#wagi turned out pretty good..

[its-coda]

Thanks for the suggestions!!

[strawberry-jan]

I wrote an endnote to one of my fics that ended up being so long and spoiler-heavy that I had to exile a big chunk of it to my tumblr - so here you go: a big ol' Effort Post about the history and fictional history of your guy and mine, Ishin Wagi.

If you haven't finished Ishin, you probably shouldn't click to read the post under the cut, as it contains big endgame spoilers.

In contrast with Inoue Genzaburo — who’s portrayed in Ishin and other media as a serious, level-headed sort of guy — Serizawa Kamo was a heavy drinker with an infamously short temper. He was born in Mito and, like Sakamoto Ryoma, he was a member of the goshi class, though it should be noted that the extreme discrimination that we see Ryoma experiencing in-game is pretty specific to Tosa’s goshi; Serizawa wasn’t particularly poorly off. Also like Ryoma, Serizawa was involved in shishi activities: he was a member of the Tengu Party, an anti-foreigner political group whose members committed various acts of violent rebellion, including the 1860 assassination of Ii Naosuke (a high-ranking official in the Tokugawa shogunate whose death comes up in letters that you can find in Ishin Kiwami). Serizawa didn’t participate in the assassination, but between his ties to the Tengu Party and an incident in which he executed several of his subordinates for no good reason, he ended up in prison, where he assumed he’d be executed in turn. While there, Serizawa was said to have written a poem with his own blood on a piece of scrap cloth: “In the snow and frost, the plum blossom is the first to bloom in brilliant colours; its fragrance lingers even after the petals have scattered.”

In late 1862, Serizawa was released from prison. By early 1863 (and here I’m skimming over a lot of historical context) Serizawa had joined up with Kondo Isami as a member of the Mibu Roshigumi: the precursor to the Shinsengumi, so called because they were a bunch of ronin whose headquarters were originally in Mibu. They worked under the patronage of the Aizu clan; one of Serizawa’s brothers may have had connections to the clan, which Serizawa and Kondo might have leveraged to gain support for their organization. As a commander, Serizawa was kind of a disgrace by most accounts: among other offenses, he was responsible for wrecking a restaurant in a drunken rage and destroying a silk merchant’s shop with a cannon. Most importantly for my purposes, he was allegedly the man who picked a fight with a bunch of sumo wrestlers in the streets of Osaka.*

Serizawa was murdered in 1863, and there are various theories as to why. It’s popularly assumed that the guy was just a huge bastard who was too out-of-control to hold down his job, and that Hijikata and several other members of the organization killed him accordingly. Another theory that you’ll see sometimes is that while his familial connections were useful, Serizawa himself was a liability whom his companions discarded as soon as they felt secure in doing so. Under this theory, the issue wasn’t so much that he was badly behaved (though this probably didn’t help); it was more that he had his own little faction of men who went around looking down on the others and calling Serizawa “sensei,” and that Serizawa had ties to Mito, which remained a hotbed of seditious activity. (In fact, in 1864, civil war would break out in Mito as the Tengu Party staged an armed rebellion against the shogunate.)

I understand why Ishin’s writers dropped most of Serizawa’s history. It’s complicated, it’s not directly relevant to Ryoma’s story, and Inoue is a secondary character who’s meant (like his mainline counterpart) to come across as a superlatively loyal mentor figure and not as a belligerent asshole. But it’s interesting, in that context, that the writers went out of their way to allude to Serizawa’s history in weird ways. In-game, Serizawa is described as “a living shadow from the Mito domain” — which, okay, you could indeed describe the historical Serizawa that way, given that he narrowly escaped execution and then left Mito to join the Roshigumi. But he’s also described as a wandering bandit who took Hirayama and Hirama under his wing before meeting Kondo in Kyoto, which doesn’t particularly fit with history. Okita — our Okita, the fake one, lol — also says that the three of them committed dappan and were promised a pardon by the Mito domain if Serizawa assassinated Yoshida Toyo, which also has no basis in historical reality but which does make him an accessory to the big players’ nasty schemes for a comprehensible reason. Finally, Serizawa’s school of swordsmanship is referred to as “Mito Tengu” despite the fact that, historically, Serizawa trained in the Shindo Munen school. Conveniently, Ishin’s writers managed to skip over Serizawa’s awfulness on a personal level and to avoid depicting the character in the game as a prominent (and very willing) member of a violently xenophobic political group. I’m listing all of these oddities not to make a judgement about the whitewashing of history, but because it's interesting to me that what did end up in the game is there at all: the writers didn’t need to, but they established a connection between Serizawa, the Tengu Party, and the shishi more broadly anyhow.

Of course, I have the brain disease that makes me latch onto minor characters for no good reason and will therefore take whatever little crumbs of Ishin Kashiwagi I can get. Still, typing all of this up made me think about the missed opportunities here. I would have loved to see the writers do more with some version of Serizawa who was a little less of a bastard but who still committed himself to the shishi’s cause in his Mito days and then grew disillusioned with that cause during his stay in prison and his time with the Mibu Roshigumi. It’s a neat point of sympathy between Inoue and Ryoma, who finds himself similarly chewed up and spat out by the Tosa Loyalist Party in the game. That connection lends gravity to Inoue’s decision to tattle on Ryoma to Kondo but also to keep covering for the guy every time he says or does something transparently suspicious. They might be, in a sense, kindred spirits.

It felt too tangential to delve too much into all of this stuff in my Ishin fics, but you can imagine this sense of sympathy lying behind Inoue’s actions throughout Chapter 4 of Secret History &c. (as well as in his little sequence in Chapter 2 of Glorious and Bloody Deeds &c.). You can also imagine that some of the big shishi conspirators in this story would have known about Serizawa’s origins in Mito with the Tengu Party — it was no big secret — and that they would have been appalled by his new allegiances but also suspicious that he had died because of his old ones. It’s also pretty reasonable to assume that the big Choshu players would have some sense of Saito’s identity, given that Hanpeita and Katsura are allies in Ishin’s version of events. Of course, I also think that our Ryoma wouldn’t know shit about any of this and would absolutely respond like, huhh? whaaaa??? to any/all allusions to the complicated politics behind all these stories. If you’re in a state of perpetual confusion about people and politics while playing Ishin, you’re just doing a great job of role-playing Bakumatsu Kiryu.

Anyway, nearly everything I write is turbo horny and my Ishin fics are no exception, so please don’t read them at work, but they’re very much about the stories men tell about themselves and others, and I think if all this stuff interests you, you might find the yarns I’ve spun interesting as well.

* This is another event that’s mentioned in passing in an in-game letter that was added to Ishin Kiwami, and whatever my feelings about that remake might be, I think all the letters and notes are a brilliant addition; I was tickled to see a reference to this incident show up! Historically, the Big Sumo Brawl happened well before 1867 and it had nothing to do with the events covered in Ishin, so please understand that when I’m writing about it in my fic, I’m mashing events together and playing around with a big Bakumatsu sandbox in a way that I think feels true to the game’s style of writing. I thought it would be funny to have Inoue lay claim to the act when he wasn’t even on the scene; it brings the story in line with history, but in the stupidest possible way. (Also, I submit to you that the smut is practically canon-compliant and likely historically accurate. :V)

[eurofox]

Lost judegment review

Finally played all the Yakuza’s and both Judegements, just Ishin to go. This was one of the most hyped games of them all and while it was really good, I think I still prefer the first game, not playe dthe Kaito files yet

Spoilers anyway:

The good shit:

The style switching was great. Crane actually felt useful this time, especially with the speedboost. I didn’t use Snake much as I found the timing with disarming tricky. Some of the best combat in the whole series. Far more fluid and less stiff

The story was good. It kept me invested anyway. The parts about the bullying were the most interesting,

I liked the Yakuzas references, like the Zhao cameo and talk of Daigo’s deal. It helps the world make a bit more sense without going overboard. I couldn’t work out if the first game was supposed to be the same universe, aside from onomichio but this confirms they are.

Skateboarding certainly helped with the size of Yokohoma this time around.

I’d heard complaints that the Kamurocho crew didn’t get much of a role here but they appeared more than I thought they would. Aside from Mafuyu. It was nice to see tsukomo coming out of his shell too. Bit sad to see Hoshino just get picked on nearly the whole time though.

Soundtrack is still pretty good.

The part with your phone being unavailable for healing after it gets snatched is neat.

Beating up teenagers is pretty funny.

That stupid mortal wound gimmick is gone.

As well as those fucking Keihin gangs

Dice and cube can be entertaining.

Dance class is funny as well.

Sega master system is a great addition

Fully playable sonic the fighters is really fucking cool.

I enjoyed the parkour segments. Pretty simple but a nice change of pace. Hell of a lot better than tailing which seem to be mostly gone (did they open with tailing for badness?)

Forklift Higashi

The game felt more like it’s own thing, a crime thriller with mor detective based gameplay instead of diet yakuza, which the first game felt like at times.

The Bad Shit:

I’d only recently played LAD7, I’m not the biggest fan of Yokohama. It’s so big and fairly empty.

Can’t interact with Wagi :’(

While the first half of the story was good, it started losing focus though with all the stuff about Public security and feels kind of rushed once they find Soma is a double agent. None of the villains feel as intimidating as Kuroiwa. The part about RK rounding up goons in one area for easier monitering made sense, but as soon as the stuff about pensions was brought in I felt it really started losing the run of itself.

That fucking bossfight  insta death QTE with Watanabe got me about 10 times, that drove me nuts. Same with the one during Kuwana’s, but at least he didn’t kill you.

I can’t remember if this was the case in the first game, but Yagami seems to take a lot of damage without reacting to it. So I check my health bar and see it’s suddenly way down when I didn’t notice being hit. Never had this issue before

Yagami going on about Sawa sensei is annoying but I do get why. What I don’t get is why the fact his parents were murdered by vigilantes is never mentioned as part of his reasoning for opposing Kuwana.

 Kaito is out of action for a fair chunk. of the game

Some ability upgrades feel pointless, like smoking.

Having Saori go undercover again felt like a  retread. Plus she doesn’t even bother changing her name, very sloppy for a dangerous task with someone whose supposed to be sharp. The bit with Hoshino and Genda was funny though to be fair.

I couldn’t get into most of the school stuff, might go back to it later.

Ehara suddenly losing his resolve when yagami was going to delete the video, turning the tides in yagami’s favour, felt like a reach...

Between the two Judgements, I’m going with 1 for the story, the ADDC storyline felt more focused, with better villains and atmosphere and I’ll go with Lost for the gameplay, fun and fast with annoying elements removed.  While I didn’t find Kuwana as intimidating, he was a very interesting villain.

[eurofox]

Yakuza 7 (like a dragon) review

I was dreading this one because of the turn based combat (I’m not keen on dragon quest for a start) and having an all new cast plus I had a major plot point spoiled beforehand but I decided to give it a chance anyway. Still prefer brawler style overall, but I did get used to it

The good shit: 

I ended up really liking Ichiban, he was just the character that was needed after Kiryu. He’s still as dumb ofc, but he’s really enthusiastic about everything he does. I still prefer Kiryu, but he was pretty subdued when it came to almost everything and he really did seem fed up by 5 so Ichi’s a breath of fresh air.

The villains were good this time round and Ichi’s connection to them made it all the more interesting. 

Sleep minigame was mad

No stupid enemies grabbing guns left about in cutscenes

Another great soundtrack

Lot’s of enemy variety, they really got wacky with it

I eventually got used to the combat. It’s ok, just a huge change. It does get a bit repetitive later though.

The special moves are all fun. Daigo and Majima especially. I think Majima was a sonic adventure reference?

Dragon kart is a nice distraction, wish we got more characters though, maybe next game

More locations and the uber app was handy given how big yokohoma was

Bringing back old theme songs was nice

I’m glad Watase made a re-appearence, he had a lot of potential and I’m glad he didn’t just get forgotten

Great news Wagi fans, he’s back (although how the fuck and why did no-one realise, did daigo not notice his captain never came out of hospital?)

The goon pokedex is a great 

Finally, playable female characters. Both are fine, although there was a strong smurfette feel to the group at times. Also I love that neither can be attacked by Kiryu in the boss fight, cool attention to detail. Seong hui was also cool but I wish she fought, it’d make more sense for her than the other 2 in all honesty.

The CDs are nice

I loved the whole dynamic with the group and the little bar chats. Kiryu’s chats in 6 were more awkward and brought back bad memories for me in school trying to add to  conversations so it hit to close to home. Ichi has more charisma. I hope they keep this for the next game, I’d love to see the Tojo gang discuss stuff, especially with Daigo as he never got to do much outside of chairmanning

They had a reasonable explanation for Han sorta coming back. He was OP tbh but still cool.

Date cameo, always good to see him

The kiryu fight was good fun

I got into Ichiban confections, but I did need a guide to get started. It wasn’t explained very well.

The tojo and omi being gone opens up a lot of possibilities.

Onomichio my beloved

The Bad shit:

OMG the fucking Majima fight is an absolute bullshit difficulty spike. Worst in any game I’ve played in years.  I was comfortably beating enemies/bosses before that, there was no real indication I was severely underleveled except a hint that I should use the arena (and i was halfway through on my first attempt). I get they are meant to be Tojo legends but that felt cheap. Then I overlevelled and it wasn’t fun. Kiryu’s and tendo’s fights were far more balanced

Dungeons are pretty samey, although they are mostly optional I suppose.

The stop motion cutscenes they used sometimes made me feel sick for some reason. Didn’t care for that design choice at all.

Ok, maybe Kashiwagi could have survived, but no way lau ka long should have.

Mirrorface was dumb as fuck, he only played a small role thankfully

Graphics seemed like a downgrade compared to judgement at times, maybe I’m imagining it though

That annoying noise adachi and saeko make when you stand still for a second drove me nuts

that same ice clink sound effect in the drinks (minor quibble, but yeah)

Food does not give experience, why does it say that.

Switching jobs was a massive pain at times, I just stuck with enforcer, idol, hitman and hero.

Some attacks just seemed pointless

Poundmates are way too expensive

Yokohoma isn’t as nice to look at, but that’s not the games fault. Lots of bland office buildings.

Nanba’s betrayel for a brother we don’t even get to see annoyed me. Didn’t let that fucker back in my party after that lol. And if he wasn’t actually homeless why does he carry on like a hobo.

Geomijul are filling in for the florist . i thought they got rid of him for being too convenient a plot device but here we are again.

Arakawa and Daigo seemed to leave a lot of shit up to chance imo.

Crafting felt kind of limited

Ichi’s capacity for forgiveness seemed a little delusional at times, it is pointed out and I guess he says himself there’s no logic to it.

Trying to make the brothel owner out to be some swell guy felt a bit cringe, it’s the whole grey area thing I know but he still seemed like a dick.

Substories took too long at times and there’s a few pretty boring ones

I’m happy I gave it a chance anyway and it’’ll be interesting to see where they go from here. No more ‘traitor in the Tojo clan’ ‘someone shot/abducted daigo’ or ‘omi vs tojo’ plots from here on out. IDK how Kiryu will fight as he isn’t a gaming addict so how are they gonna square that when he joins? 

The characters were well fleshed out and like judgement you can see they’ve gotten better with their story telling. 

The combat was jarring at first but I got good at it eventually and started enjoying it a lot more. It helps they were so creative with attacks but I’ll always prefer brawling