if kim has remarried it's over for vince and peter

Norn9 Var Commons

There is a girl who watched the anime of Norn9 back in 2016 and well, the anime was pretty bad (and kinda ugly xD) but she still felt kinda interested by the characters and the universe that it stuck in her mind for a long time....especially since she had a big otp in it and the anime never made them canon at the end, the frustration....

The girl soon learned that the anime was actually a bad adaptation of a visual novel game of the same name. She wasn’t playing many at that time because the most of the VN were on PS Vita and the poor girl couldn’t afford one (and wasn’t interested either). So she waited, hoping that someday, the game will be exported on pc or a console she would possess.

And this year, her wish came true ; Otomate group brought Norn9 on switch with a fixed english translation (apparently the previous one was bad) and more contents <3

Ok first, let me be clear, yes I definitely bought the game because I NEEDED TO SEE MY OTP FINALLY BE CANON xD it was for my own mental health lol 7 years of craving guys (TTvTT). I didn’t even start by this one though to not be biased about each routes (it was my 4th routes!!! I’VE BEEN PATIENT) and well, IT WAS STILL THE BEST ROUTE IM SORRY, AKito x Nanami best pair for sure <3333

That being said, how was the game? well, definitely better than the anime xD less confusing and more focused as well...even though the story isn’t always clear and consistent :

❤ An unusual otome since it gives you the choice between 3 different heroines, each with their own LI. They each have their own characteristics and are never relegated to the background, which is really cool for their personal development. Another positive point; THEY ARE DUBBED!!! (I hate when everyone is dubbed except for the girl, it's so annoying ><) ❤ An amazing cast with endearing characters, even the most secondary or the most horrible x) ❤ A very nice chara-design and frankly beautiful illustrations. ❤A beautiful OST which I never get tired of even after 40 hours of play ;) ❤ ALL.THE.EXTRAS!!!! (mini-games + bonus dub on the illustrations + mini comics etc...) ❤ An appreciated fast skip system which, compared to the normal skip, allows you to skip all the dialogues already read at once and which saves a lot of time when you just want to unlock an ending or an illustration.

+/- I really liked the sci-fi aspect of the universe and the story brought a lot of mystery and even surprises..but still there are inconsistencies in how each routes are put together. The universe is getting a little imprecise bcs of that.

✖ The epilogue and the character of Sorata. Sorata is not a bad character but we could very well have removed him that it would not have changed anything I think. He is supposed to be the main character at first but disappears completely in favor of the heroines. And when his route comes with the epilogue, it's so rushed that we don't even have time to appreciate his arc and his role in the story. The poor kid deserved better :/ ✖ The use of first/last names in the English translation is very distracting. For example, we hear the heroine call her companion "Kakeru" in the dubbing but it will be written "Yuiga" in the dialog box. And it happens a lot and I don't understand why the translation just couldn't follow the audio dialogues… ✖ I have a pbm with Ron's route because I didn't feel any real chemistry with Nanami. It's also the only route where I didn't feel any sparks between the characters.

It took me 40h+ to finish so yeah, that's a big one ;) I'd recommend just for the heroines bcs it's a nice change to have more than one but also because the girls are adorable, smart and brave <3 It's rare for me to appreciate that much the main girl tbh!

➡ My personal VN ranking (in french)

some onions bout the bnha manga since im reading it in jp nao

the more i read of bnha the more i realise. i kind of fucking hate this series. it’s got all the ingredients of the classic old big 3. brilliant art, a cool character here or there (sometimes), bursts of muddled clunky progression but a cool fight to soothe the pacing and the mostly frustrating boring uninteresting pussy story choices! the sloppy sort of toothless writing only shounen jump editors can give me. it really truly reminds me of how i felt reading bleach .. but it hasnt got the same charm to make me forgive it. the artist is really really talented though absolutely adore some layouts especially when handguy is included and we get some cool reaching illustrations. he and his team are commendable for making such polished work week in week out and its genuinely so fun to read from an art perspective and i really like the fact he leans very heavily into a much looser style that makes everything stretch in a satisfying way as if its designed for animation despite being so complex in its illustration.

its one of those series that is painfully mediocre shounen and you can immediately tell that by the fact that even in this hammy nonserious plot, somehow, the female characters still get completely fucking shafted as excpected. they literally do almost fuck all and the big three characters that get the most development and are considered in-universe ‘main characters’ all happen to be male despite the entire main cast supposedly being the absolute best of the best at the best of this top superhero school.

yaomomo is probably one of the most egregious examples. a character whos top of the class, who got in on recommendations (just like the other deuteragonist) with only three other students making the cut and her big character conflict was that she for some reason, felt inferior to todoroki shouto, whose initial character arc revolves around the fact that ‘he’s not trying his best’. it’s notable that todoroki is never considered to be some freak of nature genius in the same way other characters, he’s impressive but there are stronger. but for some reason, his superiority over yaomomo is pivotal to her character. she doubts her own decision making skills compared to his due to losing so badly at the sports festival against fumikage.

now lets see here: this fucking emotionally constipated idiot who is noted in writing to not using his full potential since he has no motivation to actually win, handicapping his own abilities for most of the time due to crippling personal issues, who ALSO completely jobbed at the festival and gave up at the last match against bakugou and suffered a humiliating defeat because he lacks shame and conviction and who ALSO got in on recommendations? todoroki is an interesting character in his own right, hes strong but his flaws are glaringly evident and interesting. but for some reason he gets elevated to this position of being yaomomo’s ‘wall’.

hes not a team player, yes hes notably perceptive but to position the realtionship between momo and him like this it feels like such a pointless angle to work in cause its so antithetical to yaomomos whole characterisation and contradicts her entire background for .. what? shes got such a strong natural-leader type personality or she is attempting to have one despite the author somehow forgetting. yes she’s nervous and panics sometimes, but i think her entire character arc is intended for her to overcome this as the main crux. there is no doubt that yaomomo is strong. she is excellent as a leader, works extremely well in a team, has a level head and every single time we see her the author always brings it back round to the fact she is an excellent strategist and everyone looks to her to make a tactical decision. almost like her entire character revolves around leadership and self-confidence.

but compared to how shes portrayed against a ‘tactician’ like midoriya for example you would literally never guess that about her unless they didnt spoonfeed it to you that yes, this character is supposed to be smart sorry we keep making her look inept despite her entire character skill and ability being completely and utterly centred around this main concept teehee.

even compared to yoarashi (who i love), who also got in on recommendations, she doesnt get the same level of merit in the fiction. shes never truly made out to be a big deal in the same way the others are which not only fucking blows but makes the story more and more of a grating power up treadmill like a classic shounen jump manga without any of the charm or love. interesting characters like yaomomo who have clear visions are easily pushed aside and their traits sidelined to put more emphasis on other characters.

plus when she does get to make a big decision the narrrative acts like ‘oh was it even the right choice?! did we even make it worse!???’ which would be an interesting introspection for the headstrong characters who jump straight into shit, a reprieve from the individual bullshittery they can pull off without consequence but even though we set this character up specifically to make the right tactical decision in a pinch were not even gonna give her that satisfaction of being a HERO in this situation in this hammy feel-good plot cause thats reserved for the cool main character. its truly fucking unbearable. in the next few panels the main big trio of strong characters are making thoughtless decisions left right and centre with no hesitation or comment from the narrative with no internal struggle but here we are .. at what should be the culmination of a character arc that just .. falls fucking flat. for one of the bigger characters in the supporting cast of the series.... man the writing is just so poor.

you could say that trying to set up some linear character development where ‘girl is strong > gets confidence shaken > confidence comes back’ struggle contrasting against her ojou-sama calm and secretly playful demeanour is meant to be interesting and give her depth but honestly its just played straight in the most truly boring way but its ok! todoroki said keep your chin up queen and shes fine now. hes gonna go save aizawa-sensei with no input, no plan and be a hero because being hero is just about being the main character! everyone else can fuck off. she really needed that validation since she most likely will not have her own achievements, being recognised by this moron is her progression as a character despite her own character arc being infinitely more interesting and nuanced.

i do not expect a lot from a shounen manga sir, i came in with middling expectations and to look at some cool art whilst i awkwardly practice my japanese and yet. here we fucking are. i keep reading this hoping we get some comeuppance or some result but man. i feel like bnha is actually one of the series i wont bother keeping up with at all. the practice was really good! dont get me wrong its a great light read but im honestly surprised at how skewed the actual story is compared to fanworks. i just wanted some easy jp practice but i became weirdly invested in this probably cause i have a huge bias with cool character designs and the anime production was so ambitious.

o yea and one other thing. with tsu, ochako and nejire being introduced as going on the hassaikai raid but then completely sidelined at the first boss, essentially being relegated to being the mob charas that fits the thematic needs of that one random villain character it was sooo fucking lame. it really felt like the midboss had more thematic weight than these three girls first big fight. they were truly only there to fit the ‘lust’ theme they couldve been replaced by anyone else with tits.

in that arc too, midoriya definitely stepped on my toes the most since he took up moments that i thought would be more meaningful and appropriate with the other dot-eye dude that fell compleltey flat with him, got to use possibly the coolest fucking villain as a beatstick meter to show idk he had even more of a god mode i guess sometimes thanks to taking eri into battle instead of ykno relying on the other UA students and also giving them time to shine rather than interspersing flashbacks and shit before every meaningful fight to show ‘hey look how much this character has grown’ in the most cop out sort of storytelling. jirou i think at least gets some life written into her with meeting her parents and the ua school festival arc showing her talents and passion but shes barely utilised too and hagakure is a literal noncharacter her gag is barely even included half the time. mina gets some characterisation but even then its in the form of through another male character, kirishima, and in both instances its like the two are fighting for the spotlight of relavance which is a shame cause theyre both cooooooooooooool aaaaaaaa. every single girl character just feels like an ‘add-on’ or an afterthought, even moreso than the already forgotten secondary cast of which the most interesting dynamics and characters libe (denki and fumikage are cool!).

plus one gripe is that literally 5 separate girl characters have the same “oho they have to take their clothes off for their quirk to work ohooohgoho! so nautghty guess it cant be helped” and that just makes me like. you fucking suck at this bro just be horny with your whole chest making them have a flimsy embarassed half-excuse to be horny is lame. if you wanna make horny characters just fucking do it! enough of this stupid preamble you have to shoehorn in to every character every fucking time. just make it slutty and move on. there’s no need to be so annoyingly coy about it. also UA is the best most prestigious hero course and the girls who are going to become the top pro heroes go to their internship and its a fkn beauty commercial and its like. if they were at least building towards some commentary that female pro heroes are treated less seriously than their male counterparts like with mt.ladys flirting and her immediate paparazzi who takes pics of her ass, or to show that to become popular it means some level of corporate gameplaying and fanservice, it could be something but theres literally zero effort to comment or build on it at all its literally just presented as is and played straight. this is what it means to be a girl hero. that’s all. no comment.

i feel like miruko was a half-hearted attempt to remedy the lack of girl heroes that are actually strong and not bg props but its like it just feels like its been written as they go along with no overarching theme, nothing being built on or anything to say and it just feels so unsatisfying to read. characters that are introduced regularly get used at beatsticks to show how strong they are and get obliterated soon after to serve to show how cool and totally serious this new villain is ykno??? its so fucking tired a really classically shit kind of pointless circling narrative, like nothing truly has any weight to it and everything is meaningless before one for alls almighty relevance and power and whatever the plot needs has suddenly always existed lol dont worry bout it bro it was totally always there heres a star wars reference!

imo outside of the mangas art, the best thing about bnha is the anime adaptation with the exception of season4. the concept of having a long running shounen but giving it ample time, and a higher ambition in terms of production value and having a just absolutely fucking solid staff really make the first three seasons of bnha anime. naturally the voice acting and sound is anime standard gold but the production cant be understated it pulls so much of the slack. the direction and pacing of the first three seasons is honestly really well done, it feels like stuff builds up with ample time and we get much more focus on the background characters even in simple ways like introducing new group shots etc that give them much needed characterisation. one of my fave episodes is s3e3 which gives us a feeling of actual life and interaction as the kids train hard and get to spend an evening together having a bbq and its honestly full of just like group shots, framing in a way that really truly makes it a believable group of good kids trying their best at summer camp and gives almost everyone some much needed screentime.

one thing i noted as well is that the anime really likes to drive home important emotional points for certain characters through some great character acting - like yaoyorozus pivotal fight with fumikage is barely a passing glance in the manga whereas the anime really captures her desperation and panic as she tries her absolute best to react to the situation, not giving up even as shes overpowered only to realise in horror shes already lost. theres so much more weight and time given to this match and tbh its annoying that something that is meant to be so pivotal is barely glossed over in the manga since its so important to her future character motivations. it feels like when these moments and the strength of the supporting characters is lacking, the main story beats become more and more blatantly repetitive. some of the best parts of the arc are the bakugo rescue plan but were always served a fresh bland helping of izuku midoriya being the main character over utilising the strengths of other characters in this pivotal situation. it’s not like theres any fear of giving other characters ‘origin’ chapters and handing over the reigns away from midoriya it just for some reason, the author chooses not to really bother fleshing out characters who dont have immediate plot relavance or not the main three which makes the whole cast weaker.

imo even the anime is suffering from the source materials holes and its own slightly shoddy choices in direction with season 4 for some reason deciding to faithfully adapt the awful pacing of the overhaul arc and faithfully make it as dry as possible and devoting a solid 6 episodes to the frankly lame school festival arc despite it clearly suffering for time in the first half. it also includes my new least favourite trope of cutting the sound design completely to a slow vocal track along with the most eye wateringly boring fight pacing it was literally like. sir i want to skip this. you are going to make me watch this stupid fight with the dude whos character motivations got explained to me three seconds ago? with a new power up for green boy? with no sound design so theres even less weight to this whole fucking fight? and youre not even going to let me listen to you say run? how fucking dare you do this to me. the anime adaptation cannot stand on its own two legs with the source material alone. it needs strong direction to patch up the holes or stellar animation to distract me since without either its truly a weak weak show.

i know i already talked about it but really wish overhaul and his whole arc was handled better since i felt like it had promise. the wild shift in tone as i was reading was actually pretty surprising and the whole premise reminds me of how fucking nutty and exciting the yorknew city arc in hxh was for that series. the possibility of building how the actual underworld functions, which is tantalisingly never truly talked about in a world of cartoony heroes and villains was interesting and i was ready to see what organised crime with fucking superpowers could bring to the table plus all the new characters really looked damn cool. but overhaul himself, despite his fucking amazing intro and his title of no.2 in the underworld after all for one was in like 12 chapters and the arc literally served to introduce a plot device then fuck off with all its characters immediately having no impact at all and not even utilising the introduced concepts of the yakuza, organised crime and drugs in the age of quirks in any fuckin way. the majority of development came from fucking flashbacks literally seconds before a fight and they were scarce with anything interesting. like SIR WHAT A WASTE I HAD FINALLY FOUND MY GRIMMJOW AGAINST THESE UNSEXY LoV LOSERS WITH NO CHARISMA AND YET everyone keeps telling me that it was just a weak arc and the others are better. but having read them i think its just emblematic of the sort of writing style which prioritises having cool ‘moments’ for its beloved main character over a a cool interesting solid story that produces amazing moments and has the insane shounen payoff that you expect.  

my closing thoughts are that its at least a solid manga to read whilst eating breakfast a solid 3/10 and probably higher if you like little broccoli boy and for some reason want him to win. which i dont. he has a terminal case of unlikable bland shounen mc syndrome and the worst thing is that he didnt used to be like that, he grew into it. his whole character is such a waste to me, turning him into the chosen special one with the greatest quirk is the most boring path possible for someone who had such a strong desire and conviction to be a hero. that we see building themselves up out of their own merit for most of the series and then suddenly giving him the power of more quirks fucking sucks. having such a ridiculous power and such a devastating payoff kept his fights interesting and i think the fight where eri allowed him to use it at full power with no drawbacks was such a fucking let down. there were better ways for him to grow other than idk more quirks cause hes special. and truly outside of attaining more power to become no.1 he has very little conflict in his character after someone else goes out of the way to instill confidence in him its also very annoying that repeatedly were shown how hard everyone works to get into ua, to become the heroes they want to be but its always dwarfed in comparison to izuku and the whole fucking scene with allmight at the end of the kamino incident being specifically for izuku, instead of a rallying cry that you are next, every one of you must struggle to become the hero that you want to be - to bear the weight of the symbol of peace is not for one persons shoulders alone like its a shame cause the series spends so much time hammering home how these kids are the best of the best, the ones who really truly want it but theyre not really treated with the same regard at all and their struggles and improvement are nowhere near on the monumental level of midoriya.

i feel like the narrative has all the makings of something interesting, but somehow fucking hilariously misses its own point. truly ripping apart the idea of becoming the greatest hero, the ‘symbol of peace’, that becoming a pillar isnt any way for a human to live and glorifying one persons sacrifice for all our sakes isnt right and that the true insiduous evil of hero society is that it makes us truly believe that people are painted in black and white rather than many shades of grey and forces people to take on things they shouldnt, allows certain powerful individuals to enforce their own wills on the world and robs everyday people, the powerless and weak of any agency of how their society works. it acts like heroism is an inherent trait only afforded by the strong and that being anything less than the ultimate hero is a failure even if it means doing awful tings, like throwing away your children giving them mental scars, leaving behind whole families in the name of heroism falling in the line of duty being seen as some great honour, leaving kids to wander the streets since doing necessary but painful things are for better equipped people, right? wash your hands of it and let a hero deal with it. honestly i just want to see a weak supporting characters heroism. that was the charm of early bnha. ive had enough of this blind thoughtless heroism thats presented as the correct one, for the chosen few. i want to see the struggle for it, insatiable longing that you cant help pushing you on, but most of all i want to see the hero you can be in ways that are meaningful but yours alone and taking back the world inch by inch from the common villainy of our society with one person at a time, reaching out to your hand no matter how scarred. to look your dreams in the face and turn your back on them. tearing down the sun, shattering it into a million pieces, but the small shards shine brighter and can be held in mortal hands. but nah izuku is going to be all might super cop 2 dont worry bout it guys. dw he’ll also choose some poor fucking kid to bear this burden after he becomes useless in battle and we can discard him as a person and simply keep him as an icon since the narrative keeps allowing the villains to have valid criticisms against society but always dismiss them since theyre villains you know and youre not meant to actually think about changing society despite your position of power, just enjoy being no.1 whilst your alive and rinse and repeat pog.

i think thats why i can easily see why bakugo and todoroki are so popular through the series as they do take a long time to get through their extremely shitty issues and they are genuinely shitty little teen psychopaths who are horrible fucking bastards. but they grow up and in really tangible gratifying ways. they seem to have as many setbacks as they do wins, constantly fucked over by their own hubris but still finding a way to power through despite it all trying to awkwardly form connections and become better people as well as better heroes and they can not do so on their own. their struggles are treated with gravity and they always acquire some kind of new strength in return but at a pace that doesnt put them miles ahead of their other classmates but definitely feels weighted and substantial to their development. todoroki gritting his teeth but slowly realising that he has a fucking ridiculous opportunity in his hands with endeavours agency and even inviting his friends is monumental in its own way, endeavour texting his son and his son texting back is like. it really does feel like something. its also interesting that as broccoli boy gets stronger he gets subsequently less and less likeable imo like ... sir you are NO shirou emiya. you do not have the range or the sheer trauma to be so dogged and blind in your ideals despite the world you occupy and everyone else around you. i was sold shirou emiya superhero manga with sexy juwabe sunichi teacher and only one of those thigns is true!!!

you know i had really high hopes for this season because i’d heard other people liveblogging it say it surpassed G as their favorite season but i really can’t agree so far

like. part of it probably comes from the fact that i watched G in a few days while i’ve watched AXZ over months, but that’s a pretty small part.

the tone is all over the place. the secondary villains of this season are incredibly sympathetic, and there are points where it’s clear that this isn’t an accident, the writers want us to find them sympathetic... and yet at the same time, the heroes, who are usually portrayed as being hyper-forgiving even to non-sympathetic villains, murder them without a shred of remorse or even acknowledgement and it’s always treated like some big heroic moment, even when the secondary villains are actively rebelling against the main villain and killing them probably just made the main villain’s job easier and the audience damn well knows that.

when i complained about how completely irrelevant Miku was in GX, someone promised me she’d come back into the spotlight this season, but i just finished episode 9 and that hasn’t really materialized yet. i’ve already been spoiled to the fact that she does at least definitely return to prominence next season, so that’s something. and maybe that person got these two seasons confused. but i’m still disappointed by Miku being relegated to a mere background character. G was the only season so far where she got to really shine and felt like she was her own character and not Just Hibiki’s Girlfriend And Nothing Else. and ironically, even though it was the season where she was allowed to step out of Hibiki’s shadow, it was also the season that really made me love her and Hibiki’s relationship!!!!

and god, episode 6 just fucking broke me. episode 6 was so fucking disgusting. and it’s bad enough that it was disgusting on its own, but it also retroactively made G worse. it really was bad enough that i genuinely considered completely dropping the series, it was bad enough that i’m honestly not sure i’d recommend the series to other people anymore (at least, i’d probably only recommend the first two seasons unless season five REALLY blows my mind), and it was probably why i slowed down so much. it really killed a lot of my enthusiasm. i honestly would have appreciated a bit of warning for how absolutely and completely grotesque it was!!

stuff about HDM ep 5

listen,

it was good, very good.

but ALSO

could have been much better

hear me out

.....

- Will looks FANTASTIC, he’s absolutely PERFECT. he’s stoic but caring, I was worried he might be too dramatized but they’ve got his subtle (hehe) personality down pat. very concerned but very practical. a good boy. I love him.

- still not sure about putting him in so early but eh. can overlook it for now. I like the Lost Boy title parallel with Billy, hehe.

- I also love his mom, she’s a bit more with it than in the books but it works for exposition and showing their relationship more. really good portrayal of real mental illness - not cutesy and not unhinged, poor woman is just obsessive. and she’s RIGHT about them being in her house, damn it.

- on that note, I hope they didn’t kidnap her...that might throw the whole story off, Will puts her in a safe place so he doesn’t have to worry about her as much, but if his goal is finding her when he goes through the window it’ll throw off his whole motivation. he’ll be spending time being afraid for her instead of going through his normal arc.

- Iorek is MUCH improved. he’s much more stoic and savage, which is fantastic. even a bit more savage than in the books, which surprises and delights me. I also LOVE how annoyed he gets with Lyra’s chatter, that moment was GOLD.

- Lyra as always is absolutely perfect, I adore her and her spunkiness and her directness - it’s perfectly childlike and in character, she doesn’t mince words and she’s clever as fuck and delighted by Iorek and the north

- Kaisa is growing on me, I’d still prefer a goose but his voice is wonderful and I enjoy his role a lot

- SERAFINA AND CORAM DEVELOPMENT. I LIVE FOR IT. that was so FUCKING POWERFULLY SAD.

- Lee Scoresby is starting to get on my nerves, for real. his first scene was great, honestly, definitely good for his new characterization. and from there it disappeared. just. utterly. disappeared. he became Stand-In Fatherly Soft Boy #3 at the drop of a hat. like what? that’s not development. he did not earn that. Lyra did not earn that from him. why is he being so soft with her? there’s no point to his character in this damn episode, other than trying to shoehorn him in being supportive so you don’t forget he’s there. I was ready to love this new Lee and love Lin all over again and this episode shat all over it. they had better rectify this later, if they can. this had better not be the end-all be-all of Lee’s and Lyra’s relationship development. curse you Jack Thorne.

- also his shoehorned line about control and whatever was stupid. this just in: Lee Scoresby has been relegated to the role of exposition fairy. great. just great. like that is entirely out of character for him, he doesn’t think shit about that stuff. he’s a hired gun and damn it that’s what he’s gonna do. not think about morality and institutional power. that’s Serafina’s job.

- howEver....Iorek on the other hand has phenomenal development with Lyra. absolutely stellar. he’s big tough guy and shows it but he levels with her a bit and when she turns away you can see his face grow softer. and the concern for her when she goes into the shack alone is palpable. A++++. and great that they added the explanation about the difference between bears and humans, that is vital.

- there are some more background dæmons I noticed, which is great - especially the wolves, and the pyre scene with the dæmons mourning. that was perfect.

- on that note, my main gripe: NOT. ENOUGH. DÆMONS.

yes, yes, I know, BUDGET. but if you’re going to take on this gargantuan project with something like dæmons as its CENTRAL element to the plot, especially in this episode, why the hell wouldn’t you make sure to put them in enough?? make them a part of the world every chance you got? even a couple extra shots or interactions? budget for it guys! make us FEEL IT when Billy’s dæmon isn’t there - my reaction when they started freaking out saying “where’s Ratter? where’s his dæmon?” was “I DON’T KNOW, WHERE’S YOURS?”

we haven’t seen Ma Costa’s dæmon since around episode 3. in the background. from afar. he’s never EVER around. neither is John Faa’s, and in this episode Pan isn’t even around that much either when Lyra is interacting with Iorek. he just suddenly appears when they get to the fishing shack. I appreciate the few shots we get with Sophonax walking next to Coram or Kaisa reacting to Coram’s presence - like jesus, that’s what we NEED HERE. to REMEMBER how close and integral dæmons are to their humans! that’s the POINT! that’s what makes the climax and the themes of the show WORK! if we don’t FEEL that connection every step of the way, even between side characters, we aren’t impacted when people LOSE their dæmons! I forget they’re supposed to be there half the time, and that is utterly disastrous to keeping us emotionally attuned to the plot!

in that same vein, I was very disappointed that they didn’t utilize the dried fish Billy clung to in the books. that part could have been SO visually helpful. Billy just kind of sat there out of focus, and despite the characters’ reactions around him and the sad music I just...didn’t find it that sad. he didn’t do any real acting, he didn’t look lost. he didn’t seem to care his dæmon wasn’t there. the dried fish was a horrible grotesque prop for showing just how twisted it was to wrench someone’s dæmon away - people NEED something to hold like that, even if it’s just a shriveled up piece of food. and Lyra’s blowup when the gyptian men take the fish away after he dies is a wonderful bit. it gives her something to vent her sadness and to show how much she felt for his loss. it parallels the pure terror of the prospect of losing her own dæmon later. it cost 0 CGI to do, and would have been a much better stand-in for making people feel the loss of a dæmon, if they absolutely had to do it without extra CG.

all in all: this should have been one of the most poignant episodes thus far. and it wasn’t for me, because of the dæmon problem. everything else was secondary. there was SUCH a buildup for the moment when we find Billy Costa, and it fell utterly flat as soon as we saw him. bad reveal. first episode I was genuinely disappointed in.

(despite its very very very good points. call it a 4/10 for its own standards, and a 7.5/10 for general show standards)

Writing Lylla

Some thoughts on the mechanics of promoting a minor character to a major one.

Lylla the otter is a character with little screen time in the comics, a few minute's worth in the Telltale game and very little representation even in the fanfic community.  What there is is largely simple smut. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

Now characters whose sole purpose is to be the love interest of the main character don't necessarily need much development.  If all you want to write is a bit of smut (and I've written plenty, so no insult is implied here) or a short romance then a shallow character is fine.  But if you want to promote a secondary character and let them share the limelight they need a few things.

First, you have to consider what your character does.  What is their role, their job?  If you want them to be an adventurer, they need some combat skills or a function to perform on the team. "Significant Other" doesn't really work as a role here because they need to be able to defend themselves lest they be relegated, as Lylla largely was in the original mini, to being kidnapped and rescued.  She was going to be important on Halfworld eventually but the way she was written she was definitely mostly there to be Rocket's soul mate.

Telltale went the route of making Lylla essentially Rocket 2.0, another tech genius.  I think this is a mistake.  You want a variety of skills on the team and you don't really need two furry little techies.  I also don't think making Lylla a gunslinger is the way to go either because again, she ends up as Rocket 2.0. There's no reason she can't pick up a gun but it doesn't have to be her main role.

Rocket and Lylla are both purpose-built creatures, or rather purpose-Uplifted and cyberneticized creatures.  They were built to be useful so they were given "powers".  Rocket is an intuitive tech genius similar to Tony Stark or Forge and is also an ace pilot AND a very skillful gunfighter.  Piloting and gunslinging can be taught but his tech skill is a genuine superpower.  The combination of piloting skill, combat ability and tech savvy makes him very useful and he was almost certainly created as a supersoldier tech testbed.  Presumably once they got the kinks ironed out via animal testing they would have given humans (or Kree or whatever) the same treatment but Rocket got away and so we have a furry little supersoldier running around.

Lylla needs to have "powers" too to function on the team. "Manager" is a perfectly valid job title, as is "nurse", say, but we don't want to shoehorn Lylla into a support position.  So I decided that the team that made Lylla had different branches of research.  One group made combat Uplifts, one made techie Uplifts, and then a third group made Uplifts that were a little of both and had yet other roles.

The reasoning went like this: Lylla is inherently a cute creature so they imbued her with linguistic and diplomatic skills.  She is small and seemingly nonthreatening so she would be useful as a negotiator.  But a diplomat is just a spy with a better PR agent so Lylla got some more powers added on.  Cybernetics make her as strong as an adult human, poison fangs let her assassinate people if need be and a complex computational substrate beneath altered fur allows her to use active camouflage to become essentially invisible.

Poison, linguistics, a knack for negotiating and invisibility are her "powers".  She can also learn other skills but now we have a character who can fill several roles, is different from Rocket and can act independently of him.  She is better than he is at a lot of things such as hand to hand combat (programmed in as part of her assassin skill suite), social skills and linguistics  but can't hold a candle to him in others. Having a couple who share virtually all skills doesn't make for a good contrast though it does sometimes work just fine in real life.  (Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi, for example.) Lylla can and will learn other skills but her "powers" are different from Rocket's and each will always be better than the other at some things.

You also need to develop your newly promoted character's personality.  In my story she was built to be a diplomat/assassin but was freed before she received a lot of the required training.  Thus she had combat ability but no desire to actually kill people and much of the conflict in the story rises from her finding out about her abilities (some of which Rocket discovered via scans but hid from her because he didn't want to remind her she was a made thing) and Rocket telling her that she doesn't need to be what she was made to be.   She eventually turns this lesson back on him when he realizes he was built to be a weapon (which he was) and worries that he shouldn't be around people because a weapon is all he will ever be.  

Their similar backgrounds give them a commonality that leads to love but Lylla can function independently of Rocket.  Both have skills that would let them make a good living (assuming people learn to respect Uplifts in-universe) and their contrasting personalities let them play off against each other without being completely dependent.  Lylla isn't as combat focused as Rocket but that's fine. There is room for negotiators on a team too, and there's no reason she can't pick up other skills. There's no reason this Lylla couldn't appear in a story that doesn't even mention Rocket – some sort of spy story, for example.  Maybe she goes somewhere to negotiate but has (probably several) other, sneakier reasons to be there.

Now we have promoted a very minor character to a major character by looking at the following points:

1. We want her to have a role on the team besides "girlfriend" and/or be able to function independently. 2. Thus she needs to have useful skills. 3. Why does she have these skills? 4. How do her skills and personality interact with the rest of the team's? 5. Is there something in her nature that will lead to conflict with the team or to angst?  Angst is good, in moderation. The Guardians are partially powered by angst, every one of them. 6. And finally, why did she join the team at all?  In my story she did so at first because she nearly killed Rocket when they met and felt guilty about it.  Later she stayed to help free other Uplifts they learned about.  By then of course they were falling in love but that was a happy coincidence, not a necessity.

Never having written a love story anywhere near as long as Sanctuary I can't claim that this version of Lylla is "great" but I did enjoy writing her and she does meet all the design goals I set.  Sometimes creating characters is just that: meeting design goals. (And hopefully ending up with a personality as well).

I very much doubt we'll get a diplomat/assassin otter if she shows up on the big screen. They haven't  even dared to put her in the cartoon and Telltale took a punt by just making her an ottery version of Rocket with a nicer personality.  If she does show up in the MCU she'll probably be the usual strong independent woman type but I trust in The Gunn and if she does appear she'll hopefully be well written.  

I'll just be happy if in the end Lylla does show up, and if the last we see of Rocket in the MCU is him running a gun/tech mod shop with Lylla I certainly won't complain.