#would you say they talk english? or japanese? she can understand either so that's not a problem

[starsmuserainbow]

“Where the hell did you pop out of?” [ Starfire from Naruto! ]

First Interaction Starters

[[Thank you for sending one! And hi! :D]]

A moment ago, Starfire still had been rushing towards the Titan's current enemy to tackle them down. Then, suddenly, she instead met with the floor, and it took her a moment to reorient herself after that sudden crash. She was spoken to, too, and she quickly got herself off the ground to look at the other who spoke to her, then around herself for a moment. ... Where were her friends? This didn't look like Jump City anymore!

"Uh... I do not know. Have I popped out of some thing? Where am I?" He was using earthen languages, so she could at least assume that she was still on Earth, but... how did she come here so suddenly? The team had fought a normal, fighting enemy, and not someone like Mumbo with magic or other strange powers! There was no portal or anything behind her, so if she did 'pop out' of something (and if she was assuming right what that was supposed to mean), any trace of that something was gone by now.

[skania]

Oshi no Ko Chapter 154 Thoughts - Or the many many parallels between Ai/Kamiki and Akane/Aqua

In my post about last chapter, I listed a number of parallels showing that the way Kamiki felt about Ai is very reminiscent of the way Aqua felt about Akane.

I also said:

if Aka pulls that, then that would confirm that all of these parallels are very much intentional.

And what did Aka pull this chapter?

To top it off, now it isn't only Kamiki's feelings that parallel Aqua's. Ai's feelings are very much like Akane's, to the point that she nearly quotes her word for word at times 😭

I'll start chronologically because the amount of parallels is just insane. To keep this short, I won't bring up the Kamiki/Aqua parallels since I already went over those here. I'll just focus on Ai!

Ai didn't want to break up with Kamiki, but she did it because she feared that she and her children would be burdens to him, who was almost on the verge of breaking due to the weight of life.

Does that ring any bells?

Akane didn't want to break up with Aqua, but she was willing to do so because she feared that she and their fake relationship were burdening him by worsening the weight of his guilt.

Ai wanted to stay with Kamiki forever, just like Akane with Aqua.

Ai wanted to carry Kamiki's burden and walk into the future with him, just like Akane with Aqua.

Ai didn't know what loving someone felt like, but Kamiki was the first time she felt she wanted to love someone that way. Akane didn't know what loving someone that way felt like, either. Aqua was her first.

Most importantly:

Ai wanted to save Kamiki, just like Akane wants to save Aqua. While it was translated as "help" in English, in Japanese Ai uses the exact same verb as Akane when she says that she wants to "save" Aqua.

Even their expressions when thinking about their wish are similar 😭

And the thing is that — technically, logically — none of this can be a coincidence, because this is a fictional story and Aka is nearly using copy-pasting to stablish these parallels. But since this is Aka we're talking about, whether this will lead anywhere or turn out to be just bait remains to be seen lol

I feel like Ai isn't only paralleling Akane this chapter though, it's also possible to establish parallels between her and Aqua. Namely, Aqua also broke up with Akane to protect her, Aqua didn't understand what love was and he showed that he wanted to love Akane despite it.

Plus, when Aqua broke up with Akane to protect her, he did so in a way that would deliberately paint him in a bad light — just like Ai with Kamiki.

I'd also like to point out that in this chapter, Ai's feelings are described as, well, "Ai" 愛. In Japan, "Ai" 愛 is the strongest form of love, which can be either platonic or romantic. This is very relevant, because by making Ai's feelings for Kamiki so strikingly similar to Akane's for Aqua, Aka has essentially confirmed strongly implied that the kind of love Akane feels for Aqua is "Ai" 愛, too.

And Ai's "Ai" 愛 was romantic.

For those who aren't familiar with the concept of "Ai" in Japan, I feel like this post explains it very well:

愛 (Ai): sacrificial, unconditional, love for the other person's sake (often parallels the Greek agape, but can extend into philos as sawa mentions) 恋 (Koi): selfish, conditional, love for one's own sake (often parallels the Greek eros) While both can be used for romantic love, you cannot simply swap out one for the other. The contrast between the two shows up clearly in the したい forms of 愛する and 恋をする: 愛(Ai)したい I want to love [someone in a deep, unconditional way] 恋(Koi)がしたい I want to [fall in] love [with someone and experience the "high" of being in love]

If you ask me, the contrast between those two types of love perfectly exemplifies the difference with the way Akane's and Kana's feelings are being written. Coincidentally, Kana herself described her feelings as 恋 (Koi) in Chapter 150 lol

So considering all of this, I'm having the hardest time not seeing Kamiki and Ai as a sort of "failed" Aqua and Akane. Kamiki and Ai were too broken, and neither could handle their relationship in a healthy way despite their best intentions and how much they loved each other. Kamiki was too dependant on her, Ai broke up with him in the clumsiest way possible and Kamiki lashed out in a selfish, tragic way.

I'd argue that despite their mishaps, Aqua and Akane have already shown that they're healthier than Kamiki and Ai were. Even when he was at his lowest, Aqua was self-aware and did his best to not depend on Akane too much. When he faltered, Akane reminded him that it's important that they remain independent so they can have a healthy relationship.

Which takes me to something I think is very important:

Ai thought that Kamiki would be fine without her, but she was wrong. If she had been right, then maybe she would be alive today and she and Kamiki would've gotten back together later down the line.

I'm sure that Akane, too, thinks that Aqua will be fine without her. Aqua most definitely thinks the same thing about Akane.

And for them to be able to have a healthy relationship, it's important for them to be right. They need to be able to be fine without the other, and as of now, it seems like Aqua is finally making progress in that regard.

But what about being happier? Akane was at her happiest when she was with Aqua, and according to Aqua himself, it was the same for him. If we forget all the recent fiascos for a second and entertain the thought of Akane and Aqua once again, I feel like this should be the biggest factor into whether or not they get back together.

After all, if they get back together it shouldn't be because Aqua can't function without Akane. It should be because he wants to be with her (and she with him). So if Aka were to be a good writer allow them to find their way back to each other, this time spent apart could be crucial to let them restart on a healthy base.

But I digress! 😂 Instead of getting ahead of myself, I just want to enjoy the fact that these parallels are right there for everyone to see. At least no matter what happens, we now pretty much have confirmation that the way Aka wrote Aqua and Akane was both, romantic and the strongest form of love.

As for the plot, the fact that Ai's wish was this clear kind of opens an entire can of worms questions-wise. Moreover, I feel like if telling Kamiki that Ai loved him was Aqua's revenge plan all along, things like these would make very little sense in retrospective:

So for the sake of logic, I'm inclined to believe that Aqua, who didn't know what love was and who held a grudge against Kamiki, may have wanted to believe that Ai truly couldn't love Kamiki. He may have desperately wanted to believe that Ai was saying the truth, because otherwise taking revenge against Kamiki would mean going against Ai's wishes.

I feel like Aqua originally misinterpreting Ai's words is supported by the fact that even during the movie recording, Aqua was shown to not understand Ai.

So, what changed his mind? What made him finally realize that Ruby's portrayal was right and that Ai truly did love Kamiki?

Plus, Aqua has had that DVD for years now, which means that nothing was stopping him from realizing that Akane herself was echoing Ai's feelings for Kamiki throughout their relationship.

But I better stop myself right here, because if I start theorizing about this there will be no end to it. The possibilities are endless, so I'd rather just wait and let Aka either pleasantly surprise like he did this chapter me or continue to disappoint me as he is prone to do 😂

edit;

I just realized there are even more parallels when you get down to it. I mentioned before in my Chapter 97 post that during the phone-call that ultimately leads to their break-up, Aqua and Akane are like two ships in the night. They both want the same thing (to stay together), but in her haste to help him, Akane makes a choice that leads to their separation.

The same thing happens with Ai and Kamiki. They both want the same thing (to stay together), but in her haste to not burden him, Ai chooses to walk away from him.

Ai doesn't understand her own love and is thus unable to understand the extent of Kamiki's. She makes the mistake of thinking that the best way to save Kamiki is to not impose more burdens on him, when all he wanted was to stay with her. I'd argue something very similar happened with Akane. She made the mistake of thinking that the best way to help Aqua was to carry out his revenge for him, when all Aqua wanted from her was to remain by her side.

[mylonelydreaming]

Hello! Do you have more info or resources on the English translations of TOTK, and stuff that got changed or lost in translation? This is the first I've heard of it, so I'm curious.

Hi! So, off the top of my head, Ganondorf's motivations are elaborated on a bit more in Japanese, and once again (because this also happened with BotW) there are vague zelink hints that are either slightly toned down or simply don't exist in the English version (with the exception of "warm loving embrace", because that pretty much does still exist in Japanese, where she says she felt something warm wrap around her, although if I am remembering correctly, the word she used meant physically, so perhaps slightly less ambiguous there).

A few things I both noticed were changed myself and get talked about by others:

Zelda herself doesn't call the house "my house" in her journal originally. It's more like "the" house, a bit more vague.

Rauru says "look after her/that girl" to Link and not "I have done all I can for her".

The quest "For Our Princess!" is originally called, no joke, "マイス―イトプリンセス" or, "My Sweet Princess"

Fun fact, stuff like マイス―イトプリンセス is a dorky nickname boyfriends give their girlfriends in Japan, which I saw when I put it into Twitter to see the Japanese shipper's reactions aha. Maybe that was the joke, in that Link would be that sort of dork, but it was a bit random, so I do kind of understand why it was removed 😂 .　

Puppet Zelda says "Memories of you and me" in Japanese and other languages, like French.

When you complete the Dragon's Tears: "I must do whatever it takes to live up to Princess Zelda's feelings, no matter what".

I think this is all of them, but I may have forgotten something. And here are some good videos on this subject by QuestWithAaron:

[yuurei20]

Hi hi! I have a weird question/thought after seeing the talk about Idia's use of language. There are a lot of things that are just unable to translate from Japanese to English, and some things that get changed as short hand. The whole nerdy implications of Idia using "-Shi" are basically absent from EN, instead he seems to use "Mr." (If I recall correctly) which really doesn't give the same impression? In your personal opinion - is there anyway you'd personally localize it? Stick with the same? Remove it completely? Use "M'lady/M'lord" instead? (haha)

Hello hello!! I love your "M'lady/M'lord" solution more than I can say ♡ It is associated with the past while still being used by some people in present-day just for fun, which is just like how Idia speaks! That would have been so great for the English-language adaptation!

As you say, Idia's honorific for others has (kind of) been translated as "Mr." on EN, but only in a select few places.

For the most part it has just been removed, but the curious continuity makes it seem like he thinks that only Malleus, Azul, Grim and Riddle are (sometimes) worthy of "Mr." (the Riddle screenshots below are even both from the same vignette).

And then there is the Harveston sub-plot between Sebek and Marja, where Sebek refuses to refer to Marja with an honorific until she proves herself worthy of respect (by fixing his plushie).

At that point he awards her with an extremely respectful honorific (equivalent to "-sama," and the same word Silver uses with Lilia).

Marja, however, immediately gives him permission to refer to her in the same way he has been throughout the entire trip.

Idia is a psuedo-narrator for this sub-plot, commenting on Sebek's disrespectful way of speaking in both languages.

But on EN he then proceeds to refer to Marja in the same way as Sebek (and everyone else) does.

This has the unfortunate result of making Idia look odd for mentioning it in the first place, when the odd person is actually Sebek, as everyone else is using a respectful honorific with Marja.

Idia using "M'lady" and everyone else (except Sebek) using "Ms." probably would have been a lot more successful in getting the situation across to people who may not be familiar with such Japanese-language nuances!

As for what I personally would go with...this conundrum reminded me of this amazing joke by @anottercoffee on Twitter:

And I would be very tempted to go for the "fansubber" solution of translating everything literally, but just having the words doesn't mean that the players are going to understand the nuances, and might cause even more confusion.

If "-san" and "-senpai" are just mouth-sounds to someone, they're not going to understand the significance behind Riddle and Azul dropping it from Leona and Riddle's names in important moments, for example.

But maybe that's okay! Because at the moment, the alternative that we have is everything getting removed from everywhere, and no one has the chance to understand anything at all.

The best comparison I have come across is Lord of the Rings and Star Trek, where authors incorporated languages that are completely invented, giving no one any chance of understanding them.

Japanese is a language that already exists, so it seems like it would actually be less of a challenge to introduce world-specific terms like "-sama" and "-chan" for people to either glaze over as a world-building aspect that doesn't interest them, or to gradually adapt to through sheer repetition, so by the end of Book 6 they might have a greater-than-zero understanding of the nuances of a foreign language (much like another magic-school series did with Latin).

The manga is actually approaching the honorifics in a different way than the game and giving “Mr.” to everybody, so Azul’s “Riddle-san," Crowley’s “Trappola-kun” and Deuce’s “Diamond-senpai” are all now Mr. Rosehearts, Mr. Trappola and Mr. Diamond (more here).

So it seems that VIZ Media did not agree with Aniplex USA's localization?

What is going to be the most interesting is the novel! Slated for an August, 2024 official English-language release, the novel is also being overseen by VIZ Media.

This means that we might see "Mr." being used everywhere (to uphold continuity with the manga), but the novel goes much deeper into character relationships than the game, and relationships are what honorifics are all about.

Cater, for example, uses them with everyone:

“Usually, Cater does not ever yobisute anyone. When he calls to Trey, he always adds ‘kun’ to his name...When Cater uses Trey’s name like this, it is only when he is really serious. Only when it is important.” -Twisted Wonderland the first novel

Is Cater going to be calling Trey "Mr. Clover"? And how are they even going to localize these sections describing a feature of a language that is not being spoken? It gives us a lot to look forward to!

In the end, writing out Japanese-specific honorifics into English might actually cause more confusion than it's worth, which is why Twst (and so many other foreign-language-adapting-to-an-English-speaking-audience properties) has gone in the direction that it has.

I like to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they know more than we do about what is going on, and that there are important reasons behind the choices they have made.

But I also think that the sheer popularity of the "fansubber" approach to this situation is a good sign that maybe people are sometimes okay with not understanding things, as properties like Lord of the Rings and Star Trek have shown us!

While too late for Twst, it will be interesting to see how this situation continues to evolve in the years to come. Maybe, one day, we will even get an official localization that introduces honorifics directly!

If such an experiment fails it will be most expensive for the localizer, and money is likely a large factor behind why companies might be reluctant to take such a gamble and would rather play it safe and just have everyone say "Mr."

[randomthefox]

I actually really like the zeti so I feel like talking about how IDW Sonic gets them completely wrong. As it does with every single character.

As I just confirmed: the zeti NEVER refer to THEMSELVES as "The Deadly Six" in either the Wii U or 3DS versions of Lost World. That is a title that Eggman gave them when introducing them to Sonic, and it's basically just a localization bungle. In Japanese he just calls them "the six Oni." So in English their title, which they do not claim for themselves but have dubbed upon them, should really just be "the six zeti" and frankly I question why the term "zeti" needed to be invented for the English version in the first place. But whatever, I don't mind Zeti. But they don't call THEMSELVES the Deadly Six. I think this is just Ian Flynn's creepy obsession with team names.

I really don't understand where this characterization for Zavok is coming from. Even if Zavok felt this bizarre sense of identity and pride in their status of being Zeti, who are apparently all about conquering and taking whatever they want (I think Flynn is correct by accident on this one, since just add some sake gourds and that is kind of what Oni are all about in Japanese mythology), he wouldn't try and use his personal feelings about their species to try and motivate his men. Zazz and Zomom don't give a shit about the "pride of the zeti." Zazz just wants wonton violence for its own sake, and Zomom just wants to eat everything and everyone. Zavok is aware of this. He would be using that awareness of his cohorts personal desires to motivate them. You know, like he does IN THE GAME.

When he wants Zeena to go kill Sonic and she blows him off, he doesn't rage and scream at her by going "YOU ARE A ZETI! YOU LIVE FOR DESTRUCTION AND RUIN! GO MANGLE SONIC BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT ZETI SHOULD DO!!" Instead he FLATTERS her, buttering her up until she's happy to saunter off and do as he wishes.

And he's quietly bemused at how that even worked in the first place.

Zavok is a good leader. He knows his compatriots and he knows how to motivate them. He doesn't rule through fear and intimidation, he appeals to their base emotions and petty desires. He doesn't need to scream at them, he's just naturally charismatic and authoritative and they listen to him. But when they don't ask how high when he says jump, he knows how to finesse them to get what he wants regardless.

Instead of SCREAMING at Zazz about how he should be conquering, he should be going "now that we're together again, we can give those fools your favorite kind of fight: an unfair one!" Instead of screeching that Zomom should have the pride of the Zeti, he should be telling him "chew your way out of that cage and I'll give you a bigger cake than anything you could beg for from these lowly creatures." Even Eggman knew that.

That is, if he NEEDED to convince or motivate them AT ALL. Which he really shouldn't need to. They should just be on board with Zavok on sight. I seriously don't understand why he's just yelling at them for no fucking reason.

I assume this is just how Flynn wrote Zavok in Archie. And instead of writing the characters authentically to how they're supposed to be from the games, he's just writing them the same way as he did in Archie again. Because IDW is not canon to the games, it's merely Archie 2.0

[jedimayukidaawesome]

I’ve been seeing a lot of posts of people wondering how Janai is not completely fluent in KSL or doesn’t “know as much as she should”, and I wonder how many of them have actually tried to learn any languages later in life, especially with a high profile job, and when they may not be language inclined. So buckle up, because do I have a rant/explanation for you.

First of all, she’s a queen after watching her sister get murder, and her home become unliveable. She has had to find a place to stay, build that city of tents, figure out food and supplies, maintain peace between two formerly opposing races in order to rebuild, write peace treaties etc. All the while having to deal with the grief of losing her sister. It’s a miracle that she has time for herself and Amaya, especially when you also consider that Amaya is a General of a different kingdom and has duties of her own to achieve.

If you say “Well Kazi is there to teach Janai whenever Amaya isn’t there”, it’s true, yet you don’t think Kazi has other duties outside of teaching KSL? It also doesn’t change Janai’s need for sleep either. Kazi still must’ve taught her much of KSL, since Janai is able to read it fluently.

Which leads to my next point: reading KSL and “speaking” KSL are two different things, and both are difficult to do. There are plenty of people that can understand a language but have little to no capability to speak it. KSL is no different, and is arguably harder. We are conditioned to speak with gestures and facial expressions unique to our culture and personal quirks. To consistently and consciously break that habit to speak KSL is hard to do - just like it is to speak another language. You have to decide what the other person has said, think of your own response, and then translate that response into that language, and speak it. On top of that, languages, including KSL, have verb structures which determines what order you speak in. Japanese is V3 (Verb 3), which means that they end a sentence with the verb. An example: in English, we would say “I walked to the shops.” In Japanese, that sentence would be “To the shops I walked.” when translated back into English. And all languages have exemptions and quirks and are a pain in the arse to remember.

Janai, despite her busy schedule, has managed to successfully learn what Amaya is saying to her, allowing them to communicate via KSL reading by Janai and lip reading via Amaya. Janai is also shown to utilise KSL whenever she can, including during moments where she was going through strong feelings, which is hard because she, naturally, vents through words and reactionary gestures rather than KSL. That was my initial annoyance to; with Janai looking down or away when talking, however that’s how people naturally talk and when she did that in an emotional state, it’s just her reverting back to instinct, which is okay. It’s like speaking a sentence in one language and using your native language to say a word you don’t remember in the initial language. Also, Janai has three fingers and a thumb, and can’t sign specific words like usual because of it, yet she still manages to work around it. That alone proves her devotion, and she won’t stop learning.

Also, take into consideration on how Janai learns. She may be more inclined to learn by observation than by doing, or she focused on reading Amaya first because it was more important to understand Amaya first instead of being able to speak it. Amaya has managed most of her life by lip reading others, because KSL isn’t common, so she can understand Janai. That’s why it was more important to Janai at the time to understand Amaya. Then, when she could, she focused on learning to talk to Amaya in her language, in KSL.

I learnt Japanese in high school for five years, and even then, I could only speak rudimentary Japanese, sounding similar to a child. I could understand what I read more than what I could hear, picking up only key words and trying to understand what they were saying. If you think it’s so easy to learn a language inside and out in two years on top of a high power job, then by all means give it a try. Some may even be successful at it if they’re wired that way. Yet even then, it’s extremely hard to do.

My biggest gripe about these comments though is that most of the complainers more than likely have seven year old unfinished fanfics on their computers that haven’t been even touched in as long (no hate here - I have the same except even older), and think that they can talk shit about a woman that managed to put all her time and effort into understanding and communicating with her fiancé into two years and still produce more of a result. They manage to communicate in their own way every day, and through that, they still found love and happiness. And that is most important.

I’d rather talk about their overall cuteness, especially the “two cakes” talk - I kept screaming from the adorableness of it all

[active-mind-15]

Oh yeah, after I read that one Akashi-centric fic called A Lesson In Human Interaction (and all the bullshit that comes with it), I am finally breaking my silence on my Nebuya headcanon that he's half Nigerian because in the fic he has a Nigerian father and now I feel validated. However, a difference between my headcanon and the author's headcanon is that instead of him being from the Yoruba tribe, I want to say that his family is Igbo. Purely because I am also Igbo and I want to project. Anyway, walk with me.

Nebuya being half-Nigerian and not living in Nigeria means that whichever parent of his is Nigerian (I'd assume the mother simply because he has a Japanese family name) would make sure he stays connected to his culture somehow. One of those ways is for sure through his name. Interracial couples especially tend to each give their kid a name that comes from their respective country. In this case, even though Nebuya has a Japanese name, his mother would give him a Nigerian one as well that she calls him by. Haven't decided what it would be, though, so I'll get back to you on that.

Another way would be through language. This would mean that Nebuya (in my opinion) would be trilingual because he would speak Japanese, Igbo, and--by extension--English, since English is the national language of Nigeria anyway and so most people speak it to some degree (effects of being colonized by the British ✊🏿😔).

The English part would be interesting to explore because Nebuya speaking English would have Akashi (who is canonically fluent in English) thinking he would understand Nebuya when he speaks it. But when Nebuya speaks with Nigerian relatives, especially cousins, he slips into Pidgin instead (a Nigerian dialect of English), leaving Akashi confused. He can speak standard English as well, but he goes back and forth between that and Pidgin English. Also, I think he would speak Pidgin more commonly with cousins but then use Igbo with older relatives like aunts, uncles, and grandparents. So Akashi, wanting to decipher what he's saying, would ask Nebuya about it and maybe Nebuya would teach him a few words/phrases in Pidgin. It would be cute to see Nebuya teach his teammates Igbo phrases as well. Imagine if the next time Nebuya called any of his Nigerian relatives he'd tell them he was teaching his teammates their language and make them try and talk to his relatives in Igbo.

Don't remember if it was ever confirmed in canon so I'll keep this as a regular headcanon, but I believe Nebuya can cook very well (like if you're gonna eat all that food every day you better know how to sustain yourself), so I would think sometimes he likes to make traditional Nigerian food. His favorite dishes are of course the ones heavy on meat, and he likes to pair them with either fried rice or jollof rice. Typically making traditional Nigerian food is done in bulk, which means he'd have a lot to store as leftovers to eat throughout the week, but he also does like to share and would save some food for his teammates to try.

I also am thinking of what Nebuya would look like in traditional Nigerian clothes like a kaftan or agbada. I've seen him in kimonos, so it would be fun to see him rock some Nigerian clothes, too. Maybe his aunt or his grandmother makes clothes for him that they send over to Japan for him to wear.

I would hope that every so often, Nebuya would take a trip to Nigeria to see family. And when he comes back, he brings gifts for his teammates. Imagine them sitting Nebuya down and asking him to tell stories from his trip, and they all get to sit there and learn more about Nebuya's culture and his family.

Anyway, I'll cut it off here, but I am obsessed with this headcanon and I just had to get it off my chest.

[0rb0t]

Don't mind me, just talking about Shadow as being on the autistic spectrum, and how his portrayal in the games and anime (before 2010s era) reflected this even if it was never outright stated.

(TIME FOR A CHARACTER ANALYSIS ABOUT SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG)

    When I was in high school, I struggled a lot in social situations, I'd go completely stiff and just watch people. I had a "resting bitch face", I never really could have conversations and seemed to just fixate on things. I'd make observations that irritated people. I'd ask "why" a lot. (Asking why or even asking 'obvious' questions seemed to make people think I was questioning their judgment, or that I was challenging them. But no, I just didn't understand and wanted clarification. I still run into this a lot and I wish people would stop assuming I have ulterior motives. I just wanna understand stuff better cause it doesn't connect for me. Even if it seems obvious. I'm the genius that asked my mom why she was crying at her dad's funeral when I was 11. It's not that I didn't understand why Grandpa was gone, I knew he passed away, but it hadn't really landed for me, and my brain registered my mom's sadness before it registered the why.)

    I didn't like small talk (still don't) and would rather every interaction have a specific purpose. You'd never catch me at a party and I didn't think drinking or drugs looked fun or interesting. The act of rebelling didn't interest me either. The few interests I did have were something I'd always go back to, and I couldn't function without them. (For me, drawing has always been a huge part of my life and if I didn't have a pencil or pen and paper, then I couldn't hear. I know, very weird. If I were doodling or just even had my sketchbook open, I could study a lot easier. In High school, my teachers started telling me to put the sketchbook away, and my grades plummeted because my attention did, too. Trying to tell them just kind of led to the same old "well everyone else can't doodle so you can't either". I wasn't in any of the special ed stuff because I guess I masked too well.)

    Sonic 06 and Sonic X have the same characterization for Shadow, especially in Japanese, and I think that's honestly the best he'd ever been-- he's quiet, he's reserved, he observes and he doesn't like to "waste time". Not because he's edgy, not because he's a jerk or too serious, but because he struggles in social situations and he's more introverted. He doesn't want to be the centre of attention, he doesn't enjoy any of that. Shadow also behaves like an adult, and I'm sure a ton of us on the spectrum have heard that before, that we're very mature for our age. In reality, we can't relate with our peers and have very fixated interests that don't really expand to other things. Limited interests and we just wanna do stuff tied to that. We know so much about that one thing or those things, but those things won't get you ahead in school. Unless you're LUCKY and your fixation is math, oy vey! (My fixation was etymology. I loved learning and knowing where words came from. Useful for 2 seconds in English class, quickly loses its usefulness in a skill-oriented world.)

    I don't even think he's naturally boastful, at least he wasn't since SA2 (when he was an antagonist), but Sonic brings out a competitive side in him. Sonic brings out the childhood-self that he lost to trauma and being sealed away. Shadow never got to be a normal kid/adult. He has always had expectations placed on him. I think Sonic really brings out a side of him that even surprises himself. It's why he will even say very often "What am I doing?" or "This is such a waste of time!" but he won't STOP… Because he's having fun and doesn't know how to describe his own feelings. Shadow's the type who'll say "I'm fine" no matter what state he's in when you ask if he's okay. My spouse is like this actually-- I can often tell when he's feeling down, but he doesn't know how to describe emotions beyond functional things like "i'm healthy" or "i'm unhealthy", so he'll say he's fine even if he's having a melancholy day. I struggle with understanding my emotional responses, but not necessarily identifying them. A lot of people on the spectrum do struggle with identifying their emotions beyond empirical things. "Do I feel sick? No? then I'm fine" Shadow is exactly like this. And because his expression is so neutral, sometimes intense, he gets mistaken as being angry or too serious. In reality, he's just standing there. He's not gonna expend energy smiling when he's got nothing to smile about. Why force yourself to emote for people? Especially if it feels unnatural.

    Another thing about Shadow being autistic is if he's got nothing to say, then he won't say it. If he wants to leave, he'll leave. Good luck stopping him! But for many actual people it's not an option to leave. We can't just teleport out or skate at lightning speeds like he can, so we have to just sit there and do little coping or self soothing methods to keep ourselves in the moment and calm. We don't often see Shadow stimming in traditionally understood ways, like lip biting or rubbing his arms or fidgeting with his fingers-- but he often stands with his arms crossed. This CAN BE a stim. Feeling the weight of your arms on top of each other, it allows for you to be aware of your own body. I fold my arms a lot in public, because I'm usually playing with the hem of my sleeves, or I'm rubbing my arms or squeezing them. Shadow doesn't seem to do any of that but he's rarely seen without his arms folded.

    When his arms aren't folded, he stands so still and just stares at people. He looks completely out of his element. He doesn't seem to have a relaxed stance--until the anime, where he's shown standing with his hand on his hip. Rouge also does this, leading to the popular headcanons that Shadow is unintentionally imitating Rouge-- his masking leads him to identify the most 'normal' person in the room and copy their behavior in order to blend in better. Unfortunately it rarely, in my experience, leads to people NOT thinking I'm weird. Sometimes I'll even start imitating speech patterns or accents and BOY. I don't even realize I'm doing it until it HAPPENS. So embarrassing. But Shadow absolutely imitates everyone around him. We can see him do this even as far back as Sonic Heroes--that scene where he's nodding or shaking his head to whatever Rouge is saying. The scene where Sonic starts getting competitive and Shadow starts kind of imitating his posture and his way of speaking to become competitive with them-- I don't even think he realizes he's doing it. But it also makes sense with his NAME.

    His name is Shadow. I think of Peter Pan, where Peter's Shadow can sometimes get away from him. Usually it does everything he does, but sometimes it gets away and does its own things, and Peter has to catch it. Wendy sews the shadow back on in Hook. I think Shadow's name is referencing that as well, that just like a shadow, he mimics those around him. He's watching over them, but also copying them. Learning to blend in.

    Another moment I adore is in SA2 (and Sonic X) when Amy Rose hugs him from behind. According to the 2010s era and early IDW, you'd have expected Shadow to push her away or yell DONT TOUCH ME or whatever. But no, he actually just goes REALLY RIGID and doesn't even say anything. It isn't until Amy realizes her mistake that Shadow turns around to look at her, smiling like 'What are you doing???' But in Sonic X, they changed this scene further into autistic territory--

    Shadow doesn't even TURN to her. He goes rigid, yes, and his eyes widen and he just stands there looking towards the audience like 8| He's completely OUT OF HIS ELEMENT. He prepared for the mission, NOT to deal with random people HUGGING HIM. He's probably not been hugged since Maria over 50 years ago. We don't even know if Maria hugged him much because Shadow has always seemed pretty touch-averse. I love GIVING hugs and I love receiving hugs but only from people I'm REALLY close to. I don't even like getting hugs from extended family. My spouse? VERY touch averse. He'll get hugs from me but hugging and touch are just not his thing. Shadow is not a huggy person, but he does tend to hold hands.

    We know he grabbed and held Maria's hand, running with her-- but we never actually saw that until Sonic X (2003) he can be seen running with her away from the military, and he's holding her hand as he leads her. In Shadow the Hedgehog, Maria often grabs Shadow's hand when telling him things. This is also a grounding method to bring the person into the moment. For me, I feel like I can focus better on what my spouse is saying to me when he holds my hand and it's crowded or busy. Even in our home, if he wants to tell me something, I recommend that he hold my hand or touch my arm so I can focus on him better. This happens with Shadow.

    Sonic doesn't tend to hold peoples' hands. In Sonic X he usually just picks people up, but we do see him grab Elise's arm in 06 and run with her. But holding hands? Not really his thing! Shadow does do it more often though. In Sonic X S3, in the episode, Molly's Dream, Shadow's immediate way of leading Molly away from danger is to grab and hold her hand. He even keeps holding her hand until she lets go. It speaks to me the sort of childlike behavior he may still be exhibiting, but not that I'm trying to say that autistic people are more like children. From my experience on the spectrum, I am more childish than my peers. I still react like a kid might to things, and I don't really think like an adult is expected to. I am mentally behind my peers as well, I think my emotional maturity is lower? But it's hard to measure that without a doctor. It's not just about laughing at fart jokes or knowing to pay bills, it's like, how I problem solve is more creatively aligned with kids than it is adults. This is both great and terrible, depending on the situation. A situation that requires math and stuff cannot be solved my way. A situation that involves encouraging kids to try again or be nice to each other, well it's very useful because I can communicate with them on their level (I was a teacher in South Korea for over half a decade, my brain was great for being a teacher but not great for other things).

    I think Shadow really gets misread as a mean guy a lot, but he really isn't. I also don't really enjoy the headcanons that imagine him as very outgoing and whimsical when he was on the ARK, and I especially don't like headcanons that infantilize him-- I really don't like headcanons where people infantilize autistic people. We've seen Shadow when he loses his memories a few times. In Heroes, but also in S3 of Sonic X-- his personality is still the same. He's still reserved, he's still quiet, he still struggles in social situations and prefers getting to the point rather than dilly-dallying. I'd argue that he was exactly like that before the incident on the ARK, too. It's just that the incident caused his inner peace to be destroyed. His precious person, Maria, was no longer around and he lost everything all at once. He doubled down on the one thing that made sense: Revenge. But even after all of that was sorted out, he's not gonna just magically be a different person. He's still reserved, he's still serious, he's still "get to the point". If he played FFXIV, he'd only focus on main quests, and never do side quests. He'd never spend money on cosmetics, probably. He's likely a person who values gameplay over story. If the game is broken or the mechanics aren't utilized well, that's probably more what he'd be fixated on than whether the story was good or not. He'd skip through dialogue because he reads fast, even if the dialogue is voiced (my spouse does this and it drives me nuts. SHADOW I BEG OF YOU PLEASE DO IT FOR ME, DISABLE THE VOICE ACTING IN OPTIONS SO I STOP HEARING THE FIRST UTTERANCE OF A WORD EVERY TIME U MASH THROUGH THE DIALOGUE)

    Trauma affects people in all kinds of ways. I don't think all autistic people are like Shadow, because autism is a spectrum and no two people present exactly the same, although there will be similarities. Shadow's trauma happened at a time where he barely knew himself already, so that's why it was so easy for him to fixate on revenge, and then he'd be content with dying afterwards because he figured he had nothing left to live for. Finding out he was wrong was the best thing that could have happened to him.

    I was really saddened when SEGA decided he was an edgelord who hated everything and had no friends because that's such a horrible read of this nuanced character. In my personal headcanons for Shadow, he's actually very into plants and flowers, because Maria loved the planet so much. And eventually he learns to love the planet because of nature. Shadow's never going to be a people person, in fact he probably still doesn't care much for people as a whole, but that doesn't mean he won't step up when they need his help. Which is why his line in Sonic 06 is still so poignant. "If the world chooses to become my enemy, then I'll fight like I always have." Basically, it really doesn't matter, I've made my choice, I know who I am now and I get to make those decisions. No one else will shake the foundations of who I am.

    And because he knows who he is, he doesn't feel the need to repeat it and boast about himself. He's confident, not arrogant. He can be smug and competitive, but that's playfulness, not cruelty. He's quiet and may just straight up walk away while someone is mid-sentence, but that's not because he's evil or intentionally being a jerk-- it's just how he is. He needs to work on it if he wants to have friends, but his friends already understand him very well. They know that he's like that, and from what we saw in The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, occasionally they forget it's not personal. I'm happy to see them admitting "oh no, I completely misjudged you, I'm so sorry!" because it's been way too long since we've heard the main cast apologize to Shadow for assuming he was a big jerk on purpose.

    Knowing the restrictions on how Shadow is written have been lifted, I'm really hoping we can get more of how he's meant to be, the reserved, socially awkward but well-meaning hedgehog we love. Autistic Shadow FTW!

    

(our experiences and headcanons

may differ, that's okay.)

[uhcasual]

Here's a Changelog!

Made edits to the translations for chapters 1 and 2 of MDZS' manga. I originally wasn't going to make any further edits but felt bad that someone could come across my translation and miss some details or nuance because of it. I think this is a final version.

This is a lot of yap but here you go anyway

Chapter 1 link Chapter 2 link

Chapter 1 page 3 Missed 不夜天; original t/l only said "bloody night", but this is referring to the battle at the nightless city. (it was a bloody night tho lol) page 6 Skipped over 奪舎; original t/l ommitted the robbery of a body but it's explicitly stated. Added to include. page 8 t/l word order was confusing. Meant to say the mom was born of the servant, not Mo Xuanyu lol. Original said "Born from a servant, who my mother doesn't even acknowledge as a sister" which doesn't really make sense in English. page 9 Changed "family" to "clan" in second speech bubble. Really, either is fine but MDZS does use sect vs clan in general, rather than school vs family. This is also more consistent with the existing page 4 translation. 仙門 cultivation was used in both the 2nd speech bubble and the 6th. Added the word cultivation to the the 6th bubble as well. Thought about changing it to "distinguished cultivators will be our guests today" since that sounds more fluid in English but the distinguished is attached to guests rather than cultivators so left the rest. Otherwise it would be implied that the cultivators are distinguished (Jingyi's in that group that would be categorically false)(jk I love Jingyi) page 15 A-Tong, the Mo servant's name, is used in the first part of the first speech bubble, so added his name. It was already translated and added to page 16 but that one's tiny so this way it's more clear who he is lol. I don't remember if he's one of the people that needs to die for the ritual, but figured it would be better to be clear rather than not just in case his name is brought again in a later chapter. Probably everyone in the MDZS fandom knows this but in case this is your first exposure, 阿 "Ā" in Chinese is a flattering initial particle that can be added to a person's name or nickname. It's used to be cutesy, express affection, or indicate that you're close (depending on who's using it on whom). Added t/n to explain 阿 also. It's used in a few Chinese dialects, not just Mandarin. WWX also calls the distinguished guests cultivators in page 15 but figured it's clear who he's referring to so didn't think it's really necessary to add the word there. page 16 Rearranged the words of A-Tong's second speech bubble to include his little っわあ waah!!. Made the other small text on the page a little bigger, it was too small to read earlier.

Chapter 2 Page 1 I totally butchered this one. Honestly the whole chapter's translation was pretty bad, I was sleep deprived at this point. Original translation said "there are some young men in our family who have a talent in cultivation" because I didn't understand what she was saying. Fixed! Madam Mo is talking about connection to cultivators not like, connection with cultivation, equating to talent lol Page 2 Had the same issue as page 1 in the first speech bubble, fixed to refer to connections with cultivators rather than connection to cultivation. Also made Lan forehead ribbon text bigger to make it easier to read. Page 3 Changed text size a bit. Changed the back and forth between uhhh Lord Mo(? I forget his name and it's not in the manga yet) and WWX to actually reflect what they're saying. I didn't get what Lord Mo was saying initially, now it's true to the Japanese version. WWX's response is changed back to "wakatta!" (Got it!/I understand!) now that it makes sense lol. Page 4 The mangatemple font that I have doesn't have a ~tilde so it was hard to see in the Aah~!, so I changed the font. OG Japanese has tilde. Changed the 2nd part of the 7th speech bubble to make more sense in English within the context of the first panels of this page. Page 6 Removed "words" from "Don't take my words seriously!?" in the third panel because it sounded stilted in English. Page 9 Missed Wei Wuxian's tiny little "fu~tsu" sound effect on page 7 when I was doing SFX lol. Added translation. Page 10 Added extra to Sizhui's first full line to make it more obvious in English that Sizhui's saying it's not a big deal. There's probably a better way to word this but whateva Changed the to the original unit of measurement of Li/Ri. Li (the Chinese,Japanese,Korean traditional unit of measurement, originated in China) is used in the OG text so figured it should stay in English too. Ri 里 is also a traditional Japanese unit of measurement but figured might as well keep the Chinese version in since there will be other Chinese words used in the manga (like the A- prefix, clan names, locations, etc) that don't really have an equivalent. This way using incense sticks to measure time blends in better I think too. If I translate future chapters I'm going to keep the convention of maintaining original Chinese terms for similar culture-specific words. Also t/n Jingyi doesn't actually say "Listen to me!" in the 2nd bubble but Wei Wuxian's response of "No way! Taking it!" (more literal translation) makes sense in Japanese but doesn't really make sense as a response to "Don't touch!" in English I think, hence the added line for Jingyi. Missed WWX's tiny hehe sfx so added that Page 12 This one was also butchered. Missed 役所 so that messed up the grunts' 2nd and 3rd speech bubbles. Now it's correct!

Plus small font/font size/centering changes.

I don't like how many errors there were so if I do future chapters I'm gonna take more time with it. I learned a lot this time! The SFX didn't take very long to add once I did them (only maybe like 3 hours) so I'll prob just include the translations for them with the first version next time.

[danganronpa96]

Oh, this is very interesting. I assume you mean like from the DR3 anime, so (rubs hands together)

DR69:

Luigi - going into a room with the lights on (as no. 2, isn’t it your duty to be in the dark? Also this could stir up some interesting situations in the dark)

Mario - running or jumping (can’t yahoo his way out of this one)

Peter - talking (yep not a peep outta funny family moments guy, no cutaway gags no nothing, what will tiktoks use for footage now)

Brian - reading or writing (no books, no laptops, no pens. He won’t be needing them)

Miku - speaking in English (as an idol, it’s her goal to spread her voice to everyone around the world, so what if it was limited? She can still speak Japanese, and Chinese, but only a select few will understand her. Sure, it’s fine for those who can translate, but what if she was in a dire situation with someone who couldn’t…?)

Teto - Hatsune Miku dying (since she loves her so much, she’ll do anything to protect her, even if that goes for protecting her own life too)

Nagito - telling the truth (kinda like his despair disease, seems he can only lie or keep quiet… How can someone who hardly has any trust here gain any now?)

Sans - telling a joke/pun (at first this was gonna be a joke answer, but… it would be tough for him to remain serious in situations where he’d rather not be)

Parappa - crying (he really has to keep believing now, or else he’ll be clawing not to let all those emotions spill out)

Fluttershy - touching another animal participant that isn’t herself (therefore she cannot tend to any of them if the time comes)

Ashley - being more than a room apart from another person (ultimately forcing her to stick around people rather than isolate herself)

Ayano - not killing anyone in 20 days (this would really challenge her “yandere” persona, and reluctance to kill here)

2D - listening to music (this goes for music out of speakers, hearing someone sing, and even humming a tune. Man loves music so what if no song machine /album ref)

Mr. Krabs - giving or accepting a bargain (not just with money, but favours, requests, and payback all count too)

Dedede - fighting with another participant (whether physically or verbally)

The Conductor - witnessing any act of violence (since he is usually is very disregarding of other’s safety, especially during filming his own movies, perhaps now he has a chance to redeem himself with preventing danger)

DR96:

Hayasaka - giving the poison antidote he was provided to someone else (he can save someone else who triggered their action, at the cost of his own life…. (I smile deviously))

Kurumada - flirting with Hayasaka /JJJ ok but actually using his physical strength to protect someone (this goes for violent acts such as punching, or manual labour such as catching heavy objects from falling)

Mai - making eye contact with anyone (she’s such an outgoing, bubbly gal… so what if she could never meet someone eye to eye ever again? Never being able to look at the ones she loves properly… oh my)

Walter - telling a lie (cue a Walter White version of the Pinnochio scene from Shrek 3)

Jesse - swearing (Jesse don’t say “bitch” challenge impossible 5 dead 20 injured)

Saiki - using his telepathy to communicate (either open your mouth or say nothing, Saiki, your choice)

Kaidou - daydreaming (this includes roleplaying as the Jet Black wings and wearing his bandages and blazer over his shoulders, no more fantasies grow up boy /jjj)

Retsuko - raising her voice (this goes for her heavy metal screaming as well, she can’t stand up for herself anymore seeing as she mostly did it on her own in private)

Natsuki - being called “cute” (I think this would be simple but effective, cue her attempting to never share her forbidden action, and doing all she can to never be called such a thing, even going so far to be as rude as possible even if she doesn’t want to be)

Yuri - everyone does not die in 30 days (if she really wants everyone to die, she’ll do all that she can to make sure it happens before it’s too late for her. Whether she utilises their forbidden actions to do the trick or not is up for thought…)

Hiroshi - touching white objects (such as plates, paper, his own scarf… how practical can one practical boy be now?)

Brian - witnessing spiritual or supernatural activity (this could be talk of religion, going to the Shrine, reading books about such things, and anything to do with Mr. Devil…)

Bojack - participating in the consumption of alcohol (rip this guy IMMEDIATELY)

Latte - verbally conversing with a student (she can be around them, and use body language, but speaking is a no-no, so much for being a professor huh-)

L - performing any of his usual quirks (includes sitting with his knees up, eating sweets, holding things with his index finger and thumb etc., L be normal challenge)

Ena - changing emotional states (meaning they can’t go into their sad, drunk, depressed etc. states. Oh boy get ready for a challenge folks)

[catgirl-catboy]

Which Danganronpa do you think got dealt the worst by Localization?

I'd be lying if I didn't say Gonta. (though Angie's god changing from being a generic god, making her a mockery of religious folk, to Atua, a very specific god that real people actually worship, has some fucked up, arguably kinda racist implications.)

A small CW for discussing the R slur in this analysis/rant. I don't write it out, but I understand 100% if you don't want to read it.

Speaking in the third person is considered a cute quirk in Japan. When a Japanese author has a character speak in third person, they are usually trying to make the character appear cute and harmless, which absolutely fits Gonta.

However, most American (or culturally American) authors reserve that kind of third person talk is reserved either for cavemen, or neurodivergent characters, with the implication that the character in question is too dumb to have a proper grasp of English. (Abelism much?)

This fits everyone else's perception of Gonta, but not who he actually is as a character.

One of the main points of Ch4 is that the class (even characters Kodaka wants you to like, such as Kaito and Himiko) was wrong to treat Gonta like he was stupid, and that Kokichi, who you aren't meant to like (as a person. As an antagonist he does a decent job) at this point, was in the right. With the big twist of Ch6 coming up, in addition to the Ch5 reveal that people like Kaito and Kokichi can work together to a common goal, it's important to point out that your cast isn't as perfect or infallible as they appear.

Which is why it does such a disservice to have Gonta continue to speak in the third person in the English version.

Gonta isn't the first character to speak in the third person in Danganronpa, Ibuki does it too! But it doesn't affect Ibuki's characterization in the same way, since Ibuki's character isn't about wrongly being underestimated. If Ibuki comes across as slightly dumber, it isn't a disservice to the themes of the story.

Also, Ibuki's backstory doesn't evoke Cavemen in the western player's mind.

Some other changes around Gonta were made, notably that Miu does not actually say the R slur to him. The word is a step up from 'baka' in rudeness, so "moron" or "fucking idiot" would be closer to the original tone. Miu calls many people idiots, with Kaito and Kaede being the first to mind. Only Gonta gets the ableist slur treatment -_- (Which makes the fact that it was put in there even more heartbreaking for me.)

Even if you aren't meant to agree with Miu, this can subtly color your perceptions of Gonta. Also, Miu gets a lot of hate for this, which doesn't seem fair to me. Stan Miu.

The most infuriating thing about this is, there's another v3 character that speaks in the third person in Japanese. My queen, Tenko Chabashira. They changed how she referred to herself for the western audiences, when arguably keeping it the same would not have done her that much of a disservice to her character. (She's a comic relief character who says dumb shit. Having her seem a bit less cute and a bit more stupid to western audiences wouldn't affect her plotline that much. Some people would maybe get irrationally angry and say she's a strawman (or strawwoman! sorry Tenko.) for feminists, but Kiibo is right there.)

So the argument that the translators would have to put a lot of work in doesn't hold.

In order to adapt Gonta more accurately and have him seem cute like Kodaka intended, I propose that he has emoticons at the end of his sentences sometimes. (I am shot by a sniper rifle for this idea!)

Heres his canon first line (not counting pregame because fuck that)

"Oh! Sorry for scaring! Gonta scary-looking. Most people not wanna talk to Gonta when meeting for first time. So, like gentleman, Gonta say thank you! Thank you for talking to Gonta!"

and here's it with how I'd alter it.

"Oh! Sorry for scaring! I'm scary-looking. Most people not wanna talk to me when meeting for first time. :( So, like gentleman, I say thank you! Thank you for talking to Me! :)"

Like, he comes across different, huh? Even to my eye, it reads more like he's struggling with the language in the second one, while the first one not so much.

Kaito and the Saiouma ship actually benefit from the localization, but that is another topic for another day.

[monarch-boo]

Quality of life things I have noticed from what we have been shown so far of the remaster (via Capcom Next and some other materials from today).

Will probably update this if I discover something I didn't see before.

● You can run around while first-person aiming now.

● A fastforward option has been added to the timer?

● Autosaving! I believe the original already autosaved after completing main story missions, but now we will get autosaves more often.

● Large items can essentially be used as shields now? Footage shown in Next showed the player fighting Carlito 1, carrying a barrel while approaching him, and the barrel was taking Carlito's bullets instead of Frank. This unsurprisingly will break the item much like it would from using it normally, as this gameplay shows the barrel being damaged.

● The survivor recruitment limit may have been increased, if not removed entirely. A screenshot appears to show Frank with a group of *ten* survivors rather than the original maximum of eight.

     • I am not sure if this means the limit of survivors that can be alive inside the mall at once has been increased, though I would assume so logically. So All Bosses speedrunners may not need to purge survivors anymore (in the original, bosses with survivors tied to them will straight up just not appear until there's enough "slots" for their hostages to spawn too).      • ...That same screenshot shows earlier-game survivors, as early as *fucking Jeff and Natalie*, in the group around the same time as much later survivors like Susan? I recall Susan being a Day 3 survivor (pretty sure she appears around the time that Paul is active, for reference). That means the player in the screenshot has Jeff and Natalie with them during late-game...? Does that mean it's easier to bring survivors all the way to the end, or perhaps there's even a way to grab survivors from the safehouse like DR3? Either way would be another QoL change, I feel. And Jeff Rising is now canon.

● That fucking ledge on the roof by the vents, that it's a notorious pain in the ass to get multiple survivors on top of at once in the original, now has steps on both the left and right of it to make things much easier. That means you can also carry carriable survivors right up instead of setting them down and coaxing them to climb.

● Speaking of survivors: They seem to have suggested that the survivor AI will be smarter than it was in the original? YO.

● Survivors seem to be able to give you random advice now? A screenshot (that I don't have on me right now, I'll have to find it), in Japanese, shows Natalie talking to Frank inside the mall (aka *after* she has already been recruited). Apparently, translating the text to English shows that she is telling Frank how to heat up the frying pans for PP / burning zombies.

She isn't saying it directly, she specifically says you SHOULDN'T heat a pan until it turns red- BUT people, especially old players, should/will understand the dialogue as the devs wink wink nudge nudging you to do it.

So, this is likely equivalent to PP hints on the pause screen in 2/OTR- instead having survivors you're escorting strike up random conversation, and the dialogue for that will be PP hints sorta disguised as just random anecdotes and stuff.

● WEAPONS HAVE DURABILITY METERS NOW! The item flashing red in the UI is no longer the only indicator of how much more you can use a weapon that doesn't have an ammo count.

[mdhwrites]

Which character stands out the most for you in Star Rail?

Meet Guinevere, though known nowadays as Guinaifen or Little Gui after her planet blew up and she moved to the Xianshou Loufu to be a street performer.

She is actually one of the characters I DON'T have leveled right now, though she's high on my priority list. This also means that she's caught my attention despite the fact that I'm not mechanically using her and she's also a four star so she's not one of the characters you have to go hard on trying to get ahold of. In fact, come 2.0, one of the events for that patch will include the chance to get a free Guinaifen (if you pick her over the other options available.)

No, this actually just comes down to the fact that she is a very VIVID character, even without reading her character story. In the game, she has had two major appearances. One was when she first came out and was given a small introduction in the Pokemon parody event where she introduced herself as an outworlder living on the kiiiind of racist Xianshou Loufu as a street performer which would not be an easy job to put it mildly. Little Gui is her online handle/her performance handle and her performances include, not kidding or over exaggerating: Slurping Noodles While Doing a Handstand Brushing Teeth While Whistling Smashing Boulder on Chest (She even has a special equip that literally shows and talks about her doing this with her bestie) Blocking Pike with Neck Swallowing Sword to Stomach CATCHING BULLET WITH HANDS

AGAIN. NOT A JOKE. AND THAT'S NOT EVEN A FULL LIST.

And mind you, with this being a space fantasy, live streaming exists and yes, Little Gui is a streamer. What sort?

That sort. Also, meet Sushang, her best friend. They are maybe the only two female friends in this game, along with their HuoHuo, who I do not go "AND THEY WERE ROOMMATES!" But yeah, she's a bit loud, she's trying really hard and she's just got so much energy.

But... This is where we get into why she is actually interesting. See, when this cutscene happens... She's in a slump. See, the majority of her content effectively revolves around her being an outsider of the Loufu, where she lives now. Her first big hit series was actually doing food reviews and detailing the best dining spots and delicacies on the ship. She's not been doing those lately though. In fact, she hasn't been streaming as much either.

Also, if you question her as she wants to go to the haunted garden, she will actually drop the act. Her VA, English one since I don't play with Japanese voices, is actually INCREDIBLE here because you can genuinely tell the shift in just her voice to be a little deeper and little more relaxed as she stops trying to hype things up. Little Gui is NOT Guinaifen after all. It's just her stage name.

Mind you, she also isn't entirely a liar either. She is passionate and excitable, she has the right energy to do this sort of work, but the game doesn't try to pretend that she's cranked up to eleven at all times. She's just a human being trying to make it in this world. I haven't seen many streamer characters admittedly but I genuinely love how real she feels as a performer like this while staying a person.

Part of her standing out admittedly is helped by being a part of literally the best content on the planet she's a part of. Fyxestroll Garden is a great expansion with a nice story that eventually starts mixing the science and fantasy sides really well as Guinaifen helps lead the Ghost Hunting Squad! She deals with the social media side of it to keep rumors down and keep the rest of the Loufu from understanding quite what is going on while her, Sushang and the little girl with paw eyes from the trailer, Huohuo.

The trio are all helpless scaredy cats. Little Gui is the bravest of all of them and as you saw in the video, that isn't saying much. But through the events, she had to confront her old fans, show us how she works and be just a lot of fun. It also makes sure that you always remember her as part of this trio, giving her people to bounce off of and add to her cheer and charm.

And that's despite the fact that her PLANET IS FUCKING GONE. Yeah, the biggest antagonistic force of the universe literally destroyed her home planet. She can never go back and it's REALLY easy not to properly realize this because it comes up in a TEXT MESSAGE and from her character stories which you only get if you level her up. It's admittedly MUCH more explicit in her character story page, I'm reading them now on the wiki, but you only get those parts of her if you actually use her. Here is her singing of it as a part of a folk song, which is another talent she uses for her performances. I was truly from that outworld court named Camelot, and has my siblings altogether a dozen lot. Our days were peaceful and joyous to boot, but who'd thought that the Ruin Author made trouble all afoot. Parents fought back the invaders and arms they took, yet the Legion broke the nation's back. Powerless Dad stood. Elder brother led us siblings wandering without a root, to an IPC mining planet covered in dark soot. Eke out a living with meager scraps we undertook, homeless and meal-less often was our wont. My brother a timid man, doing back-breaking work. To piracy he was forced, interstellar raider forsook. Commercial shipments he only waylaid, homes he never burnt. They sing he was a hero among bandits, distributing his loot. He led hundreds of poor souls in a desperate force, terrible to look. Fallen wayward in the eyes of the law, just so we get enough food.

...Have Little Gui juggling to rinse that out a bit.

(This is one of her two idles and I love it.)

But the fact that this backstory isn't the core of her character, it is instead how she has decided to rise from the ashes that's important, is part of what I love about her character. If you just want to treat her as a fun performer, that's okay! If you want to see her as another pair of lesbians with ShangShang, the game allows for that too. But there's just... A lot. A lot of potential while still have a fleshed out and realized person behind it. It's part of why of all the characters I'd love to next see get a 5 star upgraded version (we've gotten one already), I'd LOVE to see Princess/Queen Guinaifen someday who manages to bring her old home and new together into something even better.

If she never does though, I won't complain either. Not when I'm already a fan of Little Gui and SMASHED that subscribe button.

And just to finish this off: She is currently considered the third best Damage over Time, DoT, character in the game (there are six if we count Black Swan who comes out in five days) and the best of the four star DoT characters. Her kit is actually REALLY strong, even mimicking one of the best parts of a 5 star DoT character in retriggering a certain type of DoT. Not only that but she debuffs the enemy to make them take more damage from anything the more times they get burned, her style of DoT. She also has just an absolutely amazing ult animation even though I can't tell you why these small dogs, called Ditings, are related with her so much.

(I wasn't able to find gifs for this that would actually work for either this or her idle, hence the videos.)

So yeah, if she's caught your eye too, she's actually really good and super viable as a sub-DPS/debuffer. It's something I will always keep pointing out because the 4 stars in this game are genuinely strong and Guinaifen is no different. I just unfortunately took a while to realize and have also been using so many resources on upgrading other characters.

But yeah, I could keep going but she herself would tell me to leave the audience wanting more. So leave another ask if you want to hear what I think you could do non-canonically with her or the like, or just to hear thoughts on other characters like the rest of the ghost hunting squad themselves. For now, she still stands tall as one of my favorites in the game and honestly, probably my favorite character from her planet, even if it isn't her original home. The Loufu desperately needed a laugh though and this firecracker is just what the doctor ordered.

======+++++======

As a note: I don't know if I'd say she's my favorite character. She's up there and almost certainly is top three or five but she's got some stiff competition. She is probably the person I want to see developed further the most though which is why I chose to talk about her for this blog.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[landofzero-archive]

Your Yorishiro - Trouble talking 5

Writer: Kanata Haruka

Season: Winter

(Location: Meeting Room)

(Several days later. Meeting Room inside the ES building.)

Adonis: Thank you, Anzu. You’ve given us so many of these letters.

Nagisa: …… You went out of your way to print this out for us. It must have been difficult to carry these all the way here, thank you.

…… We just have to choose between all these concerns to discuss on the show, right?

Adonis: It’s going to be hard to choose between them. Anyway, it feels like we can look over everything by today.

Mm? Ah,  we’ll be fine. Today we’ll just be reading the letters here.

That’s why you shouldn’t be bothered by us, Anzu. You can go to your next job. Thank you for personally coming all the way to see us.

Nagisa: …… Anzu-san seems so busy.

Adonis: It hasn’t even been a month since the new year. It seems like she’s busy with project planning for a new TV program. 

Nagisa: …… Is that so? We should work hard too so that we don’t become a burden for Anzu-san.

…… It would be better for us to pick a concern quickly to write that script in advance.

Adonis: Yes. It’s great that we were able to find a solution thanks to talking to Sakasaki.

Rather, I wonder why we were so convinced that we had to answer those concerns on the spot?

Now that I think about it, there is no way we would have been recording without reading through the content first.

Nagisa: …… Yes. It seems that we were both too hasty. We were convinced that we would have to be answering those concerns on the spot.

…… But I hope that by preparing the answers in advance, we can approach the actual day with ease of mind.

Adonis: Still, there are so many. I didn’t realize that everyone has such a large amount of concerns.

Is there any concern that got your attention, Ran-senpai?

Nagisa: …… There’s one that says ”I accidentally ate too many sweets. Please tell me the ways to avoid getting fat.”

Adonis: ……? Isn’t it fine if they just exercise?

Nagisa: …… I think so too. The solution is obvious. However, I’m wondering why they don’t do that.

…… Maybe there’s some sort of special reason that prevents them from exercising.

Adonis: …… If that’s the case, it would be difficult for me to give them advice.

Anyone can move their bodies. If they can’t, I can only assume that it must have something to do with circumstances out of their control.

Nagisa: …… Did you find an interesting concern, Adonis-kun?

Adonis: Yes. I think the concern “English is so difficult that I ended up getting bad marks on my tests. Are there any good ways to study?” is interesting.

I really understand that learning languages is difficult. Even now I’m still uneasy about whether or not I’m understanding Japanese properly.

Nagisa: …… But your Japanese is quite good. I can see that you’ve studied.

Adonis: I just naturally picked it up since I have been going back and forth between Japan and my home country since I was little.

But still, I worked hard to learn Japanese. In the end, I can’t say anything except that honestly studying will bear fruit.

Is it fine to bring up this concern in the show?

Nagisa: …… I wonder. At the very least, it might be lacking in excitement. We can only point out the obvious, huh.

Adonis: That’s right. I’m kind of not convinced that this can lead to those concerns being resolved properly.

Nagisa: …… Let’s look at the other concerns. There are so many other ones.

…… Let’s calmly look for concerns that even we can solve.

(A few hours later)

Adonis: …… How is it, Ran-senpai? Did you find any concerns that look like something we can solve?

Nagisa: …… I don’t know. “To choose” or rather, not knowing which one is the correct choice is difficult.

Adonis: Is that so? I can’t seem to find a concern that I’d be able to solve either.

Actually, is there even a concern that we can solve within these concerns……

Nagisa: …… It could be that thinking that we could solve them is arrogant in its own way.

Adonis: What do you mean by that?

Nagisa: …… I thought about it a little. All the concerns piled up here must be serious concerns for the people who sent them in.

…… We’re at a position to choose between these serious concerns, the ones that we think we could solve.

…… Just like the arrogant act of choosing who to save. Are we really equipped with the capacity to do something like that?

Adonis: It’s just like what you said, Ran-senpai. By all means, I guess we should be trying to answer every concern compiled here……

Hm? It seems someone’s knocking on the door.

Kaoru: That’s great. It seems you’re here. Hi, Adonis-kun, Ran-kun. Is your meeting going well?

Adonis: Hakaze-senpai!? Why are you here……?

Kaoru: I was with Anzu-chan up ‘til a little while ago. We were working at the same location today.

Since I left early, she asked me to come see how the two of you are doing if I had the time.

I was the one who recommended Adonis-kun to be my substitute this time, after all. In the dorms, I heard from Ran-kun that you were having a hard time, so I thought I could lend you some help.

Nagisa: …… Thank you. You would be a real help, Kaoru-kun. Actually, right now–

(A few minutes later)

Kaoru: Ahaha, you two are really serious people. I can’t believe it turned into such a magnificent story……

If you dwell on it that much, no matter how much time passes, it won’t be enough, you see?

Nagisa: …… As you said, time is limited. Besides, thinking that we would be able to answer all the concerns is the true arrogance.

Adonis: …… That’s true. That’s why we have a responsibility to choose the things that we can solve.

Kaoru: So strict! Well, I guess that sort of seriousness and single-mindedness is a good trait for the both of you.

Okay. For now, let’s stop thinking about it in the “We have to solve it by all means” way.

Nagisa: …… Why is that? I think it's important to solve the concerns since they’re asking for advice.

Kaoru: Still, in the end what we can do in the TV show is just to give advice. We won’t be able to know they get resolved, right?

Adonis: …… It's definitely as you said.

Kaoru: That’s why the important thing is for you two to find a concern that you can relate to.

Adonis: A concern that we can relate to……

Kaoru: For example, if it was me, I’d pick this one. A love-related concern. “There is someone I’m interested in. How should I try to talk to them?”

The sort of feeling that when they see them, they want to cheer them on. Well, it’ll be a problem too if that’s all they do.

The important thing here is for you to be able to chat about it.

Nagisa: …… Basically, it’s fine to find something that the two of us can easily talk about?

Kaoru: If we’re being straight to the point, that’s it. Did you find some suitable concerns?

Nagisa: …… Mm. I think this one is good. I think it should be easy to talk to Adonis-kun about.

Adonis: Indeed. If it’s this, I might have something to talk about too.

Thank you. Thanks to your advice, Hakaze-senpai, it feels like we’ve moved a step forward.

Nagisa: …… Kaoru-kun is good at giving people advice, I see.

Kaoru: That wasn’t what I was trying to do though. Anyway, I’m glad to be able to do something for the two of you.

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[autumnwyvern]

idk why but I'm gonna soapbox for a moment. its MY blog and I get to decide when I post a rambly rant!

People need to get it absorbed into their minds that a translation error and a deliberate localization change are not the same thing. A translation error is when two similar sounding/looking words get mixed up, or (in the case of JP-ENG which is what I'm about to really get into here) really inconsistent romanizations for proper nouns, or characters getting misgendered/having the wrong pronouns. There are tons of things. Read Legends of Localization. Read anything with the title of "This Be Bad Translation" because they are extremely funny, and then read the more informative articles. Buy the books even. For even further FURTHER reading Capcom has a really good track record with their localizers just talking about their games and the decisions they made in articles/blog posts. Actually let me reference one now to make a point:

Maya Fey in the original script loves a big hearty bowl of ramen. Adores it. And girl... I understand. However if you've played the english Ace Attorney games you may recall in those she really loves a big juicy burger. Is this a mistranslation? Did the localizers somehow goof up and say burger instead of ramen? No. The global release of the first game came out in 2005 and at that point in time most Americans who knew was a real bowl of ramen was were either Japanese-American, been to Japan, or a huge stinkin anime nerd. Everyone else if you told them to imagine ramen they'd picture a cup noodle. So if you want to go for mass appeal you think to yourself. Okay. What would be the American equivalent in this situation. A hearty cultural food that one may want to get to celebrate a job well done. And they landed on burgers. It was a deliberate, thought-through choice. And while you, personally, may feel that it was a mistake. It fundamentally isnt. There is no 100% right way to localize something. Theres a lot of factors to consider! And sometimes a change in how these factors are approached leads to my next point.

A character having slightly different mannerisms or way of speech between games is also, not inherently a mistranslation. If you are my age consider for a moment the anime localizations of our youth. Digimon Adventure. Early seasons of Pokemon. Sailor Moon. They were really allowed to go "off-script" and ham it up and make a bunch of jokes that weren't in the original, but I look back on them fondly and I know others do too! Being more loose and going for the overall vibes and doing so in a way that (hopefully) appeals to your audience is a perfectly fine way to do things. But now anime (and manga) localization has changed a lot. There is a lot more emphasis on "accuracy" and having a "true" translation. Which like isn't a thing that exists. In fact, often times being too 1:1 literal makes a localization worse and clunky and weird. But the point is in more modern "accurate" translations those characters often act a little differently. Neither of those versions are wrong its just a different approach. But it is in Splatoon where I think you can really see it in stark contrast, because in the first game the North American localization were allowed to freestyle it a bit more. In general they gave characters more bombastic personalities and weird little quirks that like werent in the european english version at All. So Splatoon becomes a hit, it is like The Game that ppl are buying a Wii U for, so the sequels roll around and the leash gets tightened a bit. You will sometimes see people say things like the translations got Better or crack jokes about how nintendo must have fired the old guys or whatever. But what happened is. They are going for brand consistency. Now all the English scripts are mostly the same (sorry not sorry for infecting the european english version with briish Spyke). Which is to say they are trying to avoid different versions from having really different interpretations of characters but they are still in some ways allowed to put their own little spin on things. Which brings me to the actual. true reason for all this meandering.

No. Craig saying "I don't see species" is not a mistranslation. Its a localization choice. Here we have a situation where we are trying to convey an older man who isnt Hip with it anymore but kind off thinks he is. Just a real out of touch guy. He means well but still has some internalized prejudices. Americans are really familiar with people saying "I don't see race." Like. He is A Grandpa. That is an extremely grandpa thing to say when someone challenges them on if they are going to be chill that there is someone of a different race over for dinner. It's fine. If you had a strong reaction to him saying that thats good, even. Like idk I wasn't in the room when they made that specific choice but I imagine they wanted to licit that "oogh uh oh no you cant say that grandpa yiikes 😬" reaction. Like idk I think that was their intent and it worked. And thats why we are still talking about it years later. (also, as more of an aside. I don't think him being Nicer to marina/eight in the JP script means he isn't still kinda racist towards octolings? Like the first thing he does in splatoon 3's story mode is announce the octarians are back and Totally behind whats going on and need to be stopped. He says this even if you are an octoling. dude got divorced so hard he became racist, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this. Marie is also kind of racist too. Sorry! that doesn't make them Bad Characters and that you are Bad for enjoying them btw. It just means they have character flaws. which is good and normal and cool.)

[pkmnprideflags]

Random Pokémon Headcanons

Any sexuality headcanons apply to adult versions of these characters. Please do not sexualize children :)

Red is a demiboy and uses he/it. When he grows up he also comes to identify as asexual and aromantic

Blue is bisexual but with a preference towards men. He can be a bit of a flirt but strikes out 90% of the time due to his cocky vibe

Kris is the daughter of that random woman who's in your kitchen talking to your mom at the beginning of GSC. Ethan and Kris's moms have always been friends & neighbors; Kris's dad is one of Professor Elm's aides. When she's young Kris wants to work alongside Elm, but as she gets older she becomes interested in Pokémon psychology - ways their brains are similar and different to those of humans, and how that knowledge can be used to help Trainers and Pokémon better understand each other.

Silver is demiheterosexual. I like to imagine that he and Kris strike up a relationship. In his adult years he works on-and-off with the International Police when incidents with Team Rocket spring up, but he refuses to join them because he doesn't always want to play by their rules.

May is pansexual, and either aromantic or just not strongly interested in relationships. She definitely dated Lisia at some point, even if only briefly

Leaf is a trans girl! I used to hc that her other name (Green in English, Blue in Japanese) was her deadname, but I know there's controversy around having trans/nb characters' deadnames revealed, and as someone who is not trans myself I want to be careful. Anyway, I imagine her exploring the Kanto we see in Pokémon GSC; in that game you first land in Vermillion City, so I imagine her being from there.

Both Lucas and Barry have very juvenile crushes on Dawn (with her in the "friend" role and Lucas as the protag). However, Dawn makes it clear that she isn't interested in that kind of relationship, and they get over it pretty quickly.

Would it be way too stereotypical to say that Barry has ADHD

Lyra caught her Marill as an Azurill in Mt. Mortar (yes I know Azurill isn't found there wild, but let's say someone snuck an incense in there or something). She didn't have any other Pokémon so she "borrowed" a bunch of Poké balls from her grandparents and just hucked them at the mon over and over until eventually she caught it

Hilbert and Hilda are twins! Hilbert is older by just thirty seconds, which irritates Hilda to no end.

Bianca and Cheren are both trans and when they get older they start dating. Their Neo Champion event was just giving t4t sorry i don't make the rules

Hilda & Nate are the two Unova protags; after B2W2, Nate stays in Unova to lead the Pokémon League, Rosa has a moderately successful career at Pokéstar Studios, Hilda goes searching abroad for N, and Hilbert becomes a frequent visitor on the Battle Subway, second in rank only to Emmet & Ingo.

Calem is a trans boy!!!

Shauna is a lesbian with a crush on Serena, Serena is straight with a crush on Calem, and Calem is completely oblivious to everything

Everyone just kind of assumes that Tierno and Trevor are gay and dating but actually they're both straight but queerplatonic

Hau is ace but girls usually assume he's flirting with them and then get sad when they find out he's not

Gladion probably uses he/they and maybe also some neopronouns

Chase, Elaine, and Trace are all painfully straight I'm sorry. Elaine becomes the Champion, Chase travels the world to become the very best like no one ever was, and idk Trace works at viridian city gym or something

Victor is nonbinary!!!! Based off my own experience of playing the game with Victor as my protag but feeling uncomfortable with my character using he/him. They can be a little awkward and apologetic about their identity, but Hop has been supporting them in their transition for years and will fight anyone who misgenders them. The downside of this is that Hop can be a little too overzealous as an ally and sometimes he makes a scene when Victor would rather just go incognito.

Rei (as protag) is the little brother of Lucas from DPP :) Idk Johanna got remarried or something

Juliana is genderfluid but identifies more with the female end of the spectrum. Depending on the day, they use she/her, they/them, it/its, or xe/xem.

Penny is a demigirl and uses she/they/he