and Yugi took the backseat and got all the glory. Yugi deserved better and I wish his title of King of Games felt more earned in the narrative because Yugi is canonically a prodigy gamer too. In the dub, Yami's thoughts while dueling sound like Yugi so it makes it appear that Yugi is contributing. It's a nice touch but hardly enough to compensate, especially since the sub does not have anything like it as well to bolster Yugi.

Now Yuma and Astral. Thank goodness I found the sub. Dub Zexal is annoying to watch. Yuma is one of my fav Yugioh protag. Honestly, a lot of times I have Yuma as my favourite. Yuma's development was incredible and he is unlike the others who were just naturally amazing duelists. Because Yuma started off as a bad duelist, he relied a lot on Astral. However, what makes the dynamic between Yuma and Astral more interesting than Yugi & Atem is that they are separate entities during the duel so we get to see their interactions. So instead of just possessing Yuma's body, we see Astral coaching Yuma and even some amusing situations such as when Astral played reverse psychology on Yuma when the kid was being stubborn and refusing to listen to him. As Yuma became better, he became less dependent on Astral and we even see Astral congratulating Yuma on creative plays that impressed him. Then we see Yuma and Astral as equals when they fuse with the power of Zexal (cool power by the way **squeal**...although it can be too OP lol). Because of this, I always saw Yuma as the main character of the story, despite Astral's amnesia driving the plot. We see Yuma defeat the villains, sometimes without Astral. Yuma's rivals are HIS, not just Astral's. We see Yuma and Astral working together on screen. We see that Yuma and Astral's goals begin to conflict when Yuma befriends the Barians who are the enemies of Astral world. Therefore, Yuma's ceremonial duel with Astral had so much more buildup and was way more climactic. Yuma grew as a duelist to the point where he could defeat his teacher and step up to save the world from his best friend if need be. All with a smile on his face. I don't care what the Zexal haters say! Yuma is such an awesome character, despite being one of the youngest protags.

Both ceremonial duels have heartwarming endings. But I think Yuma and Astral had a better dynamic than Yugi and Atem. Yugi's only moment against a main villain was in the Duelist Kingdom arc but he never got a moment to really shine after that until literally the last minute.

[toskarin]

Oh, good. In that, case, I need to ask this question: why on god's green earth are most male VN protagonists in straight visual novels the most unfuckable men I've ever had the displeasure of witnessing?

the easy joke is to say "that's who's reading them" but the actual answer is much more nuanced. here's where we get into discussing the difference between a "reader insert" and an "actor"

the term I'm using for the latter is a bit sketchy. I know I'm forgetting the actual one, but it'll do for now

in erotic vns with defined protagonists in particular, you'll notice a certain characterisation that's pretty common. the protagonist is an uninhibited and unfuckable jerk. this isn't necessarily because you're expected to insert as him, but because his role is to create scenes for the reader to insert into

this is a shaky definition, but consider how a protagonist's face disappears when the sex is actually happening. he's been given a lot of characterisation to this point, but now that the fun stuff is happening, he's stepping out of the room

there are some eroge protags who are way more obviously intended to be part of the experience (common in BL and yuri, since the reader there might not be inserting as the protag, but also in vns like Hanachirasu where Akane is deliberately designed to be attractively androgynous), but the rule is generally that they step out when the sex starts

lots of edge cases and things that don't fit this, but my read has always been "nice guys very rarely find themselves in realistically implausible sexual situations" which is a problem when you want to deliver exactly that

[yuseirra]

Thank you so much for the reply I am in fact very happy in reading your analysis it has been a while since I have read such a good take and well thought argument plus looking more into your blog I am fascinated by your posts you are a new fav of mine looking foward your posts about OnK next chapters, I am once again super happy about your reply I love aquakana ;; you do a very good work I really admire your talent it is refreshing and necessary

Thanks anon :) oh, you're so welcome! I went straight to bed after replying to your message earlier, it was nice seeing your ask first thing as I hop on tumblr!/// Aaa thanks for the compliment! ;v;) I could be biased, but I totally mean what I say.

I'm not worried about Aqukana at all because in terms of the ships in onk, I'm looking at a even more complex one right now with a lot of mess being thrown out.

No worries anon, that ship is just too obvious. Things did get a bit messy and confusing in the middle, but I knew it was going to happen and I was excited to learn I was on the right track when stuff like ch 146 and 150-151 happened. That's how I started reading more intently again~ I was following the series, but I wasn't this invested. The one Aqua has romantic feelings for is Kana. It's just.. stated there at this point.

Speaking of which, I "ship" hikaai right? more like I support what's just there... If we compare them to math problems, Aqukana would be like a linear equation, while Hikaai'd be calculus. I believe.. that Hikaai is sorta the advanced question-version compared to Aqukana. When I'm trying to crack that nut, Aqukana is just.. a much much easier question to solve. That's why I don't worry about the former at all. The former is just too clear as day.

Oh, goodness, and I already stepped in with 90% conviction regarding them(hikaai I mean), I don't play a game I end up losing. But this manga is making it so hard for me, I swear. It's super stressful although I realize they're probably doing it for entertainment value and Hikaru was a character we know literally nothing about through the entirety of the story with him being pinpointed as the "evil mastermind", to make it even worse. They gotta fulfill people's expectations about him by portraying him as menacing at least once or twice when he encounters the protags, I get that, but it's such a rough road I signed myself into. I know I have a high chance of winning though.

Fatal and Mephisto is EXACTLY how Hikaru feels about Ai. I'm serious, I just knew it the moment I heard Fatal like the first few seconds in. It was incredible how it felt, it can't be any other way and I have conviction that the author has them on their mind. but GOD, they make me so nervous. This manga makes me so tense. I was worried that I got anything wrong ever since I picked up this series AGAIN for like the past two-three months? was it? because their situation, if I get it wrong, could be deemed as unhealthy and toxic(NONE OF THE "MESSED UP" THINGS TURNED OUT TO BE TRUE, I WOULDN'T HAVE HAD IT ANY OTHER WAY. I KNEW. I JUST KNEW IT WOULD PLAY OUT TO BE LIKE THIS. HIKARU CAN'T DO SH- I look at the guy and he's just... too mild to the point he is naive. Ai chose her man well!!! I swear this has to be where the story will go!!! this is how it will go!! I JUST KNEW!! Just wait okay?? I'm sure I'll be right in the end),

Oh, I'm so sorry;; I really get carried away when I talk about them lately, this is Aqukana we're talking about. The point is, there's nothing you have to worry about the ship or those two who are involved.

I tell you though, I'm serious about psychology and picking up people's emotions. Let me bring up the fact that I major in Psychology AGAIN!!! I REALLY look at these things intently. If I'm wrong, then okay, I guess, but the author should not depict those characters this way if what I predict are to be false. I haven't had an instance where what I predicted came to be too off. I don't think onk will be an exception.

I like aqukana too~/// I'm looking forward to their date in the anime! ;v;) They're the ones who get entire chapters dedicated to their dates, seriously. why would you do that to a ship that would flop if you're the writer, don't worry about them AT ALL. Really, don't worry. I don't feel my take is particularly unique or special. They're going to happen sooner or later.

Thank you!// You're looking forward to my analysis? It's an honor! I wish I DIDN'T need to put out analyses though ;v;... I love putting my ideas out here but I usually do it in the form of fanworks, not words. I didn't know I could talk on and on about something, but I just could not stay still and I guess that's what's been pushing me! Onk makes me so tense and I get relieved when they go on breaks (This applies even after 160. nervous laughs I can draw in "peace", just.. lately, every chapter they have makes me wrap my head so much and I need time to process, I can't do this anymore, HELP ME, it's pain, would have I liked it better if I didn't like this series and its characters as much and cared less? loving something is PAIN) but I will hold out and do my best! 'v')9 Let's have fun together. If the series makes me want to write out how I feel, then I will do just that. I'm sincerely grateful for those of you who tolerate me and/or even enjoy what I could offer!

If something about Aqukana pops up in the story, I'd love to draw them again too!~//They've been missing for some time and they really do need their moment, the author must know too and it will come and happen. This is something I'm sure of regarding this manga. I don't know HOW it will, but I know that it WILL. Believe me on this! :)

[everybody-loves-purdy]

My thoughts on Thunder / ASC so far!

- This is my favorite arc, hands down. TPB was great too, but I wasn’t ever a big fan of Tigerclaw/star as the main villain, as I found him rather generic. Splashtail, Curlfeather, and Berryheart, on the other hand… fantastic characters, I adore how they’re written.

- Frostpaw gets spayed? Hell yeah!! Interesting plot point, and at least we now know that the Erins can no longer pull a Violetshine with her and make her into another boring stereotypical background mother after her arc is over.

- I really like the writing of Sparkpelt, Finchlight, Bayshine, and Myrtlebloom here. I’m glad Sparkpelt and Finchlight aren’t getting demonized anymore

- I’m fine with EITHER Squirrelstar *or* Ivystar. I think it���s safe to say that Squilf didn’t get all nine of her lives - it’s quite likely that Bramblestar only has a few left, so maybe she only got one or two of them? Something is fishy abt that, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we get Ivystar by the end of the arc. If Squilf stays leader, though, I’m cool with that too!

- Finally some acknowledgement of Sparrowtail and Hollowspring! Hollowspring has been a fave background cat of mine for a while, so him getting more development is great

- The way Sunbeam handled Cherryfall’s disrespect was very mature. I really appreciate that, after how immaturely we saw Nightheart handling his own conflicts in ThunderClan back in Sky. Very stark contrast

- The park cats! I was kind of hoping to see WarriorClan initially, but I’m glad we got them instead. I really liked Rook and Bee, was kinda hoping that one of them would be coming back with them - Wasp is a bit of an odd choice, but I digress

- I loved the tasks that Ivypool gave Sunbeam. They make sense, and are completely reasonable - and I believe that it’s leading up to Sunbeam mentoring one of Spotfur’s kits, eventually! That would be sweet

- I kinda hope that Duskfur is morally ambiguous. Perhaps in on the murders of Mistystar and Reedwhisker, but not involved in the dogs attacking Curlfeather: I believe that she genuinely seems to care for her family, and for Frostpaw, and am hoping that she gets a chance to prove herself a better cat by the end of the arc

- SO GLAD the arc’s main villain wasn’t Mapleshade. Don’t get me wrong, I really like her, I just feel that she’s already had her time to shine and that she really shouldn’t become relevant again - it could ruin her character too

- The development for all three protags has been fantastic. Nightheart has matured a lot, and I’m very glad for that - I like him, but I’m not sure how much more Sky-esque angst and whining that I would’ve been able to take.

- VOTE TIGERHEART OUT. I assumed Berryheart was going to be exiled for something atrocious, but instead it was rather for questioning his leadership? What a terrible guy.

- Fingers crossed for Tawnystar. If Tigerheart gets voted out, I’m really hoping that she steps up to fill that role - she deserves it *far* more than he ever did to begin with

- I love Whistlepaw, Her interactions with Frostpaw are adorable, and I definitely ship them!

- Glad to see Smoky, Corriander, and Little Daisy again! Wasn’t expecting that, but hearing that they’re friends of Whitlepaw’s was nice

- I’m loving this arc too! It’s been so good so far and they don’t seem to be losing momentum!

- this whole Frostpaw situation is extremely interesting, I’m just hoping the Erins don’t botch the handling of it. But I am curious as to what role it will play and why.

- I just loved seeing Sunbeam make those friends. And how at the end Finchlight says she’s like kin? I love it.

- I personally think that worse case scenario she only got 8 lives. I just feel that such a deception would just be too big and risky to try and pull off if she didn’t get many or any lives.

- Yeah I’m interested to see where this is going to go with Hollowspring and Sparrowtail. I was starting to think they had forgotten about them like they have Pouncestep but I’m glad to see they’re including them!

- Sunbeam confronting Cherryfall is one of my favourite moments of the book!

- I’m still kind of sad we didn’t see WarriorClan, maybe in a few more years perhaps. I have a suspicion Bee could end up as RiverClan’s next true medicine cat that can have visions. I feel like his vision of seeing cats across and iced river is telling him to take the risk and go and join them.

- I really love how Ivypool’s tasks were all focused on teamwork and co operation, especially since that’s what mainly sets TC and ShC apart, a really interesting detail I love they included in this book actually.

- Yeah I do think Duskfur definitely has an idea about something even if she isn’t in on the full picture, I’ve still got my eye on her.

- Yeah I’m glad it isn’t Mapleshade too, I’m glad we’ve gotten at least one new female villain in her place. Mapleshade is great but given how last arc was all about using old villains, I do like how we’re getting some flesh blood here.

- The development of the protagonists has all been fantastic this book and I actually respect Nightheart a lot now? Wild times we live in

- Yeah I thought Berryheart was going to cause someone to die but instead she just gets told she has to leave because she disagrees with her leader. I can’t help but feel like ShadowClan May heading towards civil war now. Berryheart has allies with her and vocal allies in the clan, we have no idea how many more silent allies she may have.

- Given the end of Tawnypelt’s novella I doubt we’re ever going to see Tawnystar apparently, but it’s a nice dream to have. Hopefully her son is out of power by the end of the arc at least.

- Protip: everyone get yourself someone like Whistlepaw in your life: she’s just such an incredible friend

- yeah it was a nice surprise to see them again! Mainly the kits lol

[shadowtarot]

Shad Plays SMTV Footnote 2: “Okay this got dark fast”

So following the fight with the Hydra, I met a follower of Budisim and he seems nice. I end up finding a snake lady and her human(?) companion chilling in the Diet Building.  So anyway after like five attempts I beat her up. And we end up back home in Tokyo. And we get a TLDR on what the hell has happened. It’s an SMT game, so obviously the apocalypse happened. And the Tokyo that Aoi and co know was “an act of God”.  So a pocket dimension. And the one we were in with all the demons was the old one, the real one. Demons found out that humans live in New Tokyo and that's what’s been causing the murders and demon sightings. Hoookay. Anyway we all join Bethal (though Aoi doesn’t have much of a choice given he can fuse with it’s superweapon) and things are normal.  Well The Saint’s close friend is dealing with some high school bullying but compared to what we just dealt with it’s harmless right? (Caught me off guard that this character share’s VAs with Futaba so hearing the same vocal delivery for a different character made my heart hurt, god Atlus depicts Bullying so painfully well) Oh and I guess our protag is a Third Year? Cool. But he also doesn’t step in to stop the bullying, not cool. Dude legit just stands there and watches!

One boring school day later and Her Holiness asks for advice about the whole “my friend is being bullied” situation. I tell her that talking to teachers would be best and we’re soon onto a new school day. But forget being a Third Year trying to think about graduation! Demons are in Tokyo! We help the Buda follower from before fight some demons and then a real ugly one comes out and ends up getting attracted to the bullied girl (he was already contacting her earlier)

And now the school’s being attacked! GREAT! We cut through a lot of the demons, and our former Influencer wanabe guy just...can’t handle fighting despite being gung ho about protecting people prior. He’s told to fall back and we keep pushing though.  Skipping ahead a bit we end up finding the bullied girl using that demon’s power. And she kills the girls who picked on her. LOVELY! And then the demon drags her into Other Tokyo. We end up following as a trio, Aoi, Aogami, and The Saint. We meet up with the cool glasses guy who pushes on ahead and we learn that the demons call Other Tokyo Da’at. So that’s what I’m gonna use starting now. This area was...a bit confusing. I should note I play mostly undocked. And this area requires a lot of platforming (or as my friend Art refers to it, Parkour and she’s not wrong LOL). I figured it out and saved the students that got dragged in. Earned Principality from a quest, got one demon needed to fuse Alice and ended up at the first boss of the new area: A...Werewolf. I should note that, due to me being sick and being slow progressing through the game, my friend Art is ahead of me by an area. So I’ve been getting tips from her on bosses when I could. Though as she was in a boss fight herself at the time I had to hope I understood what to do the first time around. Turns out, the boss is weak to Ice and Bless. My party was just the strongest demons I had at the time: Jack Frost, Principality, and Cironnup.  I call my first attempt win a total fluke and I’m just shocked I also had items to deal with it’s big hitting attack RANDOMLY. That’s where I left off and I’m about to get back to it. ...why did the prime minister call our robot ally “Brother” though?

[nbapprentice]

You said a while back that while Supergiant games (Bastion, Transistor, Hades) was mostly okay, you had some words about them. I was curious as to what those words were, since Hades' full release is soon.

okay. alright. ive been playing hades lately so i definitely want to give my two cents (or dollars by the size this is gonna get). but let’s go Step by Step

the good: i want to throw a whole Endorsement over supergiant games with the art direction and its characters, which is what keeps me coming back again and again, and what i can assume is that most people are attracted to. 

gameplaywise, they have a Format they stick to which has become their staple, not to their detriment but to their advantage, like... gameplay tropes, so to speak, that they stick to (such as the addition of special conditions that give a disadvantage in exchange for more long-term rewards)

i fucking adore that they take one concept per game, go for it, and when they’re done they are Done; they don’t bother with sequels, they don’t want to run things to the ground and i fucking respect that. They have their themes, and they stick to them (to various degrees of success).

that said, like every piece of media, they are not perfect and this has to be analysed and spoken about

CONTENT WARNINGS: genocide and ethnic cleansing, antisemitism, misogyny, homophobia, suicide, and mentions of incest, and a general Spoilers warning

bastion: touches on ethnic cleansing, and not in a way i’d say is satisfactory. our narrator and one of our Sympathetic characters is one of the men who worked on a world-ending weapon meant to use against the Ura (a group of people coded as East Asian) which after a bit of googling is literally called “the final solution” if there was ever a war between the Ura and the Cael (who feel like rly tan white people to me). jesus fucking CHRIST.

we also meet more Ura other than our two named characters and we have to kill most of them. so that fucking blows.

the game tries for “being a genocidal monster will get you fucked up and blown up” which duh, but i feel we shouldn’t have had a person responsible for war crimes be one of our friends no matter how bad he feels about the whole thing, or the people victim of war crimes become villains in the latter half of the game. zia’s father could’ve taken ruck’s role ez pz.

transistor: the weakest of their games, imo; the lore and writing are fairly flimsy and i did not come out feeling Satisfied, especially because it had this rly good build-up that did not pay off. not to mention... their villains? 3/4 were gay people. lol. two married guys (not even explicit, you only realize by their shared last names) and the ps*cho lesbian trope (iirc she wanted to kill the protagonist’s lover or something). the female protagonist also ends up killing herself to live forever in a digital paradise with her dead lover. it’s. god. 

very Aesthetic, GORGEOUS music, interesting gameplay; had potential, i do not feel like it lived up to it at least as far as the story goes.

pyre: now this one. this one’s BEEFY. where transistor felt flimsy, pyre is rich; lots to sink your teeth into, rich in lore and loveable characters, again w the beautiful music, themes of cooperation and togetherness. my favorite of the cast is volfred sandalwood, the only Black (or, well, Black-coded) revolutionary i’ve ever seen portrayed with this amount of sympathy.

onto the bad: they literally have a Class of character named “Savage”; there’s the “mystical mentally ill person” trope; there is an overwhelming amount of explicit m/f pairs (one of them being. a romance that formed in a single day and then both of the characters were somehow willing to risk it all for each other? PLEASE) while the only hints of gayness are... hints. especially when Jodariel (another of my favs) is teased to have feelings for the player regardless of gender then only gets an ending with a male character with whom she has nothing in common 🙃

hades: and now. this one. music: gorgeous. character designs: spectacular (aphrodite is straight up naked but it’s so... natural and casual, it doesn’t feel sexualized at all). voice acting amazing. character interactions charming and endearing. as a greek mythology nerd, it was nice to see them go for the obscure shit like Zagreus at all, NOT portray Persephone and Hades as a loving couple, AND portrayed the gods as the bunch of petty assholes (some more benevolent than others) that they are. imo they’re too generous with their portrayal of achilles but i’ll allow it.

and finally... it seems all those criticisms about having all the gay characters hidden in the shadows paid off, cuz we got (aside of patroclus and achilles) a bisexual polyamorous protag. Holy Shit! and it’s not even playersexual, romance whomever you want shit without the routes recognizing each other: he explicitly talks about how he’s thinking abt them both (though it’s like “yeah usually mortals take one lover but gods love many huh” polyamory is a human thing too bro!!!!!)

and this is where it all goes, well, at least vaguely downhill lol. ok so the incest warning i gave up there? well. it’s not... outright incestuous. but it has some ugly implications. i want to emphasize: the characters never refer to each other as siblings, nor do they treat each other as such (thanatos, in fact, only recognizes hypnos as his brother, and megaera only sees the other furies as her sisters), but they were all raised by the same woman, Nyx... zagreus and thanatos even grew up together (im assuming megaera didnt meet zagreus until he was fully grown).

this is complicated even worse by the fact that they tried to trick zagreus into believing Nyx was his mother. he realized pretty early on this was not true but like... adoptive mothers, anyone? granted i can believe that bc of the attempt at deception that probably ruptured any attempt at actual familial closeness, and it’s not like hypnos and thanatos saw zagreus as their brother at any point, so they were p much aware of the truth too. with the fact that thanatos even looks like goth miles edgeworth (im not kidding you can google him up right now its literally edgeworth in a cowl) i rly feel they were aiming for Childhood Friend Anime Rival Man than the “surprise kiss bc ur not actually related <3″ shit. zagreus never once refers to nyx as his mother in-game, and also refers to thanatos and hypnos as her sons, never his brothers.

so yeah, like. if one’s feeling generous, zagreus and thanatos are more of a “my father is emotionally closed off and neglects me so my best friend’s mother basically raised me” kind of situation... just pulled off in, perhaps, the worst way possible (why didnt they just say Zagreus was told Hekate was his mom, that’s such an easy fix? or that he was born of nobody other than Hades??? [gestures at athena])

but then, the gods. aaaaaaaahhhhahahahh the gods. demeter shows up! and she calls zeus, hades and poseidon... her foster-brothers. which somehow would make the persephone thing less fucking awful, apparently. they really. really really did not need to do that. she could’ve just said “my fellow gods” or whatever. or my “god-brothers” or something, to pretend it was just a weird god alliance thing??? i dont know but implying that foster family isn’t family is just... bro, the dynamics still exist.

Don’t Like That.

i even contacted supergiant games over this. they reassured me they were even trying to avoid the incest of the original myths bc they didn’t want to mess with such a heavy theme. i believe them... but i really think they didn’t think this through. compared to something like fire emblem fates this is nearly benign, but the implications don’t look good :/

tl;dr of the tl;drs: i admire their artistic philosophy and the heavy emphasis on fresh gameplay, characters and their relationships; i appreciate that it seems that they listen to criticism?; i don’t appreciate that they didn’t think to at LEAST talk to adoptees when making a game about family.

[vrainsrewatch]

episode 19 thoughts

this is... the most screenshot heavy post i’ve made so far, lmao, so please bear with me. as i’ve said, this is one of my favorite duels, and there’s a lot that gets covered here. like, seriously, i haven’t written this post out yet but i can guarantee this will be my longest so far lmao.

the beginning of the episode starts off fairly standard, and mostly dueling:

i really do love the pacing of this duel. i was glued to the edge of my seat while watching these episodes. i remember it so clearly, too, because i’d been binge watching from episode 16 that day, and got to like, 24 by the time i stopped, lmao.

ai does a lot of cute/funny stuff this episode, to help break up some of the more dark tones of the rest of it, like this:

it really makes me miss hi in this form :( i really like his soltis form, don’t get me wrong, but i miss him on yusaku’s wrist lol. i would say when things were less angsty, but, well. lmao.

we very quickly get akira’s rad boss monster summoned out:

and seriously, i just love the animation for it. it’s so sick. the door, the fire, how it looms behind him at first.... aaaaaa. so cool.

and of course the classic:

the worst part about this line is it’s said so often (esp in arc v LOL) that i actually. have slipped up and said it in normal, day to day conversation before. my boyfriend looked at me for like a minute and gave me the deepest sigh i’ve ever heard the first time i did that pff.

also:

i couldn’t not screencap this, given what my blog is for LOL

every time something reminds me of that painful final duel, i have to screencap it and make you guys sad with me. if i have to be sad seeing all this stuff, knowing where their relationship goes and how the series ends, so do you.

also, though, i forgot how often this was brought up before the bohman duel lmao. it makes that theory look a lot more credible, so it’s cool that it had all these little hints towards it, even if it ultimately wasn’t true.

seriously, my heart. i don’t think i need to talk much about this scene to make y’all sad, but really. they went from this to i loved you. ugh, god, i’m so sad thinking about it lmao.

there is so much to talk about between akira and playmaker and even blue angel in this episode, so i guess we’ll start here.

it is hard to decide that you want to take control of your trauma and do something about it. it is not easy. to see yusaku fight for that right so thoroughly is incredible, and really, really validating.

more sadness! seriously, this is too much. this deck was created specifically for him by ai. i don’t like this anymore lmao

but even besides that, often times the protag’s decks mean a lot to them, obviously, but i love that it wasn’t built strictly by yusaku. his cards were literally made by ai, and i think that’s such a cool twist. 

but then, akira’s speech:

i talked last time about akira wanting to handle things himself, and i briefly touched on him thinking he knows best...

but i really admire how calm yusaku stays at that tbh. he gets angry, reasonably so imo, but he takes this so well. i know i was a much more volatile kid then he is, so respect lol

i’ve spoken at length already about akira, but i also want to talk again about how oblivious he is. he is so blinded by his own thoughts and feelings on the situation that he doesn’t stop to think about how yusaku might be feeling -- and worse, honestly, how his sister might be feeling.

it was why he was so visibly shocked when emma mentioned a few episodes ago that aoi wasn’t just a little kid anymore. it’s so clear that he still, at the moment, sees her as the six year old girl he swore to protect, and not the sixteen year old person she’s become. he doesn’t think about how she might be feeling towards his actions, or why she does what she does.

this is highlighted as early as episode 6 iirc, when he asks her why aren’t you happy? as much as i, personally, dislike his character, i can’t deny it’s very realistic and well written.

speaking of aoi:

i love how she’s written in this episode, too. but her entrance here is great, and i love how she stands up to him about this. it’s minor, but it’s still a good step. when she’s blue angel -- or blue girl, or blue maiden -- she feels comfortable doing that. at least a little, and it obviously grows throughout the series. i hope that transfers over to the real world for her, too.

and then, we finally get the full story:

i remember flinching when he started talking about it, remembering the shots of yusaku getting electrocuted from his duel with revolver.

i really love this. i said it last episode, but vrains handles yusaku’s trauma so realistically and it’s amazing.

i remember originally staring open mouthed at my tv screen while this part played. we got a bit of it from the other episode, but the full context truly shocked me. where’s that post that says “who thought this was an acceptable backstory to give to a card game protag” bc honestly??? YEAH

it’s still hard to watch. it’s still hard to see play out, even if it’s only fiction. even though i’ve seen these clips so many times, and written about them in detail a few times too. doesn’t matter lol. watching it in context actually still made my stomach drop.

which leads me to talk about reactions to this, actually:

the two that vrains focuses heavily on are blue angel’s and kusanagi’s, and they contrast really well here imo.

blue angel’s is a normal reaction. it’s horrified, both at the thought of it happening and at the fact that someone would actually do that to another person -- a six year old child, no less.

kusanagi’s is strained. he is angry hearing about this, thinking about jin. we’ve been told, and have seen in the last few episodes, how much the lost incident impacted kusanagi and his brother, but i really love that the show tells us that here, too, and shows the difference between hearing about a tragedy and being involved in some manner.

i did not expect it at all when first watching vrains, and honestly, it still impresses me how gracefully they handled it coming off of arc v (cough, shun i love you but really cough cough). no hate on arc v at all, it’s my third favorite ygo very close behind gx, but the difference between the two on how they handle these things is staggering.

this whole section makes me thing that ryoken talked to yusaku fairly often, after the first time. which is something i don’t see brought up often? but that’s so important imo. it meant that yusaku had someone encouraging him not just once or twice, but on the regular, but also it meant that ryoken was constantly risking himself to comfort that child. 

we don’t see too much of ryoken when he’s a kid, but we do see him scared and crying over the lost incident. the fact that he was able to talk calmly to this child so many times is really amazing. it also makes more sense as to why ryoken feels so guilty over calling the police -- he probably felt that maybe if he had just kept up his encouragement, the kids would’ve all gotten out okay and his father wouldn’t be in a coma. 

this was so powerful. it’s obvious, and i think anyone with half a brain would understand that the LI isn’t something that a kid would recover from easily, but i love this anyways. 

he wasn’t saved. and even if he was in body, it’s still something he and all the other victims will live with for the rest of their lives.

this also is something i don’t feel like people bring up enough, but does this mean that yusaku went around asking the kids at the hospital when he was rescued? it’s not hard to believe they were all put together, at least for a short amount of time, but it’s still something i feel like people overlook. 

i also love this, because it’s nice foreshadowing to how revolver feels. he’s not captured, not like yusaku and the lost kids were, but he is a prisoner. and just like ryoken saved yusaku, way back then, he is determined to repay the favor.

not just because of that, either. because that voice meant so much to him. because that voiced saved him. because that voice understood him, and was there for him in his hardest moments. god i love them.

i love this shot. it’s so dramatic, how the match the drum beats with flashes of everyone’s reactions.

but it drives home his point, and while i know most of akira’s development came through emma and aoi, i’m sure this helped, too. 

i’ve sung vrains praises this entire post, but i’ll do it again -- this is incredible. this is so realistic. it’s so well portrayed. and it’s really honest to god incredible that we got a protag in ygo who was shown going to therapy. 

ygo has always dealt with some pretty dark subject matter, and it’s never really been shy about showing it on screen. i’m not saying that at all. arc v obviously dealt with some pretty heavy stuff, and while i haven’t seen zexal (keep shaming me please) i know it does, too. 5ds obviously has the dark signer arc, and the later arcs concerning bruno and also yusei’s father, and gx has... well, it’s entire third and fourth season. 

but we see everyone healing via card games. we see those shows talk about these things, but kind of at the same time, skirt around the subject matter; or if they do go deep into it, they pull out (ie 5ds) or the characters don’t get resolved properly (ie arc v). 

idk where i was going with this but i just really love that this happened, this was shown on screen, and they stuck to yusaku’s character. they didn’t just... up and make his trauma and his world view disappear at the end. he has a bittersweet ending, but it suited him and his development. a lot of people were mad about it, and i get it -- i wanted him to be happy, too.

but that’s not always the case, and it’s really important to me that vrains doesn’t pretend it is.

anyways, though, i’m almost done with this episode i promise lmao. before the episode ends, we get this:

and i think it’s honestly kind of cruel that akira says this, after everything, and still maintains his point of handling it himself. he has heard, first hand now, how horrible the incident has scarred yusaku for life. and yet, he still is stubborn in refusing to relate or at the very least empathize.

what i mean by that, since we obviously see him attempt to last episode, is he refuses to look at it from someone’s else’s perspective or in a way that might make him uncomfortable. the way my boyfriend describes these kinds of people is that they “haven’t had their bubble popped”.

everyone has a bubble when they’re born, and that bubble shields you from realizing that the world is a cruel and hard place. even if you go through hardships, sometimes your bubble stays put, and you think that is the worst of what can happen. 

i’m explaining this very poorly, because i’m running on not much sleep and i’ve been typing about this episode for like, far, far too long, but essentially, he refuses to step out of his comfort zone and recognize, in playmaker’s case, that he doesn’t have a right to interfere and that playmaker’s desire to handle it himself is justified and helpful for his healing. and in aoi’s case, that just because he does a lot of good for her doesn’t automatically mean ignoring her for work and keeping her locked in their house is an okay trade off. and also that she’s not a child anymore -- she’s nearly an adult and she deserves to be treated as one. 

those thoughts seem to unsettle him. you can kind of see it in how detached he is after hearing all that come from playmaker. blue angel is visibly shaken up by what he’s said. akira doesn’t even flinch, because he’s not really listening right now. 

i’m glad he learns to, or at least learns how to start, later on.

anyways, i think that’s enough for this post lmao. this took forever to type up, so let’s hope i actually have time to cover up to 21 here today LOL. if you read all that, thank you for your time on my kind of dumb vrains thoughts :’)

[waterlinkedgirl]

Basically a weird kind of meta on why Shiraishi is less nice than sometimes canon suggests

The summary is, basically: Shiraishi is nice, but my opinion is that people forget vs Fuji. How his tennis and concept of ecstasy might tie into this, and the problematic sides of his love for poisonous plants. How he’s a person that pulls, not pushes. Briefly considers an opposite interpretation of above, however illustrating the way it would still remain an effort from him to pull the person into the situation he wants.

sdfgfdsfg I keep remembering how gakupuri and dokipuri ‘solved’ Shiraishi’s inability to deal with being hit on by women, like

Shiraishi very intensely takes the initiative there and in dokipuri he becomes downright controlling in the ending, just like Yukimura he pulls a kind of ‘yes or agreed’ only this time the protagonist wouldn’t have the guts from the beginning to even go against him. I’m sure there was a better way to do it than that but

Doku no hana is also a mess because Shiraishi is effectively entrapping and ensnaring the subject of the song like a poisonous flower would in a sexual way (not going in detail on that just read a translation of it it’s a hot mess)

For example, control over his body and his mind is a cornerstone of Shiraishi’s tennis, but in a sense, there’s also an element of controlling his opponent. His tennis is as effective as it is because it’s completely textbook and he sure did lead Fuji around by the nose, both by logical plays and destructing his counters. This is vaguely supported by him being always in time and disliking it when others are tardy.

Just like Yukimura, he’s a person to pull instead of push. He provokes Fuji into unleashing his counters and downtalks him when he proves to be less, internally, externally.

Vs Fuji is a match that really stands against his later characterisation as this Pure Good :tm: big brother character

Like, I do believe Shiraishi is a nice person! He keeps check on Kin-chan and his team and there’s no malice in him attempting to work the devil out of Kirihara on Yanagi’s request. On top of that he’s genuinely nice in girls be gracious when you’re conflicted about having to move but not having the courage to tell him, where he tells you he knows you have to tell him something but understands you’re ot ready yet and gives you space to sort out your feelings first, where the default game response is the partner being angry/upset. But he does have the ability and personality to be not that.

One of Shiraishi’s most telling moments in my opinion is the moment he expresses explicit and dark disappointment at Fuji not being stronger (it’s not made better by he fact he uses a downward cutting motion in the anime)

There’s this thrill that comes from taking on a strong opponent, like it isn’t as much that Shiraishi necessarily enjoys pulling out the full potential of his opponent like Fuji did, but he does want to be pushed back. He says he rather wanted Fuji to play as passionately as he did, from the beginning, knowing that it might have cost him the match

(this has a funny tie-in with him liking to tease people that are hard to tease, like Tezuka. This is canon from the pairpuri books.)

To me, he’s a character that’s continuously chasing a concept of ecstasy. Winning isn’t something he does for himself, but for his team. But within that unpersonal desire for victory, there’s a burning passion, and a desire to be challenged, and separately, a desire to dominate, if his explicit uttering of ‘ecstasy’ as he leads over Fuji is anything to go by. To his end of ecstasy, reading between lines, he’d have possibly willingly lost the match. I have interpretations of him that have him be blinded by the pleasure associated with it, willing to pull strings and pull people in order for him to attain it.

His extended concept of ‘ecstasy’ comes around to ‘things that are high of pleasure but not necessarily good’, like, I’d count him wishing Fuji playing passionately from the beginning under that because it’d have been the match he wanted, but also, his entaku shot and his favourite food being cheese risotto. Cheese risotto is not healthy, as it fell into the ‘others’ category when the pairpuri book categorised people’s favourite food by their beneficial nutrients. But I believe Shiraishi enjoys it very much even when he’s supposed to be the health guy. It’s not quite good for him, but he enjoys it regardlessly. (this is also why I’m so mad that they chanced it to self-made soba, because while that’s like showing the effects of hard work and self-sufficiency I believe cheese risotto carries the more important message)

It’s also this hardworking and step-by-step side of him that is rather frightening when put into action. He’s methodological in love and will not hesitate to take action to come closer, or like in gakupuri, where he instructs protag-chan to call him (my memory keeps saying there was something about using a special toy but tbh. that sounds so wrong I’m almost certain it wasn’t quite that) to keep someone close.

It’s canon (from somewhere) that he likes the allure of something dangerous hidden within beauty, and according to rajipuri he not only memorises the plants that are poisonous but also the effects of their poisons. make of that what you want.

Shiraishi has a recurring theme of poison and medicine, like there’s definitely a part linked to caring for people in the medical way, considering his favourite place to visit in school being the infirmary. This makes things potentially worse in lots of ways. This makes a scenario in which he deliberately lets someone get hurt to care for them a scenario that can happen. This is terrifying.

And from the houkago anime, he is perfectly willing to stage an entire murder mystery at Seigaku involving Atobe, Yagyuu and Kite, going far enough to develop a ‘fake Inui juice’ to temporarily knock someone out, just to get the right mindset to write.

From vs Fuji to ecstasy to poisonous flowers you can also deduce there’s an important part of Shiraishi that wants to let go of his responsibilities and be not in control but that’s a mess of a tangent to untangle. He is the kind of person to step forward to someone who can do that, either weighing the risks and convinced he can put a hold to things when they go too far or alternatively trusting the other person not to take things too far, but he will also pull this person into the place he wants them to be.

On a final note, consider anime!Shiraishi’s initial response to the fear of his teammates becoming too fast, too strong, too wild for him to follow was to balance them out with a training menu more similar to his, actively roping them in before he realized what he was doing, that he was afraid, that it wasn’t working.

[thepersonaimaginecompendium-blog]

hello!! i love this blog very much that i always have it on notifs! keep up the awesome work! may i ask for a scenario with p3, p4, and p5 protags experiencing a "too close for comfort" moment with their crush/would be s/o?

-Akihiko Voice- IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS…!!! And thank you so much for having this blog on your notifs! It means so much to me! I will do my best for this blog so please continue to support me!))

Lol the more i wrote the more inspired i got I’m sorry they only got longer and longer pfft))

Minato Arisato:

>Your Knowledge increased

With finals coming up and your overwhelming desire to be in at least the top 10, you begged Minato to help you study. He had softened up a bit thanks to his friends and he had no problem accepting your desperate calls for help. You look between the address he had written down and the tall building in front of you. So he lived here, huh?

You go in and are met by quite a few pairs of eyes. You gulp nervously and ask for Minato who immediately comes out thanks to Junpei’s yelling.

“WHAT?! LUCKY BASTARD! I WANNA STUDY WITH HER TOO!” Junpei loudly complains as he looks between you and his blue haired bestie.

“…You don’t even study, Junpei…” Minato responds, walking up to you and taking you by the hand. “Cmon, I’m in dining room.”

The two of you sit down and begin studying quietly. Some time passes and you were having trouble with a complicated math problem. Your hand gripped at your hair, your foot bounced rapidly, and your pencil tapped away at the page with the same impatience.

“What’s wrong?” He asks suddenly, taking you out of your frustrated trance.

“Oh! Uh…This stupid problem has me stumped.”

“Lemme see…” Instead of bringing your notebook closer to him, he leans in closer to you.

He smells nice, was your first thought. Once you realized what just went through your head, you could feel the heat rise on your cheeks and your chest felt tighter than usual. Minato didn’t seem to notice your embarrassment as he narrowed his eyes down at your problem. He adjusts himself, only resulting in getting closer. This time you’re able to vocalize some kind of sound to catch his attention. “M-Minato…?”

“Hm…?” The hard blue stare of his softens when he looks up, his face closer than expected.

“C-c-close…!” You manage to squeak. God, his eyes are so intoxicating…

It takes a few moments until the color on his cheeks deepen as he registers the situation. “Oh, uh, sorry…” He straightens up and looks away bashfully, scratching at his cheek a bit.

There is a slight tension in the air before he clears his throat and gives you a small smile. “I know what you did wrong… I can show you…” He gestures to your notebook.

You respond with a smile and scoot a little closer to him, moving your notebook where it was in the middle. The rest of the time was peaceful but it seemed the two of you never stopped blushing over that one moment when it came back into your mind.

Yu Narukami:

>Your Charm increased

After everything that happened at the Love Meets Bond Festival, you became interested in the art of dance. You hadn’t realized how easy it was to pick it up and how fun it was to express yourself in such an artistic way. One dance that had interested you was Tango. One problem though: It takes two to tango.

So you called up Narukami in a desperate attempt to get someone you were familiar with to be your partner. And thankfully he agreed to take the classes with you. One more problem: Tango involves close contact and passionate gazes between the two parties.

“I hadn’t realized how close we’d have to be…” Narukami confesses, chuckling a little.

Your heart sank a bit. Did you force him into this? Did you make him uncomfortable?

Narukami chuckles again, being able to read your worried expression. “Don’t worry about it, [Name], I’m having fun! Justbeingclosetoyoumakesithardtocontrolmyself.”

“What was that last part?” You tilted your head in confusion.

“Nothing! Don’t worry about it.” He smiles so sweetly that you went ahead and forgot about it.

The weeks fly by and it becomes a blur to you until the final day where you have to perform the dance, not only in front of your class but also in front of a live audience of guests, you had been practicing since day one. You were nervous to say the least. A lot of the time you blanked out during the dance but you knew today wouldn’t be the case. Narukami asked if the two of you could go last so he could watch the other performances. At the time you had no problem with it but now your heart and soul were trying their best to escape your body.

You felt a strong and warm hand grip yours. Reassurance flooded your body and once again you felt calm. As the dance for the team before you was coming to a close, you take a peek at the audience. Full house. And the Investigation Team was there to show their support, even Teddie took it seriously by showing up in his human form.

The next thing you know, you and Narukami are getting into place. The audience claps and cheers once your names are introduced and then it’s quiet. The music plays.

Why you hadn’t noticed Narukami’s strength at this point was a shocker to you. The way you two moved together was breathtaking. Just as breathtaking as being to intimately close to Narukami’s face was. Your face becomes flushed but you somehow manage to keep your composure. His strong hands holding you firmly but gently, the passionate look in his eyes, the strength and skill that is portrayed to the audience at the climax of the dance where you do a complicated move in which you are lifted up and trust your body to move along his until he catches you.

Your performance ends and you feel breathless, more so than when you first started practicing. The audience goes wild and the team is the loudest out of everyone. Narukami takes you backstage and sits you down in a chair.

“You alright? I could tell you were ready to faint.” His face seemed just as flushed as yours.

You nod quietly, refusing to look at him.

He laughs softly and leans in close, “Don’t worry about it…. I know exactly/ how you feel…”

[Mini Bonus, the video that inspired this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3vsiiRK5GU ]

Akira Kurusu:

>Your Guts increased

You weren’t really the courageous type but there were times you were able to pull through for the greater good. Saving a stray dog from being beaten by a bunch of idiot bullies was no different. You recognized their faces from your school, Shujin High. Before they could touch the dog, your voiced boomed an authoritative “Quit it!”

“What are you gonna do about it, bitch?” One of the guys scoffed.

You lifted your phone, “I know how to contact the police and inform them of idiot bullies like you for terrible behavior. I’m also willing to throw in a white lie of harassment, if I have to.”

“Tch. Let’s bale man. She’s killin my fun.”

“We’ll remember this, [Name]! Don’t think I don’t know who you are and what class you go to!” You forgot one of them was in your class. Shit…!

They run off and the dog scratches at your shoe until you look down at it. Its eyes thank you silently before it runs off. Now the anxiety begins to seep in. What’s going to happen to you? What are you gonna do? What are they/ gonna do??

While you were lost in thought thinking of the worst possibilities, you almost missed a gentle voice. “Uh, excuse me?”

“Ah! Please don’t kill me…!!” You jolt and look at who was speaking to you. You relax when you see it was your desk neighbor, Akira Kurusu. “Oh…! Akira! You scared me…”

“Are they bothering you?” He sounded concerned.

“No…but they might try something tomorrow… You don’t have to worry about me. My life will be over by tomorrow anyway…” You groan, conflicting emotions causing a massive headache. “Sorry, but I’m going home…” You push past him and make your way home.

You could have sworn you felt someone’s eyes on you…

The next day you were on edge and barely made it to class on time. You struggled to focus in class and you didn’t dare leave the classroom for lunch like you normally would. You wished so desperately to turn back time. Each second was shaving off five years of your life. Finally it was time to go home. You noticed Akira hurriedly gathered his things and left the room and decided to follow his example.

The boy in your class reacted a little slower to make it seem like he wasn’t still interested in making your life a living hell, which was his first mistake. You make it out of the classroom and try to make a run for it for the school entrance until a hand snapped closed around your wrist. You gasp and turn to see it was Akira, quietly shushing you with his finger. “Come with me…”

He pulls you along and runs down the halls, a lot of eyes staring and wondering just what had gotten into him. Was the delinquent going to hurt you? Eh, it wasn’t any of their business…. Akira eventually makes it to the janitor’s closet and opens the door before rushing you inside. He quickly follows and starts to slow down his breathing as he shuts the door.

You were really out of breath. This guy was more athletic than he looked. “Wh-what are you doing…?”

Without answering you, Akira gives you a serious look and closes the distance between you. Naturally you stepped back, scared and vulnerable. Oh, you thought, I get it. He’s the one that’s going to dish out my punishment for messing with those guys… Your back hits the wall and you flinch, closing your eyes. When you feel no pain, you peek up. Akira has his arms on both sides of your head, trapping you. But you notice his focus was elsewhere.

“Akira…?” Your voice was breathy.

“Quiet…” He shushes you gently, pressing a little closer.

You gasp and wait it out. Then you hear familiar voices. It was those boys from before, calling out to each other and swearing a storm. They stopped in front of the closet and you held your breath. Akira noticed your discomfort and pulled you into a protective hug.

He smelled like all kinds of delicious blends of coffee. Your ear was pressed against his chest. Why was his heart pounding? He looks so calm and collected, so serious. So why…? Once they leave, he lets you go. He chuckles seeing your disappointed face.

“Heh… you’re pretty cute when you pout…” He smirks down at you.

“Wh-what?” Your face flushes with many shades of red.

“Ah, nothing… Who were they?”

You explained the situation to him from yesterday. When you finish by thanking him, he pats your head and gives you a gentle smile.

“You’ve got a good heart… One more thing: Do you know their names…?”