#he was already in the game by the time this artbook came out
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Still salty we never got to see butler Kentin
#i love my boy alexy but why was he there instead#HE AINT EVEN DATEABLE#why beemoov why#he was already in the game by the time this artbook came out#amour sucré#amour sucre#amor doce#my candy love#mcl#corazón de melón#corazon de melon#cdm#mcl kentin#mcl castiel#mcl armin#mcl lysander#lysandre#mcl nathaniel#mcl alexy#artbook#my candy love hsl
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Astarion past of corrupt Magistrate
A bud that didn't bear fruit, not one that was cut off.
There was no time to realised in the game that Astarion was a very, very bad, corrupt elf in power.
The beginning of the story hasn't been rewritten, the key idea remains - for April 2024.
I have a couple words and sources for it.
The latter I found recently, and it has a story of its own. Sources from Larian's internal kitchen is extracted by hacker methods.
Let's start with just that
In the fall of 2023, the Larian Discord leaks happened.
Leaks of Welch chat, Larian's narrative designer (in the past), and co-writer of some scenes with Astarion. As of April 2024, the narrative designer of the romances.
You can read about their unprofessional acts here.
For me, it also plays a role that it's not even their character, it was worked on long before them, another author and creator. So that kind of statement who understood what about the character is so... ridiculous.
And the question arises why we should trust the word of a very unprofessional person? That's right.
Because:
1. These are not their personal words, interpretations and "I feel like".
It says what Larian was planned for Astarion's story, but didn't have time to show.
2. Welch came to work at Larian well after Early Access.
This backstory of Astarion was already told before Larian hired Welch.
The other few sources that tell of Astarion's backstory. Their sequence and nuances are also important.
1 - Info from the publication VICE
The year is 2020, February 28. First presentation of the Baldur's Gate game by the hands of Swen Vincke.
Astarion already Astarion as he is, white hair, fangs, a vampire spawn. (no horns and no tail)
I watched it all and dont find that Swen is no information about Astarion's past.
I don't think the publication is running a fake. So I'm assuming this is a site exclusive-lure about the key points plot of the game.
„A disgraced nobleman who used his position as a local magistrate to serve a vampire clan by feeding them prisoners, he was eventually too corrupt even for them and was effectively sent to serve as the personal slave of a powerful vampire”
I haven't seen it abandoned. After a while, the artbook confirms corrupt-taste for power-past.
So, a person who has been following the story closely notices that some of the information is incomplete.
However, " feeding them prisoners" could very well be a plot twist for new playrs, and it should be left out in the exclusive.
All the more reason:
• Corrupted elite - used his position of magistrate
• Taste for power. Desires, eternal life - for luxury, influence, eternal beauty, more power, vampires.
• How vampires came to be? Why do vampires need a magistrate? - prisoners, it's easy to take outcasts for food.
They also didn't forget to mention decadence.
There is no reason for a person to think that a key moment in history has gone away.
2 - Artbook
I found the first mention in winter 2022 (edit if I find it earlier)
Baldurs Gate 3 Collectors Edition
Pre-order for the physical collection, including artbook
$269.99
Next February 2023.
It mentioned that BG3 Digital Deluxe Edition will be available to Early Access buyers. With this artbook.
That is, the information passed from edition to edition.
Weird, giving irrelevant information that will confuse you for free!
Yet you have to pay for the physical irrelevant information, 270 bucks. Did Larian give any warning about this? 270 for non-canon.
Enjoy the game.
Astarion. Decadent and Dangerous
Two hundred years ago, Astarion was a corrupt elite of Baldur’s Gate with a taste for power and a hunger for eternal life.
3 - unprofessional employee revealed the internal workings of the kitchen and what Larian, as an entire company - that's Astarion's author, Stephen Rooney, actors, animators - didn't have time for previously mentioned Astarion backstory.
Confirmation of what was already known.
escuisi: I've been thinking about how in act 1 there seems to be a setup for more info on the gur incident/cazador conveniently being there to turn him but then theres no reference to it later on? Like, Astarion's all mysterious about it in a way that clearly implies he did something shitty we would find out later ("they had taken issue with a ruling i had made") but its never expanded.
Baudelaire Welch (larian): lol I did want to more fully explore the 'ACAB * definitely * applies to Astarion' angle but there wasn't really time for it.
The concept of "learning not to be racist" I am a building is shot down, probably by other writers. Not copstarion, that predates Welch.
Of course. It would have taken two more acts - just an understanding.
Overall it would still look... cheap and strained.
The only evil male companion in this game. Astarion is about the darker sides of humanity, balance of fun and darkness. He must be asshole about something.
The recent "I'm sure" posts are already more of a personal piece. Doesn't invalidate the information gained, which is verified by past sources.
Headcanon is a fan fiction that never hasn't been mentioned in any way in the media.
Which there is no basis for, fiction. Like the dark-haired Astarion, mortal eye colour, for example.
The entire 1st act is precisely done and presented in 2020 with Astarion's backstory - all his approvals, reactions, all the lines.
2022 winter - pre-order of the physical edition with this artbook is open.
The artbook that is promised as a gift to players by EA in February 2023 half-year before the release in August 2023 also confirms and includes information about the corrupt past.
Approvals, most reactions, some of which are remade in PAD format, but not cut remain in the August 2023 release.
The game gives hints and later coquettishly silent.
Nothing logically erases this backstory of Astarion in the game
And then in autumn 2023 there is a leak where it turns out that there was not enough time for Astarion's backstory.
The artbook is the grail. It always has been in my case in any fandom. In an artbook, every word is very precious. These are the key ideas author for the reasoning of the story.
Maybe it's not the fans, but the way Larian treats the information he's given for thought. I find their pitching a clumsy.
-- wasn't enough time to do
-- abandoned the idea and cut it out
are different things.
If the wording was: we didn't have time, so we cut off, so this story is no longer relevant - then yes.
Now it's: we didn't have really time to fully explore (emphasized the other part, this part was left unrevealed).
For me, this story of Astarion levitates in the air, not gone, but not realized either.
There's nothing in the game plot that contradicts that Astarion's past was exactly that.
Astarion would never say he was a corrupt arsehole when he wants Tav to help him, though with his barbarians, "raising the dead is easier than catching slaves, don't care slaves or building material", luxury, wealth and power that Astarion remembers in the his original, "mercy, please", vagabonds...
Vice versa. It's all coming together.
That's the puzzle. Judge for yourself. Because the main thing that's missing: definiteness.
For me, zero reasons to rate that this backstory is burned at the time of the release of the Bladur's Gate 3 game and for April 2024. It's would be hidden as a secret inside the story.
A bud that didn't bear fruit, not one that was cut off.
Now Larian is doing a new artbook I really hope the situation is at least clarified.
Stephen Rooney has left Larian, he said that in the spring of 2024, so it was always going to be an issue now. Unless of course they do CTRL+C CTRL+V.
Here.
#astarion#bg3#baldur's gate 3#astarion ancunin#bg3 astarion#baldurs gate 3#Magistrate Astarion#larian critical#bg3 critical#BG3 Early Access
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Trauma Team Artbook Character Bio Lore
...As gleaned from running artbook scans from 2014 through a sketchy machine translation in the year 2023. I won't post the exact translations for fear of mistranslations ending up reported as fact on wikis and so on, but here's the gist of what Google Translate yields.
CR-S01
Is named Erhard Muller, a fact that already made the rounds in the 2010s
His nationality is also listed as German, though he clearly spent most of his life in America
Most of his backstory isn't anything new compared to in the games, but the artbook does provide a timeline: adopted by Professor Sartre at age 9 after his parents died, enrolled in medical school at age 12 and hailed as the youngest ever to do so, age 13 when Rosalia was adopted, age 16 when the Cumberland Institute incident happened
Erhard and Rose weren't super close siblings, but got along well enough and they had happy lives until the bioterrorism attacked
The government 100% knew Erhard wasn't the culprit when they arrested him - he was the public scapegoat because they couldn't find Albert Sartre, their real person of interest. They never stopped looking for Sartre, and S01's work to reduce his sentence was a quiet compromise for the fact that they, y'know, ruined this kid's life
After learning the truth, S01 is disappointed at his father's betrayal but also chooses to take blame for Sartre's crimes and work off his sentence rather than expose Sartre as the true culprit
Not in-game lore, but according to the concept art section he was nicknamed Chris (CRS) during development. Other people will be funnier about this than I am
Maria Torres
Has the shortest bio and the least amount of new information along with Tomoe, honestly
Born in the slums
Was already at the orphanage at age 10 when Rosalia (age 3) came there
Ended up in rehab of some kind after the orphanage fire
Hank Freebird
Also doesn't have much new compared to the game, sadly
Joined the military out of a sense of justice, left out of disillusionment following John's death and used the medical knowledge he gained in the military to become an orthopedic surgeon (not that this wasn't already implied in the game)
His bio specifically calls him out for being kinda clumsy/goofy. Poor guy
Tomoe Tachibana
Honestly the only thing that's new is a bunch of names, so this is the one time I break my rule and cite a translation directly. TAKE THIS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT, IT'S STILL A MACHINE TRANSLATION
The only daughter of the Tachibana Zaibatsu, a global organization run by a family descended from the leader of the Koga Shinobi Army, Hisayori Tachibana.
Gabriel Cunningham
Nationality is listed as Great Britain. Surprise!
His wife Lisa left him with Joshua and went to her parents' six years before the game because she didn't like his lifestyle
Lisa was willing to get back together if Gabe was ever willing to talk to her properly, but as seen in the game he kept his distance. He and Lisa met occasionally over the next six years, but he never saw Joshua - which is of course why Joshua never recognized him in the game
His decision to go through with the divorce was about acceptance of his failings and a desire to do right by Joshua and Lisa
Naomi Kimishima
NOW WE'RE COOKING WITH BACKSTORY
All right, so that bit in Second Opinion where she took a Savato sample after cutting ties with Delphi and used it to bargain amnesty with Caduceus [Europe in the US version; US in the JP version]? Yeah, apparently she transported that sample by CARRYING IT IN HER OWN BODY for Caduceus to extract
Her fatal condition is a result of that, though it's already implied to be a result of GUILT in the game anyway. It was a sudden development a few years later, followed by Derek's six-month diagnosis
There's also details about her illness! Apparently her specific brand of PGS or whatever involves excess serotonin and dopamine production, which she needs meds to regulate.
It also means she's no longer able to operate on the living, which is why she transitions to forensic medicine as part of her plea deal
[Insert grimace here] I don't want to get too into this because this bit because 1) machine translation fears, 2) even perfectly translated it's not likely to be accurate to actual philosophy/terminology anyway, 3) I'm not a doctor I don't know what I'm talking about…
But the bio then starts talking about pranayama and prana, defining prana as life essence and...saying Naomi lacks it because of her condition and its effect on serotonin? I'm not entirely clear on this and I'm hesitant to say anything for sure; the main thing is that they take her illness and use the concept of prana to connect that to...
Her new ability to hear the dead! Apparently Naomi reads the prana left behind in a corpse and translates it into the person's final words via her phone; the worse the damage to the corpse (e.g., skeletonization), the less prana remains and the weaker the voice she hears is
Whether any of this relates to the Healing Touch is not mentioned. IDK man
Technically this was in S01's bio, but it relates more to Naomi: Jacob Tillman originally wanted Naomi to perform his surgery and keep it secret. Naomi was already unable to perform surgery on living people at that point, though, so S01 was Plan B
Rosalia Rossellini
Admired her big brother Erhard :(
Albert Sartre
Adopted Rosalia to study the virus in her blood (that is, he already knew about it by the time he adopted her in case that's ever a timeline question)
Additional Note
If someone with actual knowledge of Japanese corrects me and anything I've written in here, absolutely believe them over me. I'm not the translation hero anyone still in this fandom in the year 2k23 deserves, I'm just the stopgap until maybe one arrives someday.
#trauma center#trauma team#trauma series#trauma center series#cr-s01#crs01#erhard muller#naomi kimishima#tomoe tachibana#hank freebird#maria torres#gabriel cunningham#rosalia rossellini#albert sartre#artbook#man i hope this post works this time#free me from reposting#UPDATE: IT WORKS#THANK GOODNESS
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Nocturne ramblings, with spoilers
(This is NOT a rant post. Nor specifically a spoiler post. I'm just making observations and babbling shit about some of the characters in Nocturne thus far.)
I did a spoiler-free ramble post, now time for the other side of the coin, just to let loose a bit...
**SPOILERS** ahoy for Castlevania: Nocturne, S1.
Vampires in general
I'm very happy to see some souped up vampires. Let's face it, the majority of them in the original animation weren't exactly impressive. They were basically people with pointy teeth and like 1 special ability. The fact that 2 1/2 humans could walk into a castle and just waste twenty or thirty of them without taking damage (other than Alucard taking a fist to the mug) felt a bit lackluster.
Oh, but there's a LOT of vampires touching sunlight that aren't going up in flames. You can't just hold a parasol over one and expect them not to combust : p
Olrox
I said it before, but seriously, give a raise to whoever did his character design. He's absolutely delicious. Those cheekbones! The dragon's eyes! I want to roll myself in his hair like a bug in a rug then slap those meaty thighs...
I've also watched all his interactions with Mizrak again. I don't understand how the two of them make so much more sense (given that they literally went from "You know my name, tell me yours" to fucking to "I don't love you" to … maybe I do…), than like, canon pairing Richter and Annette, who feel about as compelling as a piece of dry toast.
I truly hope he continues playing a little on both sides of the fence. It makes him so much more interesting than the majority of the characters who are simply on one side or the other.
Juste
I admit I got all excited thinking he was Alucard in a glamour at first, because when you first see his eyes, there's a gold gleam (of course the second he touched the whip I went, "Ahh, it's Juste.")
I'm sure it's more that his eyes appear to be a very light gray and catch any candle/firelight, but I'd rather think that the animators were being cheeky and hiding a reference to the fact that when HoD came out, some fans were convinced Juste was Alucard's son.
Talking about who looks like who's offspring, uh… I almost question if Maxim was doing some sneaking. Doesn't Julia look more like Maxim?? Since they threw out Vampire Killer clause #1, why not throw out the rest of it?
(I mean... really, who would you think was daddy?)
Also… I honestly do feel badly for Juste. He's always been one of the forgotten Belmonts, but maybe he was better off forgotten as I think most headcanons imagined him living a quiet retirement with his wife and their husband, surrounded by a massive stockpile of overly gaudy home furnishings, with little grandson Richter visiting and getting lost in all the furniture : )
Maria
I already made mention of the fact that she's all of 12 in game canon (and apparently 16 in Nocturne), which makes it all the more awkward that her future boyfriend's already made his appearance when she hasn't even hit her teens yet. I mean… how is that going to work?
(Sorry, can't resist reusing this, Richter's reaction is too funny.)
I feel ya, bro.
Tera
I was so young and naive when I read The Scarlet Letter that I didn't actually get what it was about at the time lol… actually took me years to figure it out. And… yeah, that's it. That's my comment.
Emmanuel (the abbot)
This guy will never get the death he actually deserves. It'll probably be something relatively quick, like falling into a pit of lava *shrug*
Drolta
Kind of a shame to off her so soon. Her latex collection was impressive.
Erzsebet
Carmilla?
And of course, Alucard
Okay, I get that he probably just woke up, but maybe a few strokes with a hairbrush before you run out the door, eh buddy?
Compare to Alucard in the mini artbook/manga for SotN (look at those crisp curls!) waking up after his 300 year nap:
I don't mind the "washed out" palette as much as others do. He was pretty much the textbook definition of pale in SotN anyhow.
Actually it would've been really damn funny if he'd showed up in his pajamas, screaming, "I hope I'm not too… wait, what year is it?" *looks at Maria* "Fuck I'm too early!"
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I made this vent post quite a long time ago. I still stand by what I've posted, though there are grammar errors AND looking back, I feel that it looks hateful on the og but that couldn't be further from the truth.
Also someone said that they thought I interpreted the og Dante as lacking depth, so I'll clarify now.
I do like DMC. Its oddball blend of gothic supernatural Judeo-Christian themes with a ridiculously cheesy and too powerful for his own good protagonist are always fun and intriguing to try around.
The og Dante, despite all the B-movie Japonized Western Noir shenanigans he has running for, is a man of many interpretations.
I do think Dante has MORE he has going for. Manga after manga of him in it, Dante is shown to have baggage. Kamiya Hideki saying he's "afraid when doing his thing" is nice to know but... I feel like we SHOULD know that by now, right?
To me I think it's not just fear but exhaustion. Perhaps it must be exhaustion. He's killed thousands of demons by now, including his own brother (And Vergil has PLENTY of baggage as well..). And nothing's changed much in his world. That aspect would be nice to explore even further right ..
But it's been 2 decades already, and I feel like despite loads of supplementary media (some are in this vague state of semi-canon? Retroactivity?) about Dante and the characters, there's this distance or gap in between the tone/focus on their stories when we're experiencing them in the games.
Like it's okay to have supplementary media to support the games' on-going narrative..😬.. but I feel like it became the other way around, if that's even what happened.
I also have to say this..as much as I deeply appreciate the DMC fandom's efforts on providing more interpretation on the gaps of the franchise's lore (especially before 5 came out), I can't help feel that Capcom has to really rely on the efforts of the fans when it came to polishing out what were even the events that game didn't provide.
Sure, it's interpretation and lore-diving that has so many of us clamoring like bees to pollen, and it's probably a very lucrative move on their end.
But on criticizing it on how legible it's narrative is structured and the on-going story has gone so far, all I'll say is that I've managed to understand the fandom's collective interpretation and it's trajectories, MORE SO than what Capcom has provided. It's so colorful, and there's at least an understanding of Dante's characterization AND pushes the envelope even further with him when it comes to fanfics, compared to the Too-Safe-Everything-Is-Cool-Again-Nothing-To-Worry-Look-He's-Doing-Wacky-Wahoo-Pizza-Moments-Again!-Isn't-That-What-You-Wanted moments he's always expected to go through..
And now that DMC has Pinnacle Of Combat and an upcoming Netflix Anime (and I'm calling it now, even if it's not from Adi Shankar or the one being teased in the Tudum Drop Trailer, it's still the one that's gonna be made because Capcom has already seen how lucrative enough DMC seems to be for their higher-ups & shareholders and such..), what are they adding and subtracting in the lore now, or is the anime gonna be like Arcane LOL type of adaptation, etc. IDK...
In closing this new mess, I just wanna say that DMC fans deserve a much bolder move on the og as a character.
I remember (quite vaguely, if anybody has any research on this article/artbook, lemme know because I'd read that, I crave for info) how their lead writer Bingo Morihashi has wanted to do something about DMC's story for quite a while now, but Hideaki Itsuno himself advised against such a move because it wouldn't fit the style and expectation about DMC.
If this is true, I'm like ??????? 😨
Bingo Morihashi is a novelist by career. I'm not wondering why so many of the supplementary novels are written AND taken well by the fans because I believe what he has written was always crucial to DMC. However why such skills aren't put in the same vein for the games? The games are the highlight of the franchise! It would be even more lucrative if they had let Bingo Morihashi do his thing (I really want to find this article/written interview..)
Video games today benefit a lot from narrative. It always did but with the tech today, video game screen writing is even more significant today!
I don't blame Itsuno (again if that was true....) because I actually understand because he knows the DMC fans😓 and yes I'm sure his experience with DmC has lent to some decisions from his part.
But imagine the better possibilities with the og Dante. I really think it's been long overdue to push some new boundaries with DMC.
#There has always been something brewing deep inside the og Dante and back then I was hoping something would come of it from the DMC anime#but uhh it's okay but nothing really changed much except Dante gained a child slave lol jk but Patty deserves better#devil may cry#capcom#dante#dmc 5 dante#dante devil may cry#hideaki itsuno#bingo morihashi#video games#video game discussion#creative writing
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Tbh idk anything abt gladion but selfship tumblr goes really hard about fanon ages either way. Like Link botw doesn't have a canon age but because Zelda is 17 people will fight to the death that he's also 17, even though they've been different ages in multiple other games. I never played botw but i watched like 3 people get bullied out of shipping w him because anons THOUGHT he was underage, and then their was an art book that came out and said he was 18-20. Lol
i’m gonna take a deep breath before writing this.
Again, I am not the guy who selfships/did selfship with Gladion, my brother is. He just doesn’t have anons turned on and so all the people scared to come off anon came over to me. He’s already made a post explaining his reasoning for thinking that Gladion was 18-19, closer to his own age, because the character himself does not have a confirmed age. The only evidence I’ve been shown saying that he’s younger is this artbook quote saying that the character was designed with “middle school arrogance”. I showed this to Colt, and he understands now. Truly, these are the only things implying Gladion’s age, so neither me nor him knew that the general fanon consensus was that Gladion was around 14. I do not support adult selfshippers who selfship with characters who are minors, and that’s not the impression I ever wanted to give. Neither Colt or I knew that he was intended to be that young.
As for Sophocles, who I rarely even talk about on this blog, I’ve already received two separate anons trying to tell me that he’s like ten. I live with a ten year old, that’s. Sophocles does not look or act ten at all? Which, first of all, not even his wiki page says that he’s ten:
Even his website says that his age is up for interpretation. Of course, this is an uncomfortably large guessing range, which is exactly why I don’t have Sophocles on my f/o list. The last time I made selfship content with this character was in 2016, and I was twelve. Although, if we put him right in the middle of this range, that would be 15. I am 17, even if I did still make content with this character, that would not be super gross like these anons have been saying. If anything, that’s an extremely common age gap, most people at the high school I go to have that exact gap or something even larger. However, in Pokémon Masters (the mobile gacha game), Gym Leader Viola makes a comment about Sophocles and Clemont being very close in age, along with them having similar interests. On Clemont’s wiki page, it puts him in that exact same 15-16 age range.
I didn’t want to say this, but hot take: Sophocles is older than Lana (15), but I don’t see anyone going around saying that she’s ten. People target Sophocles specifically for a number of reasons I’ve already posted about, short characters just can’t have peace. The only real “childish” traits Sophocles ever shows, aside from being short, are just very common autistic traits, and I don’t even need to say how bad it is that people are seeing an autistic-coded character and insisting that he’s ten years old when canon itself says otherwise. The truth of the matter is, if Sophocles was styled the exact same way Kiawe is, we wouldn’t have this problem.
I’ve received death threats over a character that hasn’t been on my f/o list in five years. And they only started after my brother picked up Gladion.
#anon my beloved#this is up for debate btw#anons if you have anything to say I’m all ears#like genuinely if you have an argument I’m very much willing to listen#👑 | does he ever stop talking?#fun fact! I’ve lost 20 followers since Colt made his first Gladion post#and the anons I’ve gotten are simply atrocious#I don’t support proship and I hate it#So if this post is giving proship vibes do let me know#but anyway.#anons come back I have more to say please#if I’m being the asshole here please let me know#🧡 | Conductive Research
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dear touken ranbu
I started Touken Ranbu EN on its launch day. I didn't think much of it-- I was bored, I was curious. I didn't know anything about the franchise or Japanese swords. Johren's translations were a mess as I scrolled through the five starting swords but I eventually decided to go with Kasen Kanesada because I liked his gentle expression and thick eyebrows.
I'll probably stop playing this game within a week or two, I thought. Instead, I played the game from launch until today, a span of more than two years.
English TKRB launched together with Kasen's Special Investigation event and Hanjin's first smithing event. Unsurprisingly, I didn't bring Hanjin home, but I was okay with that. Kasen's SI was rough and I lost to the boss in the first map. I went back to the regular battle maps to level up some more. I persisted, and went on to finish the event two or three times. I know that many players don't like the dark tunnel section, but I thought it was so interesting. I drew maps in my notebook to estimate the best routes to take to the end. And I was so happy to learn more about my starter sword, his history, and his relationship with Kokindenjunotachi, Jizou Yukihira, Hosokawa Gracia, and the Hosokawa family. I felt like I had a duty to help him complete his personal quest.
By that time, I was already hooked. Every new event I came across was a joy (except for dango, haha). Every new sword I met was so exciting. I rushed to read fan explanations of their dialogues and histories. I did my best to fill out the recollections they had with each other. I think we all know that the actual gameplay is honestly quite bland; I would rather play something like Bloodborne or Final Fantasy. The thing that really shines are the sword characterizations. Somehow the developers took these historical blades and stories and made compelling, complex characters out of them. Then they convinced some very amazing artists and voice actors to breathe even more life into these characters.
When I found out Yuuki Kaji voiced one of the touken danshi, I was intrigued. I learned about this little tantou named Hyuuga Masamune who is always trying his best and wanting to help. I loved him immediately. The only problem was, he was a rare drop from the boss node in 8-2, and my account was only a few months old. I had only just begun to kiwame swords, but I spent all the time I could in game running 8-2 over and over again while being careful not to put any of my swords in real danger. My first kiwame team (Taikogane Sadamune, Gokotai, Taroutachi, Tsurumaru, Izuminokami Kanesada, Honebami Toushirou) went from level 40 to level 80 before Hyuuga finally came home. It was September 2021: I was having a hard time living by myself in a city where I didn't know anybody at the time, and it really felt like my son arrived to cheer me on. Among friends I am known for "camping" in 8-2 because I loved this tantou's attitude so much that I wanted to bring him to max ranbu. I recently raised him to ranbu level 5-- that's 26 Hyuugas-- on a two year old account!
This is part of why I cannot start over from zero on a Japanese account, at least not right now. I have maxed 17 kiwame swords. I have collected every sword except Oodenta and Nukemaru. I have so many memories invested in each of my swords, even from just a play period of two years.
As I say goodbye, I find myself thinking over those two years. English TKRB launched during a global pandemic, and it preciously allowed me to connect with strangers over a hobby while I was cooped up inside in America. I loved the characters so much I joined an online community of international fans to discuss the franchise. These fellow fans introduced me to the stage plays (sute), musicals (myu), anime, and movies. I jumped through hoops to buy streams and archives on DMM. I bought wanpaku, nendodroids, pins, artbooks, blurays. I wanted to someday visit Japan and take part in a stamp rally. I wanted to pay my respects to the physical swords and their history in person in museums. I bought expansions and items in game. I wanted my swords to live comfortably. I was happy to buy the English version of Touken Ranbu Warriors. Words cannot express how delighted I was to deliberately serve Kasen Kanesada some bad tea and see him frown. The gentle way Kasen took care of Hyuuga and everyone in Team 2 made me very happy. I loved to see everyone support each other.
I made some lasting friends among those international fans. I recently even got to meet one of them in person while I was on vacation, and I'm so happy to have them in my life. I can't wait to meet them again, as they've become more than just a fellow fan but a true close friend.
Besides connecting me with other people, Touken Ranbu also helped me to better understand myself. Despite the bland gameplay, the game was so comforting to me. I loved that there was less focus on the player character and no explicit romance elements. There was a big variety of sword character designs, and not all of them were sexy. In a world where romance elements are everywhere in RPG, or where any game marketed towards women was likely to have romance in it, Touken Ranbu was so refreshing. It was a lovely safe space I could have where in my personal Honmaru my saniwa was just friends with everyone. I appreciated that each player had the option to imagine their relationships, whether it was romantic or not. By examining why I loved the game so much, I slowly came to realize that I was aromantic and asexual. A lot of my past relationships and life events gained clarity, and I'm grateful to know myself better now.
As I say farewell to the game, I wonder where my swords will go. I hope that they find friendly Japanese citadels if they want to keep fighting. I hope that they retire and build happy lives if that's what they want. I regret not being able to bring closure to the swords I could not kiwame. I hope everyone can be happy and healthy, even without me.
Goodbye, Touken Ranbu. Thank you for what you gave me these past two years, even if it is a sudden farewell. I had my fair share of troubles with Johren's English version that partially stemmed from being an inconvenient afterthought to a game that was focused on its primary Japanese market. Despite all of this, I still loved the game. It's with a heavy heart that I say goodbye.
Saniwa sooshi of Bizen
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MC?
Heyo sorry for lack of updates I’ve been taking a biiit of a break
I’ve been slowly (emphasis on slowly) going through all the new info from the album and have compiled a bit of a list of info on the MC as well as bits that came with the new drama tracks
My copy of the artbook isn’t here yet so if there’s any new info from that I will update this
I’ll put it under cut since I feel like it’s potential spoilers?
I feel like I have to state from all the new info I cannot say whether or not MC is the girl in the headband. We have to remember that the EROSION boys don’t seem to remember the two other kids from the forest, so if this is her, they do not know/realize it.
So! First things first, the first(?) instance MC appears is during the drama parts they played as intermission during UNDERDOGS! If you have not heard it, it is included as a bonus in the Band Ecstasy version of the album, but I have also done a rough outline of what happened in it in my event report here!
The drama tracks go one by one through each of the boys starting with Toxin, as he was the one who found her a brought her backstage, then goes in the usual order of Yoru>Neight>Byakuya>Creha. (Not important but Yoru is just not censored in any of these new tracks it was really shocking)
Toxin, Neight, and Byakuya are all like we need to bring her to father; while Yoru is against it and Creha’s indifferent. Also they’re all like we aren’t vampires but I think we were already supposed to assume they were a different demon race anyways, but it’s nice to have a confirmation.
What we learn from these tracks is that she isn’t a BLOODS, her friend wanted to go to the live and she tagged along, (ah, youth, as Neight put it).
It’s also painfully obvious she has no idea what’s going on- Yoru can tell she doesn’t and is sympathetic but thinks it’s better she doesn’t know. Neight believes she’s lying. Creha can also tell she doesn’t know but thinks it would be a pain to explain things to her.
I think I should say that Toxin, Neight, and Byakuya just start drinking her blood without asking or anything. Yoru and Creha on the other hand she offers them her blood.
Also interesting to note Byakuya and Creha both ask her if she’s a vampire, to which she denies and says she’s just a normal high school girl.
When it gets to Creha’s track he lets her go in the end- he actually let her go quite early into the track, but she only stayed and offered her blood because he was struggling to get over the urge to drink blood.
Anyways moving onto to the tokuten tracks from Stellaworth and Animate
These show the following? day at school.
Here we learn that MC is a second year at Houshin Gakuen and is in the class next door to Toxin and Creha’s (so I think it’s safe to say this isn’t Yui)
She goes on a walk with Toxin, they get lost. Toxin’s hand fetish appears and she freaks out.
Neight asks her to help with student council things because there’s no way he’s asking his brothers.
She has lunch with Yoru- Yoru freaks out over the lack of nutrition in her lunch and gives her some of his
Byakuya has detention because he doesn’t do his work and she helps him out
Creha runs into her in the hallway literally, and she guides him around because he keeps bumping into Everything
more personal thoughts below, feel free to read them or not
She is definitely wary of Toxin and Neight and I do not blame her sitting through their tracks was painful
Yoru is the most sympathetic and nicest to her, I would like this to be endgame but I also have a bias towards ahem tsundere yankees, me with my face in my hands the entire time like how is he this cute
Byakuya is worrisome as expected but still cute, but I’m painfully biased- but he for sure had lines where I was like, BOY YOU GOOD? The せんせ this makes sense(haha) now thank god I don’t have to sit here like why tho. I haven’t 100% decided if I want to tl it as doc or dowcto but anyways he kind of sees her as a doctor because her blood is like a medicine makes his headaches go away (which we learn here he just has constantly)
Creha’s pretty indifferent overall, but that’s to be expected, it’s cute though
I’m very curious on how this with progress, especially with conflicting motivations
Toxin and Neight are 100% like we’re bringing her to Germany
Byakuya’s only doing it because he’s obviously terrified of Carnelian
Creha wants nothing to do with this- he also wants to stay in Japan because games
Yoru in particular I’m curious about because he seems like the only one that would willingly go against Carnelian
CW: Abuse ment
I’ve kind of had like a feeling that Carnelian might have abused Byakuya just based on his reactions when he’s brought up, but there is one line in particular here that’s kind of cemented that for me, when Byakuya talks about having to bring her to Carnelian he freaks out a bit about how he absolutely can’t go against Carnelian’s words and also says something along the lines of “I don’t want to hurt anymore”
I don’t think it would be a stretch to think that all five of them were abused in some way, but I feel like Byakuya and Creha in particular are the most reactive? when he’s brought up, Byakuya’s anxiety/fear and Creha’s avoidance
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I wish I could be happy, but I’m not
(I made a thread of this on Twitter this morning, but I’m going to elaborate on it here because as you’ll see in a different sense on this post, character limits are BS)
So I'm not gonna lie, I think the line about Clover that many in my neck of the fandom are getting excited over isn't the loving acknowledgment of how Qrow felt about Clover that many seem to think it is.
Follow me on this one:
Is it good that Clover was finally explicitly brought up? Yes.
Did they do it in a terrible way? YUP, and I'll explain how in just a moment.
Am I surprised? Less than I ever wanted to be.
Actually, before I begin, because I KNOW people are gonna come after me for this post one way or another, I just want to ask those people if they think I LIKE being this negative? Do they think I LIKE being so cynical towards a show that I used to have so much fun with, a show that I was starting to trust? Don’t you think I want to be excited about Volume 8 with everyone else, and that prior to Volume 7, I wasn’t having the time of my life thinking about and enthusiastically waiting for the new episodes.
No, believe me, I’d be thrilled to enjoy this new volume with everyone else, but after the waking nightmare that was 7X12 (An episode that keeps getting worse and worse the more you look at it, as if an evil version of a Where’s Waldo artbook), CRWBY made it pretty apparent to not trust them as far as I can throw them, to guard my heart, and to temper any positive expectations I have for this show because they can and will likely let me down.
Full disclosure: I’m not watching the volume itself in the traditional sense: I’m having the context of the scenes explained to me by a wonderful friend, and seeing and reading the dialogue and facial expressions of the scenes through gifs, pictures, and the like on various Twitter and Tumblr blogs. That having been said, I take confidence that I am getting an accurate and complete understanding of the Qrow scenes.
Okay, let’s go...under the cut because this got LONG!
The line that starts with "The thing that really stings..." is the line in question, just in case there was any doubt since Qrow speaks a fair bit in this episode (Yes, I’ve read through the full line, but this post is already gonna be long enough without transcribing the whole thing, here it is if you haven’t checked it out yet). It comes up right after Qrow talks about Clover's death.
“The thing that really stings” is a crucial opening line. It implies that on a list of important matters pertaining to the given topic being touched upon, what he’s about to state is the most important of them.
And what does he go on to talk about after that opener?
Semblances. Just semblances, or rather, just his semblance.
Qrow talks about how he was finally entertaining the notion that there was somebody he could be around without having to worry about his semblance complicating things, but that he now believes that possibility was nothing but a childish dream.
This line (which I HOPE is just accidentally clunky because I DO want the Staff Theory to be true so we can start to recover from all this BS in a way that lets me keep enjoying this series) is a lot more harmful to the Fair Game relationship than anyone in the Clover and Fair Game fandom seems to think it is. I genuinely don't want to rain on anyone's parade because I know a large part of my fandom is pretty excited about it, but I can't leave this alone.
I'll be frank: This line implies that Clover's death on it's own (The act of the character of Clover dying, his entire being, personality and all) isn't as important to Qrow as what that death symbolizes. All it does is just talk about how Clover meant he could be around someone and not have his semblance mess things up.
It doesn't discuss the bond they formed over their time in Atlas together. It doesn't discuss how Clover was someone who was addressing his self-loathing and absence of a team or how they cared about each other. These things would imply that Clover meant something to him as a person outside of his semblance.
Now did the paragraph need to go into detail about or even discuss Clover and Qrow’s bond? Not necessarily, but with a line starting with "what really stings" that only on to talk about Clover as he relates to his semblance undercuts what made Clover's character so beloved in the first place.
Clover fans didn't fall in love with Clover because of his semblance. It was an interesting aspect of his character, sure, but it wasn’t the only one by a long shot.
We fell in love with Clover's unique personality, how he was cocky without the pompousness or bullying that tends to come with that cockiness, as well as his emotional softness and how it contrasted with our expectations at every turn, even extending to his support-suiting weapon.
We fell in love with how Clover, even dealing with people he was technically sort of opposed to like Robyn Hill, he made every effort to be diplomatic, careful towards her election, and sincere.
We fell in love with how Clover, unlike the rest of his team, was the notable exception to the rule of the Ace Ops not being friends with their teammates.
We fell in love with the many, many interesting visual aspects of his character design, both individually as well as how closely they mirrored Qrow’s.
We fell in love with the concern he had for Qrow, someone who Qrow was finally on an equal playing field with and could grow to trust as well as willingly and happily team up with.
We fell in love with Clover’s persistence in getting close to him and having Qrow come to a place where he could acknowledge his own worth.
So understand that this line says that the thing about Clover that left the biggest impression on Qrow (And by extension in terms of the show’s meta narrative, the audience) was not that character that we cared for because of who he was, but instead that Qrow cares more about how Clover benefitted him personally on a strictly utilitarian level than the actual connection he and Clover shared as people.
That sentiment does an incredible disservice to Clover's character. Despite what those who defend 7X12 felt, Clover was a character with dimension (And by no means was an Adam, just to stop that garbage comparison in its tracks before it comes up again). What that line does is callously strips away that dimension to make Clover almost something closer to a one-note manic pixie dream boy, and only for the purposes of his semblance, at that.
That’s not good writing, and it shouldn’t be as revered as it presently is (I know the episode’s only a few hours old at the time of writing this, but this seems to be the line’s perception by the Clover and Fair Game fandoms).
More than anything -- more than the possibility of Jailbirds becoming canon, or the lack of connecting Clover and the staff this volume -- this sentiment that Clover’s only worth came from his semblance said by Qrow himself (The character who spent a lot of time bonding with him) makes me worried about whether or not we will actually get a Clover revival.
Again, I don't want to ruin anyone's fun (Though I know I risk it just by making this and will probably be subject to all manner of online torment as a result because that’s just the way things go around here), but I think we Clover fans need to acknowledge the dangerous wording of this line and temper our expectations accordingly.
Today's Clovember theme is 'wish.' I'm not gonna stop wishing for Clover's return. I'm not gonna stop hoping for Clover's return, either.
However, I don't want another 7X12 to happen to myself or the various others in the fandom that I’ve grown to care about this past year again. I can’t ignore a bad sign when it’s staring me in the face, leaving such a foul taste in my mouth in the way that this is. Fair Game Buddies and Clover fans alike, please just be careful. I love you all.
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Spill the tea on Stevinel (just because I saw one for conniverse) And yes, I'm not on Anonymous. Because I'm a proud stevinel shipper and no one's going to stop me from loving it, also your blog is cool
And you know what? That’s the right attitude to have! People should be free to express what they ship without shielding themselves with anonymity. I don’t blame the people that do these days - antis are fucking dangerous people - but goddamn, people. It’s fiction.
So I commend you for shipping Stevinel openly and proudly! Hard to believe it’s actually considered a bold and brave move just to be open and honest about harmless preferences these days.
That said, I’m sorry it took so long to get to this. I felt you deserved an epic, given how unexpectedly successful my tirade on why Connverse is a shit ship with an undeserved golden reputation was...
But the truth is, even though I’m very much a Stevinel shipper, it’s definitely not my OTP.
And it’s very tricky for me to figure out how to spill the tea on Stevinel in a way that’s distinct from me doing the same with Stevidot.
Because, well, let’s face it: these two ships, beyond being very similar in nature, have also endured identical hardships from the fandom.
All the death threats Stevinel fans get from the raging antis for daring to ship something so “problematic/immoral/wrong/not Connverse”?
Stevidot fans have been treated that exact same way for years. And still are. For the exact same reasons.
Both Stevinel and Stevidot shippers are valid, but the fandom constantly turns a blind eye to Rebecca Sugar’s husband who also worked on the show outright saying gem x human ships are FAIR GAME.
And also turn a blind eye to the recent interview where Sugar herself stated that the gems are more like AI - a conclusion I and many others deduced ages ago just by how gems are portrayed in the show.
But by god, they’ll hang on Matt Burnett’s word that “grown gems” are a thing even though canon itself explicitly states that GEMS DON’T GROW.
Just like how despite Maya Petersen outright admitting that Aroace!Peridot is just her headcanon, people treat it like the fucking gospel now.
(no offense to anyone who’s committed to that particular headcanon - I just don’t really see it with Peridot in particular and it’s really fucking stupid to claim it’s 100% canon when the source herself explicitly said it wasn’t)
Well, it’s canon that Spinel kissed Steven and he didn’t turn into dust. And Steven was already well on his way down the path of self-destruction at this point in time; he would’ve gone monster whether this happened or not.
Also, how often does a character get the “heart eyes” expression for just a platonic love?
If there was ever a scene where Connie or Steven had heart eyes, no doubt most of the pricks would scream “YES!!!! UNDENIABLE PROOF THAT THEY’RE IN LOVE!!!”
But when it’s Spinel, suddenly it doesn’t count? Really?
How convenient.
There’s also the stupid idiots who saw the conceptual development of Spinel in that movie artbook and saw some vague color keys during a conceptual stage and claimed that Spinel was “family” to Steven - which of course must mean “related” and therefore must make Stevinel an incestuous relationship!
Which is bull. Also shit. It’s already common knowledge that gems don’t work that way. She was the designated playmate for Steven’s mother. Nothing more.
Of course, most gems who come in Steven’s orbit end up being sort of a family to him.
But everyone seems to have this impression that a gem being part of Steven’s family means they become additional surrogate mom figures.
And yeah no, that’s dumb and wrong. Garnet and Pearl are really the only ones I’d consider actual “mom figures”. Amethyst’s more of a big sister. Everyone else can vary depending on perspective, but I’ve never seen any of the other gems as anything close to a motherly figure for Steven. Any time I see shit about Lapis or Peridot being regarded as “gem moms” to Steven, I laugh my ass off. They are so not moms or any kind of authoritative figure for Steven. Bismuth at best is more of the fun-loving aunt.
There are more roles in a family than just a paternal/maternal substitute. In fact, I believe Steven has considered Connie to be part of his family well before they hooked up in canon.
(as a side-note, I love how people who are allegedly SO squicked out by age gap ships totally pardon Connverse - you guys realize Connie was 14 in Future, right? Possibly 15 depending on the time scale? There’s gonna be a point in the relative near future where Steven is 18 and Connie isn’t - why don’t I hear you assholes angst about that “atrocity”, huh?)
I honestly do consider the CG B-Team as part of Steven’s family, but more in a loose sense. But by that same token, I consider Connie as part of the family in a similar manner.
Especially since Spinel was shoved off to live with the Diamonds after the movie - and the Diamonds themselves have a very fucked-up relationship among themselves to the point where I honestly hesitate to put a familial label on it at all - it’s extra stupid to try and paint Stevinel as something with incestuous overtones when it clearly doesn’t.
Spinel does happen to be a perfect representative of how full of shit antis are about age gaps, though.
While Peridot’s age has always been left vague, we know she can’t be 5K or older due to being an Era 2 gem. Due to her utter lack of knowledge of Era 1 events (or being completely sold on the Diamonds’ propaganda) and her general inexperience with her own equipment - as well as her ability to quickly adapt to Earth - I always headcanoned Peridot as being especially young. Like, younger-than-Steven young.
Mostly because Peri’s attitude reeks of Gen Z - also because it’d be nice for a change to have a gem who isn’t thousands of years old like literally every other noteworthy gem in the show. We need a representative of gemkind who hasn’t been around for ages.
Of course, Spinel’s backstory proves that even if they went the boring route and made Peridot thousands of years old just like everybody else, it wouldn’t really mean much of anything. She’d be no less of a valid romantic option for Steven regardless of age.
Spinel is several thousands of years old, and the movie explicitly shows us what exactly that amounts to for a gem.
As I mentioned earlier, Sugar sees the gems more like AI. Spinel remaining in one spot for several millennnia, not moving an inch, not speaking to anyone, not seeing anything other than a gradually-deteriorating garden... yeah, and somehow, despite all that, Spinel’s still very childlike per her design. She had literally no room to mature or accrue life experience: Pink Diamond basically hit the pause button on her entire life.
Even though she’s several thousands of years old, through no fault of her own, Spinel’s mindset remained unchanged. It wasn’t until Steven inadvertently came into her life that she became twisted - understandably so after finally realizing she’d been abandoned by Pink.
But she still didn’t completely lose her true self. Spinel realized on her own that Steven didn’t deserve to suffer just because his mom was a negligent asshole. She also came to understand on her own that unlike Pink, Steven truly cared for her no matter what shit she threw his way.
Steven could give Spinel the care and attention she always deserved; something Pink totally denied her while deceiving her into wasting away with her abandoned playground. He could be the one to give Spinel the love she always deserved but was either denied or manipulated into believing she got.
Honestly, this is more than enough to warrant building something more between these two.
The age gap is irrelevant. The two have chemistry. They aren’t related.
(and honestly, this is fiction - these details are largely irrelevant in fiction anyway. I’m only bringing it up because it doesn’t take much research to find that every label the antis put on Stevinel is complete inaccurate Diamond propaganda bullshit)
Stevinel is FINE. Let people ship it if they want to!
Um... is that good enough?
Honestly, I’m not gonna lie: Stevinel’s pretty goddamned popular; so much that I’m a bit jealous of it. I enjoy the ship a lot, but I’ve been keeping it at arms-length all this time. I’m looking forward to when I can write my own brand of Stevinel interaction when I get to introduce her in my series, but that’s still a while to go.
Also, there’s almost zero Peridot/Spinel material, let alone my Peridot/Steven/Spinel OT3. And Stevidot material is still hard to come by; I’m noticing Stevinel’s still quite a bit easier to find by comparison.
So in a way, I feel many other unpopular ships deserve some tea-spilling sooner than Stevinel because Stevinel at least still has a sizable fanbase. Same can’t really be said for a lot of similar ships here...
A lot of this can apply to other Steven x gem ships, honestly.
But I guess I haven’t been showing Stevinel much proper love due to my devotion to my superior SU-AU. I can only hope I can soon reach a point where I can have GA Spinel react to Steven, since their dynamic will be significantly different.
(and then one day I’ll finally make the Peridot/Steven/Spinel OT3 fic!!)
Until then, I can only hope I did Stevinel some justice here!
#answered asks#ryan-spinel#stevinel#stevidot#steven universe#spinel#su spinel#shipping#spill the tea#peridot#su peridot
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“Why” TPN ended so quickly ?
Theory and analysis of the authors and the reasons why the manga ended with a rushed final arc with a climax announced too long ago.
Hi. Yes, I know, you expected me to write a long post about my impressions on TPN. And you are right ! I shall do that ! But I’m not home right now, and I decided to do better.
My art history teacher was always suprised to see me caring so much about the context of some art piece rather that the piece itself. But as an artist myself, I know how the context can be so important and affect something. And TPN is no exception in that matter. That’s why, instead of directly talking about the fictional piece, I want to tak more about its authors and their mindset for the end of this manga.
Or more precisely… I want to talk about Posuka Demizu.
(Everything said in this post are only speculations, I don't pretend to know the Truth or to know the authors better than others, those are just analysis from what I could’ve guessed happened in Posuka Demizu’s life)
Credits to my older sister @machikurada for translating Posuka Demizu’s tweet in English.
Now, who is Posuka Demizu ? Posuka Demizu is (seemingly) a young japanese woman who worked as an illustrator for various people, such as book writers or even magazines. She has been spotted by Kaiu Shirai when searching for an artist for TPN when it was only him and his editor back then. She was working part-time at a cafe at the time, and immediately accepted to work as the illustrator for TPN once she read the script.
From interviews, her and Kaiu Shirai gets along, teasing and giving advices to each other from time to time. They trust each other enough to let the other work their imaginations in the best way to improve the manga. And it worked wonderfully for those 3 years of serialization.
Things started to go a bit more weirdly after a few years though. But it wasn’t Shirai’s fault, far from that. TPN has been an incredible way to be known for Posuka Demizu, she wasn’t just an underground illustrator anymore, but an actual mangaka. Publishing artbooks (though I don't think it was just TPN to be honest) and making exhibits of her artworks...
I bought her artbook in japanese/English (it was translated) a while ago. One sentence left a strong impression on me :
“I draw depending on my mindset, for example I drew a lot of motorbike illustrations since I bought my own motorcyle.”
(It’s not the exact sentence but as I said I’m not at home right now, I will edit the exact sentence once I’m back)
This sentence stood out to me because… It’s right. You can feel it in her art, she draws depending on her mindset. It’s not just ideas, it’s her feelings, it’s incredibly personal.
Since then, while I was following her twitter, I became more attentive to what she posted, because it wasn’t just art anymore… Posuka Demizu rarely talks about herself, her art is herself. She talks with her art. So you can guess why I wasn’t so surprised with the rush ending.
The final arc was announced at the beginning of September 2018. The climax, only in November 2019.
Demizu already posted art often… maybe too often. Usually it even was original new art. Always something new each week, I was even joking that they weren’t giving her enough work to do with how much free time she seemed to have. But I was soon to regret ever joking about that.
She strated reposting her own art more often as the manga continued. She even got sick once. She… seemed tired. The original art she posted would become simpler each week, sometimes only small characters on a blank background, everything always with shades of grey. Something was wrong and I knew it. And then… The first post came.
A few months after the announcement of the climax. This doesn’t seem much to you, but the little boy in bed is one of Posuka Demizu’s OCs. He is surrounded by bunnies… Weirdly similar to Little Bernie. He seems tired, and theirs cardboard boxes. Then we get to another post.
“Carboard boxes piling up”
First thing in my mind : “Oh! She’s moving out !” It seems like so. But she wasn’t just moving out… It’s working AND Moving out. I also rememebered another interview when she said that she had more than 2000 pages in her drawers for TPN.
“Tonight I’m working overtime”
Seems clear enough for me. Also notice how the books are pilling up and taking over the picture ? How the character in the back seems tired ?
“I’ll make you a cup of tea, why don't you sit down?”
Next art. It seems she finally settled down in her new appartment with her other assistants. She is nor just working now but also chilling. You had no idea of how reassured I was when I saw this. I was so worried during the week that I was scared for her physical and mental health.
Demizu kept reposting her own art afterwards, but she seemed to feel overall better. Then…
This tweet arrived. What’s written in japanese here is aproximatively “I understand that feeling”. Any artist can tell that she is having an art block. At that point I knew.
I knew something had happened.
She was tired, overwhelemed by her own work and manga. Tired of drawing. (I want to precise that she posted a lot of sad and melancholic art during that time)
She was coming to her breaking point.
A few months go by. She seemed to feel better again… But during that time the manga was rushed, people noticed that it was being made too quickly. And then the end arrived, good or bad… the side announcements made everything clearer for me.
They announced that Posuka Demizu would work as a character designer and concept artist for a video game that had nothing to do with TPN. But what does that have to do with anything ? Everything.
Soon after, the main characters for the game were announced… Designs had been made, concept art had been made…
Posuka Demizu was working on BOTH the manga and the video game.
In an interview, she mentioned how she wanted to do all the backgrounds at first for the manga until she noticed how much work it represented. Posuka Demizu is terrible at noticing how much work somthing could take her. She LOVES drawing, she adds so many details TO DRAW MORE.
The breakdown, the feeling of being overwhelmed… everything was because she has decided to work on two big projects at the same time. She most likely announced to the editor and Kaiu Shirai that she had accepted to work for this video game before those posts, hence why the climax announcement. But then couldn’t follow the rythm.
Kaiu Shirai and her gets along, I wrote it down earlier. So, he most likely went ahead to make her finish the manga earlier, all in order to keep her mental and physical health safe. Besides, she seemed more interested to work on something else than continue TPN without bein invested in it anymore. TPN was a way to get herself known… and it was time to let it go once and for all.
So like the bird in a cage, Shirai accepted to set her free from TPN.
Of course, there’s still work to do, but now, she can focus more on a new project she will be invested as much in as she was at the beginning of TPN.
As for her mental state now :
“Street view”
I think she is a bit sad to leave TPN still, but ready go on her own now… After all... The adventures continues.
#the promised neverland#tpn#ynn#yakusoku no neverland#posuka demizu#kaiu shirai#analysis#theories#theory
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My long, in depth meta/headcanon about Viola and her relationship with Raphael
I am basing this meta on what is in the artbook, what we see in sc5 gameplay, some newer information brought to light in sc6, and some of my own personal speculation. Now keep in mind if the game comes up with a way to tie up their relationship with a neat little bow that I find to be compelling I am more than welcome to be proven wrong but TL;DR: I find the possibility that Viola will ever want to go back to Raphael to range from anywhere between very unlikely to quite literally impossible.
Analysis beneath the cut
First let’s go over what we know from the artbook and from info collected in SC6.
Basically, Viola wakes up with no memories of who she is or where she came from. For a little while she traveled alone, telling fortunes to people in order to make money and that was largely how she got by, however she would very often find herself pissing someone off because they don’t like the fortune she gives them and so for that reason, for her own safety, she’s forced to live nomadically. She can’t stay in town for very long.
She meets Zwei, who has more or less sworn himself to protect her because in his eyes they are the same and people like them have to stick together so they travel together more, all the while evading Graf Dumas’s assassination attempts against them. Eventually they are taken in by Schwarzwind while outrunning these same assassins and they are given a more stable place to stay that will keep them out of harms way in exchange for becoming Schwarzwind mercenaries. This all happens in the 10+ years leading up to 1607, which is when Soul Calibur 5 takes place. Zwei kills Dumas but then Zwei himself is killed by Pyrrha. Dumas is dead and we figure out that Dumas is actually Raphael. Raphael wakes up with no memory of who he is, all he knows is the name “Amy” and he knows that he has to find her.
In the artbook, Viola is described as someone who is incapable of understanding the emotions of others, which the sole except to that being Zwei. She also makes it a point to stay as far away from people she knows will bring her trouble as she can.
In Soul Calibur 6 we learn that Azwel is the one behind Amy losing her memories and by extension her transformation into Viola. We also learn that Azwel is the one who brought Soul Edge’s existence to Raphael’s attention thus beginning this downward spiral into insanity.
Now let’s talk about SC5 gameplay.
Viola is barely in the storymode in Soul Calibur 5 and nothing that is said in the storymode in regards to her has anything to do with her relationship with Raphael. Raphael (AS Raphael) isn’t in the storymode at all but we do see him as Dumas. That is not important as Dumas in the storymode never has any interaction with Viola. However there are some things that the gameplay can tell us about their relationship based on how Viola and Raphael react to each other when made to battle. The first thing I would like to direct your attention to is the fact that while Raphael has a very distinct reaction to meeting Viola that only she can get out of him (when beginning the battle he says: “You vex me, woman! Who are you?”), Viola’s line when about to battle him is a generic line that most anyone can get out of her (”In the moon, I see everything.”) You will also notice that Raphael has way more special dialogue lines with Viola than she does with him. His quote when he gets a “time out” against him, his quote when he does certain moves against her, and his victory quote against her. The only quote that Viola has that is specific to Raphael and no one else is her victory quote (”The moon will swallow the sun, and it shall never rise again.”)
This quote here is important because it is another one of her cryptic omens, and there is no canon interpretation of it. However, I believe that the “moon” that she is speaking of here is referring to herself. And the “sun”, is referring to Amy. This would make sense because if she is speaking to Raphael specifically, it would make sense for the sun to mean Amy since, in a sense, Amy was like the sun in his life. The day he left Rouen with her could symbolize the day that she unwittingly brought him out of darkness. So then what does this quote mean overall? I believe that it means that where Amy once stood, now stands Viola. And that Viola is here to stay, Amy is never coming back.
We can also look at Raphael’s quotes though to paint a bigger picture of their dynamic. Raphael’s victory quote against her is “Stop looking into my soul, damn you!” And if we look at some of the unused lines listed on the various character wiki pages (specifically if we look at Viola’s, Hilde’s, and Zwei’s), we can see remnants of what I’m assuming were supposed to be a story about Viola approaching Dumas in secret, though this story never came to fruition because of the lack of time the game devs had to put SC5 out. But what this all points to is that Viola may be curious about it all. She may be curious about Raphael or about Dumas, if something happens that tips her off about his identity and his relationship to her. However it is important to note that that curiosity does not mean that Viola will want to go back to him once she finds out.
As I mentioned earlier, Viola canonically has an aversion to anyone who she can see as giving her potential problems. Viola also was never stated as being in search of her family, she merely just wants her memories back. Furthermore, after all this time, she is situated with Schwarzwind now, who more or less have become found family for her. Zwei is canonically the most important person in the world to her. And through unused lines with Hilde and through the only special dialogue we see Siegfried have (he says “you did it!! good job!!” if he loses against her via time out) we can see that she has somehow already opened up to the rest of Schwarzwind as well. She would already be content surrounded by a big group of people she trusts who offer her protection she wasn’t able to get anywhere else. This greatly contrasts Raphael’s storyline in Soul Calibur 5, where his only purpose is to find Amy again. It can be argued that he needs her, but it is clear that she doesn’t need him.
I would also like to reiterate that Raphael was Dumas, and Dumas had sent assassins after Viola and Zwei countless times. Not only that but Raphael’s actions and decisions far before he became malfested were what led up to Amy losing her memories and becoming Viola. Viola had lived her life up until this point, she’s essentially become a completely different person for better or for worse. Being as reserved, unforgiving, and untrusting as she is, I see no other route for her, if she finds out who Raphael is to her, than for her to be angry with him and to never want anything to do with him again. Most of what had happened to Amy is his fault, and then once Viola comes to fruition, there were many many times where she almost died by his hand.
Viola has been brought trauma after trauma because of Raphael. Realistically, that is hard for someone to bounce back from, knowing her father was the reason her life was ruined and then finding out it was her father who wanted her dead for so long. Especially when you are someone like Viola, who almost always sees situations from her own perspective as opposed to the perspective of others, I believe it is a hurdle too massive for her to get over.
And so what I personally believe will happen is that Viola will find a reason to seek Raphael out, she will want to know the truth, and then she will put Raphael behind her and move on. She is not Amy anymore, nor will she ever be Amy again. She will live out the rest of her days staying in contact with Schwarzwind and traveling with Zwei but she will not want anything to do with Raphael after she finds out the truth.
#⊀ ☾ ♥ Headcanon ☽ ⊁#im right argue with your mother#idk how azwel fits in yet but im guessing viola will confront him at some point#but even then i just cannot see her ever wanting to be around raphael anymore#lmao hows this for writing metas about a character who canonically has 3 lines#and this isnt even scratching the surface
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BioShock - Who is Ava-Marie Tate?
During the development of BioShock 2, there were a number of ideas that never made the final cut. As the plot went through many revisions, characters were changed both in their design and in their roles in the overall story. One of the most drastic changes involved the removal of a character who was essential to the game's plot. The character in question: famed Rapturian actress and filmmaker and owner of the prestigious Dionysus Park, Ms. Ava-Marie Tate.
What We Got...
Dionysus Park is the sixth level in the campaign, and was once Sofia Lamb's private estate before a flood ravaged the whole area, leaving the area exposed to nature. After you drain the area, you meet Stanley Poole, a journalist from the Rapture Tribune. He blocks the way to Fontaine Futuristics until you do him a favor: with the draining of the park, people are starting to reenter the facility, including some Little Sisters, which you must deal with.
As you progress, you learn that Stanley was a double agent within the 'Rapture Family', the name for Lamb's followers. After gathering enough dirt on Lamb to get arrested by Andrew Ryan's men, he took control of the park, spending Lamb's funds on many a party. Over time, he feared people would find out about his involvement in Lamb's arrest, causing him to have Lamb's daughter Eleanor sent to one of Frank Fontaine's orphanages, before eventually flooding the park.
What Once Was...
In the original concept for Dionysus Park, it would have been an area left untouched by the Rapture Civil War, still brimming with the city's former elegance. Just as in the final product, you would meet with Tribune reporter Stanley Poole as he would give you a mission. However, the mission here was more along the lines of helping him make an expose of Ms. Tate's illicit activities, including the production of an ADAM-based drug named 'Eden' and the rampant parties brought by it.
According to unused radio conversations and audio logs, Ms. Tate would be charged by Ryan to erase all records of any individuals that he feels need to be taken out of the picture. She often described herself a beast among men, taking risks and fulfilling her own interests in comparison to those who restrict themselves from such fruitful fancies that she herself engages in. Eventually, however, even the fame, festivities, and other fruits of labor lost their luster, and she wished for more.
However, when it came time for the erasure of Sofia Lamb, Tate read through her files with a keen interest. Believing Dr. Lamb was one of the few people who would understand her, she laid out a trail of clues for Stanley to follow, eventually leading to her arrest, and thus her induction to the Rapture Family.
What Remains...
Not much remains of Ms. Tate in the final product. So far, there appears to be not even a concept design to her name in the Deco Devolution netbook, unlike her domain of Dionysus Park. Across BioShock 2's different locations, players can spot posters adorning her name promoting two of her works, 'The Black Dream' and 'Health Hazards of the Sun', indicating that she does have a foothold in Rapturian cinema in the final product.
Once someone reaches rank 27 in the multiplayer mode Fall of Rapture, one can spot a quote from Ms. Tate herself on the loading screen, commenting on the closing of Fort Frolic in a way that mirrors her behavior during development.
"It's no wonder Cohen closed the Fort, darlings. Theater is dead… Why play the voyeur when ADAM can make you a star?"
A number of her characteristics were also used in the development of Mlle Blanche de Glace, one of the ten playable characters in Fall of Rapture. The original version of Dionysus Park was used as inspiration for the multiplayer map based on the area included as part of the Rapture Metro Pack DLC released in May 11, 2010.
The latest reference to Ms. Tate comes in the form of her feature film 'The Black Dream', which can be viewed in the station in Fontaine's Department Store in BioShock Infinite's Burial at Sea DLC. While it is attributed solely to Sander Cohen here, the film in question features a woman who may possibly be Ms. Tate herself.
Trivia
According to an interview, she was to be voiced by Juliet Landau, who voiced the Little Sisters in the first game. Apparently, she had already recorded her lines, but they were ultimately unused.
In the Deco Devolution artbook, there exists concept art for an unused multiplayer map called "Siren Song Studios". Players would compete across multiple movie sets, using different props as traps for enemies to fall victim to.
In the BioShock: the Collection version of BioShock 2, all posters of the film The Black Dream have Ava Tate's name replaced with Sander Cohen's.
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My Thoughts on K - Seven Stories
I binge-watched this a couple of weeks ago. I nearly forgot about these until I found the subs. Haha
Here are my thoughts and a few screenshots (like one for almost each movie). I’ll just say a few things, I guess? Except for LSW (movie 4) and Circle Vision (movie 6) and Idol K (shorts) which will have their own posts cause I have the feels.
Movie 1, “R:B - Blaze” shows us the beginning of how Munakata Reisi got his powers as the Blue King and his first meeting with Red King, Suou Mikoto.
It’s nice to see more stuff about the two clans and how things went before the series began - from within their groups and how they thought of each other. There are also more bits and pieces of the Kagutsu Incident and we get to see the former Blue and Red Kings at their final battle which is awesome.
Movie 2, “Side:Blue” - Like Sirius is about Kusuhara Takeru and Zenjou Gouki. Kusuhara is a member of Scepter4 who wanted to get in the Special Forces (You know, the group that fights directly under the Blue King which we see in the series) alongside his friends and everyone’s really supportive of him which is so nice. However, he’s not as good as they are yet and is told he’d only get in if he can get at least 1 clean hit on Awashima Seri on their spar. So far, no good.
Zenjou Gouki is the former Blue King’s right-hand man. He’s now retired and is working in Internal Affairs. He also watches over the training. Kusuhara ends up working under him later on and is also being trained by him when Kusuhara was given a time limit on his condition to join. Failure this time, though, means Kusuhara will lose his job.
This movie is... he got the job of course. Also, it didn’t end well. On his first day, too like why? Wtf?! I ended up crying when they told Zenjou what happened.
And I know Munakata is just trying to put logic into this and is actually feeling bad about what happened, too but freaking hell, man! That is not what you tell people who are grieving! I know you’re trying to rile them up and piss Zenjou off on purpose for a reason but still... you sound like a real jerk. This is why people think badly of you even though you’re not really that bad.
Also, this reveals why Munakata wants to have Zenjou out of retirement: Zenjou moves on instinct. Actions before thought: he does what’s needed and what's best especially in battle. He was the one who killed the Blue King before another Damocles Down happens after Kagutsu’s fell. He felt really bad for it and probably didn’t want to do it at all as Habari is his friend but it was for the best and so he moved without a second though. Munakata knows that Zenjou will do it again if needed. Munakata has Zenjou as some kind of fail-safe: if he’s become a danger like say, his sword is gonna fall, Zenjou would be able to kill him.
That kinda sucks to be honest. Zenjou was the one who took his own king’s life and he’s gonna be made to do it again if needed be. We all know how season 2 ended so it’s all good but still...
RIP Kusuhara Takeru. You’re one of the Best Boys and you deserved better.
Movie 3, “Side:Green - The Overwritten World” gives us Goujou Sukuna’s backstory. He came from a rich family but with very controlling parents. Finding out his only friend was a fake picked by his parents was the last straw which had him run away from home. He uses the JUNGLE points he earns playing the game so he could escape those trying to capture him to get him back to his parents.
This also shows how he met the Green Clan. How he met Hirasaka Douhan and their first fight against Mishakuji Yukari, which while I wasn’t able to get a screenshot (sorry) to show you, is really pretty. You know how the art for this show is all shiny and kind of have this realistic look, right? Their fight is more 2D-ish but has a purple hue. It’s better if you see it but it’s really, really pretty!
In the end, it also shows how Sukuna became a member of the Green Clan and that he and Hisui Nagare has some things in common. It made this group more interesting, sympathetic, and more human despite being the main bad guys if season 2. It made me like them a lot.
Movie 5, “Memory of Red - Burn” is centered around HOMRA and them planning Anna’s birthday party. I thought “Oh, a fun cute, episode with the Red Clan? Nice!”.
Then Tatara crosses paths with the Colorless King.
The it hit me...
Oh... no.
Yes, this movie is a direct prologue of the first season’s episode 1. How Totsuka Tatara died that fateful night. He’s a really nice guy, you know. They were having so much fun. Anna’s birthday was coming up, too.
When I saw the Colorless King, I started panicking. I told myself “It can’t be, right?” so when Tatara got back to the bar I was relieved. I thought it was safe but then he just had to freaking leave again! I was... I was muttering “No, please... someone please stop him...” while he was looking at everyone, unbeknownst to all of them, for the last time. I know I’m being overly dramatic here cause I already know his death is a foregone conclusion but still... I was getting really attached to these characters as the movie went on. I got to know a bit more about Tatara and why everyone is willing to murder a guy to avenge him in the series. It hurts, man. Even when I knew it still freaking hurts. I was crying when it finally happened.
I said before I started liking them more cause of movie 3 but this, knowing they’re the reason why Tatara died made me hate them the moment I saw it. I still like the characters but I don’t think I could ever forgive them for this.
No Blood, No Bone, No Ash.
Nothing left, not even ashes. Only memories of you in the ones you love. The cremation scene is just as sad to watch. What’s supposed to be a birthday celebration became a funeral.
RIP Totsuka Tatara. You’d be remembered, never forgotten and will always be an important and beloved member of HOMRA.
Knowing what happened at the end of season 1, I hope you and Mikoto are happy watching the outcome of the final battle.
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Just wanna point out before anything else that it’s got a bunch of ED songs for each movie but more importantly, the OP “Survive!” by Angela is a total banger. I ended up listening to it on repeat alongside “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” by the Idol K seiyuus. It’s so good. And the OP video is so pretty! There’s a difference in character designs this time around from the original series though and I’m sure you’d realize it when you finally watch it: their eyes are a bit bigger. It made them look younger and it’s something to get used to. I liked the older version but this wasn’t so bad. Still, for K fans, it depends on you what you think.
Anyways, the entire movie series was so good but I wish there were more. So many more backstories unexplained. I know they’re in the LN and manga spin-offs plus some extras on drama CDs and stories posted online but come on, they deserve an adaptation, too!
I really wish they’d made more for this series. If I had the money I’d buy the dvds for these. Or the artbooks. Have you seen the artbooks? The art for posters and stuff are all so pretty! I’d love a copy of them to be honest.
Anyways, I already made a post on Idol K and LSW and Circle Vision’s will be made later.
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Artbook Data - Writer Team Interview
I really saved the best for last with this one. This interview was a wild ride, with at least two big pieces of fandom common knowledge being proven wrong.
Interviewees:
Yoshinori Terasawa: The producer for the Danganronpa series. Tasked with the challange of organizing this ragtag band of weirdoes while fighting schedule and budget. This time his title on the credits changed.
Kazutaka Kodaka: The writer, and one of the series’ creators. He created this game in paralell with writing scripts for the anime. Also experienced in writing novels and manga.
Takayuki Sugawara: Involved with the series’ development since the first game. For V3, aside from giving the order for the game to happen and offering many ideas, he also wrote all the secret lie routes for the Class Trial.
Shun Sasaki: This game’s director. Kodaka’s right-hand man, with the important role of transmitting Kodaka’s thoughts to the staff. The many bonus modes were all made at Sasaki’s idea.
The inital theme was going to be Psychoamerican, with the game being set on a desert!?
Interviewer: It has been a month since the game was released (interview recorded in February 23, 2017), so how much have your thoughts changed since the game’s release?
Kazutaka Kodaka: Not much.
I: Then it must mean everything, including the fan reactions, was just as expected.
KK: Yeah. I was wishing for an unexpected reaction, but everything went just as expected, for better or for worse.
I: How about you, Terasawa?
YT: Kodaka says “just as expected”, but I was thinking the game would be a little bit more well received. You know, when I look at the timeline, I see more critical opinions than I imagined I would.
I: That said, I’m getting the impression that we’re getting more and more positive reviews, compared to how it was immediately after launch.
YT: We’re feeling this too. I’m very thankful that one month after launch, the positive opinion have been getting gradually more vocal.
I: How about you, Sasaki?
SS: Same as Kodaka, no big changes. I'm just still stunned that it’s over.
TS: I’m the opposite of Sasaki. We’ve always finished Danganronpa on the edge of the deadline, but this one we were REALLY improving everywhere we could until the very last second. I feel like the production is still not over even now. Maybe we’re all lying when we said we made it in time (laughs).
I: Was V3 really this hard? When did the project start?
KK: It was late into Ultra Despair Girls’ production. Sugawara called me about a new project and ...
I: So it was Sugawara, not Terasawa.
KK: For some reason, he never calls me directly. Always has someone relaying his message to me. Then me and Sugawara started coming up with some content and wrote the project pitch. It was completely different from what’s now.
YT: It was going to be set in a desert.
I: A desert!? Do deserts have schools?
KK: The design theme at the time was Psychoamerican, so we thought it should be in a desert.
YT: If I recall right, it was going to be a desert where a Future Foundation was stranded...
KK: And so we made the project pitch with loads of American-ish stuff, like Vegas neon lights. I can’t remember much of the details.
YT: But even back then, Kodaka already had the game’s direction and that ending in mind.
I: So the ending idea stayed the same through the how development cycle. Was it Terasawa or Sugawara who asked you to make the V3 project?
KK: It was more the company itself than Terasawa.
YT: Yeah. I was the one who directly asked for it, but the very company was pointing out that it was about time for a new number Danganronpa sequel. At the time, the DR:AE development cycle was approaching its climax, so everyone was at the mood of “What are making next?” and the next cycle started very naturally.
I: I see. Then, was moving away from the Kibougamine series also decide from the beginning?
KK: Yes. No one ever considered continuing the Kibougamine series with V3.
TS: The Future Foundation ship I mentioned earlier would be set up as the ship from the DR2 ending for a twist of “haha, it was a different ship all along”. It was a red herring planned to draw the fans’ interest.
I: And why did you change settings?
KK: We all know DR1 and 2 follow each other chronologically as the Kibougamine series, but at first I never said they did. When I say from the start that it’s a sequel, the fans start expecting characters from the previous games. But personally I’m not a fan of having a previous survivor in the killing game, having to experience the murders, investigations and Class Trials all over again. I thought that when I made the next numbered title I should reboot the setting and characters.
I: Let me get this right, all you had defined back at the project pitch stage was doing a reboot and the story’s ending. Yes?
TS: Yeah. We didn’t have a concrete idea of how we would present the ending, but it we were settled on the direction that it was something that would make the player part of the plot.
I: And how exactly did lies, one of the game’s main themes, entered the stage?
TS: We had decided from the start that we would have the lie mechanic. Lying was actually a gimmick I came up with for DR2 and I really wanted the chance to include it for real in a next game.
I: Any other elements decided from the start?
KK: I think we decided the true meaning of “V3” in our first discussion. Did we? I vaguely recall we see saying it would be clever if V3 actually meant 53.
I: I agree, I was impressed when I played it!
KK: It’s just the part that the first game were also fictional in-universe and that V3 was the 53rd Danganronpa game that we came up with later. At the time we just though of the initial clever curveball. This was back before we had the idea to make the DR3 anime. We went with the name V3 just for this joke, then later we thought “If this is DRV3, the anime should be DR3”.
I: The game was decided first, huh. And how exactly did the “New” and the “Everyone’s Killing Game New Semester” came about?
KK: When we had to present the game for the Sony Press Conference (September 15th, 2015), we thought we should add something before the title, like the Super in Super Danganronpa 2. So we went with “New”.
YT: But for the first logo we wrote “NEW” in English letters.
I: And you already had the subtitle back then.
KK: The subtitle was also put together on a rush for the Sony Press Conference. We basically just added the “Everyone’s” there because the ending was pretty much completely planned at that point.
YT: We need to have these big presentations like the Sony Press Conference, because otherwise we never settle on a title (pained laughter).
The design theme changes to Psychocool! The production finally starts for real.
I: Now I have several questions about the contents of the game. We know you have the decided on the title, then presented the game under the final design theme of “Psychocool”. For what reason did you decide against the “Psychoamerican” theme?
KK: To be honest with you, Psychoamerican was never a design theme I was really serious about...
TS: We just needed something to pitch a project with.
YT: Every good project pitch has a few bluffs on it.
KK: At the time I was busy with Ultra Despair Girls, so I decided to leave the theme decisions for later. But after watching Sugawara’s presentation at the project meeting, I may have regretted neglecting the subject (pained laughter).
TS: That’s because my project file on the meeting as a blank piece of paper (laughs).
I: (laughs) Suguwara, did you really explain the entire project with a blank paper?
TS: No, each page had a head title. “Scrum Debate” was one, for example. And did the explanations with just that. Judging by the participants’ reaction, the overall tone of the meeting was “What the heck is going on here...?” (pained laughter).
I: And after all these hardships, you settled on the Psychocool theme. What was the deciding factor here?
KK: We started putting some actual thought into it, notice how hard it would be to deal with a desert setting, and decided the American part wouldn’t work. At the time I was considering given a more adult image to it, so we decided on Psychostylish. But we didn’t go very far with this theme, did we?
SS: I don’t think we did.
KK: So, the players who experienced DR1′s Psychopop in their teens grew into adulthood with DR2′s Psychotropical, and now cooled down after their growth... That’s why V3′s theme became Psychocool.
I: So it had a more mature image.
YT: But us changing themes 2 or 3 times before made things hell for the graphics team, since we wouldn’t settle on a direction already.
SS: Because before we decided on the Psychocool theme, the designers had already started working with no design concept. Kodaka already some ideas in mind for a ruined school with growing vegetation and some machines in it, but without any concrete direction, they had to redo their work multiple times.
I: I’ll ask about the design concept in more detail in the designer team interview. The next question is about the story. Is “what could be a lie” something you think about in the earlier plot planning stages?
KK: Include some lie elements back in the plot planning, but there’s nothing that was always meant to be interpreted as a lie. It all started in a project meeting where Sugawara said “I want to use lies”, but without any concrete idea of would that be implemented into gameplay. Later, when I started planning the plot, I was looking back at the project file and the discussion notes, scavenging for content I could use and found that I could use lies to fill the gaps in my plot. And so was born my liar character, Kokichi Ouma.
I: Usually the characters make the plot, but sometimes the plot can make a character.
KK: They are just robots instead of characters, but the same goes for the Exisals. They came from a joke idea told in the project meeting.
TS: We mentioned the Exisal as a mascot replacement for Monokuma. “Next mascot should be a monkey” (laughs).
KK: But not having Monokuma as the mascot feels wrong to me. Yeah, we were rebooting the characters and the setting, but I think changing too much does more harm than good, so I decided to keep Monokuma as the mascot without a second thought.
I: About what you just mentioned about Ouma, did you create all the characters as you were planning the plot?
KK: Yes. I thought 16 was the perfect number of students, as it was in DR2. Before I had any plot, I asked Komatsuzaki for some designs based on his impressions. I was planning the plot as I was receiving the designs and came up with the details along the way, I think.
I: At what point did you decide on the dual protagonist scheme with Kaede Akamatsu and Shuuichi Saihara?
KK: I can’t remember when exactly I decided that it was doable, but I’ve been wanting to do it from very early on. I was thinking that if I could do it, it would make for an awesome chapter 1.
I: The Ikebukuro Namjatown had a poll to guess who would survive. Harukawa was first, Saihara was second and Akamatsu was third, so I thought the fans saw it coming.
KK: I was also weirded out by how high Saihara was, but then I heard about the unfortunate hatless Saihara sprite visible in the PV. Since the ahoge is the symbol of the Danganronpa protagonist, I’m pretty sure this spoiled the twist.
YT: You didn’t notice it when the PV came out?
KK: I didn’t. Sasaki told me about it later and I was like “Oh no, really...?” (laughs).
YT: I see, because it very early on in the video.
SS: It was. What a shame...
KK: That said, a lot of characters were predicted wrong. Our survivor Himiko Yumeno got the very last place.
YT: She reestablished balance.
I: Yeah. Just look at our presented protagonist Akamatsu. While there were a lot of people thinking she was safe because she’s the protagonist, there were also a lot suspecting even the protagonist could die.
KK: I think the majority was predicting Akamatsu would die. But I think that as they watched the PVs and play the demo, a lot of them noticed how we made all the Class Trial assets for her and started thinking “Yeah, of course she wouldn’t die”. At very least, I think not many people predicted she would be executed as the culprit in the Class Trial.
This is how the 16 students watching the new Class Trial were born
I: In this interview for Danganronpa 2, you mentioned that Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu was supposed to die along the way, but as you were finishing your plot he became a survivor. Did V3 also have a character like Kuzuryuu?
SS: I’m pretty sure no character was changed. Though I vaguely recall we changing the order in which they died as the murder tricks demanded.
TS: When Kodaka was thinking of the murder trick for chapter 1, he asked me “What SHSL should we kill off?”. I answered “Killing the detective would be a shocker”.
KK: For context, I wasn’t too sure if it was ok for Saihara to be the Super High School Level Detective. Because Detective Saihara would mean a protagonist title ripping off Kyouko Kirigiri’s. But I ultimately accepted the idea of him being a detective.
I: I see. So this didn’t have any big changes like DR2 had. Was there any student talent or character trait that you decided on based on their murder tricks?
KK: I always plan the characters and the tricks at the same time. And this time I planned part of the tricks along with Kitayama. Whenever we discussed, I just told him “This is the culprit, this is the victim and this is the type of case I want” and he would come up with the details for me. Otherwise none of us would know what to do with his murder tricks.
I: If any other character had their characterization changed along the way, like you said Ouma did, tell us about it.
KK: I changed Harukawa’s title after seeing the finished desing. I kept her title as Super High School Level Child Caregiver, but made her actually an assassin.
SS: I remember you going with Bounty Hunter Harukawa before you changed it to Assassin.
KK: You’re right. She looked so out of the ordinary in that illustration that I thought she would work out as assassin and changed it, if I recall right. I tend to change my plot points a lot, so that’s why it’s always better to do all part of my work at the same time.
I: Is Kodaka always this nonchalant when talking about major plot changes?
SS: Yeah, he just comes out of nowhere and “I made Harukawa an assassin”.
TS: The script still wasn’t finished at the time, so even I didn’t know the reason for the change, I could say is “Really?” (laughs).
SS: Though I like her a little better as an assassin than as a bounty hunter.
I: Yeah, that’s not a situation where you can say “no” for no reason (pained laughter). By the way, Ouma and Harukawa are super popular. Did you expect them to this many fans?
KK: Sure, Harukawa got a lot of attention on the first teaser visual, and she’s a tsundere character very easy to understand, so I thought she would be popular. And Ouma is remarkably “Danganronpa”. When he is doing so much work to get things his way and getting many big scenes in the process, it’s no surprise he would get popular.
I: I think Kaito Momota got even more big scenes than he did. Not to mention his story role was pretty important.
KK: Momota was a character I was much more unoptimistically hoping to be popular. Because in the previous games I never had any characters as super friendly as him and Gonta Gokuhara. When I was writing the script, Sugawara or Sasaki told “This cast is our tightest group of friends so far”. Now that I think about it, I guess this strongly influenced my decision to put Momota as the leader. Byakuya Togami from DR1 would be constantly on the edge if he was there.
I: He sure would (laughs). Opposite question now, what character did you think was less popular than you thought they would be?
YT: Less than expected? I guess Ryouma Hoshi? Just my personal opinion though, I understand it’s because he died too soon.
KK: A lot of people I know love Hoshi.
TS: I know lot of Hoshi fans too.
KK: To me, the most unexpectedly unpopular character was Korekiyo Shinguuji, not Hoshi. I mean, his uniform is awesome and his unstable relationship with his sister feels like a classic underground movie. Shinguuji is one of my personal favorites and I thought he would be popular. But the people playing the game called him “gross” (pained laughter).
I: Shinguuji, one-of-a-kind as he is, he’s really not for everyone.
KK: Meh, whatever, I don’t wriite characters trying to make them popular. Be it for Momota or for Shinguuji, I was thinking I would personally love if they became popular but that was not the goal. In fact, the only character I wrote with the popularity polls in mind was Miu Iruma, and the goal there was to get her the last place! I think this gave her strong character quirks, not mention that trying to make everyone popular makes the cast weird and lacking in variety.
I: I see. Speaking of Shinguuji, I felt that while his motive was quite unrelatable, most of the other students had sympathetic motives. Was that on purpose?
KK: For the motives, I was just trying to avoid a repeat of what happened with Mikan Tsumiki. Yeah, I know Shinguuji’s was close. But this time most of the motives were based on their murder tricks. The first thing I did was give a definite theme for each murder trick: chapter 1 is the protagonist being the culprit, chapter 2 was a fusion of murder trick and magic trick, chapter 3 was a new death during the investigation, chapter 4 was the culprit not knowing that he is the culprit, and chapter 5 was the culprit and the victim working together. That makes chapter 2 the only outlier. I just really wanted to use the twist that Kirumi Toujou was the Prime Minister. I also absolutely wanted to have piranhas in my story (laughs).
I: (laughs) Another big difference I notice is that I couldn’t predict the culprits based on the murder tricks.
KK: That part was very intentional. I really didn’t want any moments of “I don’t know the trick, but the culprit is this guy” the best I could. Chapter 3 was easy to figure out, but I think chapter 2′s clever hooks did a lot better.
Kodaka is Barack Obama!? The personality felt by Megumi Hayashibara.
I: Sayaka Kanda voicing Akamatsu was a highly discussed topic. How exactly did you decide that?
KK: The initial was to have (non-voice) actors playing the role of the two protagonists. After many twists and tuns, we had only Kanda voicing Akamatsu.
YT: She had a great performance as Junko Enoshima in Danganronpa THE STAGE. I invited her to the Akamatsu with high expectations, not only because she obviously a very talented actress, but also because she is so associated with Junko Enoshima that it would give the fans a lot to speculate about.
I: Another big surprise was the other protagonist Saihara being Megumi Hayashibara. Hayashibara is not someone most people would imagine voicing a boy...
KK: Hayashibara was my personal request. It looked difficult at first, but ultimately she accepted it. She might have been initially wary but then felt it was okay because she shares a lot of history with Ogata and Takayama, who voiced the previous protagonist.
I: I see. Not that you mention it, in a previous interview Hayashibara made a comment about you: “He’s like President Obama”. She didn’t elaborate on that, so please tell us why!
KK: When we were recording chapter 6, Hayashibara asked me “Does Danganronpa always ends like this?”. I answered “It’s not always like this.” and the conversation continued from there. After I created Danganronpa, many other stories with death games started appearing. I know death games are exciting and easy to employ, but so many of them didn’t think their endings through or were just the using the game as a sadistic system to kill characters. Then, as I was analyzing what it means to “truly escape the death game”, I reached the conclusion that it’s the characters upsetting the death game itself. As I explained to her how I made that ending because I had to take responsibility for creating Danganronpa, Hayashibara said “Wonderful!”...
I: And where does President Obama come in?
KK: Hayashibara talked about one time when President Obama dismantle bomb facilities in the US to say “It’s important to take responsibility for what you make”, so I answered “Then I’m Obama?” (laughs).
I: (laughs) What a conversation.
KK: Hayashibara seemed to be very convinced by this explation, seeing how she put even more power into her chapter 6 performance.
I: Saihara’s chapter 6 voice acting was indeed on fire. Speaking of chapter 6, I was really surprised by the twist of having the DR1 and 2 characters there. Was that decided from the start?
KK: I didn’t even considered it when I was planning the plot. The idea came to me only when I started writting chapter 6′s script.
YT: That’s pretty late into the process.
KK: I was thinking that just Tsumugi Shirogane’s cosplays would be too weak to express the mastermind’s threat level. As I was thinking on how could I make her a character on par with Enoshima, since the ending was going to be that, I had my epiphany: “She should cosplay every character before her!”. And if I want a perfect cosplay, I would need the real voices. When I talked to Terasawa about how awesome she would be if she could cosplay even voices, and how much of a visual punch it would be to have all previous characters, his reaction was “Wait a minute...”.
I: I can see how he wouldn’t be ready for that.
KK: I was doing the recordings for the DR3 anime at the time, so I was naive enough to believe asking for just a couple additional lines would be enough.
YT: Life is not that easy (laughs).
I: (laughs) But everything worked at the end.
KK: I have to admit, I did some emotional blackmail there. Saying “I already started the script, I can’t go with any other twist now”. I had already resigned to the fact that we couldn’t have everyone, but in the end, the entire cast came to the recordings.
I: Impressive work, Terasawa.
YT: After Kodaka’s blackmail, I had to do my part, too. The result was splendid and very meaningful to the game, but we can’t use that in promotional material, so, from a cost efficiency standpoint, it was really bad (pained laughter).
KK: But one problem I would want to fix if I had a chance is how this made her total dialogue really long. I could have made it all a lot more concise, but you know, leaving one character with only two lines who be such a waste.
I: That said, I think the result was splendid. Just as you wanted, it made Shirogane a lot more awesome, in my opinion. On the topic of Shirogane, was making Super High School Level Cosplayer the mastermind talent decided from the start?
KK: Yes. The mastermind being a cosplayer came first from that ending punchline where she asserts that their entire world is part of her cosplay. Also because I really wanted to have a cosplayer character somewhere.
The Love Hotel was born from a cancelled game mechanic!?
I: Our next topic will be the setting and the special scenes. Starting from how the Kibougamine Academy was rebooted into the Saishuu Academy. Tell us how the academy was created.
KK: I think didn’t put any school name on the project pitch. The thing is, V3 is a project initiated under the idea of being something of a culmination of the series, of putting an end into everything, so we went with the name Saishuu, which carries the nuances of both “final” and “talents being locked up”. Another neat detail I only noticed now is that it’s kanji form is pretty easy to write (才囚).
I: You’re praising yourself too much (laughs).
KK: I love Saishuu Academy’s name, but I like its emblem just as much. The design includes a subtle prisoner aesthetic and a Monokuma. Though I wonder, how will the localization handle this? (pained laughter).
I: That’s a good question (laughs). Then, how was the academy’s design decided?
KK: I only asked them to make the wall. The wall was my utmost priority.
TS: I remember that this wall got its birdcage style because I suggested to include a jail or birdcage motif. V3′s school has a prison atmosphere, but prisons still have sports grounds and whatnot, you know? Because of this, we decided to make the Saishuu Academy with explorable areas outside the school building.
I: The Saishuu Academy has a lot of strange areas. A casino is already bad enough, but it has even a love hotel...
KK: Whose idea was the love hotel again?
SS: It was based on Sugawara’s idea of nighttime raids, from the project pitch.
TS: Oh yeah, at the time we had a set rule where you could only solve the academy’s mysteries at nighttime. The idea was to explore the academy at night and investigate the mysteries, but you could also peek into the students’ rooms.
YT: Yeah, I was thinking of making an investigation game like this.
KK: The problem was that this was going to make the game too lenghty, so we left the parts where you enter the students’ for dialogue as the Love Hotel.
SS: Yeah, and since we thought it would be nice to have an element where you can flirt with the characters, they became those erotic scenes...
I: I see (laughs). Did you write the Love Hotel scenes, Kodaka?
KK: I gave the Love Hotel scenes to a substitute writer. Except their version were really not acceptable, so I had to rewrite them myself (pained laughter).
I: What an interaction to have. Enough about character scenes. We also had many new secret routes in the Class Trials.How exactly were these secret routes created?
SS: The secret routes exist because we wanted to incorporate the Lie Bullet into the story, not only the gameplay. But lying is something we kind of needed to convince most players to do. You know, we needed to add moments where the player would want to lie. And all thanks to Sugawara, we could do it.
I: You wrote the secret routes, didn’t you, Sugawara?
KK: I was too busy with everything else. Since already had semi-done scripts for the proper route, I let Sugawara have his ideas based on that.
TS: That said, I was also piled up with other jobs, so I had other developers do some bits, like pointing me out where I could lie. Some pointers I followed straight, while others I had to rethink. I tried to include as many secret routes as I could, but this was a work I couldn’t get done in time for the voice recordings.
I: I think making secret routes is hard even when the proper route script is complete...
TS: It was relatively easy to make the new content for the secret routes. The difficult is how to get back to the original route.
KK: I tried not to touch on Sugawara’s scripts too much, but I did edit some character word choices or some parts where the topic got too long.
I: How did the fans react to the secret routes?
KK: I didn’t hear much about it.
YT: I often check Twitter for fan opinions, but that’s never really tweeted about.
TS: I think a lot of people don’t notice where they can lie to get a secret route. I did make them change the song for the Debate where you can do Perjury, but that’s not listed or hinted in any tutorial, so...
KK: Not to mention it’s a really minor change, so I find it pretty difficult to notice on your first go.
The mystery novelist Kitayama adds even more well polished murder tricks
I: Since we are talking about Class Trials, I would like to ask about the murder tricks. First, tell me how Kitayama joined the party.
KK: Once I knew I would have to work on this and the DR3 anime at the same time, I thought I would have to ask someone for help, since the time I would have on the scripts would shorten. I thought that if I could smoothly get all the murder tricks decided, I could handle both scripts just fine, but unfortunately the discussion went for much longer than I expected. In the end I didn’t gain any time from all this, but thanks to Kitayama joining me, we boast higher quality.
I: How was your work?
KK: I told Kitayama the trick themes for each chapter and had him come up with the howdunnit. With that, Sugawara and Sasaki’s developer team can plot out the trick, then I check it all and put it together as the script.
I: Was there anything big you had to fix?
KK: Depends on the chapter. For chapter 1 I pretty much used Kitayama’s idea exactly as it was. Even the “I tossed away what I was holding” descriptor was left exactly as Kitayama wrote it. On the other hand, chapter 2 was very different from the initial draft.
SS: The chapter 2 trick was the water slider instead of the ropeway using the floating tube, right?
KK: Yeah, that one. Lining up a lot of floating tube to make the corpse slide on them. Then she would only have to cut the rope connecting them and that would leave just countless floating tubes on the pool. I fought finding the tubes during the investigation would be a fun idea, but when it came the time to script it, I got a lot questions. “Is this really enough water pressure to make a corpse silde?”. “Won’t she get wet from the water on the gaps between tubes?”. “Are sure the corpse can enter the fish tank?”.
YT: I’m a physics major, so this bothers me a lot. One little detail like this can ruin the whole case for me, so I made sure to comment everything I noticed.
KK: Yeah, so I had to change to the whole water slider trick into a ropeway trick. Sasaki, you’re the one who argued the most against this, weren’t you?
SS: I was (laughs). I had to plot the trick for chapter 2. So when Kodaka told me “The water slide won’t work”, I was like “Really...?”.
I: The script is where you start to notice the problems.
KK: More exactly, the plotting stage doesn’t put all that attention to detail. Because the workload for plotting a trick as a lot bigger than it sounds. And we’re definitely not gaining any time if I happen to see plans before they’re ready...So, the issues only start showing up when I’m doing the script.
SS: In chapter 2, even my idea to gather all the students together, the Insect Meet-and-Greet, caused some back-and-forth.
KK: Yes, I let the developer come up with the finer details, like for example the reason why all students gathered together. So, for this one I was like “What’s an Insect Meet-and-Greet even supposed to be?”. Then he explained to me that the group would be assembled to look at Gonta’s insects, but I still had no idea why they would do that. I still wanted to do it, it was a fun idea, so I implemented Gonta’s Insect Meet-and-Greet on the form of Gonta kidnapping the students under Ouma’s orders.
I: Do you have any other case of struggles to connect a trick’s dots?
KK: Chapter 3, handled by Sugawara, also took a lot of time.
TS: I used Kitayama’s idea for the main trick using the seesaw, but we needed to change all the steps that lead to the crime, and that was the time consuming part.
KK: Oh yeah, we changed the seance ritual.
TS: At first, the trick was that the students would all hold hands and sing Kagome Kagome together, while the culprit would stomp the floorboard. But if that were the case, when the culprit stomped the floorboard, the people holding his hands would feel the movement, you see...
I: And that’s why you had to edit. Next is chapter 4, how was it?
KK: Chapter 4 also had a murder trick by Kitayama, but it was a trick using a rope. Since we changed chapter 2 into the ropeway, that would make chapter 4′s a repeat. While we were thinking of how to make a ropeless trick, one the developers gave the looping world idea, so I created the trick using the loop.
I: Chapter 4′s trick was an idea that made a really good use out of the game world. Was there any reason to change the characters’ visual into the chibi models?
KK: I was born because we wanted to make a game inside a game. At first, we wanted to make a fully 3D world.
YT: You were calling it “VR”, weren’t you?
TS: But then its main gimmick became the loop trick, so we had to give up because a loop would be too hard and far too costly to portray in 3D.
SS: We also considered using the bonus modes’ 8-bit sprites, but the consesus what that those were too visually unimpressive, so we made new ones, if I recall correctly.
KK: Also because to make the trick work we need to make the game in 2.5D, not 2D. Most of us thought it would be difficult to use the 8-bit sprites under that circumstances.
I: And for the chapter 5 trick, the twist where the victim and the culprit were in cahoots was very original, and I honestly couldn’t tell which of them was the culprit until the very end.
YT: That one is the hardest to figure out.
KK: I’m glad I could put the Exisal to good use in the 5th trick, with the victim and the culprit switching places. Also, I loaded chapter 5 with a large amount of information to distract you from the truth, so you being confused about it is exactly what we wanted.
The feelings imbued in the shocking finale. And an intriguing plan for the future!?
I: From this part on, I will be asking about the controversial chapter 6 and your plans for the future. I was told that when you were writting the chapter 6 script you added many extra animations and cutscenes of the school being destroyed.
KK: At the plot planning stage, the only thing I had planned for chapter 6 was the endgame. Only when I actually reached that part in the script that I saw I didn’t know how lead the path to that. In DR2 I prepared some surprises to thrill the fans, like Kibougamine Academy appearing and whatnot. I wanted this game to have an element like this. And that’s when I arranged a meeting with all of Sasaki’s developers. I said “I put Kibougamine in DR2′s finale, so now I want V3 to have a set up as good as that”.
SS: Everyone agreed we should have one, of course.
KK: And that’s where I suggested we should explode Saishuu Academy. With Ki-bo appearing to help us around at the tightest moments, fighting the Exisals and all that. I talked with Sasaki’s team to ask if they could do it, they said “I think we can” and I answered “Nice” (laughs).
I: (laughs) That said, I think that was hard on who was managing the budget and schedule...
YT: You get me. There was suddenly a lot more to make.
KK: But we weren’t behind on the deadlines, were we?
SS: That’s right, we weren’t.
YT: That’s not how it works! (laughs)
Everyone: (laughs)
I: Chapter 6 had a lot more animated cutscenes too, hadn’t it?
KK: I wasn’t expecting that. You know that scene where Ki-bo first appears, flying to the glass? I was think that was going to be just some CG, not a fully animated cutscene. So it was a good surprise, like “Are you really making him this cool? Thank you!”.
YT: And his cutscene was quite a long one, at that.
SS: A CG would be too weak and unconvicing for this. We decided we should have this animated to give it the impact it deserved.
I: And I assume the same goes for all the add cutscene. Was the idea of slapping away the block-pathing debris conceived and added for the same reason?
SS: It was. Honestly, there was so much more we wanted to do but didn’t have time to...
KK: To be completely honest, I was thinking chapter 6 was going to be a lot more visually simplistic than that. But once we started we didn’t want to stop. I’m glad the finished version is this much better than I imagined.
I: Speaking of chapter 6, can I ask Kodaka to explain the ending?
KK: I went with that ending because I wanted to change where the player stands in V3. In 1 and 2 the player was an outside observer to the killing game. But in V3 I wanted the player to experience the same shock as Saihara and take part in the debate from the same position as him. Then, as Saihara is shocked to learn “This world was fictional. The Akamatsu and Momota I believed in were all fiction”, the player would also be hit with the fact “Everything I played so far is fictional”. But it’s a fact that everything you played so far still resonated with you and you gained a lot from it, so I was hoping you could synchro yourself with Saihara and take his side in the argument after he gets back in his feet. I was thinking that it if the player and the characters could outgrow this fiction, it could even create a new relationship between player and game.
I: I see. So that’s what you were thinking.
KK: I prepared a lot of tricks to make it easier for the player to sync up with Saihara, like Ki-bo’s “Do you want to save?”. Just empathizing with the characters was not enough for chapter 6, I want to share their point of view. That why, to make it harder to insert and emphatize in one specific person, I shuffled the POV with everyone.
I: I think the finale intentionally avoids stating what’s the truth and what is a lie. Do all of you in the production staff share the same answer to this mystery?
YT: Kodaka might have the answer on his mind, but I think we don’t need to know. We don’t even know if we can take everything Kodaka says as correct. See, the real right answer is the answer you came up with yourself.
I: You mean you just want everyone to think of the answer with their own personal interpretations?
YT: Also, I want to take this moments to tell all the fans that we never had the slightest intent to tarnish or insult the past games. We still think of Danganronpa 1 and 2 as our very beloved children. We love all 3 games from the bottom of our hearts.
I: Kodaka said before that V3 is a culmination and an end to everything, but will the Danganronpa series continue?
YT: Like with the first two games, we are completely burned out after finishing it, so, honestly, we don’t have any solid plans for a next game yet. However, as a producer, I want to answer to the fans’ support and expectations. I need to think long and hard about the future of Danganronpa.
I: What could this future be holding for us...?
YT: Who knows. DR1-2 Reload and Ultra Despair Girls will be ported to the PS4 this year, so I think we’ll get many new fans. If something in this trend incites Kodaka’s desire to write, we could be having a new game. Or at least that’s what I expect. I hope our fans expect the same.
I: I’ll be looking forward to it. Now, one message from all of you to the fans.
KK: Thank you for buying this artbook. How about replaying once more now that you know the game better? Or even better, buy another copy of the game and the book!
TS: I think there’s always something of value, be it good or bad, in someone playing a videogame for the first time. So the words I want to say here are the same words of gratitude said since the old days: THANK YOU FOR PLAYING.
SS: I saw a lot of intense critical commentary both for and against this game, so I’m very happy that this game managed to make this many people feel something about it. I believe leaving you wanting to talk about of you felt is one of the more characteristic traits of Danganronpa, so I love that you can enjoy exchanging your opinions.
#artbook translations#kazutaka kodaka#Yoshinori Terasawa#shun sasaki#takayuki sugawara#'blank project file' sugawara is truly the chiyomaru of spike#kodaka completely forgot sakura in that comment about momota and gonta#why is hayashibara like this?#a lot of dramatic irony in context of too kyo existing
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I don't know if I like how Leiftan was depicted in the spin-off. He seems to have a superiority complex. I am still at the start of the game and was struggling to choose between a Valkyon or a Leiftan route. Leif's one seemed more complicated so I didn't know whether it was worth it, but it turns out he's not that nice of a person... What's your take on it? Btw, just wanted to say that I love your blog! I check it once every couple of days, despite not having a tumblr account! :3
(thank you!! sorry for taking so long to answer sobs;;)
mmh I don’t think Leiftan has a superiority complex, it’s more like he just… hates a lot of thing.
Humans, Faeris, the Guard of El, the entire world of Eldarya… he doesn’t hate all those things because he thinks he’s better than them/trying to hide an inferiority complex, but because they’re the cause of all the horrible things that happened to him and to his race. This hatred drives him to take some extreme decisions to accomplish his plans (whatever they are). An example of this would be killing Anya in episode 18.
Yet, despite being a character driven by hate and hate being what characterizes him the most… he’s also driven by love. And you don’t have to have watched the spin-off to see that, episode 20 shows it by itself. Snapping Naytili’s neck after she stabbed Gardy and beating the living shit out of Ashkore after he threatened to kill her are also very extreme decisions despite not coming from the same feeling.
Leiftan says that he only lives with hate in his heart and yet doesn’t notice how much he does for love.
But coming back to the spin-off, something I found interesting was that he hates Huang Hua not only because she is a Fenghuang but also because she seems fake according to him (which, is like, rich, coming from him lol) but if Huang Hua really is fake, then it would make her very similar to Leiftan. @aokane-eldarya made a really interesting analysis here
Another reason for why he hates her could be just that he can’t accept that someone could be kind just for the sake of being kind, without any ulterior motive. He could be projecting, seeing himself when he looks at her and wondering what is she looking for by playing nice… simply because he himself is playing nice.
Playing nice and pretending to be kind towards everyone… except towards Gardy. The spin-off confirms that Leiftan has been waiting for Gardy’s arrival on Eldarya since god knows how long and that he would do anything for her to be happy. He genuinely loves her and honestly… after watching this spin-off, I don’t think he would ever try to hurt her (at least not on purpose). Someone who would, as we say in french, be ready to give the Moon to his beloved… isn’t that romantic ?
… So where does the creepiness factor comes from then ?
Before the reveal at the end of episode 17, the reason why I didn’t like Leiftan despite his kindness was because I didn’t feel like he was trustworthy. That everytime he talked to Gardy he was lying through his teeth and that he would stab her in the back as soon as he’d get the occasion to. Turns out he is indeed a dirty liar, but not a dirty liar to Gardy, with whom he’s probably the most honest with (oh, the irony of me thinking he’s not trustworthy :’)). He still lies to her of course, about who he really is and what his real feelings towards the Guard are but the spin-off hints that he’s planning to tell her the truth “when the time comes”. He can’t put his plans in danger even for her after all (despite coming close to multiple times).
After episode 17, if you’re on Leiftan’s route (and even when you’re not), he comes off sometimes as jealous and petty. After the spin-off, he is revealed to be incredibly possessive towards Gardy, watching her every steps and having ill-wishes towards his rivals… all of this is creepy enough on its own but to me, what made him creepier than ever before is that… Leiftan doesn’t only come off as a man who would do anything for Gardy in this spin-off, but as a man who would do anything for Gardy because he pretends to know what’s best for her. And that’s creepy to me (repeating myself just in case lol). And he still comes off this way despite saying he would never try to force her to love him or to manipulate her… because he already tried to manipulate her into forgiving the Guard in episode 14-15 (oh, how I wish the spin-off had shown us the potion fiasco in Leif’s pov x)).
It came from a good place, he didn’t want her to live her life in hatred like he does, but it still wasn’t his decision to make for Gardy to forgive the Guard or not. Because who is he to decide that ?
In the end, I think the spin-off reinforced the idea that Leiftan would never hurt Gardy, but at the same time it showed us how dangerous he could be and how much power he has over the Guard and how much power he could have over Gardy. It showed us a Leiftan who’s hopelessly in love with Gardy and who genuinely cares about children and yet at the same time it showed us a Leiftan who despises and manipulates the entire world. It showed us his vulnerable side, as well as his more violent (dare I say uglier ?) one. Someone who’s best quality is being as cool as a cucumber according to the artbook and yet is shown to lose his temper so easily under his mask.
I think Leiftan is a very interesting character and his spin-off was really interesting as well, but still, the less I see him, the better :p
#ask#eldarya spoilers#spoilers#(under a read more bc im a coward)#it took me forever to type all that and yet i still think im talking out of my ass#those type of answers literally takes me the whole day lol pls#and i still feel like there's more to say but im tired o(-(#anyway if you dont mind im gonna stay with the guy with the crazy ex#and thinking you're better than the guard is called having common sense not having a superiority complex :3c
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